* FBI in Talks to Extend Reach -- Some past and present CIA officials see the bureau's push to change the ground rules of intelligence gathering as a threat to their agency.
* Hanson: Strange Politics -- The rise of not-so-conservative conservatives -- immigration -- illegal aliens -- "must read"
* Defend the border! -- ""It's nice to say you're going to have 10,000 more Border Patrol agents in five years, but what other part of Homeland Security do you want to take the money from?" "
* Illegal aliens: Wrecks linked to scam -- Illegal license holders had 26 accidents
* Mexico may ask international courts to block Arizona law -- "limiting services to illegal immigrants" -- Now, that's chutzpah!
* Terrorist's clothing discovered in Texas? Suspicious jacket shows plane flying toward tower, Arabic military badge -- photos -- related links
FBI in Talks to Extend Reach -- Some past and present CIA officials see the bureau's push to change the ground rules of intelligence gathering as a threat to their agency.
WASHINGTON — The FBI is significantly expanding its intelligence-gathering activities in the U.S., including stepped-up efforts to collect and report intelligence on foreign figures and governments, a function that long has been principally the CIA's domain, intelligence and congressional sources said Thursday.
The bureau in December launched discussions with top CIA officials to rewrite the two-decade-old ground rules covering how the agencies conduct their intelligence efforts in the U.S. and abroad. That effort reflects an acceleration of the FBI's foreign-intelligence collection efforts in the U.S. in recent months, as well as the desire of top bureau officials to assert what they view as their legal duty to track CIA activities in the U.S. and coordinate with the agency's operations. [. . . . ]
Hanson: Strange Politics -- The rise of not-so-conservative conservatives -- immigration -- illegal aliens -- "must read"
The only solution — enforcement of existing laws, employer sanctions, legal and measured immigration, closed borders, a radical return to assimilationist policies in education and government, a one-time (not a rolling) amnesty for those here for a decade or more — is palatable to most Americans but ignored by both parties.
There are several issues ahead, such as immigration, deficits of all sorts, and energy dependence, that have the potential to erode conservatives' appeal to the general public. There is also no guarantee that the Democratic party is going to stay politically suicidal, as if an embarrassing Barbara Boxer or an unhinged Michael Moore will always remain self-appointed symbols of the opposition.
The president's immigration proposals are probably unworkable. A conservative base bristles at the idea that perhaps as many as 20 million illegal aliens now reside in the U.S. There are no proposed enforceable mechanisms such as stiff employer fines for unlawful hiring. Closing the border is never mentioned. Yet how are we to avoid a continued illegal presence in tandem with a legal guest-worker program without stern coercive measures — as if suddenly one million aliens annually will cease coming north because they did not qualify for the program?
Rather than dealing forthrightly with the crisis of national sovereignty and respect for the legal system, the issue is demagogued by the race industry on the left and by the laissez-faire Right that wants cheap labor, leaving most Americans in the middle and increasingly frustrated. [. . . . ]
Defend the border! -- "It's nice to say you're going to have 10,000 more Border Patrol agents in five years, but what other part of Homeland Security do you want to take the money from?"
Canada's border security? Canada is the country to which any stranger can land, whisper or shout "refugee" and he's handed status allowing him/her to access social services like accommodation and welfare -- until some IRB appointee (political appointees, "stakeholders"--former immigrants/refugees/voters/voting bloc members, immigration lawyers, political ******--you know, the usual) meets with the individual much later -- or he/she has disappeared. Does the Canadian government/IRB have a death wish -- for the rest of us?
Meanwhile, the Canadian "big boys" are insulated by the security that money and location provide, and they're feted by the fellow traveller "big boys". Think of our PM's photo op tour of the tsunami areas with stops to get votes from Canada's Tamil Tiger controlled Tamils, then on to be lectured by Sikhs for their Sikh Canadian brethren -- then to China for "business". Read what Judi McLeod has to say about his business associates: there is plenty in today's posts.
Did you ever get the feeling the border was better defended by the Alamo than it is today?
Yet, despite the fact that millions of foreigners invade our country, break our laws, rob us of billions in tax dollars and provide cover for terrorists, drug dealers and arms merchants hell-bent on destroying what is left of our civilization, the Bush administration is unconcerned.
Even though the president signed a bill authorizing 2,000 new border agents, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said President Bush will not ask Congress for enough money to fund them.
As part of the intelligence bill passed last month, Congress proposed nearly doubling the number of Border Patrol agents by adding 10,000 over five years. But Ridge scoffed at such an increase, saying it would be an inefficient use of homeland security funds.
"The notion that you're going to have 10,000 is sort of a fool's gold," Ridge told USA Today. "It's nice to say you're going to have 10,000 more Border Patrol agents in five years, but what other part of Homeland Security do you want to take the money from?" [. . . . ]
Illegal aliens: Wrecks linked to scam -- Illegal license holders had 26 accidents
More than two dozen students of a Weld County truck- driving school illegally obtained commercial driver's licenses and were later blamed for nearly 200 traffic and regulatory violations, including 26 accidents, investigators say.
Twenty-seven students who attended the school, Careers World Wide, used false personal information to get training permits and other documents from the state Division of Motor Vehicles, a federal agent says in court documents. All dealt with Janet Gonzalez, a license examiner in Northglenn who has been arrested and accused of providing licenses for cash, the records show.
The allegations are detailed in federal search warrant affidavits filed as part of a multi-agency investigation into the sale of driver's licenses and other documents by DMV employees. [. . . . ]
In 2001, Careers World Wide was investigated then quickly cleared by the FBI after the agency received a tip that as many as 35 Arabic-speaking men had studied at the school. [. . . . ]
Why?
Mexico may ask international courts to block Arizona law -- "limiting services to illegal immigrants" -- Now, that's chutzpah!
MEXICO CITY - Mexico may turn to international courts in an effort to block a new Arizona law limiting services to illegal immigrants, Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said Wednesday.
He said in a radio interview that Mexico might take such a step after it has exhausted all possibilities under U.S. law to halt Proposition 200. "We are seeking all the legal opportunities that exist, first using the legal capacities of the United States itself and ... if that does not work, bringing it to international tribunals," Derbez said. [. . . . ]
Terrorist's clothing discovered in Texas? Suspicious jacket shows plane flying toward tower, Arabic military badge -- photos
