Joe at Techography is done with the President.

John Hawkins conducted a special blogger poll on the Senate immigration bill.

I have no doubt that the conservative House member who derails the immigration bill, if it reaches the House, will forever be known as a hero.

Kevin Ecker reminds us what Senator Sessions had to say about the Amnesty Bill.

Here is some interesting information from NumbersUSA:

Failure #1: BUSH/KENNEDY BILL DOES NOT REQUIRE EXIT SYSTEM TO ENSURE AGAINST 'OVERSTAYED' ILLEGAL ALIENS IN FUTURE

If the tradeoff for giving legal status to 12-20 million illegal aliens is that this bill will ensure an end to illegal immigration in the future, the bill has to aggressively combat the problem of people entering the country legally on temporary visas and then failing to leave at the appointed time.

An estimated 40% of all illegal aliens came to this country legally on temporary visas as students, tourists and workers.

It was easy for them to stay because our government has no idea whether the millions of people entering for short-term visits each year ever leave.

The 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act called for an automated entry/exit (or check-in/check-out) system that would record the arrival into and the departure from the United States of every alien. In theory, when someone failed to check out on time, the computer would flag the person's record so he could be apprehended the next time he came into contact with the government.

Failure #2: NO MONEY FOR ENFORCEMENT

Some of the relatives of the victims of the 9/11 attacks immediately pointed this out, noting that all the enforcement measures are subject to future appropriations.

The 9/11 Families for Secure America noted that Congress has been passing all kinds of enforcement measures through the years that never got implemented because the White House refuses to ask for funding and because the Congress routinely short-changes them.

Without appropriations, none of the talk about increased enforcement means much — based on the track record of the last three Administrations (including the first Bush) of ignoring immigration laws.

Failure #3: AMNESTY HAPPENS BEFORE ENFORCEMENT

Of course, the White House says this is not true. They point out that the part of the amnesty that puts illegal aliens on the path to green cards and citizenship doesn't start until the enforcement triggers are met.

The triggers must be met before the Z-visas are given out to illegal aliens.

But the big hole in that argument is that illegal aliens get their legal status long before the z-visas. They get their "probationary" legal status, including a work permit and social security number, at the very beginning after the bill passes. If the z-visas are never offered (because the enforcement triggers aren't met), the bill would allow the now-legal aliens to work and live in the U.S. the rest of their lives under the probationary status.

Failure #4: ENFORCEMENT TRIGGERS ARE ABOUT PROCEDURE BUT NOT ABOUT RESULTS

The enforcement triggers are tied to starting an expanded foreign guest worker program and to extending the rewards of amnesty from lifetime residence to getting on a path to U.S. citizenship.

The triggers are all about process and nothing about results.

The bottom line for the American people is not that we want more enforcement but that we want less illegal immigration.

Without results, we couldn't care less how many Border Patrol or detention beds we have. What we care about is reports that instead of adding a net of 500,000 (official numbers) to our illegal population each year we are adding a net of 100,000 or preferably zero.

None of the triggers are tied to numbers of illegal aliens getting across our borders or overstaying their visas or absconding after a court orders them removed.

The triggers can be met without any reduction in future illegal immigration at all.

You can find out even more information on Senate Bill 1348 (The Amnesty Bill), including amendment votes at the Senate Vote Day Action Center

Rep. Phil Gingrey from Georgia is conducting a poll, the results of which are anything but shocking.

Rasmussen has more numbers out. Only 16% of the people think the Amnesty Bill will reduce illegal immigration. 41% believe it will increase it.

Immigration math… It's a lot like fuzzy math, only with more variables.

John Hawkins has confidence in the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The Senate will resume the Amnesty Bill debate when they return on June 4th. Don't wait until then to contact your senator.

If you live in Georgia,

Chambliss (GA): (202) 224-3521
Isakson(GA): (202) 224-3643

You can also contact,

National Republican Senatorial Committee (202) 675-6000
Republican National Committee (202) 863-8500 (option 1)

Don't forget the Republican leadership as well,

McConnell (KY): 202-224-2541
Lott (MS): 202-224-6253

Remember, the President doesn't think we know what's right for America. Let's make those calls today, so our Senators will know better.

An off-duty New Haven police officer shot and critically wounded his 18-year-old daughter, apparently mistaking her for an intruder after she sneaked out of their Stratford home and re-entered through the basement.

…

Investigators said Tasha Scott left her home late Monday to meet a boyfriend. She triggered a backyard motion sensor light as she tried to enter through a basement door.

Awakened by the light, Eric Scott spotted someone moving in the basement bathroom, police said. He fired his department-issued pistol once, hitting the teen in the knee. The bullet traveled up her leg and lodged in her thigh area, police said.

Isn't it common practice to warn an intruder before opening fire? Surely his daughter would have recognized his voice, and he hers. No?

Who knows? Lord knows I don't.

Paul "Ed" Yost, considered the father of modern hot-air ballooning for a successful three-mile trip on a propane-powered balloon, has died. He was 87.

Yost died Sunday at his home in New Mexico, according to a statement from his son.

According to the National Balloon Museum in Indianola, Iowa, Yost piloted the first flight of a balloon using the envelope-and-propane burner system he developed. The 25-minute, three-mile flight departed from Bruning, Neb., in October 1960.

…

Yost helped found the Balloon Federation of America and helped organize the first U.S. National Ballooning Championship at Indianola. He was inducted into the U.S. Ballooning Hall of Fame in 2004 and was awarded the Lipton Trophy by the British Balloon and Airship Club in 2006.

Yost also is known for other balloon trips. In April 1963, he and Don Piccard made the first hot air balloon flight across the English channel, flying from Rye in England to Gravelines Nord, France in three hours, 17 minutes.

Rest In Peace, Paul.

I first posted about Laura Mallory on July 1st of last year when she attempted to force Harry Potter books from the shelves of Gwinnett County Schools.

Since then, she lost her case with the Gwinnett County School Board and then she lost her appeal to the Georgia Board of Education. Today, a Superior Court judge upheld the decision of the Georgia Board of Education.

The adventures of boy wizard Harry Potter can stay in Gwinnett County school libraries, despite a mother's objections, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Laura Mallory, who argued the popular fiction series is an attempt to indoctrinate children in witchcraft, said she still wants the best-selling books removed and may take her case to federal court.

She is so blind to her cause that she doesn't even realize what she's saying anymore. For example:

At Tuesday's hearing, Mallory argued in part that witchcraft is a religion practiced by some people and, therefore, the books should be banned because reading them in school violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

But then, in the very next sentence she states,

"I have a dream that God will be welcomed back in our schools again," Mallory said. "I think we need him."

She can't have it both ways. If she wants Harry Potter out because witchcraft is a religion, then she can't have God back in the school either. Maybe she just supports separation of church and state when it's not her church that seems to be involved?