A PUSH AND A CHANGE: A few days after HUMAN EVENTS ran a story on a controversial border policy and Rep. Tom Tancredo (R.-Colo.) led a group of congressmen in writing a letter pressing the issue, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Border Patrol changed their policy of treating immigrants from Middle Eastern and other countries who are found crossing the Mexican or Canadian borders the same as everyone else. ICE spokesmen had insisted that generally speaking, immigrants caught at the border were treated the same regardless of nationality, age, sex, or other demographic factor-and that meant absent a criminal record or some other reason to suspect an illegal alien of being dangerous, he was released into the United States pending a deportation hearing. In addition, border enforcers had to justify to immigration judges their efforts to deport each alien. On August 10, the government announced a change in policy. From now on, border officials will be able to deport nationals who are not from Mexico or Canada caught along the border without releasing them into the United States first, and without having to make a case before a judge. The same day, the feds released statistics showing that from Oct. 1, 2003, through June 30, 2004, caught sneaking in through the Southern or Northern border were six Saudis; 13 Egyptians; eight Afghanis; six Syrians; and eight North Koreans. In fact, almost 44,000 nationals from countries other than Mexico and Canada were caught during that time period, most from Central America.
CHENEY'S MESSAGE: Out of sympathy for his gay daughter, Vice President Dick Cheney last week disappointed conservatives and may well have hurt the Republican ticket's chances with swing voters by diluting the Bush Administration's message on preserving marriage. The President supports a federal constitutional amendment to preserve marriage, but Cheney suggested at a campaign rally in Davenport, Iowa, that states should decide whether or not to sanction same-sex "marriage." "People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to," said Cheney. "The question that comes up with the issue of marriage is what kind of official sanction or approval is going to be granted by government? Historically, that's been a relationship that has been handled by the states." He did concede that Bush thought the courts have undemocratically forced the issue. "I think his perception was that the courts, in effect, were beginning to change, without allowing the people to be involved," said Cheney.
CORE FOR BROWN: The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) plans to run a TV ad in North Carolina asking Sen. John Edwards (D.-N.C.) and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D.-Mass.) to support confirming black California Supreme Court Judge Janice Rogers Brown's nomination to the federal appeals court instead of blocking her nomination with a filibuster. "We intend to put senators and candidates on notice that this is an issue of importance to our organization and our members," said Niger Innis, CORE's national spokesman. "As we approach the 41st anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's historic speech in the nation's capital, it is a travesty that Judge Brown will not even be allowed to have a vote by the full Senate." Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.) is also among those filibustering Brown.
OVERLOOKED: An analysis from the Tax Foundation puts the Bush tax cuts in perspective: "Contrasting the size of the tax cuts with national income shows that the [John] Kennedy tax cut, representing 1.9% of income, was the single largest first-year tax cut of the post-WW II era. The Reagan tax cuts represented 1.4% of income while none of the Bush tax cuts even breaks 1% of income. The Kennedy tax cuts would only have been surpassed in size by combining all three Bush tax cuts into a single package. Comparing the size of these tax cuts with the federal budget shows that Kennedy's tax cuts represented 8.8% of the budget. . . . When the Bush tax cuts are combined (8.1%), they would be larger than Reagan's tax cut, yet smaller than Kennedy's tax cut."
BUSH & JEWISH CONSERVATIVES: President Bush met with Rabbi Daniel Lapin, president of Toward Tradition, and his wife Susan privately on August 13. Lapin addressed a private fundraising dinner for the President held near Seattle. Toward Tradition is an alliance of traditional Christians and Jews who want to preserve America's religious heritage and values.
