ET Williams

The Doctor of Common Sense

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Ann Coulter on Illegal immigration

On no issue is the elite/American divide so great as on immigration. For decades, a majority of Americans have wanted to decrease immigration. Not just illegal immigration — all immigration.

Nearly three times as many Americans support reducing immigration as want it to stay the same, according to Gallup polls. A grand total of 5 percent of the population want to increase legal immigration — 10 times less than want to decrease it. I myself would like to deport the people responsible for our current immigration policies.

Our official policy is to turn away scientists in order to make room for illiterate Pakistani peasants who will drop out of high school to man coffee carts until deciding to plot a terrorist attack against the United States. That’s this week’s immigration poster boy, Najibullah Zazi.

Zazi’s own step-uncle said of him: “He was a dumb kid, believe me.” Our immigration officials said, WELCOME, ZAZI!… Oops, sorry Swedish scientists and nuclear engineers — no room for you.

In February, Zazi pleaded guilty in a plot to bomb the New York City subway.

One of his co-conspirators, Zarein Ahmedzay, was welcomed from Afghanistan to America because he was willing to do a job no American would: drive a cab. Where are you going to find an American with a driver’s license?

This week, a third accomplice, Adis Medunjanin, was convicted in the subway conspiracy. Medunjanin came from Bosnia and became an American citizen — a priceless gift to The New York Times, which was then able to begin its article on his convictions: “An American citizen was convicted of a host of terrorism charges on Tuesday …”

For this we can thank the late, lamented Teddy Kennedy, who altered our immigration laws in 1965 to ensure massive immigration from the Third World while severely limiting the number of Europeans who could come here.

And that’s legal immigration. When it comes to illegal immigration, Americans are in a sputtering rage about politicians’ obtuse refusal to address the problem.

Democrats look at immigration as a way to increase their voter rolls, and Republicans look at immigration as a way to get cheap labor for big business. Any Americans who disagree with our all-Third World immigration flow are called “racists.”

This is why Democrats and establishment Republicans are desperate to talk Mitt Romney into flip-flopping on his immigration positions. He’s with Americans.

n a novel thought, Romney proposes that we grant citizenship to people who would make America a better place, repeatedly saying that he would like to “staple a green card” to the diplomas of foreigners who receive Ph.D.s in math or the hard sciences. He may be the first national politician in two generations who thinks we should use legal immigration to get our average up.

It would be as if the University of North Carolina recruited only the top basketball players in the county, instead of — out of fairness — taking players of all skill levels, and their relatives. What? They already do that? Way to go, Carolina!

Romney is also one of the few politicians who acknowledge the danger of creating magnets for more illegal aliens streaming across the border.

During a primary debate last September, Romney said simply: “Of course we build a fence, and of course we do not give in-state tuition credits to people who come here illegally. That only attracts people to come here and take advantage of America’s great beneficence.” (These are the positions he took and enforced as governor of one of the most liberal states in the country.)

I would add that the absolute worst thing we could do is grant citizenship to illegal immigrant children brought here by their parents — as the various DREAM acts do. What stronger magnet could we devise than offering citizenship to a person’s children? (The parents will then become citizens, anyway, under our phony “family reunification” policy.)

Instead of drafting bills, such as the DREAM act, to give illegal aliens benefits, can’t we all agree that the very first thing we have to do is seal the border? Otherwise, it’s like mopping the floor before turning off the bathtub spigot.

First, turn off spigot; second, mop floor.

And surely no one wants any immigrants coming here and immediately going on welfare. (That would be like North Carolina actively recruiting the blind for their basketball team.) Can’t we all agree not to give immigrants government handouts?

Starting with those two policies is not only logical, but will force Democrats to admit they have no intention of ever blocking the border. Their dearest desire is for immigrants to arrive, become dependent on government and start voting Democratic.

http://townhall.com/columnists/anncoulter/2012/05/02/deport_the_gop_establishment

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Obama Abuses His Powers Again

I'm God - Worship Me

 

President Obama regularly misuses executive power, often nakedly in the service of his political interests.

Last week, two examples of his imperial ways drew public attention. First, a Government Accountability Office study knocked the Department of Health and Human Services for inappropriately spending Obamacare money to delay the law’s politically dangerous Medicare cuts — until after the election. Meanwhile, congressional Republicans complained on the House floor about IRS harassment of Tea Party groups.

Here’s the Medicare slush fund story:

In 2010, Democrats were crowing that Obamacare would reduce the deficit. Under official budget scoring, the bill’s $940 billion in new spending over a decade was more than paid for by a trillion dollars in new taxes and spending cuts.

Obamacare got some of its alleged savings by cutting Medicare spending by $500 billion. Republicans — hypocritically, given their constant attacks on “government-run health care” — made political hay over the Medicare cuts. Republicans know that seniors vote, and they like their Medicare.

Specifically, 12 million seniors use a program called Medicare Advantage, under which the government pays private insurers to cover seniors.

Medicare Advantage customers typically have more options, and at times more coverage, than standard Medicare customers. But the Obama administration said Medicare was overpaying the private insurers, and so the architects of Obamacare slashed $136 billion from Medicare Advantage to offset the cost of Obamacare.

The Medicare Advantage cuts were to begin in 2013, which would cause many insurers to pull out of the program, thus driving seniors into regular Medicare. So much for “if you like your plan, you can keep it.”

The New York Post’s Benjamin Sasse and Charlie Hurt explained the awkward details of timing: “Open enrollment [for 2013 Medicare Advantage] begins Oct. 15, less than three weeks before voters go to the polls.” So Obamacare would kick seniors out of their Medicare program three weeks before Obama’s re-election.

That, of course, would be politically damaging. So Obama simply took $8.35 billion from a Obamacare fund for “demonstration projects” and used it to delay the brunt of the Medicare Advantage cuts until after the election.

The GAO last week pointed out the extraordinary nature of this “demonstration.” The program “dwarfs all other Medicare demonstrations — both mandatory and discretionary — conducted since 1995,” the GAO stated.

And the GAO made it pretty clear that this slush fund trick looks little like a “demonstration” of anything. “The design of the demonstration precludes a credible evaluation of its effectiveness,” the GAO report stated, concluding it is “unlikely that the demonstration will produce meaningful results.”

But the Obama administration is looking for a different sort of “meaningful results” — more votes on Election Day. So the Department of Health and Human Services stood firm when the GAO recommended scrapping this spurious demonstration.

The administration’s sleight of hand on Medicare Advantage fits a pattern of Obamacare provisions that were abandoned when they were shown to be unworkable. What makes the Medicare gambit more distressing is that Obama is using taxpayer money for political purposes.

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/article/medicare-slush-fund-shows-obamas-abuse-power/510121

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Chinese Man under U.S. Protection after exposing China’s Forced Abortion

 

Exposing China’s Forced Abortion
Exposing China’s Forced Abortion

A Chinese activist who exposed force abortions and other atrocities in his home country has escaped house arrest in his province and is under the protection of U.S. officials, a Christian human rights group said Saturday.

The announcement about blind activist Chen Guangcheng by the Texas- based China Aid group comes just days before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit Beijing.

The 40-year-old Chen exposed forced the abortions and sterilizations in Chinese villages that are part of the country’s one-child policy.

He fled April 22 from his guarded home in Shandong province in eastern China. Activists said local supporters took Chen away by car, then delivered him others who brought him to Beijing.

Chen had been held in him home since his release from prison in September 2010.

Neither the United States nor China has not confirmed the reports of Chen’s fleeing or his whereabouts.

However, ChinaAid President Bob Fu told Fox News on Saturday he has confirmed reports that Chen is under diplomatic protection in Beijing and that officials are involved in “high-level negotiations about the next step.”

Fu hopes Chen’s departure will be a catalyst for large talks about human rights conditions in China, regardless what happens before Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner visit there Thursday and Friday for talks on global economics and topics including the violence in Sudan.

“Given Mrs. Clinton’s repeatedly telling China to release him, I’m optimistic this will help the diplomatic push,” Fu said.

He called the development a “pivotal moment” for U.S. human rights diplomacy.

“The Obama administration must stand firmly with (Chen) or risk losing credibility as a defender of freedom and the rule of law,” Fu added.“ If there is a reason why Chinese dissidents revere the U.S., it is for a moment like this.”

He also said the case should be handled like that of professor Fang Lizhi.

In 1989, Lizhi, whose speeches inspired student protesters throughout the 1980s, fled with his wife to the U.S. Embassy after China’s military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement. He stayed there for 13 months while the countries discussed his fate.

Chen’s case comes as the U.S. is looking for help from China on many worldwide issues, such as trying to restrain North Korea and Iran on their nuclear ambitions, and push Syria to observe a cease-fire in the fighting in that country.

Fu and Chinese-based activists said Chen’s his wife and 6-year-old daughter are still at the family’s home.

Chen recorded a video as a direct address to Premier Wen Jiabao, condemning the treatment of him and his family and accusing local Communist Party officials by name. Activists sent the video Friday to the overseas Chinese news site Boxun.com, which posted part of it on YouTube.

Activist Hu Jia met with Chen after his escape and said people with Chen later called him.

If Chen is in the U.S. Embassy or with U.S. officials at another location, it is not known how he would be able to leave or where he could go without Chinese permission. There was no extra security outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on Saturday.

Hu’s wife, Zeng Jinyan, posted a photo Friday on Twitter of Chen and Hu together. Chen is wearing the same clothes he wore in the video. Both men are smiling.

China’s media have been silent on the case, and most words related to Chen and his village have been blocked online. Chinese political analysts have declined to comment.

A self-taught lawyer blinded by fever in infancy, Chen served four years in prison for revealing the abortions and sterilizations in his and surrounding villages. Since his release, local officials confined him to his home, beating him up on several occasions.

Chen is widely admired. Even Hollywood actor Christian Bale tried to visit, but was roughed up by locals.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/28/escaped-china-activist-now-under-us-protection-rights-group/

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Billions Missing in MF Global Funds

Billions Missing in MF Global Funds

James Giddens, the trustee overseeing the liquidation of MF Global Inc, told the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday that his team’s analysis of how the money went missing “is substantially concluded.”

“We can trace where the cash and securities in the firm went, and that we’ve done,” Giddens said.

MF Global failed last year after its disclosure of billions of dollars worth of bets on risky European debt sparked a panic among investors. About $105 billion in cash left the firm in its last week, Giddens said, as clients withdrew their funds and trading partners called for increased margin payments, leaving the firm scrambling to make good on its obligations.

It has since emerged that MF Global tapped customer funds for its own use during this crisis and failed to replace them, in violation of industry rules.

Roughly $700 million of the missing money is now locked up with MF Global’s subsidiary in the United Kingdom, where Giddens and his team are engaged in litigation to have it returned to U.S. customers. Giddens said he is “reasonably confident” that these funds will be recovered, though he added that it will be a lengthy process with no guarantee of success.

Another $220 million was transferred inadvertently from the accounts of securities customers to those of commodities customers. That money is now in limbo amid a dispute over which customers it belongs to, said Kent Jarrell, a spokesman for Giddens.

The final $680 million or so was transferred to other financial institutions with which MF Global did business, including a substantial portion that went to JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500).

Giddens said his team has “a solid basis for seeking the recovery of some of the funds that were transferred to JPMorgan,” and is engaged in ongoing talks on the issue. JPMorgan did not immediately return a request for comment.

Sorting through the MF Global debacle

Giddens’ team is just one among a number of groups probing MF Global’s collapse. There’s also Louis Freeh, the trustee for MF Global’s parent company, as well as the Department of Justice and federal regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Jill Sommers, a commissioner with the CFTC, told the hearing Tuesday that she could not disclose details of the commission’s investigation, but said the case could lead to enforcement actions against the company or the individuals involved.

The SEC and CFTC can only seek civil penalties and restitution for customers, but their findings could help form the basis of a criminal case brought by the Justice Department.

Giddens, for his part, has said he may file civil claims against MF Global executives alleging breach of fiduciary duties and violations of federal law governing commodities trading. A person familiar with the trustee’s probe said Jon Corzine, a former U.S. senator and Democratic governor from New Jersey who was CEO of MF Global when it collapsed, is among those against whom Giddens is considering action.

So far, most of MF Global’s thousands of former customers have recovered about 70% of their money, while those that traded on foreign exchanges are missing nearly all of it.

On Tuesday, a bankruptcy judge in Manhattan authorized an additional distribution of $685 million that will bring most customers up to around 80% of what they’re owed. Six months after the firm’s failure, however, they’re still waiting for someone to be held accountable.

“Crimes have been committed here without a doubt,” said James Koutoulas, an attorney and trader who has been advocating on behalf of MF Global customers.

“We think there are enough facts out here to start arresting people and start filing charges.”

http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/24/news/companies/mf-global/

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Illegal Immigrate Still In US after 35 Arrest

Whatever Happen! To Common Sense

HUEYTOWN, Alabama – Federal authorities said they have tried to remove a Palestinian man who has been arrested 35 times in 12 years in Alabama, but said other countries have refused to take him.

Sofyan Eldani, 45, was arrested by Hueytown police earlier this week after he was found during a traffic stop to be in possession of crack cocaine. Police Chief Chuck Hagler said he was frustrated to find out that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were familiar with the convicted felon, but couldn’t send him to his native country because the U.S. doesn’t recognize Palestine as a country. Eldani said he is a native of Palestine, though he carries an Egyptian passport.

Temple Black, a spokesman for ICE, today released the following statement regarding the predicament with Eldani.

“Sofyan Eldani was previously detained by ICE and ordered removed to Egypt. ICE made a travel document request to Egypt. Mr. Eldani made travel document requests to Egypt, Israel and Kuwait,” the statement read. “When authorities in those countries declined to provide the appropriate travel documents to facilitate Mr. Eldani’s removal, he was released from ICE custody due to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Zadvydas v. Davis.”

“The Zadvydas decision generally allows ICE to detain aliens who are subject to a final order of removal only for a period of time deemed reasonably necessary to effectuate their removal. ICE makes every possible effort to remove all final-order aliens within a reasonable period, which the Supreme Court has determined is 180 days. After that period, if the actual removal cannot occur within the reasonably foreseeable future, ICE must release the alien.”

Eldani’s arrests including assault, fraudulent checks, criminal mischief, resisting arrests, reckless endangerment, shoplifting, burglary, drug possession, failure to appear, probation violation, possession of a drug paraphernalia and DUI.

He has at least nine convictions, including four felonies, and served six months in an Alabama prison for receiving stolen property.

So, for now, Eldani will remain in Alabama and face his most recent drug trafficking charge in state court.

“I understand what they’re saying, but it’s not a satisfactory answer,” Hagler said. “It doesn’t seem fair to us that if they refuse to take their problem child back, we are stuck with him. If an American gets convicted of being a serial child rapist in France, do we refuse to take him back? I doubt it. Am I the only one who thinks this is insane?”

 

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/04/immigration_officials_say_they.html