Anderson@Large

Right to Return

The Atlantic hurricane season gets underway in just a few hours. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts an “above normal” season.

If just one of the predicted 13 to 17 named storms matches the fury of Katrina, a fresh group of hurricane survivors will join the 49,000 Katrina families still living in hazardous FEMA trailers.

While Katrina fatigue has set in, tens of thousands of evacuees remain locked out of their homes in New Orleans. So Tavis Smiley and filmmaker Jonathan Demme have joined forces to present “Right to Return: New Home Movies from the Lower 9th Ward.”  The mini-documentaries are portraits of survival and determination.

"Right to Return" chronicles displaced New Orleanians as they reclaim their homes and participate in the rebuilding of their communities.

An Academy-award winning director, Demme felt compelled to tell the rest of the story of Katrina survivors:

Once the water subsided and the imagery wasn’t fresh anymore, we stopped knowing what’s going on down here.

The hurricane, the floods got our attention. The big question is, “Then what happened?”

The five-part series began on Monday. To check your local listing, click here.

Make Some Noise

Today, the Dignity, Decency and Equality Task Force of the Rainbow/Push Coalition, the National Congress of Black Women, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation , the National Organization for Women and others will hold an informational picket prior to the 2007 annual meeting of Viacom stockholders.

Task Force leader Janice L. Mathis, Rainbow/PUSH Vice President for Legal Affairs, said:

We’ll be present to let the heads of CBS, BET and MTV know how concerned women are about the corrosive effect of negative media images on young people.

We have attended prior shareholder meetings and were advised that the negative images were supported by ratings and ad revenues, and that we should not expect change.

To help make change happen, concerned citizens are invited to join the picket line at 9:00 am ET in front of the Millennium Broadway Hotel, located at 145 W. 44th Street in New York City.

And later today in California, the Respect Me Coalition will protest outside the offices of Interscope Records.  Coalition members are calling for a meeting with the label’s co-founder James “Jimmy” Iovine “on the use of negative lyrics” by some its artists.

The press conference will be held at 11:00 am PT at Interscope Records, located at 2220 Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica.

For more info, call 323/846-1645 or send an email here.

In Memoriam

End the Paper Chase

The Senate has tied itself in knots papering over amnesty for illegal immigrants.  Their proposed solution to the illegal immigration crisis is to give “undocumented” illegal workers paper.

Paper-pushing bureaucrats would engage in a Kafkaesque process of identifying who’s who, who’s related to whom, who has worked where and for how long.

Illegals without paperwork would be able to have non-relative lawbreakers (illegal workers or illegal employers) vouch for their illegal presence in the U.S. before Jan. 1, 2007.

Question: How can DHS determine who’s a relative and who isn’t, when it can’t even be sure of the identity of the illegal registering for probationary status?  Illegals would be given their prized papers as their claim to illegal presence before the cutoff date is investigated.

With paper in hand illegals, including more than 623,000 fugitive aliens, would “come out of the shadows” and their problem would be solved.

Legal status and public benefits would be bestowed on illegal aliens who crossed the border illegally, overstayed their visa or defied deportation orders.

And border security still would not be ensured. 

Meanwhile, American taxpayers would be handed the bill for the social services that legal-on-demand foreign nationals would be entitled. 

When lawmakers are home for the Memorial Day recess, tell them to end the paper chase now.

A Piece of Work

It has been said a gaffe is when a politician tells the truth.

While amnesty supporters mislead the American people about the impact of their legislation, House Minority Leader John Boehner committed a political gaffe. At a private reception, Boehner reportedly said the bill is a "piece of s%*&."

Some of the lowlights of this piece of work include:

• One-day amnesty: Once the bill is enacted illegal aliens can apply for and receive probationary legal status immediately. Criminal/terrorist background checks are required to be completed by the "end of the next business day." Illegal Monday, legal Tuesday, now that's almost instant amnesty.

• Tax amnesty: Unlike last year's Senate amnesty bill, which required illegal immigrants to pay three of five years back taxes, this year's bill does not require them to pay any back taxes. Senator Kennedy wanted them to pay some taxes, but the White House insisted upon a complete tax amnesty.

• Faux enforcement "triggers": The so-called "enforcement" measures do not require that the border be secure. They only require that a few thousand more Border Patrol agents be hired (not deployed); that about half (370 miles) of the already authorized 700 miles of border fence be built; and that a few other bureaucratic inputs are announced. Then DHS will authorize the second phase of the amnesty by awarding the Z visas. Can anyone imagine Michael Chertoff declaring that these phony "triggers" have not been met?

• No exit system for guest workers: The guest workers are supposed to be "temporary" and required to eventually leave. But there is no way to enforce their leaving because there is still no Entry-Exit system in place.

• "Section 136: Nothing in this section may be construed to provide additional authority to any state or local entity to enforce Federal immigration laws." Why not? The illegal aliens who were part of the Fort Dix terrorist conspiracy were stopped by local law enforcement 56 times but their immigration status was never checked. This bill does nothing to ensure cooperation between local and federal officials in combating terrorism.

• Costs over $2 Trillion: Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation has estimated that the costs to American taxpayers for low-skilled immigrant households is $19,588 per household, per year. The lifetime costs for the Senate amnesty are estimated to be over 2 trillion dollars.

Read enough? Then keep those calls and emails coming.

Driven to Distraction

I’m a confirmed non-driver so I no longer have a valid driver’s license.

I use my passport for identification at the airport, federal buildings, etc.  But it’s about to expire so I thought it was prudent to get a non-driver’s ID given the backlog in processing passport renewal applications.

So earlier this week, I went to my local DMV office.  As I waited my turn, I listened to DMV representatives explain to non-English speaking immigrants (presumably legal) why the documentation they were presenting was not acceptable as proof of identity.  With each explanation, both the staffers and the polyglot applicants became more and more frustrated.

Can you imagine how crowded the DMV would be if the floodgates were open and 12 million illegal aliens are granted amnesty?  Think hospital emergency rooms.

The lines at DMV and Social Security offices would be out the door.  For the first time, millions of illegals would be given a Social Security number and would be able to legally apply for a driver’s license or photo ID.

And who will foot the bill for training, new facilities and new hires, including interpreters and translators?  You and me – American taxpayers who on average have a combined federal, state and local tax bite of 32 percent.

While Sen. Harry Reid is concerned about treating illegals “fairly,” what’s fair about sticking Americans with a heavier tax burden and increased inconvenience to ensure an endless supply of cheap labor?

The bipartisan group of senators who crafted the amnesty plan gave little, if any, thought to the day-to-day impact and costs of magically declaring millions of illegal aliens legal with the stroke of President Bush’s pen.

No E-Z Solution

Much to his dismay, Sen. Harry Reid is finding his colleagues in “the world’s greatest deliberative body” want more than five days to, well, deliberate over how to fix the illegal immigration mess.

Frankly, it’s incomprehensible that Reid is more concerned about the “dignity” of illegals than American indignation over illegal immigration.

But the American people let their voices be heard.  Their calls, faxes and emails stopped Reid from ramming through an amnesty plan without a formal bill, committee hearings or analysis of its economic impact.

Sure, it’s satisfying to see the powerful brought down a notch.  But schadenfreude has its limits.

Reid tested the limits of Americans who understand amnesty sends a message to the world’s poor: Get here and claim your “Z” visas before the borders are secured.

Rep. Lamar Smith captures the mood of the real stakeholders in the immigration debate:

The American people aren’t demanding amnesty. They are demanding border security. We need border security, but we don’t need amnesty to secure the border. Just because someone is in the country illegally doesn’t mean we have to give them citizenship, the greatest honor our country can bestow.

There’s no easy fix.  But a necessary first step is to secure the border.