How to solve USA's Illegal Immigration Nightmare

1) First, eliminate access to free K-12 public school education for future illegal aliens. This should be minimum required for any immigration reform. Plyler v Doe + Schumer-Rubio guest worker program simply won't work.

2) No more automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. to 2 non-American parents. Move to Jus Sanguinis. Plug that anchor baby loophole.

3) Once both are done, I would give legal residency and work permits for qualified young adult "Dreamers" who are not recent arrivals. No limits will be placed on the types of jobs they can apply for. 

4) Have a guest worker program with Mexico limited to agriculture sector and those who want to work as nannies/maids.

5) Temporary means temporary. Low Skilled Guest workers should not be given permanent residency if the guest worker program is to work for USA. 

Related: How Illegal Immigration got worse in the USA after 1982.

Op Kors! Renato Corona used to be Arroyo's Chief of Staff!

Corona, who was appointed by Arroyo as chief justice in May 2010 shortly before she stepped down from the presidency, voted in favor of Arroyo in all 19 cases brought before the tribunal.

- Malaya

Arroyo Supreme Court's 8-5 decision to let GMA leave the country

Winnie Monsod praises Zubiri for not being "kapit tuko"

May delicadeza raw si Zubiri:

Whatever reason or reasons Migz has given, the fact remains that this is the first time in the Philippines that an incumbent legislator, whether senator or congressman, has voluntarily given up his seat. And the reason for this "kapit tuko" strategy is obvious: the congressperson is betting that it will take the better part of his three-year term before any decision is made on the electoral protest against him. And the senator, whose term is six years, is betting that his protesting opponent will just run again after three years, instead of waiting for the decision on his protest to be handed down.

If he's not kapit tuko, he should have conceded the elections 4 years ago like Denfensor did.

His legitimacy as senator was questioned and contested the moment he was proclaimed the 12th senator, after all the votes in Maguindanao were counted, which wiped out pimentel's decent vote lead. Maguindanao was the last area where the votes were not yet fully counted. Hinihintay lang ni Bedol at Ampatuan na matapos ang bilangan sa ibang parte ng bansa para malaman nila kung gaano kalaki ang kailangan nilang ipatong sa total vote count ni zubiri.

Zubiri should have conceded the elections like defensor and recto in 2007 and not let this drag on. He should not have used every bullshit delaying tactics like having the all ballot boxes of metro manila and other parts of the country reopened again (kasi doon raw sa manila siya nadaya ng opposition, according to zubiri's camp). he was kapit tuko all the way until one by one things started to fall apart, bedol and ampatuan started talking, military officials started confessing... he couldn't continue pretending to be a legitimately elected representative of the senate anymore.

Monsod also had something to say about the manual/automated voting systems:

Meanwhile, the real question is: What is being done to change a system that actually rewards cheating? Here are the Senate and House, with all their committee hearings "in aid of legislation" -- looking at everybody’s warts but their own, and ignoring the need for reform in its electoral protest process. And here is the Commission on Elections, still insisting on the manual (eyeballing) revision of ballots in protest cases, when one of the benefits of automation was supposed to be a drastic reduction in the time required for electoral protest decisions. And here are the Filipino people, whose collective will is being thwarted with impunity. Where is the tuwid na daan in all these?

Sorry madam, automated systems can't solve the cheating problem if rogue election officials from within the COMELEC are involved. Unless you want automated cheatings, LOL.

"Zubiri mulls re-election in 2013"

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, who announced his resignation on Wednesday, said he is planning to seek re-election in 2013.

In an interview by GMA News reporter Mariz Umali aired on “24 Oras," Zubiri said he hopes that his victory in 2013 will be more “convincing."

This is what we call kapalmuks.

Shouldn't he worry about more important things, like the growing possibility of jail time for election fraud?

Migz Zubiri should have done what Mike Defensor and Ralph Recto did

and conceded four years ago. Alam kasi nila Defensor at Recto na "mananalo" sila via come-from-behind kung itinuloy nila ang laban. Naalala ko yung decent-sized lead ni Koko Pimentel sa vote count na nawala after all the "votes" in Maguindanao were counted. Maguindanao "delivered" a 12-0 win for the Adminstration's Team Unity's senatorial bets.

Mike Defensor Faces Defeat With Dignity

Yesterday (May 30, 2007), the administrator’s top defender former Chief of Staff Mike Defensor conceded defeat in the yet unconcluded midterm Senatorial race. According to Defensor, he did so in order “to ease tension” and to discourage his supporters (and in essence Team Unity [TU]) from committing “acts inimical to the essence of democracy and fair play in an electoral battle.”

Why would Defensor (and Recto) concede early kung hindi pa tapos ang bilangan sa Maguindanao?

Here's Zubiri trying to act like an asshole in 2010.

Teddy Boy Locsin was part of the Hello Garci Coverup?

I remember him being one of the more vocal defenders of Arroyo's 2004 legitimacy while pushing the idea that hello garci was just made up by the opposition to overthrow Arroyo.

House probe report sidesteps Garci,
focuses on ˜conspiracy" against Gloria

FIVE House committees which jointly investigated the "Hello Garci" wiretapped conversations yesterday adopted a final committee report which gave more weight to the alleged opposition conspiracy to unseat President Arroyo than to the alleged cheating in the 2004 presidential election.

The report also practically clears former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano of any liability for his alleged masterminding of the doctoring of the results of the election to ensure Arroyo's victory.

The five panels led by the committee on public information chaired by Rep. Emmylou Talino-Santos (NP, North Cotabato) approved the fourth version of its report which carried almost the same findings and recommendations as that of the 18-page third draft report released on Feb. 18.

The other committees composing the joint panel are suffrage and electoral reforms of Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. (PDP-Laban, Makati); public order and safety of Rep. Amado Espino (Kampi, Pangasinan), national defense and security of Rep. Jose Solis (Kampi, Sorsogon) and information-communication technology of Rep. Simeon Kintanar (NPC, Cebu).

More here.

the final full report submitted in 2007 is here.

China hardliners to teach Spratly intruders ‘a lesson’

Ellen Tordesillas, writing for Vera Files:

Hardliners in the Chinese Military Academy are raring to teach China’s neighbors "a lesson" for intruding into the South China Sea, which they consider part of their national territory, a Chinese Southeast Asian expert said.

Shen Hong-Fang, professor and senior research fellow at the Center of Southeast Asian studies at Xiamen University, spoke of "a new upsurge" of Chinese nationalism set off by claims made by some Asian countries, including the Philippines, over territory China considers its own.

"Some suggested that it is the right time to adopt necessary measures to teach some countries a lesson," Shen said, startling participants at the two-day Conference on the South China Sea held in Manila last week.

She added there are those who think it justifiable "for China to launch a war against the invaders."

There are 2 ways for a Quiapo dvd revival

1) A new Manila mayor in 2013.
2) A republican president in 2012.

Bush admin early on imposed sanctions on PHI for dvd piracy, but eventually removed sanctions around 2007-08 because they saw how it helped the muslim people earn a living. Since Hollywood and Big Entertainment are anti Republican and conservatives, Republicans usually offer only halfhearted support for anti-movie piracy efforts by liberals in the movie industry.

If a new president (Republican) is in charge in 2012, a new US ambassador will replace the current one. If this is the case then a Quiapo revival will take place. If Lim is replaced by Isko Moreno in 2013, then quiapo will rise from the ashes.

Why the NBA needs contraction

having 30 teams is too much. it's very socialist, very european. the league tries to make them all equal and "competitive" by putting salary caps on teams and salary limits on players. that's NOT the american way. business is more profitable and higher quality if it's capitalistic--and not based on the ideas of Karl Marx.

Let lebron get as much money as he can from teams that can afford to pay him. No more caps on spending. Let unprofitable teams fail or go bankrupt--instead of propping them up artificially like what the NBA is doing right now. Let's improve the quality of the teams and players by downsizing the league.

Krauthammer on Obama urging Latinos to "punish their enemies"

How Film Piracy killed the Philippine Movie Industry

Critic Noel Vera suggested that the pirates should only sell Hollywood films on DVD and spare local movies:

Piracy is a serious issue, sure, but one disease at a time (or all at once, but someone better be getting paid here).

That said, there's an easy if dicey way out of that, something that General Petraeus implemented so successfully in Iraq: contact the pirates, negotiate with them to pirate only Hollywood movies and not local fare.

Alternatively, license them to do the distribution and production. They seem to do a pretty good job, speedwise (they just need quality control).

Selective enforcement of rules won't work either, because local films (where tickets cost P130 and up nowadays) cannot compete with easily available pirated DVD movies from Hollywood--pristine copies obtainable for as low as P10-15.

That's why nobody goes to the movies anymore. Watching pirated dvds is the cheapest form of entertainment nowadays.

Teddy Boy Locsin is a Tool

Jessica Zafra interviews Teodoro Locsin Jr. on the Automated voting system:

Why is there so much resistance to election automation?

It began in Congress, which passed the law with only one dissenting vote. Then the guys who delivered one million vote majorities to GMA in the House started opposing it. Which makes me suspect they don’t control one million votes.

Funny, I thought your committee report on Hello Garci whitewashed the whole thing.

Five House committees that heard the "Hello Garci" wiretapping controversy have adopted a final report, practically clearing former commissioner Virgilio Garcillano of the alleged rigging of the 2004 elections.

But while the report mentioned an opposition conspiracy to unseat President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, it also briefly questioned the administration's attempt to cover up the scandal.

"Malaca�ang was clearly at an utter loss to explain the tapes and, on at least one occasion, attempted a cover-up," said the report, which pointed to inconsistencies in presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye's statements.

Bunye had said there were two compact discs -- one version spliced and the other original -- that contained conversations between Arroyo and "Gary", initially said to be a political officer of the Lakas party.

In sum, the report said: "A conspiracy clearly existed to topple the President by embarrassing her with the so-called Garci tapes, but on the other hand, the administration could not and would not confront the tapes, and contributed nothing towards arriving at the truth about them, but on the contrary attempted a cover-up."

So, did the 1 million vote padding happen, or did it not? Here's a list of names who authored the report:

The committees behind the report are: public information, under Rep. Emmylou Talio-Santos of North Cotabato; suffrage and electoral reforms, chaired by Representative Teodoro Locsin Jr. of Makati City; public order and safety, under Rep. Amado Espino of Pangasinan; national defense and security, under Rep. Jose Solis of Sorsogon; and information and communications technology, under Rep. Simeon Kintanar of Cebu.

Ang Pekeng Opo-sisyon ng Nacionalista Party

Another Gloria Macapagal ARroyo loyalist na nagkukunwaring oposisyon at anti-kurakot ay itong si Abraham Mitra, senatorial candidate ng Nacionalista Party.


"Panahon pa raw ng tatay niya" na galit siya pangungurakot.

But that was during Marcos' time.

The Baham Mitra I know now is an Arroyo Loyalist.

He voted twice for killing the impeachment complaint in 2005 and 2006.

He was one of many congressmen loyal to Arroyo who received money from Jocjoc Bolante re the Fertilizer Funds scandal.

Yup, maka "opo-sisyon" nga.

Laughable Nacionalista Party ad

"Tunay na Oposisyon"? The ad wouldn't even dare mention Arroyo's name.


So how serious is Manny Villar about fighting corruption? Not so much.

As I See It
Villar won’t file raps against Arroyo

By Neal Cruz
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:02:00 10/02/2009

If and when Sen. Manny Villar becomes president, he will not, he said, file charges against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. But he would not prevent others from doing so. He would allow the wheels of justice to punish those who need punishing. But he will not interfere to save anybody.
...
Asked what would be his priorities in case he becomes president, Villar answered that it would be the economy and jobs. An improved economy and more jobs are important to raise the standard of living in any country, he said. With a higher standard of living, graft and corruption would lessen. People would not steal anymore because they are living well already.

Obviously, it's not a priority. Just lip service.

And how silly it is to see a Marcos in an anti-corruption ad. And Satur Ocampo and Marcos in the same ad, LMAO.

MORE: Villar blind to Arroyo's corruption

Why would Lacson want to kill Dacer?

just asking here, not buying the "lacson killed dacer" angle for a sec, but:

- if lacson really killed dacer, WHAT could be his motive? He doesn't know the guy all that much other than the fact that they (lacson and dacer) are linked to Erap

- I know many would say the motive is: Erap ordered the killing because of a fallout between him and Dacer. If that is the case, then why is this administration's PNP not going after Erap NOW?

- of course, if this admin will have erap arrested NOW, erap's candidacy will be damaged and he might even get disqualified.

- with erap out, NOYNOY will benefit by getting all the remaining anti-GMA votes. So why would this admin take erap the spoiler out of the race and damage the chances of their secret annointed--Villar?

From Lito Banayo:

A more cautious judge would have tried to determine if probable cause indeed existed to charge Lacson, especially in light of the selective prosecution by the DOJ (why only Lacson, and not Erap as well, who was also in the affidavits of Mancao and even Dumlao?).

Trends

Trends used to do interviews and data gathering for 3 poll firms in 2004 (SWS, Pulse, and NFO Trends)

Now in 2010 they're doing field work for Pulse Asia and Manila Standard Today's polls, and the numbers look similar:

In the SWS survey, which says it has its own field workers, had Noynoy Aquino at 42 percent and Manny Villar at 35 percent nationwide, an 8 percent difference. Erap Estrada was at 13 percent. Undecideds were pegged at 2 percent. Error margin was at 2.2 percent, plus-minus.

The Manila Standard Today (MST) also conducted its survey, with Trends utilized as its field workers’ organization, between Jan. 21 and 27. Respondents were 2,500. In its survey, MST had Noynoy Aquino at 36 percent nationwide and Villar at 34 percent, a statistical tie. Estrada was pegged at 13 percent. Check on the math for nationwide averages. It is clear that the MST’s survey is intended to deliberately bring down the numbers of Estrada, as Pulse Asia did and no doubt, SWS did too.

Pulse Asia also conducted a survey from Jan. 20 to 26, the same time frame as MST and to a certain extent, SWS’ time frame, also using Trends for its field work. Its respondent base was 1,800. In it, Aquino obtained 37 percent, Villar at 35 percent, or a statistical and Estrada at 12 percent.

As Trends was utilized by both MST and Pulse, validation by way of comparison, can’t be claimed.

Read the whole thing. Ninez explains why she finds the internal numbers suspicious.

Erap's poll ratings before Edsa Dos

cut and pasted from my old post back in 2006:

ERAP TRUST RATING STILL HIGHER THAN GMA (Dec. 23, 2000)

MORE PINOYS WANT ERAP TO STAY -- SURVEY (Dec. 18, 2000)

Believe it or not, most Filipinos still pin their hopes of a better life on President Joseph "Erap" Ejercito Estrada.

A nationwide Social Weather Station (SWS) survey commissioned by ABS-CBN showed that at least 47 percent of the respondents believed that President Estrada should set aside politics and focus on sustaining the social and economic gains the country has been achieving in recent months.

Despite a brewing political crisis, the Philippines achieved a significant 5.8-percent growth in its Gross National Product and a 4.8-percent upswing in its Gross Domestic Product.

ERAP’S POPULARITY STEADY - PHIL STAR SURVEY (Dec. 12, 2000)

ERAP TRUSTED BY MORE FILIPINOS THAN OPPOSITION, RELIGIOUS LEADERS - SURVEY Dec. 6, 2000

MORE FILIPINOS AGAINST ERAP RESIGNATION - PULSE ASIA SURVEY Dec. 2, 2000

MANILANS AGAINST ERAP'S RESIGNATION -- SURVEY Nov. 21, 2000

LAKAS SURVEY SHOWS ERAP SNAP POLL WIN -- PALACE Oct. 27, 2000

ERAP POPULARITY UP IN SURVEY Oct. 18, 2000

ERAP SHOULD NOT RESIGN -- SURVEY Oct. 16, 2000

Comment: Most of the surveys showed erap was more popular than the opposition at that time and most say that he shouldn't resign -- pero natanggal pa rin siya.

"I would dunk on his ass, break the rim, and shatter the glass."

Lebron James on George W. Bush. LOL.

"Genuine Opposition"

There is Manuel B. Villar, Jr., who started his political career as congressman of the lone district of Las Pinas, when his wife’s family alternatingly held the mayorship. That was in 1992, running as Monching Mitra’s LDP candidate. After FVR won, Villar turned to Lakas. In 1995, Angara’s LDP was suborned by Lakas, the banner Villar used in his first re-election, which he won handily. In 1998, he ran under Lakas, the flag of Jose de Venecia, who lost miserably to Lammp coalition’s Erap. As soon as night became day, hounded by the Asian recession that hit his fortunes badly, Villar led 49 other Lakas stalwarts and swore to Erap’s high haven in Greenhills. Through a hefty transaction, he became “speaker” by grace of Erap, who disgraced word of commitment to Joker Arroyo. In November of 2000, he promptly cut the niceties of committee hearings and floor debates, and by stroke of nimble double-cross, sent the impeachment complaint with the requisite endorsers to the Senate for trial.

Having been one of the principal sponsors of Gloria’s ascent to the presidency, he was amply rewarded with a slot in her People Power Coalition for the senatorial elections of 2001. He won, and served a full first term, getting the supra-powerful Finance Committee with influence over the budget, and later, through a term-sharing deal, Senate President after Franklin Drilon. In 2004, he fully supported his Gloria’s election. Right after, he “bought” the franchise to the Nacionalista Party name, hollowed out of members its history had. In 2005, when the revelations of Hello Garci ripped wide open the underbelly of a massive cheating conspiracy against the people, he kept his mouth shut. Franklin Drilon did not, and joined others in asking for Gloria’s resignation. Not Manny Villar. Thus did he retain the senate presidency until re-election time in 2007. But because the fall-out over Hello Garci extended till 2007, with his president burdened by abysmally low trust and approval ratings, Manny Villar thought it was time to switch…again.

And a motley band of oppositionists who wanted a shut-out, never mind defining principles or issues, welcomed him with open arms, with Erap mismo negotiating still another transaction with Villar. He was supposed to bring in other “sure” winners, Ralph Recto, Joker Arroyo, and Francis Pangilinan. The first two also deserted Erap in the critical days of 2000, while the last was never for Erap. The first two opted to still bed with Gloria; Francis ran as an independent. At the start of the campaign, Villar also styled himself as an “independent”, as if testing the waters. That was fine with Erap, for what curious reasons I have yet to fathom. When the so-called “Genuine Opposition” won handily, oh, Villar was now considered a born-again “oppositionist”. By the imprimatur of Erap, and the nihil obstat of Alan Peter Cayetano, Chiz Escudero, and of course, Jinggoy Estrada who got the lofty sinecure of pro-tempore. There went the “genuine opposition”. Even usually critical and perceptive media glossed over this, and sang the hossanas for Manny Villar, once more the Senate President, and soon, the “president” of their dreams … and wallets.

So, from LDP (1992) to Lakas (1995), to Erap’s Lammp (1998) to Gloria’s PPC (2001), to Nacionalista in support of Gloria (2004), to Nacionalista as part of an “opposition” coalition in 2007, to Nacionalista, with questionable allegiances at present. That is the adroit and nimble political odyssey of Manuel B. Villar Jr., much like a hopping kangaroo, the man who would be president of the benighted land.