The Unwasted Life

Secure Borders and Immigration Reform Without Amnesty by Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn:

As your U.S. Senators, we have been heavily involved in the Congressional debate on immigration reform for several years. We have taken a leadership role on this issue because we represent a state that uniquely benefits from the contributions of legal immigrants, but is also uniquely vulnerable to the dangers of illegal immigration. Throughout this process, our principles have been clear and consistent: We must secure our borders, and we cannot encourage illegal behavior through amnesty.

On May 17th, the Bush administration, along with a small group of Senators, announced a compromise immigration bill that would take a necessary first step in improving border security. We did not join in the announcement. While our efforts had a positive influence, we were not convinced the announced proposal guarantees repair of our current broken system. We are particularly concerned that we may be repeating the mistakes of the failed 1986 national amnesty.

The bill promises some long-term positive changes, including significant border security measures, an end to chain migration, and a switch to green card distribution based on merit.

But many problems have not been satisfactorily addressed. For example, we must make certain that convicted criminals are not eligible for any legalization, and if these individuals attempt to stay here, that they are arrested and promptly deported.

We must ensure that only those who have played by the rules – and not those engaged in identity theft – receive Social Security benefits. This proposal would enable illegal immigrants to collect Social Security benefits for the time they were unlawfully in our country. At a time when we are already facing major shortfalls in our ability to pay benefits for future retirees, this represents an unfair burden on the American taxpayer. We must end the rampant document fraud that plagues our workplaces today, and do it in a way that is legally enforceable.

Some of our colleagues, sensing the fragile nature of the proposed compromise, want to rush it through the Congress immediately. This would be a major mistake. It is too important and too complicated to rush. Major questions remain about details of the plan, and how it would work. We believe the bill – which was negotiated privately – deserves a full public airing. The legislation requires extended Senate debate, with full opportunity for public input and criticism, and an open process for amendments to strengthen its provisions.

In 1986, the Congress approved a similar compromise plan that, in return for amnesty for most immigrants here illegally, promised an end to porous borders and disregard for our laws. Those promises were not honored. The amnesty legislation instead actually encouraged further disrespect for our laws, and led directly to the situation we face today.

As the Senate considers this bill, our goal will be restoring the integrity of our borders, providing guest workers with opportunity, not amnesty, and preserving our social security for all who legally qualify. Our contributions to the debate will continue to be positive, and constructive.

Our country needs immigration reform. We must ensure that it’s done, and done correctly.

I’m with you both. Americans want security first — Fortress America! Then, and only then, should we talk about immigration reform.

Fred Thompson Comprehensive or Incomprehensible? on the Paul Harvey Show today. The audio is here.

Most Americans know that we have an illegal immigration problem in this country, with perhaps as many as 20 million people residing here unlawfully. And I think most Americans have a pretty good idea about how to at least start solving the problem — secure our nation’s borders.

But there’s an old saying in Washington that, in dealing with any tough issue, half the politicians hope that citizens don’t understand it while the other half fear that people actually do. This kind of thinking was apparent with the “comprehensive” immigration reform bill that the U.S. Senate and the White House negotiated yesterday.

I’d tell you what was in the legislation, but 24 hours after the politicians agreed the bill looked good, the Senate lawyers were still writing what may turn out to be a one thousand page document. In fact, a final version of the bill most likely will not be made available to the public until after the legislation is passed. That may come five days from now. That’s like trying to digest an eight-course meal on a 15-minute lunch break.

We’ve tried the “comprehensive” route before to solve the illegal immigration problem with a bit more care and deliberation, and the results haven’t been good. Back in May 1985, Congress promised us that it would come up with a comprehensive plan to solve the problem of illegal immigration and our porous borders. Eighteen months later, in November 1986, that comprehensive plan was signed into law.

Twenty-two years and millions of illegal immigrants later, that comprehensive plan hasn’t done what most Americans wanted it to do — secure America’s borders. Now Washington says the new “comprehensive” plan will solve the problem that the last comprehensive plan didn’t.

The fact is our border and immigration systems are still badly broken. We were reminded of this when Newsweek reported that the family of three of the men, arrested last week for allegedly plotting to kill American military personnel at Fort Dix, New Jersey, entered the U.S. illegally more than 20 years ago; filed for asylum back in 1989, but fell off the government’s radar screen when federal bureaucrats essentially lost track of the paperwork. Wonder how many times that’s been replicated?

Is it any wonder that a lot of folks today feel like they’re being sold a phony bill of goods on border security? A “comprehensive” plan doesn’t mean much if the government can’t accomplish one of its most basic responsibilities for its citizens — securing its borders. A nation without secure borders will not long be a sovereign nation.

No matter how much lipstick Washington tries to slap onto this legislative pig, it’s not going to win any beauty contests. In fact, given Congress’s track record, the bill will probably get a lot uglier — at least from the public’s point of view. And agreeing to policies before actually seeing what the policies are is a heck of a way to do business.

We should scrap this “comprehensive” immigration bill and the whole debate until the government can show the American people that we have secured the borders — or at least made great headway. That would give proponents of the bill a chance to explain why putting illegals in a more favorable position than those who play by the rules is not really amnesty.

If he keeps this up, Fred Thompson will be the next President of the United States.

HoustonChronicle.com - Microsoft faces class-action on security breaches

From USATODAY.com:

Spyware can herd users to porn and gambling Web pages, track where users go on the Internet, trigger a deluge of pop-up ads and slow PC performance.

Wake up people! Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer, et. al. have so many security problems, this kind of crap will never go away. Stop using Microsoft products. Not to say that other software products don’t have their problems, because they do. But I can almost guarantee that if you switch away from Microsoft products you will be 95% free spyware.

Too help you see how bad spyware is on your PC, ecrosstexas will soon feature Doxdesk’s Parasite script. The idea comes from the great Mark Pilgrim of course!

From CNET:

Microsoft has warned of three flaws affecting its software, the most serious of which would allow an attacker to gain full control of a PC using Java applets.

That’s now 12 security alerts this year already. The flawed Microsoft Virtual Machine leaves open the ability to format your hard drive! Windows 95, Windows 98 and 98SE, Windows ME, Windows NT 4.0, beginning with Service Pack 1, Windows 2000 and Windows XP are all affected.

Instructions to update your system are available from Microsoft. It’s just a good thing they are fixing this prior to January 2, 2004, at which time they would not be able to do so.

While the US wages war in Iraq, Microsoft moves to patch major holes in its software. I’m glad our government doesn’t run Microsoft. Oh wait, they do.

CNET reports:

A vulnerability in all versions of Windows could allow attackers to use a malicious Web site or HTML e-mail message to trap victims and take control of their PCs, warned Microsoft.

Earlier this week, a US Military web site was compromised by a Microsoft security hole.

What is someone to do? Don’t rely on those Windows Updates don’t cover everything. Why not just get rid of the thing and switch to a Mac?

“A Microsoft official acknowledged that the risk to consumers was unprecedented because the glitches allow hackers to seize control of all Windows XP operating system software without requiring a computer user to do anything except connect to the Internet.” The Washington Post article “Windows Vulnerable to Hack Attacks” has complete details.

Why do individuals, businesses, and the US Government continue to accept this poor excuse for quality from Microsoft? How does President Bush sleep knowing Microsoft powers most of the Defense Department?

Microsoft claims you can protect yourself with this update.

CNET reports, “Microsoft released a security patch to plug a hole in its Web browser that could allow hackers to steal passwords and trick people into downloading virulent files.

“Microsoft said customers using Internet Explorer versions 5.5 and 6.0 should install the patch immediately. The patch, released Thursday, can be found on Microsoft’s Web site.”

Why on earth would anyone ever trust Microsoft? I will never use Passport.