November 11, 2009
Dobbs Explains Decision to Leave CNN
By BRIAN STELTER
The text of Mr. Dobbs’ announcement about leaving CNN:
This will be my last broadcast here on CNN, where I’ve worked for most of the past 30 years, and where I have many friends and colleagues whom I admire deeply and respect greatly.
I’m the last of the original anchors here on CNN and I’m proud to have had the privilege to helping to build the world’s first news network.
I’m grateful for the many opportunities that CNN has given me over these many years. I’ve tried to reciprocate with a full measure of my ability and my energy.
Over the past six months it’s become increasingly clear that strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country and affecting all of us, and some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond the role here at CNN and to engage in constructive problem solving as well as to contribute positively to the great understanding of the issues of our day. And to continue to do so in the most honest and direct language possible.
I’ve talked extensively with Jonathan Klein — Jon’s the president of CNN — and as a result of those talks, Jon and i have agreed to a release from my contract that will enable me to pursue new opportunities.
At this point, I’m considering a number of options and directions, and I assure you, I will let you know when I set my course. I truly believe that the major issues of our time include the growth of our middle class, the creation of more jobs, health care, immigration policy, the environment, climate change, and our military involvement, of course, in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But each of those issues is, in my opinion, informed by our capacity to demonstrate strong resilience of our now weakened capitalist economy and demonstrate the political will to overcome the lack of true representation in Washington, D.C.
I believe these to be profoundly, critically important issues, and I will continue to strive to deal honestly and straightforwardly with those issues in the future.
Unfortunately, these issues are now defined in the public arena by partisanship and ideology rather than by rigorous, empirical thought and forthright analysis and discussion. I’ll be working diligently to change that as best i can. And as for the important work of restoring inspiration to our great free society and our market economy, I will strive as well to be a leader in that national conversation.
It’s been my great honor to work with each and every person at this wonderful network. I will be eternally grateful to CNN, to Ted Turner, and to all of my colleagues and friends, and of course to you at home. I thank you, and may God bless you.
Mr. Dobbs then went to a commercial break.
HE WILL BE MISSED - NOBODY CAN TELL THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH LIKE LOU CAN!!!
LET'S PRAY HE NOW RUNS FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
THE YEAR WAS 1909....
THE YEAR WAS 1909 ...
This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine!
The year is 1909.
One hundred years ago. What a difference a century makes! Here are some statistics for the Year 1909 :
************ ********* *********
The average life expectancy was 47 years.
Fuel for this car was sold in drug stores only.
Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.
Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles Of paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!
The average wage in 1909 was 22 cents per hour.
The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year ...
A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, A dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME .
Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!
Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which Were condemned in the press AND the government as 'substandard. '
Sugar cost four cents a pound.
Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from Entering into their country for any reason.
Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke
The American flag had 45 stars.
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30!!!!
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea Hadn't been invented yet.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write and Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school..
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, 'Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind,regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health'
Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.
There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE ! U.S.A.!
Plus one more sad thought; 95 percent of the taxes we have now did not exist in 1909.
This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine!
The year is 1909.
One hundred years ago. What a difference a century makes! Here are some statistics for the Year 1909 :
************ ********* *********
The average life expectancy was 47 years.
Fuel for this car was sold in drug stores only.
Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.
Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles Of paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!
The average wage in 1909 was 22 cents per hour.
The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year ...
A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, A dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME .
Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!
Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which Were condemned in the press AND the government as 'substandard. '
Sugar cost four cents a pound.
Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from Entering into their country for any reason.
Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke
The American flag had 45 stars.
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30!!!!
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea Hadn't been invented yet.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write and Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school..
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, 'Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind,regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health'
Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.
There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE ! U.S.A.!
Plus one more sad thought; 95 percent of the taxes we have now did not exist in 1909.
ITALIANS, NOT TEXANS, BUIDLING SIGNATURE DALLAS BRIDGE
The news report I have attached below appeared on a Texas television station, WFAA this past Thursday (November 5th)
I was told about this deplorable situation by an old friend and a current special agent at ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) who as a member of management at ICE was infuriated by the insanity that passes for the enforcement of our nation's immigration laws.
I have often taken DHS to task for its many failings to effectively address missions that are the responsibility of that agency, at time referring to DHS as the "Department of Homeland Surrender." But let me make this as clear as I can- I often speak to the employees of ICE and CBP and just about everyone I speak with are extremely unhappy with the lack of resources that hamper the work that their agencies are supposed to be doing on behalf of our nation and our citizens.
There is a wonderful Yiddish expression I have quoted (having translated it to English) in the past and feel it is appropriate to quote now: "When a fish goes bad, it smells from the head!"
The bottom line: if there is a problem see who is charge. President Harry S. Truman certainly understood that concept and he acknowledged it by placing a plaque bearing a simple, yet eloquent four word phrase on his desk in the Oval Office:
"The Buck Stops Here!"
As you will see when you read the news article, a decision was made to hire an Italian company to construct a bridge in Dallas, Texas. Furthermore, the company was permitted to bring their own welders to the United States to assemble that bridge, depriving American construction workers the opportunity to get jobs they desperately want and need.
The last sentence of the news report sums it up succinctly:
"And the jobless Texas welders trying to find a way to put dinner on the table tonight don't have anyone to plead their case."
I have made the point that immigration has an impact on so many areas of concern for our nation and certainly the impact that failures to secure our borders against the unlawful entry of the millions of illegal aliens who are currently living and working in our country is an area of great concern. The Italian workers who are doing the work Americans want to do, did not run our nation's borders but were, in fact, granted business visas in order to enter our country and supplant American welders.
The B-1 visas that they were granted are supposed to be used by business people who come to the United States to attend conferences, make purchases of equipment and conduct other functions relating to their businesses. Foreign workers can used Bi1 visas to repair equipment but B-1 visas were never intended to be used by foreign workers coming to our country to replace American workers on construction jobs.
Workers who possess skills that are unavailable to an employer in the United States in a particular city are supposed to apply for visas such as H-1B and H-2B visas. As it now stands, the H1-B Visa Program for skilled workers is loaded with fraud and there are nearly no investigations being routinely conducted about these egregious examples of crimes that harm American workers. H-2B visas are supposed to be used for construction workers but this time an employer has apparently found a way to circumvent the H-2B process altogether by getting the United States Department of State to issue the welders discussed in this article, with B-1 visas and somehow the inspectors at a port of entry simple admitted them into the United States and on to the payroll of a company that, by all right, should have hired American workers!
As I read the article I was compelled to recall how when the administration and the "bobble heads" in the Congress passed the "Economic Stimulus Package" and touted the many "Shovel Ready" jobs that were set to get underway if only the money was made available. I guess I was mistaken as to who was supposed to be doing those jobs!
As you many know, if you have been reading my commentaries for awhile, my dad was a construction worker- he was a plumber. He died more than 40 years ago, in his mid 50's of lung cancer I believe was attributable to his pack a day cigarette habit exacerbated by his exposure to asbestos as a construction worker and as a worker on Navy warships during the Second World War- a job he did because the military refused to accept his offers to enlist.
He was determined to contribute to the effort to enable our country to win that war, but I can recall as though it was yesterday, how many times he would come through the door with a dejected look on his face because he had been laid off from work. My mom's eyes would well up with tears and we resorted to eating tuna fish sandwiches for dinner and put off buying new coats and setting the thermostat at a lower setting- doing whatever we could to cut expenses.
My mom, who could not drive, would often walk to supermarkets that were far from our house because she could save a little money because those stores charged less for bread or milk than the stores that were closer to home.
My dad and his buddies in the construction trades were (and always will be my heroes!) Blue collar Americans personify the "Can do" spirit that built this great nation- doing dangerous, filthy and backbreaking jobs.
Today the government reported that the national unemployment rate had risen to 10.2%, the highest it has been since 1983. This report did not note how many more Americans had given up looking for work. This report did not discuss how many Americans are now being "under employed."
The GAO has recently reported that one in six Americans are now living below the poverty line!
While there are economists who are predicting that the economy is turning around- I disagree! No country can be said to be doing well when its average citizens are not doing well!
Today other men and women, just like my dad, are facing a bleak economic reality. They are unemployed. They don't know how they will pay their bills or feed their kids. They fear they will lose their houses to foreclosure.
When I read about their plight, I am reminded of my early years and my parents' valiant struggle to keep their heads above water!
As more Americans lose their jobs they have less money to spend. Their failure to make purchases threatens the jobs of other Americans creating a vicious circle in which more Americans become unemployed, spending less money, causing still more Americans to lose their jobs! Not addressing the impact of foreign workers on the American worker is insane!
As I have stated before, the enforcement and administration of the immigration laws had been the responsibility of the United States Department of Labor prior to the Second World War because back then the concern was that foreign workers would undercut American workers. It would appear that our government does not really give a damn about the average American today!
So much for "Government of the people, by the people and for the people!
According to the article, eleven Italian welders are assembling the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas, Texas. But the article notes that "tens of thousands of man hours of labor" is being done by foreign workers that should be done by Americans.
You may not think that 11 workers are a big deal when you consider that there are millions of illegal aliens in our country. The point is that I believe that this is the tip of a huge iceberg. As I have noted when I have testified before Congress and when I have testified before legislative hearings conducted on the state level, and at other venues, I have made the point that our nation's entire immigration system is utterly dysfunctional.
The biggest thing that is wrong with the immigration system is not that the immigration laws are bad, it is that those laws are not being enforced!
A job freed up by removing an illegal foreign worker creates a job for an American worker. This is the principle behind worksite enforcement. It is entirely appropriate to penalize employers who intentionally hire illegal aliens but ICE needs to address the other side of the equation- alien workers found to be working illegally need to be arrested, detained and removed from the United States. The stated policy of the current administration of only going after the employers and not the illegal alien employees does not deter illegal immigration.
Furthermore, statements made by the President, members of his administration and members of Congress who speak about their intentions to legalize all of the millions of illegal aliens who are in our country creates a huge incentive for many more aliens to seek to enter our country in violation of law in the hope that they will be able to participate in Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
In 1986, when the first amnesty was enacted, its proponents claimed that no more than 1.5 million illegal aliens would participate in that program that was supposed to be a "one time" program to finally get all of the illegal aliens "out of the shadows." By the time the bureaucratic dust settled, between 3.5 and 4 million illegal aliens availed themselves of that opportunity to be granted lawful status.
Fraud was rampant in that program because the INS lacked the resources to conduct field investigations and we were dealing with aliens who had no way of proving their true identities. There was no way of substantiating their identities or when, where or how they entered the United States.
If the INS was overwhelmed by "only" 3.5 million illegal aliens in 1986 to effectively administer the amnesty of 1986, what will the beleaguered and inept USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) do when 20 million or 30 million applications land on its adjudicators' desks?
I fear that any massive Comprehensive Immigration Reform program would entice many millions of additional illegal aliens to run our nation's borders and claim that they were present in our country for whatever the requisite period of time would be required in order to participate in this duplicitous program.
Here is something else to consider: an issue that further exacerbated the issue of fraud was a provision that prohibited INS agents from sharing information contained in the amnesty files with other law enforcement agencies regardless of what crimes these aliens might have been suspected of committing!
Even if an alien who had acquired lawful status through that amnesty program was wanted for drug trafficking, murder, rape, child molestation, etc., etc, INS agents were ordered to not provide that information to any other law enforcement agency! The purported rationale was that our "leaders" did not want illegal aliens who violated our borders, violated our laws and violated their victims to be intimidated and not come forward to get their green cards and, ultimately, United States citizenship!
Two years ago, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation contained the same provision!
On September 1, 2006 I testified at a field hearing conducted by the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives at Dubuque, Iowa on the topic:
"IS THE REID-KENNEDY BILL A REPEAT OF THE FAILED AMNESTY OF 1986?"Here is the link to the complete transcript of that hearing:
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/judiciary/hju29745.000/hju29745_0.htm
Here is a segment of my prepared testimony at that hearing:
That piece of legislation (the 1986 Amnesty) led to the greatest influx of illegal aliens in the history of our Nation. Fraud and a lack of integrity of the immigration system not only flooded our Nation with illegal aliens who ran our borders, hoping that what had been billed as a one-time amnesty would be repeated, but it also enabled a number of terrorists and many criminals to enter the United States and then embed themselves in our country.
A notable example of such a terrorist can be found in a review of the facts concerning Mahmud Abouhalima, a citizen of Egypt who entered the United States on a tourist visa, overstayed his authorized period of admission and then applied for amnesty under the agricultural worker provisions of IRCA. He succeeded in obtaining resident alien status through this process.
During the 5 year period he drove a cab and had his license suspended numerous times for various violations of law and he ultimately demonstrated his appreciation for our Nation's generosity by participating in the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 that left six people dead, hundreds of people injured and an estimated one-half billion dollars in damages inflicted on that iconic, ill-fated complex.
America had opened his doors to him so that he might participate in the American dream and he turned that dream into our worst nightmare. The other terrorists who attacked our Nation on subsequent attacks, including the attacks of September 11, 2001, similarly exploited our generosity, seeing in our Nation's kindness, weakness, gaming the immigration system to enter our country and then hide in plain sight among us.
As I recall, when IRCA was proposed, one of the selling points was that along with the amnesty for what was believed to have been a population of some 1.5 million illegal aliens would be a new approach to turn off what has been described as the magnet that draws the majority of illegal aliens into the United States in the first place, the prospect of securing employment.
In order to accomplish this important goal, IRCA imposed penalties against those unscrupulous employers who knowingly hired illegal aliens. My former colleagues and I were pleased to see that under the employer sanctions of IRCA, the unscrupulous employers of illegal aliens would finally be made accountable, or so we thought.
Of course, we now know that the relative handful of special agents who were assigned to conduct investigations of employers who hired illegal aliens made it unlikely that employers would face a significant risk of being caught for violating those laws and they would face an even smaller chance of being seriously fined. Furthermore, the way that the amnesty provisions of the law were enacted simply created a cottage industry for fraud document vendors who provided illegal aliens with counterfeit or altered identity documents and supporting documents to enable the illegal alien population to circumvent the immigration laws of the United States.
Ultimately, approximately 3.5 million illegal aliens emerged from the infamous shadows to participate in the amnesty program of 1986.
Our nation's leaders have mortgaged our children's and our grandchildren's futures by siphoning an incredible sum of money out of our economy to supposedly create new jobs to jump start our economy.
The unemployment rate continues to climb and yet there are those "leaders" who still want more foreign workers to come to our country and undercut Americans whose only goal is to pay their bills and support and feed their families!
Those who are pushing for Comprehensive Immigration Reform know that the law, the facts, commonsense and morality are all against their position so they play the only card they have left.
They engage in lying and engaging in name-calling. They claim that anyone who wants to secure our nation's borders are "nativists." They use the term "racist" to describe anyone who calls for securing our borders against unlawful entry of illegal aliens and the creation of an immigration system that has real integrity.
Hear is the reality they don't want to hear (and that they don't want you to hear): America is not a "white" country. Our nation is arguably the most ethnically diverse nation on the face of this planet. As a New Yorker, I can tell you that my home town is home to people of all races, religions, ethnicities and cultures.
Enforcing our nation's borders against illegal entry is not about racism but it is about security and commonsense.
Many of the workers who have become unemployed are members of various minority groups. In fact, it is the minorities who are getting hammered the most by our nation's continuing failures to secure its borders and create an immigration system that has real integrity.
The most likely victim of ethnic organized crime groups and pernicious gangs is a member of the immigrant community. This is true for immigrants from every country and of every ethnicity.
Any politician who refuses to work to secure our borders and create an immigration system that has integrity is either corrupt or too dumb to keep his (her) job.
Any politician, irrespective of party affiliation who favors Comprehensive Immigration Reform should be shown the door at the next election!
If you find yourself to be in agreement with this commentary, I ask that you forward to as many of your friends and family members as possible and encourage them to do the same.
Next year each and every member of the House of Representatives is up for reelection. Next year more than one third of the members of the United States Senate will have to face their constituents.
They need to be reminded that they work for us, We the People!
However, the practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting booth, it only begins there.
The large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups.
There is much that we cannot do but there is one thing that We the People absolutely must do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!
The collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our concerns known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the great majority of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to the politicians.
I implore you to get involved!
Any American who has lost his job certainly has enough time on his (her) hands to get involved!
Any American who fears the loss of his job must make effective use of his spare time to make certain he keeps his job!
If this situation concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional "Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation! You need to politely but pointedly, demand to know what they are doing to protect our nation. You need to ask them how they are protecting you and your families. You can also forward this commentary to them.
All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!
We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.
This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!
You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
-Michael Cutler-
I was told about this deplorable situation by an old friend and a current special agent at ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) who as a member of management at ICE was infuriated by the insanity that passes for the enforcement of our nation's immigration laws.
I have often taken DHS to task for its many failings to effectively address missions that are the responsibility of that agency, at time referring to DHS as the "Department of Homeland Surrender." But let me make this as clear as I can- I often speak to the employees of ICE and CBP and just about everyone I speak with are extremely unhappy with the lack of resources that hamper the work that their agencies are supposed to be doing on behalf of our nation and our citizens.
There is a wonderful Yiddish expression I have quoted (having translated it to English) in the past and feel it is appropriate to quote now: "When a fish goes bad, it smells from the head!"
The bottom line: if there is a problem see who is charge. President Harry S. Truman certainly understood that concept and he acknowledged it by placing a plaque bearing a simple, yet eloquent four word phrase on his desk in the Oval Office:
"The Buck Stops Here!"
As you will see when you read the news article, a decision was made to hire an Italian company to construct a bridge in Dallas, Texas. Furthermore, the company was permitted to bring their own welders to the United States to assemble that bridge, depriving American construction workers the opportunity to get jobs they desperately want and need.
The last sentence of the news report sums it up succinctly:
"And the jobless Texas welders trying to find a way to put dinner on the table tonight don't have anyone to plead their case."
I have made the point that immigration has an impact on so many areas of concern for our nation and certainly the impact that failures to secure our borders against the unlawful entry of the millions of illegal aliens who are currently living and working in our country is an area of great concern. The Italian workers who are doing the work Americans want to do, did not run our nation's borders but were, in fact, granted business visas in order to enter our country and supplant American welders.
The B-1 visas that they were granted are supposed to be used by business people who come to the United States to attend conferences, make purchases of equipment and conduct other functions relating to their businesses. Foreign workers can used Bi1 visas to repair equipment but B-1 visas were never intended to be used by foreign workers coming to our country to replace American workers on construction jobs.
Workers who possess skills that are unavailable to an employer in the United States in a particular city are supposed to apply for visas such as H-1B and H-2B visas. As it now stands, the H1-B Visa Program for skilled workers is loaded with fraud and there are nearly no investigations being routinely conducted about these egregious examples of crimes that harm American workers. H-2B visas are supposed to be used for construction workers but this time an employer has apparently found a way to circumvent the H-2B process altogether by getting the United States Department of State to issue the welders discussed in this article, with B-1 visas and somehow the inspectors at a port of entry simple admitted them into the United States and on to the payroll of a company that, by all right, should have hired American workers!
As I read the article I was compelled to recall how when the administration and the "bobble heads" in the Congress passed the "Economic Stimulus Package" and touted the many "Shovel Ready" jobs that were set to get underway if only the money was made available. I guess I was mistaken as to who was supposed to be doing those jobs!
As you many know, if you have been reading my commentaries for awhile, my dad was a construction worker- he was a plumber. He died more than 40 years ago, in his mid 50's of lung cancer I believe was attributable to his pack a day cigarette habit exacerbated by his exposure to asbestos as a construction worker and as a worker on Navy warships during the Second World War- a job he did because the military refused to accept his offers to enlist.
He was determined to contribute to the effort to enable our country to win that war, but I can recall as though it was yesterday, how many times he would come through the door with a dejected look on his face because he had been laid off from work. My mom's eyes would well up with tears and we resorted to eating tuna fish sandwiches for dinner and put off buying new coats and setting the thermostat at a lower setting- doing whatever we could to cut expenses.
My mom, who could not drive, would often walk to supermarkets that were far from our house because she could save a little money because those stores charged less for bread or milk than the stores that were closer to home.
My dad and his buddies in the construction trades were (and always will be my heroes!) Blue collar Americans personify the "Can do" spirit that built this great nation- doing dangerous, filthy and backbreaking jobs.
Today the government reported that the national unemployment rate had risen to 10.2%, the highest it has been since 1983. This report did not note how many more Americans had given up looking for work. This report did not discuss how many Americans are now being "under employed."
The GAO has recently reported that one in six Americans are now living below the poverty line!
While there are economists who are predicting that the economy is turning around- I disagree! No country can be said to be doing well when its average citizens are not doing well!
Today other men and women, just like my dad, are facing a bleak economic reality. They are unemployed. They don't know how they will pay their bills or feed their kids. They fear they will lose their houses to foreclosure.
When I read about their plight, I am reminded of my early years and my parents' valiant struggle to keep their heads above water!
As more Americans lose their jobs they have less money to spend. Their failure to make purchases threatens the jobs of other Americans creating a vicious circle in which more Americans become unemployed, spending less money, causing still more Americans to lose their jobs! Not addressing the impact of foreign workers on the American worker is insane!
As I have stated before, the enforcement and administration of the immigration laws had been the responsibility of the United States Department of Labor prior to the Second World War because back then the concern was that foreign workers would undercut American workers. It would appear that our government does not really give a damn about the average American today!
So much for "Government of the people, by the people and for the people!
According to the article, eleven Italian welders are assembling the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas, Texas. But the article notes that "tens of thousands of man hours of labor" is being done by foreign workers that should be done by Americans.
You may not think that 11 workers are a big deal when you consider that there are millions of illegal aliens in our country. The point is that I believe that this is the tip of a huge iceberg. As I have noted when I have testified before Congress and when I have testified before legislative hearings conducted on the state level, and at other venues, I have made the point that our nation's entire immigration system is utterly dysfunctional.
The biggest thing that is wrong with the immigration system is not that the immigration laws are bad, it is that those laws are not being enforced!
A job freed up by removing an illegal foreign worker creates a job for an American worker. This is the principle behind worksite enforcement. It is entirely appropriate to penalize employers who intentionally hire illegal aliens but ICE needs to address the other side of the equation- alien workers found to be working illegally need to be arrested, detained and removed from the United States. The stated policy of the current administration of only going after the employers and not the illegal alien employees does not deter illegal immigration.
Furthermore, statements made by the President, members of his administration and members of Congress who speak about their intentions to legalize all of the millions of illegal aliens who are in our country creates a huge incentive for many more aliens to seek to enter our country in violation of law in the hope that they will be able to participate in Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
In 1986, when the first amnesty was enacted, its proponents claimed that no more than 1.5 million illegal aliens would participate in that program that was supposed to be a "one time" program to finally get all of the illegal aliens "out of the shadows." By the time the bureaucratic dust settled, between 3.5 and 4 million illegal aliens availed themselves of that opportunity to be granted lawful status.
Fraud was rampant in that program because the INS lacked the resources to conduct field investigations and we were dealing with aliens who had no way of proving their true identities. There was no way of substantiating their identities or when, where or how they entered the United States.
If the INS was overwhelmed by "only" 3.5 million illegal aliens in 1986 to effectively administer the amnesty of 1986, what will the beleaguered and inept USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) do when 20 million or 30 million applications land on its adjudicators' desks?
I fear that any massive Comprehensive Immigration Reform program would entice many millions of additional illegal aliens to run our nation's borders and claim that they were present in our country for whatever the requisite period of time would be required in order to participate in this duplicitous program.
Here is something else to consider: an issue that further exacerbated the issue of fraud was a provision that prohibited INS agents from sharing information contained in the amnesty files with other law enforcement agencies regardless of what crimes these aliens might have been suspected of committing!
Even if an alien who had acquired lawful status through that amnesty program was wanted for drug trafficking, murder, rape, child molestation, etc., etc, INS agents were ordered to not provide that information to any other law enforcement agency! The purported rationale was that our "leaders" did not want illegal aliens who violated our borders, violated our laws and violated their victims to be intimidated and not come forward to get their green cards and, ultimately, United States citizenship!
Two years ago, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation contained the same provision!
On September 1, 2006 I testified at a field hearing conducted by the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives at Dubuque, Iowa on the topic:
"IS THE REID-KENNEDY BILL A REPEAT OF THE FAILED AMNESTY OF 1986?"Here is the link to the complete transcript of that hearing:
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/judiciary/hju29745.000/hju29745_0.htm
Here is a segment of my prepared testimony at that hearing:
That piece of legislation (the 1986 Amnesty) led to the greatest influx of illegal aliens in the history of our Nation. Fraud and a lack of integrity of the immigration system not only flooded our Nation with illegal aliens who ran our borders, hoping that what had been billed as a one-time amnesty would be repeated, but it also enabled a number of terrorists and many criminals to enter the United States and then embed themselves in our country.
A notable example of such a terrorist can be found in a review of the facts concerning Mahmud Abouhalima, a citizen of Egypt who entered the United States on a tourist visa, overstayed his authorized period of admission and then applied for amnesty under the agricultural worker provisions of IRCA. He succeeded in obtaining resident alien status through this process.
During the 5 year period he drove a cab and had his license suspended numerous times for various violations of law and he ultimately demonstrated his appreciation for our Nation's generosity by participating in the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 that left six people dead, hundreds of people injured and an estimated one-half billion dollars in damages inflicted on that iconic, ill-fated complex.
America had opened his doors to him so that he might participate in the American dream and he turned that dream into our worst nightmare. The other terrorists who attacked our Nation on subsequent attacks, including the attacks of September 11, 2001, similarly exploited our generosity, seeing in our Nation's kindness, weakness, gaming the immigration system to enter our country and then hide in plain sight among us.
As I recall, when IRCA was proposed, one of the selling points was that along with the amnesty for what was believed to have been a population of some 1.5 million illegal aliens would be a new approach to turn off what has been described as the magnet that draws the majority of illegal aliens into the United States in the first place, the prospect of securing employment.
In order to accomplish this important goal, IRCA imposed penalties against those unscrupulous employers who knowingly hired illegal aliens. My former colleagues and I were pleased to see that under the employer sanctions of IRCA, the unscrupulous employers of illegal aliens would finally be made accountable, or so we thought.
Of course, we now know that the relative handful of special agents who were assigned to conduct investigations of employers who hired illegal aliens made it unlikely that employers would face a significant risk of being caught for violating those laws and they would face an even smaller chance of being seriously fined. Furthermore, the way that the amnesty provisions of the law were enacted simply created a cottage industry for fraud document vendors who provided illegal aliens with counterfeit or altered identity documents and supporting documents to enable the illegal alien population to circumvent the immigration laws of the United States.
Ultimately, approximately 3.5 million illegal aliens emerged from the infamous shadows to participate in the amnesty program of 1986.
Our nation's leaders have mortgaged our children's and our grandchildren's futures by siphoning an incredible sum of money out of our economy to supposedly create new jobs to jump start our economy.
The unemployment rate continues to climb and yet there are those "leaders" who still want more foreign workers to come to our country and undercut Americans whose only goal is to pay their bills and support and feed their families!
Those who are pushing for Comprehensive Immigration Reform know that the law, the facts, commonsense and morality are all against their position so they play the only card they have left.
They engage in lying and engaging in name-calling. They claim that anyone who wants to secure our nation's borders are "nativists." They use the term "racist" to describe anyone who calls for securing our borders against unlawful entry of illegal aliens and the creation of an immigration system that has real integrity.
Hear is the reality they don't want to hear (and that they don't want you to hear): America is not a "white" country. Our nation is arguably the most ethnically diverse nation on the face of this planet. As a New Yorker, I can tell you that my home town is home to people of all races, religions, ethnicities and cultures.
Enforcing our nation's borders against illegal entry is not about racism but it is about security and commonsense.
Many of the workers who have become unemployed are members of various minority groups. In fact, it is the minorities who are getting hammered the most by our nation's continuing failures to secure its borders and create an immigration system that has real integrity.
The most likely victim of ethnic organized crime groups and pernicious gangs is a member of the immigrant community. This is true for immigrants from every country and of every ethnicity.
Any politician who refuses to work to secure our borders and create an immigration system that has integrity is either corrupt or too dumb to keep his (her) job.
Any politician, irrespective of party affiliation who favors Comprehensive Immigration Reform should be shown the door at the next election!
If you find yourself to be in agreement with this commentary, I ask that you forward to as many of your friends and family members as possible and encourage them to do the same.
Next year each and every member of the House of Representatives is up for reelection. Next year more than one third of the members of the United States Senate will have to face their constituents.
They need to be reminded that they work for us, We the People!
However, the practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting booth, it only begins there.
The large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups.
There is much that we cannot do but there is one thing that We the People absolutely must do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!
The collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our concerns known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the great majority of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to the politicians.
I implore you to get involved!
Any American who has lost his job certainly has enough time on his (her) hands to get involved!
Any American who fears the loss of his job must make effective use of his spare time to make certain he keeps his job!
If this situation concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional "Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation! You need to politely but pointedly, demand to know what they are doing to protect our nation. You need to ask them how they are protecting you and your families. You can also forward this commentary to them.
All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!
We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.
This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!
You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
-Michael Cutler-
WE MUST KEEP THE PRESSURE ON!!!
More than 25,000 people attended including nearly 2,000 from New Jersey. And your efforts showed results. Congressman John Adler has announced his opposition to Obamacare. Call his office at 732-608-7235 and thank him.And if you live in Congressman Rothman's district (and only if you live there), please call the Congressman at either 201-646-0808 or his DC office at 202-225-5061 and tell him to vote NO on Obamacare.Thanks for your help. We cannot and will not rest until this bill is defeated once and for all. Don't stop now.
Keep the pressure on!
On to Victory,
Steven Lonegan
Keep the pressure on!
On to Victory,
Steven Lonegan
President lies and Pelosi swears to it.
Illegal aliens get benefits in healthcare bill
November 8, 2009
San Diego Immigration Policy Examiner
Carl Braun
“There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants.This, too, is false—the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.”– President Obama, September 9, 2009 to a Joint Session of Congress.
When the smoke cleared last night in the House of Representatives, the score was Speaker Pelosi 220 and the American People 215. The Healthcare Welfare Bill, the single largest piece of legislation ever proposed, passed the House with the slimmest of margins.
All but one Republican, Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana voted against it and 39 Democrats did as well. Still it passed and is headed to the Senate for debate next week. That this sludgislation will eventually pass is all but assured. What it will ultimately contain is still a big question.
One element that will likely cause heated debate in the Senate has to do with coverage for illegal aliens. The President lost his attempt to protect his virtue to Pelosi when she played the race card. How ironic. Madame Speaker pulled in the race team and the twenty Hispanic Caucus votes pushed her over the top proving once and for all what we already knew; Illegal aliens are and always were part of this bill.
In an analysis of the Healthcare Welfare Bill conducted by the Republican Study Committee and Chaired by Congressman Tom Price of Georgia they concluded:
As confirmed in the November 2, 2009 CRS report on immigration and healthcare, “The House bill contains no express restrictions on noncitizens – whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently – accessing and paying for coverage available through the health insurance exchange.”
According to a September 2007 letter from Social Security Administration Commissioner Michael Astrue, a Social Security number would not keep someone from fraudulently receiving coverage under Medicaid or SCHIP if they provided false identifying information. The same will ring true for health coverage under Pelosi’s bill.
In its preliminary score of H.R. 3962, the Congressional Budget Office noted that, in 2019 there would be “about 18 million nonelderly residents uninsured (nearly one third of whom would be unauthorized immigrants).” Thus, unless the number of illegal immigrants is projected to be fewer than 6 million individuals in 2019—nearly half the illegal immigrants currently estimated to be in the U.S.—the CBO score presumes illegals would have health coverage, raising further questions as to whether or not said coverage would be taxpayer-funded.
It is also worth noting that in its preliminary score of H.R. 3200, CBO found that in 2019 there would be “about 17 million nonelderly residents uninsured (nearly half of whom would be unauthorized immigrants).” In other words, the number of projected uninsured who are also illegal immigrants declined from about 8 million under H.R. 3200 to 6 million under H.R. 3962. Many may question what changes in the Pelosi legislation resulted in 2 million illegal immigrants suddenly obtaining health coverage.
This Congress and this President have an agenda and no matter what the American people want, they will do everything they can to see that agenda realized. The American people, for all of their fervor today were asleep at the switch last November when they allowed one party to take total control over the government. That many of these socialist usurpers will be thrown into the streets next November is all but a given. That they will do untold damage to our Republic in the meantime is also guaranteed.
Our country was set up with a system of checks and balances for a reason. Every so often we must be reminded of its importance. Yesterday we received notice, albeit a painful admonition, of what happens when one party, either party, has too much control.
Today, the inmates are running the asylum.
More About: illegal immigration · immigration · Healthcare
WILL THE SENATE BE SMART ENOUGH NOT TO PASS THIS CRAP BILL??!!! WHOEVER VOTES IN FAVOR FACES THE SAME FATE AS CORZINE....
Illegal aliens get benefits in healthcare bill
November 8, 2009
San Diego Immigration Policy Examiner
Carl Braun
“There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants.This, too, is false—the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.”– President Obama, September 9, 2009 to a Joint Session of Congress.
When the smoke cleared last night in the House of Representatives, the score was Speaker Pelosi 220 and the American People 215. The Healthcare Welfare Bill, the single largest piece of legislation ever proposed, passed the House with the slimmest of margins.
All but one Republican, Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana voted against it and 39 Democrats did as well. Still it passed and is headed to the Senate for debate next week. That this sludgislation will eventually pass is all but assured. What it will ultimately contain is still a big question.
One element that will likely cause heated debate in the Senate has to do with coverage for illegal aliens. The President lost his attempt to protect his virtue to Pelosi when she played the race card. How ironic. Madame Speaker pulled in the race team and the twenty Hispanic Caucus votes pushed her over the top proving once and for all what we already knew; Illegal aliens are and always were part of this bill.
In an analysis of the Healthcare Welfare Bill conducted by the Republican Study Committee and Chaired by Congressman Tom Price of Georgia they concluded:
As confirmed in the November 2, 2009 CRS report on immigration and healthcare, “The House bill contains no express restrictions on noncitizens – whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently – accessing and paying for coverage available through the health insurance exchange.”
According to a September 2007 letter from Social Security Administration Commissioner Michael Astrue, a Social Security number would not keep someone from fraudulently receiving coverage under Medicaid or SCHIP if they provided false identifying information. The same will ring true for health coverage under Pelosi’s bill.
In its preliminary score of H.R. 3962, the Congressional Budget Office noted that, in 2019 there would be “about 18 million nonelderly residents uninsured (nearly one third of whom would be unauthorized immigrants).” Thus, unless the number of illegal immigrants is projected to be fewer than 6 million individuals in 2019—nearly half the illegal immigrants currently estimated to be in the U.S.—the CBO score presumes illegals would have health coverage, raising further questions as to whether or not said coverage would be taxpayer-funded.
It is also worth noting that in its preliminary score of H.R. 3200, CBO found that in 2019 there would be “about 17 million nonelderly residents uninsured (nearly half of whom would be unauthorized immigrants).” In other words, the number of projected uninsured who are also illegal immigrants declined from about 8 million under H.R. 3200 to 6 million under H.R. 3962. Many may question what changes in the Pelosi legislation resulted in 2 million illegal immigrants suddenly obtaining health coverage.
This Congress and this President have an agenda and no matter what the American people want, they will do everything they can to see that agenda realized. The American people, for all of their fervor today were asleep at the switch last November when they allowed one party to take total control over the government. That many of these socialist usurpers will be thrown into the streets next November is all but a given. That they will do untold damage to our Republic in the meantime is also guaranteed.
Our country was set up with a system of checks and balances for a reason. Every so often we must be reminded of its importance. Yesterday we received notice, albeit a painful admonition, of what happens when one party, either party, has too much control.
Today, the inmates are running the asylum.
More About: illegal immigration · immigration · Healthcare
WILL THE SENATE BE SMART ENOUGH NOT TO PASS THIS CRAP BILL??!!! WHOEVER VOTES IN FAVOR FACES THE SAME FATE AS CORZINE....
IT'S THE SAME WAR, MR. PRESIDENT!!
Our Muslim-sympathizer-in-chief, Barack Obama, wants us to believe this was an isolated incident with no connection to the Islamic extremism we are battling overseas...he's gotta go!
It’s the Same War, Mr. President!
By Doug Patton Monday, November 9, 2009
The first words out of a person’s mouth, especially in a stressful or crisis situation, are often quite telling. Barack Obama, America’s first openly Marxist president, is no exception. Even though his handlers had plenty of time to craft a message about the terrorist shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, this president’s first reaction was to describe what he sees as the distinction between the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and this latest terrorist attack inside our borders.
Obama’s exact words were, “It is difficult enough when we lose men and women in battles overseas. It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an army base on American soil.” Who do you think we are fighting “overseas,” Mr. President? Do you imagine for a moment this is not the same enemy? Just because Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan didn’t have a shiny new badge in his pocket reading “Junior Al-Qaeda Deputy,” does not preclude him being in the enemy’s camp.
This particular terrorist was born and raised in Virginia, yet he identified himself as Palestinian. He joined the U.S. Army right out of high school, thereby allowing American taxpayers to pay his way through college, medical school, internship and residency over the last two decades. We literally paid for Dr. Hasan to become a 21st century psychiatrist. Yet in the end, his backward, violent 7th century religious beliefs meant more to him than his own country and countrymen. His allegiance is with radical Islam, as evidenced by the fact that he murdered 13 innocent people and wounded 30 others.
And lest you have any doubts about his jihadist intentions or where he allies himself in the War on Terror, he was yelling “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) before pulling the trigger. Of course, the president and the collective leftist media are cautioning against “jumping to conclusions” around the whole politically incorrect notion that this was a clear act of terrorism. Frankly, it’s a pretty short leap. Had this individual been some southern redneck named Billy Bob Jones shouting, “Jesus saves,” while shooting down innocent people, the administration and the press would have been “jumping to conclusions” with both feet. We are being overrun with tales of how this poor, confused man felt persecuted and harassed because of his Muslim faith.
This man complained about American involvement in Muslim countries, advocated violence as a way to protest and tried to convert psychiatric patients to Islam! And after he shoots people, we’re supposed to believe he is the victim? The insinuation seems to be that a man who never saw a day of combat or spent one minute in a live war zone suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) by listening, during counseling sessions, to stories of people who had. That’s a bit like saying I’m entitled to slave reparations because I saw “Amistad.”
As if there needed to be any clearer delineation of the integrity of true American soldiers versus the madness of Islamism, the reports are that as soon as he was neutralized, the other soldiers, his intended victims, took away his gun and immediately began working to save his life. Jihadists cut off civilians heads with rusty knives and murder their own children in the name of the “Religion of Peace.” American soldiers take only the lives necessary to keep us safe, and manage to save a life that even Hasan’s own family has now denounced.
These soldiers didn’t do it because they had to, but because they followed their training. It is endemic to the American ideal that where mercy is given, mercy is shown. The moral relativism that says American soldiers are just as bad as the terrorists is beyond hypocritical.
It is insanity. It is Orwellian “War is Peace/Hate is Love,” insanity. Our Muslim-sympathizer-in-chief, Barack Obama, wants us to believe this was an isolated incident with no connection to the Islamic extremism we are battling overseas; but clear thinking Americans know better. They understand it is the same war.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/16656
There are none so blind as those who refuse to see...
It’s the Same War, Mr. President!
By Doug Patton Monday, November 9, 2009
The first words out of a person’s mouth, especially in a stressful or crisis situation, are often quite telling. Barack Obama, America’s first openly Marxist president, is no exception. Even though his handlers had plenty of time to craft a message about the terrorist shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, this president’s first reaction was to describe what he sees as the distinction between the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and this latest terrorist attack inside our borders.
Obama’s exact words were, “It is difficult enough when we lose men and women in battles overseas. It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an army base on American soil.” Who do you think we are fighting “overseas,” Mr. President? Do you imagine for a moment this is not the same enemy? Just because Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan didn’t have a shiny new badge in his pocket reading “Junior Al-Qaeda Deputy,” does not preclude him being in the enemy’s camp.
This particular terrorist was born and raised in Virginia, yet he identified himself as Palestinian. He joined the U.S. Army right out of high school, thereby allowing American taxpayers to pay his way through college, medical school, internship and residency over the last two decades. We literally paid for Dr. Hasan to become a 21st century psychiatrist. Yet in the end, his backward, violent 7th century religious beliefs meant more to him than his own country and countrymen. His allegiance is with radical Islam, as evidenced by the fact that he murdered 13 innocent people and wounded 30 others.
And lest you have any doubts about his jihadist intentions or where he allies himself in the War on Terror, he was yelling “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) before pulling the trigger. Of course, the president and the collective leftist media are cautioning against “jumping to conclusions” around the whole politically incorrect notion that this was a clear act of terrorism. Frankly, it’s a pretty short leap. Had this individual been some southern redneck named Billy Bob Jones shouting, “Jesus saves,” while shooting down innocent people, the administration and the press would have been “jumping to conclusions” with both feet. We are being overrun with tales of how this poor, confused man felt persecuted and harassed because of his Muslim faith.
This man complained about American involvement in Muslim countries, advocated violence as a way to protest and tried to convert psychiatric patients to Islam! And after he shoots people, we’re supposed to believe he is the victim? The insinuation seems to be that a man who never saw a day of combat or spent one minute in a live war zone suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) by listening, during counseling sessions, to stories of people who had. That’s a bit like saying I’m entitled to slave reparations because I saw “Amistad.”
As if there needed to be any clearer delineation of the integrity of true American soldiers versus the madness of Islamism, the reports are that as soon as he was neutralized, the other soldiers, his intended victims, took away his gun and immediately began working to save his life. Jihadists cut off civilians heads with rusty knives and murder their own children in the name of the “Religion of Peace.” American soldiers take only the lives necessary to keep us safe, and manage to save a life that even Hasan’s own family has now denounced.
These soldiers didn’t do it because they had to, but because they followed their training. It is endemic to the American ideal that where mercy is given, mercy is shown. The moral relativism that says American soldiers are just as bad as the terrorists is beyond hypocritical.
It is insanity. It is Orwellian “War is Peace/Hate is Love,” insanity. Our Muslim-sympathizer-in-chief, Barack Obama, wants us to believe this was an isolated incident with no connection to the Islamic extremism we are battling overseas; but clear thinking Americans know better. They understand it is the same war.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/16656
There are none so blind as those who refuse to see...
SOLDIERS, CORRUPT MEXICAN POLICE OFTEN CLASH WHILE ON PATROL
Soldiers, corrupt Mexican police often clash while on patrol
By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ and JULIE WATSON •
Associated Press Writers •
November 9, 2009
MONTERREY, MEXICO — When soldiers tried to halt a suspicious-looking SUV that was being escorted through Monterrey by a state policeman, the officer radioed for backup. In minutes, police from 40 patrol cars surrounded the troops, drawing their guns and sending the soldiers diving for cover in an hour-long standoff.
Confrontations like that are happening with increasing frequency in Mexico's wealthiest city as soldiers fight corrupt police officers helping drug cartels — in addition to taking on the drug dealers themselves.
This year alone, police and soldiers have confronted one another more than 65 times, The Associated Press has learned — a growing and dangerous trend in the war on drugs.
Things are so bad, the general in charge of army operations in northeastern Mexico told the AP, that he has warned police chiefs his men are ready to open fire on police if it happens again.
"The moment they shoot at us, get in our way, use their guns to protect criminals, they become criminals themselves," said Gen. Guillermo Moreno, who commands troops in Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas states along the Texas border.
President Felipe Calderon has acknowledged that corruption permeates Mexico's low-paid police at all levels and therefore has opted to combat the billion-dollar drug-smuggling industry by relying primarily on the military, which has seen remarkably fewer cases of bribery by traffickers. His administration also has sent in federal police and soldiers, both of whom are higher paid and usually better educated, to go after police on the take.
As a result, distrust between police and soldiers runs high. But nowhere has it exploded like in Monterrey, an industrial hub two hours from Laredo, Texas.
That point was driven home Wednesday with the brazen killing of army Brig. Gen. Juan Arturo Esparza shortly after he was named police chief in the suburb of Garcia. Five Garcia police were among 10 people arrested in the case Thursday.
Most of the problem comes from the fact that Nuevo Leon has not purged corrupt police from its ranks like other states have.
The police chief of Ciudad Juarez — a retired army general — has fired hundreds of officers suspected of corruption in the past year, and the army trains new recruits, many of whom are former soldiers. In western Michoacan state, home to the violent La Familia cartel, state police take regular drug tests and have their guns checked every six months to ensure they have not been used in crimes.
Army generals in charge of each region decide whether to invite state police to work with them, and most have done so. But Moreno said he doesn't trust Nuevo Leon police.
"For the safety of our troops and their families, we carry out our operations by ourselves," he said.
The confrontations have jumped from two in 2008 to 67 this year, Moreno said. They range from soldiers stopping officers who were following them to spy for drug cartels, to exchanges of gunfire with police guarding drug lords. In one incident, a police officer was shot in the leg.
The Oct. 13 standoff involving the soldiers and police from 40 patrol cars ended peacefully, but not before some tense moments captured on video by a TV crew.
The dozens of police who responded to the officer's call for backup lined up to take aim at the troops, who pointed back with high-powered rifles.
Army and police commanders talked face-to-face and ordered their men to stand down. The men obeyed — but not without some resentment.
"We're all in this together, and we should support each other," a police commander is heard telling one of the soldiers on the video.
"No, we're not," the soldier snaps back. "We have arrested many police officers who are not in this with us."
More than 100 Monterrey police officers have been detained this year on suspicion of links to organized crime. Soldiers have found officers referenced in lists seized from drug traffickers detailing who was receiving bribes.
Many police are suspected of working for the Zetas, a group of former army soldiers-turned-enforcers for the cartel known for its meticulous record-keeping as much as its brutal tactics.
Those arrested include two Nuevo Leon state officers accused of taking part in the abduction of nine soldiers allegedly in retaliation for the army's anti-drug operations.
Officials recently detained two other officers from the same force on suspicion of kidnapping two army lieutenants who were moonlighting as bodyguards for a lawyer. They have not been seen since Sept. 25.
"We believe a significant percentage of these officers have links to organized crime, either by collusion or because they were intimidated and are afraid," Moreno said.
Acting on his recommendations, state authorities in June banned officers from using cell phones during work hours to try to prevent them from tipping off criminals to raids by soldiers and federal agents. They also stripped most state and city police officers of their automatic rifles — to protect troops.
Esparza's slaying four days after his appointment was the third time a military officer hired to professionalize a city police force in Mexico has been killed this year.
More than three dozen gunmen in about 10 SUVs ambushed and killed Esparza. Two former soldiers and two Garcia police officers accompanying him also were killed.
Monterrey Mayor Fernando Larrazabal has ordered the city's 1,000 traffic officers off the streets while his administration makes sure they are clean. He said officers will undergo polygraph tests, and a new citizen-run council will investigate police corruption.
The state's new security secretary, Carlos Jauregui, did not respond to an AP request to detail his plan.
Mexico's top federal cop, Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna, says the only way to resolve the problem is to get rid of the low-paid city police forces, many of which have seen little improvement after being purged repeatedly in the past decade.
He wants to create state law enforcement agencies to oversee Mexico's 31 states and the federal district of Mexico City. The government would raise officers' salaries significantly to deter bribery.
Garcia Luna presented his ideas to state police chiefs who met last week to discuss a report on police that calls city police "an easy target for corruption." It said more than 60 percent of the 159,734 city police receive monthly salaries of only 4,000 pesos (about $300). Most have less than 10 years' education, and many are illiterate.
Incorporating them into state forces would help prevent organized crime from corrupting them, the report said.
"In Mexico, infiltration by organized crime among local police ranks is very widespread," said Martin Barron, a national security specialist at the National Institute of Criminal Justice, a government think-tank. "Police are so low paid that unfortunately they have to make up for that, and they do so through corruption — either by asking for bribes from citizens, passing information to the cartels, turning their heads or doing other things for the gangs."
U.S. anti-drug officials have long complained that corruption among Mexican police has hindered cross-border efforts to fight drug cartels. But they say Mexico has made great strides to clean up forces, especially on the federal level, and the two nations' law enforcement are working closer than ever before.
Nevertheless, Mexican federal officers, like soldiers, often find themselves working in areas surrounded by state and local police on the take.
Police concede that corruption in their forces has helped the cartels build deep criminal networks across Mexico. But they seethe at the condescending attitude of more than 45,000 troops sent to drug hot spots. Police say soldiers often treat them as if they are all corrupt.
"It's humiliating," said Jorge Castaneda, a 23-year veteran of the Monterrey police. "They pull you from your patrol car. They take away your cell phone, if you have one, and they even take your gun. We're here because we want to wear this uniform, but people don't appreciate our work."
THIS IS PROBABLY WHY IT WOULD BE A GREAT IDEA TO SEAL THE FRIGGIN BORDERS MR. PRESIDENT.....................
By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ and JULIE WATSON •
Associated Press Writers •
November 9, 2009
MONTERREY, MEXICO — When soldiers tried to halt a suspicious-looking SUV that was being escorted through Monterrey by a state policeman, the officer radioed for backup. In minutes, police from 40 patrol cars surrounded the troops, drawing their guns and sending the soldiers diving for cover in an hour-long standoff.
Confrontations like that are happening with increasing frequency in Mexico's wealthiest city as soldiers fight corrupt police officers helping drug cartels — in addition to taking on the drug dealers themselves.
This year alone, police and soldiers have confronted one another more than 65 times, The Associated Press has learned — a growing and dangerous trend in the war on drugs.
Things are so bad, the general in charge of army operations in northeastern Mexico told the AP, that he has warned police chiefs his men are ready to open fire on police if it happens again.
"The moment they shoot at us, get in our way, use their guns to protect criminals, they become criminals themselves," said Gen. Guillermo Moreno, who commands troops in Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas states along the Texas border.
President Felipe Calderon has acknowledged that corruption permeates Mexico's low-paid police at all levels and therefore has opted to combat the billion-dollar drug-smuggling industry by relying primarily on the military, which has seen remarkably fewer cases of bribery by traffickers. His administration also has sent in federal police and soldiers, both of whom are higher paid and usually better educated, to go after police on the take.
As a result, distrust between police and soldiers runs high. But nowhere has it exploded like in Monterrey, an industrial hub two hours from Laredo, Texas.
That point was driven home Wednesday with the brazen killing of army Brig. Gen. Juan Arturo Esparza shortly after he was named police chief in the suburb of Garcia. Five Garcia police were among 10 people arrested in the case Thursday.
Most of the problem comes from the fact that Nuevo Leon has not purged corrupt police from its ranks like other states have.
The police chief of Ciudad Juarez — a retired army general — has fired hundreds of officers suspected of corruption in the past year, and the army trains new recruits, many of whom are former soldiers. In western Michoacan state, home to the violent La Familia cartel, state police take regular drug tests and have their guns checked every six months to ensure they have not been used in crimes.
Army generals in charge of each region decide whether to invite state police to work with them, and most have done so. But Moreno said he doesn't trust Nuevo Leon police.
"For the safety of our troops and their families, we carry out our operations by ourselves," he said.
The confrontations have jumped from two in 2008 to 67 this year, Moreno said. They range from soldiers stopping officers who were following them to spy for drug cartels, to exchanges of gunfire with police guarding drug lords. In one incident, a police officer was shot in the leg.
The Oct. 13 standoff involving the soldiers and police from 40 patrol cars ended peacefully, but not before some tense moments captured on video by a TV crew.
The dozens of police who responded to the officer's call for backup lined up to take aim at the troops, who pointed back with high-powered rifles.
Army and police commanders talked face-to-face and ordered their men to stand down. The men obeyed — but not without some resentment.
"We're all in this together, and we should support each other," a police commander is heard telling one of the soldiers on the video.
"No, we're not," the soldier snaps back. "We have arrested many police officers who are not in this with us."
More than 100 Monterrey police officers have been detained this year on suspicion of links to organized crime. Soldiers have found officers referenced in lists seized from drug traffickers detailing who was receiving bribes.
Many police are suspected of working for the Zetas, a group of former army soldiers-turned-enforcers for the cartel known for its meticulous record-keeping as much as its brutal tactics.
Those arrested include two Nuevo Leon state officers accused of taking part in the abduction of nine soldiers allegedly in retaliation for the army's anti-drug operations.
Officials recently detained two other officers from the same force on suspicion of kidnapping two army lieutenants who were moonlighting as bodyguards for a lawyer. They have not been seen since Sept. 25.
"We believe a significant percentage of these officers have links to organized crime, either by collusion or because they were intimidated and are afraid," Moreno said.
Acting on his recommendations, state authorities in June banned officers from using cell phones during work hours to try to prevent them from tipping off criminals to raids by soldiers and federal agents. They also stripped most state and city police officers of their automatic rifles — to protect troops.
Esparza's slaying four days after his appointment was the third time a military officer hired to professionalize a city police force in Mexico has been killed this year.
More than three dozen gunmen in about 10 SUVs ambushed and killed Esparza. Two former soldiers and two Garcia police officers accompanying him also were killed.
Monterrey Mayor Fernando Larrazabal has ordered the city's 1,000 traffic officers off the streets while his administration makes sure they are clean. He said officers will undergo polygraph tests, and a new citizen-run council will investigate police corruption.
The state's new security secretary, Carlos Jauregui, did not respond to an AP request to detail his plan.
Mexico's top federal cop, Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna, says the only way to resolve the problem is to get rid of the low-paid city police forces, many of which have seen little improvement after being purged repeatedly in the past decade.
He wants to create state law enforcement agencies to oversee Mexico's 31 states and the federal district of Mexico City. The government would raise officers' salaries significantly to deter bribery.
Garcia Luna presented his ideas to state police chiefs who met last week to discuss a report on police that calls city police "an easy target for corruption." It said more than 60 percent of the 159,734 city police receive monthly salaries of only 4,000 pesos (about $300). Most have less than 10 years' education, and many are illiterate.
Incorporating them into state forces would help prevent organized crime from corrupting them, the report said.
"In Mexico, infiltration by organized crime among local police ranks is very widespread," said Martin Barron, a national security specialist at the National Institute of Criminal Justice, a government think-tank. "Police are so low paid that unfortunately they have to make up for that, and they do so through corruption — either by asking for bribes from citizens, passing information to the cartels, turning their heads or doing other things for the gangs."
U.S. anti-drug officials have long complained that corruption among Mexican police has hindered cross-border efforts to fight drug cartels. But they say Mexico has made great strides to clean up forces, especially on the federal level, and the two nations' law enforcement are working closer than ever before.
Nevertheless, Mexican federal officers, like soldiers, often find themselves working in areas surrounded by state and local police on the take.
Police concede that corruption in their forces has helped the cartels build deep criminal networks across Mexico. But they seethe at the condescending attitude of more than 45,000 troops sent to drug hot spots. Police say soldiers often treat them as if they are all corrupt.
"It's humiliating," said Jorge Castaneda, a 23-year veteran of the Monterrey police. "They pull you from your patrol car. They take away your cell phone, if you have one, and they even take your gun. We're here because we want to wear this uniform, but people don't appreciate our work."
THIS IS PROBABLY WHY IT WOULD BE A GREAT IDEA TO SEAL THE FRIGGIN BORDERS MR. PRESIDENT.....................
Sunday, November 8, 2009
SURPRISE, SURPRISE; LAND TRANSFER DEAL RAISES QUESTIONS
Land transfer deal raises questions
November 6, 2009
Asbury Park Press
In the Oct. 12 article "Land planned for corporate park in Lakewood subject to hearings," the Press reported that Cedarbridge Development Corp. purchased the land to be developed as a corporate park from Lakewood for $10 and sold it to Somerset Development for $9 million..
The article failed to address several important questions: Why was the $9 million transferred to a special interest group, Beth Medrash Govoha Yeshiva Educational Fund, instead of being held in escrow? Has there been an accounting of how the fund reinvested the $9 million? How will the money be used to develop the Cambridge Corporate Park?
Where is the resolution that gave the deputy mayor the authority to sign the contract and the deed to sell the land to Cedarbridge for $10? Why do the documents indicate the transfer to the education fund took place in March 2003 when Deputy Mayor Meir Lichtenstein signed the title documents on March 17, 2005?
It appears the Township Committee's negotiations on this were conducted behind closed doors. The lack of transparency makes it appear the committee acted to serve a special interest group and not the township.
Regardless of the reasons cited for the failure of Somerset and Cedarbridge to develop the corporate park as required by contract, the $9 million belongs to Lakewood taxpayers and should be deposited in escrow for the development of the Cedarbridge Corporate Park. And the land should be returned to the rightful owners — the taxpayers — and held until it has been determined how the park will be developed.
John W. Gage
LAKEWOOD
_________________________________________________________
COMMENTS:
agate5 wrote:
This stuff happens in Lakewood all the time. And I totally agree with John, the money should be put into escrow. Enough is Enough
ShoreToDecline wrote:
This is a great article as I myself was left scratching my head when I read the original ones pertaining to this transaction. How did it not raise more eyebrows is what I'm left wondering. Well, that and how was this not illegal in the first place? Federal law enforcement (since state doesn't seem up to the task) really need to step in here before the town is left bankrupt and destroyed.
IfIknewthen wrote:
Even more questionable. Committeeman, Robert Singer was given a seat on the Bd of Directors of an AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION for $50,000 per year by BMG shortly after voting in favor of this deal. When challenged about this he said "I have a family to feed." We need the feds to look into Lakewood's land transfers, HUD, Section 8 operations, Bd of Ed expenditures, NOW.
beachn8iv wrote:
Replying to IfIknewthen:
Even more questionable. Committeeman, Robert Singer was given a seat on the Bd of Directors of an AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION for $50,000 per year by BMG shortly after voting in favor of this deal. When challenged about this he said "I have a family to feed." We need the feds to look into Lakewood's land transfers, HUD, Section 8 operations, Bd of Ed expenditures, NOW.Yeah, Mazel tov with that. I guess you have to yet figure out who's running that little town.
thomcu wrote:
Special interests in Lakewood? Nah!
StoshTheMan wrote:
This whole thing stinks on ice. Since the Vaad backed the wrong horse, and the governor elect is an anti-corruption guy, maybe this, and other shady deals, will start to get some attention.
DIXIEDINER wrote:
The citizens of Lakewood were seriously cheated out of nearly $10 million.There is clearly a prima facie case here for illegal transfer of property.Remember Mayor of Newark Sharpe James ?Where are the funds and where are they being used and managed?Had the town sold the property for near what it was later sold for there would be no questions; hhence it is time for the AG to step in and clear the air.Is Dwork an advisor here?
tru2tom wrote:
Watch out Lakewood!This particular"special interest group"has taken over other places who allowed this Hasidic sect to buy its land.Just in the last few months in NY,these people have been responsible for using a private home to butcher a cow.This home had not received a CO because it added illegal school rooms.Although they received a fine the house and schoolrooms are still there.They also slaughter chickens.The remains of the chickens have feathered the streets and polluted our streams and waters.The Rabbi refused to pay the fine.They received $160 million of the stimulus package for a slaughter house which hasn't been built, has no permits and is opposed by the community.These people have no consideration for our laws or community relations.If Lakewood allows them to get away with this watch how quickly they take over.The Hasidim contribute to a campaign and then vote as a bloc.The bloc vote has elected the choice of the Hasidim.They have destroyed Ramapo and Lakewood is next!
November 6, 2009
Asbury Park Press
In the Oct. 12 article "Land planned for corporate park in Lakewood subject to hearings," the Press reported that Cedarbridge Development Corp. purchased the land to be developed as a corporate park from Lakewood for $10 and sold it to Somerset Development for $9 million..
The article failed to address several important questions: Why was the $9 million transferred to a special interest group, Beth Medrash Govoha Yeshiva Educational Fund, instead of being held in escrow? Has there been an accounting of how the fund reinvested the $9 million? How will the money be used to develop the Cambridge Corporate Park?
Where is the resolution that gave the deputy mayor the authority to sign the contract and the deed to sell the land to Cedarbridge for $10? Why do the documents indicate the transfer to the education fund took place in March 2003 when Deputy Mayor Meir Lichtenstein signed the title documents on March 17, 2005?
It appears the Township Committee's negotiations on this were conducted behind closed doors. The lack of transparency makes it appear the committee acted to serve a special interest group and not the township.
Regardless of the reasons cited for the failure of Somerset and Cedarbridge to develop the corporate park as required by contract, the $9 million belongs to Lakewood taxpayers and should be deposited in escrow for the development of the Cedarbridge Corporate Park. And the land should be returned to the rightful owners — the taxpayers — and held until it has been determined how the park will be developed.
John W. Gage
LAKEWOOD
_________________________________________________________
COMMENTS:
agate5 wrote:
This stuff happens in Lakewood all the time. And I totally agree with John, the money should be put into escrow. Enough is Enough
ShoreToDecline wrote:
This is a great article as I myself was left scratching my head when I read the original ones pertaining to this transaction. How did it not raise more eyebrows is what I'm left wondering. Well, that and how was this not illegal in the first place? Federal law enforcement (since state doesn't seem up to the task) really need to step in here before the town is left bankrupt and destroyed.
IfIknewthen wrote:
Even more questionable. Committeeman, Robert Singer was given a seat on the Bd of Directors of an AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION for $50,000 per year by BMG shortly after voting in favor of this deal. When challenged about this he said "I have a family to feed." We need the feds to look into Lakewood's land transfers, HUD, Section 8 operations, Bd of Ed expenditures, NOW.
beachn8iv wrote:
Replying to IfIknewthen:
Even more questionable. Committeeman, Robert Singer was given a seat on the Bd of Directors of an AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION for $50,000 per year by BMG shortly after voting in favor of this deal. When challenged about this he said "I have a family to feed." We need the feds to look into Lakewood's land transfers, HUD, Section 8 operations, Bd of Ed expenditures, NOW.Yeah, Mazel tov with that. I guess you have to yet figure out who's running that little town.
thomcu wrote:
Special interests in Lakewood? Nah!
StoshTheMan wrote:
This whole thing stinks on ice. Since the Vaad backed the wrong horse, and the governor elect is an anti-corruption guy, maybe this, and other shady deals, will start to get some attention.
DIXIEDINER wrote:
The citizens of Lakewood were seriously cheated out of nearly $10 million.There is clearly a prima facie case here for illegal transfer of property.Remember Mayor of Newark Sharpe James ?Where are the funds and where are they being used and managed?Had the town sold the property for near what it was later sold for there would be no questions; hhence it is time for the AG to step in and clear the air.Is Dwork an advisor here?
tru2tom wrote:
Watch out Lakewood!This particular"special interest group"has taken over other places who allowed this Hasidic sect to buy its land.Just in the last few months in NY,these people have been responsible for using a private home to butcher a cow.This home had not received a CO because it added illegal school rooms.Although they received a fine the house and schoolrooms are still there.They also slaughter chickens.The remains of the chickens have feathered the streets and polluted our streams and waters.The Rabbi refused to pay the fine.They received $160 million of the stimulus package for a slaughter house which hasn't been built, has no permits and is opposed by the community.These people have no consideration for our laws or community relations.If Lakewood allows them to get away with this watch how quickly they take over.The Hasidim contribute to a campaign and then vote as a bloc.The bloc vote has elected the choice of the Hasidim.They have destroyed Ramapo and Lakewood is next!
Monday, November 2, 2009
SOMETHING SMELLS FISHY IN THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY
Meanwhile, pay no attention to this drug bust in NJ.
Posted by Moe Lane (Profile)
Saturday, October 31st
The Corzine campaign wants it made CLEAR that Jason Shih is in no way, shape, or form involved with the releection campaign; that Mr. Shih is certainly not an assistant campaign director or staffer for the campaign; that they have no idea who Mr. Shih would even be, let alone why he would claim such a status; or why he would claim that the car that he was driving at the time of his drug bust was rented by the campaign, or why there were tickets to an Obama rally and other campaign paraphernalia mixed in with the drug paraphernalia.
Understand? They want it made CLEAR.
AND I HAVE A BRIDGE FOR SALE IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED....
Posted by Moe Lane (Profile)
Saturday, October 31st
The Corzine campaign wants it made CLEAR that Jason Shih is in no way, shape, or form involved with the releection campaign; that Mr. Shih is certainly not an assistant campaign director or staffer for the campaign; that they have no idea who Mr. Shih would even be, let alone why he would claim such a status; or why he would claim that the car that he was driving at the time of his drug bust was rented by the campaign, or why there were tickets to an Obama rally and other campaign paraphernalia mixed in with the drug paraphernalia.
Understand? They want it made CLEAR.
AND I HAVE A BRIDGE FOR SALE IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED....
AMERICA'S BIGGEST LITTLE ELECTION
The Point: America's Biggest Little Election
11/2/09
(Nov. 2) -- There are only two congressional elections Tuesday, but one of them is turning out to be a real doozy. In what pundits are treating as a microcosm of the battle for the soul of the GOP, Republican Dede Scozzafava abruptly quit the race in New York's 23rd District and endorsed a Democrat instead of the Conservative Party candidate.
Pressure from conservatives who rallied around third-party challenger Doug Hoffman -- including such potential Republican presidential candidates as Sarah Palin and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty -- forced Scozzafava to give up. Another possible 2012 contender, Newt Gingrich, took a pounding from the right for backing Scozzafava. Gingrich threw his support to Hoffman after her withdrawal but warned against letting conservative leaders "anoint people without regard to ... local choices.
"Scozzafava was picked by Republican county leaders, but critics blasted her as the choice of inside-the-Beltway Republicans, not grassroots conservatives. The state assemblywoman who supports gay rights and abortion rights -- and who's married to a labor activist -- was branded a "radical leftist" by conservative bloggers such as Michelle Malkin.GOP leaders hope Scozzafava's departure will clear the way for voters to unite behind Hoffman. Although she threw her support to Democrat Bill Owens, saying he'd be best for the district, her campaign manager jumped to the Hoffman camp.
Owens was looking to split his opposition to win the House seat for his party for the first time in more than a century. Now that it's a two-man race, surveys indicate the contest is still close. Hoffman said he needs Scozzafava's supporters to win.
Polling guru Nate Silver called the race "utterly fascinating" and "nearly impossible to forecast."The political calculus of this contest is so complex that an outcome which emboldens conservatives could also be good news for liberals. "Palin's exclusionary, storm-the-barricades brand of Republicanism" will hurt the party in the long run, Politics Daily's Jill Lawrence predicted.
A victory for the Tea Party movement in NY-23 will signal a new phase in "The Great Purge," according to Washington Monthly's Steve Benen. The New York Times' Frank Rich even raised the specter of Stalinism.
Rich noted it was President Obama's decision to appoint Rep. John McHugh as secretary of the Army that led to this special election. His Halloween column called it a "devilish political move" that has triggered a bloody civil war within the GOP. Given all the hand-wringing in New York, the candidates in Tuesday's other special election to fill an open House seat probably don't mind being overlooked.
In California's 10th Congressional District, Democrat John Garamendi is facing Republican David Harmer -- and nobody is worried about how the outcome will affect either party.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HOW THEY MENTION THE TEA PARTY.
EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN ELECTED AND ARE ROYALLY FORGETTING WHAT THEIR COLLECTIVE PURPOSES ARE, SHOULD ALSO WORRY ABOUT THE INFLUENCE OF THE TEA PARTIES ALL ACROSS THIS GREAT NATION.
THE LION HAS AWOKEN!!
CAN YOU HEAR US NOW?????!!!!!
GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!
11/2/09
(Nov. 2) -- There are only two congressional elections Tuesday, but one of them is turning out to be a real doozy. In what pundits are treating as a microcosm of the battle for the soul of the GOP, Republican Dede Scozzafava abruptly quit the race in New York's 23rd District and endorsed a Democrat instead of the Conservative Party candidate.
Pressure from conservatives who rallied around third-party challenger Doug Hoffman -- including such potential Republican presidential candidates as Sarah Palin and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty -- forced Scozzafava to give up. Another possible 2012 contender, Newt Gingrich, took a pounding from the right for backing Scozzafava. Gingrich threw his support to Hoffman after her withdrawal but warned against letting conservative leaders "anoint people without regard to ... local choices.
"Scozzafava was picked by Republican county leaders, but critics blasted her as the choice of inside-the-Beltway Republicans, not grassroots conservatives. The state assemblywoman who supports gay rights and abortion rights -- and who's married to a labor activist -- was branded a "radical leftist" by conservative bloggers such as Michelle Malkin.GOP leaders hope Scozzafava's departure will clear the way for voters to unite behind Hoffman. Although she threw her support to Democrat Bill Owens, saying he'd be best for the district, her campaign manager jumped to the Hoffman camp.
Owens was looking to split his opposition to win the House seat for his party for the first time in more than a century. Now that it's a two-man race, surveys indicate the contest is still close. Hoffman said he needs Scozzafava's supporters to win.
Polling guru Nate Silver called the race "utterly fascinating" and "nearly impossible to forecast."The political calculus of this contest is so complex that an outcome which emboldens conservatives could also be good news for liberals. "Palin's exclusionary, storm-the-barricades brand of Republicanism" will hurt the party in the long run, Politics Daily's Jill Lawrence predicted.
A victory for the Tea Party movement in NY-23 will signal a new phase in "The Great Purge," according to Washington Monthly's Steve Benen. The New York Times' Frank Rich even raised the specter of Stalinism.
Rich noted it was President Obama's decision to appoint Rep. John McHugh as secretary of the Army that led to this special election. His Halloween column called it a "devilish political move" that has triggered a bloody civil war within the GOP. Given all the hand-wringing in New York, the candidates in Tuesday's other special election to fill an open House seat probably don't mind being overlooked.
In California's 10th Congressional District, Democrat John Garamendi is facing Republican David Harmer -- and nobody is worried about how the outcome will affect either party.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HOW THEY MENTION THE TEA PARTY.
EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN ELECTED AND ARE ROYALLY FORGETTING WHAT THEIR COLLECTIVE PURPOSES ARE, SHOULD ALSO WORRY ABOUT THE INFLUENCE OF THE TEA PARTIES ALL ACROSS THIS GREAT NATION.
THE LION HAS AWOKEN!!
CAN YOU HEAR US NOW?????!!!!!
GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
US CONTROLS ONLY 10 (TEN) PERCENT OF IT'S BORDERS
Report: U.S. Controls Only 10 Percent Of Its Border
October 19, 2009
by Personal Liberty News Desk
The Department of Homeland Security’s Annual Performance Report suggests that out of 8,607 miles of America’s land borders, the government effectively controls only 894 miles, which is a bit more than 10 percent. As a result, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has blasted the government for its failure to increase control of U.S. borders and suggested the report boosts the case against the administration’s plans to promote an illegal alien amnesty in 2010, which FAIR calls " ill-conceived."
"The DHS report makes it very clear that another divisive debate about granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens must be scrapped," says the organization’s president Dan Stein."The federal government must set meaningful standards for securing our borders … and devote the resources and manpower necessary to keep our nation safe and achieve dramatic reduction in illegal immigration," he adds.
Earlier this month, FAIR has also criticized the administration and congressional leaders for their failure to permanently reauthorize the E-Verify program. The program is a worksite verification tool that allows employers to voluntarily determine whether workers are legally authorized to work in the U.S. by electronically checking their Social Security numbers.
Over the objections of immigration reform advocates, a House-Senate conference committee had voted to extend E-Verify for only three years.
October 19, 2009
by Personal Liberty News Desk
The Department of Homeland Security’s Annual Performance Report suggests that out of 8,607 miles of America’s land borders, the government effectively controls only 894 miles, which is a bit more than 10 percent. As a result, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has blasted the government for its failure to increase control of U.S. borders and suggested the report boosts the case against the administration’s plans to promote an illegal alien amnesty in 2010, which FAIR calls " ill-conceived."
"The DHS report makes it very clear that another divisive debate about granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens must be scrapped," says the organization’s president Dan Stein."The federal government must set meaningful standards for securing our borders … and devote the resources and manpower necessary to keep our nation safe and achieve dramatic reduction in illegal immigration," he adds.
Earlier this month, FAIR has also criticized the administration and congressional leaders for their failure to permanently reauthorize the E-Verify program. The program is a worksite verification tool that allows employers to voluntarily determine whether workers are legally authorized to work in the U.S. by electronically checking their Social Security numbers.
Over the objections of immigration reform advocates, a House-Senate conference committee had voted to extend E-Verify for only three years.
Friday, October 30, 2009
FEAR AND FURY OVER SIGN POSTED IN LAKEWOOD
Fear and fury over sign posted in Lakewood
By ZACH PATBERG • TOMS RIVER BUREAU •
October 30, 2009
LAKEWOOD — An obscure sign on a dilapidated Second Street house has spread fear and fury over one business owner's threat to start a volunteer immigration watchdog group in an effort to clean up the downtown commercial district.
Day laborers waiting for work Thursday morning could not help but notice the sign hanging between boarded-up windows across the street: "Coming Soon To This Location ICE: Immigration & Customs Enforcement Volunteer Corps."
One laborer said he was worried 'they were going to pick up the people' like himself who were undocumented immigrants.
But Hershel Herskowitz, owner of Toys For Thought, who put up the sign, said the message was not intended for day laborers but for downtown Hispanic-owned storefronts that he accused of engaging in criminal activity such as drugs and money laundering.
"I'm hoping that this will be a wake-up call for our town to our landlords that have allowed a certain element to come into the downtown," Herskowitz said in a video posted on The Lakewood Scoop blog site as well as YouTube. "I hope no one misunderstands this as anti-Hispanic or any way a racist statement. We are merely trying to point out that we have businesses in downtown that are not legitimate businesses."
Immigrant advocates, however, failed to see the sign as anything but an intimidation tactic for undocumented Hispanics.
"It's unthinkable that in Lakewood, where we're supposed to be building tolerance and respect, we'd find a something like this," said Lydia Valencia, CEO of Puerto Rican Congress of New Jersey, based in Lakewood.
She said she has received several calls and emails from those concerned about the sign since it went up over the weekend. Yet it's unclear whether such an immigration group would be valid. I.C.E. Spokesman Harold Ort said no volunteer corps' exist within the agency. And, while he has included the I.C.E. name and seal on the sign, Herskowitz said the group would have no affiliation with I.C.E. He added he plans to renovate the site of the rundown house into a four-story office and retail building. A volunteer immigration enforcement office will likely never be part of the plans, Herskowitz admitted, calling the sign more of a warning.
"We're not quite sure what he's trying to accomplish," Mayor Robert Singer said. "But we can't stop someone from doing something like this if it's legal."
Zach Patberg: (732) 557-5739 or zpatberg@app.com
THESE ADVOCATES FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS MUST BE HIGH!!! ARE THEY SERIOUSLY TRYING TO CLAIM THAT LAKEWOOD IS ENGAGING IN FORCING THE RESIDENTS OF LAKEWOOD TO BE "TOLERANT" OF ILLEGAL ALIEN ACTIVITY????!!!
GOOD FOR THIS STORE OWNER!!!!!!!
WHEN HE SERIOUSLY CONSIDERS ASKING FOR VOLUNTEERS FOR HIS IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENTS MEMBERS COUNT ME IN!!!!!! HECK I'LL BE THE FIRST TO SIGN UP FOLKS!
IF THE ILLEGAL ALIEN DAY LABORERS, WHO ARE NOT PAYING A DIME IN LABOR TAXES OR STATE TAXES; BUT ARE MAGICALLY RECEIVING FREE EDUCATION FOR THEIR ILLEGAL CHILDREN; AND FREE HEALTH CARE FOR THEIR ENTIRE FAMILIES AND ALL THE BABIES THEY ARE BRINGING INTO LAKEWOOD; DON'T LIKE THE FACT THAT THERE ARE ACTUALLY SOME TRUE BLUE AMERICAN CITIZENS, WHO DO PAY TAXES; THAT OBJECT TO LAW BREAKERS!!!
YOU ARE BREAKING THE LAW - DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHY AMERICANS ARE ANGRY? WHY AMERICANS ARE RESENTFUL OF YOUR FREE; FREE; FREE; MENTALITY; OFF THE BACKS OF HARD WORKING AMERICANS?!!!
YOU ARE NOT LEGALLY ALLOWED TO WORK IN THIS COUNTRY IF YOU ARE HERE ILLEGALLY IN THIS COUNTRY. IF YOU NEED HELP UNDERSTANDING THIS CONCEPT PLEASE LOOK TO YOUR OWN COUNTRY AND TELL ME WHAT "THEY" DO WITH ILLEGAL ALIENS!!!!!!!!!!!
I DON'T HAVE AN OUNCE OF PITY FOR ANY OF YOU - YOU HAVE THROWN IN OUR COLLECTIVE FACES THAT YOU DON'T GIVE A RATS ASS ABOUT OUR LAWS; YOU BREAK THEM AT WILL. YOU DON'T LIKE IT; YOU BREAK IT. AND YOU FEEL YOUR SOMEHOW JUSTIFIED IN DOING SO!!!!!! WELL, YOUR NOT!!
GOD BLESS AMERICA - THE GREATEST, MOST TOLERATE, COUNTRY AND ILLEGAL ALIENS KNOW IT AND TAKE GREAT ADVANTAGE OF IT. MEN AND WOMEN SHED THEIR BLOOD FOR OUR FREEDOMS EVERY SINGLE DAY - YET YOU WALTZ INTO OUR NATION ON THEIR BLOOD AND TRULY BELIEVE WE WOULD HAVE OPEN ARMS FOR ANY OF YOU???!!!! THINK AGAIN!!
WORK YOUR WAY THROUGH THE SYSTEM LIKE EVERY ONE OF MY ANCESTORS DID! THEN I'LL HAVE RESPECT FOR YOU. UNTIL THEN YOUR NOTHING BUT A LAW BREAKING ILLEGAL ALIEN WHO IS TAKING AWAY FROM MINE AND MY GRANDCHILDREN WHO HAVE A RIGHT TO WHAT YOU ARE STEALING!!!
A PISTED OFF AMERICAN !!
By ZACH PATBERG • TOMS RIVER BUREAU •
October 30, 2009
LAKEWOOD — An obscure sign on a dilapidated Second Street house has spread fear and fury over one business owner's threat to start a volunteer immigration watchdog group in an effort to clean up the downtown commercial district.
Day laborers waiting for work Thursday morning could not help but notice the sign hanging between boarded-up windows across the street: "Coming Soon To This Location ICE: Immigration & Customs Enforcement Volunteer Corps."
One laborer said he was worried 'they were going to pick up the people' like himself who were undocumented immigrants.
But Hershel Herskowitz, owner of Toys For Thought, who put up the sign, said the message was not intended for day laborers but for downtown Hispanic-owned storefronts that he accused of engaging in criminal activity such as drugs and money laundering.
"I'm hoping that this will be a wake-up call for our town to our landlords that have allowed a certain element to come into the downtown," Herskowitz said in a video posted on The Lakewood Scoop blog site as well as YouTube. "I hope no one misunderstands this as anti-Hispanic or any way a racist statement. We are merely trying to point out that we have businesses in downtown that are not legitimate businesses."
Immigrant advocates, however, failed to see the sign as anything but an intimidation tactic for undocumented Hispanics.
"It's unthinkable that in Lakewood, where we're supposed to be building tolerance and respect, we'd find a something like this," said Lydia Valencia, CEO of Puerto Rican Congress of New Jersey, based in Lakewood.
She said she has received several calls and emails from those concerned about the sign since it went up over the weekend. Yet it's unclear whether such an immigration group would be valid. I.C.E. Spokesman Harold Ort said no volunteer corps' exist within the agency. And, while he has included the I.C.E. name and seal on the sign, Herskowitz said the group would have no affiliation with I.C.E. He added he plans to renovate the site of the rundown house into a four-story office and retail building. A volunteer immigration enforcement office will likely never be part of the plans, Herskowitz admitted, calling the sign more of a warning.
"We're not quite sure what he's trying to accomplish," Mayor Robert Singer said. "But we can't stop someone from doing something like this if it's legal."
Zach Patberg: (732) 557-5739 or zpatberg@app.com
THESE ADVOCATES FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS MUST BE HIGH!!! ARE THEY SERIOUSLY TRYING TO CLAIM THAT LAKEWOOD IS ENGAGING IN FORCING THE RESIDENTS OF LAKEWOOD TO BE "TOLERANT" OF ILLEGAL ALIEN ACTIVITY????!!!
GOOD FOR THIS STORE OWNER!!!!!!!
WHEN HE SERIOUSLY CONSIDERS ASKING FOR VOLUNTEERS FOR HIS IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENTS MEMBERS COUNT ME IN!!!!!! HECK I'LL BE THE FIRST TO SIGN UP FOLKS!
IF THE ILLEGAL ALIEN DAY LABORERS, WHO ARE NOT PAYING A DIME IN LABOR TAXES OR STATE TAXES; BUT ARE MAGICALLY RECEIVING FREE EDUCATION FOR THEIR ILLEGAL CHILDREN; AND FREE HEALTH CARE FOR THEIR ENTIRE FAMILIES AND ALL THE BABIES THEY ARE BRINGING INTO LAKEWOOD; DON'T LIKE THE FACT THAT THERE ARE ACTUALLY SOME TRUE BLUE AMERICAN CITIZENS, WHO DO PAY TAXES; THAT OBJECT TO LAW BREAKERS!!!
YOU ARE BREAKING THE LAW - DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHY AMERICANS ARE ANGRY? WHY AMERICANS ARE RESENTFUL OF YOUR FREE; FREE; FREE; MENTALITY; OFF THE BACKS OF HARD WORKING AMERICANS?!!!
YOU ARE NOT LEGALLY ALLOWED TO WORK IN THIS COUNTRY IF YOU ARE HERE ILLEGALLY IN THIS COUNTRY. IF YOU NEED HELP UNDERSTANDING THIS CONCEPT PLEASE LOOK TO YOUR OWN COUNTRY AND TELL ME WHAT "THEY" DO WITH ILLEGAL ALIENS!!!!!!!!!!!
I DON'T HAVE AN OUNCE OF PITY FOR ANY OF YOU - YOU HAVE THROWN IN OUR COLLECTIVE FACES THAT YOU DON'T GIVE A RATS ASS ABOUT OUR LAWS; YOU BREAK THEM AT WILL. YOU DON'T LIKE IT; YOU BREAK IT. AND YOU FEEL YOUR SOMEHOW JUSTIFIED IN DOING SO!!!!!! WELL, YOUR NOT!!
GOD BLESS AMERICA - THE GREATEST, MOST TOLERATE, COUNTRY AND ILLEGAL ALIENS KNOW IT AND TAKE GREAT ADVANTAGE OF IT. MEN AND WOMEN SHED THEIR BLOOD FOR OUR FREEDOMS EVERY SINGLE DAY - YET YOU WALTZ INTO OUR NATION ON THEIR BLOOD AND TRULY BELIEVE WE WOULD HAVE OPEN ARMS FOR ANY OF YOU???!!!! THINK AGAIN!!
WORK YOUR WAY THROUGH THE SYSTEM LIKE EVERY ONE OF MY ANCESTORS DID! THEN I'LL HAVE RESPECT FOR YOU. UNTIL THEN YOUR NOTHING BUT A LAW BREAKING ILLEGAL ALIEN WHO IS TAKING AWAY FROM MINE AND MY GRANDCHILDREN WHO HAVE A RIGHT TO WHAT YOU ARE STEALING!!!
A PISTED OFF AMERICAN !!
Monday, October 26, 2009
HOTEL OWNER TO WORKERS: NO SPANISH!!! THIS GUY NEEDS OUR SUPPORT!!!
Hotel Owner to Workers: No Spanish!
By MELANIE DABOVICH,
AP
TAOS, N.M. (Oct. 26) -- Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel.
The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names.
Protesters urge customers to boycott the Whitten Inn in Taos, N.M., after the hotel's new owner told some employees to Anglicize their Spanish first names, ordered them not to speak Spanish when he was around and fired some Hispanic workers.
Protesters urge customers to boycott the Whitten Inn in Taos, N.M., after the hotel's new owner told some employees to Anglicanize their Spanish first names, ordered them not to speak Spanish when he was around and fired some Hispanic workers.
No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark.
Whitten's management style had worked for him as he's turned around other distressed hotels he bought in recent years across the country.
The 63-year-old Texan, however, wasn't prepared for what followed.
His rules and his firing of several Hispanic employees angered his employees and many in this liberal enclave of 5,000 residents at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, where the most alternative of lifestyles can find a home and where Spanish language, culture and traditions have a long and revered history.
"I came into this landmine of Anglos versus Spanish versus Mexicans versus Indians versus everybody up here. I'm just doing what I've always done," he says.
Former workers, their relatives and some town residents picketed across the street from the hotel.
"I do feel he's a racist, but he's a racist out of ignorance. He doesn't know that what he's doing is wrong," says protester Juanito Burns Jr., who identified himself as prime minister of an activist group called Los Brown Berets de Nuevo Mexico.
The Virginia-born Whitten had spent 40 years in the hotel business, turning around more than 20 hotels in Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and South Carolina, before moving with his wife to Taos from Abilene, Texas. He had visited Taos before and liked its beauty. When Whitten saw that the Paragon Inn was up for sale, he jumped at it.
The hotel sits along narrow, two-lane Paseo del Pueblo, where souped-up lowriders radiate a just-waxed gleam in the soft sunshine as they cruise past centuries-old adobe buildings. One recent afternoon, a woman slowly rode her fat-tire bicycle along a cracked sidewalk, oversized purple butterfly wings on her back and a breeze blowing her long, blonde dreadlocks.
The community includes Taos Pueblo, an American Indian dwelling inhabited for over 1,000 years, and an adobe Catholic church made famous in a Georgia O'Keeffe painting.
After he arrived, Whitten met with the employees. He says he immediately noticed that they were hostile to his management style and worried they might start talking about him in Spanish.
"Because of that, I asked the people in my presence to speak only English because I do not understand Spanish," Whitten says. "I've been working 24 years in Texas and we have a lot of Spanish people there. I've never had to ask anyone to speak only English in front of me because I've never had a reason to."
Some employees were fired, Whitten says, because they were hostile and insubordinate. He says they called him "a white (N-word)."
Fired hotel manager Kathy Archuleta says the workers initially tried to adjust to his style. "We had already gone through four or five owners before him, so we knew what to expect," Archuleta says. "I told (the workers) we needed to give him a chance."
Then Whitten told some employees he was changing their Spanish first names. Whitten says it's a routine practice at his hotels to change first names of employees who work the front desk phones or deal directly with guests if their names are difficult to understand or pronounce.
"It has nothing to do with racism. I'm not doing it for any reason other than for the satisfaction of my guests, because people calling from all over America don't know the Spanish accents or the Spanish culture or Spanish anything," Whitten says.
Martin Gutierrez, another fired employee, says he felt disrespected when he was told to use the unaccented Martin as his name. He says he told Whitten that Spanish was spoken in New Mexico before English. "He told me he didn't care what I thought because this was his business," Gutierrez says.
"I don't have to change my name and language or heritage," he says. "I'm professional the way I am."
After the firings, the New Mexico chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a national civil rights group, sent Whitten a letter, raising concerns about treatment of Hispanic workers. Whitten says he sent them a letter and posted messages on the hotel marquee, alleging that the group referred to him with a racial slur. LULAC denied the charge.
The messages and comments he made in interviews with local media, including referring to townsfolk as "mountain people" and "potheads who escaped society," further enflamed tensions.
Taos Mayor Darren Cordova says Whitten wasn't doing anything illegal. But he says Whitten failed to better familiarize himself with the town and its culture before deciding to buy the hotel for $2 million. "Taos is so unique that you would not do anything in Taos that you would do elsewhere," he says.
Whitten grew subdued as a two-hour interview with The Associated Press progressed. He said he was sorry for the misunderstanding and insisted he has never been against any culture.
"What kind of fool or idiot or poor businessman would I be to orchestrate this whole crazy thing that's costed me a lot of time, money and aggravation?" Whitten said.
Whitten should have dealt with the situation differently, especially in a majority Hispanic town, said 71-year-old Taos artist Ken O'Neil, while sipping his afternoon coffee on the town's historic plaza.
"To make demands like he did just seems over the top," he says. "Nobody won here. It's not always about winning. Sometimes, it's about what you learn."
GET INVOLVED!!!
By MELANIE DABOVICH,
AP
TAOS, N.M. (Oct. 26) -- Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel.
The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names.
Protesters urge customers to boycott the Whitten Inn in Taos, N.M., after the hotel's new owner told some employees to Anglicize their Spanish first names, ordered them not to speak Spanish when he was around and fired some Hispanic workers.
Protesters urge customers to boycott the Whitten Inn in Taos, N.M., after the hotel's new owner told some employees to Anglicanize their Spanish first names, ordered them not to speak Spanish when he was around and fired some Hispanic workers.
No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark.
Whitten's management style had worked for him as he's turned around other distressed hotels he bought in recent years across the country.
The 63-year-old Texan, however, wasn't prepared for what followed.
His rules and his firing of several Hispanic employees angered his employees and many in this liberal enclave of 5,000 residents at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, where the most alternative of lifestyles can find a home and where Spanish language, culture and traditions have a long and revered history.
"I came into this landmine of Anglos versus Spanish versus Mexicans versus Indians versus everybody up here. I'm just doing what I've always done," he says.
Former workers, their relatives and some town residents picketed across the street from the hotel.
"I do feel he's a racist, but he's a racist out of ignorance. He doesn't know that what he's doing is wrong," says protester Juanito Burns Jr., who identified himself as prime minister of an activist group called Los Brown Berets de Nuevo Mexico.
The Virginia-born Whitten had spent 40 years in the hotel business, turning around more than 20 hotels in Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and South Carolina, before moving with his wife to Taos from Abilene, Texas. He had visited Taos before and liked its beauty. When Whitten saw that the Paragon Inn was up for sale, he jumped at it.
The hotel sits along narrow, two-lane Paseo del Pueblo, where souped-up lowriders radiate a just-waxed gleam in the soft sunshine as they cruise past centuries-old adobe buildings. One recent afternoon, a woman slowly rode her fat-tire bicycle along a cracked sidewalk, oversized purple butterfly wings on her back and a breeze blowing her long, blonde dreadlocks.
The community includes Taos Pueblo, an American Indian dwelling inhabited for over 1,000 years, and an adobe Catholic church made famous in a Georgia O'Keeffe painting.
After he arrived, Whitten met with the employees. He says he immediately noticed that they were hostile to his management style and worried they might start talking about him in Spanish.
"Because of that, I asked the people in my presence to speak only English because I do not understand Spanish," Whitten says. "I've been working 24 years in Texas and we have a lot of Spanish people there. I've never had to ask anyone to speak only English in front of me because I've never had a reason to."
Some employees were fired, Whitten says, because they were hostile and insubordinate. He says they called him "a white (N-word)."
Fired hotel manager Kathy Archuleta says the workers initially tried to adjust to his style. "We had already gone through four or five owners before him, so we knew what to expect," Archuleta says. "I told (the workers) we needed to give him a chance."
Then Whitten told some employees he was changing their Spanish first names. Whitten says it's a routine practice at his hotels to change first names of employees who work the front desk phones or deal directly with guests if their names are difficult to understand or pronounce.
"It has nothing to do with racism. I'm not doing it for any reason other than for the satisfaction of my guests, because people calling from all over America don't know the Spanish accents or the Spanish culture or Spanish anything," Whitten says.
Martin Gutierrez, another fired employee, says he felt disrespected when he was told to use the unaccented Martin as his name. He says he told Whitten that Spanish was spoken in New Mexico before English. "He told me he didn't care what I thought because this was his business," Gutierrez says.
"I don't have to change my name and language or heritage," he says. "I'm professional the way I am."
After the firings, the New Mexico chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a national civil rights group, sent Whitten a letter, raising concerns about treatment of Hispanic workers. Whitten says he sent them a letter and posted messages on the hotel marquee, alleging that the group referred to him with a racial slur. LULAC denied the charge.
The messages and comments he made in interviews with local media, including referring to townsfolk as "mountain people" and "potheads who escaped society," further enflamed tensions.
Taos Mayor Darren Cordova says Whitten wasn't doing anything illegal. But he says Whitten failed to better familiarize himself with the town and its culture before deciding to buy the hotel for $2 million. "Taos is so unique that you would not do anything in Taos that you would do elsewhere," he says.
Whitten grew subdued as a two-hour interview with The Associated Press progressed. He said he was sorry for the misunderstanding and insisted he has never been against any culture.
"What kind of fool or idiot or poor businessman would I be to orchestrate this whole crazy thing that's costed me a lot of time, money and aggravation?" Whitten said.
Whitten should have dealt with the situation differently, especially in a majority Hispanic town, said 71-year-old Taos artist Ken O'Neil, while sipping his afternoon coffee on the town's historic plaza.
"To make demands like he did just seems over the top," he says. "Nobody won here. It's not always about winning. Sometimes, it's about what you learn."
GET INVOLVED!!!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
ILLEGALS WELCOME?????
Monday, October 19, 2009
Illegals: Welcome! [Heather Mac Donald]
The United States is apparently facing a critical shortage of illegal aliens.
If you’ve spent any time in Tucson or Los Angeles, you might not recognize this emergency situation. But the illegal-alien deficit is so dire that special accommodations must be given to petty criminals, to make sure that they don’t depart our shores.
Acceding to pressure from illegal-alien advocates, the Obama administration has clarified that local law-enforcement agencies that have been deputized to enforce immigration law (this enforcement power is known as 287(g) authority) should focus on so-called “dangerous” illegals “who are a threat to local communities” — and not, by implication, on illegals who disobey misdemeanor and public-order laws.
Who are these precious assets who must be reassured of their secure place in American communities?
The Los Angeles Times has dug up some victims of local immigration enforcement that it considers particularly sympathetic. They are people like Diana and Yolanda Diaz, arrested for assault and disorderly conduct during a high-school fight in Raleigh, N.C. When officials at the Wake County jail learned that the Diaz sisters were illegal, they handed the brawlers over to federal immigration authorities. The Diaz sisters are incensed that their right to live illegally in the United States has been disrupted. “It's not fair,” the 16-year-old Diana told the Times.
And indeed, American high schools are far too quiet and disciplined. We need girls like the Diaz sisters to liven things up.
Other victims include people like Luis Cruz Millan, who blasted his car stereo at high decibels in the middle of the night while parked on a residential street in Raleigh, prompting a neighbor to call the police. Millan’s illegal status having thus come to the attention of the authorities, he is now facing deportation, to the undoubted consternation of his neighbors, who won’t want to lose such a pillar of respectability.
Further potential victims include the tens of thousands of illegals who drive drunk, drink in public, drive without licenses, and shoplift, and who, the illegal-alien advocates tell us, must be shielded from the immigration laws.
Illegals, of course, have no valid argument against deportation in any circumstance — they chose to enter the country illegally and assumed the risk that their law-breaking would be punished. But illegals who continue to break the law once here should be doubly inhibited from protesting against deportation. Moreover, it is precisely such “petty” crimes and quality-of-life offenses — school violence, litter, public urination, drunk driving — that most upset neighborhood stability and trigger resentment against illegals, as Peter Skerry has observed.
The breakthrough insight of 1990s policing was that lower-level offenses against public order create a sense of fear and civic disengagement that breeds further crime.
The perpetrators of such lower-level crimes often are engaged in more serious offenses as well.
The illegal-alien advocates could take a different tack in their campaign to guarantee that no illegal ever get deported: Instruct illegals to scrupulously obey the domestic laws so as not to come to the attention of the police. But such advice never issues from La Raza or the phalanx of immigration attorneys who howl at every deportation of an illegal criminal.
Though this tightening of 287(g) authority comes under the Obama administration, the Bush administration was no fan of the statute, either, and resisted allowing sheriff’s deputies to enforce immigration law on the streets against gangbangers. The trend is clear.
When amnesty finally rolls around, among those millions of illegals allowed to jump the queue ahead of people who intend to be legal immigrants will be hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of criminals whose residency in the U.S. has been carefully protected to guarantee their ability to take advantage of the inevitable amnesty. — Heather Mac Donald
Illegals: Welcome! [Heather Mac Donald]
The United States is apparently facing a critical shortage of illegal aliens.
If you’ve spent any time in Tucson or Los Angeles, you might not recognize this emergency situation. But the illegal-alien deficit is so dire that special accommodations must be given to petty criminals, to make sure that they don’t depart our shores.
Acceding to pressure from illegal-alien advocates, the Obama administration has clarified that local law-enforcement agencies that have been deputized to enforce immigration law (this enforcement power is known as 287(g) authority) should focus on so-called “dangerous” illegals “who are a threat to local communities” — and not, by implication, on illegals who disobey misdemeanor and public-order laws.
Who are these precious assets who must be reassured of their secure place in American communities?
The Los Angeles Times has dug up some victims of local immigration enforcement that it considers particularly sympathetic. They are people like Diana and Yolanda Diaz, arrested for assault and disorderly conduct during a high-school fight in Raleigh, N.C. When officials at the Wake County jail learned that the Diaz sisters were illegal, they handed the brawlers over to federal immigration authorities. The Diaz sisters are incensed that their right to live illegally in the United States has been disrupted. “It's not fair,” the 16-year-old Diana told the Times.
And indeed, American high schools are far too quiet and disciplined. We need girls like the Diaz sisters to liven things up.
Other victims include people like Luis Cruz Millan, who blasted his car stereo at high decibels in the middle of the night while parked on a residential street in Raleigh, prompting a neighbor to call the police. Millan’s illegal status having thus come to the attention of the authorities, he is now facing deportation, to the undoubted consternation of his neighbors, who won’t want to lose such a pillar of respectability.
Further potential victims include the tens of thousands of illegals who drive drunk, drink in public, drive without licenses, and shoplift, and who, the illegal-alien advocates tell us, must be shielded from the immigration laws.
Illegals, of course, have no valid argument against deportation in any circumstance — they chose to enter the country illegally and assumed the risk that their law-breaking would be punished. But illegals who continue to break the law once here should be doubly inhibited from protesting against deportation. Moreover, it is precisely such “petty” crimes and quality-of-life offenses — school violence, litter, public urination, drunk driving — that most upset neighborhood stability and trigger resentment against illegals, as Peter Skerry has observed.
The breakthrough insight of 1990s policing was that lower-level offenses against public order create a sense of fear and civic disengagement that breeds further crime.
The perpetrators of such lower-level crimes often are engaged in more serious offenses as well.
The illegal-alien advocates could take a different tack in their campaign to guarantee that no illegal ever get deported: Instruct illegals to scrupulously obey the domestic laws so as not to come to the attention of the police. But such advice never issues from La Raza or the phalanx of immigration attorneys who howl at every deportation of an illegal criminal.
Though this tightening of 287(g) authority comes under the Obama administration, the Bush administration was no fan of the statute, either, and resisted allowing sheriff’s deputies to enforce immigration law on the streets against gangbangers. The trend is clear.
When amnesty finally rolls around, among those millions of illegals allowed to jump the queue ahead of people who intend to be legal immigrants will be hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of criminals whose residency in the U.S. has been carefully protected to guarantee their ability to take advantage of the inevitable amnesty. — Heather Mac Donald
INSPECTOR ASSAULTS HOMEOWNER AND THE JUDGE DOESN'T EVEN VIEW THE EVIDENCE!! WHAT GIVES?!!
IF YOU READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE YOU WILL HAVE TO WONDER, AS I DO, WHY THIS JUDGE DID NOTHING TO FURTHER INVESTIGATE THIS HARASSMENT. IS THE INSPECTION DEPARTMENT OF LAKEWOOD NOW ABLE TO BECOME PHYSICAL WHEN CONDUCTING AN INSPECTION?!!
DON'T SIT BACK AND TELL ME THAT THIS KIND OF ASSAULT IS NOW GOING TO BE VIEWED AS JUST ANOTHER DAY IN LAKEWOOD.
I'M DISTURBED THAT THIS IS BEING ALLOWED TO TAKE PLACE.
Go to www.lakewoodshopper.com and turn to pages 50-51.
You will find an article about our Department. Mr. Canfield has informed the Township attorney about this matter and MAY sue for libel. Since this is on the Internet, it is no longer confidential.
DON'T SIT BACK AND TELL ME THAT THIS KIND OF ASSAULT IS NOW GOING TO BE VIEWED AS JUST ANOTHER DAY IN LAKEWOOD.
I'M DISTURBED THAT THIS IS BEING ALLOWED TO TAKE PLACE.
Go to www.lakewoodshopper.com and turn to pages 50-51.
You will find an article about our Department. Mr. Canfield has informed the Township attorney about this matter and MAY sue for libel. Since this is on the Internet, it is no longer confidential.
Monday, October 19, 2009
CANCELED MEETING HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED; PLEASE ATTEND FOLKS!!!
COMMUNITY VISIONING PUBLIC HEARINGS
The Township of Lakewood Township Committee’s will continue its community visioning public hearings to discuss the Township’s Lakewood Smart Growth Plan on Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 6:00 pm.
This public hearing will be held at the Lakewood High School Commons located at 855 Somerset Avenue in Lakewood.
The Township Committee will consider adoption of the draft Lakewood Smart Growth Plan.The Lakewood Township Committee is actively seeking public input regarding the Township’s draft Lakewood Smart Growth Plan. The publics invited to provide oral comments at the public hearing or submit written comments.
WRITTEN COMMENTS related to the draft Lakewood Smart Growth Plan will be accepted at the public hearing and may be submitted to the Township Clerk by October 30, 2009.
The draft Lakewood Smart Growth Plan is available for public inspection in the Township Clerk’s office located at the Lakewood Township Municipal Building, 231 Third Street, Lakewood, New Jersey 08701 and the document can be viewed between the hours of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm,Monday through Friday.
The plan will be made available on the Township’s web site at http://twp.lakewood.nj.us/ prior to the public hearing as well as at the Ocean County Library, Lakewood Branch.
The Ocean County Library, Lakewood Branch is located at 301 Lexington Avenue, Lakewood, New Jersey 08701. The library is open from Monday to Thursday from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, on Friday and Saturday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and on Sunday 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
Posted October 16, 2009
GET INVOLVED!!!
The Township of Lakewood Township Committee’s will continue its community visioning public hearings to discuss the Township’s Lakewood Smart Growth Plan on Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 6:00 pm.
This public hearing will be held at the Lakewood High School Commons located at 855 Somerset Avenue in Lakewood.
The Township Committee will consider adoption of the draft Lakewood Smart Growth Plan.The Lakewood Township Committee is actively seeking public input regarding the Township’s draft Lakewood Smart Growth Plan. The publics invited to provide oral comments at the public hearing or submit written comments.
WRITTEN COMMENTS related to the draft Lakewood Smart Growth Plan will be accepted at the public hearing and may be submitted to the Township Clerk by October 30, 2009.
The draft Lakewood Smart Growth Plan is available for public inspection in the Township Clerk’s office located at the Lakewood Township Municipal Building, 231 Third Street, Lakewood, New Jersey 08701 and the document can be viewed between the hours of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm,Monday through Friday.
The plan will be made available on the Township’s web site at http://twp.lakewood.nj.us/ prior to the public hearing as well as at the Ocean County Library, Lakewood Branch.
The Ocean County Library, Lakewood Branch is located at 301 Lexington Avenue, Lakewood, New Jersey 08701. The library is open from Monday to Thursday from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, on Friday and Saturday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and on Sunday 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
Posted October 16, 2009
GET INVOLVED!!!
TEA PARTY PSALM
PSALM 2009 - 2012
FIRST BOOK OF DEMOCRAT
OBAMA IS A SHEPHERD,
I SHALL NOT WANT.
HE LEADETH ME BESIDE STILL FACTORIES.
HE RESTORETH MY FAITH IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
HE GUIDETH ME IN THE PATH OF UNEMPLOYMENT..
YEA, THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE BREAD LINE,
I SHALL NOT GO HUNGRY.
OBAMA HAS ANOINTED MY INCOME WITH TAXES,
MY EXPENSES RUNNETH OVER MY INCOME,
SURELY, POVERTY AND HARD LIVING WILL FOLLOW ME
ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE.
AND I WILL LIVE FOREVER
IN A RENTED HOME.
BUT I AM GLAD I AM AN AMERICAN,
I AM GLAD THAT I AM FREE.
FIRST BOOK OF DEMOCRAT
OBAMA IS A SHEPHERD,
I SHALL NOT WANT.
HE LEADETH ME BESIDE STILL FACTORIES.
HE RESTORETH MY FAITH IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
HE GUIDETH ME IN THE PATH OF UNEMPLOYMENT..
YEA, THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE BREAD LINE,
I SHALL NOT GO HUNGRY.
OBAMA HAS ANOINTED MY INCOME WITH TAXES,
MY EXPENSES RUNNETH OVER MY INCOME,
SURELY, POVERTY AND HARD LIVING WILL FOLLOW ME
ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE.
AND I WILL LIVE FOREVER
IN A RENTED HOME.
BUT I AM GLAD I AM AN AMERICAN,
I AM GLAD THAT I AM FREE.
THIS SHOULD REALLY BOIL YOUR WATER!!!!
WHAT BETTER REASON DO WE HAVE TO VOTE OUT OF OFFICE ANY AND
ALL INCUMBENT POLITICIANS WHO CREATED SUCH A STUPID SITUATION.
WHY ARE OUR SOCIAL SECURITY PENSIONERS PUTTING UP WITH THIS CRAP ?
WHY HAS NOT ANYONE YET FILED A CLASS ACTION DISCRIMINATION SUIT ?
REMEMBER---IN NOVEMBER 2010 WE HAVE
A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO CLEAN OUT
THE ENTIRE HOUSE AND ONE-THIRD OF THE SENATE.
This is an insult and a kick in the butt to all of us...
Get mad and pass it on - I don't know how, but maybe some good will come of this travesty.
If the immigrant is over 65, they can apply for SSI and Medicaid and get more than a woman on Social Security, who worked from 1944 until 2004.
She is only getting $791 per month because she was born in 1924 and there's a 'catch 22'.
It is interesting that the federal government provides a single refugee with a monthly allowance of $1,890. Each can also obtain an additional $580 in social assistance, for a total of $2,470 a month.
This compares to a single pensioner, who after contributing to the growth and development of America for 40 to 50 years, can only receive a monthly maximum of $1,012 in old age pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement.
Maybe our pensioners should apply as refugees!
Consider sending this to all your American friends, so we can all be ticked off and maybe get the refugees cut back to $1,012 and the pensioners up to $2,470. Then we can enjoy some of the money we were forced to submit to the Government over the last 40 or 50 or 60 years.
Please forward to every American to expose what our elected politicians
have been doing the past 11 years to over-taxed Americans.
SEND THIS TO EVERY AMERICAN TAXPAYER YOU KNOW.
This is your Country. Go to a Tea Party.
ALL INCUMBENT POLITICIANS WHO CREATED SUCH A STUPID SITUATION.
WHY ARE OUR SOCIAL SECURITY PENSIONERS PUTTING UP WITH THIS CRAP ?
WHY HAS NOT ANYONE YET FILED A CLASS ACTION DISCRIMINATION SUIT ?
REMEMBER---IN NOVEMBER 2010 WE HAVE
A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO CLEAN OUT
THE ENTIRE HOUSE AND ONE-THIRD OF THE SENATE.
This is an insult and a kick in the butt to all of us...
Get mad and pass it on - I don't know how, but maybe some good will come of this travesty.
If the immigrant is over 65, they can apply for SSI and Medicaid and get more than a woman on Social Security, who worked from 1944 until 2004.
She is only getting $791 per month because she was born in 1924 and there's a 'catch 22'.
It is interesting that the federal government provides a single refugee with a monthly allowance of $1,890. Each can also obtain an additional $580 in social assistance, for a total of $2,470 a month.
This compares to a single pensioner, who after contributing to the growth and development of America for 40 to 50 years, can only receive a monthly maximum of $1,012 in old age pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement.
Maybe our pensioners should apply as refugees!
Consider sending this to all your American friends, so we can all be ticked off and maybe get the refugees cut back to $1,012 and the pensioners up to $2,470. Then we can enjoy some of the money we were forced to submit to the Government over the last 40 or 50 or 60 years.
Please forward to every American to expose what our elected politicians
have been doing the past 11 years to over-taxed Americans.
SEND THIS TO EVERY AMERICAN TAXPAYER YOU KNOW.
This is your Country. Go to a Tea Party.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
HUNDREDS LEAVE TOWN HALL AFTER HEARING CANCELLED
JUST IN: Hundreds Leave Town Hall After Hearing Cancelled
Oct 15 2009 5:38 pm
JUST IN: An overcrowded Town Hall overreacted in disappointment moments ago after Senator and Mayor Bob Singer announced that the hearing for the SmartGrowth Plan will be cancelled due to a broken microphone system. Hundreds of Yungerleit and seniors packed Town Hall for the scheduled 5:00 p.m. hearing which had to be rescheduled to a later date, being that the hearing had to legally be recorded and notes wouldn’t suffice. Photos and video will be posted shortly. (Mobile users click here for photos and here to view video on youtube).
Oct 15 2009 5:38 pm
JUST IN: An overcrowded Town Hall overreacted in disappointment moments ago after Senator and Mayor Bob Singer announced that the hearing for the SmartGrowth Plan will be cancelled due to a broken microphone system. Hundreds of Yungerleit and seniors packed Town Hall for the scheduled 5:00 p.m. hearing which had to be rescheduled to a later date, being that the hearing had to legally be recorded and notes wouldn’t suffice. Photos and video will be posted shortly. (Mobile users click here for photos and here to view video on youtube).
JUST IN: Hundreds Leave Town Hall After Hearing Cancelled
COMMENTS:
markevin says:
October 16, 2009 at 5:22 pm
look to all you who are protesting . the lakewood cheder is one of lakewoods best and largest schools with over two thousand legal tax paying citizens . lcs owns a very large piece of property and would like to build a well deserved campus that these children so desperatly need . were not asking for money just zoning approval . please come by and see for yourself the wonderful children who work so hard and have to learn under the most deplorable conditions with barely any playspace or anmenties . stop by before you protest. only somebody without a heart ( or a true antisemite would vote against a school for these kids. shame on you people . you’ve built and lived a life for yourselves, why can’t we do so on our dollar . you’re worries about congestion ( a ligit. concern) well, work in out in a pieceful and amicable way . we are all in these worldto help each other and live in piece . go visti. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised and may even shed a tear that in 2009 there exists such pure chidren who don’t even know who michael jackson is .
lac member says:
October 16, 2009 at 3:31 pm
we will be there with the asbury park press and channel 7 news. and the local propoganda mags will not help you this time.
anony says:
October 16, 2009 at 3:26 pm
i’ll be there too .showing support for those who really want what is good for everyone,even the people that are ruining the town.
anonymous says:
October 16, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Hey hershel what are you so mad about ? More houses more families more kids equals more toys for you to sell. You can even open another toy store near the blue claus stadium. Chill out man and have a great shabbos.
i will be there says:
October 16, 2009 at 11:11 am
Iknow I’m definitely going iyh on october 29th. Scoop please post schedule and updates. I like to think of myself as a pretty kavuahdik guy when it comes to learning and I am not bored. I figure I will save myself much more time if I waste a little now on this than all the hours I will be sitting in trafic in an overcrowded little town
not bored ppl says:
October 16, 2009 at 10:25 am
To the person who wrote that only bored people attended: You can’t be more off from the truth!! I saw the oilam there & they are far from bored people. The people that I saw there – hard-working Baalai Batim & Choshuve Yungerleit – had plenty of other things to do besides being crowded into a standing-room only hall. You need to ask them mechillah!!
anonymous says:
October 16, 2009 at 10:17 am
Who has time for all this shtis?they will get theire way whatever we do. Go work or learn and forget about it.what do we need some guy to tell us what to do now?
hershel herskowitz says:
October 16, 2009 at 10:11 am
To those who feel that only bored people that have nothing better to do complain.The people of this town are not complaining we are taking much needed action in matters that have been too long ignored.The attitude that “I don’t wabt to seem like I have sour grapes”or “everybody else seems to be fine with it”,”who am I to complain” has to end.we can no longer bury our heads in the ground and hope all will be fine.Believe me,I would much rather be learning or ordering toys for my store,but I realized long ago that our town is being mismanaged to a point where we will wake up soon and say how did. This happen?and there will be no turning back.the small favors that well connected individuals are receiving on our account pale in comaprison to the loss it causes the entire town.This is not about taxes or services.This is about the overall attitude that we all are being told to help a cause that benefits a few people with questionable motives that hide behind the guise of caring about all of us.Oh and just to clarify.Many of the people I saw in the video have a seder kavuah and learn every extra minute they can find.I hope it makes you feel better about your life to put down people that want to make sure their town is not destroyed by a few (hopefully) well meaning individuals.do you criticize askanim for helping get boys into school as well for wasting their time?or are you one of them yourself?see you oct 29th iy”h hopefully at the strand theatre,how ironic will that be?
unity says:
To those who feel that only bored people that have nothing better to do complain.The people of this town are not complaining we are taking much needed action in matters that have been too long ignored.The attitude that “I don’t wabt to seem like I have sour grapes”or “everybody else seems to be fine with it”,”who am I to complain” has to end.we can no longer bury our heads in the ground and hope all will be fine.Believe me,I would much rather be learning or ordering toys for my store,but I realized long ago that our town is being mismanaged to a point where we will wake up soon and say how did. This happen?and there will be no turning back.the small favors that well connected individuals are receiving on our account pale in comaprison to the loss it causes the entire town.This is not about taxes or services.This is about the overall attitude that we all are being told to help a cause that benefits a few people with questionable motives that hide behind the guise of caring about all of us.Oh and just to clarify.Many of the people I saw in the video have a seder kavuah and learn every extra minute they can find.I hope it makes you feel better about your life to put down people that want to make sure their town is not destroyed by a few (hopefully) well meaning individuals.do you criticize askanim for helping get boys into school as well for wasting their time?or are you one of them yourself?see you oct 29th iy”h hopefully at the strand theatre,how ironic will that be?
unity says:
October 16, 2009 at 9:07 am
This is the time for all residents of Lakewood to unite for a better Lakewood. Rapid development without infrastructure leads to more and even deeper problems. Understand that all of this cost taxpayers money. The question is “What can we afford to pay or are we willing to pay for rapid development.
The devil is in the details regarding zoning, utilities, transportation, infrastructure, state plans for Rt 9, county roads, schools, emergency services, etc. Let us be careful about what we wish for. We might get it.
There are smarter ways to manage growth without giving away the quality of life.
its bored ppl. go learn, i did says:
October 16, 2009 at 7:56 am
looking at the picture i see most if those poeple that showed up, are the ones that bored, and always complaining… so for all you poeple that ask how do u know this? the answer is very simple. whem ever you walk into any store or even ask some of the employees who complain the most and dont buy anything and they’ll be able to point them out to you….ppl find something better to do with your bored lives oh wait dont worry u have another meeting to attened
theFixIsIn says:
October 16, 2009 at 1:53 am
It will be rezoned. 15 houses per acre with basement apartments. The planning and zoning boards and committee do what the developers, some property owners and certain attorneys want them to do. That is why they are moving the meeting to the Strand or school auditorium. Puppets give a better performance on stage. Look up to see who is pulling the strings. Lakewood is almost bankrupt.
October 16, 2009 at 12:08 am
well first of all it is very sad that we have the largest boys elementary school in the most deplorable condition.and you will be hearing that by expanding with smart growth we will get a new cheder.yes we need a new cheder ,but at what price?and we will need another one soon after all our smart growing starts.
anonymous says:
October 15, 2009 at 11:55 pm
i would think these guys are alot smarter or they would never have gotten where they are.let them do there jobs.
hershel herskowitz says:
October 15, 2009 at 11:31 pm
So sad to hear about the cancellation. Funny though because I was running late and had a whole speech prepared.I hope now we will have more time to finally join together all the dissenfranchised people of this town,whether from the senior community,ex-yeshivalite,alte lakewooders,kollel families ,angry townhouse owners, rabbonim,storeowners ,hispanics,african americans,and new residents.we have all been misrepresented all these years.the planning board and township committee has never voted with their conscience. They only vote with the side that will get them reelected. If enough of us show up on oct. 29th maybe the committee will realize this time they may have chosen the wrong side.I hate to be contrarian,but I,and many of my fellow lakewood residents feel that growth of this magnitude,is not what one can call smart. It is no smarter than proposing a seven story parking garage in downtown when there is nothing to park for.sometimes truly bad ideas just keep blossoming until they take on a life of their own.this is one of them.for real smart growth we need to sit back,discuss the problems and needs of the town,let it swirl around our brains a little and choose our best options.not follow blindly and do as we are told so a few people can get what they want at everyones expense. Yes we need a new cheder. We need decent housing,recreation,and jobs.but all these things need to be planned without anyones personal agendas.these are all important issues and they should be addressed in the future but without using it as an excuse to trample on the quality of life that we have all come to expect from the town that we ALL helped create. October 29th. I will be there will you?please RSVP on the scoop let us all see the power we have.
Baloney Story says:
October 15, 2009 at 10:33 pm
we should fire them all, the MICs were working fine yesterday when the lakewood tenant organization.
Anonymous says:
October 15, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Taxes go up, that’s the nature of things – wages, fuel, real estate, supplies, professional services, etc. escalate year over year. Developing the land broadens the tax base such that taxes don’t go up as quickly as they otherwise would.
Your wages aren’t what they were 10 years ago, the cost of a gallon of gas or a loaf of bread isn’t either – it’s simple-minded to think that the cost of running the Township should remain the same.
gbigblackdog says:
October 15, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Supposedly, the court was having trouble with the sound system earlier today, and failed to tell the township committee, which resulted in the cancellation of the hearing at the very last minute, due to it having to be legally recorded.
It has been moved to Oct. 29, time and place to be announced, from what I heard. Possible locations include The Strand or the public high school.
The presentation from the DOT was interesting regarding Rt. 9, and more people should have stayed to hear that.
To anonymous at 7:49 says:
October 15, 2009 at 7:57 pm
I am still waiting for my taxes to go down since all the new developments went up. As the previous fellow stated let’s discuss this issue reasonably. Your taxes will not go down if the land is developedBeen there. Done that. It don’t work. Sorry.
Not everything is a conspiracy says:
October 15, 2009 at 7:42 pm
This is not a us versus them issue. And don’t let anyone tell you that it is. Many in the yeshiva community agree that Lakewood should plan better. Overcrowded townhomes is not feasable. There must be serious attention given to growth issues b”h. Proper respect should be given to those that bring up viable remedies. Let’s stop the rhetoric on both sides. It is an achrayus of the Commitee to the entire tzibbur for health and safety reasonsLet’s discuss this issue as mentchen. Let the dialouge begin. Let’s be heard (without the usual rhetoric)
hertz says:
October 15, 2009 at 6:45 pm
The yeshiva will like to build homes on the cederbridge corprate park. Do we want more townhouses and congestion? This might be the major decision that will change the face of lakewood for the next 50 years. Is lakewood overcrowed already? Should we slow devolpment and that will forcePeople to move into new areas.
ab says:
October 15, 2009 at 6:25 pm
I was not there. But something sounds fishy. Can someone fill me in on the truth ??
OLD GOYIM BILLY says:
October 15, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Maybe the town fathers can get some of the land back and sell it for fair value to buy a working sound system and lower my taxes. Oh I forgot- if the town tax goes down the school tax will go up-LOL
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