FLE

Polls show Americans approve of... some stuff we just made up EVEN by the fast-and-loose standards of political rhetoric, the ongoing debate over reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act—and the related bid to provide retroactive legal amnesty for telecoms that participated in warrantless wiretaps—is an astonishing farrago of misinformation. It is truly difficult to convey briefly, if you have not been following the issue closely, the stunning mendacity with which these twin goals—expanded warrantless wiretap authority and telecom immunity—have been pursued. Yet even by the standards of this incredibly dishonest debate, a new survey being touted by Newt Gingrich's American Solutions group is simply jaw-dropping. The survey purports to show that Americans overwhelmingly approve of both the surveillance powers and the grant of immunity sought by the president and his allies. Yet the two central questions posed to survey respondents were premised on clear falsehoods. It is almost impressive how many different lies and misrepresentations the survey takers managed to squeeze into each sentence. It is simply false that the Protect America Act permits acquisitions only of "calls and e-mails originating overseas". The "target" of the surveillance must be abroad, but the communication may originate in the United States. It is simply false that either the sender or the recipient of the communication must be "a person suspected of having links to terrorist organisations such as al-Qaeda". Surveillance may be conducted on any person abroad, provided that "a significant purpose of the acquisition is to obtain foreign intelligence information". That information need not have anything to do with terrorism, and even if the investigation is terror-related, the target need not be a suspected terrorist or supporter of terror. It is simply, emphatically false that "the government no longer has the ability to legally monitor the phone calls and e-mails of suspected terrorists overseas without a warrant". Indeed, it is false in several ways....
Smugglers hide in plain sight The dirt bikes and dune buggies swarm the sandy slopes by the thousands, turning these giant dunes at California's southeast border into anthills of frenetic activity. Smugglers in nearby Mexico can't resist trying to blend into the crowd. They shoot across the border in souped-up vehicles loaded with illegal immigrants and drugs and elude U.S. Border Patrol agents by playing the part of dune enthusiasts: wearing helmets and decorating their bikes and all-terrain vehicles with decals and flags. The cat-and-mouse game turned deadly recently when a suspected smuggler driving a Hummer ran over an agent and fled back across the border over the dunes. The agent's death focused attention on the federal government's enforcement strategy in this remote corner of the border. While the Department of Homeland Security expands fencing in other trouble spots on the Southwest frontier, officials say fortifying the border at the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area has been difficult because of shifting sands that render current barriers ineffective. By the end of the year, they say, they will have erected a new type of fortification that they hope will cut down on incursions....
Immigrants still broach U.S. border despite fences Daily, U.S. Border Patrol agents in this Arizona town faced groups of up to 200 illegal immigrants who would swarm across the border from Mexico, sprinting past the agents to a new life in the United States. That was until 18 months ago, when the single fence was bolstered by two taller, steel barriers, watched over by video cameras and lit by a blaze of stadium lighting. Now the incursions known by the agents as "Banzai Runs" have all but stopped. "It was overwhelming," said agent Andrew Patterson. "This used to be a huge trouble area, now we are almost down to zero." While they are controversial -- some border landowners resent what they see as unwelcome government intrusion and some conservationists argue it disrupts wildlife flows -- border police say this stretch of new fencing has been highly effective. "It has been a massive success. It has allowed our agents to gain control over the area and acted as a deterrent for people thinking of crossing," said Jeremy Schappell, a spokesman for the Border Patrol's Yuma sector, which includes San Luis. A new single layer of steel mesh fence 10-13 feet (3-4 meters) tall stretches out across the rugged, high plains deserts and grasslands on either side of the small town of Naco, Arizona. The Border Patrol credits it with contributing to a fall in arrests, but some residents say it has done little to stop illegal immigrants. Local rancher John Ladd said some 300 to 400 illegal immigrants continue to clamber over the new steel barrier flanking the southern reach of his farm for some 10 miles (16 km) each day, as an effective combination of technologies and manpower remains elusive. "It's so easy to climb that I've seen two women that were pregnant, I've seen several women in their sixties and all kinds of kids between five and ten years old climb over it," Ladd said, as he leaned on a section of the steel mesh fence that stretches like a rusted veil westward toward the rugged Huachuca Mountains. "They're getting some help, but when you put it in perspective, its pretty amazing to have a nine-month pregnant woman climbing over that son of a gun, and thinking that this is going to be the answer to solve our immigration problem."....
Reality Sets In For The Virtual Fence The "virtual fence" that was supposed to help secure our borders will be delayed for years due to poor planning and technical difficulties. Unfortunately, terrorists and illegal aliens are quite real. Remember the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which required the construction of 700 miles of new border fence? It required a real fence modeled on the success of the barriers in the San Diego sector of the U.S. border. The operative word is "secure." The legislation specifically called for "two layers of reinforced fencing" and listed five specific sections of the border where it should be built. Last year's omnibus spending bill removed the requirement for two tiers and the specific list of locations. But according to an amendment by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson that was adopted: "Nothing in this paragraph shall require the secretary of homeland security to install fencing, physical barriers, roads lighting, cameras and sensors in a particular location along an international border of the United States, if the secretary determines that the use or placement of such resources is not the appropriate means to achieve and maintain operational control over the international border at such location." Hutchinson's office said the amendment merely gave DHS flexibility. What it provided was an excuse to do nothing and a license for open-border politicians to pressure DHS. DHS is on record as preferring in many instances "pedestrian fences" or "virtual fences," which are a look-but-can't-touch version of border security. Well, guess what? The highly touted virtual fence doesn't work, or at least nobody at DHS can prove it works. And it'll take at least three more years to make it work. That's lot of illegal border crossings before the Department of Motor Vehicles, er, Homeland Security gets its act together....
Agencies' merger spawns tension, arrests Bribery. Drug trafficking. Migrant smuggling. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is supposed to stop these types of crimes. But instead, so many of its officers have been charged with committing those crimes themselves that their boss in Washington recently issued an alert about the ''disturbing events'' and the ``increase in the number of employee arrests.'' Thomas S. Winkowski, assistant commissioner of field operations, wrote a memo to more than 20,000 officers nationwide noting that employees must behave professionally at all times -- even when they are not on the job. Winkowski's memo cites several employee arrests involving domestic violence, driving under the influence and drug possession. But court records show that CBP officers and other Department of Homeland Security employees from South Florida to the Mexican border states have been charged with dozens of far more serious offenses. Among them: A Customs and Border Protection officer at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was charged in February with conspiring to assist a New York drug ring under investigation by tapping into sensitive federal databases. Other recent South Florida cases -- mirroring a pattern on the border states -- have involved officers and agents accepting illegal payoffs for migrant smuggling, drug trafficking, witness tampering, embezzlement and rape. CBP and ICE managers say these cases simply reflect individual criminal behavior, not the culture of the married agencies. But some longtime employees said administrative incidents, such as hostile confrontations or heavy drinking, may reflect the low morale and intense rivalries following the merger of federal agencies under Homeland Security....Bush caved and agreed to federalize airport screeners and create the TSA, then caved again to create the Dept. of Homeland Security.
Feds warn states of ID deadline, travel hassles Homeland Security officials are pushing recalcitrant states to adopt stricter driver's license standards to end a standoff that could disrupt domestic air travel. States have less than a month to send a letter to the Homeland Security Department seeking an extension to comply with the Real ID law passed following the 2001 terror attacks. Some states have resisted, saying it is costly, impractical and an invasion of privacy. Four states — Maine, Montana, New Hampshire and South Carolina — have yet to seek an extension. To bring the states in line, Chertoff warned that any state that does not seek an extension by the end of March will find that, come May, their residents will not be able to use their licenses to board domestic flights. Chertoff's assistant secretary, Stewart Baker, sent letters to several governors Monday reminding them of the looming deadline, and urging the holdouts to seek an extension. In recent years, 17 states passed legislation or resolutions opposing Real ID, but now only a handful appear willing to challenge the government publicly. Officials in Maine and Montana insisted Monday they would not seek an extension. A spokesman for South Carolina's governor said he was still considering it. New Hampshire passed a law last year prohibiting the state from participating in the Real ID program, and Gov. John Lynch wrote Chertoff last week asking him not to impose the requirements on New Hampshire citizens....
Congress to Probe TSA, Flight Schools The failure of the federal government to follow new laws restricting access of non-U.S. citizens to flight schools is part of a "failure on every level" by the Transportation Security Administration, the TSA, says Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., the chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. ABC News reported last week that thousands of non-U.S. citizens had attended flight schools and received FAA pilot licenses without going through new requirements specified in post-9/ll laws. Oberstar has set hearings for next week on "other significant lapses," featuring FAA whistle-blower Bill McNease, who appeared in the ABC News report. "We cannot let another 9/ll happen because we were lax in enforcing our own laws," Oberstar said. Oberstar said McNease and other witnesses "will provide evidence of numerous, serious failures in FAA's regulatory oversight."
Citizens’ group suggests investigation of ammunition coding campaign The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today is calling on lawmakers in the states of Washington, Arizona, New York, Illinois, Hawaii and several other states to scrutinize legislation that would require ammunition coding, because it mandates a soul source monopoly for a Seattle-based company that owns the technology. Based on a story in the new edition of Gun Week, and a look at virtually identical legislation that has been introduced in several states, CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb said there are serious questions that need to be addressed about these measures, and the effort to pass them into law. “Sponsors of bills that would require coding of cartridge casings and bullets in their respective states have neglected to mention that there is only one company in the country with the technology, and that company has been working with a ‘hired-gun’ consulting firm that offers its help to lawmakers drafting the legislation,” Gottlieb said. “Essentially, you have state legislators working as promoters for a company called Ammunition Coding System, pushing measures in at least ten states that would mandate the use of this proprietary technology at the expense of gun owners. “Even if the technology were licensed to various ammunition manufacturers,” he continued, “it still puts one company in a monopoly position. On its own website, the company even acknowledges that legislation would be required to implement what many gun owners believe is a back-door gun registry, by forcing dealers to keep records on who purchases ammunition. “Creating a technology, and applying for a patent while hiring a consulting firm to push legislation that requires this technology is horribly self-serving,” Gottlieb added. “The fact that in every state these measures are being pushed, the sponsors are anti-gun lawmakers, simply adds to the suspicion....
Government records incorrectly kill off thousands For a dead woman, Laura Todd is awfully articulate. “I don’t think people realize how difficult it is to be dead when you’re not,” said Todd, who is very much alive and kicking in Nashville, Tenn., even though the federal government has said otherwise for many years. Todd’s struggle started eight years ago with a typo in government records. The government has reassured her numerous times that it has cleared up the confusion, but the problems keep coming. Most recently, the IRS — again — rejected her electronic tax return. “I will not be eligible for my refund. I’m not eligible for my rebate,” she said. “I mean, I can’t do anything with it.” Laura Todd is not alone. She is one of tens of thousands of living, breathing Americans whom the federal government has wrongly declared dead — by one measure, more than 35 a day....See folks, we really have no reason to be concerned about all these gov't databases. We can trust the competency of the civil servants and the integrity of our elected officials, can't we?