Thursday, January 12, 2012

SAUL CHAVEZ, AN ILLEGAL DRUNK DRIVER MURDERS AN AMERICAN - I.C.E. SENDS HIM TO GO VOTE FOR OBAMA?

Morton Memos Put To The Test And Found Wanting


In 2011, FAIR was there to let America know about the historic presidential power grab of congressional authority that produced controversial "Morton Memos" - seemingly innocuous "reprioritization" that has produced an administrative amnesty. FAIR warned of the dangers their new policies would cause to American citizens and the people's right to decide who gets to come to the U.S. FAIR is right there, and we have the fight of our lives.

The story below is typical -- but seeing it reported in the news is not:

Saul Chavez was previously convicted of a DUI, but was not handed over to ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement) because he was lucky enough to be in Chicago, a proud Sanctuary City and home of the President's re-election machine. Chavez drove drunk again, this time killing 66-year-old father Dennis McCann.

Without penalty, Chicago police declined to hand Chavez over to ICE, allowing him to walk. Not surprisingly, Chavez skipped bail and will likely not be held accountable for killing an American citizen.

Because Chavez would likely have been convicted of homicide, he might qualify for deportation under Obama's new "reprioritization." But, remember, Chavez was convicted of a crime before he killed McCann. Under Obama's new priorities, Chavez would not have qualified as a priority since he was only convicted of a misdemeanor. Though he was here illegally and was found breaking our laws, Chicago allowed him to stay to break yet another law that devastatingly resulted in a man's death - this is the policy that Obama has adopted nationally.

Remember: this administration is also suing states that seek to get immigration laws enforced. Increasingly, counties and cities are getting the message: this president won't enforce the laws so we won't even honor ICE detainers. A true national crisis is upon us.

In 2012, FAIR will be here fighting to reverse these policies and to stop the resulting tragedies. Already this year, we have met with top ICE agents, are suing for release of more administration documents and are applying pressure where it's due. But we need your help. Your donation of $25, $50, or $100 will go a long way in fighting against immigration polices harmful to Americans.

We can't afford another four years of administrative amnesty and policies that reward those who break the law and demand special treatment. How many warning signs will we allow our government to ignore before there are more victims? Please stand with us.

Sincerely,

signature

Dan Stein
President

P.S. You can also mail your tax-deductible contribution to FAIR at 25 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Suite 330 Washington D.C. 20001, Attn: Membership.

ROMNEY vs OBAMA - END OF OBAMA'S LA RAZA INFESTED ADMINISTRATION?


THE BELOW ARTICLE IS FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES

THE NYT IS OWNED BY MEX BILLIONAIRE CARLOS SLIM, AND IS NOT THE MOUTHPIECE FOR LA RAZA PROPAGANDA!

YOU WON’T READ IN THE TIMES ANYTHING ABOUT THE STAGGERING COST OF THE LA RAZA OCCUPATION, MEXICAN CRIME TIDAL WAVE AFTER WAVE, OR OBAMA’S ENDLESS HISPANDERING FOR THE ILLEGALS STILL ILLEGAL VOTES!

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OBAMA HAS SUED FOUR AMERICAN STATES ON BEHALF OF HIS LA RAZA PARTY BASE, NEUTERED HOMELAND SECURITY AND TURNED DHS INTO THE Dept. of Homeland Security = PATHWAY to CITIZENSHIP, SABOTAGED E-VERIFY WHICH IMPLEMENTED WOULD PUT AMERICANS (LEGALS) IN OUR JOBS, AND PUSHED ENDLESSLY FOR “DREAM ACTS” TO ENCOURAGE MORE ILLEGALS TO HOP OUR BORDERS TO LOOT!

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HOW BAD IS THE LOOTING? THERE ARE ONLY EIGHT STATES WITH A POPULATION GREATER THAN LOS ANGELES COUNTY WHERE HALF OF ALL JOBS ARE HELD BY ILLEGALS USING STOLEN SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS. THIS COUNTY PAYS OUT $600 MILLION PER YEAR IN WELFARE TO ILLEGALS, AND HAS A TAX FREE MEXICAN UNDERGROUND ECONOMY CALCULATED TO BE IN EXCESS OF $2 BILLION PER
YEAR!

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NO ADMIN IN HISTORY IS MORE INFESTED WITH LA RAZA SUPREMACIST THAN BARACK OBAMA, INCLUDING HIS SEC. OF (ILLEGAL) LABOR, HILDA SOLIS!

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GOD FORBID ILLEGALS HAVE TO SHOW SOME KIND OF I.D.! THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF LA RAZA SUPREMACY!

WHEN OBAMA AND LA RAZA PELOSI WERE GENERATING OBAMAcare, THEY WROTE IT UP TO PRECLUDE ILLEGALS BUT INSERTED A DEVICE THAT MADE IT ILLEGAL TO ASK ILLEGALS FOR I.D.

BOTH OBAMA AND PELOSI LIED ENDLESS ABOUT THIS FACT!

“On Wednesday, he proudly accepted the endorsement of the anti-immigrant activist Kris Kobach, architect of the nation’s most radical immigration crackdowns, including the unconstitutional show-your-papers laws in Arizona and Alabama.”

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WIKILEAKS HAS RELEASED OBAMA’S OPEN BORDERS WITH NARCOMEX AGENDA (SEE: MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com)

 “Kris has been a true leader on securing our borders and stopping the flow of illegal immigration into this country,” Mr. Romney said.

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OBAMA HAS UNLEASHED HIS LA RAZA DEPT. of JUSTICE TO FIGHT VOTER ID KNOWING THE MEXICAN FASCIST PARTY of LA RAZA WAS OUT GETTING ILLEGALS REGISTERED TO VOTE ALL OVER THE NATION.

IN ON SANTA ROSE, CA PAPER, AN ILLEGAL WOMAN STATED THAT SHE WOULD NOT VOTE FOR OBAMA AGAIN IF HE DID NOT DELIVER AMNESTY. OBAMA’S PROMISE OF CONTINUED NON-ENFORCEMENT WAS APPARENTLY NOT SUFFICIENT FOR THIS ILLEGAL!
 

Mr. Kobach, the secretary of state of Kansas, drafted that state’s photo-ID law supposedly to stem fraudulent voting but with the real purpose of suppressing Democratic votes.

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IN LA RAZA OCCUPIED, MEXIFORNIA, THE LA RAZA GOV JERRY BROWN, AND THE LA RAZA INFESTED HISPANIC LEGISLATURE HAVE PASSED NUMEROUS LA RAZA SUPREMACY LAWS, INCLUDING DREAM ACT FOR SPECIAL TUITION RATES FOR ILLEGALS (EVEN AS THEY RAISE STATE RATES OF LEGALS), A LAW MAKING IT ILLEGAL FOR EMPLOYERS TO USE E-VERIFY, AND A NEW LAW ENDING IMPOUNDING OF THE CARS OF ILLEGALS DRIVING UNLICENSED AND UNINSURED! VIVA LA RAZA? THEY DO IN CA!

 In this campaign, Mr. Romney has shed all good sense. He recently said he would even veto the Dream Act, which could give legal status to blameless young immigrants who go to college or serve in the military.

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ONE OF THE THINGS THE BELOW LA RAZA PROPAGANDA DOES NOT STATE IS THAT ROMNEY’S FAMILY HISTORY IS FROM MEXICO! ANY TIME LA RAZA SEES AN AMERICAN THAT THINKS THE LAWS SHOULD APPLY TO LA RAZA AS WELL, THEY ARE INSTANTLY A “RACIST”… FROM THE PARTY CALLED LA RAZA….”The Race”

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January 11, 2012

Romney’s Hard Line

Mitt Romney, who used to try to sound like a moderate on immigration, has dropped the pretense. On Wednesday, he proudly accepted the endorsement of the anti-immigrant activist Kris Kobach, architect of the nation’s most radical immigration crackdowns, including the unconstitutional show-your-papers laws in Arizona and Alabama.

Mr. Romney has flipped and flopped all over on immigration, but in allying himself with Mr. Kobach he has lurched toward the extremist right. “Kris has been a true leader on securing our borders and stopping the flow of illegal immigration into this country,” Mr. Romney said.

Mr. Kobach, the secretary of state of Kansas, drafted that state’s photo-ID law supposedly to stem fraudulent voting but with the real purpose of suppressing Democratic votes. He is nationally known for drafting statutes, many passed by states and local governments, that usurp federal control of immigration enforcement and aim to make life intolerable for immigrants. He is with the legal arm of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that wants to reduce legal immigration.

His new ally has shifted around between moderation (Mr. Romney once spoke favorably of Senator Edward Kennedy’s bill to legalize millions of the undocumented), double talk and evasion (he supported a 2,000-mile border fence but also seemed to be for some path to citizenship), and hypocrisy (illegal immigrants used to tend his lawn).

In this campaign, Mr. Romney has shed all good sense. He recently said he would even veto the Dream Act, which could give legal status to blameless young immigrants who go to college or serve in the military.

On the day of the Kobach endorsement, the Romney campaign released a TV ad in Florida. Mr. Romney, who has opposed bilingual education in favor of English, “the language of America,” shows he is willing, as always, to say what it takes to scrape up votes. “Muchas gracias,” he tells voters at the end of the ad, which is in Spanish.


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OBAMA’S ENDLESS HISPANDERING TO THE MEXICAN FASCIST PARTY of LA RAZA:


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OBAMA HAS SIGNIFICANTLY RAISED THE AMOUNT OF TAX PAYER FUNDING OF LA RAZA!

 ON THE GROWING POWER OF “LA RAZA” FASCISM FOR MEX SUPREMACY




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“What's needed to discourage illegal immigration into the United States has been known for years: Enforce existing law.” ….. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR



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 CNSNEWS.com



U.S. Spending At Least $18.6 Million Per Day to Incarcerate Illegal Aliens; More Than 195,000 Illegal Aliens Deported in Fiscal 2010 Had Committed Crimes Here


U.S. efforts to find and deport illegal immigrants are overwhelmed by sheer numbers and hampered by public agencies working at cross-purposes. The $2 billion spent each year has little measurable effect on either crime or immigration. Most people deported say they intend to return to the U.S. – and many do. Criminals have less trouble returning than most.”

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FACTS ON MEX INVASION OF McCAIN’S STATE:

“83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal aliens. 86% of warrants for murder in Albuquerque are for illegal aliens. 75% of those on the most wanted list in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Albuquerque are illegal aliens. 24.9% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally 40.1% of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.”

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CA ATTORNEY GEN. KAMALA HARRIS HAS DECLARED THAT NEARLY HALF OF ALL MURDERS IN CA ARE BY MEXICAN GANGS!

Four in 10 homicides in California are gang-related, Harris said. Those cases also account for 80% of the state's effort to relocate witnesses whose lives are in danger because of their cooperation with law enforcement, she said.

 75 GANG LEADERS ARRESTED IN LA RAZA INFESTED CA CENTRAL VALLEY!


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 “But, I’m not familiar with my home county” (amnesty begets amnesty)
DREAM Arguments Pull at Heartstrings But Ignore Commonsense


By Caroline Espinosa


Friday, December 10, 2010, 12:00 PM EST

 
posted on NumbersUSA

The passage of the DREAM Act in the House on Wednesday [Dec 8, 2010] makes me think how quickly we forget to be thankful after Thanksgiving. Instead of being thankful for the education and other opportunities, they have already received, potential beneficiaries of the DREAM Act amnesty are asking for more. More education, more jobs, more benefits, and everything else that comes with amnesty and American citizenship.

These kids illegally received the benefits of American citizens. While the mantra of DREAM Act proponents is that their illegal presence is through no fault of their own and they didn’t have a choice in coming the United States, I cannot help but ask why the parents aren’t being held responsible. The parents had a choice and they chose to break the law, putting their children in this compromising position. The U.S. government should not take on the responsibility of other people’ s bad decisions.

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that parents make bad decisions for their children all the time. In the cases of illegal alien minors (up to age 29 in the revised DREAM Act), the parents took a risk and their children benefited through education and jobs, but the consequences of their actions catch up to them. Their misdeeds are revealed and their kids have to deal with the consequences just as children of American citizens deal with the consequences of their parents’ bad decisions that affect them adversely. Yet, no accountability is affixed on the parents who broke the law to bring their children here.

Too many people fail to realize that “ the land of the free” does not mean free from burden, responsibility, or consequences. While many of the human-interest stories regarding the DREAM Act are compelling tales of personal struggle, law enforcement should not be based on convenience or individual circumstance. Period. When it is, everyone expects to be the exception and the rule of law crumbles into meaninglessness.

Another favorite refrain of the so-called DREAMers is that they are wholly unfamiliar with their home countries. Personally, this one doesn’ t resonate with me. I have lived in four different countries in the past four years. I’ ve moved to each one not knowing anyone there or the language. I learned a new language. I made friends. I made a life for myself. Many people all over the world do this and are better for it. In most cases, there is no reason these kids would not be able to do the same.

There are so many problems with the DREAM Act. But the bottom line is that no matter how you cut it, amnesty begets amnesty. How many more parents will risk bringing their children here illegally if we give amnesty to the ones here now? No one can know the exact number, but we know that it will be too many.

Caroline Espinosa is a former U.S. Senator press secretary and spokesperson for NumbersUSA

NumbersUSA's blogs are copyrighted and may be republished or reposted only if they are copied in their entirety, including this paragraph, and provide proper credit to NumbersUSA. NumbersUSA bears no responsibility for where our blogs may be republished or reposted.

Views and opinions expressed in blogs on this website are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect official policies of NumbersUSA.

© 2010 NumbersUSA Action,
1601 N Kent St, Suite 1100, Arlington, VA 22209,
All Rights Reserved

NumbersUSA:
http://www.numbersusa.com/content/

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Where in this country is it NOT Mexican occupied?

 Judicial Watch

Mexicans Say Amnesty Will Boost Illegal Immigration

10/14/2009  

If President Obama keeps his promise of giving the nation’s 12 million illegal aliens amnesty it will encourage more Mexicans to enter the United States, according to residents of the struggling Latin American country who are undoubtedly rooting for the commander-in-chief’s plan.

The majority of illegal immigrants in the U.S. are from Mexico therefore the president’s reprieve project will greatly affect that nation. Two-thirds of Mexicans say they know someone living in the United States and around one-third have an immediate member of their household or close relative living in the U.S. 

A majority of those residing south of the border say legalizing their undocumented countrymen will inspire more Mexicans to head north, according to a recent survey conducted by an internationally known polling and market research company. A vast majority of Mexicans with a relative in the United States said a legalization program would make people they know more likely to go to America illegally.

The results of the survey were made public this week by a research organization dedicated to studying the economic, social, fiscal and demographic impacts of immigration in the U.S. It reveals that nearly one-third of Mexican residents (nearly 40 million people) would like to live in the U.S. and if there was an amnesty a large number would come illegally with the hope of qualifying for a future exoneration. 

An amnesty, therefore, would stimulate more illegal immigration which is the last thing this country needs. Furthermore, rewarding those who have violated our nation’s laws with coveted U.S. residency and possibly citizenship demeans the system, especially for those who follow the appropriate steps to come lawfully. 

It’s bad enough that U.S. taxpayers annually dish out billions of dollars to educate, medically treat and incarcerate illegal aliens who are, in many cases, depleting local governments. Los Angeles County alone spends more than $1 billion a year, including $48 million a month in welfare costs, to provide services for illegal aliens. The crisis is hardly limited to border states, which have traditionally been the most impacted. Georgia’s skyrocketing illegal population costs taxpayers nearly $2 billion a year.

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ILLEGAL ALIEN POPULATION MAY BE AS HIGH AS 38 MILLION

Study: Illegal alien population may be as high as 38 million A new report finds the Homeland Security Department "grossly underestimates" the number of illegal aliens living in the U.S. Homeland Security's Office of Immigration Studies released a report August 31 that estimates the number of illegal aliens residing in the U.S. is between 8 and 12 million. But the group Californians for Population Stabilization, or CAPS, has unveiled a report estimating the illegal population is actually between 20 and 38 million. Four experts, all of whom contributed to the study prepared by CAPS, discussed their findings at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington Wednesday. James Walsh, a former associate general counsel of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said he is "appalled" that the Bush administration, lawyers on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and every Democratic presidential candidate, with the exception of Joe Biden, have no problem with sanctuary cities for illegal aliens. "Ladies and gentlemen, the sanctuary cities and the people that support them are violating the laws of the United States of America. They're violating 8 USC section 1324 and 1325, which is a felony -- [it's] a felony to aid, support, transport, shield, harbor illegal aliens," Walsh stated. Walsh said his analysis indicating there are 38 million illegal aliens in the U.S. was calculated using the conservative estimate of three illegal immigrants entering the U.S. for each one apprehended. According to Walsh, "In the United States, immigration is in a state of anarchy -- not chaos, but anarchy."

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THE NEW CASE AGAINST IMMIGRATION: BOTH LEGAL and ILLEGAL

 By 



"The New Case Against Immigration" cuts through distortions and P.C. positions on the topic with convincing and shocking data.

The 12 million illegal Mexican immigrants, along with the 17 million Americans of Mexican origin and another 16 million Cubans and other Hispanics total more than those of the next ten most common immigrant nations. Hispanics total about 50% of our total immigrants, posing major implications for assimilation. This is further acerbated by cheaper calls, easier access to Mexico, support from American businesses, and considerable legal support from the Mexican government and elites within the U.S.

Massive Mexican immigration into the U.S. is a relatively new problem - in 1970 less than 800,000 Mexicans were in the U.S. Once in the U.S., Mexican women's fertility rises from 2.4 (in Mexico) to 3.5 in the U.S. - considerably greater than native-born American women. (2002 data)

Mexican immigrants have the lowest citizenship rate - 19%, vs. 42% for Canadians, 54% for Chinese. They are also the least-educated major immigration group - 62% without a high-school education, while their children and grandchildren have a dropout rate of 25%. About 43% of illegal Mexican households use at least one major welfare program, and 50% are eligible for EITC. Even third generation Mexican-Americans use welfare at a level 3X that of American natives.

Over half of Mexicans believe the American S.W. belongs to them. Their consulates in the U.S. lobby for acceptance of matricula cards (opposed by the FBI as inadequate) for ID, in-state tuition, drivers licenses, sanctuary city status, etc.

Studies have found Mexican immigrants somewhat less likely to be criminals than native-born Americans, but their children are much more likely to be. Second-generation males aged 18-39 from El Salvador and Guatemala are incarcerated nearly 6X as often as their parents, those from Mexico 8X, and Vietnamese 12X.

Mass immigration overwhelms our capacity to screen out enemies or locate and remove them. A sampling found a high volume of fraud (40-80%) in H-1B, P-3 (artists and entertainers), L-1 (intra-company transfers) applications. Meanwhile, U.S. agencies held competitions in 2006 for the fastest processing times - approvals are the easiest.

Studies find illegal immigrants pulling down wages, especially at the bottom - about 40% in California between 1969-1997, and undermine the incentives to automate production. (Japan has decided to automate rather than import foreign workers.)

The U.S. spent about $4.5 billion subsidizing the education of foreign college students in 2005-06. Immigrants created about 86% of the growth in uninsured in 1998-2003; 47% of immigrant families were either uninsured or on Medicaid. The number of E.D.s in the U.S. fell 9% from 1993-2003, while visits increased 26%.

A 2004 Heritage Fund study found the average lifetime cost of low-skilled immigrant households was about $1.2 million to taxpayers - about the net benefit to taxpayers of a college-educated family.

Bottom Line: "The New Case Against Immigration" demands a stronger stand against both legal and illegal immigration. Its recommended direction is to continue the effort to prevent their taking American jobs, getting drivers licenses and benefits.

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Lou Dobbs Tonight
Monday, October 5, 2009

 Father PATRICK BASCIO has a remarkably different perspective on illegal immigration from that of most Christian clergymen-one he’s outlined in a remarkable new book entitled
On the Immorality of Illegal Immigration: An Alternative Christian View.

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On The Immorality of Illegal Immigration: A Priest Poses an Alternative Christian View



By C.S. Patrick J. Bascio

 Editorial Reviews

Father Bascio presents a strikingly different perspective on illegal immigration from that of most Christian clergymen. He turns his spotlight on the harm of officially tolerated illegal immigration to America's own struggling workers in the form of joblessness, shrinking wages and poorer working conditions. African-American workers, already plagued by job discrimination, bear the heaviest burden of the illegal invasion, which locks them out of many workplaces or drives wages below acceptable levels. The chronic non-enforcement of immigration laws is no accident: Congress has little stomach for ending something so profitable for their most powerful donors and the voters they can muster. The author fears that many committed Christians are blinded to these abuses by their church leaders' preoccupation with charity toward illegal aliens, while ignoring the plight of millions of low-wage Americans. He deftly rebuts the self-serving myth of employers' and politicians' that illegals "do jobs Americans won't do." Bascio also sees the profit motive behind legal immigration policies that lure the third world's best and brightest to America, stripping poorer nations of their physicians, teachers and scientists. As a Catholic priest, the author admits the unpleasantness of taking a position not shared by his Church's hierarchy, which is driven by the prospect of rising membership. Bascio sees unchecked illegal immigration as having grave consequences for overall U.S. tranquility: disdain for the rule of law, street gangs, document fraud and identity theft, staggering welfare and education costs and creeping "Balkanization" that threatens the national principle of E Pluribus Unum. Father Bascio's book is a resounding appeal to Christians to re-examine their churches' conventional view of illegal immigration and consider the hardship it brings for fellow Americans and its dangers for the nation as a whole.

About the Author

Father Patrick Pascio is a retired Catholic priest, international human rights expert, professor and writer whose long ministry has included assignments in the U.S., Tanzania and the Caribbean islands. In Trinidad he taught at the University of the West Indies and, in Grenada, advised the Prime Minister and represented that country on U.N. committees. He founded and directed Salve Regina University's PhD program and directed its Master's program in Humanities. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran of World War II. Father Bascio has two master's degrees in the social sciences and a doctorate. A prolific writer, Bascio's works since 1994 include The Failure of White Theology: A Black Theological Perspective (1994); Gorbachev and the Collapse of the Soviet Communist Party (with Evgueny Novikov -1994); Defeating Islamic Terrorism: The Wahabi Factor (2006); and Perfidy: the Government Cabal that Knowingly Abandoned Our Prisoners of War (2008).


OCCUPAY WALL ST. - Bank of New York-Mellon seeks to evict Occupy Pittsburgh - BUT NOT ONE OF OBAMA'S CRIMINAL BANKSTER DONORS IS IN JAIL!

Bank of New York-Mellon seeks to evict Occupy Pittsburgh



DO A SEARCH ON THE BLOG FOR OBAMA AND HIS AL RAZA INFESTED ADMIN.

IF YOU’RE NOT LA RAZA SUPREMACIST, YOU ONLY GET A JOB IN OBAMAland OF CORRUPTION IF YOU’RE A CRIMINAL BANKSTER!


 OBAMA IS BUSH’S THIRD TERM!

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Rather than Hope and Change, Obama is delivering corporate socialism to America, all while claiming he’s battling corporate America. It’s corporate welfare and regulatory robbery—it’s Obamanomics.

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Every time it seems is if the Obama Administration cannot sink any lower in its efforts to deceive the American taxpayer, the limbo stick comes out, and Americans get to see, once again, just how low the Obama Administration can go. Team Obama's Regulations Review seems to be a colossal fraud, during the course of which, agencies are actually increasing the regulations affecting individuals and businesses.

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Banks, hedge funds and other financial firms lavishly backed his presidential bid, giving him considerably more than they gave to his Republican opponent, Senator John McCain.

Records show that four out of Obama's top five contributors are employees of financial industry giants - Goldman Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG ($364,806), JPMorgan Chase ($362,207) and Citigroup ($358,054).

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There was some press speculation that Daley’s departure was related to Obama’s decision to base his reelection campaign on attacking congressional Republicans for obstructing his supposed jobs initiatives, combined with doses of populist rhetoric about defending the middle class and fighting Wall Street. Whatever electoral calculations may have been involved, however, the shift in White House personnel does not reflect any change in the right-wing, pro-corporate policies of the Obama administration.

On the contrary, the appointment of Lew underscores the incestuous relationship between the Obama White House and Wall Street. All three of Obama’s chiefs of staff—Rahm Emanuel (2009-2010), Daley (2011-2012) and Lew—are multi-millionaires who made their fortunes as top executives of major banks.

He was brought in, replacing interim White House head Peter Rouse, to reassure the corporations and banks that Obama would fully implement their agenda of deregulation and austerity and to conciliate the Republicans. His appointment signaled a further shift to the right by the Obama administration.

Daley resigns as White House chief of staff

By Barry Grey
11 January 2012

President Barack Obama on Monday announced the resignation of his chief of staff, William Daley, and the appointment of the current budget director, Jacob Lew, to replace him. Daley is expected to become co-chair of Obama’s reelection campaign, where he will use his Wall Street connections to raise millions in campaign cash from the financial industry.

According to numerous reports, Daley’s departure, coming after a bit less than a year at the top White House post and at the start of an election year, took Obama by surprise. Only last October Daley had said he would remain until after the 2012 elections.

However, it had been widely reported that Daley was the focus of tensions within the White House, and last November, after the administration failed to secure a “grand bargain” deficit-cutting deal with the Republicans, Daley announced he was giving up day-to-day management of White House affairs.

There was some press speculation that Daley’s departure was related to Obama’s decision to base his reelection campaign on attacking congressional Republicans for obstructing his supposed jobs initiatives, combined with doses of populist rhetoric about defending the middle class and fighting Wall Street. Whatever electoral calculations may have been involved, however, the shift in White House personnel does not reflect any change in the right-wing, pro-corporate policies of the Obama administration.

 On the contrary, the appointment of Lew underscores the incestuous relationship between the Obama White House and Wall Street. All three of Obama’s chiefs of staff—Rahm Emanuel (2009-2010), Daley (2011-2012) and Lew—are multi-millionaires who made their fortunes as top executives of major banks.

Emanuel, who resigned in September 2010 to run for mayor of Chicago, made more than $18 million in the two-and-a half years he spent at a Chicago investment firm between a stint in the Clinton White House and six years in the House of Representatives. He left Congress in 2009 to run the Obama White House. Emanuel was the top recipient in the House of Representatives of campaign contributions from hedge funds, private equity firms and the broader investment industry during the 2008 election cycle.

Daley, son and brother of Chicago’s longest-serving mayors, headed the Commerce Department under Clinton and then joined JPMorgan Chase, where he made millions as the bank’s Midwest chairman and head of its global lobbying department, where he worked to block Obama’s new consumer financial protection bureau.

Long considered a representative of the right wing of the Democratic Party, even as the party as a whole lurched ever more to the right, Daley was tapped by Obama following the Democratic rout in the 2010 congressional elections. He was brought in, replacing interim White House head Peter Rouse, to reassure the corporations and banks that Obama would fully implement their agenda of deregulation and austerity and to conciliate the Republicans. His appointment signaled a further shift to the right by the Obama administration.

Lew is a longtime Washington insider, having served as a top adviser to the late House Speaker Tip O’Neill in the 1980s and director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the final years of the Clinton administration. He was deputy director of the State Department under Hillary Clinton in 2009 and 2010, until he left to become OMB director for Obama.

Prior to joining the Obama administration, Lew spent three years as a top executive at Citigroup. (The man he replaced as budget director, Peter Orszag, accepted a multi-million-dollar position as a high-level Citigroup official within months of leaving his post in the Obama administration).

In 2008, at the time of the financial crash, Lew was chief operating officer of Citigroup Alternative Investments, an internal private equity, hedge fund and real estate investing arm of the bank. Lew’s unit invested heavily and profitably in the hedge fund managed by billionaire John Paulson, which made billions of dollars by betting that the subprime housing market would collapse.

Paulson was named by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission as playing a central role in securities fraud committed by Goldman Sachs. Both federal bodies charged that Goldman made millions by selling subprime-backed securities to investors, without telling them that the underlying mortgages had been hand-picked by Paulson, who was, along with Goldman, betting that the securities would collapse.

For his contribution to the financial collapse, Lew received a salary of $1.1 million. Two weeks before he joined the Obama State Department, and after Citigroup had received $45 billion in taxpayer bailout money, Lew was awarded an additional $900,000 bonus by Citigroup.

Lew headed up the Obama administration’s efforts to forge an agreement with congressional Republicans over the spring and summer for $4 trillion in deficit-reduction over the next decade. The White House and the Republican leadership created a crisis over the deadline for raising the federal debt limit in order to push through unprecedented cuts in basic social programs.

Under Lew’s direction, the administration sought to outflank the Republicans from the right, including in its budget proposal cuts in Social Security as well as billions in reductions in Medicare and Medicaid. The deal collapsed as a result of Republican opposition. In the end, the two sides passed a scaled-down plan to slash $2.4 trillion, including sweeping cuts in food stamps, home heating assistance, public health and housing. The agreement excluded any tax increase on corporations or the rich.

Both the Democrats and Republicans acknowledge the August 2011 deal to be a mere down payment on more massive cuts to be enacted after the November elections.


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