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Kick Assiest Blog
Wednesday, 20 June 2007
Rep bill
Mood:
 chatty
Topic: News
House Republicans introduce their own immigration bill (would bar amnesty for illegal immigrants) The measure, a rebuke to Bush, would bar amnesty for illegal immigrants and require legal-status checks for all workers.  WASHINGTON -- In a sharp rebuke to President Bush, House Republicans unveiled legislation Tuesday that would bar illegal immigrants from gaining legal status in the U.S., require tamper-proof birth certificates for Americans and make English the nation's official language.
The measure's core principles include gaining control of the border and enforcing existing immigration laws -- it does not provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants as the Bush plan does. The House bill stands virtually no chance of becoming law, or even advancing, in the Democratic-controlled Congress. Still, it casts in bold relief the split between Bush and many fellow Republicans in the immigration debate. The bill surfaced one day after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., working with the White House, resurrected efforts to pass the broader legislation Bush wants. The authors of the House bill also are pushing for a congressional resolution detailing ways in which they believe the federal government has failed to enforce immigration law and made it easier for illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S. "The current illegal immigration crisis is a direct result of this and previous Administrations failing to enforce or adequately enforce at least eight immigration laws," the resolution said.  The bill's authors, Reps. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said it was meant to challenge the immigration bill the Senate plans to return to later this week.
That measure, King said, goes "against the wishes of the American people." In another sign of GOP restiveness over the immigration issue, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., introduced a resolution Tuesday calling on Bush to enforce existing immigration laws in order to halt "the lawlessness at our borders." Sessions has been a vocal critic of the Bush approach to revamping immigration laws. The president, however, travels to Alabama later this week to headline a fundraiser for the senator. White House spokesman Scott Stanzel rejected the criticism that the administration has been lax in border enforcement. As one example, he cited a sharp rise in funding under Bush for stricter border control.  In 2001, enforcement funding totaled $4.6 billion; that has increased significantly and in his latest budget request, Bush is seeking $11.8 billion.
Stanzel also noted that the Senate bill includes goals for border security that would have to be achieved before other aspects of the overhaul could proceed. Reid wants the Senate to decide the fate of the immigration bill before Congress breaks for its July 4 recess. But even if the measure passes the chamber, it faces an uncertain fate in the House. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has told administration officials that she will not take up the bill unless about 70 Republicans are brought on board to help pass it.  The bill unveiled Tuesday is the equivalent of a warning flag that conservatives intend to fight for those Republican votes.
"It seems a formal way of putting proponents on notice that there will be resistance from those quarters in the House," said Roberto Suro, director of the non-partisan Pew Hispanic Center. He added that the number of co-sponsors the bill attracted could act as "an indication of how many votes there are to oppose something that resembles the Senate bill or ... includes the legalization program." The measure would require that 18,000 border patrol agents be deployed by Dec. 31, 2008. Currently, the force totals about 12,000. It would also require the full implementation of US-VISIT, a program that is meant to track entries and exits at all ports-of-entry but has fallen short of that goal. U.S. citizens would be affected by many of the changes proposed for work site enforcement, including mandatory checks of all employees' eligibility and a nationwide electronic system for tracking birth and death records.  LA Times ~ Nicole Gaouette **
House Republicans introduce their own immigration bill
Related: This Blog *** House rejects security fence at the border
This Blog *** Rare Tactic May Allow Immigration Votes
Looks alot better than the bill the Senate is trying to cram down our throats. Just waiting for the libtards and their buddies in the press to call this bill racist... 5...4...3...2...1
Posted by yaahoo_
at 1:27 AM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, 20 June 2007 1:34 AM EDT
Tuesday, 19 June 2007
Senate
Mood:
 loud
Topic: Lib Loser Stories
Rare Tactic May Allow Immigration Votes  WASHINGTON -- Only in the arcane world of the U.S. Senate could a quirky gambit known as a "clay pigeon" make the difference between passage of an important immigration measure and its death at the hands of opponents.
Democratic leaders hope the complex maneuver - which makes use of the Senate's labyrinthine rules to insist on votes on amendments - will frustrate conservatives' attempts to derail the embattled immigration bill, instead putting it on a fast track to passage next week. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would revive the bill to legalize as many as 12 million unlawful immigrants late this week. To do so, though, he needs backing from 60 senators, and a way to guarantee votes on a tentative list of 22 Republican and Democratic amendments whose consideration is seen as vital to satisfying key waverers. The so-called clay pigeon is how he's expected to do it, under a strategy that was still taking shape Monday. The tactic gets its name from the target used in skeet shooting, which explodes into bits as it is hit. In the Senate, an amendment is the target, and any one senator can demand that it be divided into separate fragments to be voted on piecemeal. Under the tentative plan, Reid as early as Friday would launch his target - an amendment encompassing all 22 proposals - and shoot it into its component pieces. The Senate would then vote on ending debate on the immigration measure, which would take 60 votes and limit discussion of the bill to 30 more hours. After that interval, all 22 amendments would have to be voted on, with little opportunity for foes to interfere. Ironically, the move is usually used by mavericks - not leaders - to slow down legislation, not free it from a procedural thicket. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., used it last year to protest a bill he complained included excessive spending. By offering and then dividing an amendment that targeted 19 items he deemed offensive, Coburn was able to insist on votes on individual projects. "It's a brilliant way to gum up the works," said Robert B. Dove, a Senate rules expert who was the chamber's referee for 36 years. The maneuver appears to be a relatively modern innovation; Dove said he first became aware of it in the early 1970s, when then-Sen. Jim Allen, D-Ala., a master of parliamentary procedures, used it against a bill pushed by the then- majority leader, Sen. Mike Mansfield, D-Mont. "I remember people being dazzled when he did this," Dove said. Reid's plan has its risks, chief among them further inflaming the vocal conservative opponents who have vowed to do whatever they can to kill the immigration measure. "I've seen ideas like this really backfire. You pay a price for this kind of thing," Dove said, noting that the Senate functions almost entirely on consensus. "It can be done - I've seen it done - but it's a difficult maneuver." My Way News ~ AP - Julie Hirschfeld Davis ** Rare Tactic May Allow Immigration Votes
Related: This Blog *** House rejects security fence at the border
Posted by yaahoo_
at 2:06 AM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, 19 June 2007 2:26 AM EDT
Monday, 18 June 2007
France
Mood:
 bright
Topic: News
French conservatives win parliamentary majority  PARIS -- The conservative party of French President Nicolas Sarkozy has won a clear parliamentary majority in elections. That's seen as crucial to his vision for opening up the French economy.
Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement will face little resistance to the rash of measures he plans to introduce within weeks to make France's sluggish economy more competitive and less protective. But today's legislative runoff suggests that voters in France also wanted to send the hard-driving, U-S-friendly president a message that his powers are not absolute. Sarkozy's party and its allies won 346 of the 577 seats in the National Assembly, which was fewer than the 359 seats the U-M-P used to have. Led by the Socialists, the opposition left took a better-than-expected 226 seats -- a considerable improvement over their 149 in the last parliament. KGAN.com ~ CBS 2 News - Assoc Press ** French conservatives win parliamentary majority
Posted by yaahoo_
at 2:46 AM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, 19 June 2007 2:20 AM EDT
Sunday, 17 June 2007
Fence
Mood:
chatty
Topic: Lib Loser Stories
 House rejects security fence at the border  By Mike Sunnucks
The U.S. House of Representatives shot down a proposal Friday by U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz, that would have built an 854-mile, double layered security fences along the Mexican border. Franks noted that only 13 miles of a Mexican border fence approved last year have been built and that the fencing is needed to improve border security. "With over 4,000 people crossing our southern border illegally every day, our border remains one of our country's most critical national security vulnerabilities. In order to carry out an act of terrorism, a militant Islamist simply needs a porous border and a dangerous weapon," said Franks in a statement. Franks represents Glendale, Peoria, Sun City and Kingman. The fence plan failed by 272 to 149 votes. Most Democrats (including Arizona congressional members Harry Mitchell, Gabrielle Giffords , Ed Pastor and Raul Grijalva) voted against the border fence plan. Most Republicans (including Franks and fellow Arizona Reps. Rick Renzi and John Shadegg) voted for the comprehensive fence plan. Mesa GOP Congressman Jeff Flake crossed party lines and vote against the border fence bill. The House did approve an overall homeland and border security appropriations bill Friday. Mitchell said he backed that bill because it allocates federal money to hire more Border Patrol Agents and resources to deport violent illegal immigrant criminals. "Deporting those illegal immigrants who have committed violent crimes is absolutely imperative to keeping our communities safe," Mitchell said in a statement. Mitchell represents Tempe and Scottsdale.  The state's four Democratic representatives and Renzi voted for the final bill. Flake, Franks and Shadegg opposed.
The votes could be a precursor to a big political fight over immigration reforms, a guest worker program and how to deal with the 12 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S. Business Journal of Phoenix ~ Mike Sunnucks ** House rejects security fence at the border ...Proof positive that the demented-crats aren't going to address border security at all in any real way, despite what they and their shills have been saying on TV lately. Well, now the embattled Republicans in congress who are still holding their ground against the shamnesty bill can point this out as proof that they were right all along. Related: This Blog *** Rare Tactic May Allow Immigration Votes
Posted by yaahoo_
at 12:01 AM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, 19 June 2007 2:13 AM EDT
Saturday, 16 June 2007
China
Mood:
 don't ask
Now Playing: COMMUNIST UTOPIA ALERT
Topic: Yahoo Chat Stuff
China slave scandal, 1000 kids in brick jail  Up to a thousand children were sold into a brutal life of slave work in a labour "prison" in China, police have revealed as the shocking racket was exposed today.
The victims endured maiming and brutality in primitive brick kilns, Chinese media have reported amid an expanding scandal about official neglect. The owners ran the prison-like kilns with fierce dogs and thugs who beat the children at will, state television said. One accidentally killed a child with a shovel and buried the body at night, it said. An army of 35,000 police in central China had so far rescued 217 people, including 29 children, the official China Daily reported today. But state television said many more may be trapped, making bricks for little or no pay in brutal conditions in Shanxi and Henan provinces.  As many as 120 suspects had been detained.
"Now our conservative estimate is that at least 1,000 minors from Henan have been trapped and cheated into back-breaking work in these Shanxi brick kilns," a reporter from Henan said on the current affairs program Oriental Horizon. The program showed workers who had been recently rescued – ragged, emaciated and mute and some bearing injuries. But even amid the high-profile rescue effort, criticism is rising of official indifference to the poor farming families. Local media reports and websites have cited what they say is a petition from fathers of boys kidnapped from Henan.  They complained that Shanxi police were unwilling to help Henan authorities to find and rescue the children.
"We are too weak and our children face constant threats to their life. We can only beg the government," said a copy of the document. The China Youth Daily noted that local officials had apologised for failing to rescue the workers. "But we have even more reason to ask why was it only after the case was widely reported by the media and shocked the central leadership that the local government then thought to apologise to these poor rural workers," it said. "What were they doing before?" AU Daily Telegraph ~ Reuters ** 1000 slave kids in brick jail
Related: China rocked by slave scandal...
Xinhua News Agency ** Police rescue further 220 slave workers in N China
Xinhua News Agency ** China police rescue 248 people from slavery in brick kilns
Xinhua News Agency ** Central China police rescue 217 from slavery in brick kilns
Fox News.com ** Infanticide, Abortion Responsible for 60 Million Girls Missing in Asia
This Blog *** Two thirds of Chinese cities' water, air polluted
Washington Times ** China Supplying Arms to Insurgencies
Posted by yaahoo_
at 5:43 AM EDT
Updated: Saturday, 16 June 2007 5:45 AM EDT
Friday, 15 June 2007
Alba
Mood:
 crushed out
Topic: Funny Stuff
Jessica Alba wants no-strings sex  Stunning actress Jessica Alba says she is up for a one-night stand - as long as the man leaves the next morning.
The curvy 23-year-old, who was recently romantically linked to Hollywood hunk Mark Wahlberg, likes the idea of getting intimate with lots of different people because she loves experimenting in sex. She told Cosmopolitan magazine: "I just wanted to see what it was like to be with different people. I don't think a girl's a slut if she enjoys sex. "I could have a one-night stand, and I'm the kind of girl who looks over in the morning and is like, 'Do you really have to be here?' I don't need to cuddle and do all that stuff because I know what it is and I don't try to make it more. "I feel like a lot of women try to make it into more, so they don't feel so bad about just wanting to have sex. I don't really have a problem with just wanting sex. Never have. "Even when I was a virgin and wanted to marry the first guy who I slept with, I never passed any judgments about that. But now I'm done with dating around." The Sun ~ UK ** Alba wants no-strings sex *Sigh* Alright then, I guess I'll take one for the team... 
Posted by yaahoo_
at 2:47 AM EDT
Updated: Friday, 15 June 2007 2:51 AM EDT
Ruling
Mood:
 d'oh
Topic: Lib Loser Stories
Supreme Court rules unions can't spend dues for political purposes without consent Supreme Court Rules on Union Dues, Deals Setback to Labor Unions  There was a big Supreme Court ruling yesterday, folks, and it was unanimous, by the way. Not good for Big Labor. "In a unanimous ruling on Thursday, the US Supreme Court said labor unions may not spend union dues for political purposes without first getting consent from the people who paid those dues. The ruling stems from a case in Washington State, where even teachers who were not active members of the Washington Education Association were required to pay dues to cover the costs of collective bargaining. Some of the money was spent on political causes that some teachers did not support.
The Washington Education Association said the case involved only a small number of union workers who decided not to be active members. But a conservative legal group hailed Thursday's court ruling. 'The WEA decision is a great moment for America's workers,' said Pacific Legal Foundation Attorney Timothy Sandefur. 'It's sad enough that American workers -- most of whom are not union supporters -- are often forced to hand over their earnings to unions against their will, but the Washington Education Association went even further and used the money to support political causes that the workers did not believe in,' he said." Unanimous! Even Ruth "Buzzi" Ginsburg voted for this! Unbelievable! Cybercast News Service ~ Susan Jones ** Supreme Court Deals Setback to Labor Unions
Posted by yaahoo_
at 2:20 AM EDT
Thursday, 14 June 2007
Libtards
Mood:
 silly
Now Playing: LIBTARD ''FREE SPEECH CHAMP'' ALERT
Topic: Lib Loser Stories
Libtards pulled DNC blog post, Eliminated comments section, Because of pro-Fred Thompson Dems  [Excerpt]
Libtards and censorship Free speech not alive and well within the Democrat Party. The  Democrat National Committee had to close the comment section on their blog. They had a post regarding Fred Thompson. "In an attempt to bash Thompson, the DNC posted The Fred Thompson 'Dummies Guide to Diplomacy.'" Some of the comments came in, and the Democrats are a little afraid of Thompson. They're worried he's reawakening the old Reagan Democrats, and there were some Democrats posting that they liked Thompson, and they disagreed with the post. So they pulled the post and they eliminated any comments because they didn't want any pro-Thompson comments on their website. They put a piece out trying to make fun of him and ridicule him, and some Democrats post, "Hey, we like this guy. This guy is intriguing." Reagan Democrats is what they're afraid of. So, naturally, being the Castro-Putin-Chavez kindred spirits they are, they shut down the debate on the DNC website, something just like what the Broward County commission tried to do with emergency hurricane news, right-wing hurricane reports. From the story: Broward Country Backs Down, WIOD will carry hurricane info and El Rushbo.
Rush Limbaugh.com ** Broward Country Backs Down
Posted by yaahoo_
at 7:59 PM EDT
Updated: Thursday, 14 June 2007 8:18 PM EDT
Pelosi
Mood:
chatty
Now Playing: LIBTARD ''CULTURE OF CORRUPTION'' ALERT
Topic: Lib Loser Stories
Pelosi wants to allow lawmakers' adult children to tag along on taxpayer-funded travel, for free! DoD braces for a fight with Pelosi  Pentagon officials are bracing for a fight with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) over her desire to allow lawmakers’ adult children to tag along on taxpayer-funded travel for free.
Pelosi wants them to be able to fill the role of lawmakers’ spouses when the latter are unable to make a trip because of health issues or work commitments. “It has been longstanding policy that, in the absence of a congressional spouse, the adult child of a member of Congress may accompany the member on official U.S. government travel abroad for protocol reasons and without reimbursing the U.S. Treasury,” Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami said. “Speaker Pelosi believes that a modern policy must reflect the professional responsibilities or health realities that might prevent a spouse from participating, and instead permit an adult child to fulfill the protocol needs of the official trip.” Pentagon officials say the policy is that the Treasury must be reimbursed at commercial rates for children who accompany members on such trips, often called codels.  Pelosi’s office inquired about such travel on June 1, according to a Department of Defense memo obtained by The Hill. In a June 8 memo, the head of legislative affairs for the Pentagon, Robert L. Wilkie, told Defense Secretary Robert Gates that he sees Pelosi’s question as a first step toward challenging the policy.
“We were told that the Speaker would expect that members’ children (of married and unmarried [members of Congress]) would not have to reimburse the Treasury,” Wilkie wrote. “We expect future challenges from the House leadership on this policy.” Pentagon aides did not respond to requests for comment. But taxpayer watchdog groups and ethics advocates said they were surprised Pelosi would seek more perks for members. “One of the things she was praised for when she came in was her sweeping reforms on gifts and travel,” said Craig Holman of Public Citizen. “It is very disheartening if she is, in fact, backsliding on this.”  Public Citizen filed a complaint with the IRS last year, saying that family members who receive free travel by accompanying lawmakers should pay taxes on the travel’s value. The complaint focused on privately sponsored travel, but Holman said it should apply to taxpayer-funded travel as well.
“I don’t see any difference,” Holman said. In its first week with a Democratic majority this year, the House passed what Pelosi called “the toughest congressional ethics reform in history.” It forbade gifts and travel from lobbyists and banned travel on corporate jets. It did not address publicly funded travel such as codels.  Lawmakers’ children currently can travel gratis if they get a waiver, termed an “invitation,” from the secretary of defense, according to Dan Stanley, a former assistant secretary for legislative affairs at the Pentagon. He said it was rare for a lawmaker to travel with his or her children.
“Children have always flown as an exception to policy,” Stanley said. “I’m unaware of any substantial policy that would allow children to take the representational role of a spouse.” The president’s family, such as President Bush’s twin daughters, can travel without reimbursement. They cannot fly commercially for security reasons. But most executive-branch officials either do not bring family members on military aircraft or reimburse, Stanley said. Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would fly with his wife back to Taos, N.M., he said, but was scrupulous about reimbursing. The Hill ~ Mike Soraghan ** DoD braces for a fight with Pelosi
Posted by yaahoo_
at 7:26 PM EDT
Mom
Mood:
 spacey
Topic: Odd Stuff
Mom (Honduras national) accused  of prostituting her 2 daughters
Police say she passed out cards that offered the teen girls for sex A 16-year-old girl endured being sold into prostitution by her mother but finally went to Houston police after seeing her younger sister also forced to perform sex acts, investigators said Wednesday. The teenager had complied with her mother -- who even distributed business cards offering her daughters for sex -- but feared that her 14-year-old sister would be hurt, officers said.  Nelsi Yolanda Latuda and her boyfriend, Pedro Espinoza-Escama, both of the 5500 block of Antoine, are charged with two counts each of compelling prostitution of a minor. They were ordered held in lieu of bail totaling $20,000 each.
Latuda, 35, is the girls' mother, but they are not related to Espinoza-Escama, who is 21, Harris County Assistant District Attorney Justin Wood said. Houston police declined to comment about the investigation or identify the suspects but confirmed that a couple were arrested Sunday on unrelated charges and later questioned about the allegations regarding Latuda's daughters.  "They were interrogated, and they confessed to forcing the juveniles into prostitution," spokesman Victor Senties said.
Wood said the prostitution scheme went on for months and that Latuda and her boyfriend printed and passed out business cards near their northwest Houston home, offering the girls for sex. The pair arranged meetings and delivered the girls, Wood said. "I have never dealt with a case where biological children were being prostituted out by their own mother," he said.  Police said Latuda and her daughters are from Honduras and have lived in Houston for about two years. The girls are staying with relatives, Wood said.
Officials with Harris County Children's Protective Services would not confirm whether they are investigating the case. On Wednesday evening, no one answered the door at the apartment complex where the family lives. Neighbors said they often saw the girls playing outside the apartment but didn't know them or their mother.  Children of the Night, a California-based advocacy group for abused teenagers, estimates that 300,000 juveniles are working as prostitutes in the United States. The ages typically range from 11 to 17, the group reports.
Espinoza-Escama is scheduled to appear in court today. Latuda is due for a court hearing Friday. Latuda pleaded guilty in 2006 to possession of less than 1 gram of a controlled substance and was sentenced to 10 days in jail.  dale.lezon@chron.com , mike.glenn@chron.com
Houston Chronicle ~ Dale Lezon, Mike Glenn **
Mom accused of prostituting her 2 daughters
No mention in the story as to whether or not this so-called, scumbag "mother" is an illegal immigrant, so goes the lamestream media. No matter, they need to lock their asses up for this. There's no excuse for what they did.
Posted by yaahoo_
at 4:43 PM EDT
Updated: Thursday, 14 June 2007 4:57 PM EDT
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