Romney disses the British on their Olympic operation ……

Good ole Mitt Romney….

Get’s off the plane and promptly inserts foot in mouth!

‘Only he can run an Olympics?”

He’s a great prospect for the President of the USA!

hosted2.ap.org….Romney stepping out of 10 Downing Street…The PM’s house

Mitt Romney jetted across the Atlantic this week, partly to escape the stature-diminishing grind of the daily campaign — but he arrived to find an adversary every bit as ferocious as President Barack Obama’s Chicago crew: the British press.

Romney’s critique of this country’s preparations for the Olympic Games caused a firestorm in the London-based media Thursday, putting the Republican presidential hopeful on damage-control duty and ensuring that a trip meant to remind American voters about his leadership of the 2002 Winter Olympics and his diplomatic bona fides began on a sour note.

By the evening here, Romney had become part of a rallying cry, meant to fire up proud Britons.

“There’s a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know whether we are ready!” London Mayor Boris Johnson bellowed to a crowd in Hyde Park. “Are we ready? Yes we are!”

It wasn’t supposed to go like this.

After a day spent gripping and grinning with Great Britain’s past and present political elite, Romney was to have emerged from 10 Downing Street looking every bit the president-in-waiting.

But even before he began taking questions from reporters, the candidate knew he had to douse water on Fleet Street’s flames.

“I applaud the work the organizers did in bringing the Olympic experience right into the heart of London,” Romney said in his prepared remarks.

That was a touch more soothing to the Great British ego than what led to the trans-Atlantic flap.

More….

The President orders some illegal immigrant children’s deportations halted……

In a message to the Latino and anti-immigration people….

The President has moved forcefully to do something he had been reluctant to pursue ….

For Obama the issue had been festering recently….

(I did a post on this recently)….

Latino’s are solidly behind  Obama , by more than 60%….

But the recent headline a few days ago that the OBAMA Administration had been carrying out RECORD deportations had begun to move around the Latino and Hispanic communities and Obama was seeing figures in the polls that Latino’s where NOT gonna come out and vote come November…..

There  is more to this story….

The new order applies to young illegals (under 30) that would qualify for the much talked about Dream Act….

 and…

They must have clean records…..

In another action…

Ex- Mississippi Republican Governor Haley Barbour  ( he leads a pro-Romney Pac) has come out for a process to offer citizenship to the 12 million long term illegal’s in the United States….

This position is somewhat similar to what Mitt Romney had first advocated in the GOP primaries before he scurried back to the hard right position of NO path to citizenship….

Didn’t Romney us the term’self-Deportation?”…..

The policy is designed to aid immigrants who would have been affected by the DREAM Act, a Democratic-backed bill that would have put many students and veterans on a path to citizenship but failed to win passage in Congress. The White House had been reluctant to go around Congress to resolve the issue, but began to feel pressure from advocates when a prominent Hispanic Republican, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, began working with activistson a scaled-back version of the bill.

The move puts pressure on presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who ran to the right of the field on immigration during the GOP primaries.

Another development:

At a Christian Science Monitor breakfast Friday, former Mississippi governor Haley Barbour (R) forcefully advocated for a program of legalization for illegal immigrants currently in the country.

“We’re not going to deport 12 million people, and we shouldn’t,” said Barbour…..

More…

from Politicaldog101…

Immigration into the US by Country….

When we all talk about immigration….

These days Latino’s and Hispanic’s come to mind….

But that isn’t really the whole picture…

True the largest number IS from Mexico….

But…

On the whole that equals just a quarter of the total….

I’ve listed the numbers from wiki.…

Place of birth for the foreign-born population in the United States

Top ten countries	2010	2000	1990
Mexico	11,711,103	9,177,487	4,298,014
China	2,166,526	1,518,652	921,070
India	1,780,322	1,022,552	450,406
Philippines	1,777,588	1,369,070	912,674
Vietnam	1,240,542	988,174	543,262
El Salvador	1,214,049	817,336	465,433
Cuba	1,104,679	872,716	736,971
South Korea	1,100,422	864,125	568,397
Dominican Republic	879,187	687,677	347,858
Guatemala	830,824	480,665	225,739
All of Latin America	21,224,087	16,086,974	8,407,837
All Immigrants	39,955,854	31,107,889	19,767,316

Source: 1990 and 2000 decennial Census and 2010 American Community Survey

 From Politicaldog101…..

Hurricane Irene moves thru Washington DC….

From The Washington Post…. The leading edge of Hurricane Irene moved into the Washington region Saturday morning, several hours after the storm made landfall on the Outer Banks of North Carolina just after dawn. Beginning with gusting winds and light showers, the brunt of the storm was expected to pass through the area overnight and into Sunday morning. It reached land as a Category 1 hurricane, downgraded a notch from the greater force it gathered over the open Atlantic. The National Hurricane Center reported at 2 p.m. that Irene’s maximum sustained winds were 85 mph. It is expected to grind north over the coastal states on a course that will take it through Maine and eastern Canada before the arctic chill forces its warm moisture to make a right turn into the Atlantic. After days of warning, it took no one by surprise. From North Carolina through Nova Scotia, people had raided markets and liquor stores for provisions, hammered plywood into place, stockpiled ice, flashlights and candles in case power is lost, and tied down everything that might blow away in tropical-force winds. By Saturday morning, Ocean City officials said the unprecedented evacuation of more than 200,000 residents and visitors from the barrier island had been completed with near total compliance. More than 2,000 of the area’s foreign student workers had been bused to Baltimore. The last holdout — a 7-Eleven near 120th Street — closed its temporary plywood doors at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Light traffic continued to flow across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge early Saturday afternoon, but wind speeds were approaching 30 mph, the point when authorities said they would ban house trailers, motorcycles and other vehicles affected by strong winds. They said the bridge will be closed to all traffic if sustained winds reach 60 mph. In Virginia, nearly 200,000 people were subject to forced evacuations, and 65,000 residents have lost power, with Hampton, Norfolk and Virginia Beach bearing most of the hurricane’s impact….. More….

From Politicaldog101.Com….

The last touchdown for an American Space Shuttle……

The Atlantis Space Shuttle closes the door on American manned space travel for next few years in its return from space early this morning…..

An era ends as Atlantis touches down

From the Associated Press

Atlantis and four astronauts returned from the International Space Station in triumph, bringing an end to NASA’s 30-year shuttle journey.

From Politicaldog101.Com….

The Saudi’s move to blunt Iran in the Middle East and become the Top Player there….

I touched on this briefly after the Egyptians sent Mubarak packing….

The truth is no matter how much the media hypes it up…

The United States is just a bystander in the Middle East and North Africa….

The Saudi’s know that…

They have watched American President’s come and go….

Blah…Blah…Peace …

Yea right….

The fact is …

There is no peace ….

In addition…

By Bush II beating up Iraq and Saddam Hussein …

He upset a natural balance in the region….

Most people forget that the US had been working WITH Iraq to keep their eight war going on….

Iran had no time to mess with other countries in the region with Saddam constantly probing the Iranian’s militarily….

But…

After Iraq ceased to be a fighting force…..

Iran looked around the region and began to export instability and influence….

Then the Egyptian political thing happened and the ‘democracy’ was off to the races….

That movement was strong but not channeled…

It struck out across the Middle East and North Africa and probably scared the shit out of ever ruler….

And the Iranians of course saw a means to spread their brand like all political systems do….

America with its hands full in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and relief work in Japan has been ineffective in dealing with Iran….

Several infantile attempts at over throwing the Political system in that country have resulted in crushing lock downs on its young people….

All this while that countries leader’s pursue the ‘Nuclear Option’…..

Which the west  and Israeli’s have been force to attack with computer viruses instead of direct action…

No wonder the Saudi’s have decided to combat eth influence of Iran on it’s own….

The United States constantly has this internal argument in the media on WHEN will we leave the region with our Armies , Navies and Aircraft…..

No IF…..

So they have stuck out on their own …

Which of course in the right thing for them to do…

It’s their butts that are on the line…..

And we shouldn’t be so worried at the linked piece below declares…

It’s about time someone else is leading the band…

We American’s are tired….

Saudi Arabia is rallying Muslim nations across the Middle East and Asia to join an informal Arab alliance against Iran, in a move some U.S. officials worry could draw other troubled nations into the sectarian tensions gripping the Arab world.

Saudi officials have approached Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Central Asian states to lend diplomatic support—and potentially military assistance in some cases—to help stifle a majority Shiite revolt in Sunni-led Bahrain, a conflict that has become a symbol of Arab defiance against Iran.

Saudi Arabia’s efforts, though against a common enemy, signal increasing friction with the Obama administration. Its invitation to Pakistan in particular could complicate U.S. security goals in South Asia. The push also complicates U.S. efforts to guide popular uprisings in the Middle East toward a peaceful and democratic conclusion.

The chief of the Saudi National Security Council, Prince Bandar bin Sultan al Saud, asked Pakistan’s powerful generals in March to lend support for the operation in Bahrain, according to Pakistani, U.S. and Saudi officials briefed on the meetings.

Prince Bandar—who was the Saudi ambassador to Washington for more than two decades—told the Pakistani generals that the U.S. shouldn’t be counted on to restore stability across the Middle East or protect Pakistan’s interests in South Asia, these officials say.

U.S. officials working with Saudi Arabia acknowledged in recent days Riyadh’s frustration with Washington’s policies but believe the relationship can be stabilized. “They are not happy with us, and are really nervous about Iran,” said an American official. “But I don’t think they are going to go too far.”

 

More…..

From Politicaldog101…

 

 

 

 

 

Arrests of illegal crossers along the Southwest border dropped more than two-thirds from 2000 to 2010…

The desert sand east of San Luis, Ariz., is imprinted with Border Patrol tracks in this 2007 photo. New stadium lighting, triple fencing, more border agents and the recession are credited with a plunge in the numbers of illegal crossings in the Southwest since 2000. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Last night a commentor lamented the call by this Dog and the President for Immigration reform….

The post was long and criticized ANY let up in illegal immigration enforcement….

That same posted should read this linked piece…

The Illegal immigration problem is fading….

While there will always be illegals….

There really isn’t any reason to keep hiring more Border Patrol people….

Nor is there any reason to build anymore fences or walls….

It seems that a lousy economy has slowed the influx of people better than any wall, border patrol person , or other Government law enforcement tool….

Enough with this more enforcement bullshit…

We need reform of the laws to address the problems in the current system that penalized people who serve this country and can’t get citizenship….

We need a system to not ship out young children that only know America as their country….

And a way to address needs of this country for people who can help it grow and prosper….

Wild foot chases and dust-swirling car pursuits may be the adrenaline-pumping stuff of recruitment efforts, but agents on the U.S.-Mexico border these days have to deal with a more mundane occupational reality: the boredom of guarding a frontier where illegal crossings have dipped to record low levels.

Porous corridors along the 2,000-mile border do remain, mostly in the Tucson area, requiring constant vigilance. But beefed-up enforcement and the job-killing effects of the great recession have combined to reduce the flood of immigrants in many former hot spots to a trickle.

Apprehensions along the Southwest border overall dropped more than two-thirds from 2000 to 2010, from 1.6 million to 448,000, and almost every region has lonely posts where agents sit for hours staring at the barrier, watching the “fence rust” as some put it.

“When the traffic stops … of course it’s going to be difficult for the agents to stay interested,” said Supervisory Agent Ken Quillin, from the agency’s Yuma, Ariz., sector. “I understand guys have a tough time staying awake…. they didn’t join the border patrol to sit on an X,” Quillin added, using the slang term for line watch duty……
More…

Note….

We now need to seperate the fact of this issue from the hyped fiction….

From Politicaldog 101…

The Foreign Desk…4/17/11….France, Libya, Japan, Syria, Cuba…..

From the BBC…..

France stops Italy migrant trains

A row escalates as French authorities block Italian trains in an attempt to stop migrants from north Africa entering the country……

UN Libya mission is ‘difficult’

David Cameron said the UK was not occupying or invading but said these restrictions imposed by the UN made the mission in Libya more difficult.

But he stressed the restrictions were the “right” ones.

It comes amid reports of fresh fighting between pro-Gaddafi forces and rebels…..

Japan unveils nuclear crisis plan

Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) aims to reduce radiation leaks in three months and to cool the reactors within nine months.

The utility said it also plans to cover the reactor building, which was hit by a huge quake and tsunami on 11 March.

Nearly 14,000 people died and another 14,000 are still unaccounted for.

Tepco unveiled its roadmap as Hillary Clinton briefly visited Tokyo to pledge America’s “steadfast support” for Japan’s reconstruction…..

Syria state of emergency ‘to end’

The lifting of the 48-year-old emergency law has been a key demand of the protesters.

On Friday, tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in the capital, Damascus, in one of the biggest turnouts since protests began.

While he repeated his view that his country was facing a conspiracy, Mr Assad said he did not believe the lifting of the state of emergency would destabilise Syria.

The Syrian leader told the cabinet a legal commission asked to examine the lifting of the law had come to its conclusions.

“I think the commission has finished its work, on Thursday, and the recommendations will be given to the government so that they become law immediately. I don’t know how many days it will take you and I think that the maximum deadline for the lifting of the state of emergency will be next week,” he said…..

Castro calls for Cuba term limits

President Castro was speaking at the start of the first congress of Cuba’s ruling Communist Party in 14 years.

He said the party leadership was in need of renewal and should subject itself to severe self-criticism.

The proposal is unprecedented under Cuban communism.

Mr Castro, 79, made clear the limits would apply to himself.

He took over from his brother Fidel in 2008 and between them they have ruled Cuba for 52 years.

He acknowledged that “the confidence of the majority of Cubans had been tested, with regard to the party and the revolution”……..

From Politicaldog101…..

Another view on why the French and Brits jumped into Libya….And pulled us in too…

Ok….

I’m tired …..

But while riding around with my wife this afternoon and evening I tuned into POTUS Satellite Radio….

They were doing the replay of the morning Press Pool radio show….

Louise Schiavone was filling in for the Joe Mathieu and she had  Llewellyn King on….

She got into a discussion about Libya…

And Llewellyn went on about a another reason for the mess in and over Libya…..

King invited that while the big deal about the Libyan “Civil War”  in this country was framed in the term of media pictures of people getting hurt from Gaddafi’s troops…

The REAL reason for the French flexing and the Brits and the rest of Europe getting excited and worked up was NOT Gaddafi at all…

It was immigration and assimilation….

The two issues are very real in the European continent King advised….

For this reason…

As things have gotten bad in the Middle East and Africa from wars and disputes between religious groups of muslims….

As the shia and Sunni muslims square off….

People move….

They move to the European countries where democracy lets them live their lives as they want to…..

If they aren’t religious the still move to live their lives free of dictators….

But…..

And this is VERY IMPORTANT …..

These immigrants ….

And they are a LOT of THEM…..

Are moving into Europe and NOT assimilating…..

King points out that in Italy and France there are whole swaths of the country that have immigrants that don’t bother to learn their new countries language, customs or laws….

They set up shop in their new destinations and BRING THEIR OLD COUNTRY with them…

France is in heated battle with muslim women who wear cover-ups that make them unrecognizable to anyone….

This ia religious custom ….

But the French are highly pissed ….

To the point that they have passed a law against it….

As in this country….

Immigration is a hot subject….

So King points out…..

The French and the Italians have been watching nervously as immigrants bail out of troubled Middle Eastern and Africa countries and landing on their shores….

Gaddafi was alright in Kings estimation until people started heading for the borders….

The result of the same thing the American media was showing…..

King points out that Sarkozy must have picked up the phone and spoke to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton…..Then President Obama reminding them that French and NATO troops where operating in Afghanistan providing great political risk to the heads of state of those countries……

It was time for the US to return the favor….

And I add…

Hillary sold it to Obama….

You know I never saw this thing that way….

But I can NOW see it …..

The more you know….

The more you can see……

From Politicaldog101….

Can Al Sharpton help the President with ‘Black Folks’?

President Obama ……The nation’s first Black (or better yet bi-racial) President faces a quiet problem….

Black folks are a little peved at him ……

Why Obama has been VRY carfeul to not come off as black….

That same carefullness IS causing him some grumbling in black neiborhoods…

With the GOP in the headlines everyday trying to cut benefits in the nations social safety net….

And with more black faces in the media under George Bush (AG Holder is the only prominate Cabinet Secretary out there..and he keeps messing up) Obama is going to ‘Rev Al’ for help…..The Revereant….A media icon is up for it…..Visisting the White House and going corporate with media appearances ……

And speaking up for the President whenever and wherever he can….

The President is repaying Shapton with a visit to his organization in New York tonight…..

I always liked Rev. Al…..

Because after you got thru the Bull Shit he is spot on a lot of times…

With a past that was nothing to brag about (the Brawley Caper)…

Many forget he marched with Martin Luther King as a young activist…..

He must have quiet moments where he just looks at Obama and remembers marching for this moment …..

A Black President…..

With his ‘du’…and expensive suits….and media help

He has come full circle….

And so has a bit of this country

Rev. AL Sharpton in the White House with the President…

Who’d ever dream of that?

President Obama delivered remarks at the 20th Annual Keepers of the Dream Awards with Reverent Al Sharpton on Wednesday(IN NYC)(Keivom/News)

 

By DOMINIC CARTER @Politico…

If you don’t believe Al Sharpton is emerging as “the president” of black America, just look at who’s speaking Wednesday at his annual National Action Network conference: President Barack Obama.

Timing is important. The nation’s first black president has largely finessed the topic of race. But Obama is now facing growing criticism from some African-American leaders that he lacks a “black agenda.”

This criticism has been smoldering in some circles for more than a year. The problem for Obama is that it is coming from some of the nation’s most-quoted African-American leaders.

It’s a widening rift. One Obama cannot afford now. Going into what could be a tough re-election bid, the last thing Obama needs is voter dissatisfaction in part of his base.

The question is asked: Where can frustrated African-American voters go? True, they may be unlikely to turn to Republicans. But they could stay home on Election Day. And high black turnout helped Obama win the White House…..

More….

From Politicaldog101.Com