Friday, July 30, 2004

What You Can Do

Been wondering what you can do to keep Dubya in the White House and avert the disaster of a Kerry-Edwards administration? Check out the Republican National Committee's GOPTeamLeader.com:

GOPTeamLeader.com is an online toolbox for Republican activists.

It is personalized and local.

GOPTeamLeader gives you the power to quickly voice your opinions and influence your Representatives.

Once you become a Leader, you can use GOPTeamLeader.com to:

  • Learn about and help fellow Republicans running for office in your state, as well as on a federal level;

  • Track and research local and federal issues and bills of interest to you;

  • Write your local and federal representatives, while accessing official RNC talking points from GOPTeamLeader.com;

  • Collect GOPoints by completing Action Items and redeem them for collateral of your choice, ranging from leather PDA covers to folding chairs.

  • Encourage participation in the political process by building your own Team of activists who you can share information with.
Okay, the GOPoints thing is a little corny. Sort of reminds me of the old "Win this bike by selling our seeds!" pitches I used to get in the mail as a kid. Nevertheless, this is a nice networking strategy. And since, like a good Ten Minute Lobbyist, you are already lobbying your elected officials, why not earn a cool tote bag while you're saving Western civilization?

For more alerts, news and commentary, visit the PoliticalDevotions.com Weblog

Thursday, July 29, 2004

Welcoming Terror

For those of you who don't already know, Michelle Malkin now publishes a weblog, and a fine one it is.  Today she has truly shocking coverage on the scandalous neglect of our southern border: TERRORISTS DON'T STOP AT THE RIO GRANDE.

And for your edification and action, here's a rerun of a March 2004 Political Devotions entry on the same subject:

Open Borders in a Time of Terror

"There's no relationship between immigration and terrorism."

- Spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza.

"I don't think the events [of 9/11] can be attributed to the failure of our immigation laws."

- Head of the immigration lawyers' guild, one week after the attacks.

When Islamic terrorists finally achieve their dream and detonate ten nuclear devices in ten US cities, the "Cause of Death" entry on America's death certificate should read: "Stupidity, complicated by shortsightedness and apathy."

Okay, maybe that's a little harsh.  But there is no question the nation is in grave danger, and in his essay Keeping Terror Out: Immigration Policy and Asymmetric Warfare, Mark Krikorian, Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies, tells us why the phrase "Home Front" is no longer a metaphor.

Some key points:

The enemy has penetrated nearly every element of the US immigration system by exploiting its weaknesses.

A normal level of visa scrutiny would have excluded almost all the 9/11 highjackers from entry into the US.

Every major Al-Qaeda attack or conspiracy in the US has involved at least one terrorist who violated immigration law.

Immigration control is to asymmetric warfare what missile defense is to strategic warfare, yet our immigration response to 9/11 has been piecemeal and poorly coordinated.
There is a sense that Justice and Homeland Security department bureaucrats are searching for ways to "tighten up immigration controls that will not alienate one or another of a bevy of special interest groups."

A strategic assessment of what an effective immigration-control system would look like is needed.

The most important flaw in the "visa filter" is that the State Department, with its corporate culture of diplomacy and currying favor with foreign governments, remains in charge of issuing visas. 

Most illegal alien terrorists were visa "overstayers," yet the INS's statistics division declared it could no longer estimate the number of people who have overstayed their visas.
There is continued resistance to using the military to back up the Border Patrol, even though controlling the Mexican border is an important security objective. 

Because of lack of space, most aliens in deportation proceedings are not detained.  They receive a "run letter" instructing them to appear for deportation.  To no one's surprise, 94% of aliens from terrorist-sponsoring states disappear instead.

Outrageous "sanctuary" policies instituted by cites across the country prohibit city employees, including police, from reporting immigration violations to federal authorities or even inquiring as to a suspect's immigration status. 

Enforcement of the 1986 prohibition against hiring illegal aliens has all but stopped.

"There is a general sense among many political leaders that enforcing the immigration law is futile and, in any case, would displease important constituencies."

Finally, Krikorian observes what ought to be obvious to all parties involved:  "If our immigration system is so lax that it can be penetrated by a Mexican busboy, it can also be penetrated by an Al-Qaeda terrorist."

You can read the essay in PDF format here.

In an approach that is not only irresponsible but incredibly foolish and impractical, elected officials and government bureaucrats have persisted in avoiding actions necessary to secure our borders, in favor of their short-term goal of pleasing special interest constituencies.  You would think they might at least have the common sense to recognize that nuclear devastation might adversely affect their little fiefdoms.  No such luck.

Use our Take Action Page at PoliticalDevotions.com to demand legislation to implement sustained, redundant and comprehensive immigration law enforcement.

For more alerts, news and commentary, visit the PoliticalDevotions.com Weblog

The Basic Contact Links

Here are links for quick and easy communication with your elected officials and media outlets.

Click Here to access the White House's contact page.

Click Here to send a letter or e-mail to Congress.

Click Here to send a message to your media outlets.