Saturday, July 19, 2008

We're bringing it here so we don't have to fight it over there

Under the guise of fighting AIDS in Africa, Senators John Kerry (D - Mass.) and Gordon Smith (R - Ore.) have introduced a bill to lift the ban on HIV-positive immigration.

Putting aside the question of what Constitutional authority Congress has to forcibly expropriate money from Americans and give it to Africans, the bill's supporters offer some real howlers in its defense. Here are a few:
"There's no excuse for a law that stigmatizes a particular disease," Kerry said Tuesday at a speech to the Center for Strategic & International Studies HIV/AIDS Task Force. Even people with avian flu or the Ebola virus have an easier time than those with HIV when it come to applying for visas, he said.
Well, Senator, what is the excuse for an immigration policy that imports contagious, deadly and sometimes incurable diseases? I'm old enough to remember when tuberculosis was virtually eradicated in the US; now it's back, with a vengeance, thanks to mass immigration from the Third World.

Under current law, HIV is the only medical condition explicitly listed under immigration law. The Kerry-Smith provision would make HIV equivalent to other communicable diseases where medical and public health experts at the Health and Human Services Department — not consular officials at U.S. embassies — determine eligibility for admission.
If they're doing such a good job of it now, why are we worrying about drug-resistant TB in the US?

Those with HIV seeking legal permanent residency would still have to demonstrate they have the resources to live in this country and would not become a "public charge."
What a joke! I work at a public hospital. I see all the new immigrants, who signed the very same promise not to become public charges, pitching up with Medi-Cal cards before the ink is dry on their entry stamps. Sometimes they come into the emergency room in crisis, because their families told them not to refill their medications (heart, blood pressure, diabetes, etc. -- not HIV) until they got here and qualified for Medi-Cal. There's no enforcement of this provision, which is one reason why immigrants -- legal and illegal -- drain about $30 billion more annually from the Treasury than they contribute.

I'm not anti-immigrant; my wife is an immigrant. But clearly this bill is intended to create a new, rent-seeking class that the politicians can exploit for their own ends and the taxpayer be damned!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Fannie and Freddie Must Die!

Michael S. Rozeff explains why.

The mainstream media, of course, are gushing over the prospects of a federal takeover and new regulations.