Appearing in Washington DC, Arizona’s free-spending Gov. Janet Napolitano, had her hand out as she plead with the Democrat controlled congress for a financial bailout. She made her case before the Senate Finance Committee on which AZ Sen. Jon Kyl sits as a member.
Eighteen states face budget shortfalls totaling $14 billion, this year alone. Many of those states have Democrat governors. The news is even bleaker for fiscal 2009, with 21 states projecting shortfalls in excess of $36 billion. The fiscal year begins in July in most states.
The daily reports that Steve Voeller, president of the conservative Arizona Free Enterprise Club, said any federal bailout would serve only to “cover up the fact that the state simply spent too much money on all sorts of things when times were good.”
“Asking for $12 billion in new state spending to provide ‘economic stimulus’ is like telling a drunk to sober up by heading down to the local tavern,” Voeller added.
Pro-Amnesty Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake, who has inexplicably enjoyed a reputation as a fiscal watchdog when costs associated with illegal immigration are astronomical, said “States have a legitimate gripe with the federal government with regard to unfunded mandates, particularly the costs related to illegal immigration.” But even Flake realizes that “Congress may be reluctant to bail the states out when many of them, including Arizona, have been on a spending binge over the last few years.”
Not all governors are convinced that a second economic rescue plan from Congress is the right approach. Republican Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, whose state has about a $120 million shortfall, dismissed the idea of states spending their way into prosperity. “The idea of borrowing a bunch more money so we can then put it into our pockets so we can then repay it later, I don’t think is a great route to go, “ he said.
Hillary Clinton, interviewed on the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), speaks of her deep and sustaining faith with interviewer David Brody. The CBN link includes a video in which Clinton candidly discusses her marriage, the campaign and her opponent Barack Obama.
Can this new, softer Hillary convince Christian conservatives that her pro-abortion stance and support of same-sex marriage are of no consequence?
Since 2004, the number of violent assaults on U.S. border agents working along the U.S.-Mexican border has more than doubled, from 384 that year to 987 in fiscal 2007. And this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, is set to significantly outpace the last one: 409 to 275.
Homeland Security officials lay the blame for the increase on government efforts to crack down on illegal drug and human smuggling rings–in which foreign nationals pay ‘coyotes‘ to illegally transport them into the United States.
“Incidents include shooting at agents, trying to run agents down with vehicles, throwing large rocks or pieces of brick or concrete at agents, which actually can be fatal, and I’ve seen some pretty serious injuries that have resulted from it,” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. “The levels have consistently increased,” he said.
One of the most chilling examples of the trend was discovered this month when five agents working near San Diego found a metal wire strung taut between a section of double fence that runs along the border. The trap was designed to cut an agent’s throat.
The agents, who patrol between the fences on all-terrain vehicles at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour, were speeding along on the night of Feb. 9 when the lead agent spotted the neck-level wire.
“We get assaulted on a daily basis,” says J.J. Carrell, a supervisory Border Patrol agent who was in the group that night. “Between the rockings every day and them trying to decapitate us … I’ve never seen anything like this.”
The discovery of the wire followed last month’s death of an agent in Yuma, Ariz. Luis Aguilar of El Paso was run down and killed by a Hummer while laying spikes down in an effort to blow out the tires of smugglers entering the country illegally. Mexican authorities have arrested suspected drug smuggler Jesus Navarro Montes of Sonora.
Buckley, 82, had been withdrawing for years from public life, starting in 1990 when he stepped down as top editor of the National Review –which he founded in 1955 at age 29. In December 1999, he closed down his televised “Firing Line” after a 23-year run. “You’ve got to end sometime and I’d just as soon not die onstage,” he told the audience.
Many Arizonans had the opportunity to hear him at the Goldwater Institute when he and his son, Christopher, spoke on December 8, 2004.
Complete coverage here, available from My Way News.
KTAR reports that citizens border watch groups are skeptical that a virtual fence along the Arizona-Mexico border will be effective in stopping illegal immigration.
The first 28 miles of the fence is now online in the heavily-trafficked border-crossing area southwest of Tucson.
Glenn Spencer with the group, American Border Patrol, doubts the virtual fence will stop anyone.“The only thing that is proven, that has worked, by the most gross measurement — and that is total apprehension — is the double-layer fence in San Diego that cut illegal immigration apprehensions by 95 percent,” Spencer said.
The virtual fence includes 98-foot unmanned towers that are equipped with radar and cameras capable of distinguishing people from cattle at a distance of about 10 miles. The cameras are powerful enough to tell group sizes and whether people are carrying weapons and backpacks full of drugs.
“They have cameras and radar, but we know the terrain along the border,” Spencer said. “There are many washes, deep washes where people can get down and walk in those things and you cannot see them.”
Spencer added, “Detection does not mean apprehension. We’ve seen it over and over again on the border, and we’ve documented it.”
John Sidney McCain has apologized for the use of Barack Obama’s middle name by a talk show host who was warming up the crowd, prior to McCain’s appearance for a campaign speech.
Asked whether the use of Obama’s middle name—the same as former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein—is proper, McCain said: “No, it is not. Any comment that is disparaging of either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama is totally inappropriate.”
Since Hillary Clinton often uses her middle name of Rodham, does that also fall into the “disparaging“ or ”totally inappropriate” category?
Despite an urgent need for firefighters, in Oregon Spanish speaking recruits get special accommodations while their English speaking American citizen supervisors are being laid off or demoted.
This occurred in order to comply with a rule that requires supervisors be able to communicate with their crew in their own language–even if it is just one person in a 20-member crew.
Served as Arizona governor for only two years after being elected in 1977. He then accepted an appointment by President Carter as ambassador to Argentina.
Imported corruption taking hold in Arizona with 40 percent more border-related kidnappings in 2007 than the previous year
Kidnappings are business as usual in Mexico. Drug cartels and disgruntled coyotes, demanding payment for illegally transporting foreign nationals into the U.S. have used this technique to terrorize for years.
High ransom demands and robberies are integral to the crimes.
Now, brutal kidnappings along with violent street warfare involving gunfire, are on the rise, imported to Arizona, with illegal aliens.
The daily reports that abduction for profit has long been a trend in Latin America. And though California and Texas have seen a rise in this imported criminal activity, Arizona is experiencing the highest volume of this previously atypical crime.
Phoenix police have had their hands full. In addition to investing 356 kidnapping cases–up 40 percent in the last year–the Phoenix Police robbery unit investigated more than 4,600 related robberies in 2007
According to Phoenix robbery Sgt. Phil Roberts, many of the crimes go unreported since most of the smuggling activity involves illegal immigrants. “There’s extreme violence from both sides, lots of money and lots of weapons,” said Roberts.
In spite of these numbers, yesterday’s edition of the Fish-wrapper soft-soaped the crime statistics related to illegal aliens in Maricopa County, telling us, in fact, that they are not disproportionate.
Congressman Rick Renzi (Rep.- CD 1) has announced he will not resign from his congressional seat and plans to fight the federal fraud charges brought against him by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Arizona.
“I will not resign and take on the cloak of guilt because I am innocent,” Renzi told FOX News. “My legal team of Reid Weingarten and Kelly Kramer will handle these legal issues while I continue to serve my constituents.”
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Arizona Politics, Congress, Economics, Janet Napolitano | 
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