9. March 2010 by admin.

The White House is reporting that close door discussions have begun in anticipation of the pro-amnesty March 21 rally to be held in Washington D.C.

The President sought to bring together Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to breathe new life into the immigration issue. The House bill has lost steam in recent months as the economy continues to stall, raising jobless numbers across the country.

According to Nick Shapiro, a White House spokesman, support for an immigration bill must also include improved border security, but the president’s commitment remains “unwavering.”

This news comes to the delight of Latino groups who were promised amnesty during the 2008 presidential campaign. However, the health care debate still faces uncertainty and most Democrats are squeamish about jumping into another political quagmire so close to the midterm elections.

Setting the political partisanship aside seems unlikely since Obama signaled his intent to push health care through in a reconciliation process unnerving most Republicans.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano defended the 2011 border budget at a meeting in Washington D.C., saying the cuts do not put national security at risk. Keep reading

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9. March 2010 by admin.

San Diego residents once again had to say goodbye to another teenager in less than a week. Tonight Escondido residents, friends and family attended a vigil for slain teenager Amber Dubois at Escondido High School.
Hundreds of tearful students stood in the school quad holding candles and listening to a handful of speakers offer kind words in order to provide some closure in the 13-month saga.
Well-wishers described Amber as a nice and quiet girl who always helped classmates and had an infinite amount of love for animals – especially endangered species. Students remembered her stunning blue eyes and said pictures never did her eyes justice.
Escondido High School Principal, Rich Watkins said the students would wear certain colors each day the rest of the week to honor Amber and Chelsea King (Poway High School, senior who was murdered last week).
“Tomorrow the students will wear red,” Watkins said. “The students will also have a message for police.” The student body will wear orange on Wednesday, green on Thursday and will finish the school week with black.
The school motto “loyal, strong and true” displayed yet another community that wrapped its arms around a young girl, whose life was taken much to soon. Keep reading

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8. March 2010 by admin.

Now that the shock of the murder of Chelsea King and Amber Dubois begins to wear off and the justice department begins to build its case against convicted sex offender, John Garner, the family and community will start the process of healing and figuring out who failed the teenagers.
The Escondido and Poway High School students should have been looking in the mailbox to find college acceptance letters that were arriving, instead devastated families must begin the process of picking up the pieces.
There is no question about it Chelsea and Amber were wronged, someone dropped the ball and someone didn’t connect the dots. As the events preceding Amber and Chelsea’s disappearance unfold there is strong evidence pointing to a breakdown in communication in law enforcement.
Law enforcement officers have not missed an opportunity to step out in front of the news cameras all the while offering little to no information about the murders.
News is still developing about another attack in the Rancho Bernardo Park just two months earlier in December. John Gardner also assaulted a 22-year-old female jogger who was visiting from Colorado, according to authorities. However, the jogger was able to fight off her attacker and reported that she elbowed her assailant in the face most likely breaking his nose- this self-defense gave her an opportunity to run for her life.
The San Diego Police Department was called to investigate the scene and after interviewing the victim concluded it was a failed robbery.
“A failed robbery? How many women go jogging in a county park carrying a purse, computer, camera and cash? Anyone with common sense knows something like would take place at a car or home,” says Poway resident Carry who wished to protect her last name.
The jogging victim’s mother found the outcome odd as well. She reported that her daughter was tackled like a football player and a large man fitting Gardner’s description tried to aggressively subdue her daughter.
This where the communication break down begin. San Diego Police Department was convinced the female was a victim of a robbery attempt because at some point during the attack he asked for money. Not many women are buying that excuse.
According to the jogger who was attacked on Dec. 27th, she wanted to sit down with a police sketch artist to create a composite drawing of her attacker, the SDPD was too busy to follow through with her request. However, the female returned home to her Colorado home and was able to get a local Police Dept. to draw a sketch. The likeness to Gardner is astonishing. Keep reading

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8. March 2010 by admin.

Amber Dubois’ parents received the grim news that their daughter who has been missing for 13 months has been found. On Friday night the parents were hopeful their daughter was still alive as the Escondido Police Department searched Kit Carson Park for clues to the missing teenager.
That all ended today as Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher said, “The discovery was made in the early morning hours Saturday in a very rugged and remote area of Pala. Escondido police and Sheriff’s homicide detectives were following a lead in the case when they made the discovery.”
The remains found near the Pala reservation and Pala Casino, were positively identified using Amber’s dental records Saturday afternoon.
Maher, Sheriff Bill Gore and FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Keith Slotter, did not answer any questions at the brief press conference held at the Escondido Police Department. Maher explained the remains were part of an ongoing police investigation and there were three separate agencies working the Amber Dubois and Chelsea cases.
“The entire community, everybody who helped out with the search effort, and above all our huge volunteer corps, they are the most dedicated people and without them we couldn’t have done anything,” said the visibly upset father Moe Dubois.
When asked if the reward for information leading to Amber’s disappearance would be in play, Sheriff Gore declined to answer leading to more questions as to how the skeletal remains were located. Keep reading

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7. March 2010 by admin.

The Secure Visas Act of 2010, mandates that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) maintain U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Visa Security Units (VSU) at the 14 consular posts that already have them and create units at the 16 other posts that ICE has designated as “highest-risk.”
The new legislation was penned by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) and consists of companion bills in the Senate and House to improve the security of our nation’s visa issuing process.
Visa Security Units are critical for national security. Currently at VSU-staffed consular posts, 100 percent of applicants receive additional screening; at non-VSU posts, fewer than two percent of applications get extra screening.
“As President Obama said, the Christmas Day terror plot was the result of an unacceptable failure to connect the dots by our intelligence, homeland security, and State Department officials,” said Cornyn, Ranking Member on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security. “To ensure this never happens again, we must take every possible step to close the serious security gaps and communication lapses that allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board an American-bound plane with explosives that could have killed 300 passengers.” Keep reading

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2. March 2010 by admin.

It was a balmy afternoon when teenager Chelsea King went for a run in Rancho Bernardo Community Park in San Diego – Thursday of last week. After four days of extensive searching the region where King’s family located her car and her parents are still no closer to bringing their High School honor student home.

The story is sad. Friends and family giving heartfelt pleas for the safe return of Chelsea, reporters clamoring for more details about evidence collected and frustrated search and rescue workers still coming up empty handed and officials are still no closer to finding the 17-year-old- girl..

The reality of this story starts with another sexual predator, John Albert Gardner III, 30, a registered sex offender who was supposed to be living in Lake Elsinore, however, he was arrested Sunday at Hernandez Hide-a-Way restaurant and is being held on suspicion of rape and murder.

Late-breaking news ties Gardner to another attack in the same park that took place on December 27, 2009. The victim was a female jogger who successfully fought off Gardner and ran for help at nearby homes. Keep reading

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1. March 2010 by admin.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are quickly gaining attention within the war on drugs. This war is a deadly one fought day in and day out along the U.S. borders and well as cities that serve as distribution centers for the warring Mexican cartels.
Having confidential informants on the company payroll is a necessity to infiltrate the violent drug cartels and other organized crime syndicates. Some are double agents looking to elude authorities, others looking to work off a court conviction and others who may have got in over their heads and are looking for redemption.
Since ICE’s inception there have been eight agents investigated for improper informant handlings and more than 35 agents have been reported as being involved with questionable actions.
Documents and interviews have shown ICE handlers involvement with underreported debriefings, failure to document informant actions, drug use and improper sexual relations.
The El Paso ICE office sits in the heartland for drug cartels that carry the products across the Rio Grande River from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico where more than 14,000 murders have been committed since the renewed drug war in 2004.
No matter the reason, most ICE informants place their lives on the line for the U.S. government; some even succumb to violent attacks and die while providing inside information. Many say the alphabet soup government agencies need a new rule book when it comes to handling informants and promising them U.S. citizenship when their service is finished. Keep reading

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28. February 2010 by admin.

Speaker Pelosi asked fellow Democrats to fall on the sword, take one for the team or vote against their values to force a 2,700-page health care legislation bill onto the American citizens that simply doesn’t believe a faltering economy can handle another trillion-dollar entitlement program.

President Obama claimed he heard the voters in his State of the Union speech in January. He promised his administration would pivot to jobs and the economy. In fact, not only has the President failed to live up to his speech, but also his administration plans to focus on the health care topic for the next two to three months.

The recent economic indicators show the country in fact is headed for a double-dip recession. The housing market posted lower than expected sales, the recent positive bounce in unemployment didn’t last, more jobs have disappeared and consumer-spending confidence has dipped again. Keep reading

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28. February 2010 by admin.

One year ago today, concerned citizens throughout America began the arduous task of organizing a movement. The movement would grow like wildfire and be known as the Tea Party. The leaderless grassroots group would focus on big-government spending and infringement of laws threatening American liberty and freedom.

Tea Party members say this will be the first battle of the Second American Revolution. Across America the calls were heard and citizens formed a vast patriot social network. By April, the Tea Party movement included millions of Americans, and on April 15th, 850 tea parties across the nation hosted 1.2 million patriots voicing their defiance of an out-of-control government.

“To date in California we have 173 different Tea Party groups and we are home to the largest coalition in the country – we are even bigger than Texas,” said Dawn Wildman co-founder of the Southern California Tax Revolt Coalition in San Diego. “It’s great to see the rain or the last minute parking charge (formally a free lot on the weekends) didn’t keep the 1,000 Tea Party supporters from our first anniversary.”

The parking charge didn’t sit well with the Tea Party organizers and after the event it was back to work doing what the citizen activists do best – hit the phones. Keep reading

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26. February 2010 by admin.

It has been reported by the Associated Press that the ethics investigation panel has decided Charles Rangel (D-N.Y) and his staff broke the rules when they knowingly accepted Caribbean vacations on behalf of large corporations.

It is a violation of the House rules to accept extravagant trips on behalf of any businesses while serving in the U.S. Congress. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus say Rangel had been exonerated on four of the trips, however he was guilty of other island vacations.

Rangel, who is an establishment lawmaker, could face the loss of control in the powerful Ways and Means Committee that oversees Medicare and Social Security benefits as well as tax issues.

It is worth pointing put that the House and Means Committee must rewrite the expiring of former President Bush’s tax laws that the committee is expected to tackle – much of it is complicated legislation to craft.

This ethics decision comes as another blow to established Democrats who have suffered a variety of setbacks from passing health care legislation to retiring stalwart leaders. Rangel who has served in the Congress for 34 years could lose his powerful chairmanship. Keep reading

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