Ramon Felix Pineda, who has been living in the U.S. illegally for 10 years using false identities, killed an off-duty Flint, Michigan police officer while driving drunk. The officer was struck from behind while riding his motorcycle Sunday evening.

Pineda, showing compassion and concern (for himself) attempted to run from the scene. The article in The Oakland Press details the incident and the words of the appalling words of the defense attorney:

Defense attorney Arthur Greenstone asked for leniency on the bond, saying Pineda and his family are heartbroken over what happened.
Pineda didn’t mean to hurt anyone, but only wanted to run from the scene because of his illegal resident status, Greenstone told the court.
He has also been employed for the last five years as a cook at a Clarkston restaurant, Greenstone said. Members of D’Anna’s family left the courtroom as Greenstone continued to ask for leniency on setting his bond.

“His 1-year-old son and his wife are here. It appears this is a one-time incident, and it is awful, but there is no history of substance abuse or violence,” Greenstone told the court. “If you scratch this catastrophe, you will find someone who has been a productive member of this community.”

This “productive member of the community” should have never been in the community and should have never been able to kill the officer. I wonder how these defense attorneys and the open borders crowd are able to sleep at night.

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email stiknstein-at-gmail-dot-com and let us know at what level you would like to participate.

More from CAII:

Freedom Fighter Radio and picketers criticize Graham for illegal immigration bill at Freedom Fighter Radio

Great Secure Our Borders Crusade 2008! by Debbie at Right Truth

MEET CARLOS X. CARRILLO, THE PERFECT N.A.U. BORDER PATROL CHIEF at Freedom Fighter Radio Show

Almost half of uninsured in America illegal aliens by Debbie of
Right Truth

Immigration raid in Cincinnati nets 200 illegal immigrants at The Virtuous Republic

Is recent immigration enforcement smoke and mirrors at The Virtuous Republic

This week’s political column examines the use of sex in presidential campaigns (example: Obama Girl.) The Left Turn writer focused on getting a chuckle and perhaps getting more people to vote. I (Right Turn) discuss it as yet another sign of the general moral degradation of our society.

Please check it out at Riverbender.com/politics and join the debate in the forum.

Hat tip to Dubya at Free Republic.

41 year old Ramon Zolora-Solano, an illegal immigrant told two little girls ( ages 5 & 6) who were playing outside in Gastonia, North Carolina to come to his apartment. When the girls said no, he apparently hit them and pulled them by their hair to his apartment. The parents realized they were missing and found them in the apartment. Zolora-Solano had his pants open and one of the girls’ dresses pulled up.

Would amnesty have prevented this? Did this happen because this scared man was forced to live in “the shadows?” Would Geraldo Rivera give this scum-bag a pass because he just wants to live here and work hard?

The immigration reform shamnesty opened the eyes of many Americans to the magnitude of the illegal alien crisis we face. This situation will not be improved by pampering people like Zolora-Solano. Just like the execution style murders in Newark, this attack could have been prevented, for if the illegal alien is not allowed to be in our country he cannot attack our children. Geraldo would say this crime has nothing to do with illegal immigration. I would reiterate that it could not have happen if this illegal immigrant hadn’t been in our country!

This is our country and we have a reasonable right to expect a certain level of safety from foreign criminals while we are on our own soil. We need leadership that is indeed serious about securing our borders, not just paying lip service to a popular issue. We need to urge our government officials to build the damn fence and in November of 2008 we need to elect the man who wrote the law for the fence to be our president.

Huckabee promotes open door policy at LULAC convention by Brian at The Uncooperative Blogger

Crime from Mexico flows over open borders by Bryan at The Virtuous Republic

Elvira Arrelano was arrested! at My Country - My View

Cut federal funding for sanctuary cities/states by Debbie at Right Truth

I am no expert on polling. I am, however, suspicious of any headline I read at Huffington Post, especially when I click on it and I am taken to a CNN story. Here is what shows up if you hit the “quick read” link at Huffpo:

 

Majority Of Americans Don’t Trust Upcoming Petraeus Iraq Report »

 

---

CNN | August 17, 2007 12:02 PM

A majority of Americans don’t trust the upcoming report by the Army’s top commander in Iraq on the progress of the war and even if they did, it wouldn’t change their mind, according to a new poll.

President Bush frequently has asked Congress — and the American people — to withhold judgment on his so-called troop surge in Iraq until Gen. David Petraeus, the commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, issue their progress report in September.

My first thought was about the polling methods used. I wondered if they had published detailed information on the sample. I found a pdf linked to with the CNN article in a small area on the left side of the page. The Area had the look of an advertisement with the words “Don’t Miss.” The first bullet in this area read “complete results.” If you take the time to read the pdf file of the “complete results” you will find that 1,029 adult Americans were polled via telephone by Opinion Research Corporation on Aug. 6-8, 2007.

In the “complete results” They show only a few of the questions, and in all but the first question with the results they add at the end of each question:

(ASKED OF HALF SAMPLE)

I am certain CNN made sure that the half that were asked these questions had given no indication of what their answers might be prior to selection. An unbiased network that still pays Michael Ware has unimpeachable credibility.

The problem, as I see it, is two-fold. Some people actually get their news from sources like Huffington Post and believe the portions they read without digging a little to find the foundation beneath the compost. The second problem is that we have organizations like Huffpo and CNN that tailor their reporting to create the image they desire. It is unfortunate that the image they wish to project for American consumption is one in which America cannot win the war and one in which Americans don’t want to win the war.

Now, with the moistened finger pointed toward Heaven (the ACLU has not yet brought a lawsuit against me, forbidding this type of religious discrimination) and feeling the direction of gale force winds that indicate the fact that most Americans want to secure our borders, Rudy Giuliani wants to do just that. The man who said something along the lines of “If you came here and are undocumented and you want yo work hard,you are one of the people we want in this city,” is now getting tough on illegals!

The Drudge headline reads “I’ll stop the invasion” under a photo of The Republican party’s version of Hillary Clinton. Rudy is now planning on identifying everyone who crosses the border and will continue the building of The Hunter Fence. Does anyone else get the feeling we are listening to Hillary doing her best southern church voice here?

“The Hunter Fence” is called that because the legislation to build it was written by a man that has never waivered on the security of our nation. Duncan Hunter had a fence built in San Diego and the results were dramatic. If the American electorate can get past the notion that the media knows who should lead our nation, we can elect a leader we can believe in!

When I think about what I do know about Giuliani’s positions the image is fuzzy. I know he would probably be tough on terrorism, he really doesn’t care about the right to life of the most innocent among us, he has shown a disdain for gun ownership, and has demonstrated a soft stance on illegal immigration. Is it any wonder the media has annointed this guy as Hillary’s staunchest opponent?

Fellow citizens, I implore you to assert yourselves in the political process! Look at a man that has proven his dedication to our security and to our unborn. Please go to one of the below links and learn about Duncan Hunter and if you are inspired, please help with his campaign.

The Drudge Report almost always has eye-catching headlines such as this one from the Charleston Daily Mail: “Man says hold the cheese, claims MCDONALD’s didn’t, sues for $10 million…”

This young man, his mother, and a friend are suing McDonald’s for $10 million dollars because the young man bit into a Quarter Pounder and had a severe allergic reaction to the cheese. The mother and friend are plaintiffs because they claim they had to risk their lives to rush the young man to the hospital.

Excerpt:

Houston said his clients were in Morgantown in October 2005 and stopped at the Star City McDonald’s on the way home to Clarksburg. Jeromy Jackson was living with his mother at the time.

Jeromy did his part to make it known he didn’t want cheese on the hamburgers because he is allergic, Houston said.

He told a worker through the ordering speaker and then two workers face-to-face at the pay and pick-up windows that he couldn’t eat cheese, Houston said.

“By my count, he took at least five independent steps to make sure that thing had no cheese on it,” Houston said. “And it did and almost cost him his life.”

After getting the food, the three drove to Clarksburg and started to eat the food in a darkened room where they were going to watch a movie, Houston said.

End of excerpt.

This young man, knowing the danger cheese could pose to his very existence, chose not to unwrap the burger at the drive-thru window or to lift the bun and take a peek before biting into it. The only gross negligence is on the part of the young man himself, who is either a moron or yet another immoral person seeking ill-gotten wealth. If the former is the case, he should be taught to look at his burgers before eating them. If the latter is the case, he and his co-plaintiffs should pay some sort of criminal penalty.

Jose Carranza represents the horror that is nurtured by the marriage of two dreadfully broken systems. This beast is an illegal alien that was roaming free on bond after being charged with raping a five year old girl, when he alledgedly participated in the execution style murders of three young adults in New Jersey. A fourth victim is the only survivor of this preventable crime.

There is a need to get back to basics! There is a desparate dearth of common sense and an understanding of right and wrong in our society. The politically correct degradation of every system in our country must be contained and reversed.

Who can justify releasing a man charged with raping a 5 year old? Why pretend to have a border if our law enforcement officials have to release illegal aliens caught on our soil? This monster is responsible for his crimes, but the men and women who have crafted the judicial system and the immigration system in such a twisted way should be held accountable. What will it take to make the people in power realize how very wrong it is to be so much more concerned about the rights and well-being of these violent, disgusting criminals, than the rights and well-being of their victims?

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email stiknstein-at-gmail-dot-com and let us know at what level you would like to participate.

A link at the Drudge Report led me to this story from KVOA, “It pays exactly $25 for Tuscon kids to stay in school.” 

“Local high school students will soon be cashing in for hitting the books. A new pilot program promises to pay them to stay in school. More than 20,000

Arizona teens dropped out of the class of 2006.
To fight the problem, 75 students from low income families at Amphi High and 100 from Rincon high were picked for the new program. The students will get $25 a week as an incentive to stay in school. A local nonprofit will pay for the project.”

I find it disturbing that this group thinks it is a good idea to pay these students. The message received will most likely be: if you aren’t getting paid, it ain’t worth showing up! It is unfortunate that the parents of these children haven’t done their jobs. I can reasonably say that, because if they had, their high school aged children would be attending class without bribes.

The point I want to make here is a positive one. The fact that this pilot program is being paid for by a nonprofit organization should tell us something. It is not being paid for by the taxpayers! Liberals everywhere would do well to take notice of the fact that people are generous and caring. Charity will happen without government mandate!

Even if the object of the charity is misguided, as long as taxpayers aren’t footing the bill, it can be viewed in a somewhat positive light. All charity should be given by private citizens and organizations. I hope at least a few big government liberals will look at the funding for this program and decide:

- I was wrong, people (except duly elected liberal politicians) are not mean and selfish. They will give to causes in which they see need.

And hopefully they will not decide:

- I can’t wait until we can turn this pilot program into a well funded government program.

I was reading the comments this morning to a Human Events Right Angle post entitled “Spying? Fine By Me” by Ericka Anderson when inspiration came to me via the words of BA1944. I’ve read several of BA1944’s comments on previous posts and have almost always agreed with him. The common sense, real world viewpoint he shares seems far too uncommon.

Here is part of what BA1944 wrote:

“Our leaders have no real world experience. They are all little rich kids. Very few have ever had to do anything they didn’t want to. They haven’t got a clue.”

This comment sums up the sense I’ve had for quite some time now, especially since the recent amnesty fight began. I disagree with the use of the word “all” in the quote above, but would certainly use the word “most.” It is unfortunate that money and name recognition are the two most important factors in election success. It would seem that most people that have a known name and sufficient funds (or sufficient fund-raising ability) have a hard time knowing how to truly represent the “common man” as they have never been “common men.” The experiences of most of these leaders would not enable them to view issues through the eyes of the average American.

Paris Hilton garnered enormous fame (after the initial videotape release) by displaying the disparity between the experiences of a wealthy heiress with a famous last name and a person born and raised into an average situation by starring in the series “The Simple Life.” Imagine Paris had gone to a highly regarded college and then to a well known law school or business school. Perhaps she followed her school by holding various executive positions with a Hilton associate until she felt she could reasonably run a successful campaign for public office. Lets say she won and held a position as a state senator for a term and decided she was ready for something more, so she embarked on a campaign for the United States House Of Representatives. Lets also say that she picked a district in a state other than her home state because she wanted the seat with the highest visibility. Subsequently Ms. Hilton’s episodes of driving while intoxicated after nights of hard partying are subject to being hidden by D.C. police, unless she annoys someone with more power than she wields.

Would Paris Hilton, having followed the above path, be much different than Ted Kennedy or any of the other name or fame entitled politicians who currently govern or nation? Does a life of insulation from the real world magically transform into an understanding of the average person’s plight upon election? Ted Kennedy is the most egregious example I could think of, but this situation is by no means confined to the party I detest. Unfortunately, I sometimes feel that The White House inhabitant would fit this profile (see our border. )

This is at least part of the reason I feel a sense of despair when a fellow Republican asks me who I would like to see win the presidency in 2008 and I answer without hesitation, “Duncan Hunter!” The despair comes when I hear the response, “I’ve never heard of him.”

BA1944 has given me a boost this morning. I must do more to ensure that more people have at least heard of Duncan Hunter. I need to do what I can to combat the accepted idea that elections must be based solely on money and fame.

This week’s political column was spurred by the use of a racial slur at a board meeting of a Rhode Island college. The Left Turn writer focused on the incident and racism (this was her alma mater.) I (Right Turn) condemned the slur but focused on hypocrisy, those who profit from race, and artificial diversity (the subject of the board meeting was diversity.)

Please check it out at Riverbender.com/politics and join the debate in the forum.