Illegal Immigration:

1) Initial concern over border security started with the fear that terrorists could enter the US undetected. The focus immediately switched to the influx of illegal immigrants across the border with Mexico. It seems to me that the Mexican border has always been the most patrolled border of the US. I’m not aware of any instance of terrorists entering the US across the Mexican border. If I was a terrorist, I’d drive my Winnebago across the Canadian border with loudspeakers blaring morning prayers and possible still not be detected. Therefore I do not believe the attention to the Mexican border is justified by a security risk due to terrorist threat.

2) So we got side tracked off the war on terror to a fear of Latin culture infiltrating the US. Obviously illegally entering the US is wrong and should be a punishable offense. However, if one wants to stop the influx of Latin people entering the US illegally, then obviously we can do two things a) reduce the motivation to come, and b) put up barriers to come. I know many illegals in the US and they are not only here for the higher paying jobs, but also for the government funded education, government funded child care, government funded child tax credits, government funded health care, and citizenship for their newborns. All these perks, except for higher paying jobs, are free (i.e. the US economy incurs a cost without receiving a benefit). Paying illegals for work performed, however wrong, still benefits the US economy. Building a wall is nice; however, it requires taxpayer funding and government oversight (bigger government).

To summarize the above, I believe that our priorities should be as follows:

a) Eliminate welfare to people illegally in the US in the form of Education, Health Care, Tax Credits, Child Care payments, and finally Free Citizenship for just being born in the US.    Babies born in the US should adopt the same status as the most naturalized parent. i.e. if one parent is a citizen and the other is a green card then the child is a citizen, if one parent is a green card and the other is illegal then the child is a green card, etc.

b) Build a wall.

c) Penalize employers for hiring illegals.

Note: a) increases revenue and reduces government, b) increases government spending and increases government oversight, and c) penalizes citizens and increases government oversight. I am amazed that Congress is fooling around with a bill to penalize employers without first cleaning up the government sponsored free benefits to illegals. Why can’t a politician get their priorities in line with mine? I have very little respect for our government on this issue.

A side note on illegals: I have been a landlord in the Phoenix area for 6 years. I own inner city apartment buildings. I can tell you my best tenants are illegals, next are the low income blacks and Chicanos, and finally the worst tenants are the low income whites (excluding elderly people). This is primarily due to the welfare, victim mentally we have fostered in the US.

War on Terror:

I read a book by a man named George Friedman, Americas Secret War:….. One of the things he does in the book is to identify a purpose behind terrorism against Western nations. If I remember correctly, he suggests that Islamic terrorism had a primary objective of stimulating an uprising of fundamentalist Islam particularly in Middle East countries that have become too connected with Western Capitalism (i.e. Egypt, Saudi Arabia). This was to be done by trying to illicit an aggressive reaction by a Western Country(ies) in retaliation to terrorism. Once the West aggressively invaded the Middle East then the hope was that Islam would solidify (sort of a regeneration of the Caliphate). And with 911 it worked, the West retaliated aggressively. Problem is that it didn’t have the effect of solidifying Islam.

Given this theory, we acted correctly by retaliating aggressively to 911, thus halting the primary objective of terrorism. Perhaps now terrorism is undergoing a redefining of objectives.

To win the war on terror, however, I believe we not only need to act militarily but we also need to counter the primary objective of Islamic Terrorism. That is we also need to wage a war against the solidification of Islam under radical leadership and we need to consciously fracture Islam. We need to hold the “Moderate Islamists'” feet to the fire. We need to press “Moderate Islam” to publicly denounce every act of terrorism (instead of cartoons of Mohammad). We need to press “Moderate Islam” to illuminate the "militant" passages of the Koran in a light that denounces terrorism. This is a war that the Liberal US press needs to help wage. The true color of all Islam must be intentionally brought into the light. This war falls under the statement made by Bush that you are either for or against terrorism. Islam must be brought to either reject the boil of terrorism or be shown to embrace it. This is the way to ultimate victory and it should start with Islam in the Westernized countries (including the US). The former terrorist that interviewed on 60 Minutes hit the nail on the head and he should be a rallying point for this part of the War on Terror.

Health Care: Before we get all wrapped up on whether government should subsidize health care or health insurance, I believe the real issue is why are health care and prescription drug costs so high in the US? Somehow the free market system has been hamstrung when it comes to health care. I’m sure there must be dozens of private studies done that examine the cost of health care in the US and abroad. I would love to hear a politician focus on this issue rather than on whether to subsidize the health insurance industry or whether to expand government's control through socialized medicine.