Should ILLEGAL aliens be entitled to receive Social Security benefits? According to the Debbie Stabenow, the answer is "YES!"
"ILLEGALS GRANTED SOCIAL SECURITY"…Stabenow casts deciding vote!?!
That was a front-page headline in Friday's Washington Times. According to Times reporter Charlie Hurt, "The Senate voted yesterday to allow illegal aliens to collect Social Security benefits based on past illegal employment -- even if the job was obtained through forged or stolen documents."
This is what happened...
As the Senate continued to debate immigration reform legislation this week, Senator John Ensign offered an amendment that would have prevented illegal aliens who engaged in unlawful activity within the Social Security system from receiving benefits. Senator Debbie Stabenow cast the deciding vote which effectively DEFEATED the Ensign amendment by a vote of 50-49 !
To see the actual roll call vote go to:
After the vote, Senator Ensign stated: "There was a felony they were committing, and now they can't be prosecuted. That sounds like amnesty to me... It just boggles the mind how people could be against this amendment."
He's right!
The American people overwhelmingly want secure borders first!
Victory Center Update: due to the great cooperation and help we have received across the state, I’m happy to announce that 25 of our Victory Centers will be up and operational by May 29th. Many counties have already started recruiting volunteers, setting up local schedules to man the phone banks and have grassroots volunteers ready to go. This will be the “heart” of our voter identification and ultimately GOTV get out the vote efforts statewide. We need all the help we can get…there will be something to do every day and evening of the week. Please consider helping a few hours every week if you can. Thanks again, for all you do as we prepare to win in November!!!
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/NEWS05/605220370/1007/NEWS
BRIAN DICKERSON: English only: Today! Tomorrow! ¡Siempre!
May 22, 2006
Let me say right off the bat that I don't want anybody reading this column in any language but English. English is what I write in, more or less, and I can't be responsible for what might happen if translators unfamiliar with standard idioms such as "right off the bat" get involved.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/OPINION01/605220329/1086/opinion
Published May 22, 2006
[ From the Lansing State Journal ]
Language: It's up to immigrants to learn English, but status isn't needed
Imagine signs at our state borders that say: "Welcome to Michigan. English spoken here."
"No duh" as the kids would say. English is the "mother tongue" of the vast majority of Michiganians, and everybody knows it.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/AUTO02/605220310/1322/OPINION03
Daniel Howes
DeVos economic plan light on detail
Gubernatorial hopeful to unveil seven steps for Michigan turnaround in Livonia on Tuesday.
I t's no secret, at least to those who've seen one of the ads from his $3 million-and-counting TV blitz, that Republican Dick DeVos wants to be Michigan's next governor.
Less certain is what the Amway scion, credited with steering the family company from losses in the late 1990s to profitability and then into the Internet age, would do to turn around a state that he describes as "truly alone" in its "economic misery."
http://www.livingstondaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060521/OPINION01/605210348/1014/OPINION
Buddy Moorehouse: This year's best election battles
Incumbent most likely to lose: Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
The guv is in trouble. The latest polls already show that Republican challenger Dick DeVos is slightly ahead of Granholm, which doesn't bode well for her this early in the campaign. DeVos doesn't have to fend off any challengers in a Republican primary, so he'll be able to devote all his attention (and money) to Granholm.
The governor, meanwhile, has to explain why she bears no responsibility for the state's economy continuing to go south.
Indeed, the guv is in trouble.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/OPINION01/605220304/1068/OPINION
PAC Donations
Accountable campaigns start with quick disclosure
May 22, 2006
It doesn't take any great genius to see from records filed (late and sloppy) with the Secretary of State how Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick worked Michigan campaign finance laws to pay for his successful re-election effort last year. Kilpatrick's late charge was fueled by some big-money donors, including Super Bowl czar Roger Penske and Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel (Matty) Moroun who poured money into his PAC.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/OPINION02/605220307/1070/OPINION
The cost of education
State must rethink how it funds its schools
May 22, 2006
Michigan has an obvious structural funding problem in our schools, community colleges, universities and local units of government. It is being ignored by politicians in Lansing.
As a mother, a business owner and taxpayer, I am mad as hell and I am not going to take this inaction anymore!
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/OPINION02/605220309/1070/OPINION
Make district funding more equal
May 22, 2006
Equal education for all children is one of America's defining principles. But that equality does not exist in Michigan's public schools. We need to make things right.
Consider that this year the state will pay my school district in northern Michigan about $7,000 to educate my daughter, while at the same time, Birmingham's school district, between state and local taxes, will have about $12,000 to educate a girl there. Multiplied from kindergarten through 12th grade, that difference would mean the girl in Birmingham receives a $156,000 education while my daughter receives a $91,000 education -- a $65,000 gap.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/OPINION01/605220305/1068/OPINION
City Budgets
State needs to help municipalities to solid ground
May 22, 2006
Detroit gets practically all of the attention but many other, smaller Michigan cities are facing unprecedented fiscal crises. In fact, 70 are close to bankruptcy, according to Conan Smith, executive director of the Michigan Suburbs Alliance.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/OPINION01/605220330/1086/opinion
Published May 22, 2006
[ From the Lansing State Journal ]
Name that park
A Lansing State Journal editorial
L egislators and Gov. Jennifer Granholm should be puzzled - and irritated - that the state turned down a $1 million gift to complete a hiking/biking trail in west Michigan.
Fred Meijer, founder of the Meijer store chain, had the check ready to sign, paving the way for final construction of the White Pine Trail State Park.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/POLITICS/605220382/1022
Monday, May 22, 2006
Lawmakers: Play hooky, it'll cost you
Thirteen Michigan legislators miss 100-plus votes in a year; colleague wants to dock their pay.
Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Michigan voters may be asked to decide whether the Legislature should penalize lawmakers who skip work without a good reason, by docking a portion of their $79,650 annual pay.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/POLITICS/605220325/1022
Monday, May 22, 2006
Group hears stories of fraud in affirmative action ballot bid
In final hearing, Grand Rapids-area residents can report experiences in contentious initiative.
Amy Lee / The Detroit News
The Michigan Civil Rights Commission will hold its fourth and final hearing in Grand Rapids tonight on claims that people were duped into signing petitions demanding a statewide vote on affirmative action.
Poll: 57 percent of Michigan households hit by heat costs
5/22/2006, 6:12 a.m. ET
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A majority of Michiganians polled report that rising heating costs had a big effect on their households, according to results released Monday.
Twenty-nine percent said the costs had a major effect, and 28 percent said a significant effect, according to the EPIC-MRA poll for the Detroit Free Press. Twenty-three percent said the costs had little effect, 19 percent said no effect, and 1 percent were undecided.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/POLITICS/605220326/1022
Monday, May 22, 2006
Melting pot debate fires up
Lawmakers' message to illegal immigrants: Learn English, integrate into American culture.
Maura Reynolds / Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON -- If the Senate debate over immigration has achieved little else, it has turned up the heat under the American melting pot.
The chamber seems poised to pass by the end of this week a bill that would toughen border security, establish a guest-worker program and provide citizenship opportunities to most illegal immigrants. Due to disagreements with the House, whether such legislation ultimately emerges from Congress remains highly uncertain.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/weekinreview/21broder.html
Immigration, From a Simmer to a Scream
LOS ANGELES - MAYBE it was the speech.
In January 2004, President Bush spoke at the White House on the nation's ragged quilt of immigration laws. "The system," he said, stating the obvious, "is not working."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/weekinreview/21basicB.html
In Language Bill, the Language Counts
Published: May 21, 2006
Stirring even more hot sauce into the immigration debate, the Senate last week approved a measure designating English as the national language.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IMMIGRATION_ENGLISH?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Gonzales: Language bill purely symbolic
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Despite the brouhaha the Senate has caused with its immigration bill, making English the "national language" of the United States will not change current laws, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Sunday.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0522/p01s04-uspo.html
Bush's border plan: technology-focused
In addition to adding troops, the plan calls for high-tech tactics.
| Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – As the outlines of President Bush's border-security plan become clearer, a familiar working principle emerges: that a relatively small number of troops, equipped with the most advanced technologies of the day, can do the work of a larger force.
More than three years ago, the Bush administration used a similar principle as it went to war in Iraq with a somewhat small but technologically advanced force.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/POLITICS/605220327/1022
Monday, May 22, 2006
Border technology has uneven record
U.S. military officials in Mideast say surveillance at Mexican border will cost over $2B estimate.
Spencer S. Hsu and John Pomfret / Washington Post
Applying lessons the U.S. military has learned in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Bush administration is embarking on a multibillion-dollar bid to help secure the U.S.-Mexican border with surveillance technology -- a strategy that veterans of conflicts abroad say will be more difficult than it appears.
One component of the Strategic Border Initiative provides the technological underpinning for the bold prediction by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that the United States will gain control of the Mexican border and the Canadian border in as little as three years.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110008411
Jimmy Carter Is Right
Amend the immigration bill to require voters to show ID.
Monday, May 22, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT
Amid all the disputes over immigration in Congress, one amendment is being proposed that in theory should unite people in both parties. How about requiring that everyone show some form of identification before voting in federal elections? Polls show overwhelming support for the idea, and there is increasing concern that more illegal aliens are showing up on voter registration rolls. But the fact that photo ID isn't likely to pass shows both how deeply emotional the immigration issue has become and how bitter congressional politics have become with elections only 5 1/2 months away.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/05/21/D8HOCUJ81.html
Filing: Tape Shows Lawmaker Taking Money
May 21 4:35 PM US/Eastern
By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press Writer
ALEXANDRIA, Va.
A congressman under investigation for bribery was caught on videotape accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from an FBI informant whose conversations with the lawmaker also were recorded, according to a court document released Sunday. Agents later found the cash hidden in his freezer.
At one audiotaped meeting, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., chuckles about writing in code to keep secret what the government contends was his corrupt role in getting his children a cut of a communications company's deal for work in Africa.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/21/AR2006052100167.html
FBI Says Jefferson Was Filmed Taking Cash
Affidavit Details Sting on Lawmaker
By Allan Lengel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 22, 2006; Page A01
Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.), the target of a 14-month public corruption probe, was videotaped accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from a Northern Virginia investor who was wearing an FBI wire, according to a search warrant affidavit released yesterday.
A few days later, on Aug. 3, 2005, FBI agents raided Jefferson's home in Northeast Washington and found $90,000 of the cash in the freezer, in $10,000 increments wrapped in aluminum foil and stuffed inside frozen-food containers, the document said.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/POLITICS/605220404/1022
Monday, May 22, 2006
FBI: Lawmaker stashed $90,000 in bribe money
New York Times /
WASHINGTON -- The FBI charged on Sunday that Rep. William J. Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat representing New Orleans, was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes by a Kentucky businessman and stashed $90,000 of that money in his home freezer in Washington.
The allegations appeared in court documents that were made public only hours after 15 FBI agents completed an all-night search of Jefferson's congressional offices.
F.B.I. Contends Lawmaker Hid Bribe in Freezer
Published: May 22, 2006
WASHINGTON, May 21 — The F.B.I. accused Representative William J. Jefferson, Democrat of Louisiana, on Sunday of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from a Kentucky businessman and stashing $90,000 from the scheme in his home freezer in Washington.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/22/opinion/22mon3.html
This Just in From Congress
Published: May 22, 2006
After 16 months of snoozing through multiple corruption scandals, the House ethics committee has returned to life in a flurry of promises and posturing. Prodded by the public's threadbare faith in Congressional integrity, the panel announced a bipartisan agreement to investigate two members already under criminal investigation: Bob Ney, the Ohio Republican entangled in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, and William Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat reportedly facing indictment in a separate bout of suspected influence peddling.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/OPINION01/605220342/1008
Monday, May 22, 2006
Ethanol won't solve U.S. energy problems
Big 3 push alcohol-based fuel to deflect mileage demands
The Big Three automakers, in an effort to deflect yet more fuel economy regulations, are pushing Congress to create more subsidies for ethanol. For now, that's not a good solution.
Ethanol, an alcohol-based fuel created primarily by distilling corn in the United States, is not a cost-effective alternative to petroleum. An array of tariffs and subsidies make it even less economical.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/22/opinion/22mon2.html
Corn Laws for the 21st Century
Published: May 22, 2006
President Bush's recent proposal to suspend the tariff on imported ethanol was dead on arrival in the House of Representatives. Ethanol is an important ingredient in gasoline and an alternative fuel in its own right; in the United States, it is made almost exclusively from corn. Farm-state legislators refused last week to even allow the tariff issue on the House agenda.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/21/AR2006052100934.html
2 Congressmen Seek Security Plans
Administration Late With 118 Reports, Democrats Say
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 22, 2006; Page A07
Two key Democrats on the House committee that oversees the Department of Homeland Security criticized the agency last week for not releasing to Congress reports on 118 security plans for mass transit, rail, aviation, ports and borders.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAN?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
No security guarantee for Iran, Rice says
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. has not offered a guarantee against attacking or undermining Iran's hard-line government in exchange for having Tehran curtail its nuclear program, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday.
Pressed by U.S., European Banks Limit Iran Deals
Published: May 22, 2006
WASHINGTON, May 21 — Prodded by the United States with threats of fines and lost business, four of the biggest European banks have started curbing their activities in Iran, even in the absence of a Security Council resolution imposing economic sanctions on Iran for its suspected nuclear weapons program.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GUANTANAMO?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Rice: U.S. faces dilemma over Guantanamo
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. would be delighted to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but cannot until settling the fate of "hundreds of dangerous people" held there, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday.
"We cannot be in a situation in which we are just turning loose on helpless populations or unprotected populations people who have vowed to kill more Americans if they're released," Rice said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/21/AR2006052101119.html
Abuse Trial Revives Old Questions
Involvement of Superior Officers at Abu Ghraib to Be Raised
By R. Jeffrey Smith and Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, May 22, 2006; Page
As the Iraq insurgency grew rapidly in the spring of 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld complained to Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the commander of U.S. forces in the country, that he was not seeing results from the interrogations of Iraqis held at Abu Ghraib and other detention centers.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/NEWS06/605220378/1008/NEWS
Michigan's hottest U.S. House race
Schwarz in tough re-election bid
May 22, 2006
UNION CITY -- People like Jo Ann Manchester and Gerald Surbrook will decide whether U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz, a moderate Republican in one of Michigan's most conservative congressional districts, will keep his job this year.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0522/p01s01-uspo.html
from the May 22, 2006 edition
GOP's family feud over spending
The party's budget hawks halted $500 million in military projects in bid for restraint.
| Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – Just 35 hours after they passed a $2.8 trillion budget for FY 2007 with zero Democratic votes, House Republicans ran into a wall: the division between appropriators and fiscal hawks in their own ranks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/21/AR2006052101096.html
Elections Are Crux Of GOP's Strategy
Bush Aides Look to Midterm Vote as Way to Reverse Slide
By Peter Baker and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, May 22, 2006; Page A01
Confronting the worst poll numbers seen in the West Wing since his father went down to defeat, President Bush and his team are focusing on the fall midterm elections as the best chance to salvage his presidency and are building a campaign strategy around tax cuts, immigration and national security.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008409
'Let Us Argue'
The speech the Angry Left tried to suppress.
BY JOHN MCCAIN
Monday, May 22, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT
Thank you, Bob [Kerrey, president of the New School]. Thank you, faculty, families and friends, and thank you New School Class of 2006 for your welcome and for your kind invitation to give this year's commencement address. I want to join in the chorus of congratulations to the Class of 2006. This is a day to bask in praise. You've earned it. You have succeeded in a demanding course of instruction. Life seems full of promise as is always the case when a passage in life is marked by significant accomplishment. Today, it might seem as if the world attends you.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008410
Days of Rage
John McCain and Joe Lieberman feel the wrath of the antiwar left.
Monday, May 22, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT
Two events last Friday speak volumes about the direction of modern liberal politics, and it's not an encouraging trend, especially if you're a Democrat who wants to take back the White House.
The first is that antiwar candidate Ned Lamont captured a third of the delegates at Connecticut's Democratic Party convention, thus winning the right to challenge Senator Joe Lieberman in an August primary. The second is the nasty treatment of Senator John McCain by faculty and students during his commencement address at the New School in New York.
Attorney gen.: Reporters can be prosecuted
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Sunday he believes journalists can be prosecuted for publishing classified information, citing an obligation to national security.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/21/AR2006052100348.html
Prosecution of Journalists Is Possible in NSA Leaks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 22, 2006; Page A04
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales raised the possibility yesterday that New York Times journalists could be prosecuted for publishing classified information based on the outcome of the criminal investigation underway into leaks to the Times of data about the National Security Agency's surveillance of terrorist-related calls between the United States and abroad.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/22/washington/22gonzales.html
Gonzales Says Prosecutions of Journalists Are Possible
By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: May 22, 2006
The government has the legal authority to prosecute journalists for publishing classified information, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said yesterday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/22/washington/22safavian.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Trial Nears for Ex-Official Tied to Lobbyist
Published: May 22, 2006
WASHINGTON, May 21 — A former White House budget official is scheduled to go on trial this week, the first defendant to face a jury in the corruption scandal centered on the lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/21/AR2006052100948.html
Ship of Pork
Northrop Grumman wants the best insurance coverage of all: the federal government.
Monday, May 22, 2006; Page A16
NORTHROP GRUMMAN Corp.'s revenue last year totaled $30.7 billion, with profits of $1.4 billion, up 29 percent from 2004. On Wednesday, the company, which ranks 67th among the Fortune 500, announced a 15 percent increase in quarterly stock dividends -- "our third double-digit dividend increase in as many years," crowed Chairman Ronald D. Sugar. We're pleased the company's doing well, but we can't help but wonder: Why, then, should Northrop Grumman be getting hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government to pay for cost overruns on Navy ships as a result of damages from Hurricane Katrina? Answer: It shouldn't.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/OPINION03/605220338/1272
Monday, May 22, 2006
Deb Price
'Jesus wouldn't discriminate' against gays
"Is that a very Christ-like attitude to have?"
Brent Childers was startled by the question his 62-year-old mother asked three years ago in response to his venomous dinner-table declaration that "You don't want queers taking over society."
Childers, a conservative Christian living in North Carolina, was forced to reflect upon his uncharitableness, self-righteousness and acid tone. His mom's words, he says, were like "an alarm going off. It was like, 'Hold on. Let's think about this a bit.'"
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CHIEF_JUSTICE?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Roberts seeks greater consensus on court
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Chief Justice John Roberts said Sunday he is seeking greater consensus on the Supreme Court, arguing that more consensus among justices is likely if hot-button issues are decided on the "narrowest possible grounds."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/22/washington/22justice.html
Chief Justice Says His Goal Is More Consensus on Court
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 22, 2006
WASHINGTON, May 21 — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said Sunday that he was seeking greater consensus on the Supreme Court, adding that more consensus would be likely if controversial issues could be decided on the "narrowest possible grounds."
