Border Patrol Agent Killed in Southern Arizona

This is a story from FOX News. 


Their story is about the end result. Mine is about contributing factors.

Correct me if I'm wrong. Wasn't it these two who sued AZ for trying to enforce immigration laws and protect their own border.

Isn't this guy currently trying to pass The Dream Act; to make illegals legal including those with criminal records thereby exacerbating the problem?

Isn't this the guy the idiots in AZ just reelected. This "stalwart against illegal aliens" has done nothing to curtail illegals. In fact since 1987 he has gone out of his way to encourage and protect them co-sponsoring the Shamnesty Bill with Kennedy. Since his tenure the illegal situation has only gotten worse. Considering the predicament AZ is in why he was reelected truly amazes me!

So what is my point here?

Would this border patrol agent be alive today if these four were not in office? Maybe not. But one thing stands paramount and indisputable. Our main line of defense is the border. And it is more porous then the colander I use to drain spaghetti. Throw in Napolitano and it will remain that way as long as they're in office.

----------------------------------------------

TUCSON, Ariz. -- A U.S. Border Patrol agent was gunned down after he encountered several suspects who were targeting illegal immigrants for robbery in southern Arizona, officials said Wednesday.

Agent Brian A. Terry, 40, was killed late Tuesday near Rio Rico, Ariz., according to a statement released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials.

At least four suspects are in custody and another is still being pursued.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Terry family for their tragic loss," CBP Commissioner Alan Bersin said in a statement. "Our commitment to Agent Terry and his family is that we will do everything possible to bring to justice those responsible for this despicable act."

The FBI and the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office are investigating Terry's death.

Terry, who was a member of CBP's special response team, grew up near Detroit and graduated from Flat Rock High School in 1988, according to the Arizona Republic.

KOLD-TV in Tucson reports the incident occurred just after 11 p.m. Tuesday in the Peck Canyon area north of Nogales.

The leader of a union representing Border Patrol agents said Terry was trying to catch bandits who target illegal immigrants for robbery.

National Border Patrol Council President T.J. Bonner said Terry was waiting with three other agents in a remote area north of Nogales when a gun battle began. A CBP spokesman would not confirm that account.

Prior to Terry's death, the last fatal shooting of a Border Patrol agent was on July 23, 2009, when Robert Rosas, 30, was killed by unidentified assailants while responding to suspicious activity in a known smuggling corridor near Campo, Calif., CBP officials said.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the killing is an "unconscionable act of violence," according to a statement released Wednesday. She had planned earlier this week to visit the region on Friday, but will apparently move her trip up a day because of the shooting, the Arizona Republic reports.

In May, President Obama authorized the deployment of up to an additional 1,200 National Guard troops to the Southwest border to provide support for surveillance, reconnaissance and narcotics enforcement to augment CBP and U.S. Customs and Immigration (ICE) authorities already in place. Those deployments began on Aug. 1. Obama also requested $600 million in supplemental funds for enhanced border protection and law enforcement activities.

"Over the past year and a half, this administration has pursued a new border security strategy with an unprecedented sense of urgency, making historic investments in personnel, technology and infrastructure," Napolitano said in a statement released on July 19.

"These troops will provide direct support to federal law enforcement officers and agents working in high-risk areas to disrupt criminal organizations seeking to move people and goods illegally across the Southwest border," the statement continued.

Napolitano also announced in July that more than $47 million in fiscal year 2010 Operation Stonegraden grants for the Southwest border states to support law enforcement personnel, overtime and related costs. Nearly 80 percent of the funding will go to Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas, up from 59 percent in 2008.

Border Patrol Agent Killed in Southern Arizona

The Awakening?

Have you noticed a strange, almost "religious awakening" occurring in the White House. The President of the United States is suddenly concerned about the deficit. This epiphany has now crystalized after week after week of spending billions, and printing even more. "We can't afford the $700 billion price tag by extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich" he said. He constantly, over the last few months chastised... "tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires." Has he found new respect for the deficit? I think not.

For starters the tax cuts have been with us for about 8 years now.  So what we are really talking about here are tax hikes. He continues to rant about "millionaires and billionaires" when the truth of the matter is "rich" is defined as anyone making $250,000 and above. Last time I checked $250,000 was only 1/4 of a million. Suffice to say their are a hell of a lot more Americans making $250,000 then there are making a million a year. A case could me made $250,000 is still a lot of money. True, but when was the last time a poor person offered someone a job?


So now a comprise has been struck. Obama will extend the tax cuts for all... if.... he gets to extend unemployment benefits for 13 months. How he can say this with a straight face I don't know. He's so concerned about the deficit right? By the way. At what point does unemployment compensation become welfare? Like... we're up to three years now.


It gets even better.

The sweeping tax cut bill introduced Thursday night by Senate Majority Leader Reid is chock-full of sweeteners which could serve as a legislative pacifier for Democrats outraged over the "concessions" the Messiah has handed to Republicans.

 They cover a host of alternative energy credits, a potential salve for environmentally conscious lawmakers, as well as targeted benefits for everything from the film and television industry to mining companies to rum producers.

PORK

That's what it is.

They are so concerned about the deficit but not enough to stop piling on $155 billion in unemployment benefits plus another $55 billion in payback sweeteners such as online gaming (which got Reid re-elected!)

Look... we all know they don't give a damn about the deficit. If taxes did go up not one dime of it would go to pay down the debt. They want revenue pure and simple. REVENUE TO SPEND.

I have a suggestion to pay down the debt.  53% of Americans pay income tax. The other 47% pay nothing. Everyone should pay something (no matter how small) for the privilege of living in this great country. When you pay nothing you contribute nothing to society. So what is the point of a parasite's existence? The 53% are getting damn tired of carrying the other 47% on their backs. Make them pay tax and use it to pay down the debt.


On a side note.


This was a first.

The Messiah had to hand the ball to Clinton to advance his agenda. Then stood on the sideline and watched.
Just who the hell is the President of the United States?


Mr. Ed Kilbane who witnessed this absurd scenario had this to say:

"I loved it when The Omen said he had to go because he was already late getting back to My Belle Michelle. Bubba said, "I'm not stopping you from leaving" and didn't even look back as The Omen exited stage left. That was the strangest moment I've ever witnessed in politics. As The Omen walked off he had the look of a man who just resigned from office. And Bubba kept on going like he never left office."

I guess that pretty much nails it.

The Awakening?

The older I get the more vivid my memory

US Observes Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Attack

  December 07 2010

No I wasn't there. I like most experienced black and white photographs of mangled hulks of battleships bellowing clouds of black smoke. But see that old timer below. Look in his eyes. My heart is in him. As the years go by my memory is more resolute. Memory fades only with those who allow it to slip away. 

 JFK... 11-22... this year heard nothing. He now officially belongs to the ages. 

I guess Pearl Harbor is driving down the same road.

Our great country…Our great country.

With the USS Arizona memorial in the background, Pearl Harbor survivor Richard Laubert, of Phoenix, Oregon, attends the 69th anniversary ceremony marking the attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 Dec 2010, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Americans across the United States are holding ceremonies Tuesday to commemorate the 69th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

Hundreds of people are estimated to be gathered at Pearl Harbor, where a new visitor's center is to open at the scene of the attack, near the site where the battleship Arizona sank.

On December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft attacked the base just before 8 a.m., Hawaii time. The attack killed more than 2,400 Americans, sank five battleships and drew the United States into World War II.

More than 1,100 sailors died on the Arizona, which still lies at the bottom of the harbor. It is a memorial to what then-U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt described as "a date which will live in infamy."

At the same time as the Hawaii ceremony, the National Park Service in Washington held a wreath-laying ceremony at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall.

The older I get the more vivid my memory

Giving money to Haiti, never was, and never will be the final answer.

 The United States over the last 20 years has given Haiti countless billions.  Other countries also have donated large sums of money. Yet Haiti remains the toilet of the Western Hemisphere. Why? The government in Haiti is corrupt and has been for as long as I can remember. 

Think about it.

Candidates allege election fraud in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI - Haiti's much-anticipated presidential election ended Sunday as broken as the buildings around the capital city, with protests flaring across the country and nearly all the major candidates calling for the results to be tossed out amid "massive fraud."

The day's events took a sharp turn toward chaos before the polls closed, when 12 of the 19 candidates on Sunday's ballot appeared together at a raucous afternoon news conference to accuse the government of President Rene Preval of trying to steal the election and install his chosen candidate, Jude Celestin.

"We are asking the men and women of Haiti to organize peacefully against the Preval government," their statement read. "We are asking everyone to mobilize."

The candidates said they would meet Monday to discuss their next move.

Sunday's fraud allegations sent U.S. officials, foreign observers and humanitarian organizations scrambling to salvage the election process, which had been billed as a critical step toward installing a legitimate government that could oversee the earthquake-devastated country's reconstruction and manage billions in still-undelivered foreign aid.

Foreign governments and international groups have pledged about $5 billion in additional aid since the Jan. 12 earthquake. They are waiting to see whether Haiti will have a legitimate government capable of administering those funds and rebuilding the country. More than a million people are living in tent camps, and a cholera epidemic has killed more than 1,500 and sickened about 25,000.

But after a day of widespread confusion, frustration and boisterous political drama, Haiti's attempt at a unifying political process appeared hopelessly flawed.

"There are high-level discussions with all partners going on about what has happened and what will happen," said Vicenzo Pugliese, a spokesman for the United Nation mission. "Let's see what the outcome of the dialogue is."

Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) said the elections went "well" at most of the country's more than 11,000 polling stations but acknowledged "some problems," according to Reuters.

"The CEP is comfortable with the vote," council President Gaillot Dorsainvil said.

By sundown, crowds of young people were marching through downtown amid the sprawling tent camps and ruins as edgy U.N. soldiers in armored vehicles circled nearby.

Supporters of musician-turned-presidential candidate Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly beat drums and danced and chanted that they'd been paid to vote for Celestin but picked Martelly. Earlier, in nearby Petionville, singer Wyclef Jean joined in another Martelly rally. Jean had been ruled ineligible to run himself.


U.S. Embassy officials declined to comment on the day's events but said they were monitoring the situation. The Organization of American States, which has more than 100 observers at the polls, did not return calls for comment or address the fraud allegations.

Tensions began building at polling stations soon after opening as would-be voters found their names missing from registration lists.

At a makeshift school a few blocks from the ruins of the presidential palace, eager voters stepped over earthquake rubble to search the government rolls for their names. The body of a woman - apparently killed by cholera - lay outside on the sidewalk as a group of Brazilian U.N. soldiers wearing dark glasses and armed with shotguns stood by.

"I'm an old lady. I have the right to vote," said Loucillia Marcellus, 59, carrying only her national ID card as she stood outside the polls wearing plastic sandals and a faded floral-pattern dress. "They said my name is not on the list, but this is where I voted last time.

"What can I do?" said Marcellus. "I'm going home. It's in God's hands now."

For all the confusion at the polls, turnout appeared relatively light. Dozens milled about voting precincts, but few dropped ballots into the clear plastic boxes that were closely watched by election workers and international monitors. There were scattered reports of violence at polls in rural Haiti and several claims that ballot boxes were dumped out.

Many who arrived at polls in the capital said they had spent the morning in a futile quest to find a place that would give them a ballot. On the grounds of a school where hundreds of children were crushed in the January quake, a group of young men wearing dreadlocks began shouting when turned away. "It's a fraud!" they yelled. "If you don't let us vote, there's going to be trouble!"

Charlemagne Merlette, 25, waved his hands wildly and launched into a tirade against the outgoing Preval government. "They don't care about young people," he shouted. "We want our lives to change!"

Many were ineligible for the vote because they were unable to get their national ID cards, many of which were lost in the quake and the disorder that followed. Others stuck in tent camps or discouraged by the cholera epidemic seemed indifferent to the vote.

Even before the fraud allegations, tallies of the vote weren't expected for at least a week, with a runoff scheduled for Jan. 16 if no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote. But with most candidates denouncing the election as a sham, it's unclear whether those dates will hold and what result, if any, the process will bring.

"I want the people under the tents to have houses and jobs," said Gosaphat Lexi, 24, who went to five different polling stations Sunday before finally giving up. He was told he wasn't registered anywhere. "Where is my name? Why don't they have my name?" 

Giving money to Haiti, never was, and never will be the final answer.

Get a load of the first 3 paragraphs

(The 4th one is not to good either)

Christine O'Donnell: Hillary Clinton for President in 2012

On ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday, Christine O'Donnell threw her support to an unexpected - and seemingly uninterested - potential 2012 presidential candidate: Hillary Clinton.


"I hope she runs for President," O'Donnell told ABC's George Stephanopoulos, adding that she would even consider becoming a Democrat in order to have the opportunity to vote for her.


"I would love to see her take out Obama in the primary," O'Donnell said. "You know, I would even be tempted to change my registration so that I could vote for her in the Democratic primary."


The former Delaware Senate candidate emphasized that her hopes for a Clinton 2012 candidacy were derived not from the belief that the secretary of state would be easier for Republicans to beat than President Obama, but because she would make the better candidate.


"Right now I think that anybody is better than Obama," she said. "It was a bittersweet moment when he got elected, because it was a real mark towards healing of our divided past, but the vote that we changed for was not to change America but to change Washington - and his policies are radically changing America and everything that she stands for."


O'Donnell, the controversial Tea Party member who rose to prominence this fall after a surprise victory in Delaware's Republican Senate nomination, Tweeted her support for Clinton on Monday after the Secretary of State made comments condemning the recent WikiLeaks document release.


"Some may cringe when I say this but Hillary-You Go Girl!" O'Donnell wrote on her Twitter account. The Tweet continued: "She's no Reagan yet her verbal lashing against wikileak is tough- watch out Obama!"


"I thought that she was tough," O'Donnell explained on "Good Morning America," of the pro-Clinton commentary. "I said she was no Reagan because I'd like to see her take it even a step further and say that these leaks are gonna be charged with treason. Clinton has repeatedly dismissed the notion that she is interested in future presidential bids, despite some speculation to the contrary.


Regardless of her call for Clinton to jump into the race, O'Donnell emphasized her support for Sarah Palin, and said accusations that the former Alaska governor lacked the experience to be president were unfair.

"Sarah shoots from the hip," O'Donnell said. "I love what Rudy Giuliani said, that people just dismiss that Sarah Palin right now has more executive experience than Barack Obama did when he stepped into the Oval Office. People are ignoring that and trying to disqualify her, and mischaracterize her because she is someone who shoots from the hip."

Get a load of the first 3 paragraphs