EckerNet.Com

Things are starting to look up on the immigration scene.

As I\’ve stated earlier, Harry Reid has agreed to drop the attempt to attach the DREAM Act to the defense bill. Too many Republicans objected to the fact that it was non-germane. Plus alot of Senators were starting to feel the same heat they got from the last attempt at amnesty and weren\’t willing to relive that nightmare.

However, Harry Reid and Dick Durbin have sworn to make another attempt by November 16th, so it\’s not over yet, but the likelihood that it will move forward has diminished quite a bit. Attaching it to a \”must pass\” bill was a fairly good move, but not good enough. They\’ve tried passing this as a standalone bill before and failed multiple times. So look for them to try to sneak it into another important bill.

Probably, the best news is that exactly what I predicted would happen is starting to happen!

Illegal immigrants living in states and cities that have adopted strict immigration policies are packing up and moving back to their home countries or to neighboring states.

Even with an incompetent Michael Chertoff in charge, and half-assed efforts by this administration, illegals are starting to self-deport. Keep in mind, this is without a fence, without employer sanctions, and without federal agencies sharing illegal status information. Imagine how quickly and efficiently this problem would be solved if we could accomplish those?

Instead, a few states have grown a background and removed the incentives for illegal aliens. And imagine that….suddenly illegal aliens aren\’t clamoring to break the law and come there. Not only that, they are moving back on their own initiative and on their own dime.

This should serve as a wakeup call to our federal government. That this issue will largely go away if they do their job and enforce the laws already on the books. There is no need for an amnesty, even for those aliens already here. Because if we remove the incentives, they will self-deport and return to their home country, where if they apply legally, we will be more than happy to receive them.

[Cross-posted at True North]

Despite what you may have heard from the Democrats, it appears as if WMDs were one of Saddam\’s most prized possessions…

Less than a month before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Saddam Hussein signaled that he was willing to go into exile as long as he could take with him $1 billion and information on weapons of mass destruction, according to a report of a Feb. 22, 2003 meeting between President Bush and the Spanish Prime Minister, the Washington Post reported Thursday.

I can think of quite a few things that would be more dear to me, but this is Saddam we\’re talking about. I suppose after all those years not giving them up to UN weapons inspectors he sure as hell wasn\’t gonna leave them behind.

Awfully funny of him to want to bring along something that doesn\’t exist though….at least according to the Democrats. Although to be fair, at the time they all thought they existed as well.

While understanding that every American soldier lost is a tragedy, this still seems damn impressive…

Mullah Omar may have wanted to see his metrics improve from the 100-1 loss ratio in Kandahar last month. Well, those numbers certainly changed — from humiliating to catastrophic [165:1]

Granted it\’s a rough estimate, but even considering ballpark figures that\’s damn impressive.  And it says a hell of alot about the efficiency of our forces there.  Plus the idea that there are 165 more terrorists at room temperature makes me very pleased.  On the other hand, there is grieving US family out there and suddenly 165 seems a very small number.

However, I\’ve been unable to come up with even a ballpark figure for Iraq that I have any degree of confidence in, although these guys are making an effort.  Certainly the styles of battle are apples and basketballs, so I\’m not sure one can make any meaningful comparisons.  Plus obviously something as simple as a kill-ratio does not win a war, nor even a battle.  As evidence of that, there were plenty of WWII battles in which the Germans and Japanese possessed overwhelmingly superior kill ratios.

However, it does go to support the flypaper theory of attracting lots of fanatical martyrs to the battlefield were they can be removed from the equation.  Although, how Allah is coming up with enough virgins, simply boggles the mind, even if just from a logistical standpoint.

Two days ago, a paid Presidential campaign position was posted on CraigsList as being available. Now exactly the venue I would have thought that one advertises for people to work on their Presidential campaign.

On the other hand, it is for the…..get this……2008 Ralph Nader campaign. Suddenly the next presidential election just got a LOT more interesting.

I\’ve hesitated posting this because I wanted to verify there wasn\’t some cheap political shenanigans afoot. But it appears as if our political masters (or so they appear to think) have realized the peasants are ready to revolt again if they try to force another amnesty plan down our throats. So they\’ve pulled this trojan horse back inside the ivory towers, and are going to try again later.

When that later is, and how many more individual metaphors I can come up with when it does, is currently unknown. But I\’ll keep you posted. However, all news is not good news….and Minnesota will play a key role in this next part.

The other amnesty attempt that I\’ve been keeping an eye out for is apparently stirring in it\’s cage. Feinstein intends to attach the AgJobs amnesty to the Farm Bill soon, possibly as early as this week. She plans to attach it to the legislation at the committee level and then have it brought to the floor.

Feinstein herself isn\’t on the Senate Agricultural committee, and I\’m not yet certain which Senator is going to be her toy. Some Senators have apparently already being queried pertaining their status on voting for cloture for such a bill, so it sounds like the waters are being tested already. Let\’s hope the same environment that scared off the DREAM Act also scares off the AgJobs.

However, both of Minnesota\’s senators serve on the Senate Agricultural Committee so it presents us with a unique opportunity for Minnesota to throw it\’s weight around. Both Senators claim they care about our farmers. But do they care enough to prevent a very controversial amendment from being attached to this bill and potentially jeopardize it\’s passage?

Call your Senator, both of them, and let them know you don\’t want AgJobs in the Farm Bill

Senator Coleman – 202-224-5641
Senator Klobuchar – 202-224-3244

Why don\’t you? It\’s basically another very thinly veiled attempt at amnesty. It\’s supporters claim it\’s to ensure plentiful numbers of agricultural workers for our farmers by granting legal status to illegal farm workers (amnesty). What they don\’t tell you is that depending on it\’s version there are enough loopholes in AgJobs that anyone that has ever seen a farm, eaten something from a farm or can spell farm in 28 tries or less, gets amnesty under this program.

I wish they were this dedicated to loopholes when they modify the tax code….although just like the tax code, even without the loopholes it\’s awful.

[Cross-posted at True North]

Heh, your guess is as good as mine.

Don\’t ask me. I just blog here.

First of all, while it appeared as if the vote was imminent several times last week, it didn\’t happen.  And while Reid refuses to set a date, it is likely that it will occur sometime this week.  It\’s hard to say, but I can say that the Senate agenda for Monday does not include this bill, so unless some shenanigans are in order, we have another day.

So make your calls to both our Senators, and the rest….

Senator Coleman – 202-224-5641
Senator Klobuchar – 202-224-3244

They are both still waffling.  One that should be expected, one that\’s a disappointing evidence of lackospineitis.

If you\’ve ever wondering how conservatives can be so bitter towards legislators, especially ones on their side, this is part of that reason.   Like I\’ve said before, I would almost prefer if they took the opposing view than just sitting in the middle.  At least you know where they stand, or indeed if they stand for anything, other than their own personal ambitions.

However, there is reason to be cautiously optimistic.  First of all, if you take a look at the list of Republicans who have pledged to vote against this amnesty, there are several bright points.

First of all, both Lott and McConnell, the Republican leadership….at least in title, have agreed to vote against this amendment.  The idea of other Republican senators not only voting against their base, but also their leadership seems a bit unlikely.  Although the fact that quite a few of them, including Coleman, still refuse to take a stand one way or another does make that a little perplexing.  Political cover has been provided, why the delay?

The champions of the last anti-amnesty effort are still there and still committed.  They already proven the ability to lead (in more than title) their fellow Republicans against such an awful bill.  Plus they have the additional tool of past collective experiences.  All of the Senators they are lobbying have already been through the amnesty hell and surely many of them remember the lessons they should have learned and adhered to.

Some of the leaders, Senators Isakson and Chambliss, of the Republican pro-amnesty faction have already defected to the anti-amnesty side, as well as Senators like Lindsay Graham.  And Senator Cornyn, while refusing to commit for sure, has been repeatedly telling callers than he is a \”No\” vote.  I have to hope that if even those that are committed to amnesty have determined the cost is too high, others will see the light as well.

Speaking of Senator Cornyn, despite there only being 21 Senators committed to \”No\”, he appears to be convinced that this amnesty doesn\’t have a chance.  I\’m not sure what inside baseball talk this is based upon and Cornyn has been anything but reliable when it comes to anti-amnesty, so several boulder sized grains of salt should be kept in supply for all Cornyn statements.   However, since he does appear to be generally favorable to a reasonable DREAM Act, if there is such a thing (hint : there isn\’t), he presents a fairly good glimpse of what it\’s supporters are facing.

So while it appears things are favorable to defeating this amendment, we\’ve been here before.  So now is not the time to slack off.  Make your calls and let your Senator know what you think.

I\’m becoming firmly convinced that Minnesota does not have any sort of representation in the Senate. Certainly we don\’t have a single Senator that seems to consider the law worthy of any consideration. Both Senator Coleman and Klobuchar refuse to commit to a No vote on the DREAM Act Amnesty coming up.

If they really had Minnesota\’s best interests in mind, this would be an easy decision to make. If they really felt the rule of law was worth the integrity of preventing further loopholes, it would be an easy decision. If either one had any sense of principles, they would be able to take a stand one way or another.

Neither has.

Even if they committed to voting yes on it, if their decision is based upon some set of principles, it is worthy of more respect than this constant testing of the political wind. On this issue, many disagree with President Bush, yet he stands his ground on principles and you never have to wonder where he stands. This is an infinitely more respectable position.

Call our Senators and help them find their spine…

Senator Coleman – 202-224-5641
Senator Klobuchar – 202-224-3244

On the plus side, no defense related votes will be taken on Friday, so the earliest this amendment could come up for a vote would be Monday. So we have Friday and all weekend to harass convince our Senators to take a stand.

Are you making a difference?

[Cross-posted at True North]