Yesterday’s Washington Examiner posted an article by Byron York on a proposal by Arizona’s two Republican Senators, John McCain and Jon Kyl, to secure the U. S. border with Mexico.

According to the article, the Senators’ plan includes:

“…completing and improving the border fence, adding new Border Patrol agents, expanding a policy of briefly jailing illegal border crossers, and several other programs already in existence.”

In 2006 Congress passed The Secure Fence Act, which required 700 miles of border fence with double-layered fencing and other barriers.  According to The Customs and Border Protection agency, 646 miles of that fence are finished, so as far as they are concerned, the job is done.  Unfortunately, the double-layered fencing has not made it to most of Arizona.  The border fence in Arizona includes 123 miles of pedestrian fence (all but 10 miles are single-layered high fence) to keep people from climbing over), and 182 miles of vehicle fencing (easy for people to climb over or vehicles to use ramps to get over).  That represents 305 miles of fencing.  The border between Arizona and Mexico is 375 miles long.  It seems as though that might be part of the problem.

The estimate on the cost of the McCain-Kyl legislation to secure the border is about $5 million.  When you consider the amount of money this administration is generally throwing around in all other directions, this is doable.

The article concludes:

“As Kyl and McCain see it, Napolitano has things totally turned around.  Today’s problem won’t be solved by comprehensive immigration reform.  Instead, solving the problem would make comprehensive reform possible.  And a bargain, too.”

I hope the Senate has the wisdom to listen to what these men are suggesting.

Got a phone call from someone I know relating a bit of irony.  At the commissary at Camp Pendleton Saturday, the Jewish War Veterans and the Ladies Auxiliary of Southern California were handing out poppies in honor of the veterans.  The person pointed out to me that one of the main reasons her husband is in Afghanistan right now is poppies.  Maybe it’s time to find another flower!

I don’t think I am the only parent who has struggled with the cost of putting braces on children with crooked teeth.  Back in the age of dinosaurs, when my children wore braces, the cost of braces was about the same as the cost of tuition for a year in a state college.  I suspect both prices have gone up since then.  But braces are a major expense, and many families choose to spread that expense over a number of months.  In the future, that may get interesting.

Today The Hill reports that dentists may be affected by the financial reform legislation now moving through Congress. 

According to the article:

“Dentists could fall under the Senate financial bill because they often allow patients to pay in installments, Graham said. According to a 2009 ADA survey, roughly half of dentists offer this type of billing for three or four months.

“Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Small Business Committee, told Dodd it was “more than likely” that small healthcare practices, including dentists and physicians, would fall under the scope of the new regulator. She noted a recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) decision that dental and law practices were considered creditors as an example of regulators crafting broad interpretations.”

I rather doubt Congress intended to impact dentists with this law, but the fact remains that they did.  One of the major forces at work in Washington under this Congress is the law of unintended consequences.  Our legislators are passing laws, and Congress has no idea whom they will impact or how.  The healthcare legislation was the poster child for this problem; now the financial reform act may run a close second.

The campaign season has begun.  Primaries were held in various states today.  I think we need to send the current Congress home before they can do any more damage.  Leave my children’s teeth alone!

The car bomb in Times Square in New York City was noticed by two street vendors who alerted the police.  The bombing was stopped, and the investigation begun.  Today, the Washington Times reports on how the suspect was found and arrested.

Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani who had just returned from a five-month trip to Pakistan, was arrested at John F. Kennedy airport as he attempted to leave the country.

Mr. Shahzad had removed the vehicle identification number from the dashboard of the vehicle, but had not removed it from the engine block.  That number allowed the police to trace the vehicle and its sale.

The SUV was packed with fireworks. propane gas tanks, and fertilizer.  The NYPD bomb squad has stated that they felt the fertilizer used was not volatile enough to explode.  I’m glad that is only theory and we are not dealing with the results of the bomb.

Regardless of the reasons for this attempted bombing (the South Park connection, etc.), the attempt should make us more aware that there are people out there (and unfortunately here too) that mean to do us harm.  Our federal officials cannot be expected to get it right 100 per cent of the time–that is not a reasonable expectation–but all of us need to pay attention to what is going on around us.  We are responsible for our own safety.

Thank God for the alert street vendors (according to one story, they were Viet Nam veterans) who called the police.

The Washington Examiner reports today that the Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from the San Deigo area Boy Scouts of a ruling that says that the Boy Scouts cannot lease city-owned parkland in San Deigo.  The Federal judges have said that the Boy Scouts are a religious group and the lease violates the federal law that prohibits the promotion of religion.  The American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit on behalf of a lesbian couple and an agnostic couple, each with scouting-age sons.  The suit was filed in 2006 right after the City Council voted to extend the 50-year lease for another 25 years.

The boy scouts’ response is that they have no theology and only believe that children should “do duty to God” to become productive citizens.

So two couples with scouting aged sons can ruin the scouting experience of numerous other scouts because they don’t like the morals the Boy Scouts are teaching.  I think we need more groups teaching morals and community service, not less.  I am really sorry this decision will not be overturned.  If the two couples involved don’t like what the Boy Scouts teach, they should start their own group to train good citizens–they don’t have to attack someone else’s group.

Yesterday’s UK Telegraph posted a story about Dale McAlpine, a 42-year-old Baptist preacher, who was arrested for causing “harassment, alarm or distress” after listing some of the sins referred to in the Bible–blasphemy, drunkenness, and same sex relationships. 

According to the article:

“The 42-year-old Baptist, who has preached Christianity in Wokington, Cumbria for years, said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a sermon from the top of a stepladder, but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it went against the word of God.”

The Public Order Act, which was introduced in 1986, was supposed to be used against violent rioters and ‘football hooligans’, but unfortunately has been used to curb religious free speech.  The complaint was made to a police community support officer (PCSO) who arrested Mr. McAlpine.  The officer, who stated that he was homosexual, was the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender liaison officer for Cumbria police.

Hopefully, the recent anti hate speech rules that Congress passed will not result in this sort of arrest.  Just as homosexuals have the right to be homosexual, preachers have the right to repeat the Biblical warnings about the homosexual lifestyle.

The source for this article is one with which I am not familiar, but I have read the information other places, and I think it is important to post it.  Net Right Nation reported last week on the changes to the Form 1099 requirements included in the recently passed healthcare reform bill.  If you own a small business, these changes are going to cost you serious time and money.  If you are a consumer, you will be expected to absorb the increased cost to small business.  It is generally a lose-lose situation.

The healthcare reform bill requires that every business file a 1099 Form with both the IRS and the company that provided the services or sold the product for every expenditure that exceeds $600.  Previously, 1099 Forms were only required for contract employees.

The article explains the impact of this change:

“In practical terms, here is what the new law means. Joe’s Plumbing prints up 100 color presentations at FedEx Kinko’s for a trade show in New Orleans, where they are staying at a Holiday Inn for six days.

At a minimum, Joe’s Plumbing will have to contact FedEx Kinko’s, the airline, Holiday Inn, the rental car company, and the organization sponsoring the trade show and get taxpayer identification numbers from them so they can comply with this tax law. The company will then have to send out 1099 forms to each of these vendors and dozens, hundreds or thousands more vendors, depending upon the size of the company, thus adding significant compliance costs to every business in America. Everyone from a company’s accountant, to building supplier, to carpet cleaner to janitorial service will be trading 1099 forms.”

This situation gets worse.  The IRS will not be in charge of setting the rules for the filing and storing of the 1099 Forms–the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will be writing and overseeing these tax regulations.  Yikes.  That’s the equivalent of hiring a computer programmer to fix a plumbing problem.  He might be a really good programmer, but that’s not his area of expertise.

This provision in the healthcare reform legislation is another reason why ‘repeal and replace’ is a really good idea.  Please keep this in mind when you vote in November.

Monday’s Washington Times has posted an op-ed piece by Ted Nugent on the subject of immigration reform.  Ted Nugent has never been an average rock star even in the days when rock stars were not average.

After the recent murder of Robert Krenz, Arizona passed a law allowing policemen to ask for proof of citizenship from the people they stop.  The new law makes it a crime to be in Arizona illegally (just for the record, that was already a federal crime, but there was no enforcement).  The people who cannot prove they are in the country legally face up to six months in jail and a fine of $2,500. 

Mr. Nugent cites a quote from Ronald Reagan:

“A nation without borders will soon cease to be a nation.”

We have borders–the problem is that Washington politicians have refused to enforce them for a number of years.  It was not as critical when the unemployment rate was 5 per cent or before terrorism became a serious threat–now it is critical.

While I don’t totally agree with Mr. Nugent’s comments, I think he makes some valid points on what we need to do to protect our nation.  With freedom comes responsibility, and we have the responsibility to enforce our borders and our laws.  Before we discuss immigration reform, we need to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into this country.  Congratulations to Arizona for doing that.

According to today’s Washington Examiner delegates of 189 nations will meet tomorrow in New York City for their twice in a decade meeting to discuss the forty-year-old treaty designed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.  Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the only actual head of state taking part. 

According to the article:

“Departing Tehran on Sunday, Ahmadinejad signaled he’ll use the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference to assail the U.S. and other nuclear-weapons powers for slow movement toward disarmament.”

Great idea–let’s start by disarming him.  The United States Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that she thought the Iranian President was coming to New York simply to divert attention away from Iran’s nuclear program and confuse the issue.  This is one of the few times I agree with Secretary of State Clinton.

The article further states:

“Treaty members — every nation but India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea — gather every five years to review how it’s working and agree on new approaches to problems. They do that not by updating the treaty, a difficult task, but by trying to adopt a consensus final document calling for steps outside the treaty to advance its goals — in U.S.-Russian arms reductions, for example, or by strengthening the hand of the U.N. nuclear inspectors, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”

It seems rather obvious that this has not been a successful program.  The bottom line here is that until the free countries of the world actually unite against the tyrants of the world who are developing nuclear weapons, more countries are going to acquire nuclear weapons.  Because the free countries of the world are not in charge of the United Nations, the slowing down of the growth of nuclear nations will probably never be a reality.  The only real answer to the problem is for the free nations of the world to share and expand their missile defense programs in order to avoid being the target of a new nuclear nation.

This story is based on two sources, wcbstv.com today and the UK Telegraph today.  Yesterday a car bomb was placed in an SUV in New York City and left to detonate.  Thanks to the actions of a street vendor who reported a smoking car, the bomb was discovered before it detonated.  Wcbstv reports that the New York Police Department is checking surveillance cameras around the area for leads and that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is also involved in the investigation.

The UK Telegraph points out that the bomb was located near the offices of Viacom, which owns the South Park television series.  Last month the writers of South Park were threatened with physical harm because of their portrayal of Mohammed in the series. 

South Park is in its fourteenth season.  During that time, the show has bashed everyone–Christians, Barbra Streisand, Scientology, pedophiles, etc.  The show is rude, crude,and politically incorrect, but it is probably one of the most unbiased shows on television.  Only when they satirized Mohammed were they faced with actual physical harm.  This ought to be a clue to us about the intolerance of the extremist elements of the Muslim religion.

According to the UK Telegraph:

“The bomb was left inside a dark green Nissan Pathfinder, left with its engine running and hazard lights flashing near the junction of 45th Street and Broadway.

“A T-shirt vendor, who was a Vietnam veteran, alerted police when he noticed smoke coming out of it. Police hurriedly evacuated thousands of tourists and theatre-goers, including women in evening gowns, from the area on Broadway’s busiest night of the week.”

Hopefully, we can quickly find the people who put this car bomb together and put them in jail for a very long time.  Meanwhile, we have a lot to be thankful for–no one was hurt and the bomb did not detonate. 

Ed Morrissey reports at Hot Air today about a provision in the financial reform bill that would allow the Federal Trade Commission to begin to regulate Internet transactions. 

The article points out:

“This has become a pattern with this Congress and administration. Despite having large majorities in both chambers, Democrats refuse to use the legislative path to pass regulation — mainly because the regulations they want are too radical to pass. Instead, they shift the creation of regulation to agencies like the EPA and its “endangerment” finding for CO2, which would then require Congress and the President to undo rather than vote to impose in the first place.”

Mr. Morrissey further points out:

“Even considering that pattern, this is something out of the ordinary. Neither the FTC nor the Internet had anything to do with the Wall Street meltdown in 2008.  If this financial-regulation bill is so desperately needed, why did House Democrats lard it up with this power grab at the FTC?  Why does the FTC need any further authority over the Internet, where fraud and abuse regulations apply already?   The Internet economy has been one of the bright spots throughout a dismal period of recent history.  Do we need to attack the one area that shows growth and promise?”

The loser in this type of transaction (other than the American people) is the U. S. Constitution.  It’s time to elect leaders who will uphold the Constitution, not find new and unusual ways to circumvent it.

Today’s Chicago Sun Times posted an article about U.S. Army Master Sgt. Pedro Medina.  Master Sgt. Medina, a Chicago policeman who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2008 with the National Guard, returned to Chicago yesterday. 

According to the article:

“One year ago, Medina was out in the open on his military base in mountainous southeastern Afghanistan when mortar rounds exploded around him. He took cover inside a building. A Chinook helicopter was taking off to escape the attack, and a downdraft from the rotors collapsed the building on top of Medina. Doctors later told Medina he was a quadriplegic.”

On Friday, Master Sgt. Medina walked through Midway Airport without even using a cane.  Master Sgt. Medina said that he is eager to return to police work after he finishes his rehab.

I am always amazed at the courage and strength of the people who serve in our military.  Please remember all of them in your prayers.