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The Governor of Arizona says she signed the nation's toughest immigration bill into law because "We cannot sacrifice our safety to the murderous greed of drug cartels. We cannot stand idly by as drophouses, kidnappings and violence compromise our quality of life." Additionally, Arizona - like many other southwestern states - faces crushing financial problems associated with the unchecked flood of illegal aliens.
Arizona police will now have the right - indeed, the responsibility - to ask for proof of legitimate immigration papers when they have reasonable cause to suspect that someone is in the country illegally. Put another way, the Arizona police will be empowered to enforce immigration laws that Federal law agencies have chosen to ignore.
Although police routinely and appropriately ask all Americans for proof of identity, vehicle registration, and place of residence, the additional ability to ask to see proof of legal immigration is being attacked as "racial profiling."
Barack Obama has strongly criticized the Arizona law, and declares that such enforcement "undermines the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe.''
But isn't this the same "trust" that was severely undermined when the president declared last July (regarding the Cambridge police) that "there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that’s just a fact.”
Perhaps "Trust," along with "Hope" and "Change," should be retired as meaningless and empty words until someone with greater integrity is in the Whitehouse. And until then, we salute Arizona for attempting to restore the meaning of words like "law" and "enforcement."
Update: Angry protesters, some carrying signs accusing the government of Nazi-like behavior, assaulted an opposing demonstrator, then threw objects at police officers, a firetruck, and an ambulance. Dangerous "Tea Party" types on the rampage? Nope - these were hardcore liberals, which is why the media gave the mini-riot the laughably feel-good headline "Immigration Protest is Mostly Peaceful."
Update 2: Just to make sure that racial hatred is stoked to dangerous levels, Barack Obama told Hispanic citizens "if you don't have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you're going to be harassed." When the president is declaring the police to be the enemy of the people, can total chaos be far off?
Update 2: Just to make sure that racial hatred is stoked to dangerous levels, Barack Obama told Hispanic citizens "if you don't have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you're going to be harassed." When the president is declaring the police to be the enemy of the people, can total chaos be far off?
14 comments:
All hail Arizona and its governor, who has a spine and is a true leader! When traveling to other countries, I have never once been offended when asked to produce my passport, which is required to enter a country, check into a hotel, exchange cash, make a purchase... Even if I needed it when I bought ice cream, no big deal. Doesn't this president WANT us to be more like Europe? So why is producing proof of citizenship so distasteful to him? Yeah, we know why, right Stilton?
What is this "trust" between police and the communities of which the president speaks? In our local paper there was a story from which I quote:
"It's going to change our lives," said Emilio Almodovar, a 13-year-old American citizen from Phoenix. "We can't walk to school any more. We can't be in the streets anymore without the pigs thinking we're illegal immigrants."
So here we have a 13 year old referring to the police as "the pigs". Trust? Respect?
Here is the link to the article.
http://www.macon.com/2010/04/22/1104201/arizona-gov-calls-for-more-border.html
And by the way, what is it about "illegal" that leftists don't understand?
So we can get naked body scans to go from Chicago to San Diego, but Arizona is "racist" because they want to secure our borders and protect OUR citizens???? Obama needs to be sent back to Kenya, where he is obviously homesick for. I cannot believe our President would correct a STATE for trying to back up federal law. Geez.
I'm still very angry that Obama did nothing in light of the blatant murder of one of our innocent, hard-working citizens by an immigrant. I'm glad Arizona picked up the ball that Obama not only dropped, but threw away for miles.
I hope more and more states follow through...Oklahoma passing its own abortion laws....good for them! The more states that show their independence and Constitutional power, the better for our country.
Well, first we must cut down the statue of liberty and obliterate the saying on it..."Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses..." Then we need to erect a big statue of, say George Bush with a baseball bat and as saying.."Ya wanna piece of me!" Come on people what ever happened to the land of the free?
Also, you never hear in the media of the 400 plus "illegals" that get killed trying to cross the border by ordinary citizens and border patrol agents every year! They're just dirt poor people looking for a job that most americans refuse to do anyway...they would rather sit on their porch and collect Osama's welfare checks. If it wasn't for USA's avaricious appetite for hard core drugs, there wouldn't be a violent cartel problem on the border. Instead of spending billions on border security, the Feds should force the corrupt Mexican government to better their damn economy and help their own people instead of sending them across the border seeking the American dream. I will admit, I don't have all the solutions, but a Nazi police state is NOT the way to go, it is just one more step to obliterating out freedoms the constitution guarantee's us!
The cartoon does not show a legal stop and would be wrong if made.
We don't need that kind of error.
CT Yankee, Chuck, & Suzy- Hey, your comments are all appreciated. Yes, "illegal" means illegal, states have the constitutional right to enact and enforce laws, and 13-year-olds shouldn't be calling the cops "pigs" just because Barack Obama keeps doing it.
America has a process for people to come to Lady Liberty. I am all for those working hard with green cards and going through the process. I am NOT for people sneaking across the border and stealing our tax dollars in the form of welfare and medical care, and killing our ranchers.
Its ridiculous that everything is "racism" these days, just because we have a HALF BLACK AND HALF WHITE President. Sheesh.
Desertson- Yes, the Statue of Liberty says "Give me your tired and poor," but it does not go on to say "Push two for Spanish." You seem to suggest that America can only be "the land of the free" if legal immigration is abolished in favor of totally open borders and a big "Come And Get It!" sign. Obviously, that's nonsense.
America is a great country, but one with finite resources. As such, we can't give "everything to everybody," and can't carry the burden of supporting millions of people who - quite understandably - want to get out of Mexico.
You say that 400+ "illegals" are killed by ordinary citizens and border patrol agents annually. Please post a link to where this figure comes from because, frankly, we can't find anything to support the assertion. Many people die attempting to cross the border, but it is almost always from exposure, hypothermia, or thirst. In other cases, they are killed by the criminal "coyotes" (people who transport illegal aliens for a fee). Wikipedia cites only a handful of cases in which citizens or border guards used deadly force...and that's not annually, but in the past decade or so.
We definitely agree with one of your points; American drug users are funding the drug cartels, and that needs to stop. Perhaps more celebrities going to jail for years instead of drug rehab for weeks would send a useful message.
Larry Sheldon- Hopefully you're kidding when you say the cartoon does not show a "legal stop." After all, the cartoon doesn't say what the burro's driver was originally pulled over for. Speeding? Using a cellphone in a school zone? Littering? Firing an automatic weapon in a drive-by shooting?
It would be ironic to assume that the police officer is "wrong" without any evidence. That would amount to the kind of "occupational profiling" the president is engaging in and, as you point out, we don't need that kind of error.
The "huddled masses" poem was not in the SoL when it was first constructed. The statue was completed in 1886. The poem was donated to an auction to raise money for the building of the pedestal that the statue stands on. It was not read at the opening of the statue and was not added to the statue until 1903. The poem is not on the book that Liberty holds or anywhere on the outside of the pedestal. It is on a plaque on the inside of the pedestal. Removing it would not mar the statue in any way and would probably be a good idea, since we are being overwhelmed with immigrants both legal and illegal.
Desertson - "Feds should force the corrupt Mexican government to better their damn economy and help their own people instead of sending them across the border seeking the American dream."
Wow! talk about a Nazi police state! Or Stalinist, anyway! Even so, I might almost agree w/ you if the Feds could demonstrate they have clue one about bettering an economy. USED to be, back in the day, that we rewarded success and all strived to be all we could be, to pimp the Army ad.
Now, as you point out, far too many of our own people, through the wisdom of those conducting the 'war on poverty' (nearly as successful as the 'war on drugs' hint, the drugs and poverty are winning) perfectly content to sit on fat happy asses and live it up at the expense of the rest of us.
Now, it may be true that we need to get more out of people in terms of 'workfare' and the jobs for illegals will dry up.
It may be that we need to come up w/ a 'temporary worker visa' just to track these guys. What is undeniable is that we need to close our open borders, if only as a matter of national security - I mean really, how tough would it be for a terror team from Iran to be 'snuck in'?
Really?
The word "illegal" ceased to mean "against the law" about the same time it came to mean "more voters." That's why we have this whole insane mess. Our "Harvard-educated" apologizer for all-things-American needs to get off the campaign trail and review his oath of office. And he needs to get on bended knee and apologize SINCERELY to all the hard-working cops who risk their lives daily to try and uphold the laws of this country. The last thing they need are insults from their own president.
Readers- great (and spirited) opinions today - all of which are appreciated!
And a special "you nailed it" shout out for the phrase of the day: "The word "illegal" ceased to mean "against the law" about the same time it came to mean "more voters."
Although I agree, jumping on Obama's attack of the law makes little sense. You ought to delete it from your post. Here's why:
You write that "Barack Obama has strongly criticized the Arizona law, and declares that such enforcement 'undermines the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe.'"
Obama is attacking racial profiling.
The you write: "But isn't this the same "trust" that was severely undermined when the president declared last July (regarding the Cambridge police) that 'there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that’s just a fact.'"
Obama is again (completely consistently) complaining about racial profiling. Logically, the only way your quote makes interpretive sense is if Obama thought Gates' arrest was lawful (which he didn't, and it wasn't -- it's been hashed over many times that it is lawful in Massachusetts to berate a police officer. Not liking that is irrelevant. It's lawful.)
I hate him with a burning passion as much as the next guy, but he is being completely and totally 100% consistent here. Why point it out? Why even quote him?
Anonymous- To being with, we don't take anything out of our comments. If we've made a mistake (and yes, it happens), by all means bring it up - and let's hash it out here, among friends!
Per your larger point, the reason we're quoting Obama is because he is consistent in asserting that police officers are racists and abusers, which is a preposterous, offensive, and extremely dangerous thing for a president to believe.
And yes, in both instances he's complaining about "racial profiling" - but at the point police officers must turn an entirely blind eye to race in the description of suspects, then we're screwed. While "profiling" has become a dirty word, it's actually a tremendously useful tool (ask the citizens of New York, after Rudy Giuliani used profiling to clean up the streets).
We are strongly opposed to racism or police harassment of anyone. But unlike the president, we don't believe that police officers are, by default, dangerous and violent racists. Nor do we believe that the bond of trust between citizens and police should be based on a "good faith" belief that the cops will turn a blind eye toward "politically correct" lawbreaking.
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