* Good for George Bush for seeking to slash the budget deficit by "spending discipline" and for targeting so-called earmarks. Why weren't these good ideas pushed during the six years of his presidency when there was a Republican congress?
* What conservative would label Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security "commitments of conscience"? LBJ and FDR are laughing in their graves.
* The number of appearances of "enemy" or "enemies" in the State of the Union? 14. The number of appearances of "attack" and its variants in the State of the Union? 6. The number of appearances of "danger" in the State of the Union? 5. The number of appearances of "terror" and its variants in the State of the Union? 22.
* "[W]e need to resolve the status of the illegal immigrants who are already in our country." What's there to resolve? They are "illegal," right?
* Wasn't it smart of the Democrats to have Jim Webb give the response to the State of the Union? Or was it just that Barbara Lee, Barney Frank, and Dennis Kucinich weren't available?
* "Let us build on the work we have done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next ten years." Let's not and say we did.
* Bush wants a few good men. Okay, Okay, a few more than a few: 92,000 to be exact. Do we really need a larger military, or might America be better served by fewer commitments around the globe?
Where exactly should we remove troops from? Don't tell me Iraq. That would be a mistake and we all know it.
Yes. We should remove them from Iraq and place them on the Southwestern border. We are in far more immediate danger from the negative effects of illegal immigration than we are from anybody in Iraq. For that matter, we have 35,000 troops protecting the border between North and South Korea.
It's time to let these people stand up and take care of themselves and for us to take care of and protect ourselves.
I do agree illegal immigration is a huge problem that needs more attention than it is currently receiving. However, I also think pulling out the troops from Iraq would not be a smart decision. 761 illegals caught in the LA area in the last week. That's a start I guess.
Four years in Iraq, we've sadly lost around 3,000 soldiers. In those same four years, illegal aliens have killed 40,000 (murder, accidents, etc.). And for Bush to stand up there and allude to an amnesty program (again!) should make people sick.
Is there a source for the statistic that illegal aliens killed 40,000 people in the last four years? I don't question the fact that the flood of illegals is much more consequential and significant than al-Qaida and radical Islam, but the figure seems a little high.
The war in Iraq is unwinnable because the type of government we wish to create in Iraq is unobtainable -- a friendly, democratic country that supports Israel, the United States, and combats Muslims. So even if the increase in troops stabilize Baghdad, what's in it for us? We'll still have a government that is Islamic and supports terrorism.
This isn't a war, but an ambitious social experiment, and one that was doomed to fail from the start.
ILLEGAL ALIEN STATISTICS
Summary: On average each day 25 Americans die at the hands of criminal aliens in the United States. Twelve Americans are murdered by criminal aliens. Another ten Americans are killed by drunk-driving criminal aliens. Finally, an additional three Americans will die because of negligent homicides by criminal aliens, such as running a red light, speeding, or the negligent handling of a dangerous weapon.
Source: Iowa Representative Steve King (IA-5) first brought these alarming statistics to our attention earlier this year.
Also meant to say that I rounded. But, it's still a pretty big number (36,500) at 25 per day.
Is Iowa Representative Steve King to be trusted?
These are actually GAO numbers.
But, even if it were half the number, shouldn't this concern all of us? Point is we have more trouble brewing and are in more danger daily from what comes up through our porous borders.
Not to mention the threat of the potential terrorism.
Those are just numbers. You can't look at any number without context. I would pay attention if I was told that illegal immigrants have a higher murder rate per capita than their economic equal. I don't know if they would or wouldn't, but let's not get our knickers in a twist over a GAO report that doesn't put anything in perspective.
You know what Gavin, you can either decide to believe or decide not to believe and for those who decide not to, wouldn't matter if you showed them a pile of bodies accompanied with a hand count.
As Hooper said in the movie Jaws, "your going to neglect this problem until it swims up and bites you on the a$$".
That's how it will be with people refusing to believe that illegals cause an inordinate amount of grief for Americans. Until something happens to people personally, they'll go on believing that all of the numbers / statistics and bad news is not true and somehow contrived.
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