Immigrants causing a climate change?.

Just when you thought that immigrants couldn’t be blamed for any more of America’s troubles, the Center for Immigration Studies introduces yet another item to the grievance list: Immigrants are the driving force behind climate change.
Once again, the Center for Immigration Studies has found a way to fudge the numbers and use a critical issue to support their anti-immigrant agenda, as shown in their new “research study” titled “Immigration to the United States and World-Wide Greenhouse Gas Emissions”. The study dubiously claims that:
“future levels of immigration will have a significant impact on efforts toreduce global CO2 emissions. Immigration to the United States significantly increases world-wide CO2 emissions because it transfers population from lower-polluting parts of the world to the United States, which is a higher polluting country.”

Their argument is that if immigrants had stayed in their home countries, they wouldn’t have produced such large quantities of greenhouse gases, because
“By and large, people who migrate to the United States aspire to improve theirmaterial standard of living, and (…) this generally entails a higher level of energy consumption and thus CO2 emissions.”

Acknowledging that there is no data that breaks down per capita CO2 emissions, the Center uses annual income as a surrogate for CO2 emissions. In other words, the higher the income of an individual, the larger their carbon footprint.
Not only are these generalizations simplistic but they open the door for an endless list of possible scenarios. By using the same logic, one could suggest that people shouldn’t strive to create a better life for themselves or achieve higher education because a higher standard of living is connected to higher income and thus a higher production of greenhouse gases.
Or even better, one could argue that if Americans really want to stop global warming they should be moving to Haiti, which has a per capita CO2 emissions rate of barely more than 1/100 that of the United States.
Climate change is a real problem that requires solution focusing on our energy choices and emissions policies. It is completely arbitrary to single out any group and suggest that by suppressing that group, we can solve climate change. Suggesting that we stop immigration altogether and encourage people to remain in poverty so they don’t increase their emissions is not a real solution. We need to solve our environmental problems in a comprehensive way, and we need too a workable, comprehensive solution for our broken immigration system

by Katherine Vargas

Identity Theft beyond borders

Do no guess Nativists, Protectionists, Anti Immigrants, Xenophobics, Ignorants have the mind set to blamed Undocumented Immigrants.!!!!!!!


Eleven people were indicted Tuesday for allegedly stealing more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers, federal authorities said
The indictments, which alleged that at least nine major U.S. retailers were hacked, were unsealed Tuesday in Boston, Massachusetts, and San Diego, California, prosecutors said.

It is believed to be the largest hacking case that the Justice Department has ever tried to prosecute.

Three of the defendants are from the United States; three are from Estonia; three are from Ukraine, two are from China and one is from Belarus.

The remaining individual is known only by an alias and authorities do not know where that person is.

Under the indictments, three Miami, Florida, men -- Albert "Segvec" Gonzalez, Christopher Scott and Damon Patrick Toey -- are accused of hacking into the wireless computer networks of retailers including TJX Companies, whose stores include Marshall's and T.J. Maxx, BJ's Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Barnes and Noble and Sports Authority, among others.

The three men installed "sniffer" programs designed to capture credit card numbers, passwords and account information as they moved through the retailers' card processing networks, said Michael Sullivan, the U.S. attorney in Boston.

This has other personal numbers that could give them access to credit or debit cards that have already been issued and are active," Sullivan.

The probe began in late 2006, Sullivan said. In addition to the Justice Department, the Secret Service has been conducting an undercover investigation for more than three years through the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego, he said.

The three then concealed the data in encrypted computer servers they controlled in the United States and eastern Europe, the Justice Department said.

Some credit and debit card numbers were sold on the Internet, and were "cashed out" by encoding the numbers on the magnetic strips of blank cards. "The defendants then used these cards to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars at a time from ATMs," authorities said.

Gonzalez and the others used anonymous Internet-based currencies to conceal and launder their proceeds, as well as channeling funds through bank accounts in Eastern Europe, the department said.

"There are ties between all three districts and ties internationally that go all the way to the Ukraine and Latvia," Sullivan said. "The 41 million credit and debit numbers were used internationally."

Gonzalez was previously arrested in 2003 by the Secret Service on suspicion of access device fraud, the Department of Justice said, and was working as a confidential informant for the agency. However, the Secret Service discovered during the investigation that Gonzalez was involved in this case, authorities said.

The California indictment charged eight others with operating an international stolen credit and debit card distribution ring, selling stolen card information for personal gain -- millions of dollars, in at least one case, authorities said.

Three of the defendants in the most recent case, among them Gonzalez, were also charged in May in a related indictment in New York, Justice said. Those charges allege the three were engaged in a scheme to hack into computer networks run by the Dave & Buster's restaurant chain and steal credit and debit card numbers from at least 11 locations.

The three installed "sniffer" programs at the cash register terminals of the locations, capturing credit and debit card numbers, authorities said. At one location, the sniffer captured data for some 5,000 cards, causing some $600,000 in losses to the banks that issued the credit and debit cards.

Gonzalez is awaiting trial on the New York charges. The other two of the international defendants are also in custody, police said.

"Identity theft can involve a single criminal stealing the personal financial information of a single victim or, as it did here, it can involve a group of criminals stealing the credit card numbers of millions of people, many of whom may not even learn that they were victims for months or years," said Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

"Identity theft victims suffer well beyond the immediate financial costs; they suffer lost confidence in their privacy and security, as well as the emotional strain and the time it can take to repair damaged financial lives and credit histories. In many cases, the effects of these crimes can be felt for years after they are committed."

Mukasey and other officials said the case serves as a reminder that computer crimes can cross international borders.

"We have been working with countries around the world to identify and address technical vulnerabilities in computer networks, and to ensure that laws and procedures are adequate to deal with these kinds of crime," Mukasey said. "And we have been working closely with our international partners to crack specific cases when they take us beyond our borders

When Hospitals are going out of business.!!! Undocumented Immigrants Are always to be blame for. Hypocrisy is not a family value.!!!!!!!






THREE FORMER HOSPITAL EMPLOYEES PLEAD GUILTY TO MULTIMILLION DOLLAR FRAUD

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, announced that defendants Joanna Delfel , Victor Garcia , and Sylvia Oramas, three former employees of Kendall Regional Medical Center (“KRMC”), a full-service hospital located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, pled guilty today to charges of conspiring to defraud KRMC of more than $5 million through a sophisticated purchase order scheme. Specifically, the defendants pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum term of imprisonment of twenty years. Sentencing is scheduled for January 8, 2009 at 8:30am before United States District Court Judge Patricia A. Seitz.

As part of the plea, the defendants admitted that from January 2001 until May 2007, they defrauded KRMC by utilizing their knowledge of, and access to, HCA’s computerized supply management system. Specifically, the Defendants manipulated the computer system so that KRMC would issue payments to two outside medical supply vendors, The Pharmed Group, Inc. (“Pharmed”) and Allied Medical Products, Inc. (“Allied Medical”), for medical supplies that were fraudulently ordered, and never actually delivered. To execute the scheme, the Defendants used the computerized supply management system to generate phony purchase orders for medical supplies, and to falsely record that such supplies had been delivered-in-full to KRMC by Pharmed or Allied Medical. Based on these false and fraudulent computer entries, KRMC’s parent company, HCA, Inc. (“HCA”), paid Pharmed and AMP the full amount for the false supply orders, totalling more than $5 million. The fraud proceeds were funnelled back to the Defendants and other co-conspirators through a series of shell corporations, including Soho Marketing, Inc. (“SoHo Marketing”), and Gator Sports Collectibles, Inc. (“Gator Sports”), controlled by members of the conspiracy. Members of the conspiracy then issued checks from SoHo Marketing and Gator Sports to the defendants and other members of the conspiracy and created fraudulent documents to disguise these payments as employee compensation.

Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He also acknowledged the cooperative efforts of Kendall Regional Medical Center and its sister HCA affiliates for their assistance in this investigation. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ryan K. Stumphauzer