In this disscution I felt that this sb1070 is runing peoples lifes.
Sure some classmates have arguing point but that's what it is.
In my own opioni I felt that this law is cruel n unfaithful to the adments n the constioin
And so far it runins lifes such as inocent immrgirants and families trying to make a decent living.
I notice just that the mexican cartles ruined the rights for mexican immgriants and many more.
The rancher that died might of not know that his land was half own by cartels or maybe he had something to join in them with money.
The american govement should try to stop this cartles first instead of targting immrigrants.
I feel arizona should have this right and obama should put a stop to it before this law hits big huge states.
If it hits califorina then all hell goes loose.
I felt like I was one of the main speakers for this class disscuion.
Bring it on third class disscuiion
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Mexico Says Drug Lord 'The Barbie' Captured
(MEXICO CITY) — Federal police on Monday captured a long-sought, alleged Texas-born gang kingpin who faces drug trafficking charges in the U.S. and has been blamed for a vicious turf war that has included bodies hung from bridges and shootouts in central Mexico.
The announcement came just hours after the government said nearly 10 percent of the federal police force has been fired this year as part of a campaign to root out corruption.
The arrest of Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias "the Barbie," was the culmination of a yearlong intelligence operation, the Public Safety Department said in a statement.
(See pictures of a mass quinceañera in Ciudad Juárez.)
The department said Valdez was captured in the state of Mexico, which borders the capital of Mexico City. The statement offered no other details, but included a photograph of Valdez sporting stubble as he kneels on the ground, a police officer's hand on his shoulder.
Valdez — the third major drug lord brought down by Mexico's security forces in less than a year — was charged in May in U.S. District Court in Atlanta with distributing thousands of pounds of cocaine from Mexico to the eastern U.S. from 2004 to 2006.
U.S. authorities had offered a reward of up to $2 million for information leading to his capture, and the Mexican government offered a similar amount.
There was no word from Mexican authorities on any extradition plans.
Mexican authorities say Valdez has been battling for control of the Beltran Leyva cartel since its leader, Arturo Beltran Leyva, was killed in a December shootout with marines in Cuernavaca, a favorite weekend getaway south of the Mexican capital.
(See pictures of Mexico's drug wars.)
The fight against Hector Beltran Leyva — a brother of Arturo — has made a battleground of what was once a relatively peaceful pocket of the country and brought the drug war ever closer to Mexico City. Their fight has spread westward toward the resort city of Acapulco.
Valdez's capture is the government's latest victory against the crumbling Beltran Leyva cartel. Two other Beltran Leyva brothers have been arrested under President Felipe Calderon, who in 2006 deployed thousands of federal police and soldiers to fight drug traffickers in their strongholds.
That offensive has brought down several major traffickers.
Aside from the Beltran Leyvas, drug lord Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel was killed in a gunbattle last month when soldiers raided his home in Guadalajara. Coronel was the No. 3 in the Sinaloa cartel, one of the world's most powerful drug trafficking gangs.
The Sinaloa cartel was aligned with the Beltran Leyvas until they split in 2008, one of the many divisions among Mexican cartels in recent years that have fueled the country's gruesome gang violence.
Valdez, 37, was born in the border city of Laredo, Texas, and belonged to the Sinaloa cartel before its split from the Beltran Leyvas. Much of the most recent violence in central Mexico has been directed at his allies.
The decapitated bodies of four men were hung from a bridge in Cuernavaca last week, along with a message threatening allies of "La Barbie" and signed by the gang led by Hector Beltran Leyva. Two more bodies later were hung from bridges near Acapulco later in the week, although no gang claimed responsibility.
U.S. prosecutors say they used a federal wiretap of a related case in Atlanta in January 2008 to identify Valdez as the source of thousands of kilograms of cocaine that were imported into the U.S. from 2004 to 2006.
Witnesses said some truckloads traveling from Laredo to Atlanta carried more than 650 pounds of cocaine. The workers made shipments of money, often containing several million dollars in cash, back to Mexico in tractor-trailer trucks, according to the court records.
Mexican authorities had been closing in La Barbie's allies in recent weeks. On July 10, marines raided a house in Acapulco and captured Gamaliel Aguirre Tavira, suspected regional chief of the Valdez faction.
Despite the major arrests, Mexico's drug gang violence has only grown bloodier since Calderon launched his crackdown in 2006, claiming more than 28,000 lives.
In the latest violence, a 12-hour battle between troops and gunmen left killed seven people in the eastern town of Panuco.
The gunmen opened fire and launched grenades at a government electricity station as they tried to escape the soldiers, causing a power outage in a large part of town, said Salvador Mikel Rivera, attorney general in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, where Panuco is located.
The battle started Sunday night when gunmen in six cars ignored orders to stop from soldiers at a checkpoint, Rivera said. Soldiers, along with state and local police, started a chase that ended at two houses where the gunmen tried to hide, he said. The shootout at the houses lasted until Monday morning.
One soldier and six gunmen were killed.
Panuco is just south of the northern border state of Tamaulipas, where marines discovered the bodies of 72 Central and South American migrants believed to have been gunned down by the Zetas drug gang after refusing to smuggle drugs, in what may be the deadliest cartel massacre to date.
The lone survivor, an 18-year-old Ecuadorean, returned to his home country over the weekend after declining a humanitarian visa that would have let him stay in Mexico, the Foreign Relations Department announced Monday.
The dead migrants were discovered at a ranch about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the U.S. border in Tamaulipas.
Violence has surged in northeastern Mexico this year since the Zetas broke ranks with their former employer, the Gulf cartel.
Also on Monday, Mexico's government announced that it has fired nearly 10 percent of its federal police force this year for failing checks designed to detect possible corruption.
Mexico's approximately 35,000 federal police are required to undergo periodic lie detector, psychological and drug examinations, and the government routinely investigates their finances and personal life.
Federal Police Commissioner Facundo Rosas said 3,200 officers have been dismissed this year for failing to meet the agency's standards. He did not give more details.
The fired agents are barred from taking jobs in any other security force — a recurring problem that Mexican governments have vowed to solve for many years. Another 1,020 federal police are facing unspecified disciplinary measures.
Meanwhile, for the first time in its history, the border city of Ciudad Juarez is canceling its traditional Sept. 15 celebration of Mexico's Independence from Spain, Mayor Jose Reyes announced Monday.
Reyes said authorities had not received any specific threat surrounding the event but decided it would be too dangerous for large crowds to gather in the city, which has become one of the world's most dangerous amid a turf war between the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels.
As in other Mexico cities, residents in Ciudad Juarez gather each year at the main plaza to hear the mayor give the "grito," or shout of independence, at 11 p.m. Reyes said the city would instead launch fireworks at different points in the city so people could celebrate from their own backyards.
The cancellation was especially a blow this year because Mexico is celebrating its bicentennial independence anniversary.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2014644,00.html#ixzz0zlDlpIUm
The announcement came just hours after the government said nearly 10 percent of the federal police force has been fired this year as part of a campaign to root out corruption.
The arrest of Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias "the Barbie," was the culmination of a yearlong intelligence operation, the Public Safety Department said in a statement.
(See pictures of a mass quinceañera in Ciudad Juárez.)
The department said Valdez was captured in the state of Mexico, which borders the capital of Mexico City. The statement offered no other details, but included a photograph of Valdez sporting stubble as he kneels on the ground, a police officer's hand on his shoulder.
Valdez — the third major drug lord brought down by Mexico's security forces in less than a year — was charged in May in U.S. District Court in Atlanta with distributing thousands of pounds of cocaine from Mexico to the eastern U.S. from 2004 to 2006.
U.S. authorities had offered a reward of up to $2 million for information leading to his capture, and the Mexican government offered a similar amount.
There was no word from Mexican authorities on any extradition plans.
Mexican authorities say Valdez has been battling for control of the Beltran Leyva cartel since its leader, Arturo Beltran Leyva, was killed in a December shootout with marines in Cuernavaca, a favorite weekend getaway south of the Mexican capital.
(See pictures of Mexico's drug wars.)
The fight against Hector Beltran Leyva — a brother of Arturo — has made a battleground of what was once a relatively peaceful pocket of the country and brought the drug war ever closer to Mexico City. Their fight has spread westward toward the resort city of Acapulco.
Valdez's capture is the government's latest victory against the crumbling Beltran Leyva cartel. Two other Beltran Leyva brothers have been arrested under President Felipe Calderon, who in 2006 deployed thousands of federal police and soldiers to fight drug traffickers in their strongholds.
That offensive has brought down several major traffickers.
Aside from the Beltran Leyvas, drug lord Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel was killed in a gunbattle last month when soldiers raided his home in Guadalajara. Coronel was the No. 3 in the Sinaloa cartel, one of the world's most powerful drug trafficking gangs.
The Sinaloa cartel was aligned with the Beltran Leyvas until they split in 2008, one of the many divisions among Mexican cartels in recent years that have fueled the country's gruesome gang violence.
Valdez, 37, was born in the border city of Laredo, Texas, and belonged to the Sinaloa cartel before its split from the Beltran Leyvas. Much of the most recent violence in central Mexico has been directed at his allies.
The decapitated bodies of four men were hung from a bridge in Cuernavaca last week, along with a message threatening allies of "La Barbie" and signed by the gang led by Hector Beltran Leyva. Two more bodies later were hung from bridges near Acapulco later in the week, although no gang claimed responsibility.
U.S. prosecutors say they used a federal wiretap of a related case in Atlanta in January 2008 to identify Valdez as the source of thousands of kilograms of cocaine that were imported into the U.S. from 2004 to 2006.
Witnesses said some truckloads traveling from Laredo to Atlanta carried more than 650 pounds of cocaine. The workers made shipments of money, often containing several million dollars in cash, back to Mexico in tractor-trailer trucks, according to the court records.
Mexican authorities had been closing in La Barbie's allies in recent weeks. On July 10, marines raided a house in Acapulco and captured Gamaliel Aguirre Tavira, suspected regional chief of the Valdez faction.
Despite the major arrests, Mexico's drug gang violence has only grown bloodier since Calderon launched his crackdown in 2006, claiming more than 28,000 lives.
In the latest violence, a 12-hour battle between troops and gunmen left killed seven people in the eastern town of Panuco.
The gunmen opened fire and launched grenades at a government electricity station as they tried to escape the soldiers, causing a power outage in a large part of town, said Salvador Mikel Rivera, attorney general in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, where Panuco is located.
The battle started Sunday night when gunmen in six cars ignored orders to stop from soldiers at a checkpoint, Rivera said. Soldiers, along with state and local police, started a chase that ended at two houses where the gunmen tried to hide, he said. The shootout at the houses lasted until Monday morning.
One soldier and six gunmen were killed.
Panuco is just south of the northern border state of Tamaulipas, where marines discovered the bodies of 72 Central and South American migrants believed to have been gunned down by the Zetas drug gang after refusing to smuggle drugs, in what may be the deadliest cartel massacre to date.
The lone survivor, an 18-year-old Ecuadorean, returned to his home country over the weekend after declining a humanitarian visa that would have let him stay in Mexico, the Foreign Relations Department announced Monday.
The dead migrants were discovered at a ranch about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the U.S. border in Tamaulipas.
Violence has surged in northeastern Mexico this year since the Zetas broke ranks with their former employer, the Gulf cartel.
Also on Monday, Mexico's government announced that it has fired nearly 10 percent of its federal police force this year for failing checks designed to detect possible corruption.
Mexico's approximately 35,000 federal police are required to undergo periodic lie detector, psychological and drug examinations, and the government routinely investigates their finances and personal life.
Federal Police Commissioner Facundo Rosas said 3,200 officers have been dismissed this year for failing to meet the agency's standards. He did not give more details.
The fired agents are barred from taking jobs in any other security force — a recurring problem that Mexican governments have vowed to solve for many years. Another 1,020 federal police are facing unspecified disciplinary measures.
Meanwhile, for the first time in its history, the border city of Ciudad Juarez is canceling its traditional Sept. 15 celebration of Mexico's Independence from Spain, Mayor Jose Reyes announced Monday.
Reyes said authorities had not received any specific threat surrounding the event but decided it would be too dangerous for large crowds to gather in the city, which has become one of the world's most dangerous amid a turf war between the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels.
As in other Mexico cities, residents in Ciudad Juarez gather each year at the main plaza to hear the mayor give the "grito," or shout of independence, at 11 p.m. Reyes said the city would instead launch fireworks at different points in the city so people could celebrate from their own backyards.
The cancellation was especially a blow this year because Mexico is celebrating its bicentennial independence anniversary.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2014644,00.html#ixzz0zlDlpIUm
the famous cartelJoaquín Guzmán
Alias: Chapo (Shorty)
Affiliation: Sinaloa cartel
Born: April 4, 1957, in La Tuna, Sinaloa
Bounty: $5 million (U.S.), 30 million pesos (Mexico)
What We Know: Guzmán stands just 5 ft. 6 in. tall. He escaped from a high-security prison in a laundry cart in 2001 and has since been blamed for starting bloody turf wars all over Mexico. He reportedly got married to an 18-year-old beauty queen in 2007; in 2008, his son was shot dead and Guzmán reportedly had 50,000 red roses sent to the funeral.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2019221_2019202_2019147,00.html#ixzz0zlAZG5yC
Affiliation: Sinaloa cartel
Born: April 4, 1957, in La Tuna, Sinaloa
Bounty: $5 million (U.S.), 30 million pesos (Mexico)
What We Know: Guzmán stands just 5 ft. 6 in. tall. He escaped from a high-security prison in a laundry cart in 2001 and has since been blamed for starting bloody turf wars all over Mexico. He reportedly got married to an 18-year-old beauty queen in 2007; in 2008, his son was shot dead and Guzmán reportedly had 50,000 red roses sent to the funeral.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2019221_2019202_2019147,00.html#ixzz0zlAZG5yC
Monday, September 13, 2010
Editor's note: Michael Hethmon is a public interest lawyer and general counsel for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, the legal affiliate of the Federation for American Immigration Reform. He helped draft Arizona's SB 1070, the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act.
Washington (CNN) -- A district judge on Wednesday preliminarily barred the enforcement of two sections and two subsections of Arizona's new immigration law, SB 1070.
As was the case with the public reaction after Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the law on April 23, we are again seeing wild claims about the matter -- in this case, about Judge Susan Bolton's order.
Commentators are making overblown statements about the judge's order without having actually read it. As a lawyer who supports the enactment of state laws that promote comprehensive immigration enforcement, I offer this initial analysis to the beleaguered voters of Arizona:
First: The judge lives in Arizona, likes Arizona and its people and sympathizes with your struggle to fight "rampant immigration, escalating drug and human trafficking crimes, and serious safety concerns." That's from the first sentence of her order.
Video: Battle over Arizona's law Video: 'Repeal...or enforce the laws' Video: The anger in Arizona Video: Brewer 'relentless' about SB 1070
Second: The judge agrees that Arizona has a right to express its intent that "attrition [of the number of illegal immigrants entering the state] though enforcement" be the state policy. The judge rejected the administration's request that she find that SB 1070 is unconstitutional as a whole.
She clearly didn't buy into the claim that states are barred from enforcing our nation's immigration law. Bolton wrote that SB 1070 is not a "unified statutory scheme" that contradicts federal law and let it stand.
Third: Bolton upheld the anti-sanctuary provisions, including the provision allowing citizens to sue local governments (but not their police officers) that harbor and encourage illegal immigration. Bolton also approved of the tough new state felony laws that "mirror" federal immigration crimes such as smuggling, transporting, sheltering, harboring and inducing illegal aliens to remain, even if they do not follow the federal statute word-for-word.
This is bad news for cities such as Los Angeles or New Haven, Connecticut, that claim they can pick and chose which federal laws they will observe.
Notably, Bolton tossed two far-left theories advanced by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. One is that the Arizona criminal "mirror" statutes were a pre-empted "regulation of immigration," the theory used to sabotage California's Proposition 187 back in 1996. The other is that prosecuting alien smugglers in state courts somehow interferes with interstate commerce.
Fourth: Bolton zeroed in on the second sentence of Section 2 and held that the sentence should be broadly read to require that "every single person arrested" must be detained until federal agents definitively determine their immigration status.
That state policy, she wrote, would "burden" lawfully present aliens with prolonged detentions. Outside of sanctuary cities, police officers nationwide already have discretion to query a person's immigration status during a traffic stop or similar scenario, if the officer reasonably suspects the person is unlawfully present.
However, Bolton wrote Arizona couldn't require such queries by police by statute, taking at face value administration claims it would overload the federal government with requests for verification.
This reasoning has at least two problems.
Congress clearly required Homeland Security to respond to police requests for the immigration status of legal as well as suspected illegal aliens. The federal anti-sanctuary statute, 8 U.S.C. 1373(c), requires the federal government to verify state and local police requests regarding "the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any person ..."
Moreover, in constitutional challenges brought before a law is implemented, the Supreme Court expects federal judges to uphold state laws unless they would be unconstitutional in every case. These are important points for appeal.
Fifth: Bolton preliminarily blocked enforcement of the new state misdemeanor of failure by aliens to register with the federal government (as in sneaking over the border) or to carry their registration documents in their personal possession.
The judge relied on a 1940 Supreme Court case, Hines v. Davidowitz, to conclude that Congress had "completely occupied the field" of alien registration. The problem with that theory is that the federal statute behind the Arizona law wasn't enacted until 13 years later, in 1952.
Even if the judge's theory survives appellate review, the easy fix is to drop the state penalties and instead simply prohibit restrictions on state police enforcing the federal alien registration law, a procedure that has been upheld in every federal appellate court to consider the question.
Sixth: Bolton upheld the constitutionality of punishing aliens who stand in public streets to solicit day labor. She had no choice. Several weeks ago, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a similar law from California, finding it was a reasonable public safety measure that didn't infringe on the First Amendment right to free association.
Bolton did block the related provision making it a state crime for an illegal alien to solicit or perform work. I think this is the one area where there is an arguable legal dispute. What did Congress intend when it enacted the employer sanctions laws in 1986? But that important question is already before the U.S. Supreme Court, which just weeks ago agreed to review Arizona's 2007 law requiring statewide use of the E-Verify online work authorization verification system.
Seventh: Bolton also delayed implementation of the section of SB 1070 that confirms police authority to arrest without warrant aliens who are deportable under federal law. The judge said that if the provision were given the broadest possible interpretation, legal immigrants might be wrongly arrested by local officers. Only federal immigration judges can decide to remove legal immigrants.
Here again, the judge hinted that if the law were amended to clarify that the narrow interpretation was the proper one -- that local officers can detain criminal aliens convicted or wanted for deportable crimes in other states -- it would pass muster.
All the other provisions of the SB 1070, including the improved evidentiary standards for Arizona's E-Verify law, and the provision authorizing the impoundment of vehicles belonging to illegal aliens, passed muster and will be implemented.
When the order was issued, I was in a meeting with East Coast legislators from one of many states considering SB-1070 laws. They were concerned by the first news reports. But after we read the order together, their confidence was restored.
They resolved to include Bolton's technical corrections in the bill they're drafting and go forward with this vital program for protecting citizens' rights and the rule of law.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Michael Hethmon.
Washington (CNN) -- A district judge on Wednesday preliminarily barred the enforcement of two sections and two subsections of Arizona's new immigration law, SB 1070.
As was the case with the public reaction after Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the law on April 23, we are again seeing wild claims about the matter -- in this case, about Judge Susan Bolton's order.
Commentators are making overblown statements about the judge's order without having actually read it. As a lawyer who supports the enactment of state laws that promote comprehensive immigration enforcement, I offer this initial analysis to the beleaguered voters of Arizona:
First: The judge lives in Arizona, likes Arizona and its people and sympathizes with your struggle to fight "rampant immigration, escalating drug and human trafficking crimes, and serious safety concerns." That's from the first sentence of her order.
Video: Battle over Arizona's law Video: 'Repeal...or enforce the laws' Video: The anger in Arizona Video: Brewer 'relentless' about SB 1070
Second: The judge agrees that Arizona has a right to express its intent that "attrition [of the number of illegal immigrants entering the state] though enforcement" be the state policy. The judge rejected the administration's request that she find that SB 1070 is unconstitutional as a whole.
She clearly didn't buy into the claim that states are barred from enforcing our nation's immigration law. Bolton wrote that SB 1070 is not a "unified statutory scheme" that contradicts federal law and let it stand.
Third: Bolton upheld the anti-sanctuary provisions, including the provision allowing citizens to sue local governments (but not their police officers) that harbor and encourage illegal immigration. Bolton also approved of the tough new state felony laws that "mirror" federal immigration crimes such as smuggling, transporting, sheltering, harboring and inducing illegal aliens to remain, even if they do not follow the federal statute word-for-word.
This is bad news for cities such as Los Angeles or New Haven, Connecticut, that claim they can pick and chose which federal laws they will observe.
Notably, Bolton tossed two far-left theories advanced by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. One is that the Arizona criminal "mirror" statutes were a pre-empted "regulation of immigration," the theory used to sabotage California's Proposition 187 back in 1996. The other is that prosecuting alien smugglers in state courts somehow interferes with interstate commerce.
Fourth: Bolton zeroed in on the second sentence of Section 2 and held that the sentence should be broadly read to require that "every single person arrested" must be detained until federal agents definitively determine their immigration status.
That state policy, she wrote, would "burden" lawfully present aliens with prolonged detentions. Outside of sanctuary cities, police officers nationwide already have discretion to query a person's immigration status during a traffic stop or similar scenario, if the officer reasonably suspects the person is unlawfully present.
However, Bolton wrote Arizona couldn't require such queries by police by statute, taking at face value administration claims it would overload the federal government with requests for verification.
This reasoning has at least two problems.
Congress clearly required Homeland Security to respond to police requests for the immigration status of legal as well as suspected illegal aliens. The federal anti-sanctuary statute, 8 U.S.C. 1373(c), requires the federal government to verify state and local police requests regarding "the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any person ..."
Moreover, in constitutional challenges brought before a law is implemented, the Supreme Court expects federal judges to uphold state laws unless they would be unconstitutional in every case. These are important points for appeal.
Fifth: Bolton preliminarily blocked enforcement of the new state misdemeanor of failure by aliens to register with the federal government (as in sneaking over the border) or to carry their registration documents in their personal possession.
The judge relied on a 1940 Supreme Court case, Hines v. Davidowitz, to conclude that Congress had "completely occupied the field" of alien registration. The problem with that theory is that the federal statute behind the Arizona law wasn't enacted until 13 years later, in 1952.
Even if the judge's theory survives appellate review, the easy fix is to drop the state penalties and instead simply prohibit restrictions on state police enforcing the federal alien registration law, a procedure that has been upheld in every federal appellate court to consider the question.
Sixth: Bolton upheld the constitutionality of punishing aliens who stand in public streets to solicit day labor. She had no choice. Several weeks ago, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a similar law from California, finding it was a reasonable public safety measure that didn't infringe on the First Amendment right to free association.
Bolton did block the related provision making it a state crime for an illegal alien to solicit or perform work. I think this is the one area where there is an arguable legal dispute. What did Congress intend when it enacted the employer sanctions laws in 1986? But that important question is already before the U.S. Supreme Court, which just weeks ago agreed to review Arizona's 2007 law requiring statewide use of the E-Verify online work authorization verification system.
Seventh: Bolton also delayed implementation of the section of SB 1070 that confirms police authority to arrest without warrant aliens who are deportable under federal law. The judge said that if the provision were given the broadest possible interpretation, legal immigrants might be wrongly arrested by local officers. Only federal immigration judges can decide to remove legal immigrants.
Here again, the judge hinted that if the law were amended to clarify that the narrow interpretation was the proper one -- that local officers can detain criminal aliens convicted or wanted for deportable crimes in other states -- it would pass muster.
All the other provisions of the SB 1070, including the improved evidentiary standards for Arizona's E-Verify law, and the provision authorizing the impoundment of vehicles belonging to illegal aliens, passed muster and will be implemented.
When the order was issued, I was in a meeting with East Coast legislators from one of many states considering SB-1070 laws. They were concerned by the first news reports. But after we read the order together, their confidence was restored.
They resolved to include Bolton's technical corrections in the bill they're drafting and go forward with this vital program for protecting citizens' rights and the rule of law.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Michael Hethmon.
Terror babies': The new immigration scare tactic
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Two Texas Republicans claim the 14th Amendment could aid terrorist goals to attack U.S.
Ruben Navarrette says the "terror babies" fear is groundless
He says it's the latest scare tactic being used to whip up a frenzy over immigration
Navarrette: Let's have a debate about immigration on the merits, not on fantasy
Editor's note: Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a nationally syndicated columnist, an NPR commentator and a regular contributor to CNN.com
Phoenix, Arizona (CNN) -- By spending a few days here in America's fifth-largest city -- which also happens to be at the heart of the nation's immigration debate -- I had the chance to see this volatile issue from many different vantage points.
But as far I know, I didn't see any terror babies.
Regular viewers of CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" will recognize that term as referring to children born on U.S. soil to illegal immigrants. The children are automatically granted U.S. citizenship under the 14th Amendment and then are smuggled back to their home countries to be raised as pint-sized, America-hating terrorists. Then decades later, when the children have grown into adults, they could easily -- because of their U.S. citizenship -- re-enter the United States to attack it from within.
So terror babies are sort of like a sleeper cell, one that has to be put down for a nap every few hours or it gets fussy.
Video: Debating 'terror babies' Video: Terror babies 'absurd' Video: 'Little terrorists' born in U.S.?
RELATED TOPICS
Immigration
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Arizona Immigration
Drug Trafficking
Is this a scary scenario? You bet. Is it anything close to reality? It doesn't look like it. In fact, what's really scary are opportunistic lawmakers out there who will sink to new depths to scare the Dickens out of people in order to drum up support for the radical idea of changing the 14th Amendment or scrapping it altogether.
That's what this story is really about. It's an elaborate pitch to that constituency who believes that illegal immigrants are unfairly taking advantage of a constitutional provision that makes anyone born on U.S. soil an American citizen.
The two Texas Republicans who are actively spinning this yarn -- State Representative Debbie Riddle and U.S. Congressman Louie Gohmert -- both appeared on Cooper's show this week, and neither could provide any evidence of the existence of these mythical terror babies. In fact, in the face of questioning by Cooper, both got extremely defensive. You might say these GOP fear mongers were acting in a way that could be accurately described as infantile.
Riddle and Gohmert claimed they got the information from conversations with "former FBI officials." So Cooper interviewed CNN contributor Tom Fuentes, who served as the FBI's assistant director in the office of international operations from 2004 to 2008.
"The FBI has 75 offices overseas, including offices in Jordan, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan," Fuentes said. "There was never a credible report -- or any report, for that matter -- coming across through all the various mechanisms of communication to indicate that there was such a plan for these terror babies to be born."
The FBI has also done everything it can to knock down the story as simply not credible.
Of course, this tall tale isn't credible; it's probably nothing more than a figment of politicians' imaginations. But it is valuable since it helps illustrate a disturbing phenomenon here in Arizona, where supporters of the state's new immigration law seem to feel as if they have to justify the measure not only by scaring people, but also by doing extreme makeovers. They take things that are familiar and try to make them sinister.
Those aren't U.S. citizen babies, they say; they're future terrorists. Those aren't run-of-the-mill illegal immigrants who come to Arizona to work and feed their families; they're drug mules for the Mexican cartels, says Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. And those aren't coyotes, immigrant smugglers bringing people in the United States as they have for generations; they're drug cartels, which -- according to Brewer -- now control all the immigrant smuggling operations into the United States.
The Border Patrol was just as quick to knockdown those stories as untrue as the FBI was in refuting the story about terror babies using the 14th Amendment to do us harm.
I was glad to see that. There is already enough dishonesty in the immigration debate; we certainly don't need any more coming from the state of Arizona. Yet, there is a steady trickle of deceptions and half-truths.
The three big fibs -- repeated by top Republican officials -- are that the federal government isn't doing its job to protect the borders, that the law is an attempt to crack down on drug cartels, and that race isn't part of the discussion. None of that is true. So why repeat it?
Those who believe in the state's immigration law and consider it a good idea to empower local police and sheriff's deputies to enforce federal immigration law should stand by the legislation as it is written. They shouldn't have to try to create an alternate reality to win over more supporters.
A prominent Mexican-American attorney, who has long been a visible and vocal member of Phoenix's Latino community, warned me against trying to make sense of the opposition.
For instance, I asked him, how could people continue to argue that the Obama administration isn't doing enough to secure the border when all the evidence suggests otherwise?
"You'll never be able to convince people of that," he said. "Because their motivation is political. It's not based in reality."
I'm afraid that's not good enough. If the supporters of SB1070 really believe in the merits of their cause, they should be able to win the argument on the natural, without relying on hocus-pocus or scare tactics or radical makeovers. And if they can't do that, if they have to portray babies as terrorists and immigrants as drug mules in order to win support for their side, then this should tell them loud and clear that they're on the wrong side of this issue -- not to mention, on the wrong side of history.
No amount of spin can change that.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ruben Navarrette Jr
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/08/13/navarrette.terror.babies/index.html?iref=allsearch
Two Texas Republicans claim the 14th Amendment could aid terrorist goals to attack U.S.
Ruben Navarrette says the "terror babies" fear is groundless
He says it's the latest scare tactic being used to whip up a frenzy over immigration
Navarrette: Let's have a debate about immigration on the merits, not on fantasy
Editor's note: Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a nationally syndicated columnist, an NPR commentator and a regular contributor to CNN.com
Phoenix, Arizona (CNN) -- By spending a few days here in America's fifth-largest city -- which also happens to be at the heart of the nation's immigration debate -- I had the chance to see this volatile issue from many different vantage points.
But as far I know, I didn't see any terror babies.
Regular viewers of CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" will recognize that term as referring to children born on U.S. soil to illegal immigrants. The children are automatically granted U.S. citizenship under the 14th Amendment and then are smuggled back to their home countries to be raised as pint-sized, America-hating terrorists. Then decades later, when the children have grown into adults, they could easily -- because of their U.S. citizenship -- re-enter the United States to attack it from within.
So terror babies are sort of like a sleeper cell, one that has to be put down for a nap every few hours or it gets fussy.
Video: Debating 'terror babies' Video: Terror babies 'absurd' Video: 'Little terrorists' born in U.S.?
RELATED TOPICS
Immigration
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Arizona Immigration
Drug Trafficking
Is this a scary scenario? You bet. Is it anything close to reality? It doesn't look like it. In fact, what's really scary are opportunistic lawmakers out there who will sink to new depths to scare the Dickens out of people in order to drum up support for the radical idea of changing the 14th Amendment or scrapping it altogether.
That's what this story is really about. It's an elaborate pitch to that constituency who believes that illegal immigrants are unfairly taking advantage of a constitutional provision that makes anyone born on U.S. soil an American citizen.
The two Texas Republicans who are actively spinning this yarn -- State Representative Debbie Riddle and U.S. Congressman Louie Gohmert -- both appeared on Cooper's show this week, and neither could provide any evidence of the existence of these mythical terror babies. In fact, in the face of questioning by Cooper, both got extremely defensive. You might say these GOP fear mongers were acting in a way that could be accurately described as infantile.
Riddle and Gohmert claimed they got the information from conversations with "former FBI officials." So Cooper interviewed CNN contributor Tom Fuentes, who served as the FBI's assistant director in the office of international operations from 2004 to 2008.
"The FBI has 75 offices overseas, including offices in Jordan, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan," Fuentes said. "There was never a credible report -- or any report, for that matter -- coming across through all the various mechanisms of communication to indicate that there was such a plan for these terror babies to be born."
The FBI has also done everything it can to knock down the story as simply not credible.
Of course, this tall tale isn't credible; it's probably nothing more than a figment of politicians' imaginations. But it is valuable since it helps illustrate a disturbing phenomenon here in Arizona, where supporters of the state's new immigration law seem to feel as if they have to justify the measure not only by scaring people, but also by doing extreme makeovers. They take things that are familiar and try to make them sinister.
Those aren't U.S. citizen babies, they say; they're future terrorists. Those aren't run-of-the-mill illegal immigrants who come to Arizona to work and feed their families; they're drug mules for the Mexican cartels, says Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. And those aren't coyotes, immigrant smugglers bringing people in the United States as they have for generations; they're drug cartels, which -- according to Brewer -- now control all the immigrant smuggling operations into the United States.
The Border Patrol was just as quick to knockdown those stories as untrue as the FBI was in refuting the story about terror babies using the 14th Amendment to do us harm.
I was glad to see that. There is already enough dishonesty in the immigration debate; we certainly don't need any more coming from the state of Arizona. Yet, there is a steady trickle of deceptions and half-truths.
The three big fibs -- repeated by top Republican officials -- are that the federal government isn't doing its job to protect the borders, that the law is an attempt to crack down on drug cartels, and that race isn't part of the discussion. None of that is true. So why repeat it?
Those who believe in the state's immigration law and consider it a good idea to empower local police and sheriff's deputies to enforce federal immigration law should stand by the legislation as it is written. They shouldn't have to try to create an alternate reality to win over more supporters.
A prominent Mexican-American attorney, who has long been a visible and vocal member of Phoenix's Latino community, warned me against trying to make sense of the opposition.
For instance, I asked him, how could people continue to argue that the Obama administration isn't doing enough to secure the border when all the evidence suggests otherwise?
"You'll never be able to convince people of that," he said. "Because their motivation is political. It's not based in reality."
I'm afraid that's not good enough. If the supporters of SB1070 really believe in the merits of their cause, they should be able to win the argument on the natural, without relying on hocus-pocus or scare tactics or radical makeovers. And if they can't do that, if they have to portray babies as terrorists and immigrants as drug mules in order to win support for their side, then this should tell them loud and clear that they're on the wrong side of this issue -- not to mention, on the wrong side of history.
No amount of spin can change that.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ruben Navarrette Jr
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/08/13/navarrette.terror.babies/index.html?iref=allsearch
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/24/arizona-senate-theres-a-democratic-race-too/
From CNN National Political Correspondent Jessica Yellin
Phoenix, Arizona (CNN) - There's been so much coverage of the heated Arizona Senate race between Republican Senator John McCain and Republican challenger J.D. Hayworth, you might think the race ends with the primary today. Or as Arizona Democratic candidate Randy Parraz asked CNN, "Do you guys know there's a Democratic race in Arizona today too?"
Parraz is one of four Democrats vying for a spot on the November ticket. A community organizer, Parraz is the only Latino in the race and he's gained buzz lately, particularly among the online progressive community. He jumped into the contest largely in response to Arizona's controversial anti-illegal immigration law: SB1070.
Parraz tells CNN, "SB1070 and the right wing's infatuation with border security and deporting immigrants hasn't solved our problems, in fact that's made things worse. I'm interested in moving the state in the right direction when it comes to job creation, education and renewable energy."
He believes that McCain will be vulnerable in the general election because his new embrace of tough anti-illegal immigration policies will alienate the state's independent and Latino voters. Of McCain Parraz tells CNN, "Any time a four term incumbent has to spend more than twenty million dollars to get out of his own primary that's weakness."
There are three other Democrats in the race. They are former Tucson City Councilman Rodney Glassman, former investigative journalist John Dougherty, and former State Representative Cathy Eden. Glassman is considered the front runner in this contest but trails McCain in polls that present a head-to-head matchup.
Phoenix, Arizona (CNN) - There's been so much coverage of the heated Arizona Senate race between Republican Senator John McCain and Republican challenger J.D. Hayworth, you might think the race ends with the primary today. Or as Arizona Democratic candidate Randy Parraz asked CNN, "Do you guys know there's a Democratic race in Arizona today too?"
Parraz is one of four Democrats vying for a spot on the November ticket. A community organizer, Parraz is the only Latino in the race and he's gained buzz lately, particularly among the online progressive community. He jumped into the contest largely in response to Arizona's controversial anti-illegal immigration law: SB1070.
Parraz tells CNN, "SB1070 and the right wing's infatuation with border security and deporting immigrants hasn't solved our problems, in fact that's made things worse. I'm interested in moving the state in the right direction when it comes to job creation, education and renewable energy."
He believes that McCain will be vulnerable in the general election because his new embrace of tough anti-illegal immigration policies will alienate the state's independent and Latino voters. Of McCain Parraz tells CNN, "Any time a four term incumbent has to spend more than twenty million dollars to get out of his own primary that's weakness."
There are three other Democrats in the race. They are former Tucson City Councilman Rodney Glassman, former investigative journalist John Dougherty, and former State Representative Cathy Eden. Glassman is considered the front runner in this contest but trails McCain in polls that present a head-to-head matchup.
Iker Casillas pide más paciencia
ComentariosEnviar a un amigo Imprimir
EFE
MADRID -- Iker Casillas, capitán del Real Madrid, recordó los silbidos que en fases del estreno oficial en el Santiago Bernabéu recibió su equipo ante Osasuna, y pidió a su propia afición "algo más de paciencia".
Getty Images
Casillas es un referente dentro del vestuario
Casillas compareció en rueda de prensa en Valdebebas, horas después de que el Real Madrid certificase su primer triunfo liguero (1-0), para lanzar dos mensajes claros a sus seguidores, que sean pacientes con un equipo en construcción y que no se les compare permanentemente con el Barcelona.
"El aficionado del Bernabéu es soberano y en cualquier momento puede mostrar su parecer con el equipo. Si algo tengo que pedir al público es algo más de paciencia. Es un equipo nuevo y joven, vamos a ir haciéndonos más fuertes. A lo que a otros equipos se le pide en dos temporadas al Real Madrid se le pide en dos meses. Necesitamos un poquito más de paciencia", manifestó.
El triunfo del Real Madrid y la sorprendente derrota del Barcelona en el Camp Nou, ante el Hércules, pone por delante en la clasificación al conjunto blanco. Para Casillas no es un alivio superar a su gran rival sin estar aún al cien por cien.
"Mal haríamos, hablo por todo el equipo, en pensar que tenemos que estar por encima del Barcelona y siempre estar en competencia con ellos. Todo lo contrario, cada partido lo planteamos como el más importante. Es nuestra realidad", dijo.
"De esta forma, cuando te quieras dar cuenta, a lo mejor estamos cerca de conseguir algo muy bonito, pero nuestro objetivo no es estar por encima del Barcelona ahora, sino construir un equipo, un bloque, y que lleguen los resultados", prosiguió.
Casillas elogió al autor del gol de la primera victoria del Real Madrid en Liga, el portugués Carvalho. "Es un jugador necesario para un equipo. Es positivo tener gente con tanta experiencia y con nombre en el fútbol europeo y mundial. Sus características le vienen bien al equipo. Viene a sumar y es necesario en una plantilla", opinó.
Destacó además el portero madrileño, la solidez que está mostrando el Real Madrid desde la llegada de José Mourinho. En dos partidos no a encajado ningún gol y además no ha tenido que intervenir en ocasiones.
"Este año apenas hemos dejado que el rival nos haga ocasiones de gol y en acciones a balón parado, en faltas o córners, estamos solidos. Esperamos seguir así. Es un paso importante. Además, tanto Mallorca como Osasuna el mejor de ellos ha sido el portero rival, eso quiere decir mucho", analizó.
El miércoles el Real Madrid inicia una nueva andadura en Liga de Campeones. El capitán destacó la importancia de arrancar con triunfo ante el Ajax en el Santiago Bernabéu y la importante baja del goleador uruguayo Luis Suárez.
"Tenemos que empezar con buen pie en Champions en casa, consiguiendo los tres puntos porque va a ser un año complicado. La baja de Luis Suárez es importante porque es un jugador que lleva un alto índice de goles del Ajax. Esperamos aprovechar su ausencia", señaló.
Por último, dedicó buenas palabras al actual líder de Primera división, el Atlético de Madrid. "Les veo como candidatos al título. Están jugando un buen fútbol y me alegro. Se merecen estar peleando por grandes metas. Va a hacer que la Liga sea más emocionante y que aumente la competitividad", concluyó.
REAL MADRID COMIENZA A PREPARAR EL ESTRENO EUROPEO
La plantilla del Real Madrid comenzó a preparar el estreno en Liga de Campeones del próximo miércoles, ante el Ajax en el estadio Santiago Bernabéu, con un entrenamiento suave unas horas después de cosechar su primer triunfo liguero ante Osasuna.
Desde las 11.00 horas en la ciudad deportiva de Valdebebas, a metros de donde se celebraba la asamblea general del club, la plantilla blanca completó un entrenamiento de recuperación para los jugadores que fueron titulares ante Osasuna y de mayor intensidad para suplentes.
Comenzaron todos sobre el césped, pero a los minutos se quedaron tan sólo los defensas Arbeloa y Mateos junto a los centrocampistas Mahamadou Diarra, Granero, Lass, Pedro León, Canales y Di María.
Los titulares que vencieron 1-0 a Osasuna se ejercitaron con el preparador físico. Tras el calentamiento realizaron ejercicios con balón antes de retirarse al interior de las instalaciones para recibir masaje.
El único titular que entrenó al mismo ritmo que el resto fue Iker Casillas, que tuvo que completar una sesión específica para porteros, junto a Jerzy Dudek y Antonio Adán, que trabajaron junto al técnico de guardametas Silvino Louro.
El lunes, desde las 10.30 horas -media hora más tarde del horario habitual- José Mourinho juntará a todos sus jugadores para comenzar a ensayar a puerta cerrada los detalles tácticos del estreno europeo ante el Ajax.
ComentariosEnviar a un amigo Imprimir
EFE
MADRID -- Iker Casillas, capitán del Real Madrid, recordó los silbidos que en fases del estreno oficial en el Santiago Bernabéu recibió su equipo ante Osasuna, y pidió a su propia afición "algo más de paciencia".
Getty Images
Casillas es un referente dentro del vestuario
Casillas compareció en rueda de prensa en Valdebebas, horas después de que el Real Madrid certificase su primer triunfo liguero (1-0), para lanzar dos mensajes claros a sus seguidores, que sean pacientes con un equipo en construcción y que no se les compare permanentemente con el Barcelona.
"El aficionado del Bernabéu es soberano y en cualquier momento puede mostrar su parecer con el equipo. Si algo tengo que pedir al público es algo más de paciencia. Es un equipo nuevo y joven, vamos a ir haciéndonos más fuertes. A lo que a otros equipos se le pide en dos temporadas al Real Madrid se le pide en dos meses. Necesitamos un poquito más de paciencia", manifestó.
El triunfo del Real Madrid y la sorprendente derrota del Barcelona en el Camp Nou, ante el Hércules, pone por delante en la clasificación al conjunto blanco. Para Casillas no es un alivio superar a su gran rival sin estar aún al cien por cien.
"Mal haríamos, hablo por todo el equipo, en pensar que tenemos que estar por encima del Barcelona y siempre estar en competencia con ellos. Todo lo contrario, cada partido lo planteamos como el más importante. Es nuestra realidad", dijo.
"De esta forma, cuando te quieras dar cuenta, a lo mejor estamos cerca de conseguir algo muy bonito, pero nuestro objetivo no es estar por encima del Barcelona ahora, sino construir un equipo, un bloque, y que lleguen los resultados", prosiguió.
Casillas elogió al autor del gol de la primera victoria del Real Madrid en Liga, el portugués Carvalho. "Es un jugador necesario para un equipo. Es positivo tener gente con tanta experiencia y con nombre en el fútbol europeo y mundial. Sus características le vienen bien al equipo. Viene a sumar y es necesario en una plantilla", opinó.
Destacó además el portero madrileño, la solidez que está mostrando el Real Madrid desde la llegada de José Mourinho. En dos partidos no a encajado ningún gol y además no ha tenido que intervenir en ocasiones.
"Este año apenas hemos dejado que el rival nos haga ocasiones de gol y en acciones a balón parado, en faltas o córners, estamos solidos. Esperamos seguir así. Es un paso importante. Además, tanto Mallorca como Osasuna el mejor de ellos ha sido el portero rival, eso quiere decir mucho", analizó.
El miércoles el Real Madrid inicia una nueva andadura en Liga de Campeones. El capitán destacó la importancia de arrancar con triunfo ante el Ajax en el Santiago Bernabéu y la importante baja del goleador uruguayo Luis Suárez.
"Tenemos que empezar con buen pie en Champions en casa, consiguiendo los tres puntos porque va a ser un año complicado. La baja de Luis Suárez es importante porque es un jugador que lleva un alto índice de goles del Ajax. Esperamos aprovechar su ausencia", señaló.
Por último, dedicó buenas palabras al actual líder de Primera división, el Atlético de Madrid. "Les veo como candidatos al título. Están jugando un buen fútbol y me alegro. Se merecen estar peleando por grandes metas. Va a hacer que la Liga sea más emocionante y que aumente la competitividad", concluyó.
REAL MADRID COMIENZA A PREPARAR EL ESTRENO EUROPEO
La plantilla del Real Madrid comenzó a preparar el estreno en Liga de Campeones del próximo miércoles, ante el Ajax en el estadio Santiago Bernabéu, con un entrenamiento suave unas horas después de cosechar su primer triunfo liguero ante Osasuna.
Desde las 11.00 horas en la ciudad deportiva de Valdebebas, a metros de donde se celebraba la asamblea general del club, la plantilla blanca completó un entrenamiento de recuperación para los jugadores que fueron titulares ante Osasuna y de mayor intensidad para suplentes.
Comenzaron todos sobre el césped, pero a los minutos se quedaron tan sólo los defensas Arbeloa y Mateos junto a los centrocampistas Mahamadou Diarra, Granero, Lass, Pedro León, Canales y Di María.
Los titulares que vencieron 1-0 a Osasuna se ejercitaron con el preparador físico. Tras el calentamiento realizaron ejercicios con balón antes de retirarse al interior de las instalaciones para recibir masaje.
El único titular que entrenó al mismo ritmo que el resto fue Iker Casillas, que tuvo que completar una sesión específica para porteros, junto a Jerzy Dudek y Antonio Adán, que trabajaron junto al técnico de guardametas Silvino Louro.
El lunes, desde las 10.30 horas -media hora más tarde del horario habitual- José Mourinho juntará a todos sus jugadores para comenzar a ensayar a puerta cerrada los detalles tácticos del estreno europeo ante el Ajax.
Japan's ruling party set for leadership vote
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/09/13/japan.prime.minister/index.html
By Kyung Lah, CNN
September 13, 2010 10:15 p.m. EDT
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan at a press conference at his official residence in Tokyo on August 10.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The country could have its third prime minister this year
Party power-broker challenges current prime minister Kan, who won his seat three months ago
Kan, Ozawa are former allies
Many in party owe their careers to Ozawa
RELATED TOPICS
Naoto Kan
Ichiro Ozawa
Tokyo, Japan (CNN) -- When Japan's ruling party finishes its vote later Tuesday, the Asian island nation could have its third prime minister in a year.
Ichiro Ozawa, a political heavy-weight in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), challenged Naoto Kan for the leadership role just three months into Kan's tenure.
National poll after poll shows Kan is the public's preferred choice as the nation's leader. Opinion polls show 65 to 70 percent of the voters favor Kan versus Ozawa's support, which lingers in the teens.
But the public doesn't vote in the DPJ party-leader election. It's up to the politicians.
Ozawa says he is challenging Kan because he thinks the prime minister has been ineffective and lacks determination. Kan has been unable to wrest power from the government's powerful bureaucrats, he says.
Within the DPJ, many politicians owe their current jobs to Ozawa's deals. Yukio Hatoyama, the prime minister before Kan, said of Ozawa, "I became prime minister, thanks to Mr. Ichiro Ozawa's gracious guidance. I must repay him." It suggests that political payback may reign supreme to the direction of the country.
The two men worked together to bring the DPJ into power more than a year ago, booting out the Liberal Democratic Party, which had ruled Japan continuously for almost 50 years. A political funding scandal forced Ozawa to resign as party leader late last year and Kan publicly distanced himself from his ally.
The prime minister has, at every recent opportunity, reminded the public of Ozawa's controversial past and repeated that the top job should be one of trust.
"Mr. Ozawa should tell Japan what kind of prime minister he would like to be," Kan said at a recent campaigning event, insinuating that Ozawa is a political wheeler-dealer, not a statesman.
"I have to be myself," Ozawa said in response. "I will implement polices as the prime minister in a sincere manner. We have to put our priorities on improving the lives of the people."
A public investigation into the funding scandal continues against Ozawa, with an indictment still possible. Yet Ozawa, who has been a political operative in Japan for four decades, remains a formidable candidate against Kan.
The political skirmishes have been fodder for the nightly news in Japan, but the revolving door at the top job in Tokyo has meant a lack of policy for the world's third-largest economy, wracked with deflation, a surging currency and an exploding elderly population.
On the economy, Ozawa favors stimulus spending. He unveiled his proposal for a 2-trillion-yen ($24 billion) stimulus plan, more than twice that of Kan's proposal. Ozawa has also suggested the government may have to issue more bonds, even issuing zero-interest national bonds, to boost the economy in the face of deflation.
On the currency, Ozawa has said the Bank of Japan should intervene and curb the yen's advance by selling the yen. The yen is at a 15-year high versus the U.S. dollar, eroding the value of overseas earnings for exporters like Toyota.
The prime minister has also said Japan should yet again revisit the issue of moving U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma off the island of Okinawa. In May, Japan and the U.S. agreed to move the air station within Okinawa, after months of back-and-forth debate that strained relations between the two allies. The issue torpedoed then-Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's approval ratings and ultimately cost him his job. Yet Ozawa has maintained that the issue merits more negotiations with Washington.
Kan has opposed any further dispute over the base. Kan also favors reining in Japan's debt, the developed world's largest. More stimulus spending will eventually lead to a crisis similar to the one experienced in Greece, he says.
By Kyung Lah, CNN
September 13, 2010 10:15 p.m. EDT
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan at a press conference at his official residence in Tokyo on August 10.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The country could have its third prime minister this year
Party power-broker challenges current prime minister Kan, who won his seat three months ago
Kan, Ozawa are former allies
Many in party owe their careers to Ozawa
RELATED TOPICS
Naoto Kan
Ichiro Ozawa
Tokyo, Japan (CNN) -- When Japan's ruling party finishes its vote later Tuesday, the Asian island nation could have its third prime minister in a year.
Ichiro Ozawa, a political heavy-weight in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), challenged Naoto Kan for the leadership role just three months into Kan's tenure.
National poll after poll shows Kan is the public's preferred choice as the nation's leader. Opinion polls show 65 to 70 percent of the voters favor Kan versus Ozawa's support, which lingers in the teens.
But the public doesn't vote in the DPJ party-leader election. It's up to the politicians.
Ozawa says he is challenging Kan because he thinks the prime minister has been ineffective and lacks determination. Kan has been unable to wrest power from the government's powerful bureaucrats, he says.
Within the DPJ, many politicians owe their current jobs to Ozawa's deals. Yukio Hatoyama, the prime minister before Kan, said of Ozawa, "I became prime minister, thanks to Mr. Ichiro Ozawa's gracious guidance. I must repay him." It suggests that political payback may reign supreme to the direction of the country.
The two men worked together to bring the DPJ into power more than a year ago, booting out the Liberal Democratic Party, which had ruled Japan continuously for almost 50 years. A political funding scandal forced Ozawa to resign as party leader late last year and Kan publicly distanced himself from his ally.
The prime minister has, at every recent opportunity, reminded the public of Ozawa's controversial past and repeated that the top job should be one of trust.
"Mr. Ozawa should tell Japan what kind of prime minister he would like to be," Kan said at a recent campaigning event, insinuating that Ozawa is a political wheeler-dealer, not a statesman.
"I have to be myself," Ozawa said in response. "I will implement polices as the prime minister in a sincere manner. We have to put our priorities on improving the lives of the people."
A public investigation into the funding scandal continues against Ozawa, with an indictment still possible. Yet Ozawa, who has been a political operative in Japan for four decades, remains a formidable candidate against Kan.
The political skirmishes have been fodder for the nightly news in Japan, but the revolving door at the top job in Tokyo has meant a lack of policy for the world's third-largest economy, wracked with deflation, a surging currency and an exploding elderly population.
On the economy, Ozawa favors stimulus spending. He unveiled his proposal for a 2-trillion-yen ($24 billion) stimulus plan, more than twice that of Kan's proposal. Ozawa has also suggested the government may have to issue more bonds, even issuing zero-interest national bonds, to boost the economy in the face of deflation.
On the currency, Ozawa has said the Bank of Japan should intervene and curb the yen's advance by selling the yen. The yen is at a 15-year high versus the U.S. dollar, eroding the value of overseas earnings for exporters like Toyota.
The prime minister has also said Japan should yet again revisit the issue of moving U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma off the island of Okinawa. In May, Japan and the U.S. agreed to move the air station within Okinawa, after months of back-and-forth debate that strained relations between the two allies. The issue torpedoed then-Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's approval ratings and ultimately cost him his job. Yet Ozawa has maintained that the issue merits more negotiations with Washington.
Kan has opposed any further dispute over the base. Kan also favors reining in Japan's debt, the developed world's largest. More stimulus spending will eventually lead to a crisis similar to the one experienced in Greece, he says.
U.S. preparing massive arms deal for Saudi Arabia, defense official says
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/09/13/us.saudi.arms.deal/index.html?hpt=T2
By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent
September 13, 2010 8:46 p.m. EDT
The proposed package includes 70 Apache helicopters.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The $60 billion deal would include fighter planes, helicopters and high-tech bombs
A large aim of such sales is to provide capability against Iran, the official says
The deal must go before Congress before being finalized
RELATED TOPICS
Military Weapons
Saudi Arabia
U.S. Department of State
Washington ((CNN) -- The Obama administration is preparing to notify Congress of plans to sell $60 billion of military equipment to Saudi Arabia, according to a U.S. defense official.
The official, who would not be identified because the proposal has not yet been sent to Congress, described the deal as "enormous."
"We believe this is the largest of its kind in history," the official said.
Congress would have to approve the deal.
The proposed package includes 84 newly manufactured F-15/SA fighter aircraft; 70 upgraded aircraft, 70 Apache helicopters, 72 Black Hawk helicopters, and 36 AH-6 Little Bird helicopters. A number of bombs and missiles also are in the deal, including the Joint Direct Attack Munition, a satellite-guided bomb, as well as a laser-guided Hellfire missile variant and some advanced targeting technology.
The Saudi arms effort is in large part directed at providing a modernized capability against Iran.
"This gives them a whole host of defensive and deterrent capabilities," the official explained.
The official emphasized that nothing in the sale would change the qualitative edge that Israel seeks to maintain. A point reiterated by State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley.
"Suffice it to say that at the core of our policy is making sure that, you know, there is stability in the region and part of that stability is making sure that Israel has what it needs ... to be able to provide for its own security," Crowley said Monday. "So the United States would do nothing that would upset that -- the current ... balance in the region."
The Obama administration hopes to send the proposed package to Capitol Hill no later than next week. The official emphasized it's not clear yet whether the Saudis would follow through to buy all of the weapons and aircraft in the package because they are continuing to evaluate their own financial concerns.
Boeing Corp. has told the administration that if the entire package is sold, 77,000 company jobs would be "involved," but there was no calculation on how many new jobs might be created over the five- to 10-year period of potential delivery, according to the official.
The official also indicated the United States is discussing with the Saudi government additional sales of a ballistic missile defense system and more modern warships.
By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent
September 13, 2010 8:46 p.m. EDT
The proposed package includes 70 Apache helicopters.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The $60 billion deal would include fighter planes, helicopters and high-tech bombs
A large aim of such sales is to provide capability against Iran, the official says
The deal must go before Congress before being finalized
RELATED TOPICS
Military Weapons
Saudi Arabia
U.S. Department of State
Washington ((CNN) -- The Obama administration is preparing to notify Congress of plans to sell $60 billion of military equipment to Saudi Arabia, according to a U.S. defense official.
The official, who would not be identified because the proposal has not yet been sent to Congress, described the deal as "enormous."
"We believe this is the largest of its kind in history," the official said.
Congress would have to approve the deal.
The proposed package includes 84 newly manufactured F-15/SA fighter aircraft; 70 upgraded aircraft, 70 Apache helicopters, 72 Black Hawk helicopters, and 36 AH-6 Little Bird helicopters. A number of bombs and missiles also are in the deal, including the Joint Direct Attack Munition, a satellite-guided bomb, as well as a laser-guided Hellfire missile variant and some advanced targeting technology.
The Saudi arms effort is in large part directed at providing a modernized capability against Iran.
"This gives them a whole host of defensive and deterrent capabilities," the official explained.
The official emphasized that nothing in the sale would change the qualitative edge that Israel seeks to maintain. A point reiterated by State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley.
"Suffice it to say that at the core of our policy is making sure that, you know, there is stability in the region and part of that stability is making sure that Israel has what it needs ... to be able to provide for its own security," Crowley said Monday. "So the United States would do nothing that would upset that -- the current ... balance in the region."
The Obama administration hopes to send the proposed package to Capitol Hill no later than next week. The official emphasized it's not clear yet whether the Saudis would follow through to buy all of the weapons and aircraft in the package because they are continuing to evaluate their own financial concerns.
Boeing Corp. has told the administration that if the entire package is sold, 77,000 company jobs would be "involved," but there was no calculation on how many new jobs might be created over the five- to 10-year period of potential delivery, according to the official.
The official also indicated the United States is discussing with the Saudi government additional sales of a ballistic missile defense system and more modern warships.
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