The Senate announced an agreement on a new immigration bill. I have reviewed the major points and I’m not sure that I understand the bill. There are a few things that are clear, no bill that requires folks to go back to their home country has a chance of actually working. It isn’t practical.
Jon Stewart has an interesting take on this bill. Great clip.
Are the Democrats taking back their promise? I sure hope not. The only thing that I hope that would separate the Dems from the R’s is integrity. If that is gone then they are the same. We have a one party system with both parties sucking up to big business on one hand and shafting the public on the other. I hope not.
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From Yahoo News: After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress’ pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year.
Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in January to clearly identify “earmarks” — lawmakers’ requests for specific projects and contracts for their states.
Rather than including specific pet projects, grants and contracts in legislation as it is being written, Democrats are following an order by the House Appropriations Committee chairman to keep the bills free of such earmarks until it is too late for critics to effectively challenge them. [Read more →]
This plot looks more developed than many of the others that have been thrown at us. I look forward to more information in the coming days to weeks.
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From NYT:
Four men, including a onetime airport cargo handler and a former member of the Parliament of Guyana, were charged yesterday with plotting to blow up fuel tanks, terminal buildings and the web of fuel lines running beneath Kennedy International Airport.
One of the suspects was taken into custody in Brooklyn and two others were detained in Trinidad, the authorities said, while the fourth man was still at large.
One defendant, the former cargo handler, Russell Defreitas, was arraigned yesterday in federal court in Brooklyn. He is a 63-year-old Guyanese native and naturalized American citizen who lives in Brooklyn. (more…)
I will support hunting down Al Qaeda wherever they are.
From CNN.com:
A U.S. Navy destroyer off the coast of northern Somalia Friday fired on a suspected Al Qaeda operative believed to have been involved in the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, sources confirmed to CNN.
There was no immediate word on the results of the attack, which was carried out using one of the destroyer’s 5-inch guns.
U.S. officials have long suspected that some of those responsible for the embassy attacks have been hiding in the war-torn East African country. (more…)
Errington C. Thompson, MD, is a surgeon, scholar, fulltime sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats...
