Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Meanwhile, on the Border,.....

Dunno' Ball,.....or New Yawk,


like the sound of this regardless,

Dunno' Spitzer,........either,..... was he Brain Damaged?

GTC

Link: http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080816/NEWS01/808160356

Ball vows to reignite immigrants' driver's license issue
By Leah Rae
The Journal News � August 16, 2008

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WHITE PLAINS - It was many months ago that a media firestorm tanked then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer's plan to offer driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

But Assemblyman Greg Ball yesterday promised to stir up the issue again by demanding a recall of certain driver's licenses issued to visa holders last year. Ball, a Republican from Patterson seeking re-election, renewed criticism over 23,000 licenses issued to U.S. visa holders without a "Temporary Visitor" stamp.


"We're going to hold a hearing next month to bring attention to this and hopefully create another firestorm on what is a real national security nightmare," he said during a press conference at the Department of Motor Vehicles office in White Plains. Raising the specter of a terrorist attack, he said, "If this loophole allows the people of New York to be harmed, the blood will be on the hands of this legislature and this governor."

The visitor stamp, introduced in January 2003, is in red letters and includes the expiration date of an applicant's visa. The license is good for eight years, regardless of the visa expiration date. The visa information can be updated for a $10 fee.

Gov. Spitzer's administration suspended that practice between Sept. 27 and Nov. 2 of last year while it moved toward offering licenses without regard to immigration status. After the state dropped its plan and reverted to the old rules, state Sen. Vincent Leibell, county clerks and others sounded alarms over the 23,000 documents lacking the visitor designation.

Commissioner David Swarts, in a letter to state Sen. John Flanagan in April, said he had no legal authority to revoke the licenses, because they were obtained lawfully with verified proof of identity. He did say the license holders in question would be flagged and required to update their immigration status if they come in for a new transaction.

"I believe that the threat of identity-related crimes or other fraudulent activity resulting from the use of such documents is minimal," Swarts wrote.

Ed Kowalski, who spoke alongside Ball yesterday as a representative of the group 9/11 Families for a Secure America, protested that none of the license applicants underwent criminal background checks, adding that it wasn't clear what identification they'd submitted. According to the DMV, criminal background checks are never conducted for license applicants and the identification requirements have not changed.

Kowalski said the fact remained that there may be license holders whose driver ID has outlasted their right to be in the United States.

Immigrant advocacy groups argue that the visitor stamp is useless and misleading. "It makes the driver's license look like some kind of a quasi-immigration-type document, which it's not," said Amy Sugimori of the New York City community organization La Fuente. "And the expiration date might be meaningless."

Advocates also argue that it's better for national security if more immigrants are licensed, identified and listed in the license database.

Ball vowed to press the issue. "Unfortunately, because the camera crews aren't in front of the state Capitol anymore, we don't see the political courage that we saw when the cameras were on," he said.

Reach Leah Rae at lraelohud.com or 914-694-3526.

Tension, and discontent, in Elsinore.

Strange vibes offa' this article,

....oh, .....California, where art thou.........?

Link: http://www.northcountytimes.com/art...re/z707467cfb3f2ba85882574a5007235bd.txt



LAKE ELSINORE: Immigrants' rights protesters march on City Hall
Protesters claim U.S. Border Patrol is breaking up families
By AARON CLAVERIE - Staff Writer | Saturday, August 16, 2008 5:57 PM PDT ∞

74 comment(s) Increase Font Decrease Font email this story print this story A vocal yet peaceful group of 50 to 60 Latino residents protested Friday a crackdown by the U.S. Border Patrol on day laborers in the Lake Elsinore area. The protesters marched early Friday morning from Elsinore Elementary School to Lake Elsinore City Hall and then to the Lake Elsinore Sheriff's Station. (Photo by Steve Thornton - Staff Photographer) Carmen Topete of Wildomar holds up a sign near Elsinore Elementary School during Friday's protest of the U. S. Border Patrol's policy concerning day laborers. (Photo by Steve Thornton - Staff Photographer) Friday's protest of the U. S. Border Patrol's policy ended peacefully at the Lake Elsinore Station of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. LAKE ELSINORE ---- Protesters marched down Main Street earlier this week to decry an alleged crackdown on undocumented day laborers that, they said, is breaking up families and stoking fear within the city's Latino community.

Watch the video

The protesters carried signs that read, "All men created equal," "We are humans not animals" and "No mas redadas" (No more raids).

"People are so afraid right now," said Alex Lopez, one of the protesters. "Parents are not taking their children to school because they are afraid they're going to be taken away."

Lopez said the alleged crackdown on day laborers, men in blue jeans and T-shirts or work shirts who gather on the city's street corners in the morning, was spurred by city officials who "don't want to see any Hispanics."

Mayor Daryl Hickman, contacted at home after the protest, said the issue has nothing to do with race.

"I think the U.S. Border Patrol is doing their job," he said.

Hickman said the city has traditionally allowed day laborers to gather on Spring Street, which runs parallel to Main Street.

Other cities in the region ---- and cities throughout the U.S. ---- have similar spots where day laborers are allowed to gather. When there are problems or complaints, as there were recently in Temecula and Vista, cities have passed measures or ordinances to curtail or regulate the activity.

In recent months, Hickman said, the day laborers in Lake Elsinore have been standing on the Main Street corners, the gateways that lead to the area's historical downtown.

Hickman said he worked with some of the city's downtown merchants and tried to get the men to move back to Spring Street, but nothing changed.

So Hickman said he contacted Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Temecula, and asked for some support.

"People were not coming downtown. We had to do something. Now we're seeing the results," he said.

The protest ---- organized by a group of area families, Lopez said ---- started in front of Elsinore Elementary School. From there, the group of about 60 people marched to City Hall, where they chanted, "We are immigrants, not terrorists" and "You need to stop it." The group then made its way to the city's police station at Graham Avenue and Poe Street.

Lopez said 250 undocumented immigrants have been deported in recent months from the Lake Elsinore area. A U.S. Border Patrol spokesman said there is no way to confirm the number Lopez provided because the agency does not break down arrests or deportations by area.

Nora Arviso, a Lake Elsinore resident, was a member of the group that gathered in front of City Hall. She said the city needs to support its people. "We pay all the taxes," she said.

City Manager Bob Brady briefly addressed the crowd, saying the city had nothing to do with U.S. Border Patrol activity.

"That's a lie," said David Lopez, one of the protesters. "I'm saying it's a lie because everyone knows it's a lie."

Lopez, who has lived in Lake Elsinore for four years, said it's plain to see that the city is working with the Border Patrol.

Contacted after the protest, Brady stressed the point he tried to get across earlier in the day.

"The Border Patrol is doing it as part of their job. They didn't notify the city of any additional activity. They didn't notify the Police Department of any additional activity," he said. "But if federal laws are being broken, the city is supportive of those laws being enforced."

As Hickman noted, Brady said the city has permitted day laborers to gather on Spring Street. He said the city has even placed trash cans near popular gathering spots on Spring to help keep the area cleaner.

"The city has not done anything to prohibit that from occurring. That hasn't changed, that has been that way for a number of years," he said. "The city is not trying to take work away from anyone."

U.S. Border Patrol Agent Alex Renteria, an agency spokesman in San Diego, said his office has been receiving calls from people claiming that the Border Patrol is staging raids in Lake Elsinore.

However, Renteria said there haven't been any raids.

"What we're doing is normal operations through our Murrieta station. Agents are working their routine patrols along the Interstate 15 corridor and the Highway 74 corridor," he said.

Addressing some of the other claims made by the protesters, Renteria said a complaint from a city official wouldn't trigger a response from the U.S. Border Patrol.

"We're a federal agency. If we do step up efforts, it's because Washington, D.C., tasked us to do that," he said.

As for the claims that there have been more agents in Lake Elsinore lately, Renteria said, "Nothing in that area has been beefed up. We've just gone through a huge hiring phase. There are a lot more staff, more agents at each station. That's what we're seeing. And we have more coming. We (the agency) (The agency) should be 18,000 strong by the end of this year."

About a half-hour before the protest started, a group of day laborers who had gathered at Main Street and Sumner Avenue talked about the situation in Lake Elsinore.

A man who identified himself as Melvin Perez, who said he was an undocumented worker from Guatemala, said the Border Patrol is a constant presence now.

"They come in the morning, they come at night," he said.

Perez was standing on the corner with six other men, guys dressed for eight hours of work that can net them about $80.

As they waited for work, a gray unmarked law enforcement vehicle pulled up to a stop sign at the other side of the intersection. One of the men asked, "La migra (Border Patrol)?" Another man answered, saying that it was only a "narco" (a narcotics officer).

When asked, all of the men said they were undocumented immigrants. One man, wearing a John Deere mesh baseball cap, said he was from Mexico. Another man, who said his name was Edgar Benjamin, said he was from Guatemala.

Some people who pick them up for landscaping work pay $7 or $8 an hour.

"For me, $10 (an hour) is good," Perez said.

While Perez waited for someone to stop, a white truck pulled up and two members of the group climbed inside.

Contact staff writer Aaron Claverie at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or aclaveriecalifornian.com.

Spendy,....this fencing,

Link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5946837.html

Construction begins on San Diego border fence
By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press
Aug. 15, 2008, 9:30PM
42Comments 1Recommend Share
Print Email Del.icio.usDiggTechnoratiYahoo! BuzzSAN DIEGO � Scrapers and bulldozers began filling a deep canyon Friday to make way for a border fence in the southwestern corner of the United States after 12 years of planning, environmental reviews and legal challenges.

The 3�-mile stretch extends from a state park on an oceanfront cliff through a canyon known as Smuggler's Gulch. The gorge was overrun by illegal immigrants until U.S. authorities launched a crackdown in the 1990s that pushed traffic to the remote mountains and deserts of California and Arizona.

At a cost of about $16 million a mile, the fence will be far more expensive than fences the U.S. government is building elsewhere along the nation's 1,952-mile border with Mexico. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the average cost along the entire border is $2 million to $3 million a mile.

The stretch near San Diego will cost about $57 million under a contract awarded to Kiewit Corp. of Omaha, Neb., said James Swanson, a Border Patrol special operations supervisor.

The lion's share will pay for filling Smuggler's Gulch with nearly 1.9 million tons of dirt and for building a concrete culvert to handle rainfall flowing downhill from Tijuana, Mexico, Swanson said.

The border is currently marked by a decaying fence made of surplus Navy landing mats. Border Patrol agents swarm the area in jeeps and pickups as they wait for migrants in Tijuana to dash about 2 miles through trees to the closest patch of stores and homes.

It is a far cry from the early 1990s, when large groups blitzed across the border and easily overwhelmed the Border Patrol.

U.S. authorities insist new fencing is needed, despite an increase in patrols and objections from environmental groups who say the dirt shift threatens the Tijuana River estuary, home to more than 370 migratory and native birds.

"We're not seeing the thousands, the hundreds who streamed through in the past," said Mike Fisher, chief of the Border Patrol's San Diego sector. "However, it's still a vulnerability that's being exploited today."

Arrests along the stretch have doubled in the past year as the Border Patrol has added agents, said spokesman Alex Renteria. Arrests totaled 16,738 in the area from October through July, or about 60 a day, up from 7,944 the same period last year.

The project calls for a dirt access road and 15-foot steel mesh fence just north of the existing fence. Crews will also build a third fence about 10 feet high farther north and install lights.

"It's crazy," said Victor Clark Alfaro, director of the Binational Center for Human Rights in Tijuana. "I don't see the justification to spend $60 million on an area that's no longer an important crossing."

Clark predicted the new fence will reduce crossings to "almost zero" but inflict serious environmental damage.

The construction will help inch the Bush administration toward its pledge of 370 miles of pedestrian fencing and 300 miles of vehicle barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border by the end of this year. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told a House committee last month that the government was "on track" to hit that mark, though it had built only 182 miles of pedestrian fence and 153 miles of vehicle barriers as of July 11.

Congress approved the fencing in a 14-mile stretch from the Pacific Ocean in 1996, but the government faced stiff opposition over the westernmost piece. In 2004, the California Coastal Commission refused to grant permits, saying damage to sensitive habitats outweighed security benefits.

In 2005, Chertoff overrode the commission's objections � as well as a federal lawsuit by the Sierra Club � by exercising new powers to waive legal and regulatory challenges to build the fence. He has since used that power to clear the way for hundreds of miles of fencing in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

According to local legend, Smuggler's Gulch got its name from alcohol that was smuggled into the U.S. during Prohibition. In Mexico, it is known as "Canon del Matadero" � or "Slaughterhouse Canyon" � supposedly because there was once a goat slaughterhouse nearby.

I'm going to have to get some blood pressure medication if I keep reading this stuff.


Millions going to Mexican trucking companies to come here and put American truckers out of buisness, that's just rich.

That's a good source,......I don't think they are over playing the problem,.........the HEALTH of our American trucking industry should be right at the forefront of priority,.....wouldn't you say?

So,....off kilter azz-backwards nonsense like this floats to the top.

and gets SCRUTINIZED.

God Bless 1A

GTC

Hopefully that outfit has the ear of a few Congressmen willing to raise a little hell.

This should cheer us up,.....

Capitalism at it's finest.

Ya' gotta' love this Country, ....No?

Link: http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_10220180

Recruiters fill the void after immigration raids
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 08/15/2008 11:03:26 PM MDT


McALLEN, Texas�The largest single-site workplace raid in U.S. history may have cost a kosher slaughterhouse in Iowa nearly half its employees, but it's been a boon to labor recruiters around the country.
After federal immigration agents raided Agriprocessors, Inc., and arrested nearly 400 undocumented workers, Gavino Bravo's phone started ringing.

Suddenly a steady�though mostly illegal�stream of workers willing to toil long hours in difficult conditions for low wages had dried up. And the northeast Iowa meatpacking plant needed hundreds of new employees. Fast.

From a cluttered office suite a block off Main Street in this city near the Mexican border, Bravo, his father Jose and their Bravo Labor Agency set out to fill the void. So far, they've recruited about 200 workers for Agriprocessors, sending them north on buses in batches of 10 to 15.

Bravo and other recruiters applaud the recent crackdowns by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at jobsites in Iowa, Texas and elsewhere.

"That's great for us�they're going to have to come to us for workers," said Bravo, who is paid a flat fee�he would say how much�for each worker he recruits.

Under normal circumstances, meat processors and other large employers that rely on immigrant labor have little need for outside recruiters. Agriprocessors had established labor supply lines from Mexico, Guatemala and some Eastern European countries.

"New


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Advertisement

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employees come to Agriprocessors mainly through word-of-mouth," its company Web site says. "As a result, many of Agriprocessors' new employees found their jobs through family members already working for the company."
But with nearly half its workers jailed and awaiting deportation, those lines were suddenly severed.

"They're just trying to reconstruct the migrant labor supply that was blown to pieces by the raid," said Lourdes Gouveia, director of the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies of the Great Plains at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Gouveia, a sociology professor who has studied food processing plants and their ties to immigration, said that while some of the largest companies, such as Tyson Foods, recruit internally, more and more companies depend on outside agencies to refill the labor pool after a raid.

"It happens more with raids because they're desperate," Gouveia said.

The depth of that desperation was apparent in Amarillo earlier this summer, when a recruiter for the Iowa plant cruised homeless shelters and the bus station in search of potential hires.

Cathy Manes, director of employment services at Faith City Ministries in Amarillo, said the recruiter asked if he could discuss job opportunities at Agriprocessors following the shelter's regular chapel service.

Manes said she had questions about the company and safety and welfare of its workers and decided not to recommend the jobs to her clients.

"I didn't want to uproot someone and them be treated poorly," Manes said.

Jacobson Staffing, a temporary worker agency, took over recruitment for the Iowa plant in early June. Ryan Regenold, who oversees the Agriprocessors account for Jacobson, said the Amarillo recruiters were already working for Agriprocessors when Jacobson came on. He said in most cases the Amarillo recruits didn't pan out.

"They were people that came up here looking for a handout," said Ryan Regenold, who oversees the Agriprocessors account. The company offered them bus tickets back to Amarillo and most accepted, he said.

Things went badly for workers another staffing agency sent to Agriprocessors in May.

Ten days after sending about 150 workers to the plant, Labor Ready pulled them out citing concerns over safety conditions, said Stacey Burke, spokeswoman for Labor Ready's parent company, True Blue. She declined to detail the safety issues.

Regenold, however, said Agriprocessors decided to send the Labor Ready workers home after safety incidents.

The spring raid came amid investigations into labor, food safety and environmental violations at the plant. The company has been accused in recent years of mistreating animals and employees.

Labor officials have said they were investigating possible wage violations at the plant and the state has accused Agriprocessors of violating child labor laws.

Since June 2, Jacobson Staffing has supplied about 900 temporary workers to Agriprocessors, with about 480 still on the payroll as of Aug. 1, said Regenold.

Jacobson started with ads in local newspapers, exhausted the labor pool within driving distance and expanded the search, adding another recruiting firm and using four of its own recruiters.

Jacobson runs all of its potential hires through the government's E-Verify system to make sure applicants are in the U.S. legally and are able to work.

The search was easier for Bravo.

His agency ran ads in Spanish-language newspapers and on Mexican radio stations in the Rio Grande Valley and had little trouble finding workers though only about one quarter were skilled in meat processing. Bravo's simple ads only said that the jobs were out of state and the applicants must have permission to work in the U.S. Bravo does not use E-Verify, but requires applicants to show original documents indicating they can work legally in the U.S.

Bravo has been sending laborers to sugar cane fields in Louisiana, dairy farms in Maine and grain silos in South Dakota for years, Bravo said.

The $10 per hour starting wage offered by Agriprocessors is enough to get workers to relocate to Iowa, he said.

"There are not that many opportunities for work here and the opportunities there are, are low paying," Bravo said. A new pile of applications in Bravo's office from friends and relatives of the first batch of workers he sent to Iowa indicate that a new labor pipeline is already forming.

An attempt at comprehensive immigration reform failed late last year amid an immigration crackdown at work sites nationwide. In fiscal year 2007, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents made 4,000 administrative arrests of workers who were in the country illegally and 863 criminal arrests for more serious offenses. The arrests were ten times the number made five years earlier.

Through the first eight months of this fiscal year, ICE has matched the criminal arrests from last year and made 2,900 administrative arrests.

Bravo said business has improved along with enforcement.

"I don't think they'll be able to go back to undocumented workers because they're being scrutinized so much," Bravo said.

"I knew sooner or later it was going to catch up with them," he said.

����

Increased blood pressure warning..... extra security need at US hospital treating dropped off Mexicans :



U.S. Hospitals Take Mexican Drug Casualties

Sunday, August 17, 2008 5:56 PM

By: Phil Brennan Article Font Size

Mexico's war on drugs is costing American taxpayers big bucks, as the U.S. government is bringing Mexican casualties from the conflict to hospitals north of the border and paying for medical treatment.

According to The Los Angeles Times, El Paso�s Thomason Hospital has treated 28 victims of the Mexican drug war this year, at a cost of about $1 million. The costs are not confined to medical treatment. With the border area becoming a battle zone where drug gangs, seeking to finish the job by pursuing their victims even into hospitals, Thomason has had on occasion been turned into an armed camp.

The Times reported that on three occasions this year, the hospital was placed under maximum security, with local law enforcement providing additional protection for patients, visitors, and employees at the hospital.

Being the only hospital within a 280-mile radius that offers offer state-of-the-art trauma care, Thomason, the Times reported, has become an unwilling treatment center of choice for law enforcement officials and others in the vicinity wounded in Mexico's bloody drug turf battles.

More than 2,000 people have been killed this year, and more than double that number in the 20 months since President Felipe Calderon began deploying 40,000 troops across the country to crack down on narcotics trafficking, the Times recalled.

"We have not accepted these patients. They are brought here. We are mandated by law, federal law, to provide care, a medical assessment and treatment," James Vilenti, Thomason hospital's president and CEO, told KFOX-TV.

Although Valenti said the Mexican government is reimbursing the hospital for most of the patients they send to the U.S., he called on the government for change.

"We need the help of all of our elected official on all levels of the United States to help turn the tide of violence in Mexico and the violence in Juarez. This is a trend that is disturbing. It is a trend that we need to bring attention to so we can get help from federal and local agencies," he said.

El Paso County Sheriff Santiago "Jimmy" Apodaca told the Times he does not like having to pay deputies overtime to guard the hospital when a patient requiring security is brought in. But he has to ensure the safety of El Paso, which was named the second-safest city in the U.S. last year in an independent ranking of cities with more than half a million people. He added that he sees little reason to worry that drug war violence would cross the Rio Grande. But he is taking no chances.

"Bordering on Juarez, the most violent city in Mexico and one of the most violent cities anywhere besides Iraq, you're always vigilant," Apodaca said. "But those people [hit men] down there know who they're after, and they know how to get them."

Valenti, Ron Acton, the hospital�s Board of Managers chairman, and County Commissioner Veronica Escobar have traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, and leaders from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security to discuss the issue of people injured in Mexico crossing the border to receive treatment at the hospital, according to the El Paso Times.

"We've received 24 patients related to the violence and the drug cartel, and this is a disturbing trend," Valenti told the Times. "We received a commitment from Congressman Reyes to explore all options of funding to Thomason to offset these costs."

Taking the Wheels,

"We don' need no steenkin' liscence"



Link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/16/news/sandiego/zd78aac47e2886daf882574a60074df68.txt

REGION: Impound policy draws controversy
Opinions vary on whether police must take cars from unlicensed drivers
By EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer | Saturday, August 16, 2008 5:12 PM PDT ∞

71 comment(s) Increase Font Decrease Font email this story print this story Escondido's controversial policy of impounding vehicles seized from unlicensed drivers for 30 days has its roots in the anti-illegal immigrant fervor of the mid-1990s, and it continues today, Latino activists say.

The city has impounded thousands of vehicles from people driving without a license in recent years, according to police records. City officials say they are simply implementing a state law, which they say mandates that the vehicles be impounded for one month.

"We enforce the law as it is written," said Michael McGuinness, Escondido's assistant city attorney.

The law, California Vehicle Code section 14602.6, says that if a police officer determines a person is driving without a license, or the license was revoked or suspended, the person's vehicle "shall be impounded for 30 days."

However, there is disagreement on the interpretation of the law.

The state Legislative counsel said in a 2007 opinion that simply driving without a license was not reason enough to impound a vehicle.

Escondido has strictly enforced the law in recent years through police checkpoints and on routine patrols. Because of those efforts, the city was named in a lawsuit filed by Los Angeles-based civil rights attorneys who allege that the policy is unconstitutional.

Bill Flores, a spokesman for El Grupo, an umbrella group for local civil rights groups, said the policy is also discriminatory.

"They are doing this in the larger context of anti-immigrant and anti-Latino politics," Flores said.

There is no demographic analysis available to document whether most of the people whose cars are impounded are Latino.

The impound law was signed into law in 1994 by then-Gov. Pete Wilson in 1994; it took effect in January 1995.

Nativo Lopez, a prominent Los Angeles-based Latino activist, said that at the time, Wilson was stirring anti-illegal immigrant sentiment among state voters.

Wilson championed the controversial Proposition 187, a 1994 voter-approved initiative that eliminated most state-funded benefits for illegal immigrants, including public education for illegal immigrants' children.

Much of Prop. 187 was later ruled unconstitutional by the courts. But many other laws targeting illegal immigrants enacted by Wilson remain on the books, including a 1994 law barring undocumented immigrants from getting California driver's licenses.

"It's a shame that with all the Latinos elected to office, we haven't been able to turn a corner and turn our back on that legacy," Lopez said Friday.

Lopez's group, the Mexican American Political Association, was one of the main supporters of a 2005 bill that would have overturned the 30-day mandatory impound law.

The measure, Senate Bill 591, was introduced by Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles. A spokeswoman for Cedillo said the senator did not push the bill through because it was considered too politically controversial.

Lopez said he believed that a federal court ruling that year would have made the measure unnecessary, anyway. But he was wrong; many cities continue to enforce it, he said.

In 2005, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that towing a vehicle merely because a driver is unlicensed is an unreasonable seizure absent a showing that the vehicle posed a threat to public safety.

Despite the ruling, Escondido is only one of many cities around the state strictly enforcing the law.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of about 20 plaintiffs, including two people whose cars were impounded by Escondido police, names Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Riverside and Los Angeles counties and the cities of Riverside, Maywood and Los Angeles as defendants.

McGuinness said the ruling was based on an Oregon law and not the California law.

The lawsuit has strong opposition, even from some unlikely sources. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, both of whom are among the most prominent Latino elected officials in the state, support the impound policy.

Assemblyman Martin Garrick, R-Carlsbad, whose district includes Escondido, said Friday that he also supports the law.

But he added that he does not believe the law mandates that police officers impound the vehicles. Garrick said the law gives the officer discretion on whether to seize the vehicle.

"I think the law is just and correct," he said. "Driving is a privilege, not a right."

And for ya'll in the Peach State ( and close by)

......covert ops recruitment

Link: http://www.thedustininmansociety.com/blog/?p=1753

August 16, 2008
Attend the Southeastern open borders summit on amnesty-again in Atlanta and educate your fellow Americans on what you see and hear! WE NEED HELP!
Posted by D.A. King at 11:26 pm [Email the author] [Print This Article] [Email This Article]
Attend the Southeastern open borders summit on amnesty-again in Atlanta and educate your fellow Americans on what you see and hear! WE NEED HELP!

What you can do in Atlanta next month to help stop amnesty�

NEVER FORGET: THE TERM �COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM� IS CODE FOR AMNESTY AND OPEN BORDERS! THE PLAN FROM THE COALITION OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND THE FAR LEFT IS TO LEGALIZE THE MORE THAN 20 MILLION ILLEGAL ALIENS AND OPEN OUR BORDERS TO THE FREE FLOW OF PEOPLE - AND ERASE ANY SEMBLANCE OF A SOVEREIGN NATION WITH A COMMON LANGUAGE.

To the constant questions that come here from Americans who had enough ( � D.A. -What can I do�? ): Here is something that you can do if you live anywhere near Atlanta:

RSVP to the open borders lobby and attend the upcoming September 11, 2008 seminar on the plan to force another amnesty through Congress next year! We need people to attend this meeting to not only take notes and report what they hear and see, but to hear for themselves the clear agenda of the business lobby in its effort to convince America that there are jobs Americans will not do and that massive immigration and another amnesty is good for our nation. It is not, it would be the end of our beloved country.

What: Daylong strategy session on amnesty.
8:00 AM to 3:00 PM
When: Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008
Where: Marriott Hotel - Atlanta Airport (HERE)
Who is hosting: �Immigration Works USA see their site HERE

AMNESTY DID NOT WORK IN 1986 AND IT WILL NOT WORK IN 2009!

Below is part of the text of the invitation sent out by Tamar Jacoby and the other sell-outs to open borders:

�It�s time to take our efforts to the next level. For nearly two years now, employers of immigrant workers and those who represent them have been coming together in coalitions across the Southeast to work for better immigration law. They�ve won some critical battles, convincing lawmakers in several states to pass pragmatic enforcement measures that business owners can live with. But the fight is far from over.

What�s needed now: a plan for the next round. Ad hoc coalitions need to consolidate. Groups focused till now on state legislative battles need to look ahead to the fight in Washington. Coalitions made up of �grasstops� leaders need to start recruiting at the grassroots � reaching out to ordinary business owners and enlisting them to contact their members of Congress. And together we need to launch a campaign to refocus Congress on fixing the immigration system.

Come to Atlanta to plan. Come to Atlanta to build. Come to Atlanta to plot strategy with likeminded others from across the Southeast.�

Read the entire invitation HERE

We need polite well-dressed people with a professional attitude to quietly attend - you cannot go unless you RSVP to these people and arrange for attendance. If you can, consider taking take an audio recording device. When you send your RSVP, you will get back an e-mail asking your name and organization or business and number in your party - send an honest reply and take a friend. I have replied and am planning on attending - but they may not let me in. We need twenty - thirty people to attend this meeting for a variety of reasons.

I cannot tell you how important this is, please try to take a day from your lives and go to this event!

The open borders crowd reads our alerts and will be warning the hosts of our attendance, but they will have no way of knowing who is on their side and who isn�t if it is played smartly and quietly at the event. PLEASE BE POLITE AND UN-OBTRUSIVE!

I am in hopes that those of you who will plan to attend will e-mail me back and let me know you are going. Afterwards, we will be comparing notes and will make the agenda of the meeting very public, but�I NEED YOUR HELP!

I urge you to watch this video from my friend Roy Beck before you decide on not- going!

MORE on the huge and well-funded, never-ending effort at amnesty HERE

It's been this way for years with illegals driving. Some thought many of these states were wrong, when they let illegals take the written test in Spanish. My state did it, and their concept was that they were going to drive no matter what, at least make certain that they could pass the test.

They were also issued ID (the license) for the first time you could track them, and tell who was who. I understand from the patrol folks in my community, that they're seeing less driving w/o a license and insurance violations, then in years past.

We don't have a veh. seizure law for, driving w/o a license or driving while suspended or *revoked,(*if the revocation is for DUI, you can seize veh, other reasons, no). The only other seizure of veh's are for DUI or drug (felony) offenses.

" I understand from the patrol folks in my community, that they're seeing less driving w/o a license and insurance violations, then in years past."


YES.............and a lot more VOTING, as well,.......


WTH, ....they're just poor downtroddens, anyhoo. Why should citizenship stand in the way of driving or voting,.....?

GTC

From Chuck Norris,

....this is a good piece of writing

Link: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=72657

Butting heads at the border

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 18, 2008
1:00 am Eastern

� 2008

Last week a 10-year U.S. Border Patrol veteran shot and wounded a man in the left buttocks who assaulted agents at a violent stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border. Despite that the man was among a group who were trying to illegally enter the United States and were throwing rocks and concrete chunks at agents, officials at the Mexican consulate in San Diego are criticizing the agent and demanding the U.S. conduct a full investigation.

The incident occurred after one agent witnessed and called for backup because three to four illegals were trying to scale the border fence. So four to six more agents responded by using a gate in the fence to get to its south side � still within the U.S. The agents fired pepper balls and tear gas to disperse a group of about seven to 15 people, and most fled. Two of the suspects, however, stayed and threw rocks and concrete chunks toward the Border Patrol agents. Fearing for his safety, one agent fired two rounds from his rifle from about 50 feet away, striking 22-year-old Edgar Israel Ortega Chavez, who then was standing on Mexican soil.

Consul General Remedios G�mez Arnau responded, "Any kind of shooting toward Mexican territory is rejected by the Mexican government. They should have waited for response of the Mexican authorities."

Are you kidding me? Do I smell another Compean and Ramos case in the making? Do illegals think border crossing is nothing more than a game of cat and mouse? Do Mexican officials think we're only playing "rocks, scissors and paper" at the borders? When will we finally draw a line in the sand and stop this insanity at our nation's boundaries? When will we back our agents and their Bill of Rights? When will we give them the complete resources, permissions and support they need to fully carry out their duties?

When Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Daryl Reed reports that there have been 330 assaults on agents already this year, compared with 254 reported incidents in 2007, it's time for our government to ante up and better protect and secure our borders and agents!

Border security is of course so critical because it is about far more than just illegal immigrants. It affects the transport of drugs, gangs (like MS-13), terrorism and even affects issues of sovereignty. That is why I address our border troubles as one of eight major problems threatening America most in my upcoming (Sept. 7 release) book, "Black Belt Patriotism" (Regnery publishing), which is now available for pre-order at Amazon. In the book I give my critique of what is destroying our country, and offer my solutions for rebuilding America and restoring the American dream. In particular, I lean heavily upon our founders' work and wisdom, looking to them for their possible solutions to our present problems.

Here's a first-seen glimpse from the chapter, "Secure and protect our borders," in which I also give (but not here) my solutions to deal with the 12 million or so illegal immigrants already residing in America:

A few years ago I had the opportunity to fly along America's borders with my good friend John Hensley, who was the assistant commissioner of U.S. Customs. We flew on a Black Hawk helicopter and checked out locations along the California border, where there was heavy traffic of drug dealers and illegal aliens coming into the United States from Mexico.
As we were flying over the desert, we landed in the middle of nowhere. We stepped out of the helicopter and John asked me, "What do you see?" I replied, "Absolutely nothing but desert." As soon as I said that, up popped U.S. border agents, who were hiding in holes covered by beige tarps that blended in with the terrain. They were waiting for illegal traffic trying to sneak into our country. I thought, what dedication this takes to hide out here in this intense heat for hours at a time � just waiting.

There's no doubt that Americans possess the resources and passion to close off our borders and ports from illegal immigration and contraband. If we can overthrow another country, we ought to be able to protect our own. Yet to this day, our national borders and ports of entry are like lattice work with plenty of holes through which illegals now come in.

I don't lay the blame on our dedicated border agents. But I do blame an overly bureaucratic government that still has not given agents the proper resources and permissions they need to get their job done. I also blame government for undermining national security by being more concerned with global commerce than national sovereignty. They would rather please the international masses than enforce our own laws.

Let's ask ourselves, why is Congress not securing our borders? Could it be they have greater global goals that will ultimately dissolve this Union? Whether intentionally or not, government has failed for decades to secure the borders. It is up to us to make sure it gets done, by taking several points of action that I'll be outlining in this chapter. The time is now. And if we don't do our part, America as we know it will dissolve like a sugar cube in coffee. From the coastland to the heartland, we will lose our distinctions and no longer even recognize our country. As President Ronald Reagan said, "A nation without borders is not a nation."

So what do you do, let the unlicensed driver drive the car away, or leave it there so that you can be sued with the automobile is vandalized or stolen.

The whole premise pisses me off, anyone driving without a license knows they are driving illegally.

I wish we could can the 9th circuit, they have done more harm to California than is imaginable.

I guess we should feel thankful that "The Bulk of the fighting" will be done in Mexico..................?!

Other than that one inane gem,........a decent synopsis,


and Mex. does love it's outlaw heroes.

Link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/world/5947100.html

Drug cartels from Mexico invading Middle America
Ohio cities prove fertile ground for distribution hubs
By JEREMY SCHWARTZ Cox News Service
Aug. 16, 2008, 5:40PM
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DRUG TREND


The situation in Ohio reflects a larger national trend: U.S. officials say Mexican cartels operate in at least 195 U.S. cities and dominate the drug trade in every region of the country except for isolated pockets like the Northeast and South Florida.
MEXICO CITY � Powerful and well-organized Mexican drug trafficking groups have seized control of drug distribution throughout Ohio, flooded local markets with increasingly cheap heroin and are using Dayton as a distribution hub for southwestern Ohio and parts of Indiana, local and federal U.S. drug enforcement officials say.

According to an April report by the U.S. Department of Justice's National Drug Intelligence Center, groups connected with the Federation cartel, one of Mexico's two dominant cartels, control distribution in and around Dayton.

The Juarez Cartel, once Mexico's most powerful cartel but significantly weakened in recent years, operates in Hamilton County, according to the report.

"They are very well trained, very well schooled," said John Postlethwaite, coordinator of the Ohio HIDTA, a joint federal, state and local task force, of the Mexican trafficking groups. "It's become a lot harder than it used to be."


Spike in heroin
Drug enforcement officials blame the Mexican traffickers for an alarming spike in the availability of heroin, saying prices have fallen precipitously recently, from about $5,000 per ounce a few years ago to about $1,000 per ounce.

Officials say heroin use has increased, a trend they expect to continue.

A May report by the U.S. Justice Department on drug activity in Ohio predicts heroin abuse will increase among white, suburban users.

"The number of heroin abusers will very likely grow as more abusers of prescription opioids switch to heroin in the face of increasing Mexican heroin availability throughout the region," the report reads.

It goes on to say that in Dayton, Mexican traffickers have replaced African-American gangs as the primary wholesale distributors of cocaine, marijuana and heroin.

Ohio officials say Mexican groups increasingly are bypassing traditional distribution hubs like Chicago and Detroit and moving drugs directly from the border to Ohio cities.

Todd Spradling, the resident agent in charge of the Dayton DEA office, said that smaller cities like Dayton and Columbus have become more attractive to trafficking organizations. "A lot of the organizations have shifted from larger cities to smaller cities to avoid detection," he said.


Mexican cartels dominate
In the last decade, Mexican cartels have surpassed Colombian traffickers as the ascendant force in the hemisphere: as they have moved into the United States they have also taken control of Central American trafficking routes and now dominate the market in South American countries like Peru, according to law enforcement officials.

"Their idea is to control the whole economic process of production and distribution," said Georgina Sanchez, an independent security consultant in Mexico and executive director of a public safety think tank.

In Dayton, officials say Mexican traffickers are connected to the Federation, a loose group of trafficking organizations based in the state of Sinaloa. The Federation has fought a brutal, three-year war with its primary rival � the Gulf Cartel � for control of smuggling routes to the United States.

Its leader is Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexico's most notorious drug capo, who attained an almost mythical stature after escaping from a federal prison in 2001. In recent months, the Federation, which officials say controls Pacific smuggling routes from Central America, has been torn apart by an internal feud that officials say is responsible for a spike in violence in Sinaloa.

Since Mexican President Felipe Calderon directed the Mexican military to confront the cartels in 2006, nearly 7,000 people, including hundreds of Mexican police and officials, have been killed in the drug violence.


Very organized
Ricardo Ravelo, the author of several books on Mexican cartels and an investigative reporter for Proceso magazine in Mexico, said the Federation is well organized on the American side of the border. "I'm talking about distribution as well as the collection of profits, money laundering and smuggling money back to Mexico," he said.

Analysts fear the cartels will bring peripheral cash-generating crime like kidnapping, extortion and protection rackets, problems that are all too common in Mexico.

"The U.S. will begin to see a little of the same conflict that is happening in Mexico," Sanchez said. "If (the cartels) already have methods, and ways of diversifying into other crimes, it's normal that they won't stop at the border."

While some cartel violence has spilled across the border, mostly along the border and in large cities like Dallas and Atlanta, experts say it's unlikely the U.S. will see the large-scale drug wars that have paralyzed various Mexican cities and forced Calderon to send about 25,000 federal troops to confront the cartels.

Carlos Humberto Toledo, a military affairs expert in Mexico City, predicted the cartels will continue to fight their major battles within Mexico.

Some of the comments on this link are almost unbelievable,

....more BPM ( Blood Pressure Meds)territory, for sure.

worth suffering through regardless,.....a good look at ,

....the "Bleeding Heart"

Watched the choppers,in orbit over this monkeyshines,.....

I'm just North of the Coranado

Link: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/08/18/20080818migrants-caught0818-ON.html

Border agents catch 62 illegal immigrants
46 commentsAug. 18, 2008 02:11 PM
Associated Press
TUCSON - U.S. Border Patrol agents working near Naco have caught a large group of illegal immigrants.

Agents were patrolling west of the port of entry at Naco on Saturday when they discovered a series of footprints. That led them to believe that a group comprised of a large number of people had crossed into the country from Mexico.

Spokesman Rob Daniels said Monday that the agents tracked the footprints and came across 62 illegal immigrants in the Coronado National Memorial.
He says some people believed to be guides broke off and fled back into Mexico.

Most of the group stayed in place and were taken into custody, with 55 of them processed for repatriation to Mexico.

Crap,.....we talk about "Cold War"

.....so WTF is this?

Link: http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_10232557

Cartels, Mexican army blamed for interference
By Diana Washington Valdez / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 08/18/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT


El Paso police Officer Melody Castro communicated with police dispatch Friday while patrolling Central El Paso. Police officials say drug cartels and the Mexican military are interrupting their communications. (Mark Lambie / El Paso Times)
Related: Violence claims 800
Related: Gunmen kill at least 14 at benefit race
More: For past stories on Juarez crisis
EL PASO -- The Mexican army and drug cartel operatives are among the likely sources of recent interference with El Paso police communications and the Digital El Paso wireless network, city officials said.

"The increased interference that resulted in dead zones or dead spots coincided with the arrival of the Mexican army in Ju�rez," said Gary Gordier, the city's information technology director. "They were affecting police and other emergency communications."

Dead zones occur when radio messages cannot be sent or received due to radio frequency interference.

The police, Sheriff's Office, Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services operate on frequencies in the 800 megahertz spectrum, but apparently, other radio operators in Ju�rez also were using the same spectrum.

"The drug cartel is probably the other source causing interference on the 800 spectrum, which is used in the United States for public safety communications," Gordier said.

And, just as the radio frequency


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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interference became an issue, usage of the Digital El Paso wireless network began to drop.
Southwest city Rep. Beto O'Rourke said members of the Chihuahuita Neighborhood Association told him they were having trouble with the network.

Users complained the system was too slow and others couldn't get on at all.

"The Information Technology Department believed the (Digital El Paso) network was having problems from the stepped-up federal and narco trafficking communications across the border. Their networks were competing with ours," O'Rourke said.

Digital El Paso is a collaborative of the city, county and other public entities and the private sector that provides a free wireless access network in Central El Paso.

"It's mission-critical to be able to communicate with the fire and (ambulance) units, especially when there's an incident," said Fire Communications Lt. Victor Arreola, who's aware of the dead spots. "(The Information Technology Department) has been doing surveys to find the sources of the interference."

Arreola said the center has a backup system it can use in case of serious interference.

Beginning in April, about 2,000 Mexican soldiers and 500 federal officers were deployed to Chihuahua state, most of them to Ju�rez, to crack down on the violence suspected to be linked to warring drug cartels.

As a result, the volume of communications at the border by radio, cell phones and Internet increased dramatically in a short time.

Alleged drug cartel operatives also launched numerous YouTube and other Internet videos, to boast of their activities in Chihuahua state, convey threats, report murders and accuse officials of protecting rival drug dealers.

One such Internet video has received more than 320,000 hits and posted more than 1,000 comments. Such sites, with images and music, hog up a lot of bandwidth, and can be administered and updated from both sides of the border.

After investigating, the city's Information Technology Department discovered the number of "rogue" digital sites (also called "hot spots") in Central El Paso had increased from 75 to 600 in less than two months.

Rogue sites are operators -- individuals, businesses or other entities -- that broadcast using a WiFi antenna.

Some of the problems with the Digital El Paso network were traced to certain cell- phone providers, who after consultations with their representatives, agreed to adjust their antennas.

The Federal Communications Commission got involved in the cross-border issues and contacted its Mexican counterparts, who also agreed to make changes.

However, neither the FCC nor Mexican authorities could do anything about clandestine operators.

In Ju�rez, police dispatchers were forced to change radio frequencies after alleged drug cartel operatives kept breaking into their communications with threats and taunts.

Gordier said El Paso's secure police communications cannot be compromised because they are encrypted; however, anyone with a scanner can listen to most public dispatch communications.

Emergency officials in New Mexico also have reported problems. According to the Web site www.emsresponder.com, "New Mexico EMS departments are facing communications issues that few others could imagine: radio interference from Mexican taxicabs."

Several years ago, radio antennas traced to Ju�rez were blamed for remote-controlled garage doors in El Paso opening by themselves.

City officials said the sudden surge in radio and wireless usage has raised the level of El Paso's "noise floor" or the total electronic signals from all sources that contribute to radio frequency interference.

"It a sign of our times and of our border location," Gordier said.

He said most of the Digital El Paso issues were solved, "and there's been progress on the radio frequency interference."

Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at dvaldezelpasotimes

Sounds like an interesting event,......




Link: "Border Truth USA" to Screen Thursday
ABP To Make Presentation at Security Convention

American Patrol Report -- August 18
Attend this conference! Call (303) 520-3347

Numerous federal, state, and local legislators, veterans, citizens, and nationally-recognized experts will gather at a three-day conference on National Security to be held beginning Thursday in Denver.
Sponsored by the Fire Coalition and others, the conference will include a presentation by American Border Patrol. It will include the premiere of "Border Truth USA," a High Definition video tour of the border using aerial video footage shot in late July.
ABP's Operation Virtual Vigilance will be also be demonstrated as two border camera systems are controlled over the Internet. The presentation will be made by Glenn Spencer, aided by Mike Christie and Melissa Jaramillo of ABP.
For information, call 303-520-3347.

Phew,....this is pretty awful,....

I mean, what do you say to this ?

43 dead in three days as Mexico violence escalates Mon Aug 18, 7:44 PM ET



CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AFP) - At least 43 people died in violent attacks in the last three days in the northern Mexico state of Chihuahua, the scene of ongoing drug gang turf wars, police said Monday.

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Thirteen males, aged between 18 and 41, died in separate attacks on Monday, mostly in the flashpoint city of Ciudad Juarez on the US border, local police said.

Assassins killed nine people overnight Sunday in the city, following the slaying of 21 people the previous night, including 14 in a massacre at a family gathering in the western Chihuahua town of Creel.

Violence has escalated throughout the country since President Felipe Calderon, who took office at the end of 2006, launched a military crackdown on drug trafficking.

A baby was one of the 14 murdered in Saturday's shooting in Creel, believed to be part of a drug gang feud.

"Armed men, travelling in at least three vans and carrying heavy-duty weapons, fired on some 20 people who were leaving the town's dance hall," local police said.

Creel, in the Sierra Tarahumara mountains near Mexico's Copper Canyon, is on the main drug route from Mexico to the United States, but had previously registered only one violent death this year.

The assassins used AK-47 rifles, often used by drug gang hitmen, but authorities gave no motive for the crime.

Seven others were killed overnight Saturday, including five in Ciudad Juarez, one in the state capital Chihuahua and another in the town of Guadalupe.

Ciudad Juarez -- across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas -- has the highest murder toll of the country this year, with some 800 killed, according to an AFP count.

The Juarez drug cartel is fighting a turf war for control of Chihuahua state and its key drug routes to the United States with the Sinaloa cartel, from the neighboring state further south.

More than 3,000 families have fled Ciudad Juarez for the United States this year, a border expert said last week, following a deadly attack on a mass in a drug rehabilitation center in which gunmen killed nine people.

Drug-related violence throughout Mexico has killed 2,682 people since the start of the year -- nine more than in all of 2007 -- with nearly half in Chihuahua state, daily El Universal reported Saturday.

Federal authorities have deployed more than 36,000 soldiers across the country since early 2007, including 2,500 in Ciudad Juarez, as part of efforts to combat drug trafficking and related violence.

The US government has approved a 1.6-billion-dollar, three-year package of anti-drug assistance to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean known as the Merida Initiative, a large part of which is expected to strengthen Calderon's efforts.

Believe me there's probably a LOT more out there "discovery pending"

......seems that keeping track of count is becoming difficult


***************************


Sixteen bodies or twelve bodies? Who do you believe?


The article, linked below, from the Arizona Daily Star concerning the finding of two bodies in Cochise County says that those two brought the total for the county to 14 for the year.


The article from the Sierra Vista Herald, linked below, outlining those two plus two more says the total including all four is 12.


So is it sixteen or twelve? This goes to evaluating the credibility of the information released by the Cochise County Sheriff�s Department and just how aware they are of the activities in the county.


Arizona Daily Star Sierra Vista Herald