GOP regret not reaching out for Hispanic Voters but no for mounting hostility toward them.

Republican party leaders regret not reaching out to Hispanic voters on the campaign trail but not regret Mounting hostility toward immigrants during the last four years pushed them away from Republicans and into Democrats.

Hispanic votes would have been enough to turn the election in Barack Obama’s favor if he had needed it.
Hispanics, who now make up 15 percent of the U.S. population according to the latest Census estimates, have traditionally voted Republican because of their Catholic backgrounds and Democrats’ support for abortion rights.

However, as the GOP became increasingly known for its anti-immigrant sentiment, she theorizes, the downward pressure on Latinos, Asians and other immigrant groups brought them together under a candidate they believed would embrace them.

“The main reason driving this vote was inclusion, The immigrants made a decision to make their vote count.” Hasta la Vista Babe>........“Good citizens in the United States should attempt to treat immigrants as formal citizens; Not as informal Citizens.

Republican members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration perpetuated the persistent myth of immigrant criminality with their event on “The Toll of Illegal Alien Criminals on American Families.” The event was spearheaded by Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Steve King (R-Iowa) and Howard Coble (R-NC).
Tensions ran high as witnesses ranging from bereaved family members to the President of the Houston, Texas, Police Officers’ Union, to the Chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors made the case that the loss of innocent citizens is a direct result of not cracking down on “illegals” in the US. The witnesses demanded policies that would make life so miserable for immigrants, that they would be driven to self-deport. One witness even received enthusiastic applause after suggesting birth-right citizenship be repealed. But harsh immigration policies are not effective in fighting crime because—as numerous studies over the past 100 years have shown—immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or be behind bars than the native-born, and high rates of immigration are not associated with higher rates of crime. This holds true for both legal immigrants and the undocumented, regardless of their country of origin or level of education.
It’s not likely a coincidence that the event happened during the same week that the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) was lobbying Congress and demanding an impractical and hateful agenda of mass deportations, worksite raids, and other expensive and ultimately ineffective approaches as part of their “Hold Their Feet to the Fire” gathering. Smith even thanked FAIR for helping his colleagues connect with and feature some of the same witnesses who participated in FAIR’s rally.
Another troublesome dimension of today’s event is that contention and disregard was held for the other side of the debate. Questions were not taken from reporters. Angry attendees of the event ripped the Immigration Policy Center’s press release response out of reporters’ hands.
It is disappointing to see law-makers Smith, King and Coble–along with their fellow congressmen Darrell Issa (R-CA), Brian Bilbray (R-CA), and Duncan Hunter (R-CA) who attended FAIR’s rally tarnish the Republican brand by supporting the agenda of FAIR, an organization designated a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It is especially troubling to see law-makers exploit the pain of the victims of these terrible crimes to promote their political agenda. They’re absolutely right that dangerous criminals must be punished, and that immigrants who are dangerous criminals should not be allowed to enter the US or deported if they already are here. But exploiting the profound painful loss of crime victims to spread the myth that immigrants are criminals, by propagating misinformation, is simply irresponsible and disingenuous.

Are you prep's for a Big Earthquake?

The presence of the San Andreas fault was brought dramatically to world attention on April 18, 1906, when sudden displacement along the fault produced the great San Francisco earthquake and fire. This earthquake, however, was but one of many that have resulted from episodic displacement along the fault throughout its life of about 15-20 million years.

What Is It?

Scientists have learned that the Earth's crust is fractured into a series of "plates" that have been moving very slowly over the Earth's surface for millions of years. Two of these moving plates meet in western California; the boundary between them is the San Andreas fault. The Pacific Plate (on the west) moves northwestward relative to the North American Plate (on the east), causing earthquakes along the fault. The San Andreas is the "master" fault of an intricate fault network that cuts through rocks of the California coastal region. The entire San Andreas fault system is more than 800 miles long and extends to depths of at least 10 miles within the Earth. In detail, the fault is a complex zone of crushed and broken rock from a few hundred feet to a mile wide. Many smaller faults branch from and join the San Andreas fault zone. Almost any road cut in the zone shows a myriad of small fractures, fault gouge (pulverized rock), and a few solid pieces of rock.

Where Is It?

The San Andreas fault forms a continuous narrow break in the Earth's crust that extends from northern California southward to Cajon Pass near San Bernardino. Southeastward from Cajon Pass several branching faults, including the San Jacinto and Banning faults, share the movement of the crustal plates. In this stretch of the fault zone, the name "San Andreas" generally is applied to the northeastern most branch.

What Surface Features Characterize It?

Over much of its length, a linear trough reveals the presence of the San Andreas fault; from the air, the linear arrangement of lakes, bays, and valleys in this trough is striking. Viewed from the ground, however, the features are more subtle. For example, many people driving near Crystal Springs Reservoir, near San Francisco, or along Tomales Bay, or through Cajon or Tejon Passes may not realize that they are within the San Andreas fault zone. On the ground, the fault can be recognized by carefully inspecting the landscape. The fault zone is marked by distinctive landforms that include long straight escarpments, narrow ridges, and small undrained ponds formed by the settling of small blocks within the zone. Many stream channels characteristically jog sharply to the right where they cross the fault.

What Kind of Movement Has Occurred Along the Fault?

Blocks on opposite sides of the San Andreas fault move horizontally. If a person stood on one side of the fault and looked across it, the block on the opposite side would appear to have moved to the right. Geologists refer to this type fault displacement as right-lateral strike-slip.
During the 1906 earthquake in the San Francisco region, roads, fences, and rows of trees and bushes that crossed the fault were offset several yards, and the road across the head of Tomales Bay was offset almost 21 feet, the maximum offset recorded. In each case, the ground west of the fault moved relatively northward.

Sudden offset that initiates a great earthquake occurs on only one section of the fault at a time. Total offset accumulates through time in an uneven fashion, primarily by movement on first one, and then another section of the fault. The sections that produce great earthquakes remain "locked" and quiet over a hundred or more years while strain builds up; then, in great lurches, the strain is released, producing great earthquakes. Other stretches of the fault, however, apparently accommodate movement more by constant creep than by sudden offsets that generate great earthquakes. In historical times, these creeping sections have not generated earthquakes of the magnitude seen on the "locked" sections.

Geologists believe that the total accumulated displacement from earthquakes and creep is at least 350 miles along the San Andreas fault since it came into being about 15-20 million years ago. Studies of a segment of the fault between Tejon Pass and the Salton Sea revealed geologically similar terranes on opposite sides of the fault now separated by 150 miles, and some crustal blocks may have moved through more than 20 degrees of latitude.

Although it is difficult to imagine this great amount of shifting of the Earth's crust, the rate represented by these ancient offsets is consistent with the rate measured in historical time. Surveying shows a drift at the rate of as much as 2 inches per year.


What Is an Earthquake?

The crustal plates of the Earth are being deformed by stresses from deep within the Earth. The ground first bends, then, upon reaching a certain limit, breaks and "snaps" to a new position. In the process of breaking or "faulting," vibrations are set up that are the earthquakes. Some of the vibrations are of very low frequency, with many seconds between waves, whereas other vibrations are of high enough frequency to be in the audible range.
The vibrations are of two basic types, compression waves and transverse or shear waves. Since the compression waves travel faster through the Earth, they arrive first at a distant point; they are known as primary or "P" waves. The transverse waves arriving later are referred to as shear or "S" waves. In an earthquake, people may note first a sharp thud, or blast-like shock, that marks the arrival of the P wave. A few seconds later, they may feel a swaying or rolling motion that marks the arrival of the S wave.


What Do Earthquake "Magnitude" and "Intensity" Mean?

Magnitude is a measure of the size of an earthquake. The Richter Scale, named after Charles F. Richter of the California Institute of Technology, is the best known scale for the measuring of magnitude (M) of earthquakes. The scale is logarithmic; a recording of 7, for example, signifies a disturbance with ground motion 10 times as large as a recording of 6. The energy released by an earthquake of M 7, however, is approximately 30 times that released by an earthquake of M 6; an earthquake of M 8 releases 900 times (30x30) the energy of an earthquake of M 6. An earthquake of magnitude 2 is the smallest earthquake normally felt by humans. Earthquakes with a Richter value of 5 or higher are potentially damaging. Some of the world's largest recorded earthquakes--on January 31, 1906, off the coast of Colombia and Ecuador, and on March 2, 1933, off the east coast of Honshu, Japan--had magnitudes of 8.9 on this scale, which is open ended.
As the Richter scale does not adequately differentiate between the largest earthquakes, a new "moment magnitude" scale is being used by seismologists to provide a better measure. On the moment magnitude scale, the San Francisco earthquake is estimated at magnitude 7.7 compared to an estimated Richter magnitude of 8.3.

Intensity is a measure of the strength of shaking experienced in an earthquake. The Modified Mercalli Scale represents the local effect or damage caused by an earthquake; the "intensity" reported at different points generally decreases away from the earthquake epicenter. The intensity range, from I - XII, is expressed in Roman numerals. For example, an earthquake of intensity II barely would be felt by people favorably situated, while intensity X would produce heavy damage, especially to unreinforced masonry. Local geologic conditions strongly influence the intensity of an earthquake. Commonly, sites on soft ground or alluvium have intensities 2 to 3 units higher than sites on bedrock.


Earthquakes Along the Fault

Literally thousands of small earthquakes occur in California each year, providing scientists with clear indications of places where faults cut the Earth's crust. The largest historical earthquakes that occurred along the San Andreas fault were those in 1857 and 1906. The earthquake of January 9, 1857, in southern California apparently was about the same magnitude as the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. According to newspaper accounts, ground movement in both cases was roughly the same type. An account of the 1857 earthquake describes a sheep corral cut by the fault that was changed from a circle to an "S"-shape--movement clearly representative of right-lateral strike-slip. Studies of offset stream channels indicate that as much as 29 feet of movement occurred in 1857.
The San Francisco earthquake and fire of April 18, 1906, took about 700 lives and caused millions of dollars worth of damage in California from Eureka southward to Salinas and beyond. The earthquake was felt as far away as Oregon and central Nevada. The 1906 earthquake, which has been estimated at a magnitude 8.3 on the Richter Scale, caused intensities as high as XI on the Modified Mercalli Scale. Surface offsets occurred along a 250- mile length of the fault from San Juan Bautista north past Point Arena and offshore to Cape Mendocino.

On May 18, 1940, an earthquake of magnitude 7.1 occurred along a previously unrecognized fault in the Imperial Valley. Similar movement on the Imperial fault occurred during an earthquake in November 1979. The greatest surface displacement was 17 feet of right-lateral strike-slip in the 1940 earthquake. Clearly, this fault is part of the San Andreas system. Other earthquakes of probable magnitudes of 7 or larger occurred on the Hayward fault in 1836 and 1868 and on the San Andreas fault in 1838.

When Could the Next Large Earthquake Occur Along the San Andreas Fault?
Along the Earth's plate boundaries, such as the San Andreas fault, segments exist where no large earthquakes have occurred for long intervals of time. Scientists term these segments "seismic gaps" and, in general, have been successful in forecasting the time when some of the seismic gaps will produce large earthquakes. Geologic studies show that over the past 1,400 to 1,500 years large earthquakes have occurred at about 150-year intervals on the southern San Andreas fault. As the last large earthquake on the southern San Andreas occurred in 1857, that section of the fault is considered a likely location for an earthquake within the next few decades. The San Francisco Bay area has a slightly lower potential for a great earthquake, as less than 100 years have passed since the great 1906 earthquake; however, moderate-sized, potentially damaging earthquakes could occur in this area at any time.
A great earthquake very possibly will not occur unannounced. Such an earthquake may be preceded by an increase in seismicity for several years, possibly including several foreshocks of about magnitude 5 along the fault. Before the next large earthquake, seismologists also expect to record changes in the Earth's surface, such as a shortening of survey lines across the fault, changes in elevation, and effects on strainmeters in wells. A key area for research on methods of earthquake prediction is the section of the San Andreas fault near Parkfield in central California, where a moderate-size earthquake has occurred on the average of every 20-22 years for about the last 100 years. Since the last sizeable earthquake occurred in 1966, Parkfield has a high probability for a magnitude 5-6 earthquake before the end of this century and possibly one may occur within a few years of 1988. The U.S. Geological Survey has placed an array of instruments in the Parkfield area and is carefully studying the data being collected, attempting to learn what changes might precede an earthquake of about that size.

What Can Be Done About the Faults and Earthquakes?

Even though people cannot stop earthquakes from happening, they can learn to live with the problems caused by earthquakes. Three major lines of defense against earthquake hazards are being developed. Buildings in earthquake-prone areas should be designed and constructed to resist earthquake shaking. Building codes that require attention to earthquake shaking have been improving in recent decades and constitute a first line of defense. In some cities, programs are underway to strengthen or tear down older buildings most likely to collapse during earthquakes. A second line of defense involves the selective use of land to minimize the effects of hazardous ground. High- occupancy or critical structures, for example, should not be placed astride the San Andreas fault or on landslide-prone areas. The third line of defense will be the accurate prediction of earthquakes. When such prediction becomes possible, it will permit timely evacuation of the most hazardous buildings. A major program aimed at learning how to predict earthquakes and to assess and minimize their hazards was initiated following the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 and is being carried out by the U.S. Geological Survey, other Federal Agencies, universities, and private groups

The Crossroads of the failed Immigration Policies.

For an uninsured immigrant suffering a traumatic injury or serious illness, a trip to the wrong emergency room can lead to deportation, even if the immigrant is in the country legally, The New York Times reports. A hospital in Phoenix sent 19-year-old Antonio Torres on a four-hour trip back to Mexico after he showed up in the emergency room with catastrophic injuries from a car accident, despite the fierce protests of his parents.

He and his family were in the country legally, working in the alfalfa fields in Gila Bend, Ariz. While a deadly infection spread through his body as he stayed in a Mexican hospital, his parents found a hospital in California willing to treat him and got him back into the country in a donated ambulance. He recovered despite the dismal prognosis given to him by the hospital in Phoenix.

There are no formal regulations or guidelines for hospitals in the handling of patients like Torres, and they have access to limited federal financing to pay for their treatment, according to the Times, which examined similar cases across the country. Therefore, treatment can vary widely among hospitals left to make the decision whether to treat an uninsured immigrant and bear the costs or repatriate the patient, potentially risking the individual's life in the process.

As a result of the reporting done by the Times, the California Medical Association passed a resolution opposing enforced repatriation of patients. A similar resolution is being considered by the American Medical Association.

Click here to read the full history.

Undocumented Workers do not paid taxes? Sounds familiar to you?.

Undocumented Immigrants pay more in taxes than they receive in public services and assistance, a Wall Street Journal editorial argued. In addition to paying sales taxes, most immigrants pay federal and state income taxes as well as property taxes, which are factored into housing rental rates. Yet they often aren’t eligible to receive many of the benefits those taxes pay for. In fact, payroll taxes paid by Undocumented Workers are helping keep Medicare and Social Security solvent. As the editorial noted: “The Social Security actuaries recently calculated that over the next 75 years immigrant workers will pay some $5 trillion more in payroll taxes than they will receive in Social Security benefits.”Several States also makes money from Undocumented workers, Like the Kansas City Star reported. It requires them to pay state income taxes but refuses to refund any overpayments if the Social Security numbers they use aren’t accurate. What a deal. Let's see the other page of the book.

Herndon Man Pleads Guilty to $3M Embezzlement and Tax Evasion. According to the statement of facts, Koger never filed personal income tax returns for the years 2003-2006 and evaded a total of $775,273 in federal income taxes.

(Herndon, VA ) - Jeffrey S. Koger, age 39, of Herndon, Virginia, pled guilty today to wire fraud and income tax evasion. Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Assistant Attorney General Nathan J. Hochman of the United States Department of Justice’s Tax Division; C. André Martin, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation’s Washington, D.C. Field Office; and Jeffrey Irvine, Special Agent-in-Charge of the United States Secret Service’s Washington Field Office made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema.

Sentencing has been set for February 6, 2009. Koger faces a maximum penalty of 25 years imprisonment, $500,000 in fines, full restitution and three years of supervised release.

According to a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, Koger was the Chief Financial Officer for Koger Management Group (KMG), which was the property management company for approximately 400 homeowners’ associations. Between 2003 and 2006, KMG had a bank account that received dues from homeowners that KMG then distributed into the associations’ individual accounts. On approximately 140 occasions, Koger diverted funds intended for the associations’ accounts into his personal accounts and that of an account for an unrelated business, Tri-Fitness in Annandale, Virginia, for which he was also the chief financial officer. During the period of time that Koger was embezzling the money, he invested at least $733,000 into a restaurant, Jordan’s 8, in Washington, D.C., spent almost $500,000 on remodeling his home and the Tri-Fitness facility, and made down payments of $60,000 on a house in New Mexico and $40,000 on a Corvette.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and the Secret Service, with assistance from the Fairfax City Police Department, the Alexandria City Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jack Hanly and Trial Attorney Caryn Mark of the Department of Justice’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States

Facebook, Numbers USA?. Sounds familiar to you?

Remember Clarium Capital, the $7 billion hedge fund run by former PayPal CEO Peter Thiel? Oops: Make that the $5.2 billion hedge fund run by Thiel. The fund was down 18 percent in October alone. August was also a disastrous month, as Thiel's bets on the economy went sour. After running up 58 percent from January to June, it's now down 3 percent for the year. Thiel is also an investor in Facebook, but that doesn't seem like much of a hedge right now.
A source within Clarium Capital, Facebook investor Peter Thiel's multibillion-dollar hedge fund, claims that Thiel has just donated $1 million to NumbersUSA, the largest anti-immigration group in the U.S. Not true, we've learned — but Rob Morrow, a principal at Clarium and close Thiel associate, has backed the group with a small donation of $1,000 or less. NumbersUSA likes to position itself as an "immigration reduction" organization; it seeks to roll back legal immigration limits to pre-1965 levels. Morrow's support of the cause is inevitably embarrassing for Thiel.

That's because Thiel, who practically makes a fetish of finding the best talent wherever he can, has benefitted from immigration personally. He was born in Germany, and his tech fortunes are due in large part to the genius of Ukrainian-born programmer Max Levchin, his cofounder at PayPal who is now CEO of Slide.

But Morrow is unlikely to suffer any consequences from his support of the cause. A right-wing intellectual and financial analyst, Morrow, too, has made a lot of money for Thiel. Much of Clarium's breathtaking performance over the years stems from his prescient thinking on the decline of the dollar and the mortgage bubble. Continue reading here:

America rejected the GOP rethoric language.

From a major party to a divided and Regional party. I wasn’t at all surprised by the generosity of spirit reflected in McCain’s speech last night, but it immediately made me wonder: what awful character deficiency made McCain put his campaign in the hands of such human filth as Karl Rove, William Kristol, Adolph Guiliani, Charlie Black, and the rest of the thugs whose jobs consist of whipping the authoritarians of the Republican base into a foaming-at-the-mouth racist mob.

America rejected their rethoric language. And I for one will not simply forget how The Republican party and; McCain supporters so quickly went to calling areas of the country un-American, hinted the PRESIDENT ELECT was friends with terrorists, and sought to label different views on tax policy as unacceptable, terrifying socialism.

Mistakes has been made and opting for money over love; lies over truth; status over service; and power over wisdom. He wanted everything he felt his name and status was about, but he overlooked the honor and service they were really about in favor of superficialities. There comes a point where all that catches up with you, where there is no going back, and no salvaging what you've done. The ancient Greeks would say McCain made the kind of mistake the Fates don't forgive. But his real tragedy is that he will never realize that until way too late.

Though McCain is touted as a "maverick" who knows how to reach across party lines and evince a degree of clarity and sane non-partisanship in American politics, there was little evidence of that during his campaign, including his concession speech where loud "boos" and nasty comments came out of the crowd. In contrast, members of the Obama rally kindly applauded McCain and his campaign efforts. The difference in each crowd's reaction made it clear to me what kind of campaign each candidate has run and how vastly different the country would be under each administration.

Obama has proven that he is the better man to help end the nation's divisive and petty habits, a potential he's shown by pulling more young people to the polls than ever; a millions of middle-aged voters who never thought they would go for this untried and unestablished candidate; and even the most small-minded among us who saw some potential in his cool, intelligent approach to the nation's troubles. Well changes has been made.

The Republican party suffered greatly last night and will likely not win another election until it undergoes a vast transformation. The era of the culture war must come to an end: it must win back its intellectual establishment -- the articulate urban "elites" who helped to build the party's ideology, like William F. Buckely -- and show itself as a party with strong socially conservative values while remaining articulate and sympathetic to every citizen's ills, as was the case during the Eisenhower administration half a century ago. It must also distance itself from self-aggrandizing zealots who espouse racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, and sexist propaganda that do nothing but alienate more potential supporters. Only then will their journey continue. Now it's time to take a deep breath, stop looking back, and move forward. McCain did the best he could with what he had to work with - end of story. Another page of History open and another one closed. Amen.

Change has come . Si se pudo.

Barack Obama has been sensationally crowned as America's first black President.
In his first speech as President elect he told a mass rally in Chicago: "Change has come to America".
The Senator Obama smashed Republican rival John McCain as he made history with a landslide victory.

He continued: “No matter how they cast their ballots, all Americans can be proud of the history that was made yesterday.”

He also promised “complete cooperation" in the governmental transition and extended an invitation to the White House to Obama and his wife, Michelle.

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell called Obama’s election "historic" today and claimed Obama will be president for all Americans.
Obama said his victory showed that Americans had "sent a message to the world" and marked that "we are, and always will be the United States of America".

Senator Obama won the race for the White House at precisely January 4, 2008 and will become the 44th United States President.

He passed the magical 270 votes needed with 349 Electoral votes to secure the White House after securing the key states of Florida and Virginia.

Thousands of screaming supporters burst into cheers and began flying the Stars and Stripes as they waited for the first black President to appear.

He told those gathered: "It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America."

He said in his first words as president: “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

His victory speech was delivered before a multiracial crowd that city officials estimated at 125,000 in Grant Park, and possibly thousands more in the surrounding area.

Many cried and nodded their heads while he spoke, surrounded by clear bulletproof screens on his left and right.

He appeared on stage with his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia, ten, and Sasha, seven, poised to become the first family of colour ever to occupy the White House.

Every family member dressed in black and red, and Obama told his daughters during his speech that they would get the puppy he promised would come with a victory.

“Even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century,” he said.

“There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and, for us to lead, alliances to repair.”
He was already suggesting a second term to accomplish his goals, saying he expected “setbacks and false starts.”

“We may not get there in one year or even one term,” he said. “But America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.”

To those who voted against him, he said, “I will be your president, too.”

Obama, an Illinois senator born 47 years ago of a white American mother and a black African father, sprinkled his address with references to the civil rights struggle.

He paid tribute to Ann Nixon Cooper, a 106-year-old daughter of slaves born at a time when women and blacks could not vote. She cast her ballot in Atlanta Tuesday, Obama said.

America voted in record numbers, standing in lines that snaked around blocks and in some places in pouring rain.

Voters who queued up and the millions who balloted early propelled 2008 to what one expert said was the highest turnout in a century.

It looks like 136.6 million Americans will have voted for president this election, based on 88 percent of the country’s precincts tallied and projections for absentee ballots, said Michael McDonald of George Mason University.

Using his methods, that would give 2008 a 64.1 per cent turnout rate
That would be the highest turnout rate that we’ve seen since 1908,” which was 65.7 percent, McDonald said.

It also would beat the old post World War II high of 63.8 per cent in the famed 1960 John F Kennedy-Richard Nixon contest.

The total voting in 2008 easily outdistanced 2004’s 122.3million, which had been the highest grand total of voters before.

Obama entered the final hours of the election with a seven per cent poll lead over his rival but many held their breath for fear that Americans would never put a black man in the Oval Office.

But yesterday the map of America turned progressively blue as states fell to Obama's romping Democratic Party.

The first sign of history changing came as Pennsylvania backed Obama.

McCain had poured millions of dollars into the state and regarded it as a must win.

But an hour later Ohio was projected to go Democrat in what was a crushing blow to the Republican effort.

Iowa was also due to fall to Obama – another hammer blow to the McCain camp.

Obama was projected to have netted 200 electoral votes and with California's 55 votes guaranteed, he was a dead cert to smash the magic 270 needed to take Office.

Early projections said Obama was on course to hit 311 electoral votes to just 163 for Republican rival McCain.

Obama swept to victory as expected in Democratic states in the east and Midwest of America.

The changes has come to America and for the World.

Current Politics dominated by ignorance?

More of the same bigoted language from McCain supporters. This time from the predominantly white people from the town of Potts ville, Pennsylvania, where McCain supporters could be seen yelling, "Bomb Obama!"

How did politics in the US come to be dominated by people who make a virtue out of ignorance? Was it charity that has permitted mankind’s closest living relative to spend two terms as president? How did Sarah Palin, Dan Quayle and other such gibbering numbskulls get to where they are? How could Republican rallies in 2008 be drowned out by screaming ignoramuses insisting that Barack Obama is a Muslim and a terrorist?
On one level this is easy to answer. Ignorant politicians are elected by ignorant people. US education, like the US health system, is notorious for its failures. In the most powerful nation on earth, one adult in five believes the sun revolves around the earth; only 26% accept that evolution takes place by means of natural selection; two-thirds of young adults are unable to find Iraq on a map; two-thirds of US voters cannot name the three branches of government; the maths skills of 15 year-olds in the US are ranked 24th out of the 29 countries of the OECD.

But this merely extends the mystery: how did so many US citizens become so dumb, and so suspicious of intelligence? Susan Jacoby’s book The Age of American Unreason provides the fullest explanation I have read so far. She shows that the degradation of US politics results from a series of interlocking tragedies.

Michelle Malkin Hypocrisy is not a Family Value.

Michelle Malkin is all about law and order when it comes to immigrants. But, when it comes to some other matters law and order doesn't often figure into her equation. Read here: Were Kyledeb at Citizen Orange exposed how Michelle Malkin use her Anti Immigrant sentiment towards Obama Aunt.

Malkin was born in Philadelphia to Filipino parents, Dr. Apolo and Rafaela Maglalang as née Maglalang who gave birth to her soon after arriving in the US, while they were in the United States on student visas. She opposes the granting of automatic U.S. citizenship to babies born to Undocumented Immigrants, tourists, and temporary workers. Malkin discussed her position on these so called "anchor babies" in a 2003 Jewish World Review column, which ended, "Citizenship is too precious to squander on accidental Americans in Name Only."

I read this quote from her dreadful book In Defense of Internment: The Case for 'Racial Profiling' in World War II and the War on Terror :

"I was compelled to write this book after watching ethnic activists, historians, and politicians repeatedly play the World War II internment card after the September 11 attacks. The Bush Administration’s critics have equated every reasonable measure to interrogate, track, detain, and deport potential terrorists with the "racist" and "unjustified” World War II internment policies of President Roosevelt. To make amends for this "shameful blot" on our history, both Japanese-American and Arab/Muslim-American activists argue against any and all uses of race, ethnicity, nationality, and religion in shaping current homeland security policies. Misguided guilt about the past continues to hamper our ability to prevent future terrorist attacks."

The Republican Politics of Hate and Fear.

We'd like to talk about the pressing issues facing our country: the woeful economy, rising unemployment, the housing crisis, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But we can't talk about them because John McCain and Sarah Palin have distracted us with the politics of hate and fear.

Instead of discussing the real issues plaguing Americans, McCain and Palin have turned to fear-mongering and race-baiting, stoking the prejudices of their supporters. The situation has become so critical that we've teamed up with Color of Change to put an end to these dangerous mob scenes.

Things have gotten so out of control that some conservatives have come forward to denounce McCain and Palin's hate-mongering. In an Op-Ed for The Baltimore Sun, Frank Schaeffer writes: "John McCain: If your campaign does not stop equating Sen. Barack Obama with terrorism, questioning his patriotism and portraying Mr. Obama as "not one of us," I accuse you of deliberately feeding the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate, and therefore of potentially instigating violence

Acorn: The same song but different election year.

Like you I believe that Voting and elections is a critical issue that must be discussed around every dinner table and lunch counter in America. It is a discussion that concerns who we are and who we will be as a nation. It is a discussion that must be based in truth, fact, and honesty. Watch the video; the same song but different election year.

Racist GOP Mailing depicts Obama surrounded by KFC, Watermelon and Food Stamps.

This is by far one of the most ignorant things i've personally seen someone create. This is outrageous and this is just not the right thing to do to gain votes. I am see this as a direct blow to the African American Culture and To connect all African Americans with cool-aid, fried chicken and watermelon is racist.

That "Obama Bucks" image sent out by a Republican women's club in San Bernardino County, which featured a photo of Barack Obama on paper currency surrounded by a potpourri of racially-charged Jim Crow-era images? Turns out it wasn't created by club president, Diane Fedele, but was lifted from Please God No, a satirical website devoted to skewering the Republican right.
The originator of Obama Bucks -- we'll call him Joe the Blogger -- is no stranger to the tasteless joke and the offensive image. Steeped in the scorched earth impudence of "South Park" and following in the irreverent footsteps of the Onion, Joe the Blogger's site has drawn scores of outraged comments for posts about dead Boy Scouts, Heath Ledger, genital odor and the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina, which uses the N-word.

If Obama Bucks was going to draw much fire, Joe the Blogger always assumed it would be directed at him. To have the very Republicans he mocks misunderstand the satire and go up in flames for his work leaves him bemused.
"It’s horrible " Joe the Blogger said. "I feel bad for the poor lady who did this, but how stupid do you have to be not to see the racial aspects?"
Fedele came under fire for the mailer and for her subsequent claim that she didn't notice the image's racist nature. Even as she apologized and her fellow club members disavowed the mailer, the story -- and reactions to it -- shot around the world.

Though Fedele's caption ("Obama talks about all those presidents that got their names on bills. If elected, what bill would he be on ????? Food Stamps, what else!") associated Obama with food stamps.
"It was so over-the-top and obviously racial and offensive, and that was the point of it," Joe the Blogger said.

Diane Fedele, president of a San Bernardino County Republican women’s club criticized over its use of "Obama Bucks," a racially charged illustration of Barack Obama, has resigned her post.
The image of Obama on play money flanked by fried chicken, watermelon and ribs quickly went worldwide, as did Fedele's explanation that she didn't realize the symbolism could be considered racist.

Diane Fedele faced intense pressure from state GOP leaders who called the drawing racist and Democrats who demanded she quit as head of the Upland-based Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated.
In a sometimes combative apology sent to club members, Fedele said she received the illustration through a chain e-mail and used it for a "satiric" attack on what she sees as Obama’s "socialist" agenda of government giveaways. When confronted by an African American club member, she said she apologized for the cartoon. Despite that, Fedele said the woman took the story to the media.
"For many it may be hard to believe, but some people do not associate certain foods with particular groups," she said. "I do not think like a bigot, and because of that fact I did not view this as racial, because I do not have a racially discriminating point of view."
No, really, it wasn't. In fact, you're racist for thinking it's racist.

She accused the media of branding Republicans racist whenever they criticize the Democratic presidential nominee.
Hector Barajas, a spokesman for the state GOP, said the decision to resign was a personal one between Fedele and the 200-member club.
"As far as we are concerned these images and words have no place in this campaign," he said. Ironically, the illustration was created by a liberal blogger as an attempt to make fun of Republicans. Someone e-mailed it to Fedele, who then put it in her newsletter.
Fedele's resignation is effective immediately. Our article about the liberal blogger who created the image as satire — and was startled to find it used by Republicans — is here.
According to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, which broke the Diane Fedele/Obama Bucks story, critics had planned to protest at the club's meeting tonight, but that meeting has been canceleda>.

Why Joe Arpaio Must go.

The "Sheriff Command Ascociation" gave the GOP $105K to run dishonest and filthy ads against Dan Saban. But who is the SCA? The AZ GOP party found themselves in trouble by taking the money and may have broken 8 seperate laws. Some are felonies.

A top Maricopa County sheriff's deputy is the point man for a mysterious political group that has given $105,000 to the state Republican Party in recent months, money that Democratic leaders say was used to pay for attack ads against Democratic candidates Dan Saban and Tim Nelson.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio has denied any link between his campaign and the attack ad against his opponent, Saban.

The ad was produced by the Republican Party and Arizonans for Public Safety, a group headed by state GOP Chairman Randy Pullen. The two groups also paid for a commercial attacking Nelson, who is running against County Attorney Andrew Thomas.

Donations from a group calling itself the Sheriff's Command Association made to the state Republican Party prompted the Arizona Democratic Party to file campaign finance complaints earlier this week with state and county elections agencies.

On Thursday, Sean McCaffrey, executive director of the Arizona Republican Party, said Capt. Joel Fox, a division commander in the sheriff's office, is the party's contact person for the mysterious association. The GOP's most recent finance report lists the association only by its initials and describes it as an "unincorporated association of individuals."

Fox "is, indeed, the individual with whom chairman Pullen requested the names of SCA's donors when their contributions to the Arizona Republican Party arrived, and we needed to have the information to file more properly," McCaffrey said.

Fox did not immediately respond to calls and e-mails seeking comment Thursday afternoon.

No one from SCA has responded to the party's request for specific information about the donors, McCaffrey said.

"We have since more loudly requested the information, and if that information isn't forthcoming from SCA, then we will act accordingly in a very timely manner," McCaffrey said. He refused to explain what those actions might include.

Pullen did not return calls for comment.

The Democrat's complaint alleges that SCA and the Republican Party have broken state campaign finance laws that regulate how political groups operate. SCA has not registered as a political action committee as required and is trying to hide who the money is coming from, the complaint alleges.

"This deeply underscores the need for a quick and independent investigation," Emily DeRose, spokeswoman for the state Democrats, said of Fox's connection to SCA.

On Thursday, Arpaio reiterated he had nothing to do with the ads. He said Fox's connection to the anonymous donations does not prove otherwise.

"I don't care," Arpaio said. "I have nothing to do with the independent expenditure, period."

Some TV stations refused to run the commercials, and the GOP ultimately pulled the ads.

McCaffrey said he does not know what position Fox holds within SCA or who else is involved.

The Maricopa County Recorder's Office, which runs county elections, has forwarded the complaint to the county attorney's office and to an outside law firm to advise the agency on how to proceed

Joe Arpaio Got to go!!!!!!!!!

Many Republicans In Arizona have important views on Sheriff Joe Arpaio's job performance and policies. Listen to what they say.

Contrary to what you hear coming out of Arpaio's office, there is plenty of evidence that his jails and tactics are not "humane." In fact, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors have paid for at least seven studies that call into questions not only Arpaio's lack of management and oversight, but also the conditions of the jails and the treatment of detainees. The bottom line is whenever Joe Arapio tells you there is no proof that his jails are inhumane or that his jails have "always passed Constitutional muster," a total of seven independent analyses and three internal documents--one written by Arpaio himself--has found jail conditions to be well below Constitutional muster AND have fallen on the deaf ears of both the MCSO and the Board of Supervisors, who have taken no action to address those concerns.

Honor a quien Honor Merece: Senator Gil Cedillo. Si se pudo.

I want to congratulate the California Senator Gilbert Cedillo on his recent selection of Honor by National Hispanic Media. I am so proud of Mr. Gilbert Cedillo. I have been a longtime Student of his work as well as Mr. Joe Baca, Antonio Villaraigosa, Luis Gutierrez, Jose Serrano, and many more. And in my mind it's about time they finally recognized his accomplishment, encourage and talent. In Fact, I believe his recognizion is long overdue. Once again Mr. Gilbert Cedillo, My sincere congratulations on your nomination. With State Senator Gilbert Cedillo, the old proverb should be: "If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try, try, try, try, again."

He also advocates legislation designed to permit children of Undocumented immigrants to apply for scholarships for California-sponsored colleges and to create pathways to citizenship for all immigrants to, "build on foundation of this nation and continue our legacy as a nation of immigrants."

Gilbert Anthony Cedillo (born March 25, 1954 in Barstow, California) is an American politician and a member of the Democratic Party. He is currently serving in the California State Senate, representing the 22nd District, which covers the diverse cities of Los Angeles, Alhambra, Maywood, San Marino, South Pasadena and Vernon.
Cedillo grew up in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles and is a lifelong resident of the 22nd District. His father worked as a mechanic at American Can in Vernon and was a member of the United Steelworkers of America. His mother was a garment worker at Sears and Times-Mirror Press. Senator Cedillo attended Lorena Street and Euclid Avenue Elementary, Stevenson Junior High and Roosevelt High where he met and became close friends with Antonio Villaraigosa, now Mayor of Los Angeles. At Roosevelt, he was varsity quarterback and excelled academically as well, receiving a full academic scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles.
Cedillo graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology in 1979 and receiving a Juris Doctor from the People's College of Law in 1983. However, Gilbert Cedillo is not a member of the California Bar.
Cedillo worked for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Los Angeles County's largest union, where he served as general manager from 1990 to 1996. In his years as general manager, he protected public libraries,[citation needed] youth programs and played a critical role in securing $364 million in federal assistance to ensure that the Los Angeles County Health Care system remained afloat. President Bill Clinton stated that his decision to provide funding "was reached after critical consultations with SEIU.".
After his tenure at the SEIU, Cedillo served three terms in the California State Assembly from 1997 to 2002. In 2002, he was elected to his current office in the state Senate. While he is most widely known for his attempts to reinstate driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, Cedillo has also worked on protecting the rights of working men and women[citation needed], increasing and expanding access to health care, developing regional solutions to combat homelessness and encouraging economic development in his downtown Los Angeles district.
Cedillo was reelected in 2006 in a landslide, defeating South Pasadena City Councilman Mike Ten, a Republican. Cedillo received 71,199 votes, Ten received 18,581 votes, and Murray Levy, the Libertarian candidate, received 3,469 votes. He is Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Immigration and the Economy and is a member of the Senate standing committees on Appropriations, Health, Public Safety, Rules, and Transportation and Housing.

Cedillo is among many public figures featured in the United For Obama video produced in support of Sen. Barack Obama's 2008 presidential , Si Se Puede Cambiar. Si se Pudo, Si Se Pudo.

Undocumented Immigrants Linking to Identity Theft: A myth or a lie?

Over the course of a year, defendants Anderton and Kirsch used the identities of more than 16 victims in numerous illegal transactions to obtain more than $119,000 in cash and merchandise. They also made failed attempts to obtain more than $122,000 in additional cash and merchandise. I want to pointed out were we do not want to believe that the genuine identities of possibly hundreds of thousands of US citizens are being stolen or hijacked by Citizens and criminal organizations and not by Undocumented Immigrants which we tended to blame because they do not have a Political voice either legal representation.

The government has used the charges against Undocumented Workers with the possibility of prison time to persuade people to plead guilty to lesser immigration violations. In other cases, defendants have been convicted of "aggravated identity theft," even without proof that they knew their phony ID numbers belonged to real people. The central question is whether the defendant must know that the counterfeit identification belongs to someone else. Federal prosecutors have increasingly been bringing the more serious identity theft charges against undocumented immigrants.

Defense lawyers have argued that their clients should not be charged with stealing an identity because the immigrants were seeking documentation only to allow them to work. They didn't know if the numbers were fictitious or belonged to someone else.

When a person makes up a Social Security number, having no idea whether it belongs to someone else, it is hard to see how that conduct qualifies as 'theft' - much less 'aggravated theft. So what about the person who knows and have an idea who's that number belongs to?

Jocelyn Kirsch, 23, of Novato, California, was sentenced today to five years in prison for her role in an extensive identity theft and fraud scheme, announced Acting United States Attorney Laurie Magid. Kirsch pleaded guilty in July 2008, to conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, access device fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering. Between November 2006 and November 30, 2007, Kirsch and co-defendant Edward Anderton stole identity information, credit cards, and credit card account information from numerous victims, including friends, co-workers, neighbors, fellow students, bar patrons, and others, and used those stolen materials extensively to buy merchandise and obtain cash. Anderton pleaded guilty in June 2008 and is scheduled for sentencing on November 14, 2008. In addition to the prison terms, United States District Court Judge Eduardo Robreno ordered Kirsch to pay $101,033 restitution, a $600 special assessment, and to complete five years of supervised release.

Over the course of a year, defendants Anderton and Kirsch used the identities of more than 16 victims in numerous illegal transactions to obtain more than $119,000 in cash and merchandise. They also made failed attempts to obtain more than $122,000 in additional cash and merchandise. The defendants used the proceeds of their fraud scheme to help fund their lavish lifestyle that included trips to Florida, Paris, Hawaii, Montreal, and the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Philadelphia Police Department, The University of Pennsylvania Police Department, and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Louis D. Lappen and Special Assistant United States Attorney Lisa Caulfield

Undocumented Immigrants draining Social Services?. A Myth or a Lie?

HEALTH CARE COMPANY OWNER PLEADS GUILTY TO MEDICAL IDENTITY THEFT AND MEDICARE FRAUD.


WASHINGTON – A La Crescenta man pleaded guilty today to federal criminal charges of defrauding Medicare by using patients’ Medicare identification numbers without their knowledge, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Matthew Friedrich and U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Thomas P. O’Brien announced. Between August 2003 and April 2008, Melkon Gabriyelyan, 51, billed the Medicare program for more than $1,640,000.

Gabriyelyan pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of health care fraud before U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Judge Real scheduled Gabriyelyan’s sentencing for Jan. 12, 2009. At sentencing, Gabriyelyan faces a maximum term of 12 years in prison for his crimes.

According to the plea agreement, Gabriyelyan admitted owning and operating TA Medical Supply, a durable medical equipment (DME) company located in the Tujunga area of Los Angeles. In his plea agreement, Gabriyelyan acknowledged that beginning in January 2004 he fraudulently billed Medicare for DME purportedly supplied to Medicare beneficiaries. Gabriyelyan submitted false claims to Medicare for orthotic braces, power wheelchairs and other DME that were not delivered to Medicare beneficiaries, were not prescribed by the physicians listed on the claims that he made or were not medically necessary.

Gabriyelyan also acknowledged in the plea agreement that to accomplish the fraud he knowingly and willfully stole the identity of a Medicare beneficiary for the purpose of submitting false claims. He admitted billing a back brace and two knee braces that the beneficiary did not need or receive, and that the patient had no knowledge of. In addition, Gabriyelyan admitted that he created a patient file for this beneficiary that contained a delivery slip with the beneficiary’s forged signature.

“Medical identity theft is a growing problem that poses significant harm to both the Medicare program and the patients whose personal information is stolen,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich. “The Department will continue fighting to protect the rights of Medicare patients as well as prosecuting individuals who defraud the Medicare program.”

“Medical identity theft is a striking example of the kind of fraud we are combating in the Los Angeles area. One new weapon in our arsenal is our Strike Force operations, which seek not only to protect American taxpayers from Medicare fraud, but protect the private and personal information of all patients,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien.

Gabriyelyan was arrested in May 2008 following an investigation by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force (MFSF). The MFSF is a multi-agency team of federal, state and local prosecutors and agents designed to combat Medicare fraud. Strike force operations began in the Los Angeles area on March 1, 2008. The MFSF is led by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section in Washington, D.C., and the office of U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien of the Central District of California. Since the inception of MFSF operations in 2007, federal prosecutors have indicted 104 cases with 184 defendants in both Los Angeles and Miami. Collectively, these defendants fraudulently billed the Medicare program for more than half a billion dollars.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret L. Carter, and is being investigated by the FBI; the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General; the California Department of Justice; the Bureau of Medical Fraud and Elder Abuse; and the Los Angeles County Health Authority Law Enforcement Task Force.

Illegals responsible for Identity theft? a Myth or a lie?

Medical identity theft is a striking example of the kind of fraud we are going to talk . One new weapon in our arsenal is our Strike Force operations, which seek not only to protect American taxpayers from Medicare fraud, but protect the private and personal information of all patients. For instance, In recent raids many Undocumented Immigrants were offered a choice between pleading guilty to a lesser charge, resulting in five months in prison, followed by deportation without appearing before an immigration judge, or the possibility of a two-year mandatory sentence under the 2004 law. I had exposed many cases of Identity theft and Medical Fraud that I can't believe there are narrow minded people blaming and making undocumented Immigrants responsible for the actions of a few American Citizens. Unbelievable!!!!!!......

Under pressure from the toughest crackdown on Undocumented immigration in two decades, employers across the country are fighting back in state legislatures, the federal courts and city halls. Business groups have resisted measures that would revoke the licenses of employers of Undocumented immigrants. They are proposing alternatives that would revise federal rules for verifying the identity documents of new hires and would expand programs to bring legal immigrant laborers.

Federal prosecutors pursuing Undocumented immigrants have a favorite tool: a 2004 law that imposes a mandatory two-year prison sentence on some people who commit identity fraud. The Supreme Court agreed to decide just how blunt that instrument is.

The question in the case, one that has divided the federal appeals courts, is whether workers who use false Social Security and alien registration numbers must know that they belong to a real person to be subject to a two-year sentence extension for “aggravated identity theft.” Put another way: Is it identity theft to pick nine random numbers out of the air and submit them as a Social Security number if that number turns out to belong to a real person?

The 2004 law makes it a crime to use knowingly, “without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person” in connection with a variety of other offenses.

The Supreme Court summed up the problem this way: “It is not at all clear how far down the sentence the word ‘knowingly’ is intended to travel.”

Immigrants inject $1.6B into Nebraska Economy.

Immigrants add $1.6 billion annually in spending to the state's economy and fill a critical role in the work force, according to a new study that was to be released Wednesday by the University of Nebraska at Omaha.Officials with the university's Office of Latino/Latin American Studies, or OLLAS, who issued the report called the study the first statewide quantitative assessment of the contributions Nebraska immigrants _ both legal and Undocumented _ make to the state's economy. Available data didn't allow the report's authors to differentiate between the economic impact of Undocumented versus legal immigrants.
But the policy brief does make a few inferences _ the first being that undocumented migrants are largely employed and are contributing to production, employment and taxes similar to legal immigrants."Moreover, it would be reasonable to also assume that the economic contributions of unauthorized immigrants are more than likely underestimated by all accounts, and that their public costs are likely lower than for authorized immigrants or the native born as a whole," a draft of the policy brief says. The report's author, Christopher Decker, an assistant professor of economics, was traveling and unavailable for comment on the study's methodology or other details Tuesday. Jerry Deichert with the university's Center for Public Affairs Research also contributed to the report. Deichert and OLLAS Director Lourdes Gouveia did not return phone messages Tuesday seeking comment. According to a draft of an policy brief that summarizes the report's key findings and lays out policy recommendations, immigrants created about 12,000 jobs across all sectors of the state's economy in 2006. And the loss of the foreign-born work force could cost the state $13.5 billion and thousands of jobs. The loss of immigrants would be devastating for the state's economy, particularly in communities whose main industries depend on the "injection of a new and young labor force and a generation of children willing to stay in those communities," OLLAS officials write in the policy brief. Immigrants make up 5.6 percent of the state's population, according to the report. It's a 33 percent increase since 2000. But immigrants represent only 4.28 percent of the public sector costs to the state.OLLAS officials lay out several recommendations, including federal immigration reform to remove unnecessary impediments to citizenship, state and local efforts focused on immigrant and community integration and improved training programs, including those that boost English proficiency.The brief goes on to say the report presents an opportunity to move from the "politics of division" _ fueled by misunderstandings or denial _ to the "politics of immigrant and community integration.The state's leadership must reject "paralyzing, anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic rhetoric that often passes as informed analysis," according to the report, and instead craft "informed policies that will prevent us from squandering immigrants' contributions.".

We the People: Lou Dobbs and Insourcing Jobs.

Insourcing is the opposite of outsourcing; that is insourcing (or contracting in) is often defined as the delegation of operations or jobs from production within a business to an internal (but 'stand-alone') entity that specializes in that operation. Insourcing is a business decision that is often made to maintain control of critical production or competencies.
According to PR Web, insourcing was becoming more common by 2006 as businesses had less than satisfactory experiences with outsourcing (including customer support).
To those who are concerned that nations may be losing a net amount of jobs due to outsourcing, some point out that insourcing also occurs as a major surplus. According to a study by Mary Amiti and Shang-Jin Wei, in the United States, the United Kingdom, and many other industrialized countries more jobs are insourced than outsourced. They found that out of all the countries in the world they studied, the U.S. and the U.K. actually have the largest net trade surpluses in business services.
So the measure of fear created by Lou Dobbs of Outsourcing jobs from America is Justified?
when Dobbs testified before Congress, it was not just a case of preaching to the choir, or even the blind leading the stupid. It was vivid proof of Goethe’s famous dictum, “Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action.”
Let’s take a look close at Dobbs’s testimony. It was long on impressive-sounding claims based on apparently authoritative statistics. But virtually every seeming fact that Dobbs cited is flat wrong.
Dobbs said that free trade is costing America jobs. With the unemployment rate now at only 4.4 percent, it’s hard to see what he is complaining about. Nevertheless he stated that
Since the beginning of this new century, the United States has lost more than three million manufacturing jobs. Three million more jobs have been lost to cheap overseas labor markets …
That’s a total of six million jobs. According to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, there today are only 6.7 million unemployed people in the U.S. to begin with. So just what is Dobbs promising? That if we had pursued protectionist trade policies, we’d have six million more jobs -- leaving only 700 thousand people unemployed? That would put the unemployment rate at less than one half of one percent -- a tiny fraction of the lowest unemployment rate ever achieved in history.
Surely this sets a new high water mark for sheer absurdity in the long history of political promises to provide more jobs.

Dobbs also declared that Salaries and wages now represent the lowest share of our national income than any time since 1929. Corporate profits have the largest share of our national income than at any time since 1950.
The claim about salaries and wages is so deceptive as to very nearly be a lie. Dobbs ignored the fact that for many of the years following 1929, companies paid only salaries and wages, and no fringe benefits such as pensions or health care. In the modern economy, fringe benefits are a significant portion of total compensation. Today, the income share of total worker compensation -- wages and salaries plus benefits -- is higher than in any year prior to 1967, and lands in about the middle of the narrow range in which it has since fluctuated.
Know with Insourcing more than five million Americans now receive a pay check from a foreign firm. We the People travels to a former US manufacturing town to see how 'insourcing' is changing the face of one small community.