COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Thursday, September 01, 2011

We Should Have Listened to Jimmy Carter in 1977 on Illegal Aliens



Jimmy Carter

Undocumented Aliens Message to the Congress.
August 4, 1977




To the Congress of the United States:

I am proposing to Congress today a set of actions to help markedly reduce the increasing flow of undocumented aliens in this country and to regulate the presence of the millions of undocumented aliens already here.

These proposed actions are based on the results of a thorough Cabinet-level study and on the groundwork which has been laid, since the beginning of the decade, by Congressmen Rodino and Eilberg and Senators Eastland and Kennedy. These actions will:

• Make unlawful the hiring of undocumented aliens, with enforcement by the Justice Department against those employers who engage in a "pattern or practice" of such hiring. Penalties would be civil--injunctions and fines of $1000 per undocumented alien hired. Criminal penalties could be imposed by the courts against employers violating injunctions. Moreover, employers, and others, receiving compensation for knowingly assisting an undocumented alien obtain or retain a job would also be subject to criminal penalties.

• Increase significantly the enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Federal Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act, targeted to areas where heavy undocumented alien hiring occur.

• Adjust the immigration status of undocumented aliens who have resided in the U.S. continuously from before January 1, 1970 to the present and who apply with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for permanent resident alien status; create a new immigration category of temporary resident alien for undocumented aliens who have resided in the U.S. continuously prior to January 1, 1977; make no status change and enforce the immigration law against those undocumented aliens entering the U.S. after January 1, 1977.

• Substantially increase resources available to control the Southern border, and other entry points, in order to prevent illegal immigration.

• Promote continued cooperation with the governments which are major sources of undocumented aliens, in an effort to improve their economies and their controls over alien smuggling rings.

Each of these actions will play a distinct, but closely related, role in helping to solve one of our most complex domestic problems: In the last several years, millions of undocumented aliens have illegally immigrated to the United States. They have breached our nation's immigration laws, displaced many American citizens from jobs, and placed an increased financial burden on many states and local governments.

The set of actions I am proposing cannot solve this enormous problem overnight, but they will signal the beginning of an effective Federal response. My Administration is strongly committed to aggressive and comprehensive steps toward resolving this problem, and I am therefore proposing the following actions:

EMPLOYER SANCTIONS

The principal attraction of the United States for undocumented aliens is economic--the opportunity to obtain a job paying considerably more than any available in their own countries. If that opportunity is severely restricted, I am convinced that far fewer aliens will attempt illegal entry.

I am therefore proposing that Congress make unlawful the hiring by any employer of any undocumented alien. This employment bar would be implemented in the following way:

• Enforcement would be sought against those employers who engage in a "pattern or practice" of hiring undocumented aliens, with the Justice Department setting priorities for enforcement.

• Penalties for violation of the employment bar would be both injunctive relief and stiff civil fines--a maximum of $1,000 for each undocumented alien hired by an employer. A violation of a court injunction would subject an employer to a potential criminal contempt citation and imprisonment.

• An employer would be entitled to defend any charge of hiring an undocumented alien by proving that a prospective employee's documentation of legal residence, as designated by the Attorney General in regulations, was seen prior to employment.

• The Social Security card would be designated as one of the authorized identification documents; and we will accelerate the steps already being taken to make certain that such cards are issued, as the law now mandates, only to legal residents. Those steps include requiring personal interviews of card applicants and making the cards more difficult to forge. But no steps would be taken to make the Social Security card, or any other card, a national identification document.

• To further restrict job opportunities, criminal sanctions would be imposed on those persons who receive compensation for knowingly assisting an undocumented alien obtain or retain employment, or who knowingly contract with such persons for the employment of undocumented aliens. These sanctions are directed at the substantial number of individuals who broker jobs for undocumented aliens or act as agents for alien smugglers. It is not directed at those who inadvertently refer an undocumented alien to a job, such as an employment agency or a union hiring hall.

To make certain that all of these new sanctions are uniformly applied, they would pre-empt any existing state sanctions.

In addition to the creation of these new sanctions, efforts to increase enforcement of existing sanctions will be significantly increased. The Fair Labor Standards Act, which mandates payment of the minimum wage and provides other employee protections, would not only be strictly enforced, but its existing civil and criminal penalties would be sought much more frequently by the government. To date, the inability of the government to enforce fully this Act, due in part to a lack of resources, has resulted in the hiring of undocumented aliens at sub-minimum wages, thereby often displacing American workers. Two hundred sixty new inspectors will be hired and targeted to areas of heavy undocumented alien employment. Similarly, the Federal Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act, which prohibits the recruiting and hiring of undocumented aliens for farm work, would be tightly enforced. The Departments of Justice and Labor will work closely in exchanging information developed in their separate enforcement activities.

While I believe that both the new and existing employer sanctions, and their strict enforcement, are required to control the employment of undocumented aliens, the possibility that these sanctions might lead employers to discriminate against Mexican-American citizens and legal residents, as well as other ethnic Americans, would be intolerable. The proposed employer sanctions have been designed, with their general reliance on civil penalties and "pattern or practice" enforcement, to minimize any cause for discrimination. However, to prevent any discriminatory hiring, the federal civil rights agencies will be charged with making much greater efforts to ensure that existing anti-discrimination laws are fully enforced.

BORDER ENFORCEMENT

The proposed employer sanctions will not, by themselves be enough to stop the entry of undocumented aliens. Measures must also be taken to significantly increase existing border enforcement efforts. While our borders cannot realistically be made impenetrable to illegal entry, greater enforcement efforts clearly are possible, consistent with preserving both the longest "open" borders in the world and our humanitarian traditions.

I am proposing to take the following increased enforcement measures, most of which will require Congressional approval for the necessary additional resources:

• Enforcement resources at the border will be increased substantially and will be reorganized to ensure greater effectiveness. The exact nature of the reorganization, as well as the amount of additional enforcement personnel, will be determined after the completion in September of our ongoing border enforcement studies. It is very likely, though, that a minimum of 2000 additional enforcement personnel will be placed on the Mexican border.

• INS will shift a significant number of enforcement personnel to border areas having the highest reported rates of undocumented alien entry.

• An anti-smuggling Task Force will be established in order to seek ways to reduce the number and effectiveness of the smuggling rings which, by obtaining forged documents and providing transportation, systematically smuggle a substantial percentage of the undocumented aliens entering the country. The U.S. Attorneys will be instructed to give high priority to prosecuting individuals involved in alien smuggling.

• The State Department will increase its visa issuance resources abroad to ensure that foreign citizens attempting to enter this country will be doing so within the requirements of the immigration laws.

• Passage will be sought of pending legislation to impose criminal sanctions on those who knowingly use false information to obtain identifiers issued by our Government, or who knowingly use fraudulent Government documents to obtain legitimate Government documents.

• The State Department will consult with countries which are the sources of significant numbers of undocumented aliens about cooperative border enforcement and anti-smuggling efforts.

COOPERATION WITH SOURCE COUNTRIES

The proposed employer sanctions and border enforcement will clearly discourage a significant percentage of those who would otherwise attempt to enter or remain in the U.S. illegally. However, as long as jobs are available here but not easily available in countries which have been the source of most undocumented aliens, many citizens of those countries will ignore whatever barriers to entry and employment we erect. An effective policy to control illegal immigration must include the development of a strong economy in each source country.

Unfortunately, this objective may be difficult to achieve within the near future. The economies of most of the source countries are still not sufficiently developed to produce, even with significant U.S. aid, enough jobs over the short-term to match their rapidly growing workforce.

Over the longer-term, however, I believe that marked improvements in source countries' economies are achievable by their own efforts with support from the United States. I welcome the economic development efforts now being made by the dynamic and competent leaders of Mexico. To further efforts such as those, the United States is committed to helping source countries obtain assistance appropriate to their own economic needs. I will explore with source countries means of providing such assistance. In some cases this will mean bilateral or multilateral economic assistance. In others, it will involve technical assistance, encouragement of private financing and enhanced trade, or population programs.

ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS

The fact that there are millions of undocumented aliens already residing in this country presents one of the most difficult questions surrounding the aliens phenomenon. These aliens entered the U.S. illegally and have willfully remained here in violation of the immigration laws. On the other hand, many of them have been law-abiding residents who are looking for a new life and are productive members of their communities.

I have concluded that an adjustment of status is necessary to avoid having a permanent "underclass" of millions of persons who have not been and cannot practicably be deported, and who would continue living here in perpetual fear of immigration authorities, the local police, employers and neighbors. Their entire existence would continue to be predicated on staying outside the reach of government authorities and the law's protections.

I therefore recommend the following adjustments of status:
First, I propose that permanent resident alien status be granted to all undocumented aliens who have resided continuously in the U.S. from before January 1, 1970 to the present. These aliens would have to apply for this status and provide normal documentary proof of continuous residency. If residency is maintained, U.S. citizenship could be sought five years after the granting of permanent status, as provided in existing immigration laws.

The permanent resident alien status would be granted through an update of the registry provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The registry statute has been updated three times since 1929, with the last update in 1965, when permanent resident alien status was granted to those who had resided here prior to 1948.

Second, all undocumented aliens, including those (other than exchange and student visitors) with expired visas, who were residing in the United States on or before January 1, 1977 will be eligible for a temporary resident alien status for five years.

Those eligible would be granted the temporary status only after registering with INS; registration would be permitted solely during a one-year period. Aliens granted temporary status would be entitled to reside legally in the United States for a five-year period.

The purpose of granting a temporary status is to preserve a decision on the final status of these undocumented aliens, until much more precise information about their number, location, family size and economic situation can be collected and reviewed. That information would be obtained through the registration process. A decision on their final status would be made sometime after the completion of the registration process and before the expiration of the five-year period.

Temporary resident aliens would not have the right to vote, to run for public office or to serve on juries; nor would they be entitled to bring members of their families into the U.S. But they could leave and re-enter this country, and they could seek employment, under the same rules as permanent resident aliens.

Unlike permanent resident aliens, temporary resident aliens would be ineligible to receive such Federal social services as Medicaid, Food Stamps, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, and Supplemental Security Income. However, the allocation formulas for Revenue Sharing, which are based on population, would be adjusted to reflect the presence of temporary resident aliens. The adjustment would compensate states and local communities for the fact that some of these residents--undocumented aliens-are currently not included in the Census Bureau's population counts. That undercount deprives certain states and communities of Revenue Sharing funds which, if Census figures were completely accurate, would be received and used to defray certain expenses caused by the presence of undocumented aliens. Those receiving adjustments of status through the actions I am proposing would be included in the 1980 Census, so that the allocation charges would have to be made only through 1980.

Third, for those undocumented aliens who entered the United States after January 1, 1977, there would be no adjustment of status. The immigration laws would still be enforced against these undocumented aliens. Similarly, those undocumented aliens, who are eligible for adjustment of status, but do not apply, would continue to have the immigration laws enforced against them.

In addition, the INS would expedite its handling of the substantial backlog of adjustment of status applications from those aliens entitled to an adjustment under existing law.

Finally, those persons who would be eligible for an adjustment of status under these proposals must not be ineligible under other provisions of the immigration laws.

TEMPORARY FOREIGN WORKERS

As part of these efforts to control the problem of undocumented aliens, I am asking the Secretary of Labor to conduct, in consultation with the Congress and other interested parties, a comprehensive review of the current temporary foreign worker (H-2) certification program. I believe it is possible to structure this program so that it responds to the legitimate needs of both employees, by protecting domestic employment opportunities, and of employers, by providing a needed workforce. However, I am not considering the reintroduction of a bracero-type program for the importation of temporary workers.

IMMIGRATION POLICY

Our present immigration statutes are in need of a comprehensive review. I am therefore directing the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Labor to begin a comprehensive interagency study of our existing immigration laws and policies.

In the interim, I am supporting pending legislation to increase the annual limitation on legal Mexican and Canadian immigration to a total of 50,000, allocated between them according to demand. This legislation will help provide an incentive to legal immigration.

I urge the Congress to consider promptly, and to pass, the legislation I will submit containing the proposals described in this Message.

JIMMY CARTER
The White House,
August 4, 1977.




Read more at the American Presidency Project: Jimmy Carter: Undocumented Aliens Message to the Congress.

87 comments:

  1. Instead, we listened to Reagan.

    Amnesty and Ameros.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Immigration, the Earned Income Credit and the greatest accumulation of peacetime Federal debt and the largest tax increase ever seen, up to that time, in the history of the United States.

    The legacies of Ronald Reagan, "Conservative Icon".

    Reagan, a fella seen from varied perspectives, but one whose accomplishments and performance were nuanced, at best.

    One's whose contemporaneous rhetoric did not match performance, viewed with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight.

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  3. He sowed the seeds for the downfall of the Soviet Union.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "What I'd really like to do is go down in history as the President who made Americans believe in themselves again."

    - Reagan

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  5. Ugh, you offer someone a sincere compliment on their mustashe and suddenly shes not your friend anymore.

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  6. Here is a,"What if?"

    What if the US government was to classify the immigrating Mexicans as refugees from a failed State?
    How would that change the political discourse and foriegn policy?

    (If I was born in mexico, I'd risk my life to get the hell outta there)

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  7. Well, fuck. It made me laugh out loud, which I needed this Thursday morning.

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  8. Oops, I better change "immigrating Mexicans" to "illegal aliens" as we wouldn't have to reclassify the legal immigrants.

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  9. Carter's deal looked like "just another Amnesty Plan," to me.

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  10. Yes, Mel, thanks for the smile. :)

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  11. Moustache not mustashe.

    "Never trust a man with a moustache."

    Except Maybe This Man

    or me

    Moustache Spoon

    b

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  12. All we need to do is keep the unemployment rate here at about 20% and they all go home.

    b

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  13. Jesus, it must be the end of the world, Bob-al-Harb learned to do blue HTML links.

    What if the US government was to classify the immigrating Mexicans as refugees from a failed State? How would that change the political discourse and foriegn policy?

    Better yet, remove Marijuana from the controlled substance list and all the cartels down there will be peddling just so much ragweed. Be just like what would happen to the De Beers if a diamond meteor the size of Mt Everest soft-landed in Arizona.

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  14. Has anyone ever seen a picture of anyone before Hitler with a Hitler moustache? I haven't. It seems to me that may have been his one truly original idea.

    b

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  15. The Unemployment Rate in Mexico is somewhere "in the fives," I believe.

    All they need is a little wage growth down there, and we'll be packing up to move to Mexicali.

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  16. It was cold as islamic hell here last night, the end of summer. If Miss T sends rain now, the garbanzo beans and the lentils, which are still half green, are in big trouble.

    I know you all find this interesting as I do.

    The doves move south, starting today.

    b

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  17. It's never going to be cold, here, again.

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  18. "Better yet, remove Marijuana from the controlled substance list..."

    I like that idea just for the sake that it should never have been on the list in the first place.
    I think the system down there is so polluted with corruption,..that..I don't know. would they just change the product to cocaine or some other such cash cow?

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  19. Obama jobs plan: Use borrowed money to pay unionized workers to create more classrooms for unionized teachers.


    The New York Times is neo-con heaven now.

    A billion dollars is a lot of money to spend just so some Libyans will say "thank you Mr. Obama" for about two weeks before they adopt Sharia Law and start bombing embassies. Asshole.

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  20. It was cold as islamic hell here last night, the end of summer. If Miss T sends rain now, the garbanzo beans and the lentils, which are still half green, are in big trouble.

    Lousy weather coming to BC, with the edge of it hitting Mt. Baker. Change of plans for anniversary sexcapades, going to the casino in Toppenish, overnight in Yakima, load up on apples and pears, and then up to Chinook pass for a hike, the usual pictures tomorrow afternoon, except for the actual sexcapade ones, which will be classified.

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  21. "Jobs plentiful in North Dakota.
    Bismark's unemployment rate is just 3 percent, thanks to oil boom.
    "-startribune.com

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  22. "Jobs plentiful in North Dakota.
    Bismark's unemployment rate is just 3 percent, thanks to oil boom."-startribune.com


    If the Dems could figure out a way to shut fracking down they'd do it in a heartbeat. Carbon is supposed to be going INTO the ground, they say.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Get In or Get Out

    C'mon Sarah, either get in or get out. When your greatest fan is starting to get pissed, it's time to take action.

    I stood in the snow for you!

    b

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  24. Chavez: Libyan rebels’ capture of Green Square was faked

    Hugo joins the ranks of the we birthers, truthers, grassy knollers, and moon shot skeptics.

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  25. Israel Hayom reported that Doxer's e-mail to the consulate, identified in the FBI agent's affidavit as country X, read: "I am a Jewish American who lives in Boston. I know you are always looking for information and I am offering the little I may have ... We [Akamai] have more important clients, including the department of defense, airline manufacturers ... and Arab companies from Dubai ... I would be happy to provide information to you ..."

    Israel contacted U.S. officials about Doxer's offer.


    The Israelis turned the guy into the FBI

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  26. How was he spying for Israel if the Israels, after being contacted by the guy, turned him in to the FBI?

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  27. .

    Companies always use jobs as an incentive to get whatever they can from Federal, State, and Local governments. Usually the negotiations are done kind of quietly.

    Now given the jobs crisis they are getting more blatant and are offering jobs on a quid pro quo basis. AT&T offers the US 5000 jobs if DOJ reverses it's decision to reject the AT&T/T-Mobile merger. Amazon, like it did in Texas, offering CA jobs if they don't charge taxes on internet purchases.

    Narurally, like everything else these days, this has become immediately political. The GOP is arguing that the Obama administration (read DOJ) needs to change it's mind on the AT&T deal in order to gain jobs.

    In other words, forget about the harm to the public from the monopolistic aspects of the merger and instead sell out for 5000 jobs.

    My opinion: pure bullshit.

    The GOP associates everything with jobs whether related or not. In some cases. they say their actions (spending cuts) will create jobs when actually it will result in the opposite. Pure rhetoric.

    Likewise, how many companies have taken the goodies, created a few jobs, and then moved those jobs when they could get a better deal elsewhere?

    .

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  28. Doxer identified himself as a Jewish-American. Doxer is a traitor. He clearly had greater loyalties to Israel and causes that he thought were Jewish. He did not have mixed loyalties, he had none to America. The Israeli consulate could have thought he was a plant, already had the information he was offering, or did the right thing. The Israelis notified the FBI. They were not interested in what Doxer was offering.

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  29. Palin, who has indicated she will announce her presidential decision no later than the end of September, will visit South Korea in October to speak at the World Knowledge Forum.

    That's like Ross Perot speaking at a Mental Health Symposium.

    That's like Richard Simmons speaking at a Hard Hat Brotherhood meeting.

    That's like Chas Bono speaking at a beauty pageant.

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  30. Don't stew about it so much, Quirk, it will drive you nuts. It may be worse these days than in yore, but I can't remember it being much different.

    Treat it all as entertainment, and take up fly fishing. Go back to horoscopes, follow some sports team, follow the development of the crops....

    Just friendly advice. Consider yourself just a witness.....

    Or concentrate on some local matter, where you can make a difference.

    My wife, for instance, got the big tire dump moved out of her country back in Ohio, after it caught on fire.

    They even wanted to interview her of the local TV!

    b

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  31. How was he spying for Israel if the Israels, after being contacted by the guy, turned him in to the FBI?

    Hence the use of the word "bid" in the article.

    But if the business model didn't already exist (Pollard), the spy bid would not have been made.

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  32. If she's announcing by the end of September, then heading to Korea in October, she ain't runnin'.

    b

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  33. .

    Don't stew about it so much, Quirk, it will drive you nuts.


    You are probably right (one hates to admit it).

    Still makes me want to spit.

    To paraphrase Reagan, I didn't leave the business community, they left me.

    .

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  34. WELDON, N.C.—When a hurricane makes landfall, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency relies on a couple of metrics to assess its destructive power.

    First, there is the well-known Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale. Then there is what he calls the “Waffle House Index.”

    Green means the restaurant is serving a full menu, a signal that damage in an area is limited and the lights are on. Yellow means a limited menu, indicating power from a generator, at best, and low food supplies. Red means the restaurant is closed, a sign of severe damage in the area or unsafe conditions.


    Or as we called in Pensacola, in the Navy days, Awful House.

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  35. Big ISM number coming up in a couple of minutes. CNBC is trying to spin it that a recessionary 48 number will be "Good News" when compared to a feared "whisper number" of 44 or 45. (Any number below 50 is considered recessionary.)

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  36. More and more of you are admitting the truth and coming to my position.

    It's just Entertainment.

    ReplyDelete
  37. A caveat: This is the "Manufacturing" number (about 25% of the economy. The "Services" ISM will be more important.

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  38. It seems that a orbiting space station may just be a "Bridge to Far".

    The costs of maintaining it, not worth the resulting work product.

    Will NASA abandon ship? is the title, but is misleading.

    The decision is not for NASA to make, but for the Congress. How much cash should we spend, to continue chasing yesterday's dreams?

    ReplyDelete
  39. Palin wants to stay off the radar, most of the time, for another couple of weeks, at least, so the Media will spend some time vetting Perry.

    The fact that Perry is pretty much a "Bachman-lite fruitcake" will go unnoticed once Sarah gets in, and starts garnering all the attention.

    On the other hand, she wants to remind her followers that she's still alive; hence, the monthly, or bi-monthly speech/appearance/bike run, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  40. She can be a candidate, and still visit Korea. She wants to enhance her foreign policy creds.

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  41. When she is debating Obama she wants to be able to say, "When I talked to Premier X, of Country Y, HE Said . . . "

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  42. desert rat said...
    More and more of you are admitting the truth and coming to my position.

    It's just Entertainment.



    That you are an asshole?

    Or that you lie, distort and misdirect?


    Please be specific about what "more and more" of us believe....

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  43. I never liked the idea of an International space station. It made us sloppy and we lost our technological edge and transferred too much technology. Dump it and start again. Finance it with my project specific currency.

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  44. You're proly right Rufus, hadn't thought of it that way.


    Treat it all as entertainment


    It's not just 'entertainment' -(much of it is all too serious) - my advice was, since one can't do all that much about it - to treat it all as entertainment lest one torture oneself unnecessarily.

    It's like in farming, after you've done the work best you can, you don't worry about it anymore.

    Took me about six years to learn that lesson.

    b

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  45. The Story of "o" makes accusations, but never provides the proof that would prove the allegations true.

    He is truly a bigot.

    Or just poser, a wannbe Elliot Doxer, only without hutzpa enough to take actions that would satisfy his black heart and dark soul.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Strike Against Islam!

    Nuke the Dome of the Rock!

    b

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  47. And a synchronicity - look what I just got in my email, from hopesedge, whoever that is, a quote from Joe Campbell --

    You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don't know what was in the newspapers that morning... a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be.
    --Joseph Campbell


    b

    (how I got on that list I don't know)

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  48. Anonymous said...

    Strike Against Islam!

    Nuke the Dome of the Rock!

    b


    That wasn't me, some other asshole.

    It's irritating. I'm out of here for the morning at least.

    The J Campbell was by me.

    bob

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  49. bob so believes that we should strike the Dome of the Rock, he posts it, twice.

    Doubling down with claims of plausible deny-ability.

    b

    Ask not for whom the bell tolls,
    it tolls for thee

    ReplyDelete
  50. No man is an island, entire of itself;
    every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.


    We are our brother's keeper


    b

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  51. Very good, b.

    Meditation 17
    by John Donne


    You do know your literature.
    Not much else, but ...

    ReplyDelete
  52. ... if b is not the boob, who should get the prize?

    ReplyDelete
  53. No man is an island, entire of itself;

    NUKE THE ROCK!

    b

    ReplyDelete
  54. .

    ... if b is not the boob, who should get the prize?



    Some asshole.

    The game has been played here so many times the joke is no longer funny (if it ever was).

    The only redeeming value associated with this one is that Bob has played the game himself so many times before. One could consider it poetic justice (something I'm sure Bob would approve of being a literary guy an all).

    That Bob finds it irritating?

    Well, that kinda made my day.

    The anonymous in question is still an asshole, but the post couldn't have been aimed at a more appropriate guy.

    .

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  55. Don't count on much of a cut in Pentagon Spending. I could say something cynical but that would be out of character

    A retired Chinese general recently revealed that his country might be planning a surprise missile attack on the United States. The public comment of Xu Guangyu came in response to WikiLeaks revelations that last year Washington had warned its allies beforehand of China’s test of a missile interceptor.
    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a classified cable sent last January 9th, instructed American embassies in Australia, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand to notify those countries of upcoming Chinese launches two days later. The cable included details of the launch sites for the interceptor and the target, the models of the missiles, the purpose of the test, and the test date.
    Yesterday, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post carried comments from Xu, now at the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, to the effect that American satellites would have detected activity at the launch sites but that some of the information in the cables—specifically the types of missiles and the day of the test—must have come from a source on the ground. WikiLeaks’s release of this cable, revealing one or more American spies in China’s strategic missile corps, is perhaps the website’s most significant compromise of US security to date.
    The Hong Kong paper noted that Xu said that “if China could no longer keep secret its missile launches, it would not be able to launch a surprise attack on the US.”
    Is China really in the process of planning to destroy the American homeland with a preemptive barrage of nuclear-tipped missiles? Xu’s comment, of course, is not proof, but it does reveal that Chinese flag officers are thinking about doing so.

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  56. I would not be one to deny anyone a right to take care of themselves or to seek a better life. I would even say open the border up all the way. But its not. If I try to "immigrate­" to Mexico I face 2years in prison for doing it illegally. Even if I was to do it legally I am barred for life from voting or demonstrat­ing, I must show I have money and I can never receive gov benefits from the Mexico. On top of that the migrants of central America are treated horribly when they try to enter Mexico Illegally.
    This is being done by design, its part of the globalist agenda. Nobody can deny this.

    ReplyDelete
  57. If we cannot compete with China on manufacturing solar panels what exactly can we manufacture and compete?

    HONG KONG — The bankruptcy of three U.S. solar power companies in the past month, including Solyndra of California on Wednesday, has left China’s industry with a dominant sales position, almost three-fifths of the world’s production capacity and rapidly declining costs.

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  58. If Obama does a partisan, "we did everything right we just need more regulators, more lawyers to DC to order things, money tossed out to government workers...the Mandate stays..and everything is Bush's Fault, still…"

    He needs some real big bones tossed out like a 1-time tax break to allow the 17 trillion parked offshore by the "Jobs Creators" - to be put back into the USA. A currency adjustment tariff on the Chicommies. No COLAs for welfare mommas and a complete reapplication process of SSI.


    Otherwise -- He goes to do the 9/11 10th anniversary resumption of the Heroes, the mournathon, the singing cops and Yankees and Rudy & Bernie recycled...Looking like a partisan tool.

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  59. We have a Trade "Surplus" with China on Solar Products.


    Solyndra manufactured an unorthodox tubular design collector that wasn't competitive.

    Evergreen manufactured non-standard panels. The third company I'm not familiar with.

    This is just the market weeding out the bad ideas. At one time there were over 100 automobile manufacturers in the U.S., alone. All but one, have at one time or another gone out of business, been bought out, or been bailed out by the government.

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  60. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  61. Total solar photovoltaic (PV) exports from the US totaled $5.6 billion in 2010 while imports totaled $3.7 billion. The US actually has a trade surplus with China when it comes to solar PV: the US exported more than $240 million in solar PV products to China than it imported.
    Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1395a)

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  62. I'm sure we have a plan, somewhere, to nuke China/Russia/France/Kansas/(fill in the blank . . )

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  63. desert rat said...
    The Story of "o" makes accusations, but never provides the proof that would prove the allegations true.

    He is truly a bigot.

    Or just poser, a wannbe Elliot Doxer, only without hutzpa enough to take actions that would satisfy his black heart and dark soul.


    Rat, you are the only one here that bragged about killing people....

    Not I...

    Nor am I a spy...

    Nor is my heart "black" (like yours)

    Nor am I a "poser" (something you are familiar with claiming many things that are most likely false)

    as for your defamation attempts to call me "story of "o" "

    we all know you are sick pervert that obsesses about porn... No need to slur the bar with such filth...

    sick bastard that you are....

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  64. Anonymous said...
    Strike Against Islam!

    Nuke the Dome of the Rock!

    b




    The Dome of the Rock is not that important to islam. However it does squat on the foundation of the Jewish Temples.

    Fact is Jerusalem is not even mentioned in the Koran.

    Now if you wished for an earthquake to level the Dome of the Rock?

    absolutely fine...

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  65. desert rat said...
    bob so believes that we should strike the Dome of the Rock, he posts it, twice.

    Doubling down with claims of plausible deny-ability.



    This coming from someone who posted under NUMEROUS names....

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  66. Herr Rat suggests...

    "Or just poser, a wannbe Elliot Doxer, only without hutzpa enough to take actions that would satisfy his black heart and dark soul."


    So Rat, you are an interesting anti-semite.... (well not really but it sounds nicer)

    I am not a "poser" as you suggest. However you raised a great point...

    What can I do tho HELP both the USA and Israel at the same time?

    And yes Rat, I am not a "poser" I am the real deal

    I actually import and export goods both ways, to and from America.

    Creating jobs for BOTH Americans and Israelis.

    To be truthful (something I doubt you'd understand), or better yet.. "forthright"...

    I dont create THAT many jobs over all (maybe a 1/2 or so) but every little bit helps.

    I dont need to break laws (unlike you) to support Israel or America. After all what you claimed to have done in Central America, not in uniform, killing others is breaking all sorts of moral, military and UCC rules and reg's.

    I world within the system and the great nature of most Israelis and Americans. I provide widgets to and fro...

    I improve the lives of 10's of thousands on a monthly basis on both sides of the Atlantic. (actually more since I do sell American made goods into over 20 other nations as well.

    What do you do Rat-boy?

    Ride a horse, suck on the government tit?

    Sit in a "blog" all day and be a "cliff claven" while you are at it?

    yep....

    Nothing to see here folks....

    Just a israel hating blowhard....

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  67. There were two 1978 Camp David agreements: A Framework for Peace in the Middle East and A Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel, the second leading towards the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty signed in March 1979. The agreements and the peace treaty were both accompanied by "side-letters" of understanding between Egypt and the U.S. and Israel and the U.S.[14]
    The first agreement had three parts. The first part or preamble was a framework for negotiations to establish an autonomous self-governing authority in the West Bank and the Gaza strip and to fully implement SC 242. The Accords recognized the "legitimate rights of the Palestinian people", a process was to be implemented guaranteeing the full autonomy of the people within a period of five years. Begin insisted on the adjective "full" to confirm that it was the maximum political right attainable. This full autonomy was to be discussed with the participation of Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians.


    under Carter?

    there never was to be a "palestinian nation"

    nope

    nada

    zip

    just "full autonomy"

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  68. I won't post again till I get my daughter to put up a picture of Risky. I'll call myself Risky.

    Been talking real estate with the builders.

    Things look good.

    We have a new type of dove here this year, some kind of European species, larger, square tail, haven't seen one yet. May go looking this afternoon.

    Later, under Risky.

    b

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  69. He does go on and on and on, no?

    Brevity is the soul of wit

    Witless or a black hole of a soul so dark it cannot be seen?

    He retorts, you decide.

    ;-)

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  70. Risky Business, quite the period piece.

    Does not reach the heights attained by Shakespeare, though.

    That he is mad, 'tis true: 'tis true 'tis pity;
    And pity 'tis 'tis true: a foolish figure;
    But farewell it, for I will use no art.
    Mad let us grant him, then: and now remains
    That we find out the cause of this effect,
    Or rather say, the cause of this defect,
    For this effect defective comes by cause:
    Thus it remains, and the remainder thus.

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  71. Seems that there may be a Palestinian Nation, next month.

    It may well be recognized by the same folks that recognized the establishment of the State of Israel, the UN. Palestine will be just as legitimate as Israel with the same status as a State as the Vatican, if the General Assembly so votes.

    Only time will tell.

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  72. Peruvian prosecutors have formally charged Joran van der Sloot with first-degree murder in last year's killing of a university student the defendant met at a Lima casino. They are seeking a 30-year jail sentence.

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  73. The Palestinian State, a GW Bush solution to the problems in the Levant.

    What he called a ...

    Two State Solution

    Perhaps if our allies in Israel had heeded our pleading about how to handle those "Settlements", well, things may have gone differently.

    Maybe not.

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  74. Perhaps by not heeding our pleas, the Israeli have proved themselves to not be our ally, merely a special interest.

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  75. The starting pistol has been fired on bids by Britain and other western powers to secure a slice of the oil prize in Libya when France said it was "fair and logical" for its companies to benefit.

    Alain Juppé, the French foreign minister, planted his flag in the sand as the Guardian was told that BP was already holding private talks with members of Libya's interim government.

    Libya is a vital energy producer, and BP had previously committed itself to spending more than $1bn on exploration plans under Muammar Gaddafi's government.

    Shell was also becoming active before the civil war broke out, as was Total of France, but the conflict over the past few months has brought the country's existing oil production of 1.6m barrels a day – 2% of the world's total – to a halt.

    Rebel leaders had already made clear that countries active in supporting their insurrection – notably Britain and France – should expect to be treated favourably once the dust of war had settled ...


    The Race is On!

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  76. Pro-Khadafy forces have choked off Tripoli's water supply and water engineers have not yet managed to reach the pumping stations at Jebel Hassouna, 700 km (435 miles) south of the capital, which are now in NTC hands, the report said.

    Britain flew 40 tonnes of freshly printed bank notes, many bearing Khadafy's image, into Libya on Wednesday to help pay public workers and replenish bank cash machines.

    The 280 million Libyan dinars, officially worth about $234 million, is part of a consignment worth about $1.5 billion blocked by Britain in March after he cracked down on protests.

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  77. Khadafy’s eight adult children have played influential roles in Libya, from commanding an elite military unit to controlling the oil sector. Al-Saadi, 38, headed the Libyan Football Federation, and at one point played in Italy’s professional league but spent most of his time on the bench.

    ...

    Sixty world leaders and top-level envoys are meeting Thursday in Paris on Libya’s future. The gathering is likely to focus on unfreezing billions in Libyan funds held abroad and reconciling differences over how to deal with the new Libya.

    The lessons of the U.S.-led war in Iraq and years of insurgent violence there will loom large.

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  78. And the scientists measuring the quakes did not rule out the possibility that a combination of earthquakes in two or more points in the earth's crust could unite -- doubling their destructive power.

    ...

    "Because of the March 11 quake, the possibility of a big quake occurring in Tokyo has increased," according to Shinichi Sakai, assistant professor at the university's Earthquake Research Institute. "It is necessary to make preparations on the assumption that a big quake could come to Tokyo at any time and that the danger is greater than before."

    A multiple mega-earthquake could lead to the deaths of almost 25,000 people, according to a government study last year. Around 20,000 people were left missing or dead following the March earthquake and tsunami.

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  79. .

    On Thursday evening, Boehner announced that Obama will speak at 7 p.m. this coming Thursday, meaning the speech won’t conflict with the other big event that night: the National Football League season-opener between the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints, which starts at 8:30 p.m.

    Obama “will have the opportunity to watch the game,” Carney promised.




    While driving around today, talk radio was filled with this kerfluffle over the timing of Obama's speech on jobs. Obama tried to indulge in gamesmanship but Boehner called his bluff. Now the White House says it is much ado about nothing.

    I agree. But it shows that it's still business as usual in D.C. And in this case, it was Obama that started the food fight.

    The loser? Jobs.

    One winner? Obama. According to his press secretary, he will have and opportunity to watch the NFL season opener.

    Well, at least there is that.

    .

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  80. The federal agency that oversees the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is set to file suits against more than a dozen big banks, accusing them of misrepresenting the quality of mortgage securities they assembled and sold at the height of the housing bubble, and seeking billions of dollars in compensation.

    ...

    As of June 30, Freddie Mac holds more than $80 billion in mortgage securities backed by more shaky home loans like subprime mortgages, Option ARM and Alt-A loans. Freddie estimates its total gross losses stand at roughly $19 billion.

    Fannie Mae holds $38 billion of securities backed by Alt-A and subprime loans, with losses standing at nearly $14 billion.

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  81. A covert team of senior officials and intelligence analysts was commissioned by British prime minister David Cameron to disrupt deposed Libyan leader Moamar Khadafy's oil supply and help the rebels utilize the country's vast oil reserves, The (London) Times reported Thursday.

    ...

    After the rebels took control of the Nafusa mountains, the oil cell guided rebel fighters to the pipeline at Zawiya, allowing them to cut off one of Khadafy's supplies of oil.

    A civil service source told the newspaper that while the oil cell was not solely responsible for the rebels' victory over pro-Khadafy forces, "when it came to pushing oil as a driver to get rid of Khadafy and supporting the rebels, the UK was well and truly in the lead."

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