Thursday Mashup (2/18/10)

(I also posted a video over here.)

Yes, I know we’ve all been jilted over the public option in health care reform, including yours truly, but please click here to find out how you can help bring it back to life in the Senate (pathetic that there are so many Dem senators STILL sitting on the fence, I must say…I called Specter and left a voice mail message, and Casey’s voice mailbox was full, so I completed a form at his web site, for what it’s worth).

Also, I’ll admit that it’s a long way from PA-08, but as noted here, Patrick Murphy recently…

...introduced (the) Secure Borders Act of 2010 last week. If passed, it would mandate penalties for federal agents who are found guilty of smuggling illegal immigrants and drugs into the U.S.

The congressman's bill calls for a 20-year federal prison sentence for any U.S. law enforcement official or member of the Coast Guard convicted under the act. The legislation would amend a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which contains no sentencing guidelines, Kate Hansen, spokeswoman for Murphy's office, said Wednesday.

Murphy's office cited several national news reports of corruption cases involving custom inspectors and U.S. border patrol officers who accepted bribes from drug and illegal immigrant smugglers. According to those reports, some of those found guilty received anywhere from two to seven years in prison.

For Murphy that's just not enough prison time.

"The stories of these officials blatantly breaking the law are very disturbing and what's even more offensive is the short jail time they receive once convicted," Murphy said in a written statement. "This small group of brazen criminals swore to protect our borders and instead broke our laws and they should be given far harsher federal prison sentences for betraying their oath and weakening our national security."

To me, this makes a lot more sense than that dumb Secure Fence Act passed under our former House rep Mikey Fitzpatrick (and also noted here is the fact that he opposed increasing the number of border patrol agents; today’s Courier Times story tells us that the number of agents has increased more than 50 percent since 2006).

And in other border enforcement news, this LA Times story tells us that “U.S. Border Patrol agents and Mexican federal police officers are training together, sharing intelligence and coordinating patrols for the first time.”

Also, this tells us how the Obama Administration has audited hiring records of companies to go after illegal aliens in their employ versus the Bushco “big bang” tactic of raids on selected companies for PR purposes (which inevitably forced more illegals back underground). I’m not going to tell you what Obama is doing is perfect, but doing the unspectacular grunt work on this is the way to go, IMHO.

I should note that I haven’t had much to say about the Murdoch Street Journal since they’ve made it all but unpossible to read their content for free because of their pernicious new content subscription policy (the day that I actually subscribe, even though their reporting can be good, is the day that I launch a petition to rename our county waste management facility in honor of William F. Buckley).

However, I did find an extra copy at a nearby lunch counter that no one used for wrapping leftovers, so I absconded with it (bold, brazen article that I am, I know).

And appropriately enough, who did I encounter first but Turd Blossom himself, who of course had a rather benign take on those teabaggers (here)…

A small fraction of the tea partiers’ leadership are ambitious individuals who haven’t been able to hold office in either the GOP or the Democratic Party. Some are from fringe groups like The John Birch Society or the remnants of the LaRouchies. Others see the Tea Party movement as a recruiting tool for volunteers for Ron Paul’s next presidential bid.

Gee, I wonder if “Bush’s Brain” knows that Paul is being “primaried” by those same teabaggers for Paul’s U.S. House seat (here)? And here is another episode where those zanies give Orrin Hatch a comeuppance (and yes, I know J.D. Mullane concocted some fluffery on these frauds today also).

The only reason the teabaggers have any importance at all is because our corporate media is fawning all over them, and also because, as David Corn recently said on “Countdown,” nobody controls the electoral “narrative” at the moment, so that creates a void for these life forms.

However, they are no more capable of governance than the Repugs, and their moment in the media spotlight will eventually run its course (not a minute too soon for yours truly, though).

And sticking with the Journal, I also came across this item in which Vice President Joe Biden is being put down in typical fashion for having the audacity to take credit for cleaning up perhaps Bushco’s most notorious mess (in Mesopotamia, that is)…

Mr. Biden, here are the facts. The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which former President Bush and Prime Minister Maliki signed, orchestrated the homecoming of U.S. troops. Mr. Obama didn’t do it.

Putting aside the fact that I find no evidence of President Obama “orchestrat(ing) the homecoming of U.S. troops,” the following should be noted about the SOFA from here…

The Bush administration had sought a conventional status of forces agreement that would provide a semi-permanent basis for stationing troops in Iraq, while Obama campaigned on promises to withdraw all combat troops within 16 months of his inauguration. The Arabic language version calls the final agreement a withdrawal accord.

Oh, and for good measure, authors Austin Bay and Omar Fadhil Al-Nidawi give The Sainted Ronnie R credit for “his victorious Cold War legacy.”

…

Memo to self – do not frequent that lunch counter again.