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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (340632)	6/17/2007 10:18:13 AM
From: Jim McMannis	Respond to of 1576159

NO DRUG SMUGGLER LEFT BEHIND! news.yahoo.com June 13, 2007 President Bush was so buoyed by the warm reception he was given in Albania that he immediately gave all 3 million Albanians American citizenship, provided they learn Spanish. The offer was withdrawn when Bush found out most Albanians haven't broken any U.S. laws. Bush keeps claiming he's dying to enforce the border, but he just can't do it unless we immediately grant amnesty to 12 million illegal aliens. How about Bush enforce the border and then we'll discuss his amnesty plan? He assures us that granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants already here won't inspire millions more to run across the border because ... he's going to put infrared lights at the border! Well, that's a relief. What precisely will infrared lights do again? This is worse than those fake cameras they sell at hardware stores to make it look like you have cameras outside your house. We still need something or someone — say, a wall or a Border Patrol agent — to stop the Mexicans illegally crossing the border as we watch them on the infrared cameras. Bush won't build a wall and he keeps prosecuting law enforcement officers who stop illegal border crossers. But trust him: He'll get right on that border enforcement business as soon as we grant amnesty to 12 million illegal aliens. Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean are normally the sort of Mexican-Americans Bush would tear up at while promoting amnesty for illegal aliens. Both served in the military and are taxpaying, law-abiding citizens. They've been risking their lives as Border Patrol agents for years. Ramos was nominated for Border Patrol Agent of the Year in 2005. His nomination received a major setback when the Bush administration decided to put him in prison instead. Ramos and Compean are now serving more than 10 years apiece in solitary confinement for chasing a drug-running illegal alien back to Mexico. Bush's pal, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, gave immunity to a Mexican drug dealer hauling a million dollars worth of drugs across the border so that the drug dealer could testify against two Border Patrol agents who shot him in the buttocks. The border patrol agents were presumed guilty of an unlawful shooting because they neglected to fill out the proper paperwork. For busting a cap in the butt of a drug courier crossing the border illegally — who was so mortally wounded that he proceeded to scamper back to Mexico — they were supposed to spend five hours filling out paperwork. This is what the Bush administration means when it talks about a "cover-up." As U.S. prosecutor Debra Kanof said, "You have to report any discharge of a firearm." Intriguingly, Kanof also says: "The Border Patrol pursuit policy prohibits the pursuit of someone." (Hence, the oft-heard warning of the border agent in hot pursuit, "Stop or I'll ... do absolutely nothing!") Can we apply this rule to meter maids and tax collectors? At least now border agents will be able to watch the illegal aliens they can't pursue on infrared cameras! But wait — that's not all! The Border Patrol agents also exceeded the speed limit. "In order to exceed the speed limit," Kanof said, "you have to get supervisor approval, and they did not." It's just so hard to fill out a written request to exceed the speed limit when you're off-roading at 65 mph. There's a whispering campaign suggesting that Ramos and Compean failed to use their turn signal. As I understand it, you're also supposed to not cross the border illegally from Mexico with a van full of drugs. But the Bush administration has no interest in enforcing those laws. Ninety-eight percent of illegal aliens captured crossing the border illegally are not prosecuted. Those drugs are doing the job American drugs just won't do! The Bush administration pulls out the big guns only for serious violations like a Border Patrol officer not filling out paperwork. In addition to giving the illegal alien drug smuggler full immunity to testify against U.S. Border Patrol agents, the government gave him taxpayer-funded medical care for his buttocks wound, an unconditional border-crossing card, the right to sue the U.S. for "civil rights" violations, and a GAP gift card. The drug runner is also on the short-list to replace Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. He's now suing the U.S. for $5 million, but the Bush administration is hoping to bargain him down to $10 million. That border-crossing card came in handy when the winged illegal alien brought in another load of drugs a short eight months later — for which he has still not been charged, nearly two years later. Who does he think he is? Rep. William Jefferson? Bush's pal Sutton keeps defending his decision to prosecute Border Patrol agents for paperwork violations, rather than an illegal alien for drug trafficking, on the grounds that the drug dealer has not been charged with any crimes. Let's see, whose job is it to charge that Mexican drug runner with a crime? Why, I believe that would be Johnny Sutton! Maybe Sutton was too busy prosecuting another Mexican-American law enforcement officer for trying to stop illegal aliens from crossing our border. Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez shot at the tires of a van full of illegal aliens, inadvertently wounding one of the aliens. Sutton prosecuted Hernandez. The government proceeded to give the illegal aliens green cards and $100,000 each. I didn't realize "living in the shadows" meant in the shadows of palm trees around the pools at taxpayer-funded houses. Illegal aliens might want to rethink Bush's amnesty plan. The only Hispanics Bush seems to prosecute are the ones who are law-abiding U.S. citizens.

To: Road Walker who wrote (340632)	6/18/2007 5:14:33 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1576159

Obama is too busy modeling to make this point, but the Clinton financial disclosures raise a big question: Do we want the country run again by a couple who get so easily wrapped around the fingers of anyone who is rich? As long as a guy was willing to give them millions, would it matter if his name were Al Capone? Anecdotally, I hear people say left and right they would never vote for Hillary and yet she has a sizeable lead over Obama.

To: Road Walker who wrote (340632)	6/18/2007 5:16:26 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1576159

Not to worry.......Lassie will do the trick in Iraq. Movie spin sanitizes U.S. image By Jerry Large Seattle Times staff columnist I like Lassie as well as the next person old enough to remember the heroic collie. But I'm not sure she is the face of America. The 1943 "Lassie Come Home" is one of the movies a congresswoman wants to show to foreigners in a bid to improve their image of America. We are so much more than that. Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif., thinks classic movies could show Iraq-obsessed foreigners the true America. So she introduced a bill to make DVDs available at U.S. embassies around the world. She mentioned "National Velvet" and the musical "Meet Me in St. Louis." Is the best of us left in the 1940s? The congresswoman wants only films that show us at our best. No war films, she said, and nothing about slavery. A news story quoted a professor who said such films would give people a sense of America's values and history. Is someone lost in the land of Oz? Wake up, Dorothy, wake up. America is a messy mix of contradictions in its values and a flood of histories flowing into each other. America is not a monochrome 1940s movie. Then again, maybe America is too messy. Nations and individuals put a lot of effort into cleaning up their stories. Simple stories are useful and easily digestible. When I read Watson's statements, I thought about the approach of Juneteenth. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the day in 1865 when the last slaves got word that they were free. Juneteenth has long been a day for celebrating the end of slavery. With freedom being such a deep American value, you'd think everyone would be out marking the day. The end of slavery was a profound event for the entire nation. In April, Washington made it an official state day of remembrance. Rep. Watson herself was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at a celebration in California's capital. Slavery is one of the parts of our history, many Americans would just as soon forget. Get out the blemish cream. But would we ask that some Americans sacrifice the history that shaped them to make the whole look prettier? Who is it we want those foreigners to see? Does the real America wear Nikes or Tony Lamas, drive Chevys or Toyotas? Does the real America live in a condo, a ranch house or a tiny apartment? What does a real American look like? A real American has no accent, whether he lives in the Bronx or Atlanta or Tucson, because he speaks plain English — unlike everyone else. She worships in the true American faith, which is well, everyone knows, because there can only be one, right? An essential definer of America is its diversity, and yet we are too often inclined to edit its story down to one narrative, with one set of characters. That's un-American, or else very American. Is there a movie, or two or three, that convey a truer picture of us at our complex best? What's on your list? I'll bet even Lassie had fleas. Jerry Large's column appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at 206-464-3346 or jlarge@seattletimes.com. siliconinvestor.com