Michael Moore Under Fire From Disabled Iraq War Veteran

Now here’s a soldier who’s taking the war to Michael Moore and speaking the only language he’ll ever understand - big, fat litigation. heh heh

A double-amputee veteran of the Iraq war is suing filmmaker Michael Moore for $85 million, claiming Moore used an old interview with the G.I. to make him appear anti-war in his movie “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

Sgt. Peter Damon, 33, who strongly supports America’s invasion of Iraq, said he never agreed to be in the 2004 movie. Damon lost his arms when a Black Hawk helicopter exploded in front of him.

In the 2003 interview, which he did at Walter Reed Army Hospital for NBC News, he discussed only a new painkiller the military was using on wounded veterans, the New York Post reports.

“They took the clip because it was a gut-wrenching scene,” Damon said. “They sandwiched it in. [Moore] was using me as ammunition.”

According to the lawsuit filed in Suffolk County, Mass., Damon seems to “voice a complaint about the war effort” in the movie.

But he told the Post: “I was complaining about the pain I would’ve been having [if it weren't for the painkiller].

Newsman Brian Williams ends the NBC clip by adding, “These men with catastrophic wounds are . . . completely behind the war effort,” according to the lawsuit. That part wasn’t shown in the Moore movie.

Good. Take him for every cent you can, Sgt. Damon! We’re behind you 100%!!!!

UPDATE 6/1: additional news coverage with a few more details.

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An Unpopular View of Haditha

Heidi and I have been watching the Haditha situation unfold, and we’ve held our tongues until now. However, after reading some of the military bloggers’ comments, and seeing the cover-my-ass-in-case-I’m-wrong crap from some other conservative bloggers, I’ve decided I can’t be silent anymore. Our view is unpopular, it’s untolerant, it’s anything but understanding. But it’s realistic. Take it as you will.

A year ago, we watched Ilario Pantano fight to clear his name of ridiculous charges. The idea of putting a Marine on trial for killing the enemy in a time of war is asinine. Haditha, in my opinion, is no different.

Marines are trained to kill. Total demolition and obliteration of the enemy is what they excel at. They are not Air Force technicians. They are not Navy radar operators. They are not hostage negotiators. They are killers, trained to win wars by killing the enemy preemptively, NOT reactively. Battles like Iwo Jima were won because Marines are “bold, bloody, and resolute,” not “understanding, tolerant, and merciful.” The Pacific front of World War II was a filthy, gory, stunningly real display of the realities of war. The Marines lived it, breathed it, slept in it for many, many months on end. They did what they had to do to survive, but more importantly, they did what they had to do to win. Were it not for their courage and their testicular fortitude, we would never have won against the Japanese. That means at this very moment, you would not be free.

What the Left (and other worthless institutions like the UN, etc.) are doing is to force Marines–and every other branch of our military–to fight a war as though it were a rough football match, with rules and penalties and punts from their own end zone if they hurt someone during the game.

Here’s the problem: War is not a game, and by its very nature, it demands that people be hurt.

To paraphrase a great saying, “The more brutal war is, the sooner it will be over.” Once war begins, the only option is absolute and total victory. Total vanquishing of the enemy. There can be no in between, no waffling of purpose, no “playing nice.”

It’s easy for you here in the States, fat and happy in your recliner, to say those Marines killed in cold blood. Here’s my response: How dare you? Have you ever talked to someone just before their head exploded? Have you had to wipe your friend’s brains off your face? Have you risked your own life to save someone else? Do you even have a clue how you would react in that situation? I’ll give you a hint: You don’t have a damn idea.

We train our boys–and they are boys, so many of them–to kill the enemy somewhere else so we don’t have enemies in our homes, killing our children. We train these men to do the job that needs to be done because most of America doesn’t have the stomach for it. These boys and men volunteer to do something we can never fathom, and we have no right to tell them how to do their job if we have never stood in their boots, covered in the blood of our friends.

In order to win a war, you must destroy the enemy’s will to fight. This is accepted fact. The terrorists know this, and they are well on their way to destroying our will. Even while they attack our cities and kill our innocents, we scream that “American troops must take the high road! We must not torture! We must not strike the enemy preemptively! We must only react to them if fired upon!”

And then you wonder why we’re still in Iraq.

This war is becoming like Vietnam, but not in the way you think. The media have wanted their My Lai ever since the beginning. They wanted a poster child to parade, someone to play scapegoat for their game of “Pin the war crimes on the military.” The Left is worse, claiming they support the troops even as they call them babykillers and murderers. Even conservatives, normally so pro-troop, are backing away from Haditha like it’s a hot potato. Suddenly no one wants to get caught holding the unpopular bag that says “I support the Marines.” You know, “just in case they really did it.”

So what if they did? Who knows? Who cares?

Remember: The more brutal a war is, the sooner it will be over. We are still in Iraq because our military, our Marines, are not allowed to do the job they were trained to do. War is a contact sport. It’s not golf. Women get killed. Children get killed. Hospitals get bombed. It is heartbreaking, it’s sad, but it’s reality. To ask our men and women to fight a war without hurting anyone is insane. People keep using the phrase “killed in cold blood,” like war is somehow, something other than killing in cold blood. What the hell do you expect them to do? Go over there and only kill in self-defense?

If it comes out that those Marines did kill women and children, I will still support them. Terrorists are everywhere. You all know this, folks, I’m not telling you something revolutionary here. Terrorists can be women, they can be children. There’s no law saying terrorists are only Arab males between 17-30. I have no right to tell Marines in a combat zone that they have to answer to me back here in the States about their actions in a combat zone against an enemy that takes any form, uses any tactic, and breaks every rule. And as much as it may pain you to hear this, you don’t have a right to demand it either.

The military does a dirty, disgusting job so we don’t have to. The very least we can do is let them do it the way they were trained to do it–the way it needs to be done. The sooner the enemy’s will is broken, the sooner our troops all come home for good.

Linked at Cao’s Blog.

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Fair Tax Blogburst

by Ms.Underestimated

This is not just an idea anymore…it’s a movement! The Fair Tax movement.

What else do you call an event about something as dull and boring as the U.S. Tax Code that draws almost 7,000 to a rally? About 4,500 people got inside the doors, which had to be closed due to the 50,000 square foot Gwinnett Convention Center being at capacity at SIX THIRTY P.M.! The rally didn’t start for another hour, yet another almost 3,000 had to be turned away. People drove from Virginia, Florida, South Carolina, Mississippi, and all over the southeast. Hindsight being 20/20, I’ve heard some of them express disappointment over radio because they only heard the broadcast en route to the rally, and at 6:30 they weren’t even in Georgia yet. They knew they had to turn around and go home, but every single one said that next time, they’ll come a day or two in advance! Some who were turned away simply went to their cars and “tail-gated” with fellow Fair Taxers so they could all listen to the rally as WSB Radio broadcast it live.

After all, who knew there would even be a thousand that would attend? Neal Boortz, the co-author of the Fair Tax Book, certainly didn’t think so himself. In fact, when Neal took the stage at about 8PM, the old curmudgeon was visibly moved. But that’s just where it all begins. Let me take you inside the event in my memory.

I left my office at 3PM, drove 35 miles through horrific Atlanta traffic, and was about the 1,500th person in line. You could feel the passion in the air as attendees clutched their books, displayed their buttons or signs, or signed petitions that were being passed around. We slowly made our way into the Convention Center, and it was packed already. The setup was fantastic, with huge screens dangling from the ceiling above just about every seating section, so everyone was guaranteed a good view of what was going on on the stage. Neal has some fantastic pictures at his site. Here’s a couple of them.

(Photos by Carrie Carden)

Here’s what the inside of the Convention Center looked like, and above is what a portion of the line looked like just to get inside. I am not even a SPECK at the end of this line!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are just a few of the supporters waving their signs of support inside the center.

Once I got inside, I hunted down a t-shirt, but to no avail - sold out. I did get a signed book, well, two actually, and a “fairtax.org” stamp for money:

What the heck… I figure if I stamp all of my bills, at least ONE of them might prompt someone who knows nothing about HR25/S.25,HR5 to at least look at the bill they’ve just been given from the store clerk, go “what’s fair tax?” and then go to the internet to read about it. Oh, well… back to the rally…

Neal was first up, and spoke to a rousing applause. He told us of how awed he was by the turn-out, and that it spoke volumes to him of just what this had become. He was actually surprised because he thought people wouldn’t come because it was the night of the American Idol finale (oh, please!). He also let us know that not only did the Gwinnett Convention Center DONATE the facility and time, but the stage, lighting, sound equipment, video screens, etc., were also all donated for the cause!

Neal spoke about the Fair Tax, then introduced Congressman John Linder. They both engaged the audience in rapt attention, raucous applause, and cat-calls when the IRS was mentioned. Then, as we’d been promised, Congressman Linder came bearing good news. In the past week, Hastert’s office had been in contact with Linder’s office, and Hastert has set aside a one-hour block of face-to-face time for Congressman Linder to discuss the Fair Tax (HR25) with President Bush! That eclipsed the other good news we would receive by video from Sen. Saxby Chambliss later on, that finally Sen. Johnny Isaakson has signed on to co-sponsor the bill with Sen. Chambliss!

Then Sean joined the fray. Sean came prepared with written questions he’d gotten from his listeners that day as he broadcast from Neal’s studio at WSB Radio. Sean proposed the questions to both Congressman Linder & Neal, and you know that Neal brought the most howls with his wry sense of humor.

As they talked up the Fair Tax, Congressman Linder reminded us that before the Revolutionary War, a clear 2/3 of the people didn’t want to have anything to do with a battle against the British Crown. But due to the hard work and persistent of a few determined people who yearned for their liberty, they fought all rationality and the majority who were okay with the status quo, and forged ahead to secure that very freedom that we have today. If it weren’t for those determined few, who knows what our America would be like today? Many thanks go to them.

Sean had to hurry off to do Hannity & Colmes from the Atlanta Fox affiliate, so he came in specifically to be with us for that 20-minute period of time. Sean really gets it. Next up, former senatorial candidate, Herman Cain.

For those of you who’ve never been blessed enough to hear Herman Cain speak, you have no idea what you’re missing. I am really sorry he lost out that campaign to Johny Isaakson in GA, because Herman Cain is TRULY a dedicated REAGAN conservative Republican, and he is wholly behind the Fair Tax. In fact, he sits in for Neal on his show when Neal’s out. Neal’s affiliates will accept NO OTHER substitute except for Herman Cain. Otherwise, they prefer to just run a “best of” in Neal’s absence.

Herman regaled us with anecdotal stories about his grandfather, who was a poor Georgia dirt farmer. He remembered that going into town, his grandfather used to say to the kids “them that’s goin, get in the truck.. them that’s stayin, GET OUT OF THE WAY!” The audience went WILD! He reminded us that those who want to forge ahead and make change in the world should use that analogy in our lives if we want to affect change. He had the audience, at the appropriate times, shouting “GET OUT OF THE WAY!” A lot of people were yelling “AMEN, REV. CAIN!” I don’t know if he’s a reverend or not, but he definitely moves me. In fact, the gentleman next to me said “Lord, if he keeps this up, I’m gonna start speaking in tongues!” That was not only humorous, it was also true. Herman Cain is riveting. He didn’t stop there.

He continued stories about his grandfather, about when all the potatoes had been pulled from the ground and loaded on his truck, that all the kids would load in the truck with him. He said his grandfather didn’t take the smooth, already-dug grooves in the road. Rather, his grandfather drove over every bump, rock, rut, etc., and when they came to the market, he asked his grandfather, “why didn’t you just take the regular road instead of making the ride so rough?” He said it was then he noticed that back in the truck bed, all the big potatoes had risen to the top; and all of the little potatoes had settled at the bottom. Then he turned his attention directly forward, and forcefully shouted “.. and YOU people ARE THE BIG POTATOES!”

My God, I though it was the second coming! Would the roof stay on? Or would the trembling of the building turn out to be just be the response of the crowd? Either way, it was absolutely electrifying! And talk about feeling empowered.. WOW! I have goosebumps just remembering it as I write! He definitely had the crowd motivated, and that’s what made us feel so good. That we ARE the ones who want change, and are determined enough to see it through. There was also a tangible sense of camaraderie in the building, as if we have all just been reminded of our mission, and accepted the challenge.

John Stossel of ABC also came to speak for a few minutes, and he gave us this amazing tidbit: 1% of the people of this planet affect change; 9% of the people watch change being affected; and the other 90% wake up one day and say “what happened?” We ARE that One Percent!!!

I’m sick to death of those people who support the Fair Tax, but don’t participate in these events or even sign petitions because of their defeatist attitudes. “Oh, it’s a good idea, but it will never happen,” or “well, it won’t really work because of XYZ.” If our founding fathers had had that attitude, then… well, I don’t even want to ponder that lunacy.

If the patriots of the revolutionary war can do something as monumental as they did, then can’t this bunch of “potatoes” do even less? Let’s do it, everyone… let’s get rid of the IRS, and get the government out of our lives!

Folks, I’m here to tell you; after what I witnessed at the rally, I cannot and will not be defeatist about it. Everything good or bad that exists today in our country was brought about by grassroots movements. And if there’s one thing I learned last Wednesday, it is this: IT’S POSSIBLE!

The Fair Tax Book : Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS

Buy the book TODAY (click the above link). Heck, buy 2 or 5, and send them to friends! And many thanks to the Americans for Fair Taxation, who sponsored the event. Group President Ken Hoagland (right) also spoke to a roundly appreciative crowd.

If you have Comcast cable, you may be able to see video of this rally free from Comcast’s On-Demand service. Details are here.

The FairTax Blogburst is jointly produced by Terry of The Right Track Blog and Jonathan of Publius Rendezvous. If you would like to host the weekly postings on your blog, please e-mail Terry or Jonathan. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll.

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Lady Liberty’s Thong Says “NO” to Illegals

This one made me chuckle. I’d have flat-out laughed, but it’s 0600 right now.

SOUTH TOLEDO — A south Toledo man is using a replica of the Statue of Liberty to let the world know his thoughts on illegal immigration. Art Bollinger says he got this idea from an e-mail he received, and decided to duplicate the picture.

From the front, you can see the Statue of Liberty. From behind, it shows Lady Liberty’s behind, in a thong bikini. The nearby sign says “Kiss my American Ass.”

Bollinger tells News 11 he will accept anyone into this country as long as they come here legally, but he has no patience for those who sneak in. “You don’t have rights. You are here illegally,” said Bollinger of the people who cross the border without permission. “If I break the law, I go to prison. You break the law and the American government says they’ll kiss your behind. No. That’s ridiculous.”

The US Senate bill passed last week would tighten the border, offer a guest worker programs to bring in new foreign workers and provide a chance at citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants already in the country. The US House bill generally is limited to border enforcement and cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants. Negotiators from both chambers will try to reconcile the differences and agree on a compromise.

Bollinger says his wife is from Russia and he had to jump through all kinds of hoops and pay for the process of her becoming a US citizen. He feels everyone else should do the same.

Amen, amen.

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Vicente Fox is a walking fertilizer dispenser

Vicente Fox is a walking fertilizer dispenser

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Celebrities and Heroes

Americans have long been enamored with celebrities. The glamor and glitz of their whirlwind travels, their on-again, off-again relationships, and their tragically charmed lives appeal to a large portion of the population. American Idol recently saw more votes cast than any presidential campaign in the history of our nation, and magazine covers broadcast every detail of celebrities’ tawdry affairs and seemingly never-ending divorces.

Why does America care so much about a group that, in all reality, offers so little to society in the way of actual substance? Perhaps more interesting is the question of what role they should play in public life. The answer is simple: None.

Celebrities have the potential to be role models; they have the platform and the ability to influence a generation and shape the course of our society’s way of thinking. However, as the fictional hero Spiderman was warned, “With great power comes great responsibility.” They have squandered their power on themselves and bought into the myth that they are somehow better than the man who goes to work in a factory every day to provide for his family.

Hollywood is in almost every home, almost every American life. They are lauded as heroes, as American royalty. They have the power to teach dedication, honor, courage, and love of country. They have the capacity to show boys how to respect girls, and girls how to respect themselves. They could teach us all how to be better husbands, better wives, better citizens. Instead, we are treated to a steady stream of their excesses; we are shown time and again that they are perhaps even more human than we are. We watch their divorces, their affairs, their arrests for drugs or shoplifting or drunk driving. We see them treated with a level of deference that the average citizen would never be given. We are taught that love is cheap, fidelity is overrated, and life is only fulfilling if your house is worth a few million.

Actors and actresses are fond of pontificating about society and the government, global warming, starving children, and a host of other causes they claim are dear to their hearts. They are political activists, fancying themselves enlightened revolutionaries in a dark time. They travel to Africa to be photographed feeding children; they travel to New Orleans to be filmed “helping the victims,” they adopt children from overseas and proudly tell us about what they’ve done to help the “global situation.” In reality, they are just hired spokespersons, being paid for what they do best: become someone they’re not, in front of a camera.

Meanwhile, the real heroes, the real role models, are down in the shelters serving soup to the needy. They are quietly volunteering at their local Big Brother/Big Sister charity. They are going to work every day and raising their kids to know what the meaning of honor and integrity are. They are coaching Little League and counseling unwed mothers and helping abused wives. They are standing in an airport at 2 in the morning so troops coming home from the horrors of war can have some warm food and a free phone to call their families. The people we should be paying attention to are regular guys from places like Indiana and Iowa who spent thirty days fighting on Iwo Jima so that fifty years later an actress could call them terrorists while wearing a dress–once time–that cost half a million dollars. The role models we should be looking to are the kind of men James Bradley wrote about in Flags of Our Fathers: strong, determined, brave; the kind of men who willingly laid down their lives for our freedom. Instead, our country idolizes people who slip in and out of identities so easily that they don’t even know themselves, so devoid of character that the only job they’re fit for is being something they’re not.

If the meaning of life is cars and diamonds and being on the cover of magazines, then celebrities have it made. I happen to believe the meaning of life is deeper than an Olympic-sized pool, and a lot more precious than a Brad Pitt DVD.

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Guard the Borders Blogburst

by Heidi at Euphoric Reality

WHAT THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT SENATE BILL S. 2611

The new immigration bill (the most “sweeping reform in 50 years”) S. 2611 is an amalgam of petty causes, illogical provisions, unstructured “solutions” with zero allowances for implementation, and self-contradictory language. Despite the mess, it was passed by self-righteous politicians who repeated the mantra “it’s better than doing nothing.” This from the same gaggle of do-nothings who outright rejected the House’s law enforcement bill.

The Senate bill has our President’s full support - this same bill is a derivative of one structured by Ted Kennedy and John McCain, and supported in full by the majority of Democrats. That alone ought to give one pause - President Bush, a Democrat?

Peggy Noonan says, “The disinterest in the White House and among congressional Republicans in establishing authority on America’s borders is so amazing–the people want it, the age of terror demands it–that great histories will be written about it.”

She opines that it is possible that…”the administration’s slow and ambivalent action is the result of being lost in some geopolitical-globalist abstract-athon that has left them puffed with the rightness of their superior knowledge, sure in their membership in a higher brotherhood, and looking down on the low concerns of normal Americans living in America.

I continue to believe the administration’s problem is not that the base lately doesn’t like it, but that the White House has decided it actually doesn’t like the base.”

S. 2611 is less about law, and more about a weird, mutant agenda that melds licentiousness with an utter disregard for the end result. There are quite a few details in S. 2611 that the media has ignored and that the legislators would rather you know nothing about. Some were provisions germane to the original Kennedy-McCain bill or the pseudo revision of Hagel-Martinez, the rest are amendments that required separate votes to accept or reject. Here’s what you need to know about the Senate’s fiasco.

NATIONAL SECURITY

The Senate failed to pass an amendment that would’ve made amnesty contingent on effectively securing the border. Their priorities are completely opposite those of the American people, who have repeatedly made it clear that our borders must be secured before anything else. Furthermore, buried in Arlen Specter’s manager’s package, an amendment proposed by Dodd makes it mandatory for our government to consult with Mexico before taking any security action along the border, to include building any barrier or any enforcement along the border. This includes everything from federal troops, and state-mobilized National Guard, down to local law enforcement. In other words, even if a county sheriff mobilizes a posse to guard the border, he must clear it first through Mexico. This effectively gives the Mexican government veto power over our national security concerns!

We’ve heard a lot about the 6,000 National Guard troops, assigned to help with back-up duties in order to free up Border Patrol agents. Unfortunately, that will make only 500 additional agents available to apprehend and detain lawbreakers at the border.

The White House adamantly insists that Guard troops take no role in law enforcement, even though, so long as they are under the command of their governors—as they will be under the president’s proposal—they are allowed to do so. Republicans worry that when the Guard shows up for duty, Lou Dobbs’ cameras won’t be far behind, recording their impotence as they merely alert border agents to the whereabouts of entering illegal immigrants whom they must passively watch.

“Merely alert border agents to the whereabouts of entering illegal immigrants?” Sound familiar? The National Guard will, at most, be performing Minutemen duties. But wait! I thought the Minutemen were “vigilantes”, Mr. President.

A tiny concession to border security was passed (Sessions, R-AL, amendment #3979) which allows for the increase of fencing and vehicle barriers along 370 miles of the southwest border of the United States. Unfortunately, existing hardware - including rancher’s broken cattle fences - would be counted towards this paltry total.

What’s most appalling is that a Democrat tried to push through an amendment (Leahy, D-VT, amendment #4117) that would revise the existing ban on granting refugee status to aliens who have provided “material support” to a terrorist organization! Fortunately, the motion was killed, but the fact that it was even considered and proposed is deeply troubling! Who can take these guys seriously?

EMPLOYMENT

Ted Kennedy passed an amendment (#4066) that makes it unnecessary for any illegal alien to have an employer attest that they are employed when petitioning for permanent legal residence, and “self-employment” is sufficient. Plenty of room for fraud and corruption there!

Now here’s where the whole argument for “cheap labor/doing jobs Americans won’t do” flies out the window. Barak Obama (D-IL, amendment no. 3971) passed an amendment that extends the Davis-Bacon Act’s “prevailing wage” levels to all temporary guest workers. That puts them ahead of American workers, who have this protection only on federal job sites:

So guest-workers (but not citizen workers) must be paid Davis-Bacon wage rates for jobs in the private sector if their occupation is covered by Davis-Bacon. Presumably because Senate Democrats’ union bosses thought this provision too modest, an amendment by Senator Barack Obama, approved by voice vote, extended Davis-Bacon wages rates to all private work performed by guest workers, even if their occupations are not covered by Davis-Bacon.

There goes their precious “cheap labor” - this provision will effectively price many guest workers out of the market. “Guest workers” will have legal status and visas that entitle them to real wages, overtime, deductions like unemployment and social security, and workers’ rights that legal workers now enjoy. Illegals will still be cheaper. Thus, twenty million illegals will be amnestied right out of the job market. Then what do we do with them when millions of new illegals flood into the country to take their place?

Now enter the litigation factor: foreign guest farm workers, admitted under the bill, cannot be “terminated from employment by any employer . . . except for just cause.” In contrast, American ag workers can be fired for any reason.

TAXES

We’ve been assured time and again that newly amnestied “guest workers” will have to pay back taxes for the years that they lived here illegally - except that they really won’t. A loophole in the new bill provides that only two years of back taxes will need to be filed. I don’t know any American citizen that can just choose not to pay taxes for years! Additionally, the Senate has now provided for illegal aliens to apply for the Earned Income Tax Credit. Our government will end up paying them!

SOCIAL SECURITY

Senator Ensign (R-NV) tried to remove the provision allowing illegal immigrants who receive legal status under the legislation to receive retro-active credit for Social Security benefits for time that they worked before receiving legal status. Arlen Specter killed it. The bill allows illegal aliens to receive Social Security benefits for the years that they worked illegally, even if they paid into Social Security under a false number or using a stolen identity! As an American citizen, if I were caught stealing someone’s identity or forging documentation to avoid paying taxes, I’d go to jail. Not so illegal aliens! There are NO penalties for breaking those laws - only retro-active rewards. The longer they broke the law, the bigger the pay-off.

VOTING

Senator McConnell (R-KY) sought to add to the bill a requirement that all voters in federal elections be required to present a valid photo identification.

“It is nonsense to suggest that somehow a photo ID for one of our most sacred rights should not be protected by a requirement that is increasingly routine in almost all daily activities in America today,” said the Kentucky lawmaker, second-ranking Republican.

But Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., likened the proposal to a poll tax or a requirement for voters to pass a literacy test. “Now is not the time and this is not the place to consider an amendment that may disenfranchise a million or more poor, minority, disabled, and elderly voters — all of them American citizens,” he said.

The proposal barely passed on a vote of 49-48, but unfortunately, it remains in limbo, evidently doomed by arcane rules now that the Senate has voted for cloture.

What the bill DOES provide for is a Bureau of the Census report to Congress on the impact of illegal immigration on the apportionment of Representatives in Congress. Of course, they need to count them - they are, after all, their newly bought electorate!

“GUEST WORKER” STATUS - NOT TEMPORARY AT ALL

Here is a perfect of example of self-contradictory language within the bill itself. The bill supposedly protects American workers by ensuring that new immigrants will not take away jobs. However, the bill’s own definition of “United States Worker” includes temporary foreign guest workers, so the protection is meaningless.

Senator Kyl (R-AZ, amendment #3969) attempted to ensure that temporary workers stayed temporary by removing the bill’s provision allowing guest workers to apply for permanent residency. The Senator from his own state, McCain, killed the amendment.

Also, thanks to Senator Santorum (R-PA) the bill expands the visa waiver program (Immigration and Nationality Act, Sect 217) to numerous additional countries. At this point, why even bother with a visa? Waive it all!!

BUDGET

Senator Allard (R-CO), concerned by the incalculable administrative costs of implementing S. 2611, raised a point of order about the budget. Such a move is allowed under the Budget Act when the projected cost of legislation under consideration exceeds a certain level. If the point of order is upheld, the legislation cannot proceed. The Senate irresponsibly waived the protective rules under the Budget Act, rejecting the point of order 67-31. Apparently, no cost is too great.

THE “GO BACK TO THE END OF THE LINE” FALLACY

Bush’s former chief economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey blows the whistle on the “end of the line” fiction being used to sell the Bush/Senate immigration reform:

At present, there are hundreds of thousands of people around the world who are waiting to immigrate legally to America. They have already waited in line to get their first appointment, then to submit the paperwork, then been called back to answer more questions. And still, they wait. In places like Hong Kong, the waiting time may be as long as 15 years. Most of these people have relatives–cousins or grandchildren, for example–who live and work and pay taxes in America and even have become American citizens.

While the process isn’t pretty, there is no good alternative. Permission to reside in America is very valuable….

Comprehensive immigration reform promises that people already in the United States illegally can apply for citizenship, but requires them to “go to the back of the line.” But a key question is, the back of which line? The reform bill before the Senate doesn’t require illegal immigrants to go back home–to, say, Hong Kong, to the end of the 10-to-15-year line there–to get a green card. Instead, it allows the current illegals to receive their green card immediately–having, in effect, jumped the line at the U.S. consulate abroad. Then, like other green card holders, they will be able to work here, collect government benefits like food stamps and Medicaid, and travel as freely as if they had a U.S. passport.

The line the current illegals will go to the back of is the citizenship line. Under the proposed law, current illegals, newly minted green card in hand, will have to wait six years, then get in line to apply for citizenship. But even after six years, they will be years ahead of many people who have gone through the legal process and are waiting overseas for a consular official to let them come here. Once those who have been playing by the rules all along get here, they too have to wait six years before getting in line for citizenship.

If we really mean “the back of the line,” that should be behind everyone who is already in the pipeline to come here legally.

Let’s be real: this bill allows those who come here illegally to gain a huge advantage over those who follow the rules. This, in effect, creates an irresistible incentive for others to ignore the rules and come here illegally. Fast track it by going illegal - there’s no reason not to!

ZERO PROVISIONS TO MAKE IT ALL WORK

Lindsey has further concerns about the utter non-viability of the Senate’s bill:

In 2004, the INS issued 946,000 green cards and naturalized 537,000 people. The proposed immigration reform anticipates giving green cards to up to 11 million people [likely closer to 20 million] in one fell swoop and making them eligible for citizenship six years later. It is inconceivable that the INS could handle an eleven-fold increase in its workload. Do we really intend to pass a bill that purports to document these 11 million people without setting up a system capable of providing them the promised documentation? If we don’t, everyone else who is already here legally but needs a visa update, or has adopted a foreign-born child, or wants his aging mother to join him in America, will get swamped by the tsunami of newly legalized people seeking documentation.

VDare concurs and says that the guest worker program is an administrative catastrophe in the making: “Already, there are backlogs of millions of applications with CIS [Citizenship and Immigration Services] for the various immigration benefits. If any guest worker program or amnesty is enacted, the sheer amount of work in processing, receiving and vetting applications and the assorted work that goes with them (interviewing, fraud investigations, verifying documentation) will without a doubt delay any application already pending—even if additional staff are added. This includes, of course, those innocents who bothered to apply to enter the U.S. the right way.” No wonder, legal immigrants are so upset with this whole thing!

I do not understand how the Senate has been so willfully blind to the will of the people and so determined to ignore the future costs of their folly:

The approved bill would send the U.S. population skyrocketing towards a billion people by the close of the century — with no analysis done of the impacts of this mass population explosion on housing, congestion, overcrowding, education, the environment and the overall quality of life. Local communities have not been consulted, and virtually no preparation has been undertaken to provide for the enormous burdens this legislation would entail. It reflects the degree to which the Senate is completely out of touch with the average American.

Nor does the bill take any serious steps that would improve immigration enforcement — especially in the interior. It merely continues a cycle of rewarding lawbreakers and clothing a loss of border control with the patina of legality. Rather than face the reality of today’s immigration crisis, the Senate has enacted a terrible bill that once again puts the interests of the American people last. The bill’s cost is staggering, the administrative burdens crushing and the consequences for the cohesion of the future American nation — no longer bound by a common destiny of the rule of law — are severe.

UPDATE: Here is a poem by a citizen that encapsulates the Senate’s break from the American reality:

TRAITORS!

A total disconnect
‘Twixt rulers and the ruled.
The country will be wrecked.
Who do they think they’ve fooled?

Both Parties I accuse,
The Elephant and Mule;
Together in this ruse,
United in misrule.

A flood tide of those who
Assimilate will not!
Both Parties know ’tis true
And still they say: So What!

They think that they can hide
Behind their guards and gates;
Escape the rising tide
And leave us to our fates.

But when our culture falls
And Dear beset by Dire
Is dashed against the walls –
None will escape entire.

All this for labor cheap –
Undone our way of life
By alien hatred deep,
Sundered in alien strife.

What makes them act this way?
Have they not eyes to see?
The People they betray!
Is this Democracy?

~ © Richard Sutta
(used with permission)
H/T: Linda at Something…And Half of Something

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This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we’re going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our Blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.