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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Fair, ballanced, ill informed bloviating
2013-07-17
An e-mail from a former colleague in the LE community:
Dear Mr. O'Reilly,

Last week you read a letter from a viewer who said that the solution to the immigration problem is to enforce the laws already on the books. As someone who retired as an immigration officer with over 20 years of service (Border Patrol Agent, Deportation Officer and Supervisory Detention and Deportation Officer), I let your snarky retort about immigration officers kicking in doors slide. Then I started talking to friends and acquaintances...

Your mischaracterization of what Border Patrol Agents and ICE enforcement officers do on a daily basis was taken as gospel by some of the people I talked to who are not in law enforcement and only seem to know what we do from TV shows and newscasts. Currently, ICE is not enforcing immigration law as it was or was trying to do when I served. In fact, last year ICE agents sued the administration over the order to not put people in proceedings.

In an April 24th ruling Federal Judge Reed O'Conner wrote: "The court finds that DHS does not have discretion to refuse to initiate removal proceedings," While the case is far from over, it does indicate that the plaintiffs (the ICE agents) are likely to win on the merits as only Congress and not the administration can write law.

The current Senate bill is a new version of Simpson-Mazzoli on steroids. It would be a service to your viewers if you investigated how that 1986 law signed by President Reagan failed to prevent the jump from an then estimated 4-5 million illegal aliens to the current estimates of nearly 15 million. Perhaps bringing ICE union president Chris Crane in for an extended interview might be helpful.

Moreover, you do owe an apology to the agents, officers and their families for your characterization of how they do their best (despite the efforts of both political parties) to enforce our nation's laws and keep us safe. Remember, the fact that we didn't enforce our laws as written, left us vulnerable to attack by terrorists who overstayed their visas.

Name withheld.
Posted by:Besoeker

#8  Link's dead.

Good catch, Redneck Jim! But there never was a link, as this was from a private correspondence Besoeker received. Mostly we don't publish those, but every once in a while there is something particularly interesting to this group.
Posted by: trailing wife   2013-07-17 15:28  

#7  Link's dead.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2013-07-17 13:33  

#6  I assume we're talking about Bill O'Reilly here. I can't watch him. There was a time when I tried but every time he interviews someone it turns into a shouting match. The result is I can't hear what they're saying because they shout each other down. O'Reilly is a bully and a pompous buffoon who would rather listen to the sound of his own voice than any of his interviewees. Yesterday I saw on Drudge that he is number one among cable news shows. That doesn't say much for people who watch cable news. It's kinda sad, really.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2013-07-17 11:48  

#5  it does indicate that the plaintiffs (the ICE agents) are likely to win on the merits as only Congress and not the administration can write law.

OR OBAMA EITHER.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2013-07-17 07:03  

#4  Simply put, I don't listen to those folks, and I try not to associate with them.

When Jesse Jackson rallies, you won't find me there.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2013-07-17 06:13  

#3  The word is "officiousness", Besoeker.

"You NEED my services and you MUST finance my lifestyle to keep me around so you can use them."

The hustlers are merely a small subset of so-called Americans who seek to use flim-flammery or the force of government either directly or by regulation and rent-seeking behavior to coerce others into funding their material worth.

It's the bane of our times. It is the personality type of the race/gender/orientation hustlers. It explains the lobbying and rent-seeking behavior that has exploded over the past forty years.

It is the attitude of 99% of the nonmilitary government employees in this country, at all levels of government - the new clerisy. It is the sole motivation of nearly all public school teachers in this country. It's the main reason (yes, I know there were others) that Obama got reelected.

The race hustlers, the gender hustlers, the whole lot of them are merely reflecting a society wide trend to become their own little corner of the coerced sector instead of being in the voluntary sector. As your quote shows, people like that have always existed. They are sadly in the majority of the electorate now, in various forms and expressions.
Posted by: no mo uro   2013-07-17 05:48  

#2  Quote used last evening by Congressman Alan West:

"There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don't want the patient to get well."
- Booker T. Washington, 1856-1919
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-07-17 04:04  

#1  Like the Mainstream Media, FOX News has taken the bait and made the Zimmerman trial a successful media distraction. O'Reilly [and others] have become fixated with race at the expense of legitimate news issues. Just my humble opinion.

Posted by: Besoeker   2013-07-17 04:00  

00:00