The Clear Signs Our Children Won't Enjoy All We've Enjoyed

By Jeff Gardner
Right for a Reason

Mexico is a mess. More than a mess, really.

It's a burning high rise of a nation.

It's on fire from top to bottom – from border to border. North to south.

Mexico's mix of corruption, crime, wealth, and poverty should make any thinking person north of the Rio Grande shudder about its future. And ours.

Within its city limits, Mexico City's population is just under 9 million people. But there is little to that number because wrapped like a constrictor around the city is an suburban morass of 12 million more citizens. At nearly 22 million, Mexico City's metro-area population is the third largest of its kind in the world.

Roughly, it's like have 22 million people in an area the size of Albuquerque's metro-area and Santa Fe's metro area combined. You think there's a lot of space there until you consider that we're talking about two Chicagos and a Houston set in that same space.

You get the idea. Mexico City is crowded. With the population comes pollution and an aquifer that become so depleted the city is sinking. Projections for Mexico City's water supply running dry run from dire to doom – 20 years to 60 years.

Even Mexico's population demographics are screwy. There are tons of old people and tons of young people. The old are probably settled in and used to what Mexico has to offer, or not offer as the growing case might be. But the young? With nothing but misery promised them by a government happy to pass off its problems to us, is it any wonder they'll do anything to get into our little slice of Heaven?

And here's thing. It not like there's not money in Mexico – the richest person on earth is Mexican Carlos Slim Helu. Big money in Mexico if you own the phone company and other nifty telecom interests. (Note: Forbes.com's picture of Helu is not flattering. If you're worth $55.3 billion you can afford to trim the hair on your ears. I'm serious here.)

So is this coming into focus? We live right next to trouble. Growing trouble. Miserable, Book of Revelations-type trouble. We read about it daily. The violence and crime – bordering on outright war between the drug cartels and the government today – routinely spills over into our country.

So you might think that over the course of the recent visit of Mexican President Felipe Calderon to the White House, our president might put a little fire under the butt of said Mexican president and ask him to start addressing their nation's problems.

Nope. As we've learned, in Obama World the United States is the progenitor of every single problem on the globe today. All of the world is filled with good, healthy, non-aggressive, peace-loving citizens. Obama, I suspect, wakes each morning and sighs, “Well, another a day as leader of the Devil's spawn.”

At least that's what I assume when he declares Arizona's attempt to protect its citizens and legal immigrants an act of “bad government.”

“We (the United States) are not defined by our borders,” Obama proclaimed.
Does this sound like a man you want leading your sovereign nation? Honestly? In context, out of context, as a non sequitur, his proclaimation was absurd, borderline (pun intended) traitorous.

Today nearly half of the people locked up for violent crimes in New Mexico are illegal aliens, according to information compiled from Homeland Security and FBI reports. Nearly 90% of the murder warrants issued in Albuquerque alone are for illegal aliens.

The numbers are staggering. The numbers for Arizona are equally bad. The numbers for California are worse.

We, the American people, are not the problem here, Mr. President. But increasingly it's looking like you and your Administration are.

Maryland's intrepid state Delegate Pat McDonough has announced a plan to deal with illegal immigration in Maryland similar to the law recently passed in Arizona. He will introduce this bill in the next legislative session. Maryland's Montgomery County Gazette issued a predictably critical assessment of the plan, saying McDonough, "never let political reality stand in the way of his crusades," and declared his proposal dead on arrival before it has even been introduced.

The Gazette response, typical of leftist news media everywhere, displays in microcosm the arrogant myopia that is driving newsrags out of business across this nation. Who in God's green earth do these people think they are? When and how can any problem be addressed if every controversial proposal is attacked and written off before it is even aired? This is precisely the kind of attitude that gave rise to the Tea Party movement and it is causing a seachange in national politics. The Gazette should take note. Trouble is, liberals are so smug and self-righteous, they can't see reality even when it is dangled in front of their noses.

Unfortunately, it is the rest of us who pay for their self-serving, destructive polices, and we are frankly fed up. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer deserves credit for braving the denizens of political correctness to enact the Arizona bill. She has set off a chain reaction that has already seen similar legislation proposed in at least nine other states.

Before they start criticizing the Arizona law, which mirrors federal law -- not that such irony would ever stop them --  Obama and the Democrats should read the sixteen page bill. Or maybe they should learn why it is the federal government's failure that prompted passage of the law in the first place. The Montgomery County Gazette got exactly one sentence correct in their diatribe against McDonough when they said, "The federal government basically has abdicated its would-be, should-be role."

Of course they immediately negated any hope of intellectual redemption by reverting to form and advocating for Congress's latest try at an amnesty bill.

Oh yes, the Democrats and maybe one or two really stupid Republicans are proposing immigration "reform" like they did in 2007. But as in 2007, it is nothing more than an amnesty bill, and we already know from the 1986 law, that amnesty doesn't work. It didn't work then and it won't now.

But that fact is irrelevant to Democrats, because it is not designed to work. It is designed, like practically everything else that Democrats do, to undermine the rule of law and overwhelm federal, state and local crimefighting, health and welfare budgets according to the Cloward-Piven Strategy of Manufactured Crisis, while securing more reliable voting blocs. This last is an especially high priority for the Obama administration and Congress this year because they are going to need every vote they can get to keep power, and they know it.

The Los Angeles Times, which seems to be coming somewhat to its senses lately (it correctly recognized Senator Barbara Boxer as not having "adequate intellectual firepower" for the job) had the decency to allow Dan Stein of the Federation for American Immigration Reform to make the case for the Arizona law in an OpEd. But that the Gazette, or the Baltimore Sun for that matter, should be so open to first amendment expression. To wit:

• [Arizona] state taxpayers spend more than $2 billion a year on education and healthcare for illegal immigrants and their children


• kidnappings in Phoenix are at an all-time high


• criminal drug and illegal smuggling is epidemic


• Arizonans have endured decades of federal neglect of immigration enforcement


• killing last month of rancher Robert Krentz -- police suspect by an illegal immigrant -- is only the latest graphic example of widespread lawlessness on the border

The left deliberately raises the strawman argument of "racism" and "racial profiling" to distract from these critical realities. Arizona's problems are being replicated all over the country as a flood of illegal immigrants, including criminals, terrorists and gangs bring with them violence, diseases once thought to be eradicated, like tuberculosis and leprosy, and overwhelming burdens to our welfare system, the courts and medical facilities.

A  2006 report from the Dallas Morning News spotlights just one of these issues. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1986 requires hospitals to accept pregnant women in need of emergency help, and imposes a $50,000 fine for violations, so no hospital can turn down illegals. But Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas goes further, offering free prenatal care to pregnant mothers.

Not surprisingly, Parkland gets the lion's share of indigent and illegal immigrant mothers. Some of its statistics are eye-popping. For example, a 2006 patient survey indicated that 70 percent of mothers who gave birth at Parkland in the first three months of that year were illegal immigrants. In 2004, the hospital spent $70.7 million delivering 15,938 babies.

Yet Parkland is proud of its service to the community and is not troubled by the high cost. As Parland's CEO said, "We are the safety net hospital for Dallas County, and these folks are residents of our county." Nice sentiment, but as always, the wise bet is to follow the money. Parkland earned a profit of $7.9 million in obstetrics that year - a hefty 10 percent return! Nice work if you can get it.

So who pays for this cadillac care to indegents and illegals, many of whom are taking advantage of the services to have anchor babies? According to the News article, about $44 million came from state and federal Medicaid funds while Dallas County taxpayers shelled out $31.3 million.

Once again, the taxpayer is on the hook so why should the hospital care?

Like the Arizona law, Del. McDonough's proposal would give law enforcement the teeth it needs to tackle this problem. And in Maryland, thanks to the Democrats' sanctuary state policies, the problem is immense. According to a report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform:

• There are currently about 250,000 illegal immigrants in the State of Maryland.


• Illegal immigrants cost Marylanders $1.4 billion per year in education, medical care and incarceration. This represents 70 percent of Maryland's current $2 billion budget deficit.


• Between 2002 and 2008, the foreign-born population in Maryland grew by 34.6 percent. Meanwhile, the number of students requiring english instruction has grown a whopping 93.7 percent!


• Marylanders spend more than $966 million annually on education for an estimated 80,800 children of illegal aliens.


• nearly $250 million additional is spent on providing special English instruction to an estimated 35,000 children of illegal aliens.


• Almost 10 percent of public school children in Maryland have illegal immigrant parents.


• These costs would be considerably higher if other cost areas such as assistance programs for needy families or welfare benefits for American workers displaced by illegal alien workers or resulting from depressed wages were included in the calculation.

It is high time someone proposed doing something about Maryland's illegal immigration problem, and we are absolutely certain the Democrats won't. So we say, "Hooray for Pat McDonough!" Given the high proportion of mindless leftists living in Maryland, he may well be tilting at windmills, but the worm is turning, and if someone doesn't act nothing will happen.

Chris Christie - The People's Governor

Christie is showing the kind of leadership the American people are looking for. Straightforward, honest and bold. You must watch this video. It is only two-and-a-half minutes. Christie puts a reporter firmly in his place.

Gov Christie calls S-L columnist thin-skinned for inquiring about his 'confrontational tone'

Puerto Rican Statehood Today! -- Updated

UPDATE: The bill advocating Puerto Rican statehood passed on April 30^th and now moves to the Senate. An amendment was added allowing Puerto Rico a fourth option in the second round of voting. That option would be to retain the status quo, i.e. opt out of any changes at all. At least they have an out now. We’ll see what happens when the “World’s Most Deliberative Body” gets hold of it. Any bets?

This bill was advocated by the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico. No surprise there. They are all of one spirit with this monstrous radical leftist Congress and President, who are becoming increasingly transparent in their desperate bid to keep the reins of power.

Glenn Beck’s rundown on the Puerto Rico statehood movement was excellent. See it here.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Apparently there is to be a vote later today [April 29th] on a bill regarding Puerto Rican statehood. They are calling it “non-binding” but it is not non-binding! It is a trap. The bill makes eventual Puerto Rican statehood a virtual certainty. This is despite the fact that statehood has been voted down repeatedly. The Puerto Rican people don’t want it!

But since when has that stopped the Left from ramming what they want down people’s throats? And why do they want it? The same reason they want everything, to further entrench their power. Statehood would mean two new senators, six or seven new representatives, and a whole slew of new voters. As Examiner.com’s Robert Moon points out:

Due to its dense population of poverty-stricken minorities, Puerto Rico can be counted on to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats and all their handouts, and their representation will also consequently outnumber that of 25 other existing U.S. states.

Meanwhile, with Puerto Ricans having an average income of less than half that of our poorest state, they will instantly become eligible for dozens of our welfare programs. Truckloads of taxpayer dollars will also have to be perpetually dumped into the territory, by federal law, to bring it up to American infrastructure and environmental standards.

Oh, and never mind us. We don't get a say in this either. Puerto Rico, which doesn't want statehood, is being forced to vote, while we American citizens, who have a vested interest in the outcome, will not be given the opportunity to vote! Simply incredible!

HR 2499, titled “A Bill, to provide for a federally sanctioned self-determination process for the people of Puerto Rico” follows a very devious, underhanded multi-step path to essentially force Puerto Rican voters to eventually adopt statehood. Here’s how.

The bill first authorizes Puerto Rico to hold a vote where they are given the following two choices only:

1. Puerto Rico should maintain its current political status.


2. Puerto Rico should have a different political status (Different political status. These vague words are exactly as in the bill.)

So citizens get to choose 1 or 2. Period, no ifs, ands or buts. Then the bill stipulates what comes next:

If the people choose option 1 – which they have chosen multiple times already – then the Puerto Rican government is directed to conduct more plebiscites every eight years for the foreseeable future. So in other words, Mr. Puerto Rican citizen, we are going to keep cramming this down your throat until a majority of you choose option 2.

Once the people choose option 2, then there will be a second vote with the following three options:

1. Full independence.


2. Sovereignty “in association with the United States…” not subject to the Constitution’s Territorial Clause.


3. Statehood.

For the record, the first two options will not get much support. So the entire structure of the bill is designed to funnel Puerto Rican voters into a predetermined outcome: Statehood. This despite the fact that Puerto Ricans have voted against statehood over and over again!

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a senior Democrat Congressman no less, just posted his views on this bill at Huffington Post. Here is what he has to say about it:

I am a senior Democratic Member of Congress, whose parents were born in Puerto Rico, and for whom Puerto Rico self-determination has been - and remains - a central issue of my congressional career. This statehood bill is the opposite of self-determination.

It is designed to craft an artificial majority for statehood where none exists now (Emphasis, mine). Every time the people of Puerto Rico have been consulted on this issue through a plebiscite they've said NO to Statehood. NO to Statehood in 1967. NO to Statehood in 1993. NO to Statehood in 1998. This should be called the "Don't you dare say NO to Statehood Bill".

But he is just getting going. Listen to this:

When a similar Puerto Rico bill came up under Speaker Newt Gingrich's Republican controlled Congress a decade ago, it was the product of lengthy and thorough hearings and an open and fair process. Then, I was given time to offer seven amendments. Then I was able to clarify the bill for the Puerto Rican people. Then, each of my seven amendments got 30 minutes of floor time for debate.

Flash forward to now. Now a Democratic Majority Congress is only allowing me two of the 16 amendments I offered in the Rules Committee on Wednesday. Now I only have 10 minutes to debate each one.

Now, under Democratic Leadership, we get one hearing, no forewarning, no companion Senate bill, and a debate only a few seconds longer than a NASCAR pit-stop…I get more time to debate renaming a Post Office than I will get to debate a bill that could make Puerto Rico the fifty-first state.

In my opinion, this bill is the political equivalent of a shady Goldman Sachs derivative: It's secretive. It lacks transparency. It's likely to blow up down the road and cause systemic risk to out democracy. And those who put this political derivative together don't really tell you what this is really about and will play dumb when it explodes.

We all know now from the outrageous experience of Obamacare that leftists could care less what the will of the people is. For those of you who traditionally vote Democrat this should serve as a warning: that includes you! Even if it’s those poor, downtrodden Puerto Ricans the Left claims to want to help so much. Ram Obamacare down Americas’ throat; ram statehood down Puerto Rico’s throat.

Do I detect a pattern here?

This information needs to go viral. Congress needs to hear from all of us big time. Congress needs to be shut down with phone calls and faxes starting first thing in the morning. That is today, April 29, 2010.

All this is going on while everyone is distracted by the monstrous financial bailout bill coming out of the Senate. The timing was deliberate! And we now hear that despite losing support from lone RINO Republican Lindsey Graham, the Democrats are going to go ahead with illegal immigrant amnesty.

So now we have a pretty comprehensive electoral strategy mapped out:

1. Naturalize 12 million illegal aliens
2. Universal voter registration
3. Do away with Electoral College using state-by-state approach
4. Force Puerto Rican statehood.
5. Soros-funded Secretary of State project to help steal close elections
6. Cap & Trade, and Stimulus monies as political slush fund.

If you’re not sufficiently angry and alarmed now, there is no hope for you. These people are demonstrating right to our faces their willingness to trample our rights and defy our will. If they are willing to do this now, what will they be willing to do if they get the permanent majorities they want?