Obama Considers Using Military At Border
Mar 12, 2009 Political
Barack Obama is considering using the military to secure the violent region known as the Texas-Mexico border. Obama is said to be looking at a tipping point for action. Americans have been killed down there as a result of the drug war going on. My question is, does not the murder of Americans constitute a tipping point?
I am also don’t think that Obama has much say in this because he is not talking about using active duty troops:
“We’re going to examine whether and if National Guard deployments would make sense and under what circumstances they would make sense,” Obama said during an interview with journalists for regional papers, including a McClatchy reporter.
“I don’t have a particular tipping point in mind,” he said. “I think it’s unacceptable if you’ve got drug gangs crossing our borders and killing U.S. citizens.”
Unless Obama plans on calling the National Guard to active duty, he has no control over them. He is not the Commander in Chief of the National Guard unless they are called to federal service.
Until that time they belong to the governor of the state and he should be ignoring Obama’s “tipping point” and sending the troops down to squash the violence.
It would make no sense to federalize the Texas National Guard to perform a mission in Texas. The National Guard is capable of handling the unrest and it has the authority to detain Americans who might be breaking the law. The active duty is forbidden by law from performing police actions.
Governor Perry has called for 1000 troops to secure the border but Obama said it is a big border and he is not sure he wants to militarize it.
Perry should just call up his Guard and send them and their combat equipment to the border to protect his state. The border might be an issue that belongs to the feds but the state belongs to Perry and the citizens of Texas. They have every right to defend their state.
He needs to ensure they are safe while Obama twiddles his thumbs looking for the tipping point.
Source:
McClatchy
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Tags: drug war, Mexico, Military, Obama, perry, texas, troops
Law Enforcement and Bad Economy Cause Illegals To Leave
Dec 15, 2008 Political
The bad US economy is causing a tough environment for people who want jobs. It is particularly hard for illegals because even if they will do the jobs Americans won’t, it makes little difference if there are no jobs. Now that law enforcement has increased the number of raids and arrests many illegals are saying it is not worth being here and they are going back to Mexico.
And they say they have no intention of coming back.
After going months without a full-time job, Daniel Ramirez has decided it’s time to return to family in Mexico.
Vicenta Rodriguez Lopez says she can’t afford to live in Colorado any more because her husband was deported.
Roberto Espinoza is going back, too. After 18 years as a mechanic for a General Motors dealership in Denver, his work permit wasn’t renewed and he didn’t want to remain in the country illegally.
All are leaving Colorado in time for Christmas — joining a traditional holiday migration that will number almost 1 million people, says Mexico’s interior ministry. But they have no intention of returning to Colorado, a place that promised prosperity.
Layoffs, dwindling job opportunities, anti-immigrant sentiment and the crackdown on illegal immigrants are forcing hard choices on many Mexican nationals in Colorado. Though not an exodus, some are returning to a nation they haven’t seen in years.
“You despair. You think, ‘I used to earn $600 a week and now I’m getting half of that a week?'” said Ramirez, 38, who lost his Denver construction job in August. He left last week, driving to San Luis Potosi in central Mexico.
Mexico’s consul general in Denver, Eduardo Arnal, said more people like Ramirez are going home for good. Yahoo News
The law enforcement aspect would have eventually had the same effect especially if immigration continued to go after employers as well as the illegals. The bad economy, while tough for America, has a good side in that illegals are leaving because they cannot make money.
We have been saying all along that if the incentive to be here were removed they would not come and those here would leave. We need to keep the pressure on them and ensure that even when the economy gets better we do not give them an incentive to come here.
If enough of them leave then there will be plenty of jobs for Americans who want to work. Given that Obama wants to put everyone on the government payroll (sucking up tax dollars to give out jobs) to rebuild roads and bridges, there should be plenty of work for people so they do not have to sit around on their lazy rears drawing welfare.
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No Fiesta for UAW
Jun 1, 2008 Political
Ford Motor Company announced that it is building a global car, a car that is fuel efficient, easily made and can be marketed anywhere in the world and that it is going to produce them in Mexico. Ford will begin making the Fiesta in Mexico and this will create nearly 30,000 jobs (no indication if they are all in Mexico). The United Auto Workers Union is very upset with Ford because the union wanted the company to invest in American plants and make the car here. The problem is, if Ford wants to make an inexpensive car they cannot have the union involved.
The major American auto manufacturers have real financial problems and those problems keep getting worse. The unions have been one of the reasons for some of the financial problems for years. Union rules about who can work where and do what, pay demands, benefit demands, and any number of other things have driven costs up and profits down. There are union workers who get paid to do nothing when there is a slow down all because of some union rule. Ford decided to go to Mexico where it would not have to worry about union costs. The irony is, Ford went to Mexico to get workers to do jobs Americans were willing to do. Another irony is they will be making the Fiesta in Mexico…
Ford might actually be thinking of other cost savings as well. About 10% of the Mexican population already lives in the US. Maybe some of them will go back home to get a job making cars. But, the big issue is that instead of trucking the cars north Ford can just let illegals drive them on in. They can pick up some extra cash dropping cars off in America and then they can just stay here. This will save us a lot of money because there will be no need for the fence that they are not going to build anyway. If we don’t have to worry about illegals crossing the desert on foot we can save millions of dollars not building a fence.
Ford is another company that sent jobs out of the country (ooh and on Bush’s watch) but what choice do they have? With all the global warming fanaticism and the government regulations as well as the burden of the union the company would never make money. By making cars in Mexico they are able to skirt some of the burdensome rules imposed on comanies doing business here.
Source:
Washington Post
Absolut Apology to Protect bottom Line
Apr 7, 2008 Political
I wrote earlier about an ad campaign by Absolut vodka that was developed to target the Mexican market. In the ad Absolut displays a map from the 1830s in which California, Texas and much of the south west was Mexican territory. The wording over it reads “In an Absolut World.” There have been calls for a boycott of that product and I indicated that the company had more to lose in the US than it did to gain in Mexico. It would appear as if they now realize that they offended Americans because the company has issued an apology.
“In no way was it meant to offend or disparage, nor does it advocate an altering of borders, nor does it lend support to any anti-American sentiment, nor does it reflect immigration issues,” Absolut said in a statement left on its consumer inquiry phone line. LA Times
It does not matter what they meant or what they say they meant, the reality is that Americans saw this as offensive an counterproductive. The company can say it did not mean to do a lot of things but they put up the map and said this is how it would be in an Absolut world thus indicating that in their world this is the way it should be.
By displaying the map and indicating that in an Absolut world the Mexicans would still own that property they have given legitimacy to Mexican groups who believe that America stole territory from Mexico. The fact that Absolut indicated in the original story that most Americans are unaware of the history shows the company’s contempt for the US and it shows they underestimated American response and understanding of the issue.
The history of the issue is quite clear. America did not steal any land from the Mexicans. The land was gained in war (as a condition to the end of hostilities) and it was gained when America PAID for it. Mexico had a ton of debt and the country could not afford to pay it. Very few Mexicans lived in California so the Mexicans sold it to get rid of their debt. Texas had fought for its independence long before it became a state and it was acquired legally. Absolut does not help the hard feelings that exist by indicating the territories should belong to Mexico.
In an Absolut world the vodka company would go broke because it lost its American customers. Its apology shows that it realizes it made a mistake and that it is worried.
Let us put the heat on them and ensure they pay for their insult to this country. Let us show them that Mexico cannot possible provide them more business than America.
Boycott Absolut.
Absolut-ly Not a Smart Move
Apr 5, 2008 Political
The Sweedish maker of Absolut vodka is running an ad campaign in Mexico that features a map of North America as it existed before the US LEGALLY obtained territories that once belonged to Mexico. The map has the words In an Absolut world across it. The whole idea is to play to the Mexican market and get the tequila drinkers to drink more Absolut vodka.
Unfortunately, the ad is an insult to the United States and has caused an uproar among those who have seen it, many of whom vow to never drink Absolut again. I don’t like the ad but there is a part of the associated story that indicates those in the South West might be offended but the rest of us are unaware of history and that assumption bothers me more. I guess they mean the revised history that says we stole this land rather than acquiring it through war or by purchasing it.
I hope that Absolut knows what it is doing because it seems to me that there are more customers here to lose than there are there to gain. In the real world the market makes the choices and Americans can absolutely hurt the vodka company more than Mexico can help it.