John D'Aloia Jr.
John D' Aloia Jr. is a retired navy captain and submarine commander. He is a columnist for several newspapers in Kansas.
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), we are so glad that you have not been infected with the Mad Senator Disease (MSD) that appears to have reached the pandemic stage in the Senate chambers. (Readers--you only get one guess as to why Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) was not mentioned in the previous sentence.) Evidence of the pandemic was the passage of S. 2611, the so-called immigration reform bill.
The potential for skullduggery to be hidden in proposed legislation increases exponentially, based on the number of its pages. Also rising exponentially is the probability that those who will vote on the bill have not read it and do not understand its provisions. S.2611 contains 600-plus pages. A zillion amendments were offered. When representatives fail to completely understand a bill being debated, they are no different than sheep being entrusted to a wolf. In the case of S.2611, those who stood to make political and economic profit in ensuring a continuing flood of illegal aliens played the part of the wolf. The wolf's first victims were the Constitution and oaths of office, followed by the rights of American citizens and freedom.
An amendment was proposed that would have barred illegal immigrants from claiming Social Security credit for the years they worked with forged documents. Allowing illegal aliens to claim Social Security credit based on false documents is in-your-face proof that the bill is an amnesty bill. Even so, the amendment was defeated. Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), the author of the amendment asked:
Does this bill punish the people who stole an American citizen's identity?
He answered his own question: "No, it does not. It rewards them." On this same subject, Dr. Thomas Sowell wrote:
If an American citizen forges a Social Security card in order to get a job, he can be arrested. Illegals who do such get a pass and get to collect Social Security benefits.
Dr. Sowell did not just single out this one aspect of S.2611. He had a list of absurdities contained within the bill, absurdities that give illegal aliens rights that trump the rights of citizens. Illegal aliens who set up their own businesses would be entitled to preferences over legal citizens in getting government contracts. The children of illegal aliens would be able to get into college ahead of the children of American citizens with better academic qualifications. Illegal aliens could attend college without paying higher out-of-state tuition that an American citizen must pay. (The failure of the Kansas legislature to repeal a similar state law may be an indication that a variant of the MSD pandemic has a toehold in Topeka.) Illegal aliens would not have to pay all the back taxes they owe. An American citizen gets no such break from the government and can end up in federal prison.
Professor Kris Kobach, in Heritage Foundation WebMemo #1092, discussed how S.2611 reduces national security. After 9/11, opening the flow of information between federal and state/local law enforcement agencies in illegal immigration matters improved the chances that terrorist attacks would be thwarted. S.2611 turns back the clock. Kobach wrote:
Local police have become crucial participants in the enforcement of federal immigration laws. The Senate's immigration reform proposal would change all of that. Section 240D would restrict local police to arresting aliens for criminal violations of immigration law only, not civil violations. The results would be disastrous. All of the hijackers who committed immigration violations committed civil violations. Under the bill, police officers would have no power to arrest such terrorists.
Madness prevails.
There are many lists floating around of what has to be done to counter the illegal alien invasion. Most lists indicating an awareness of the critical nature of the issue start off "Gain control of the border--stop the flow of aliens." My list also started thus, but no more. What now tops my list is: U.S. citizens must regain control of Congress--we must get the attention of and remind those in Congress exactly to whom their allegiance must be and the meaning of their oath of office. One would hope that the public outcry against amnesty, against a new flood of aliens seeking the promised land, would do the trick, that senators would wake up from their dream world and correct their mistakes. So far, there is no evidence that the senators supporting S.2611 have gotten the message. Not when 34 of them vote against making English the official language of our nation. If it takes a political 2 by 4 in November to get their attention, so be it. The prescription is drastic, but the actions of those in office indicate it is the only way to rid the capital of MSD. *
"There is a terrible lot of us who don't think that we come from a monkey, but if there are some people who think that they do, why, it's not our business to rob them of what little pleasure they might get out of imagining it." --Will Rogers
We would like to thank the following people for their generous support of this journal (from 7/18/2006-9/11/2006): Harry S. Barrows, Carol & Bud Belz, Charles Benscheidt, Peter Block, Priscilla L. Buckley, D. J. Cahill, Terry Cahill, William C. Campion, William D. Collingwood, Samuel J. Criscio, Gary E. Culver, Michael D. Detmer, Jeanne L. Dipaola, Robert M. Ducey, Gary D. Gillespie, Hollis J. Griffin, Daniel J. Haley, Thomas E. Heatley, Ray Hodges, John A. Howard, Ken E. Kampfe, Martin Kellogg, James A. Lee, Paul Maxwell, Woodbridge C. Metcalf, King Odell, Richard P. Schonland, David L. Smith, Michael S. Swisher, Eugene & Diane Watson, Thomas H. Webster, Charles L. Wilson, Piers Woodriff.
