Press
7:52 a.m., Saturday, April 16, 2011
President Barack Obama returns to the White House in Washington, Friday, April 15, 2011, after a trip to Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)Click-2-ListenFollow Us OnFacebookTwitterQuestion of the DayDo you support Maryland's raising of the alcohol tax from 6 to 9 percent?
Yes
No
Undecided
Other
Login to Vote
View results
Follow Us OnFacebookTwitterQuestion of the DayDo you support Maryland's raising of the alcohol tax from 6 to 9 percent?
Yes
No
Undecided
Other
Login to Vote
View results
WASHINGTON (AP) — Launching a week devoted to selling his deficit-reduction plan, President Barack Obama on Saturday drew sharp contrasts with a House Republican budget that he says offers a vision that “is wrong for America.”
In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama charged Republicans with seeking to dismantle venerable safety net programs and choosing tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of students paying for college or older adults on Medicare.
“To restore fiscal responsibility, we all need to share in the sacrifice - but we don’t have to sacrifice the America we believe in,” Obama said.
The criticism echoed his speech Wednesday in which he unveiled a $4 trillion deficit-reduction plan over 12 years, a goal he says he can achieve with a blend of spending cuts, changes in major government health care programs and tax increases.
Obama’s message represents his clearest attempt to place ideological distance with Republicans after months spent negotiating a compromise six-month spending bill that trimmed more than $38 billion from the government. Obama signed that legislation Friday.
Obama plans to continue his plan’s pitch throughout the week, holding town halls in Northern Virginia Tuesday and in Palo Alto, Calif,, and Reno, Nev., later in the week during a Western tour that includes at least two Democratic Party fundraisers.
While trying to cast the debate in his own terms, the president’s attention to fiscal discipline signals a watershed in national politics. After two years devoted to priming an anemic economy with new spending and passing an overhaul of health care, Congress and the White House are beginning a debate about how to tame long-term deficits and a crushing debt of more than $14 trillion.
In the Republicans’ weekly address, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma called that turning point “a monumental shift for Washington.”
Still, Obama predicted in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday that fundamental questions about how to change giant benefit programs like Medicare and Medicaid or how to change the tax system might have to wait until after the 2012 presidential elections.
He conceded, however, that he would have to offer spending cuts to win votes in the Republican-controlled House for an increase in the debt limit. The debt will hit its ceiling of $14.3 trillion by mid-May, and administration officials say the cap must be raised by no later than early July.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Tucson students get border immigration experience
http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/24388884;_ylt=ArdTEHbpePLXr.FhUmgVwJP3SpZ4
Wed Mar 2, 11:03AM PT - FOX 11 Tucson 1:45 | 1780 views
TUCSON, Ariz. -- High school students from California and Tucson came together Tuesday to discus and learn about the border im
Wed Mar 2, 11:03AM PT - FOX 11 Tucson 1:45 | 1780 views
TUCSON, Ariz. -- High school students from California and Tucson came together Tuesday to discus and learn about the border im
Sunday, February 27, 2011
In Praise of Immigrant Students
In Praise of Immigrant Students
June 11, 2007 - The Nation - For now, immigration reform has died an inglorious death in the US Senate, beaten to death by John Cronyn, Republican from Texas, and others of his party who seem to think that behind every effort to facilitate the entry of foreigners seeking employment in this country, and to legalize the status of nearly 12 million hardworking immigrants already here, lurks an open invitation to criminals, terrorists and other undesirables from whom the country needs protection. Given this decidedly unflattering view of the character and motivation of America's immigrant population, it comes as no surprise that Senator Cronyn and others in his party of family values also see no reason to provide additional visas for foreigners who seek to be reunited with close family members already in the country as US citizens or lawful permanent residents, another stumbling block to passage of compromise legislation.
As I read the headlines about continuing deadlock in the nation's capital on immigration reform, I cannot help but think back to the very different perspective I gained on the matter as I participated for the first time as a new faculty member in commencement exercises held just over a week ago at New York's august Radio City Music Hall for the inspiring graduates of Hunter College of the City University of New York.
Here at Hunter, approximately one-third of our students are foreign born, and many more are the children of immigrants, most of them first-time college graduates in their families. Hunter students hail from some 150 different countries and speak nearly 100 languages. Here in the city that has welcomed the world's downtrodden for more than two centuries, we continue to educate and offer opportunity to a proverbial melting pot of talented and ambitious young people--or, as former New York Mayor David Dinkins liked to call them, the "gorgeous mosaic" that illustrates our noblest aspirations for our city and country and offers the greatest promise for our future.
* * *
Tyler case opened schools to illegal migrants
June 11, 2007 - Dallas Morning News - All Jose Lopez wanted for his children was the education he did not receive in Mexico.
But when he and his wife, Lidia, tried to enroll them in elementary school here in 1977, they were turned away.
Two years earlier, Texas lawmakers had changed the education code to prohibit using state funds to educate illegal immigrants. Some districts banned the students outright; others charged tuition.
Risking deportation, the Lopez family joined three others to fight Texas law. This week marks 25 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in their favor.
The landmark Plyler vs. Doe decision guaranteed illegal immigrants a free public education and established their civil rights and equal protection of the law under the 14th Amendment.
The case is sometimes mentioned in the same breath as Brown vs. Board of Education, but it enjoys none of the same fame. It is absent from Texas history lessons. People in Tyler rarely speak of it.
Yet the Plyler case has been used as a defense against countless proposals aiming to deny rights to illegal immigrants.
It was among the reasons that a federal judge threw out California's Proposition 187, which voters approved in 1994 to prohibit public services, including education, for illegal immigrants.
It explains why bills introduced in the Texas Legislature to ban illegal immigrants from public schools never go anywhere.
Attorneys with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund even cited the case this year in contesting the controversial Farmers Branch ordinance to ban illegal immigrants from renting apartments in the city.
"It's a moral guide," former Tyler civil rights attorney Larry Daves said. "It says this country still stands for having an open door to children and creating opportunities. That we're going to be true to that longstanding notion in this country that education is the great equalizer."
June 11, 2007 - The Nation - For now, immigration reform has died an inglorious death in the US Senate, beaten to death by John Cronyn, Republican from Texas, and others of his party who seem to think that behind every effort to facilitate the entry of foreigners seeking employment in this country, and to legalize the status of nearly 12 million hardworking immigrants already here, lurks an open invitation to criminals, terrorists and other undesirables from whom the country needs protection. Given this decidedly unflattering view of the character and motivation of America's immigrant population, it comes as no surprise that Senator Cronyn and others in his party of family values also see no reason to provide additional visas for foreigners who seek to be reunited with close family members already in the country as US citizens or lawful permanent residents, another stumbling block to passage of compromise legislation.
As I read the headlines about continuing deadlock in the nation's capital on immigration reform, I cannot help but think back to the very different perspective I gained on the matter as I participated for the first time as a new faculty member in commencement exercises held just over a week ago at New York's august Radio City Music Hall for the inspiring graduates of Hunter College of the City University of New York.
Here at Hunter, approximately one-third of our students are foreign born, and many more are the children of immigrants, most of them first-time college graduates in their families. Hunter students hail from some 150 different countries and speak nearly 100 languages. Here in the city that has welcomed the world's downtrodden for more than two centuries, we continue to educate and offer opportunity to a proverbial melting pot of talented and ambitious young people--or, as former New York Mayor David Dinkins liked to call them, the "gorgeous mosaic" that illustrates our noblest aspirations for our city and country and offers the greatest promise for our future.
* * *
Tyler case opened schools to illegal migrants
June 11, 2007 - Dallas Morning News - All Jose Lopez wanted for his children was the education he did not receive in Mexico.
But when he and his wife, Lidia, tried to enroll them in elementary school here in 1977, they were turned away.
Two years earlier, Texas lawmakers had changed the education code to prohibit using state funds to educate illegal immigrants. Some districts banned the students outright; others charged tuition.
Risking deportation, the Lopez family joined three others to fight Texas law. This week marks 25 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in their favor.
The landmark Plyler vs. Doe decision guaranteed illegal immigrants a free public education and established their civil rights and equal protection of the law under the 14th Amendment.
The case is sometimes mentioned in the same breath as Brown vs. Board of Education, but it enjoys none of the same fame. It is absent from Texas history lessons. People in Tyler rarely speak of it.
Yet the Plyler case has been used as a defense against countless proposals aiming to deny rights to illegal immigrants.
It was among the reasons that a federal judge threw out California's Proposition 187, which voters approved in 1994 to prohibit public services, including education, for illegal immigrants.
It explains why bills introduced in the Texas Legislature to ban illegal immigrants from public schools never go anywhere.
Attorneys with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund even cited the case this year in contesting the controversial Farmers Branch ordinance to ban illegal immigrants from renting apartments in the city.
"It's a moral guide," former Tyler civil rights attorney Larry Daves said. "It says this country still stands for having an open door to children and creating opportunities. That we're going to be true to that longstanding notion in this country that education is the great equalizer."
Sunday, February 20, 2011
immigration news
After contentious testimony, a bill that would give in-state college tuition to qualifying undocumented Colorado residents passed its first legislative hurdle on Thursday.
Senate Bill 126, known as the ASSET bill, would allow undocumented residents to benefit from in-state tuition rates. Unlike a similar bill that failed two years ago, the ASSET bill would not subsidize tuition rates for undocumented students using the state's College Opportunity Fund. The bill thus proposes a third tuition rate for undocumented students that his lower than out-of-state students pay, but higher than the rate paid by legal Colorado residents.
Senate Bill 126 cleared the Senate Education Committee by a 5-2 vote on Thursday, but not before some tense exchanges. EdNews Colorado reports that one witness who opposed the bill--Stan Weekes of the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform--started is testimony by saying by saying,"We need to have the sergeants at arms clear the room of everyone but the public."
The comment was meant to suggest that the room be cleared of any undocumented residents who came to see the hearings..
The Committee Chairman, Bob Bacon, refused Weekes's request.
KDVR reports that other witnesses against the bill raised concerns that it would contribute to what they described as an "epidemic" of anchor babies in the state.
Proponents argued that the bill would benefit the Colorado economy by creating a more educated work force. A legislative staff study (PDF) also estimated that the bill could boost tuition revenues by over $200,000.
Story continues below
Senate Bill 126, known as the ASSET bill, would allow undocumented residents to benefit from in-state tuition rates. Unlike a similar bill that failed two years ago, the ASSET bill would not subsidize tuition rates for undocumented students using the state's College Opportunity Fund. The bill thus proposes a third tuition rate for undocumented students that his lower than out-of-state students pay, but higher than the rate paid by legal Colorado residents.
Senate Bill 126 cleared the Senate Education Committee by a 5-2 vote on Thursday, but not before some tense exchanges. EdNews Colorado reports that one witness who opposed the bill--Stan Weekes of the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform--started is testimony by saying by saying,"We need to have the sergeants at arms clear the room of everyone but the public."
The comment was meant to suggest that the room be cleared of any undocumented residents who came to see the hearings..
The Committee Chairman, Bob Bacon, refused Weekes's request.
KDVR reports that other witnesses against the bill raised concerns that it would contribute to what they described as an "epidemic" of anchor babies in the state.
Proponents argued that the bill would benefit the Colorado economy by creating a more educated work force. A legislative staff study (PDF) also estimated that the bill could boost tuition revenues by over $200,000.
Story continues below
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Political Quoates
George Washington is the only president who didn't blame the previous administration for his troubles. ~Author Unknown
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)