Court: Do Not Enforce Immigration Laws

There are so many things wrong with this, it's hard to know where to begin.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer's kid brother, San Francisco U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, issued an order Wednesday blocking the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration from sending letters telling employers who have illegally hired illegal immigrants that they have 90 days to end the illegals' employment before facing punishment.

Breyer declared that the government's plans to mail 140,000 such notices would cause "irreparable harm to innocent workers and employers." But what of the irreparable harm the country is suffering because of the almost complete lack of a rule of law regarding illegal immigration?

Any member of a sleeper cell within our borders planning a future 9/11 knows not to fear being caught in a general roundup of illegals by immigration authorities.

There are scarcely any such roundups, because illegal entry and employment are so out of control — at least 12 million people are here in defiance of our laws — that we have no intention of even beginning to detain and deport that vast population.

Since the ruling is from a San Francisco court, of course it is far out of sync with the rest of the nation, but this is a symptom of a larger unwillingness to tackle what is both a law enforcement and a national security issue. And underneath it all is crass politics.

Many politicians--mostly Democrat, but a fair number of Republicans as well--are attempting to pander to the Hispanic vote, and thus don't want to be seen as tough on illegals, the vast majority of which are Hispanic. And that pandering is leading to porous borders that any one can essentially walk across--even those who would do America harm.

It's high time, I think, for politicians to stop pandering and start enforcing our laws and keeping the nation safe, else they might find themselves asked tough questions some time in the future, for which they will have no easy answer.

UF Student Tasered at Kerry Appearance

You may have heard by now about the student who was tasered today by police at a Kerry event.

A University of Florida student who was Tasered by police during U.S. Sen. John Kerry's Monday speech exited the Alachua County jail Tuesday afternoon and rushed to embrace his father.

[...]

During the forum, Meyer approached an open microphone to pose a question to Kerry, but University Police Department officers tried to physically remove him when he raised his voice and peppered Kerry with a series of questions.

Videos of Meyer's arrest, followed by a Tasering that made him scream in pain, have streamed across the Internet and been played by national media outlets. Critics have charged that the UPD officers involved, two of which have been placed on paid administrative leave, used excessive force. When Meyer was Tasered, he was being held to the floor by six officers.

Opinions and arguments are varying widely as to the necessity and appropriateness of the tasering the student received.

I really have no opinion on the whole affair, except they missed a perfect opportunity to taser the one person there who really deserves it.

Rule of Law in Iraq?

The article linked above is one of those that's hard to write a blurb that will make you want to read it, so I will let the author whet your appetite himself:

BAGHDAD - Because of my temporary and purposely broad role here as a rule of law advisor, I have the luxury of being able to think about the bigger picture (and indeed am occasionally specifically asked to do so).

For example, is it even right to talk about developing "rule of law"—as we understand that term—in Iraq? Does it not betray a Western bias, not in the politically correct sense, but in terms of political anthropology? And even if it is right, and what we should in theory be doing, is it realistic—in Iraq generally but especially under the current conditions of insurgency?

Go read the whole thing. It's really thought provoking.

Okay, one more quote:

Of course, where those local customs, traditions, and culture are wholly illiberal, universal principles must trump, because part of nation-building is fixing what's broken. Like the British general said in India:

'You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: When men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.'

Just had to include that one.

Comprehensive Immigration "Reform": Making It Easier for Terrorists

The Heritage Foundation took a good hard look at the current bill and finds some serious issues with the claim that it increases homeland security:

Under Sections 601 (h)(1) and (5) of the bill, if an ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agent apprehends any alien who appears eligible for the Z visa (in other words, just about any illegal alien), the agent cannot detain him. Instead, ICE must provide the alien a reasonable opportunity to apply for the Z visa. This stands in stark contrast to the status quo, in which ICE can place the alien in detention and immediately initiate removal proceedings.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. Read the whole thing (link in the title) to be really scared.

Michelle Malklin Blows the Lid Off Immigration and Amnesty

That's all I can say about it. She literally blows the lid off it. (Title is the link, as usual)

Now, if enough people pay attention and complain... and actually throw the bums out that are doing this...

...and other daydreams.

Giuliani Doesn't Think Illegal Immigration is a Crime

At least that's what the above-linked report of his interview with Laura Ingraham seems to indicate:

Radio talk-show host Laura Ingraham last week asked Giuliani about the immigration policies he supported in New York City. She asked, “Are you still standing behind your sanctuary city policy?”

Giuliani told her, “I never supported a sanctuary policy.”

He said he was willing to turn over undocumented criminals to federal immigration authorities, but would not turn over illegal aliens who had not committed a crime.

Uh... Mr. Giuliani, what part of illegal do you not comprehend?

Critics Complain about NYPD keeping 2004 GOP Convention Safe

Apparently it's now a violation of civil rights to protect the eeeeeeeeeeeevil Republicans.

What else is one to think when "protesters" sue the NYPD for arresting violent demonstrators outside the 2004 GOP Convention?

Here's a list of some details about the planning of the demonstrations:

Eight weeks before the convention, activists designated Aug. 31, 2004, in online postings as a day for civil disorder, the "Day of Chaos," or "A-31." Groups of anarchists began identifying protest targets in public advisories, press releases and on Web sites.

For many, Madison Square Garden, the convention site, was "ground zero," which activists discussed entering with false identification. Others planned to prevent delegates from reaching the convention by blinding bus driver windows or disabling charter buses, lying under vehicles, and using rented cabs and flotillas of bicycles to clog bus routes.

A least 24 hotels throughout the city hosting state delegations were identified on Web sites as delegation hosts at which protestors could converge to harass delegates and disrupt normal hotel business. Reinforced police presence at the Warwick, the Westin and Roosevelt, Commissioner Kelly said in a 2004 speech, prevented demonstrators from "rushing" the delegates' hotels.

The intelligence files show that activists had also planned, and later attempted unsuccessfully, to close down Wall Street, disrupt traffic at Herald Square and elsewhere, crash delegate parties, stage sit-ins in hotel and office lobbies, seal off subway stations with arrest tape and switch subway signs to disorient delegates. There were plans to vandalize retail stores like Starbucks and McDonalds with what Mr. Cohen called "brick and bomb tactics"; activists were also urged to disrupt Broadway performances attended by delegates on Aug. 31, designated as "Chaos on Broadway."

Other businesses seen as hostile to the activists' agenda--the Carlyle Group, Chevron, the Rand Corporation and Hummer of Manhattan--were designated for "direct actions" ranging from blocking entrances to breaking windows and setting fires. The files showed that activists with previous arrests for violent conduct were monitored by NYPD plain-clothes detectives, and that information about their convention plans was shared with police departments in other states and counties.

Activists discussed the use of disruptive tactics that had worked so well in Seattle--Molotov cocktails, ammonium-nitrate bombs with nails, live CS canisters, Tiki Torches (soup cans filled with flammable substances attached to the end of a stick) water guns filled with flammable liquids and chemical irritants, urine or paint, and mobile infrared transmitters to change traffic signals.

The files document at least eight training sessions in New York and outside that were organized by anarchists and other experienced activists. Techniques for evading or countering the police were taught. The New York City Anarchist Tribes, for example, held martial-arts training in Manhattan in January, 2004. The Syracuse Peace Council, in Ithaca, N.Y., which planned to block traffic in New York, held weekend training aimed at "building our own radical activist infrastructure."

The "Constitutional Rights Enforcement and Support Team," an Internet-based group, stated on its Web site that "many people who join this group will die, be wounded, or jailed" in its efforts to counter "police brutality." Ashira Affinity, a Colorado-based anarchist group, urged members to join protests that were "strategic, ruthless, efficient, as well as chaotic."

In addition to the usual crackpot threats posted in Internet chat rooms, such as the one by a writer who vowed to "fly a 767 into the convention and take care of the American problem on Thursday"--which the police nevertheless could ill afford to ignore--came vaguer if still troubling counsel from would-be protestors: "Give them the New York they are afraid of," urged one listing.

In Queens, police arrested three "Black bloc" anarchists who had three imitation handguns, a butterfly knife, pellets and a map of New York City. A man arrested on Aug. 20 for criminal trespass and possession of burglary tools in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, had been arrested more than 25 times in California for various offenses.

I'd say the NYPD had plenty of reason to keep an eye on these folks.

But noooooooo, the NYPD watching and in some cases attempting to infiltrate the groups planning this is wrong, because they were protecting the eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil Republicans!

Imagine if that sort of planning had been going on for disrupting the Democratic convention. How would the ACLU and ABCCBSCNNNBCPBS react?

That should put it in perspective.