TailOverTeaKettle.com

I just happened to get to Ali-Bubba’s well written piece ‘Is it just the rhetoric?’. I very nice job summarizing the political-speak that surrounds the illegal immigration issue. Well worth the time for a full read!

A brief piece:

The problem here, it seems to me, is one of partisan perception. Democrats who campaign against illegal immigration are praised as “no-nonsense populists”; Republicans who campaign against illegal immigration are condemned as racist, xenophobic demagogues. As on so many other issues, there is a double standard according to which Democrats are allowed to get away with stances and tactics for which any Republican would be excoriated.

It seems to me that some conservatives are criticized over their “get tough” immigration stances not because they’re wrong, but because of fear — fear that such conservatives will alienate the coveted Hispanic vote, or that they’ll “turn off” middle-of-the-road voters.

We ought to get past such purely partisan political fears, and to stand firm on principle. One principle is that illegal immigration is against the law, and that toleration of lawbreaking undermines respect for the law. It is not bigotry to ask that our laws be enforced and that lawbreakers be punished. Another principle, demonstrated amply over the past 20 years, is that amnesty for illegals only encourages more illegal immigration.

Perhaps the most important principle is that voters deserve to be told the truth, and to be presented with real choices on Election Day. Too often, in recent decades, parties and politicians have tried to have it both ways on the immigration issue — lending rhetorical or symbolic support to the idea of enforcement while, at the same time, quietly acquiescing in a non-enforcement status quo.

The fact is that there has been no consistent, sufficient effort to prevent illegal entry, to repatriate illegals, and to punish those (including smugglers, employers, and suppliers of fake identification) who aid and abet the wholesale violation of federal law.

We have an invasion of illegals for the very reason that the illegals know there is no serious intent to stop them. And every illegal, simply by his presence in the United States, demonstrates a thorough contempt for the United States, its people and its laws, since every illegal has circumvented the legal process by which the United States willingly admits hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year.

To condemn crime — and everyone who violates U.S. immigration law brings upon himself the label “criminal” — is not an act of racism or bigotry, and we succumb to a sort of political correctness if we claim that politicians who argue for strong measures to protect our nation’s borders ought to do so apologetically. It is the advocates and defenders of illegal immigration — MALDEF and other groups that organize, sponsor and promote pro-amnesty rallies — who should be forced to worry that their irresponsible rhetoric will alienate voters.

              

According to the Associated Press, GALEO (the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials) is asking for supporters to come Tuesday night to Canton, GA to protest as the Cherokee County Commissioners discuss the proposal under consideration to make it unlawful for landlords to rent to illegal immigrants.

“We need to work to stop it here and ensure it would not spread to other parts of our state. Please do not stay silent as some people could be forced out of their homes during the holiday season,'’ the group’s president, Jerry Gonzalez, said in an e-mail.

Well, it is Christmas, after all.

According to their press release, it’s a move to “turn neighbor against neighbor”.

There will also be pleas from MALDEF (the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund) in Atlanta and the Coordinating Council of Latino Community Leaders.

Regardless of what one thinks about the practicality of landlords serving as an instrument in the identification of illegal immigrants, I think that groups like these are really missing the point. If they want to really endorse “comprehensive immigration reform” to mean something other than a completely open border with Mexico, then I think they should be suggesting their own proposals for how we should deal will the influx of people who are violating immigration laws by even being here.

Instead they seem more worried that an illegal immigrant might lose their apartment.

              

Peace be with you, BJ.

              

The other day I wondered how effective a Cherokee County, Georgia proposal would work if it required property owners to prove that their tenants live in the country legally.

But if it’s modelled on same principles as the Escondido, California law seems to be, then I can see better how it might work. My concern was that it became the landlords’ liability, but the federal government doesn’t actually provide the adequate tools necessary.

Ironically, I learned about Escondido because the ACLU has been successful in finding a federal judge to issue a stay preventing enforcement of their law. However, it states:

The City Council voted 3-2 last month to require landlords to submit documentation of their tenants’ immigration status to the city, which would then verify that information with the federal government.

If tenants are found to be illegal immigrants, landlords would be given 10 days to evict them or face suspension of their business licenses. Repeat offenders could face misdemeanor charges and fines.

This is an arrangement that I can see working. The landlords have the responsibility for collecting the information and passing it on to the city government. That larger entity then can work with whatever other bodies it needs to to do whatever checking it finds appropriate. But if the landlord is notified that it’s no good… they have the obligation to comply or face consequences.

This takes away the problem of each private landlord being forced to figure out how to navigate the unhelpful federal immigration assistance. And if more communities, counties, and even states get involved in attempting to get immigration status verification, it may have enough strength in numbers to help force the feds to improve their actions as well. It also gets around the problem of sympathetic landlords who refuse to do due diligence in validating status.

But some things never change:

“(Illegal immigrants) are there, it’s reality, it is immoral to force them to leave,'’ [One of the landlords, Roy] Garrett said.

Wrong, Mr. Garrett. There’s nothing ‘moral’ or ‘immoral’ about allowing someone to live in the United States. And there’s only one person in the equation that has knowingly broken the law. And that’s the illegal immigrant themself.

              

An excellent observation by James Taranto in today’s Best of the Web
about this USA Today blog entry:

In a USA Today op-ed, Kirsten Powers, a onetime Clinton administration official, celebrates the rise of “moderate” Democrats:

It was critical that Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York–who ran the campaign committees–recruited candidates palatable to conservative or moderate voters who wanted to send a message about the war, but who didn’t want to compromise on beliefs about abortion, gay marriage or the role of religion in public life. . . .

In North Carolina, Democrat Heath Shuler ran as a born-again Christian who opposes abortion. Pro-gun Brad Ellsworth, who opposes abortion and favors an amendment banning gay marriage, will be a new representative from red-state Indiana. Rep. Ted Strickland, a United Methodist minister, became the first Democrat to win as governor in Ohio in 20 years.

This column is scrupulously nonpartisan, so it falls to us to point out the double standard here: How come Democrats who oppose abortion and same-sex marriage are “moderates,” while Republicans who hold the same views are “extremists”?

It is an interesting point to make.

              

In case anyone wonders, I am all for enforcing the current immigration laws.

But it seems that the latest trend is to police rental properties. Today the Associated Press is reporting that Cherokee County, Georgia is thinking about criminalizing renting property to illegal aliens. According to the story:

Cherokee County is considering a plan to fine property owners who rent housing to illegal immigrants.

The proposal would require property owners to prove that their tenants live in the country legally. If not, individual landlords would be fined and larger apartment complexes would risk having their business licenses suspended.

While I’m all for enforcement, I do not understand how practical it is to turn landlords into immigration agents. I have no idea if Cherokee County has actually moved very far on this or if there is any language yet drafted for the proposal. But it seems quite onerous to put the burden of proof on the landlord. The federal government has done such a disasterous job in proving tools for identity and immigration status verification for employment, and this seems like it would be impossible for a landlord to truly determine legal status. Does that social security card really match to the name? Is that a bogus passport?

And what will be required? Will they be required to collect identification similar to that of an I-9 employment verification? How much do they have to go through to try to prove the legitimacy of any documentation that’s provided?

We already know that the ICE isn’t really interested in deporting anyone who is found to be illegal even if they are arrested committing a crime.

Employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants already have good enforcement loopholes to hide behind. [And we should be working to close these.] But as it stands today, shady landlords could also make use of similar loopholes. But I fear it’s the legitimate landlord who will be driven from Cherokee County faced with fines even though they are trying to comply with the laws.

If the federal government doesn’t provide the necessary tools, I don’t think we should expect the private citizen landlords to be able to act as effective immigration agents. The statues like the one being considered then just become an empty threat that mean little or nothing.

              

On the heals of several major drug busts in metro Atlanta, AccessNorthGeorgia.com is reporting a major cocaine bust including half a million dollars in drugs. While the other recent drug busts have involved illegal immigrants, it sounds like the immigration status of those involved in this bust are still being checked.

Local and federal officers from the Gainesville/Hall County Gang Task Force, Hall County MANS Unit, FBI, ATF and ICE arrested three men Monday night in a parking lot off Industrial Boulevard for trafficking 15 pounds of cocaine worth approximately $497 thousand.

Gainesville Police Chief Frank Hooper said the trafficking operation was apparently not gang related, but the bust was organized with information gathered by the Gang Task Force.

“This was a planned investigation. This investigation has been ongoing for about a week,” he said. “We were arranging a buy from these individuals for this cocaine.”

One of the men, 32-year-old Victorino Zepeda-Martinez of Gainesville, was also arrested for possession of a firearm. Also arrested were 25-year-old Juan Macedonio-Salgado of Calhoun and 27-year-old Fidel Arevalo-Villa of La Verge, Tennessee.

Hooper said some of the cocaine could have been destined for our area, but he speculated most of it would have continued moving.

“It appears that Gainesville and Hall County has become kind of a stop-off point or distribution point for a large amount of drugs that continue up the east coast,” he said. “The message we want to send is: folks need to find somewhere else to do that.”

Along with the drugs, officers seized two automobiles and the gun. Despite the presence of the weapon, Hooper said the bust went smoothly.

Police are investigating the immigration status of the suspects. All three men are currently in the Hall County Detention Center.

              

From the Associated Press report:

International Atomic Energy experts have found unexplained plutonium and highly enriched uranium traces in a nuclear waste facility in Iran and have asked Tehran for an explanation, an IAEA report said Tuesday

I guess that the IAE experts aren’t paying much attention.

Ahmadinejad: No stopping Iran’s nuke drive

There is no stopping of Iran’s nuclear programme despite threats of UN sanctions, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told world powers on Tuesday.

“The great powers have tried to prevent our people from achieving their rights in nuclear material,” he said, while Europe and the United States move to impose sanctions on Iran for its nuclear ambitions.

“Iran is completely mastering the nuclear fuel cycle and time is playing in favour of Iran,” he said.

“This year I hope will be able to have the great celebration of the nuclearisation of Iran,” he added, without elaborating.

IAE experts: There’s your explaination.

              

An excellent piece by Leon Wolf over at RedState: A Friendly Reminder for the Circular Firing Squad. While there are many who are bemoaning last week’s election loss and imagine that , Leon warns “fiscal conservatives who are concerned about excessive government spending should lay off blaming the social conservatives for their woes.” He points out that some of the most strident supporters of fiscal conservatism are also social conservatives as well. Well put:

So, if there are fiscal conservatives out there who are sick of the big government spending, don’t look to Specter, Snowe and Collins as models for new Republicans - the social liberals in the Senate are the worst porkers in the entire Republican caucus. The best thing you can do for your cause is to support a person who is conservative through and through - because only such a person will actually follow through on a promise to reduce government spending, even at their own political expense.

On a seperate note, it seems that what can get people in real trouble is that they do not really vote they way they believe, and either become too accustomed to power and perks, or else are afraid to take the tough votes because it could be damaging politically.

While terms limits would certainly rob these bodies of some fine legislators too early - imagine if people did have the courage to vote their heart. Why does Joe Lieberman suddenly feel free? Why did Zell Miller decide to vote the way he felt the citizens of his state wanted him to? Because they were less beholden to someone else.

Anyway, as all of the various Presidential candidates size up the electorate in the coming weeks - there are no easy answers or poll results that will really give the true pulse. But let’s hope that at least some take real positions and stick by them, even if it means that they can no “be everything to everyone”, even for a moment, so that we can get a real look at what they believe.

              

Some good places to visit around the web this weekend:

• A great Veterans Day tribute Mudville Gazette. To quote: “In November, 2004 I was in Iraq. My mother sent me a copy of the following letter, written by her father from “somewhere in France” on November 11, 1918. His war was over - but a very few years later his sons would find themselves completing the mission. Take from that what lesson you would - for now, from two combat zones, from my family to yours, a safe and happy Armistice Day…”
• Cynical Nation declares Joe Lieberman the new King of the Senate. To quote: “Translation: ‘Since Harry Reid bribed me with a pretty sweet deal behind closed doors, I’ll vote with the Democrats… for now. But the second they piss me off and don’t agree to everything I want, all bets are off.’”
• Truth is stranger than fiction. Even if you wanted to tell a joke about George McGovern giving Democrats advice about Iraq policy, it couldn’t come across as bad as what’s really happening. Riehl World View notes “They weren’t content to try and re-fight the Vietnam War. It appears they want to go all the way and surrender it. I was concerned about Jim Baker’s influence. That’s starting to look like a plus”
• Public Figures… Beware notes that Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, a newly announced 2008 Democratic Presidential candidate, is not exactly seeing a groundswell of support from his home state. Most people might not care about a Vilsack candidacy now, but I grew up in Whiteside County, Illinois, so I have a soft spot for Quad City news!
• Conservative Musings follows-up on Charlie Rangel’s slam on Mississippi: “Like John Kerry, Charles Rangel can’t seem to apologize either, without trying to make folks feel bad about calling them on it.”
• Conservative Blog Therapy noticed a new book, Conservative Comebacks to Liberal Lies, that might be helpful aiding post-Election recovery.
• Alabama Liberation Front studies ‘Reagan’s Law of GOP Success’: “The Republican Party can only win in the long run by defining itself as the conservative alternative to liberal Democrats — even where such an identification causes short-term defeats.” This kind of back-of-the-envelope calculations are very interesting. I sure hope the the National GOP is really studying this again nationally, rather than listening to the ‘pundits’. That’s the way we end up with Senate control being tied to re-electing an obstructionist like Lincoln Chafee.

When it seems like politics and are a matter of life and death, it’s doubly important to visit a blog like Atomictumor to get a perspective about what life and love is really about. [And I hope that they don’t mind, but I have been praying for them too.]