C Hardy, Yes, I think it matters that none of the terrorists involved in 911 came from Iraq. Why couldn’t the US just assassinate Sadam? Clinton allegedly did plan an attack on Bin Laden when he found out where he was but his attempt to capture Bin Laden was thwarted—someone had tipped off Bin Laden just before. As to illegal immigration, I agree with you in large part. We needn’t send them back, however. They got here on their own so they are capable of getting back on their own. I would tell them they have three months to finish whatever needs to be done and, afterwards, there would be no benefits available—no education for children, no housing, no employment, no health care (except to save lives). Those who remain can then be sent home courtesy of the American tax dollar. But the greatest deterrent would be to make knowingly hiring illegal immigrants a crime with a mandatory and lengthy prison sentence— maybe two-five years. A fine means nothing to employers—just the cost of doing business.. Politicians claim that illegal immigrants contribute to the economy. Nonsense. Studies show that women send over 70% of American dollars back home and men send approximately 65%. Money sent home from Mexican illegal immigrants in the US is a big boost to the economy of Mexico—the wealthiest country south of our boarder. I’m not even factoring the cost of services illegal immigrants cost the United States—only the dollars earned in the United States sent home. Sure, we hire more teachers, etc. to teach the children of illegal immigrants. I wouldn’t decrease the number of teachers Instead, I’d use the ESL teachers to reduce class size in classrooms and for special education, etc… Be assured, I am not against guest work programs at all. Employers should be responsible for transportation in and transportation back and housing, even if that housing is in temporary tent cities. No family members can tag along unless they have permits to work. During the depression, men didn’t bring their families along on work projects. Soldiers and others are often away from their families for over a year at a time. Let the families of guest workers stay home. But the best thing we could probably do is to change the Constitution as to who a citizen is—no automatic citizenship for babies born in the US unless their mother is a US citizen. American fathers who father children with legal immigrants could take a DNA test to prove the child is the offspring of an American citizen (so as not to discriminate against men). I also believe a national tamperproof identification program does not violate any constitutional rights as long as the data system is not tied into other banks of data, like health history banks, financial records, criminal data banks, etc. I also think the American public (in mass) should target public servants (senators, congressmen, local officials) who support amnesty with defeat (perhaps by lottery). Call it a “Time Out” program—i.e, it’s time for a public servant who encourages illegal immigration to be unemployed for a time. Eventually, public officials would get the message that Americans do not want illegal immigration. Amnesty does not solve the problem of future illegal immigration—it just postpones the same problem for another time and the problem gets bigger and bigger each time. I would like to see more boarder patrol agents or National Guardsmen patrolling the boarders. That would help increase employment. And if we are really concerned about boarder security—I warn you now that I am going to sound like we should build a Berlin wall—-I would issue shoot to kill orders for anyone attempting to cross the boarder illegally. A few shootings would get the message across. Drug imports is a major problem. I would also hope that President Obama would commute the sentences of the two boarder guards—no pardon though since they were guilty of obstruction of justice, etc. since they tried to hide their shooting of the drug dealer. They did commit crimes no matter what Lou Dobbs said. Sorry for the long post, but there are solutions to the illegal immigration problem that nobody ever wants to talk about. I am all for legal immigration and granting political asylum for those who would be killed in their own countries without it. Have a happy and safe holiday, too.

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I agree about the right wing agenda, and the far left needs to calm down as well. I personally am quite left of center, but I am also a realist who knows that it takes compromise and working together to get things done, which is what Obama wants to do…get things done! But beyond that I think Obama has an even loftier plan, to change the cancerous atmosphere that has taken hold of this country in the last decade, where people no longer think of their fellow Americans as “true” Americans, unless they believe exactly the same things.