Politics Blog

‘Cause it’s been awhile!

Here’s a topic to get you started: Fred Thompson announces he will announce!

— W.C. Varones

They want to return to Mexico due to stricter immigration enforcement and a weakening economy. They know their homes are never going to sell in this market. What to do? Cash-out re-fi and stick it to the stupid lender!

Adrian, a 34-year-old undocumented immigrant from Sonora, plans to move back to Mexico as soon as he can sell a 2-acre tract he owns in Tonopah. “Yes, we are desperate to leave the moment I sell my property,” said Adrian, who rents a house in Goodyear. He asked that his last name not be used because of his immigration status.

Adrian said his sister also is selling her house with plans to return to Mexico. He knows other undocumented immigrants who are refinancing their houses and getting cash out so they can return right away rather than waiting for their houses to sell.

The lenders, of course, deserve it. They knowingly lent money to borrowers who cannot legally earn any income in this country! What did they expect?

HT: HousingPanic.

— W.C. Varones

More news from Hooverville,

The economy grew at its strongest pace in more than a year during the spring as solid improvements in international trade and business investment helped offset weakness in housing.

The gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic health, expanded at an annual rate of 4 percent in the April-June quarter, significantly higher than the 3.4 percent rate the government had initially estimated a month ago, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Click on the link and read the very next paragraph hinting at doom & gloom.

— The Ace

How it went down…

Full documentation here.

— PoliPundit

U.S. most armed country with 90 guns per 100 people:

The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released on Tuesday said.

U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world’s 875 million known firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies.

About 4.5 million of the 8 million new guns manufactured worldwide each year are purchased in the United States, it said.

America, I love you, baby. Don’t ever change.

— W.C. Varones

The more things change, the more the Clintons stay the same,

For the last 15 years, California authorities have been trying to figure out what happened to a businessman named Norman Hsu, who pleaded no contest to grand theft, agreed to serve up to three years in prison and then seemed to vanish.

“He is a fugitive,” Ronald Smetana, who handled the case for the state attorney general, said in an interview. “Do you know where he is?”

Hsu, it seems, has been hiding in plain sight, at least for the last three years.

Since 2004, one Norman Hsu has been carving out a prominent place of honor among Democratic fundraisers. He has funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions into party coffers, much of it earmarked for presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

In addition to making his own contributions, Hsu has honed the practice of assembling packets of checks from contributors who bear little resemblance to the usual Democratic deep pockets: A self-described apparel executive with a variety of business interests, Hsu has focused on delivering hefty contributions from citizens who live modest lives and are neophytes in the world of campaign giving.

Isn’t it funny how shady Asian business men seem to gravitate toward the Clintons?

— The Ace

Pro-amnesty presidential candidate John McCain is down to just 24% in the GOP primary in his home state of Arizona. Meanwhile, anti-amnesty Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is polling comfortably at 59-37 in his re-election bid.

— PoliPundit

Deported illegal immigrant Mexican mom wants to be appointed “peace and justice” ambassador so she can return to the US:

MEXICO CITY: The recently deported illegal migrant and activist who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year, has asked the Mexico’s president to appoint her “peace and justice” ambassador so she can return to the United States.

Elvira Arellano, 32, who sought refuge to avoid being separated from her U.S.-born, 8-year-old son, was arrested and sent back to Mexico on Aug. 19 after traveling to Los Angeles to attend a rally for the overhaul of U.S. immigration laws. Her son stayed in the United States.

“What I’m asking for is a diplomatic visa so that I can be an ambassador for peace and justice because I’m not a terrorist and the United States can’t continue treating undocumented migrants as terrorists,” Arellano told reporters after meeting with President Felipe Calderon at the presidential residence, Los Pinos.

First off, you are not being treated as a terrorist, you are being treated like how you deserve, as a criminal, a felon, a law breaker and an ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT in this Country and you got exactly what you deserved.

If the Mexican President does grant her wish, I wonder if the US can reject another country’s appointment to our Country as an ambassador.

– ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

This is absurd. This entire article seems to have a problem mentioning the party affiliation of the target of the investigation,

FBI agents seized campaign records after a search of state Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan’s Tecumseh home and later confiscated jewelry from his sister-in-law’s home, according to a published report.

At least one piece of jewelry agents seized was purchased by Steve Phipps, who has admitted to paying kickbacks to three state legislators, The Oklahoman reported Tuesday in a copyright story.

Phipps, who pleaded guilty in June to a federal conspiracy charge, has agreed to cooperate in the continuing investigation and is awaiting sentencing.

The FBI searches occurred Thursday, the same day two agents spent 90 minutes in the auditor’s office at the state Capitol. That visit was McMahan’s third interview with the FBI in an ongoing investigation of political corruption based in southeastern Oklahoma.

Now why might that be?

Oh, and the good little Democrat that he is:

A spokeswoman for McMahan says McMahan has no plans to step aside.

Shocking!

— The Ace

This time in Ohio:

Hundreds of U.S. immigration agents raided the Koch FoodsInc. chicken plant in Fairfield, Ohio, and arrested more than 160 employees as part of a criminal operation against illegal immigrants, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said on Tuesday.

“As of 2:45 p.m. (EDT) more than 180 Koch employees have been identified for further questioning and more than 160 have been administratively arrested for immigration violations,” ICE special agent in charge Brian Moskowitz told a news conference in Cincinnati.

Moskowitz said employees faced a range of charges including illegal reentry to the United States, identity theft, document fraud, social security fraud and forgery.

And here we thought they were just “decent people” trying to do “jobs Americans won’t do.”

The raids are a good start. However, I’d like to see some action taken against the 71 largest employers of illegal aliens, who’re knowingly employing about a million illegals in total.

— PoliPundit