Immigration Is Today's Civil Rights Movement

Immigrant Power
Immigration Makes Economy Sense, Democracy, Justice, Family Sense
Bill Frist's Ancestors Came From The Moon

Immigration is pro-democracy.
Immigration is pro-market.
Immigration is pro-family.
Immigration is pro-faith.
Immigration is pro-personal responsibility.
Immigration is pro-hard work.
Immigration is pro-America.
Immigration is pro-globalization.
Immigration is pro-broadband.

In this day and age of globalization, immigration has to be reimagined. We have to invent new rules for a new century.

Immigrants come on their own. You don't have to pay them airfare. They work often below minimum wage, and they work like demons. They send money home. If they did not, you would have had to send foreign aid. They love America. If they did not, they would not be here. They understand the idea that is America. Or they would not be here.

To be anti-immigration is dumb. To be anti-immigration, to be hostile to immigrants is anti-security.

There are citizens. There are dual citizens. There are permanent residents. There are work visa workers. And there are to be guest workers. All such arrangements have to be pro-family. Immigrants should not have to choose between work and family. Freud said to be happy in life you need two things, love and work. He did not say just work.

So don't provide a guest worker program that in the process breaks up families, and if you do, you are turning all of America into one giant Guantanamo for immigrants. There are Republicans who, when they realize they can't block the guest worker program, then go on to want a work environment for those guest workers such that they can't take a break to go take a leak. They want to add poison pills to a deal they feel they can't outright block. That is evil. That is not the spirit of America, a country of immigrants like no other.

Ultimately you are looking at stabilization. Each country is a democracy with a basic market economy. There is near universal broadband. Most people don't want to go to foreign countries to go work and study. And we can speed that process up by being pro-immigration.

I don't think anyone has the option to really be anti-immigration. There are only two camps. One is of those who want to manage immigration well. Another is the losers who want to deliberately mismanage immigration. That second group needs help, if you know what I am talking about.

Being pro-Hispanic comes naturally to me. When Bill Clinton first saw me, he thought I was from Puerto Rico.

Trent Lott, That Is Latin For Racist Asshole
Iraq, Energy, Global Warming: All Interlinked
Barack's Primary Opponents
I Watch Politics, World Cup Soccer, And The Olympics
Bush Nabbed Saddam, His Mandate Was To Nab Osama
Hillary's Beijing Speech
Long Walk To Freedom: Just A Third World Guy Dazzled By The City
Health Care As A Spectrum
Muscular Gender Agenda
7 Point Agenda For New York City
Wash Mugabe Away With A Revolution
Darfur: A Clear Case For External Intervention
Obama Gameplan: Stable, Democratic Iraq
Pig In The Barn, Ailes At Fox News
McCain Is 1970s, Hillary Is 1990s, Edwards Is 2004, Obama Is Today
Hillary Will Get The Black Vote, Obama Will Get The White Vote
Jupiter And Obama
Race, Gender
JFK, Obama Parallels: Catholic, Black
Fox, Barack, Islam
An Obama Administration
Media Smear On Obama's Name
Wolf Hitler, I mean Bitler, Blitler, Whatever
Bill O'Reilly, Bill O'Rama, Whatever The F___ His Name Is
Barack, Fox, MLK, Mandela
Barack Hussein Obama And The White Boys In The Media
Obama's Weapon On Clinton: Iraq
On November 7: In Harlem: For Obama
Democratic Vision For The 21st Century
The Energy Solution: Nuclear Energy
Switching To Obama

Obama In Africa

Immigrant Power
May 1 Immigrants Rally: Great American Boycott With Jesse Jackson 3
May 1 Immigrants Rally: Great American Boycott With Jesse Jackson 2
May 1 Immigrants Rally: Great American Boycott With Jesse Jackson
Anti War Rally With Jesse Jackson 4
Anti War Rally With Jesse Jackson 3
Anti War Rally With Jesse Jackson 2
Anti War Rally With Jesse Jackson

The First Major Revolution Of The 21st Century Happened In Nepal
The Unthinkable: Nuclear Weapons Are Not Made To Be Used

Immigration Makes Economy Sense, Democracy, Justice, Family Sense
Hate Speech, Free Speech: Europe Needs To Learn The Difference
Bill Frist's Ancestors Came From The Moon
"I've Been To Europe Once, And That's Enough"
Rahm Emanuel: Big Ideas For America

Iraq Intel: The Spy Who Failed Me

A Different Kind Of Campaign, A Scientific Campaign
The French Revolution And DFNYC


In The News

Hispanic Voters Enjoy New Clout With Democrats New York Times Democrats seeking their party’s presidential nomination are moving to court Hispanic voters like never before, as a string of early primary states with sizable Hispanic voting blocs prompt candidates to hire outreach consultants, start Spanish-language Web sites and campaign vigorously before Hispanic audiences. ...... Roughly two-thirds of the nation’s Hispanic residents live in nine of the states that will hold Democratic primaries or caucuses on or before Feb. 5. ....... an unusually intense response in many Hispanic communities to immigration policy ...... California (16 percent), New York (11 percent), Arizona (17 percent) and Florida (9 percent) ..... Obama, Democrat of Illinois, remains a blank slate to many Hispanic voters, polls show, with 40 percent having no opinion of him. But his aspirational biography could prove a draw as more Hispanic voters get to know him. ...... conservative Republicans raising alarms about what they call a flood of immigrants. ...... The debate over immigration has spurred Hispanic leaders and voters to mobilize like few issues in recent memory have. The National Association of Latino Elected Officials has joined with the Hispanic television network Univision on a national campaign to help Hispanic residents fill out citizenship applications and to help those who are already citizens register to vote. ........ Richardson alternates between English and Spanish on the campaign trail ...... campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, a woman of Mexican descent who has been one of Mrs. Clinton’s most trusted advisers and friends since her days as first lady of Arkansas ....... Doyle, who played a crucial role in getting the recent endorsement from Mr. Villaraigosa ..... 2006 midterm elections, when only 26 percent of Hispanics voted for Republican Congressional candidates. That was down from 44 percent in 2004 ....... Obama has traveled to Nevada several times to meet with members and leaders of a culinary workers’ union, most of whom are Hispanic women who work in Las Vegas hotels and casinos ........ The campaign is also sending dozens of volunteers this weekend to pass out Spanish-language literature in heavily Hispanic cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Houston and San Antonio, and is making videos available on its Web site with closed captioning in Spanish. ...... The main problem for Mr. Richardson is that he is a relatively unknown figure among Hispanic voters
Immigration bill's backers see hope Boston Globe votes by an angry and resentful Senate derailing the historic legislation. ...... was pulled off the floor. Such a move usually means the bill is dead. ...... But senators in both parties said they just need a few weeks to calm the emotions of their colleagues and work out a deal to allow lawmakers the chance to debate the bill longer before voting on it. ........ a process that allowed everyone their say, that wasn't rushed, and everybody got their amendments considered ...... Reid pulled the measure from consideration Thursday night, complaining that a minority of senators opposed to the bill were using delaying tactics to kill it. ........ "We are not giving up. We are not giving in. It takes a lot of patience to get things done here in the United States Senate," Kennedy said. ....... many lawmakers -- mostly Republicans, with a small group of Democrats -- complained they have not had enough opportunity to offer amendments to the package and debate it openly. Those senators voted twice Thursday against a motion to cut off debate and move to final passage of the bill. ....... an agreement on the number and combination of amendments that could be offered on the Senate floor ...... The measure would give 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States a chance to be legal residents, provided they pay a $5,000 fine and the head of each household returns to his or her country at least once. Those immigrants would be put on a path to citizenship, but must pass a series of hurdles -- including learning English -- before getting in line behind everyone else who had already entered the country legally. ......... The bill would also greatly expand the border security force and crack down on employers who knowingly hire illegal workers. In addition, a "guest worker" program would be created that would allow foreigners to work in the United States for two years at a time, provided they return to their home countries for a full year in between work stints. That program would end in five years unless Congress extends it. ...... union leaders worry that the guest worker program would create a permanent class of underpaid employees with few job protections. ...... "I've never received more hate, more racist phone calls and threats" as during the immigration debate, said Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California. ...... "I don't know how my political career ends. But I know what it's going to be like while I'm here," he said. ...... Painstakingly crafted in bipartisan, closed-door sessions that included two Bush administration Cabinet secretaries and senators from both parties, the bill bypassed the committee process that would have allowed senators to amend it or debate it at length. ....... some Republicans were using the amendment process to drag out debate on a bill they want killed. ....... "The White House has sucked the air out of the immigration reform debate by using the bully pulpit to create a false sense of hope, and not using its political powers" to rein in GOP senators, said Ali Noorani of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. ..... McConnell , Republican of Kentucky, supports moving ahead with the bill but also feels an obligation to give more conservative members of his caucus a chance to voice their views on the floor ..... "We spent 109 days on the [Iraq war] supplemental" funding bill, "and only nine days on immigration"
After vote, reform faces rocky future St. Petersburg Times After two weeks of debate, the U.S. Senate abandoned its efforts to overhaul immigration laws. Supporters fell 15 votes short of the 60 needed to force a final, yes-or-no vote on a bill that would offer a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants, expand the guest worker program and increase security at the border. ......... The bill lost more support after the Senate approved a change that would have ended the guest worker program in five years, gutting a key provision of the bill. ..... Immigration is one of the nation's most contentious issues, and conflicts divide both the Republican and Democratic parties and the Senate and the House. ..... Democrats argue that immigrants should be welcomed for their diversity

Obama hits streets in grass-roots effort Boston Globe
Obama Hits Streets in Grass-Roots Effort Washington Post an unprecedented grass-roots focus ...... "What we are kicking off this weekend is what we are claiming is the biggest grass-roots canvass, this early, in presidential campaign history," said Obama. "We have people canvassing from New York to San Diego, all across the country." ...... joined about 250 volunteers going door-to-door in heavily Catholic Dubuque, part of an intense focus on grass-roots efforts in Iowa ......... 1,500 backers were spending the weekend banging on doors in 38 cities across the state ...... he was seeking to add some organizational muscle to his strong poll showings. ....... Obama said he would take his case directly to the grass roots .... Media-driven campaigns often don't lead to that kind of change. ...... speaking from the back of a pickup truck before hitting the streets himself for a little door knocking. ....... "I hope everybody put on their walking shoes," said Obama, "I hope everybody's ready to get some exercise." ...... Obama spent more than an hour pounding on doors and chatting on porches, an occasionally comic affair as a couple of dozen reporters and photographers, along with a contingent of security forces and campaign staffers disrupted a quiet neighborhood on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
Obama hits streets in grass-roots effort Centre Daily Times
Barack Obama cowers in the shadow of Hillary Clinton The Olympian He can write and talk, think and walk, with exceptional grace and agility. ..... The woman who always does her homework did not bother to do her homework on the most important vote of her Senate career ..... Sen. Bob Graham said the NIE was one of the reasons he voted against the war authorization. ..... the Iraq War has clearly made the world more dangerous than ever. .... The Boy Wonder cannot take over the country unless he can take on Wonder Woman.

Google to digitize Big Ten school books CNN International up to 10 million volumes ..... a shared digital repository that faculty, students and the public can access quickly. ..... Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin.
12 Universities To Digitise Books for Google Project SDA India Magazine
Wimax to 'overtake Wi-Fi' in public networks by 2010 ComputerWeekly.com
US trade deficit shrinks to $58.5b Channel News Asia
Trade deficit drops in April as exports hit an all-time high International Herald Tribune
Dell lays off 8000; 1Q earnings sag Leading The Charge
Biologists Make Skin Cells Work Like Stem Cells New York Times a surprising advance that could sidestep the ethical debates ..... researchers could use a patient’s skin cell to generate new heart, liver or kidney cells that might be transplantable and would not be rejected by the patient’s immune system. ..... embryonic stem cells “have no moral status ...... Dr. Jaenisch, in a Webcast about the research, predicted that the problems of adapting the technique to human cells will be solvable but he did not know when.
'Ocean's Thirteen' Los Angeles Times The new film is thankfully straight-ahead, a nuts-and-bolts effort that returns Ocean's gang to its "let's rob a casino in Las Vegas" roots.

Get ready for the summer of Apple ZDNet Jobs & Co. dropped "computer" from the company name ...... Macintosh computers, iPods and the iPhone (not to mention a smaller fourth line, the Apple TV) ...... mobile phone makers are shipping more than a billion units a year ..... The iPhone runs Mac OS X and Jobs promises it will deliver the "full Internet" to a mobile phone. Moreover, he said, at the January Macworld conference: "We have reinvented the phone." ...... well-established, deep-pocketed players such as Nokia, Research In Motion and Samsung ..... Apple's reputation in both the MP3 and PC markets has been made on cutting-edge design ....... a broader consumer electronics company ..... as PCs become more like kitchen appliances rather than tech gadgets ...... since the iPod exploded
Paris Hilton may be sent back to jail Times Online The socialite was freed from a Los Angeles County jail yesterday morning and allowed to spend the rest of her sentence at home, amid fears that she was on the brink of a nervous breakdown. The 26-year-old hotel heiress who has made a career out of being empty-headed, had served fewer than five days of the 45-day prison term given to her by courts. ..... Hilton was housed in the “special needs” unit, which is separated from other inmates and is reserved for police officers, public officials, celebrities and other high-profile inmates. She did not have a cellmate. .... reports last night that Hilton had been suffering from psychological trauma and refusing to eat prison food, and that doctors had been advising prison staff that she was on the verge of a breakdown.
"WiTricity" Delivers Wireless Power Transmission PC World "WiTricity is based on using coupled resonant objects. Two resonant objects of the same resonant frequency tend to exchange energy efficiently, while interacting weakly with extraneous off-resonant objects."
GoodBye Wires MIT News freeing us from that final, ubiquitous power wire. .... A team from MIT's Department of Physics, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) has experimentally demonstrated an important step toward accomplishing this vision of the future. ...... Science Express, the advance online publication of the journal Science. ...... ----- Using self-resonant coils in a strongly coupled regime, we experimentally demonstrate efficient non-radiative power transfer over distances of up to eight times the radius of the coils. We demonstrate the ability to transfer 60W with approximately 40% efficiency over distances in excess of two meters. We present a quantitative model describing the power transfer which matches the experimental results to within 5%. We discuss practical applicability and suggest directions for further studies. ----- Various methods of transmitting power wirelessly have been known for centuries. Perhaps the best known example is electromagnetic radiation, such as radio waves. ...... WiTricity is based on using coupled resonant objects. Two resonant objects of the same resonant frequency tend to exchange energy efficiently, while interacting weakly with extraneous off-resonant objects. A child on a swing is a good example of this. A swing is a type of mechanical resonance, so only when the child pumps her legs at the natural frequency of the swing is she able to impart substantial energy. ....... "As long as the laptop is in a room equipped with a source of such wireless power, it would charge automatically, without having to be plugged in. In fact, it would not even need a battery to operate inside of such a room." ...... WiTricity is rooted in such well-known laws of physics that it makes one wonder why no one thought of it before. ........ "Once, when my son was about three years old, we visited his grandparents' house. They had a 20-year-old phone and my son picked up the handset, asking, 'Dad, why is this phone attached with a cord to the wall?'
Barack's Wife Michelle Obama: Rock Star on the Campaign Trail National Ledger
Voter intimidation targeted by Obama WQAD
Bernstein dissects Hillary Clinton CNN she is better than her own book. She is more interesting than her own book ..... "Her best friend from childhood, Betsy Ebeling, told me at great length ... about how abusive (Clinton's) father was of her mother, how he humiliated her," Bernstein said. "Her father was a sour, unfulfilled man, a martinet." ....... Betsey Wright .... It was Wright who famously coined the phrase "bimbo eruptions" to describe revelations about Clinton's sexual wanderings that rocked his 1992 presidential campaign. ...... "They made each other whole" ..... a reputation for arrogance that she acquired during her White House years ..... She first made friends with the men and women who had voted against her husband and for conviction (on impeachment). ..... her cautious, controlled nature may be her greatest obstacle ..... "She has run a campaign in which she has tried to generate as little controversy as possible and appeal very much to all people for all things," Bernstein said. "And from that comes an inauthenticity that many people, I think, find now in her that is problematic for the campaign." ....... the best obtainable version of the truth,' which is really what good reporting -- good biography -- is all about
A review of Bernstein's book MSNBC Bill's infidelity pushed Hillary away but also drew her closer to him, as she refused to let him go through all his various affairs ....... Bernstein characterizes Hillary as a strong and independent woman, but he implies she is weaker than people know -- asserting, like her mother, that she was afraid to be alone, preventing her from ever seriously considering a divorce from Bill. While she resisted changing her maiden name, even to the detriment of Bill's political career, she saw her husband as a tool to achieve her greatness. ....... Hillary did consider running for governor of Arkansas in 1990 "after their marriage had almost ended, and his depression was so great that he had little interest in continuing in the job." ....... seeing that their daughter (whom she always tried to protect, financially in case of a divorce from Bill, and from the press) had grown up, she no longer held back and finally did what friends and colleagues saw she had the power to do as a college student. ......... Regarding the issue of health care, Bernstein writes Hillary created a difficult dynamic between her, her husband, and her husband's advisers. "More often than not, he would mediate disputes between them by saying, 'Let's revisit this.' In fact, a new dynamic in the Clinton partnership was developing: for the first time, he seemed inclined to placate Hillary, and make decisions he strongly believed were against his better instincts." The chapter on healthcare is directly in the middle of the book, and it details how Hillary's insistence on policies that were practically unattainable helped bring down President Clinton. She was wearing him down, and she was winning. ......... "'It Take a Village' is an extended Hillary-chat, the precursor of her 'conversations' while running for president, delivered over the Internet from the warmth of a fireside hearth." ..... he was so afraid of Hillary knowing the truth and losing her. ...... Hillary and Bill attempted to spend as much time as possible with Chelsea, Bernstein writes "when she reached nursery school age and thereafter in Little Rock, [Bill] drove her to school himself, as often as possible, putting her on his lap in the car." So Brittany Spears is not the only one to have made the mistake of driving with a child on her lap.

Trent Lott, That Is Latin For Racist Asshole

Trent Lott can not stop being racist any more than he can stop being a Christian. Period. That is how fundamental his racist worldview is to him. He is beyond reform. He can only be isolated and discarded. He can not be expected to change.

After Hillary got elected Senator, this insect went on to say that she might now get into the Senate if she does not get struck by lightning before that. This guy is sick as they come. He should be declared physically untouchable. A law to that effect should be passed in the land.

The fact to notice is not that he is a hard core racist, but that he is at the heart of the leadership of the Republican Party. His leadership of the Republican Party makes that party the modern day Ku Klux Klan. Why can't you find someone else to lead you, unless you quietly agree with him in his fundamentally racist worldview?

Immigration bill falls into limbo Houston Chronicle "I hope he concentrates on the G-8," Lott said ...... "His comments last week were not helpful," Lott added, alluding to Bush's remark — repeated twice last week — that those who deride the bill as amnesty are trying to frighten Americans. ........ Democrats are "simply not going to get anywhere trying to stuff the minority," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the GOP leader.

Jeffrey St. Clair: Santorum: That's Latin for AssholeRick Santorum had only been in the senate for a few weeks when Bob Kerrey, then Senator from Nebraska, pegged him. "Santorum, that's Latin for asshole. ...www.counterpunch.org/stclair05012003.html

On The Web

Trent Lott - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CNN.com - Lott apologizes for Thurmond comment - Dec. 10, 2002
CNN.com - Bush calls Lott comments 'offensive' - Dec. 13, 2002
Trent Lott's "Uptown Klan"
Chris Kromm: Trent Lott, Repeat Offender
Think Progress » Senate GOP: Lott’s Racist Comments Are No Longer ...
Lott, Reagan and Republican Racism | TIME the GOP's wrongheadedness about race goes way beyond Lott and infects their entire party. The sad truth is that many Republican leaders remain in a massive state of denial about the party's four-decade-long addiction to race-baiting. They won't make any headway with blacks by bashing Lott if they persist in giving Ronald Reagan a pass for his racial policies. ....... The same could be said, of course, about such Republican heroes as, Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon or George Bush the elder, all of whom used coded racial messages to lure disaffected blue collar and Southern white voters away from the Democrats. Yet it's with Reagan, who set a standard for exploiting white anger and resentment rarely seen since George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door ........ As a young congressman, Lott was among those who urged Reagan to deliver his first major campaign speech in Philadelphia, Mississippi, where three civil rights workers were murdered in one of the 1960s' ugliest cases of racist violence. It was a ringing declaration of his support for "states' rights" — a code word for resistance to black advances clearly understood by white Southern voters. ......... his filing of a brief arguing that BJU should get the exemption despite its racist ban on interracial dating ...... the Gipper's deep personal involvement. ....... Two years later the U.S. Supreme Court in a resounding 8-to-1 decision ruled that Reagan was dead wrong and reinstated the IRS's power to deny BJU's exemption.
Trent Lott's Redemption Song
Trent Lott and Racism
Washington Post Sweeps Away Lott's Racist Record
trent lott, racism
Trent Lott - Racism at the core of the Republican Party
Trent Lott Once Again Scary, Racist Face of the GOP - Wonkette
AlterNet: Blogs: Video: UPDATE: GOP resuscitates racist Lott [VIDEO]
Gen Kanai weblog: Trent Lott is racist
CNN.com - Lott apologizes anew for comments - Dec. 14, 2002
YouTube - TRENT LOTT: The Segregationist Returns!
On Lisa Rein's Radar: Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott Is A ...
Off the Kuff: Trent Lott Is A Racist
Trent Lott is Racist and Stupid. Period. : Joe Grossberg
Bubblecastle.net » Blog Archive » Trent Lott isn’t racist anymore
Daily Kos: Southern Racist Trent Lott (and that's not rhetoric)
CampusProgress.org | Crib Sheet: Trent Lott Rises Again
Croos Burning, Trent Lott, and the Living Legacy of Racist Terror
Lott's Racism Exposes our Own, by Jerome Doolittle - Democratic ...
ADVICE TO TRENT LOTT: QUIT WHILE WE'RE ALL AHEAD
Facing South: The return of Trent Lott
Analysis: Some thank Lott for showing racism still alive
NOW President Says Trent Lott is Unfit to Lead Senate
Trent Lott: Great Hair, Bad Brain
Bigot Senator, Trent Lott, is head Senate Whip! » Netscape.com
YouTube - Ray Taliaferro Classic - Trent Lott Racist
MTV News | Fat Joe, Talib Kweli: Trent Lott's Apology Not Enough
Trent Lott's failure to explain himself. - By William Saletan ...
TRENT LOTT IS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY'S MONICA LEWINSKY

In The News

Immigration bill falls into limbo Houston Chronicle under attack from the right and left ..... the "grand bargain" between liberals and conservatives on immigration. ...... a proposal that would let employers continue to handpick the high-skilled workers they want to get green cards, rather than requiring workers to qualify through a new, government-run point system. ..... The bill would tighten borders, institute a new system to prevent employers from hiring undocumented workers, and give many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants a pathway to legal status. Conceived by an improbable coalition, it is exposing deep rifts within both parties and is loathed by most GOP conservatives. ........ "I hope he concentrates on the G-8," Lott said ...... "His comments last week were not helpful," Lott added, alluding to Bush's remark — repeated twice last week — that those who deride the bill as amnesty are trying to frighten Americans. ........ Democrats are "simply not going to get anywhere trying to stuff the minority," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the GOP leader. ...... the Senate voted to phase out the bill's temporary worker program after five years. ....... the temporary worker program had been cut in half from its original 400,000-person-a-year target. ..... defeated an effort to allow more family members of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to qualify for green cards.
Immigration Bill Suffers Setback in Senate Vote New York Times Even Republicans who support the overall bill voted against ending debate. ..... the bill’s supporters suffered a setback when the Senate voted to put a five-year limit on a new guest worker program that would be created under the legislation. By a vote of 49 to 48 shortly after midnight, the Senate approved the limit, in the form of an amendment by Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota. ........ members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, want to do more to protect immigrants’ rights and promote family-based immigration. The Senate bill, which embodies a fragile compromise strongly supported by the president, would offer most of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States the chance to obtain legal status. It calls for the biggest changes in immigration law in more than two decades. ........ nearly 400 pages ...... While senators struggled with the complex legislation, executives from high-tech companies descended on Capitol Hill to express concerns. ...... Two amendments intended to reunify families, by providing additional visas for close relatives of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents, failed on procedural votes. ........ Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the chief Democratic architect of the bill, said: “Almost every hard-working immigrant in this country has been forced, at one time or another, to use false documents to get a job.” .......... Kennedy said that without the guarantee of confidentiality, illegal immigrants would be extremely reluctant to come forward and apply for legal status.
Guest worker amendment threatens immigration bill Los Angeles Times
G-8 leaders agree on climate change Houston Chronicle a goal of a 50 percent cut by 2050 ..... But Annie Petsonk, a lawyer for the advocacy group Environmental Defense, said the summit hadn't agreed on a 50 percent cut — only on a call for all major emitters to seriously consider that option. ........ the president is simply kicking the can down the road ..... an unexpected proposal from Putin, who said he would drop his opposition to the U.S. missile defense system if it made use of a Russian-leased radar station in Azerbaijan ....... Police used water cannons to turn back thousands of demonstrators who rushed the seven-mile fence surrounding the summit site, and police boats chased inflatable boats from the environmental group Greenpeace that entered the security zone on the Baltic Sea.
Environment Conservation Dominates Controversial G-8 Summit NEWSPost India
India has key role in climate change fight, says Bush Hindustan Times
Barack Obama, Lindsey Graham Tangle in Senate NewsMax.com a heated exchange between Sens. Barack Obama and Lindsey Graham erupted on the chamber floor and continued in a nearby corridor. ...... Pacing the Senate floor and waving Obama's amendment, Graham loudly accused Obama of undermining a delicate agreement whose advocates have shown political courage. ..... Obama briefly appeared stunned and demanded time to respond. The notion that his amendment would gut the bill "is simply disingenuous" he said. "It's engaging in the sort of histrionics that is entirely inappropriate for this debate." ....... Almost immediately, the two men continued the argument in a hall just outside the chamber. "They were going at it," said Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla. "We could hear them inside." ..... In separate interviews later, Graham said, "I wanted to go outside" to impress upon Obama the danger he was causing for a bill he supposedly supported. "I said, 'I'm very disappointed in you,'" he said, adding: "I like the fellow." ...... Two hours later, the Senate voted 55-42 to reject Obama's amendment.
Clinton's Harvard message pushes citizen service Boston Globe "The world is awash today with political, psychological conflicts, which require us to divide up and demean people." ...... Clinton focused on darker topics ..... "And I think women should run everything."

Iraq, Energy, Global Warming: All Interlinked

Withdrawing From Iraq

The idea is not to withdraw from Iraq and let that new state collapse. The idea is to withdraw in a way that every inch of military withdrawal is replaced by two inches of fervent political activity.

Obama Gameplan: Stable, Democratic Iraq

If withdrawal leads to some kind of a breakdown, that means going right back in, not abandoning. But I don't think there will be a breakdown. The US military leaving will mean the Al Qaeda's number one gripe will have disappeared. They will have lost wind.

Iraq will do just fine. Iraq will do better once the US military has left.

Energy Solution: Go Nuclear

Before the steam engine, we had wind energy: we called them sails. Steam became diesel. And now there is talk to go back to wind. Makes no sense. There is no going back, there is only going forward.

All countries on earth deserve to grow their economies. Imagine a 7% growth rate per year for every country on earth, especially the poor countries. And do the math on how much energy consumption that will mean. You very quickly realize the only option is nuclear.

The Energy Solution: Nuclear Energy

The Apollo project is not to set up wind farms across the country so that we can no longer see the sun during the day. The Apollo project is to speed up research so as to find ways to make good with the waste generated from the nuclear energy plants.

Global Warming Is Also Energy Solution

No one country can tackle global warming. That also happens to be true of the energy crisis. There is a need for a global effort, a global collaboration, global ground rules.

For example, you can not have 10,000 nuclear weapons, and keep doing research to build new ones and then go around the world telling others they may not have it. That is nuclear apartheid. The long term goal has to be total disarmament. Only within that clear commitment to that long term goal can the short term goal of nonproliferation be achieved.

The International Atomic Agency will have to be given much more teeth. All nuclear energy plants all over the world will have to come under the strict regime of that agency. The strictest safety regulations must be designed and enforced. And then peaceful use of nuclear energy must be encouraged across the world.

Economic growth is a legitimate goal of any sovereign country. Energy needs will dramatically rise over the next few decades as they should. And they have to be met with nuclear energy.

JFK, Obama Parallels: Catholic, Black

In The News

Al Qaeda Strikes Back Foreign Affairs Decisively defeating al Qaeda will be more difficult now than it would have been a few years ago. ...... it will only be a matter of time before al Qaeda strikes the U.S. homeland again. ...... up to 60,000 Pakistani volunteers had served in the Taliban militia before 9/11, alongside dozens of active-duty Pakistani army advisers and even small Pakistani army commando units ......... For the next two years, al Qaeda focused on surviving -- and, with the Taliban, on building a new base of operations around Quetta, in the Baluchistan region of Pakistan. ....... Iraq, where it had little or no presence before 9/11. ....... al Qaeda in Iraq has continued to orchestrate massacres against Shiites in Baghdad. ...... suicide bombings and the use of improvised explosive devices, became commonplace in Afghanistan. Taliban attacks rose from 1,632 in 2005 to 5,388 in 2006, according to the U.S. military, and suicide operations grew from 27 in 2005 to 139 in 2006. ....... Al Qaeda has also developed closer ties to Kashmiri terrorist groups, such as and Lashkar-e-TaibaJaish-e-Muhammad. ....... the hijacking of an Indian airliner by Kashmiri terrorists -- an operation .... since correctly described as the "dress rehearsal" for 9/11. ....... the spectacular multiple bombings that rocked Mumbai last July had the marks of al Qaeda's modus operandi ........ beyond Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq ..... al Qaeda records most of its operations and transmits the gruesome coverage to jihadi Web sites all over the world ........ promising to bankrupt Washington in Afghanistan and Iraq ..... some 4,500 overtly jihadi Web sites ..... the growing breadth of its ambitions and its increasing reach throughout the Middle East ....... Muriel Degauque, a Belgian woman and a convert to Islam, who blew herself up in a car-bomb attack against a U.S. convoy in Iraq in November 2005 ...... Pakistan received 400,000 visits from British residents in 2004 ...... the United Kingdom has become a focal point of al Qaeda's activities in the West. ...... some 200 networks of Muslims of South Asian descent were being monitored in the United Kingdom ....... terrorist plots in the United Kingdom "often have links back to al Qaeda in Pakistan ....... Since 2001, these foot soldiers are suspected of having plotted 30 or so attacks on targets in the United Kingdom or aircraft leaving for the United States. ....... independent, copycat operation ..... Al Qaeda's growing connections to Europe have made the United States more vulnerable ....... the plot last August to destroy ten commercial airliners en route from the United Kingdom to the United States ...... cultivating stronger operational connections and relationships that radiate outward from their leaders' secure hideout in Pakistan to affiliates throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe .... expanding reach in Europe. Its leadership is intact. .... al Qaeda is well placed to threaten global security in the near future. .. thrives on failed and failing states ...... The Jihad Movement in Bangladesh was one of the original signatories of bin Laden's 1998 declaration of war on the West. ...... Somalia has been a failed state for almost two decades ..... In Algeria, meanwhile, al Qaeda is trying to revive the civil war that killed over 100,000 people in the 1990s. The Algerian Islamist movement the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, known by its French initials GSPC, swore allegiance to bin Laden last year, and he ordered that the group be renamed al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. It has since attacked oil targets and police stations, hoping that a spectacular series of assaults, especially on Western targets, could reignite the civil war. ......... he was eagerly looking forward to an American nuclear attack on Iran. ..... Al Qaeda would especially like a full-scale U.S. invasion and occupation of Iran, which would presumably oust the Shiite regime in Tehran, further antagonize Muslims worldwide, and expand al Qaeda's battlefield against the United States so that it extends from Anbar Province in the west to the Khyber Pass in the east. It understands that the U.S. military is already too overstretched to invade Iran, but it expects Washington to use nuclear weapons. ......... al Qaeda will deliberately provoke a war with a "false-flag" operation ...... it should not consider a military operation against Iran, as doing so would only strengthen al Qaeda's hand -- much as the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq have. ........ The organization is more diffuse, and its components operate more independently. Bin Laden continues to influence its direction and provide general guidance and, on occasion, specific instructions. But overall the movement is more loosely structured, which leaves more room for independent and copycat terrorist operations. .......... target al Qaeda's leaders ...... NATO should reach out to India as well: New Delhi has already provided half a billion dollars in aid for Afghanistan, and, having long been a target of Islamist terrorism, India has a national interest in defeating it. ...... Since 2001, the international community has delivered far less aid per capita to Afghanistan, one of the world's poorest countries, than it has to recovering states such as Bosnia. ....... Musharraf .. his government has tolerated those who harbor bin Laden and his lieutenants, Taliban fighters and their Afghan fellow travelers, and Kashmiri terrorists. .... Many senior Pakistani politicians say privately that they believe Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) still has extensive links to bin Laden; some even claim it harbors him. ...... a systematic crackdown on all terrorists -- Arab, Afghan, and Kashmiri -- is critical ....... Pakistan should no longer be rewarded for its selective counterterrorism efforts. (Washington has already given it some $10 billion in aid since 9/11.) ....... If it makes sense to bring democracy to Afghanistan, then surely it makes sense to bring it to Pakistan. The prevailing theory that strongmen such as Musharraf make for better counterterrorism partners is a canard; Musharraf, for one, has not delivered the goods. ...... disengage from the civil war in Iraq, with a complete, orderly, and phased troop withdrawal ..... Al Qaeda's own propaganda indicates that it fears the Shiites' wrath after the United States' departure ......... the war of ideas. Washington must learn to develop more compelling narratives for its actions. ...... bring peace to Palestine and Kashmir ...... The president of the United States must get personally involved in brokering peace in both instances. ........ a failure to adjust U.S. strategy would increase the risk that al Qaeda will launch another "raid" on the United States, this time perhaps with a weapon of mass destruction. ....... According to Saudi officials, these public messages came with secret orders from bin Laden instructing cells to attack soft targets in Saudi Arabia. ....... The al Qaeda apparatus in the kingdom, which had been quiescent, exploded into action between 2003 and 2006 -- triggering the most serious and sustained domestic violence since the creation of modern Saudi Arabia in the early twentieth century. ........ The backbone of the al Qaeda movement in the kingdom was apparently broken. ..... (Zarqawi took credit for the plot but claimed that the Jordanian authorities fabricated the presence of chemical weapons; as he put it, if his group possessed such a device, "we would not hesitate one second to use it on Israeli cities.") ..... al Qaeda is still too weak to overthrow established governments equipped with effective security services; it needs failed states to thrive.

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Obama on 'quiet riot' among black poor Chicago Tribune a "quiet riot" of despair simmering in impoverished black neighborhoods across the country ...... one of the oldest and largest annual gatherings of African-American ministers. ...... an ominous portrait of hopelessness pervading many inner-city neighborhoods and its potential to erupt into uncontrolled violence ..... pockets of endemic poverty. ..... the street corners of ghettos around the country as gathering places for "young men and women without hope, without miracles and without a sense of destiny other than life on the edge -- the edge of the law, the edge of the economy, the edge of family structures and communities." ...... violence is "inexcusable and self-defeating." ....... many of the same frustrations continue to build in black America, stoked by poor schools, bad housing, and inadequate job opportunities. ...... when a sense of disconnect settles in and hope dissipates. Despair takes hold and young people ... believe that things are never going to get any better ...... an expansion of programs for visiting nurses to teach parenting skills to new and expectant low-income mothers, jobs programs for disadvantaged youths, more support for ex-offenders in finding employment after prison and better public transportation for residents of low-income areas.
Is US Safer Since 9/11? Clinton and Rivals Spar New York Times Mrs. Clinton also thought the war in Iraq had been a distraction from the fight against terrorism ..... three-quarters believed that the United States was losing the war on terror. ...... “It was an important distinction that emerged at the debate. Senator Obama has often made the point that as a result of the war in Iraq, the threat of terrorism has increased.”
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Google, Salesforce Deepen Ties MSNBC citing its ultrafast development and simple design as paragons of Internet software ...... Salesforce's success--the company expects to grow 45% this year to at least $722 million in revenues--it isn't mature enough to absorb substantial acquisitions itself. ....... strengthen each company's hand as they prepare to battle Microsoft (MSFT), which is developing online versions of its sales management and other software ...... The companies have combined Salesforce.com with Google Maps to help sales staff find meetings. ....... Google's OneBox appliance server lets companies search data inside Salesforce's program. ...... Salesforce sells Google's Docs & Spreadsheets software through its AppExchange online store. ....... "We have a goal to make every Salesforce user an AdWords entrepreneur." ...... "Google's entry into the business software market could radically alter the competitive environment and make growth very difficult for incumbents like Microsoft" ...... a glut of venture capital-backed on-demand software companies, and the buyout wave sweeping the business software market could soon extend to them ...... Innovation Advisors, a technology-focused investment bank ....... Workday, the on-demand HR software startup founded by PeopleSoft founder David Duffield, which has raised $35 million in funding from Duffield and Greylock Partners ...... Salesforce earned $730,000 on $162.4 million in revenue and added 2,500 customers
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Harvard, MIT scientists report embryonic stem cell advances Boston Globe
Paris Hilton Reports to the Big House New York Times Paris Hilton, the hotel heiress everyone loves to hate and obsessively follow ....... separated from the general population but possibly sharing a cell with one other person ....... She’ll be allowed to leave the 12-by-8 foot room for at least an hour a day to shower, watch TV, take a stroll in the yard or make phone calls.