Postcards - and video - from the edge

forthecause.us

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COMMUNIST CHINA TO U.S. - 'STOP COMPLAINING OR WE'LL BRING DOWN YOUR ECONOMY'
As China faces rising pressures to become a fair trading partner, Beijing is threatening to cripple the American economy by selling the U.S. treasuries and currency. Japan still holds the most U.S. treasury bonds, some $615 billion worth. But China is accumulating bonds faster than any other nation, now holding more than $407 billion. China is threatening to dump U.S. treasuries. A party official in the China Daily writes, "The Chinese central bank will be forced to sell U.S. dollars which might lead to a mass depreciation of the U.S. dollar." The U.K. telegraph notes another leader recently called U.S. reserves a, "Bargaining chip," with dollar sales their "nuclear option." Alan Tonelson of the U.S. Business and Industry Council notes: "The Chinese do hold very significant leverage over the U.S. economy because they hold so much U.S. debt. And by holding that U.S. debt, they subsidize American consumption and help keep our living standards artificially high. At the same time, China desperately needs the United States to serve as the market for its manufactured goods." China holds $1.3 trillion worth of reserves, $407 billion in treasuries. Dumping them would be devastating to the U.S. economy, slamming the dollar and driving up interest rates. See the video...
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The New York Times:

Man and Youth Held in Killings of 3 in Newark

In a day of dramatic turns that included the surrender of one suspect to the mayor himself, the authorities announced on Thursday that a 15-year-old youth and a 28-year-old construction worker had been arrested in the murder of three young people and the wounding of a fourth in an episode that has unsettled this crime-hardened city. At least three other suspects — two of whom were described as also being juveniles — were still being sought, the authorities said, including one juvenile who is possibly a relative of the 15-year-old suspect. The four victims, two of them college students and two who were scheduled to begin in the fall, were shot on Saturday night in the playground of the Mount Vernon elementary school,where they had been listening to music. The authorities say robbery appeared to be the motive. Mayor Cory A. Booker, who announced the arrests in news conferences barely an hour apart, described the 28-year-old, Jose Carranza, as “the principal suspect,” although officials said they had not yet worked out the relationship between the suspects.
[Our take: Nowhere in this New York Times article is it mentioned that the executioner of the three college students in Newark is an illegal alien from Peru. This fact came to light hours before the newspaper released its story, yet this very critical piece of information is missing. This criminal is a repeat offender who should have been deported long ago. Yet he managed to stay because he had a support infrastructure in place: family, friends and lawyers.]

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The Politico:

Bush to Order New Crackdown on U.S. Border

The administration is unveiling a series of tough border control and employer enforcement measures designed to make up for security provisions that failed when Congress rejected a broad rewrite of the nation’s immigration laws in June. As part of the new measures, the secretary of Homeland Security will deliver regular “State of the Border” reports beginning this fall. In one of the most interesting revelations, the plans call for the administration to “train growing numbers of state and local law enforcement officers to identify and detain immigration offenders whom they encounter in the course of daily law enforcement,” according to a summary provided to The Politico by a congressional source.

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Patrick J. Buchanan:

Sub-Prime Superpower

Barack Obama wins standing ovations from liberal Democrats by pledging to double foreign aid. Thus, under President Obama, the U.S. government will borrow from China and Japan $50 billion each year to subsidize regimes in Africa, putting our kids in hock forever so we can feel good about ourselves. Wake-up call: This is not the 1950s. We are not the world’s greatest creditor nation anymore, but the world’s greatest debtor. Credit card debt, mortgage debt and corporate debt have never been higher. The fall of 800 points in the Dow the last two weeks resulted from defaults on home mortgages, bundled up and traded like stocks in the Grand Casino of Wall Street by the boys at Bear Stearns. Abroad, the United States fights two guerrilla wars that have not yet taken the lives of as many soldiers as we lost putting down a Philippine insurrection a century ago. Yet, an ex-chief of staff says the U.S. Army is “breaking.” Query: If those “savage wars of peace,” in Kipling’s phrase, can break our army of 500,000, how in heaven’s name can this little army fulfill war guarantees and treaty commitments to fight for 25 NATO nations, Israel, the Arab Gulf, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan?

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CNN Lou Dobbs - video:

Open Border Advocates Picket Businesses that Obey Federal Law Against Hiring Illegal Aliens

The illegal alien lobby is now considering suing businesses that would actually comply with U.S. law. Activists swarmed a Dunkin' Donuts franchise in Chicago, complaining that five admitted illegal aliens workers were fired because their Social Security numbers don't match government records. Dunkin' Donuts is one of the largest companies participating in Basic Pilot, a voluntary federal program helping businesses verify Social Security numbers. Dunkin' Donuts said "The Basic Pilot Program is in place to afford our franchisees' new employees a full and fair opportunity to resolve any questions about their eligibility to work. We believe this is the right thing to do." Even President Bush recognized Dunkin' Donuts' efforts: "See, it's against the law to hire somebody who's here illegally." Two weeks ago an Illinois soap factory told its workers to resolve discrepancies in their Social Security numbers. Scores of workers walked off the job and picketed the factory until management agreed to negotiate. Now the Department of Homeland Security soon plans to begin aggressively enforcing laws requiring businesses to verify their workers' legal status.
[Our take: Illegal aliens and their supporters have always contended that only the federal government can enforce the nation's immigration laws. But when the federal government does take steps to enforce immigration laws, the same illegal aliens and their supporters strenuously object. Evidently, they do not believe the federal government has the authority to enforce immigration laws either. Just another example of how illegal aliens and their supporters will do anything and say anything to justify their theft of rights and privileges that belong to U.S. citizens.]