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Progressing Backwards
Posted by Raven on November 13th, 2006
The Democrats are going to being this country back to the pre 9-11 days. Where Americans felt safe and secure while our enemies dreamed and designed plots against us. Our policies of those times enabled them to do this. After 9-11 people woke up, but only for a short time. It wasn’t a big enough bang to have a lasting impact. Now, as we progress backwards, one has to wonder when the next attack will occur.
Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, who is likely to be the next House Speaker, has announced her intention to “correct the Patriot Act” and wants to criminalize scrutiny of Muslims at airports and elsewhere: “Since September 11, many Muslim Americans have been subjected to searches at airports and other locations based upon their religion and national origin. We must make it illegal.” Since religion is the one factor that the jihadists themselves invariably point to as the motivation for their violent actions, Pelosi is calling upon investigators to ignore the single most important key to understanding jihadist strategy and goals. If she gets her way, any Muslim who is searched at an airport at any time will be able to claim that he is being illegally profiled; a law criminalizing searches of Muslims at airports would have a chilling effect upon any effort to investigate jihad terror activity in the Muslim community.
Yep…bring it on Nancy. You’re legacy may be that of SHE WHO DESTROYED AMERICA. A fitting legacy. Members of Congress, newly elected by liberals who do not believe we face a real threat, will help her.
Conyers has also masterminded House Resolution 288, which condemns “religious intolerance” but clearly singles out Islam as needing special protection from such criticism.
[...]
And now Pelosi and Conyers will be joined in the House by the first-ever Muslim Congressman, Keith Ellison, D-MN. CAIR energetically boosted Ellison’s candidacy: according to journalist Joel Mowbray, CAIR co-founder and executive director Nihad Awad “headlined a fundraiser last month that the campaign estimates netted $15,000 to $20,000, and in July, and it appears that CAIR’s co-founder bundled contributions totaling just over $10,000.
This is progress. Heading backwards. The Democrats have never lived in the real world- history shows this. Time and time again, they have been wrong when it comes to national security and defense. While they claim to be progressive, they are not, at all.
These people will bring us back to the days when terrorists did indeed have have free roam of the country. This doesn’t concern people?
November 13th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
Doesn’t concern me. They are terrorists. *Terror*ists. What benefit is it to start running around screaming that the sky is falling and concocting elaborate but impossible end-of-the-country scenarios?
911, big attacks… wow, two thousand deaths! Thats slightly more people than are killed in car accidents in the US every *month*. So dig up the survivers, tidy up the rubble, erect a memorial statue just get on with things, please. There is no need to throw civil rights out the window and start looking for a fight.
November 13th, 2006 at 2:10 pm
Oh, my mistake. Two thousand is slightly *less* than the monthly deaths on the roads. Possibly excluding july and december, which would be well above average due to celebrations involving alcohol.
November 13th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Wait… im slightly confused now… sorry, I have my statistics in a muddle :> Ah, look it up yourself, the AHA has the numbers for you.
November 13th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
SR that is pretty disingenuous of you to say this. I understand what you mean, I think, but it’s still a low blow. 3000 people die everyday of cancer, or heart attacks or car accidents, whatever.
On 9-11 3000 people died in one horrible act of terrorism. The number may seem small, but to the loved ones and families and to patriotic Americans, it was TOO many. It was TOO horrible a way to go.
It was TOO soon for all of them- remember, kids died that day too. I don’t expect you to GET IT though…many Americans seem to have disregarded the events of 9-11 like you have. To me, it was not “just another day”…
November 13th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
Bush Administration, Dying at the Border
This is from “Skeptical Economist”. This is the one of the best articles I have ever read on economics and illegal immigration.
It is no secret that the Bush administration is failing and failing badly. The woes of the administration are legion, Iraq, immigration, the economy, Katrina, health care, gasoline prices, etc. The impact on public opinion is profound. Bush is well on his way to being one of the least popular presidents in U.S. history. His current popularity rating of 31% may be a high water mark. The twenties and perhaps teens are not that far off. Increasingly he has lost, not just liberals and mainstream Americans, but conservatives as well. The key question is why? Why has this once promising administration gone downhill so far and so fast? Is it just bad luck or is their a deeper force at work? In my view, the ideology and practice of Open Borders has condemned this president to complete failure. Could the Bush administration turn itself around by changing its stance on immigration? Yes, but it is exceedingly unlikely to happen. Bush is doomed and may not finish his term in office.
It is clear that the immigration polices of this administration are deeply unpopular and contrary to what the public wants. Clearly, immigration is contributing mightily to the low standing of this president. However, immigration is also directly responsible for the economic failings of this president and is (one step removed) also responsible for the debacle in Iraq. Immigration is also partially responsible for all of the other problems (Kartrina, gasoline prices, health care, Dubai ports, etc.). The links between immigration and what ails Bush (and America) are explained in more detail below. What should be clear by the end, is that immigration is either directly or partially for everything (and there is a lot) that is weighing down this president.
The immigration failures of this administration are obvious. The border is totally out of control and Bush completely refuses to even try to control it. Ordinary Americans are demanding immigration control and Bush has abandoned even the pretense of enforcing our laws (by some measures enforcement has declined by 95% at least, but other measures 100%). Ordinary Americans fiercely resent illegal aliens taking over their neighborhoods, jobs, and schools. Bush actually proposed legislation to replace every American worked with a foreigner who would do the same job for less (the “willing worker” program).
To call the administration out of touch on immigration would be an injustice to the language. Polls show strong support for greatly intensified enforcement. Bush is still trying to have the Kennedy Amnesty bill passed. Why the administration is so committed to policies that the American people regard as toxic is another matter. However, the reality of a president at war with his own people on this issue, should not be in doubt. Astoundingly, Zogby finds that only 17% of Americans approve of Bush’s immigration policies (7). On border security, Bush gets a 16% approval rating.
Immigration is also responsible for Bush’s economic woes. Superficially the economy should be a source of considerable strength for Bush. The high level numbers are actually rather good. Unemployment is down to 4.6% from a peak of 6.3% in June of 2003. GDP growth in Q1 2006 was 4.8%. The economy grew by 2.7% in 2003, 4.2% in 2004, and 3.5% in 2005. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has rallied from a low of 7286 on October 9th, 2002 to a recent high of 11,643 on May 10, 2006. That a gain of 59.8% in less than four years. The S&P is up 57.25% in the same period. Definitely a lot for investors to cheer about, particularly in the aftermath of the Tech Bubble and corporate scandals (Enron, Tyco, Health South, etc.).
The zooming stock market has reflected fast rising corporate profits. Pretax profits bottomed out at $714 billion (annual rate) in 3Q2001 and have since risen to $1,293 billion in 3Q2005 (not adjusted for inflation) (11). As a percent of GDP profits have grown from 7.0% of GDP (3Q2001) to a peak of 10.9% of GDP in 2Q2005 (down to 10.3% in 3Q2005). At 10.9% of GDP, corporate profits were higher than any year since 1968.
The productivity numbers have also been very, very good. Nonfarm productivity has risen by 17% or more since 2001. What the BLS calls multifactor productivity is up almost 8% since 2000. Per-worker/GDP is perhaps the broadest measure of productivity growth. In chained 2000 dollars, per-worker GDP is up by 8.73%. CPI-U adjusted, per-worker GDP has grown by 7.95%. The strong growth in productivity has almost completely offset nominal wage growth. Unit labor costs have only risen by 4.3% since 2001 (9).
Of course, Americans haven’t been shy about spending under Bush. Indeed, it’s been party time for several years as anyone who travels or frequents upscale restaurants can attest. The number tell the same happy story. Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) rose by 15.64% from 1Q2001 to 4Q2005. Not bad given that GDP only rose by 13.9% in the same five years (13).
As you can see it is easy to come up with a whole panoply of good economic news. But still… The American people just don’t agree. Poll after poll give gloomy views on the economy. Indeed 59% of Americans rate the economy as only “fair” or “poor” (8). Is the public wrong? Deluded? Confused by liberals? Where it only so. The sad truth is that the economic boom has passed the American people by. Indeed, they are suffering more from the backwash of inflated prices than enjoying any of the fruits. Why? As is all too frequently the case, Open Borders is killing the American Dream by making sure that only immigrants (legal and illegal) and the elites get richer while ordinary Americans get poorer.
This is not some liberal/left-wing fantasy. Indeed the left goes to great pains to avoid using the “I” word when they are talking about jobs/wages/incomes. The sad reality is that from the standpoint of ordinary working Americans, the economy is weak, at best. Some of the facts are downright scary. For example, only 9% of the new jobs created from 2000 to 2005 when to the American people even though Americans accounted for 61% of adult population growth (1). Worse, labor force participation has been falling since Bush took office (10). In January of 2001, it was 67.2%. Now it is 66.1%. You have to go back to the first days of the Clinton administration to find numbers this low (actually 66.2% in January of 1993). Labor force participation does not normally fall in an expanding economy… (12). Indeed, this appears to be the first recovery with declining labor force participation.
Sadly, the minority data is worse. Black male labor force participation has fallen from 69.4% in January of 2001 to 67.7% in May of 2006. Black female labor force participation declined from 60.1% to 59.1% in the same time period. Hispanic labor force participation (both sexes) has also declined, from 69.9% in January of 2001 to 68.7% in May of 2005.
The jobs growth numbers all point in the same direction. This is, by far, the worst recovery in modern history for employment. The last recession ended in November of 2001. Since then (actually the next 48 months) employment has grown by 4.7%. The worst prior recovery enjoyed jobs growth of 6.2%. The average recovery since the 1960s has produced 9.5% growth in jobs. Sadly, the payroll employment data is much worse (14) showing only 2.6% growth over 4 years.
Average weekly earnings peaked back in November of 2003 and have since declined. Amazingly, weekly wages are now back where they were in 1959 and 17% below the high in 1972. Forty six years without a raise. Something to be proud of. Not surprisingly the poverty rate has risen steadily since Bush took office. Back in 2000 the poverty rate was 11.3%. By 2004 it reach 12.7%. The poverty rate always rises in recessions. This may be the first boom with rising poverty (3).
Median household income tells the same tale of woe. Median incomes have declined every year Bush has been in office and are now 3.8% ($1740) below the 1999 level (4). Quite an accomplishment for a president who thinks tax cuts for the wealthy will make us rich.
The superficially nice consumption numbers (15.64% growth in five years) start looking rather dodgy once you look under the covers. Cleary GDP didn’t grow nearly fast enough to pay the piper. Nor did compensation keep pace. Indeed, compensation of employees rose by only 8.3% in the same period. Something had to give. Indeed, the savings rate fell from 2.4% of disposable income in 1Q2001 to -0.5% in 4Q2005 and -1.3% in 1Q2006. Where is the money coming from? Greenspan found the home equity extraction reached $600 billion in 2004 (15)(16) an immodest 7% of disposable income. Are folks using their homes as ATM machines really thrilled with the economy? Does ever rising debt pave the road to heaven? Or would that be hell?
Of course, none of this had to be true. Productivity has risen strongly in recent years (see above). Soaring productivity could have brought large wage and salary gains to ordinary Americans. Productivity alone should have increased incomes by 8% since 2000. No one likes paying $3 for gasoline. However, not too many people would be complaining with fast rising wages. This is not a fantasy. In the 1950s and 60s, wages and median incomes rose right along with the economy. Then we abandoned our borders…
There are other dismal numbers as well (after all economics is the “Dismal Science”). Household inequality has increased under Bush (5). Inequality also went up under Clinton (”no interior enforcement”). Back when we took our borders seriously it declined, from 1947 to 1968. Inequality only started to soar when mass immigration resumed in the 1970s. Predictably, male median earnings fell from 2002 to 2004 and are now lower than they were back in 1973. The percentage of Americans without health insurance has risen from 14.2% in 2000 to 15.7% in 2004. Employment based health insurance fell from 63.6% in 2000 to 59.8% in 2004 (6). Why bother proving benefits when you have illegals?
If the economic statistics weren’t bad enough for Bush, we have the Iraq debacle. Is Open Borders really responsible for Iraq? At least indirectly, the answer is clearly yes. No we aren’t fighting illegal aliens in Ramadi or Sadr city. However, the connection to Open Borders is far from trivial. The easiest linkage is simply the cast of characters. Almost without exception, the cheerleaders for the Iraq war were Open Borders fanatics. Of course, the WSJ and Senor Bush fall into this category. However, you will also find the likes of Fred Barnes (The Weekly Standard), William Kristol (The Weekly Standard), Ben Wattenberg (AEI), and Michael Barone (US News & World Report) in this group.
By contrast, the strongest advocates of immigration reform were generally skeptical of the Iraq war or overtly opposed (Michelle Malkin being a rare exception). What is the connection? Both the Iraq war and Open Borders were/are based on a panglossian view of human nature. If you think America can tolerate massive legal/illegal third world immigration, then the idea that Iraq could be transformed into a model Middle Eastern nation with human rights, free elections, a free-market economy, peace with Israel, and U.S. bases might make sense. Saner voices recognized both ideas as deeply crazy. Crushing Saddam’s murderous and ultimately dangerous (sanctions were fading) regime might have made sense. Pouring American blood into the desolate soils of the Middle East to nurture “democracy” was, and is, folly.
Is immigration responsible for the other problems weighing on the Bush administration? In many cases, the answer is yes, at least to some extent. Only a president deeply wedded to Open Borders would have threatened his very first veto over the Dubai ports deal. A saner administration would have quashed the deal upfront or authorized it only after deep and credible scrutiny. Gasoline prices? The population of the U.S. has risen by 82 million since the mid-1970s when we built our last oil refinery. Most of the growth has been do to immigration. Runaway population growth doesn’t work with highly limited energy development. Something has to give, prices it would seem. A different president would make these choices clear or simply tell the American people that immigration must be stopped until we have a consensus in favor new pipelines, power plants, refineries, offshore drilling, etc. Hard choices in the Pollyanna world of Senor Bush? They don’t exist.
The immigration sickness infecting U.S. health care has already been mentioned. Of course, as the uninsured population explodes the costs fall on taxpayers and those with private insurance. These burdens make insurance even less affordable, pushing more and more folks into the ranks of those without. Why so-called conservatives would demand an immigration policy than can only end with socialized medicine boggles the mind. Perhaps non compos mentis explains it all.
Did Open Borders bring Katrina to the Big Easy? Actually, No. Even the most ardent restrictionists don’t suggest an enforceable ban on category 5 hurricanes. However, in a normal economy the reconstruction work would be providing well paid job opportunities for poor and working class Americans. Such a thing will never happen with Bush in office.
The Bush administration is clearly infected with some kind of “End of History” globalist worldview where mass migration is both inevitable and desirable. In this wonderful future fantasy, borders will disappear and all of mankind will embrace capitalism, free markets, free trade, democracy, etc. Sadly, this Pollyannaish view of the human condition has led to tragedy abroad, and economic failure at home. What should be clear is that the ideology of Open Borders is directly and indirectly responsible for the woes of the Bush administration. As of this late date there is little they can do about it. After 9-11, Bush had a perfect moment in time, to change course and save his presidency and his country. With malice and forethought he threw it away.
November 13th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
John Conyers And The Muslim Caucus
This is another lesson in the you get the government you deserve.
This is pretty scary stuff. We have people in Congress who put party above country. Even worse, we have people in Congress who put their own enrichment above anything else, even the safe…
November 13th, 2006 at 9:38 pm
SR – maybe you need to more clearly define what ‘acceptable losses’ are. How many dead in an attack on American interests is acceptable to you?
Would that be ‘collateral damage’ in the GWOT? Just clean it up, bury the bodies and get on with your life…. that’s pretty cold. I guess you can write that until it’s YOU on the top floor with no choice but to burn or jump. Then I imagine it would be a little more personal to you.
The further away we get from 9/11 the more we hear from the weak and the cowardly.
November 13th, 2006 at 10:01 pm
OUCH Beth!! But so true…that last sentence. You are so correct in that. It’s almost as if the weak and cowardly are ASKING for another, bigger more horrid attack…they will get their wish I think…by supporting the Democrats.
Dammit, at the cost of so many lives.
November 13th, 2006 at 10:07 pm
Uh John– thanks for that…it’s really TOO long though to leave as a comment. Maybe next time write a post at your site and link to the blogs you want to know of…just a suggestion. I did read it and agree with most of it.
November 14th, 2006 at 10:38 am
Reading The Tea Leaves
CardinalPark makes an astute observation regarding The New Realism: …one thing to me seems almost inevitable about the return of Baker and Company. Israel will no longer feel as though it is a safe, well regarded ally of the US….
November 14th, 2006 at 11:02 am
Keep your ammo dry — since the government won’t use it, we’ll have to.
November 14th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
Beth: It has to be accepted that death happens, and sometimes its overreacted to. Do we ban all cars every time someone crashes, or confiscate cutlery after each stabbing? Perhaps every alcohol-related death should lead to a temporary revival of prohibition.
There is an appropriate level of response. And even for two thousand deaths, I dont think that response is to start a war on an abstract noun. A war that certinly has killed a lot more people than died in the attack itsself. And the correct response is certinly not to throw constitutional rights out the window and set up shadowy offshore interrogation camps so people can be detained indefinately and tortured without a fair trial.
People died, yes. So get the police involved, find out who did it, call in the military if they have overseas support, and arrest them. Tighten security measures afterwards too, but dont go overboard. Its completly disproportionate to turn the US into the international gunslinger, attacking wherever there is a hint of suspicious activity. That is not an action to seek safety, but one to seek revenge.
And on a related note, I direct you to my own blog entry on a similar topic: http://moronality.blogspot.com/2006/11/its-not-end-of-world.html
November 14th, 2006 at 7:39 pm
Suricou Raven, you just keep singing “Kumbaya” while they come for you and your family and saw off your heads while you wait for the “police” to arrive. Look, we know you’re incapable of defending a country. That’s fine, just stop getting in the damn way of those of us who would prefer to live in freedom.
November 14th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
I am glad that we did not have the “call the police” mentality when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
Disproportionate is how you view it, fine but the examples are apples and oranges. When there is an alcohol related accident we go after the person who committed it. Since there is a law that governs the behavior we can do something. The law that involves being attacked by terrorists or anyone else is the law of warfare. It was a military attack, not a damned call the police crime.
How about we let the military fight the war and the armchair quarterbacks go do their jobs. I promise the military will not tell you how to do your job if you don’t tell them how to do theirs. They are willing to fight for what they believe in so that you have the option not to believe.
November 14th, 2006 at 8:49 pm
BTW,
I hope they do stop searching Muzzies. Then, when I travel (which I do a lot) I will claim I am a Muzzie and they will have to leave me alone.
How about we ban profiling little old ladies or members of the military who never complain when they are searched and are the ones killing the towel heads trying to harm us.
Always take a few sharpened pencils with you on the plane. They are great weapons.
November 14th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
I hate to say it…but I think ANY number of people lost in any attack is never worth a fight back…to liberals and appeasement freaks. No. Just call the cops and have them investigate and gather evidence and do a crime scene workup. Yeah…if they’re careful enough they might even get fingerprints!! (Off a smoldering burning pile of melted steel and concrete no less!!)Arrests? WHO?? The bone fragments of the suicide terrorists?? IdiOt SR….you’re being an idiOt. Grow up and have a look around…oh wait…in Britain you folks haven’t lost enough.
November 14th, 2006 at 11:08 pm
Beth: It has to be accepted that death happens, and sometimes its overreacted to.
911, big attacks… wow, two thousand deaths! Thats slightly more people than are killed in car accidents in the US every *month*. So dig up the survivers, tidy up the rubble, erect a memorial statue just get on with things, please. There is no need to throw civil rights out the window and start looking for a fight.
I have to agree. And in agreement I say, it has to be accepted, death happens and that is what happens to the folks we are fighting in Iraq, so don’t over react to it. They are dying, no big deal because death happens.
Now, no civil liberties have been taken away and I defy anyone to prove that one law abiding American has had his civil liberties taken away. If he is caught on the battlefield, we get to keep them captive as long as we are at war, just the law of warfare. Terrorists and illegals have no civil liberties in this country. Civil liberties are extended to the citizens of the USA. Civil is defined as:
1 a : of or relating to citizens b : of or relating to the state or its citizenry
Therefore, non-citizens do not have civil anything so get off that bandwagon (it helps if you know the language before you speak, or in this case write).
let us say for the sake of argument that 150,000 Iraqis have died. I don’t believe that and no one has proved it but let us assume it because people like to believe it is true. That is half the amount killed by Hussein and only 6 hundredths of the number of Jews killed by Hitler. So, cry a few tears, build a memorial. As for looking for the fight, the Islamic terrorists (redundant, I know) struck the first blow, they were looking for the fight. They did not expect the reaction they received and they are not happy about it. They will only be happy when the cowards here start looking to make this a law enforcement issue (call the police) and stop treating it as a war. The spineless cowards that make up the left will hand them the victory. I know that if the fight ever comes here, I will either shoot liberals first and then the Muzzies or send the libs out to be killed by the Muzzies, I just have not decided.
Uncomfortable with the way things are being handled? Then you are free to move out. If you don’t live here, have a cup of shut the hell up and mind your own business.
The problem is, the people in this world have forgotten how we bailed their asses out of trouble time and again. The Brits, the Germans, the French, hell all of Europe. Time and again we are either fighting a war for them or sending anything needed to mop up a disaster. What say we just say the hell with it, annex Iraq and take their oil, throw out all the ILLEGALS and non citizens in this country, shut our borders and stop spending our money around the world and isolate ourselves. Shoot anyone on sight entering and make sure we stay that way until the rest of them are begging for help, then we shut the door again. I am tired of mopping up all the abortions in the world only to get pissed on by the ingrates. They tell us we can’t be the world’s police but the minute there is trouble they call 911America!
Put that in you pipe and smoke it.
November 14th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
Big Dog –
You are 10000000% RIGHT.
SR –
We have had a war declared on us by an enemy that has no national flag, but whose “army” is dead serious. They are not interested in going head-to-head with our military, they prefer to murder civilians in the largest quantities possible in order to terrorize the public into demanding that the government surrender to the whims of fanatics.
People of your mindset listen to the enemy propaganda that attaches blame for this war on things the US has done, yet if you had the intelligence to do a little research, you would find that there is a slight chronological problem: Much of what they blame us for has occurred AFTER their so-called revenge for it.
A lot of your fellow airheads believe that the acts of 11 Sep 2001 were revenge for our invasion of Iraq in 2003. That, or you ignore the terror ops of the 1990s, on Clinton’s watch and claim that G W Bush’s policies or actions are responsible for terrorism.
Your callous remarks re 9/11 were typical of a liberal, you folks really couldn’t care less about human life, as long as your own isn’t endangered. You are so full of feces it drips from your nostrils (how unladylike!).
I have read your comments here at Raven’s place for some time, and attempted to be civil by not responding to them, but what you have commented in this thread is just so characteristic of the true intolerance, ignorance and treason by liberals not just to the US and other western countries, but to modern civilization, humanity and decency.
You moron, you and your kind would see us all enslaved by a dogma that would not only deprive us of even an iota of freedom or self determination, but would deform, brutally torture or behead us for the slightest misdemeanor, including stating an opinion on the most picayune subject.
You, SR, are one mentally defective human being.