Politics & Government - 24 September 2006

they will give you every excuse in the book as to why they can't stand up to their government....."because they don't want ther loved ones to die in war" was one answer I got........so starving to death is better alternative? I asked why can't they get together and build schools and houses......"the building supplys are too expensive" and a group of you can't send enough money back to build one house at a time? you would eventually get
a decent comunity going....... just they have no true answers as to why they need to drag us down with them other than they are looking for free and easy way instead of working hard to make their country better place.

2006-09-24 09:41:52 · 15 answers · asked by darkvale 3 in Immigration

What does it mean to be patriotic? How would you define this characteristic?

2006-09-24 09:39:08 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Law & Ethics

How can I get help from public defender (without committing a crime) and help me on legal isue about C-1classified matters. I had no money for attorney.

2006-09-24 09:38:28 · 5 answers · asked by spacetrooper50 2 in Law Enforcement & Police

'Border baby' boom strains S. Texas
More illegal immigrants are pouring into the state to give birth


By JAMES PINKERTON
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

RIO GRANDE CITY — First it was a trickle, now it's a flood.

Rising numbers of undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Central America are streaming into Texas to give birth, straining hospitals and costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, health officials say.

Doctors and health officials say they are overwhelmed by both the new arrivals and those immigrant mothers who already are in the state. Even Houston's feeling the pinch. An estimated 70 percent to 80 percent of the 10,587 births at Ben Taub General Hospital and Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital last year were to undocumented immigrants, administrators say.

Also feeling the strain is Starr County, an already poor South Texas county that has the region's only taxpayer-supported hospital district.

Immigrants "want a U.S.-born baby" and know that emergency room staffers don't collect any money up front, said Dr. Mario Rodriguez, an obstetrician in Starr County.

"The word is out: Come to Starr County and get delivered for free. Why pay $1,000 in Mexico when you can get it for free?" Rodriguez said.

''When we are separated only by the distance of the river, it's easy to do," Starr County hospital administrator Thalia Muñoz said. "It's gotten worse, and it's because the economy in Mexico is not good and because we provide all these benefits."

Unfortunately, doctors say, Starr County isn't alone.

''Our little snapshot is duplicated in all the municipalities between here and California," said Tony Falcon, a Rio Grande City physician who was appointed to the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission in April. ''What you see here is what is happening in Brownsville, McAllen, El Paso and San Diego."

He operates a private family clinic and delivers babies at the Starr County hospital. About a third of his deliveries are what he calls "walk-ins" — mothers in labor showing up at the ER.

''Obviously, it has a huge impact on patient health and the kind of health care that's provided," Falcon said. "You don't get the kind of prenatal care you should get."


'Anchor babies'
Immigration-control advocates regard the U.S.-born infants as "anchor babies" because they give their undocumented parents and relatives a way to petition for citizenship. They estimate that 360,000 of these babies are born in the U.S. every year and warn that the numbers are rising.

Once parents have an "anchor baby," they become more difficult to deport, said Jack Martin, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a lobby organization in Washington, D.C.

''It's a fairly big factor in complicating the removal of illegal aliens," Martin said. "Illegal aliens know that and, to some extent, we think they're being influenced into having children as soon as they get into the U.S. to complicate their removal."

Some lawmakers want to begin denying citizenship to babies born to illegal immigrants.

Birthright citizenship, as it is known, has been in force since the approval of the Constitution's 14th Amendment in 1868. But several bills under consideration in Congress would abolish the longstanding federal policy. Sponsors include U.S. Reps. Ron Paul, R-Lake Jackson, and Nathan Deal, R-Ga.

In a largely symbolic move, the Michigan House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Sept. 8 to end birthright citizenship.

Undocumented immigrants say they are being attacked unfairly and think that all children born in the U.S. should have equal rights.

Socorro Gonzalez, an undocumented immigrant who in August gave birth to her fourth child on U.S. soil, said she and her husband aren't trying to take advantage of immigration laws or abuse the health care system.

''We're not here to have a child. We are here to work," she said as she cradled her infant son, Orlando Soto.

Gonzalez, 42, said she moved to South Texas four years ago to join her husband, a cabinet maker. Two of their older children were born at a private midwife's clinic, she said, and two were delivered at taxpayer expense at hospitals in McAllen.

Gonzalez said the benefits of undocumented immigrants' labor in the U.S. more than compensate for the costs of their medical bills.

''I don't see why they should deny a medical service if we're here struggling for this country," she said. ''Because of the help of Mexican workers, whether they want us or not, this country is progressing."

Still, someone has to pay the bills, and not everyone is happy about that.


Uncollected medical bills
Starr County Memorial Hospital had $3.6 million in uncollected medical bills in 2005, up from $1.5 million in 2002. The total when fiscal 2006 ends on Sept. 30 is expected to hit $3.9 million, chief financial officer Rafael Olivarez said. Unpaid bills for the past five years will reach nearly $13 million, he said.

To make up for the shortfall, Starr County's hospital district is proposing a 25 percent tax hike.

Already, the U.S. government is pitching in, setting aside $1 billion in Medicaid funds to pay for emergency care received by undocumented migrants over the next four years.

But Olivarez said getting the reimbursements isn't easy. Federal officials ''told us at a meeting they would pay us about 20 cents on the dollar," he said. "But it's better than nothing."

No one knows for sure how many undocumented immigrants there are or what they cost the health care system. Most hospitals don't ask whether patients have papers.


Total cost unknown

''It puts them in the position of being border police," said Amanda Engler, a spokeswoman for the Texas Hospital Association in Austin.

Harris County Hospital District officials say their policy is not to question patients directly about their citizenship.

''We do not explicitly ask if our patients are illegal, but we do ask them for proof of Harris County residency," district spokeswoman Shannon Rasp said. "Often citizenship status becomes clearer when billing issues come up."

Eighty-three percent of the undocumented immigrants receiving in-patient care at the district's hospitals and clinics last year were from Mexico, officials said. Six percent were from El Salvador or Guatemala. And the remaining 11 percent were from such countries as Britain, Canada, Haiti, India, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria and Vietnam.

''Using anecdotal information provided us by our staff, statistics from other public hospital systems and our patient demographics, we believe that approximately 70 to 80 percent of our obstetrics patients are undocumented," Rasp said.

In all, 57,072 patients visited the district's hospitals, clinics and health centers last year, and nearly a fifth were undocumented, Rasp said. The cost of their treatment was $97.3 million, up from $55 million in 2002.

2006-09-24 09:38:24 · 13 answers · asked by Zoe 4 in Immigration

He wants to go in the books as doing good for the country,but every thing he tries seems to back fire,BIn Laden,Iraq,Social Security,No child left behine,Iran,North Korea,Medicare,if he would have stay the course and solve one first then moving to the next it might have been a different story.

2006-09-24 09:38:14 · 7 answers · asked by kman1830 5 in Politics

2006-09-24 09:37:34 · 15 answers · asked by -:¦:-SKY-:¦:- 7 in Law Enforcement & Police

2006-09-24 09:37:17 · 7 answers · asked by Pseudo Obscure 6 in Civic Participation

e.g. someone chopping their hand off (But it cant have been on a video or the tele)

2006-09-24 09:34:46 · 27 answers · asked by Richard H 3 in Law & Ethics

bearing in mind what they think about them today!

2006-09-24 09:32:27 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Military

2006-09-24 09:31:31 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Other - Politics & Government

do yaa

2006-09-24 09:31:18 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Other - Politics & Government

Shortly after 9/11, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson said publicly that they thought the attacks were well-deserved retribution from God in response to moral decay — as personified by gays, feminists, the ACLU, and NOW. Do you worry that Falwell and Robertson are identified by many as the face of the Republican party? Do you think President Bush has sufficiently distanced himself from them and their followers?

2006-09-24 09:30:02 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics

do you still think that American military power is a good way to promote tolerance and democracy in the Middle East? Has your position on this changed in any way over the past two years?

2006-09-24 09:28:48 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics

2006-09-24 09:28:11 · 12 answers · asked by WhiteHat 6 in Other - Politics & Government

Concept of Rule of Law is Strictly followed in USA with different standards which do not match with Indian Constitution's Article 14.

2006-09-24 09:27:13 · 2 answers · asked by lawyer's Advice 1 in Law & Ethics

Isn't diversity what makes this country so great?

2006-09-24 09:26:36 · 16 answers · asked by Salem 5 in Other - Politics & Government

2006-09-24 09:26:18 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Military

then what is it? It is not a mineral or a vegetable. It is not an animal such as a dog or a monkey. In fact, it is not an animal at all; it is a human being. Cows give birth to cows; horses give birth to horses. No medical person has any difficulty identifying an unborn dog as a dog, or an unborn pig as a pig. Why should there be any question about an unborn human?

2006-09-24 09:24:40 · 13 answers · asked by ☺ 1 in Immigration

Many on this site feel an entitlement to be here. Something that they falsely believe...a fairy tale of sorts. The truth is there is NO entitlement to be here...none....if you are not legally here you belong elsewhere.

Frankly, I'm sick of the illegal spin and am anxious for the mass deportation to begin, and it will.

But, in an effort to educate, Renagade shared this with us and I would like to share it once again

Here is a portion of U.S. LAW.
( US citizenship vs. US nationality )
US law makes a distinction between "citizenship" and "nationality." All US citizens are also US nationals; however, some US nationals are not US citizens.

The term "national of the United States" is defined in Section 101(a)(22) of the INA [8 USC § 1101(a)(22)] as "a person who, though not a citizen of the United States, owes permanent allegiance to the United States".

Section 308 of the INA [8 USC § 1408] says (more or less) that a person born in an "outlying possession" of the US -- or*( a foreign-born child of such a person) -- is a US national, but (not a US citizen.)

2006-09-24 09:23:36 · 42 answers · asked by Anonymous in Immigration

2006-09-24 09:22:34 · 6 answers · asked by Klei Lat 1 in Immigration

I know people who have moved out when they were 16, but I've heard that you have to be 18. What age is the earliest you can move out?

2006-09-24 09:22:14 · 10 answers · asked by Name 5 in Law & Ethics

2006-09-24 09:19:48 · 15 answers · asked by Gettin_by 3 in Law & Ethics

First of all, a baby is not part of its mother's body. It is an individual human being, with its own separate body. To be sure, the mother is "feeding" the inborn baby, but does a mother have the right to stop feeding her baby after it is born? This would be murder by starvation, and to cut off the source of life for a preborn baby is also a morally culpable act.

2006-09-24 09:19:33 · 10 answers · asked by ☺ 1 in Immigration

2006-09-24 09:18:28 · 13 answers · asked by Negro McFarland 1 in Politics

What were your thoughts on the movie? How far off were they on Bible Thumpers?

2006-09-24 09:18:03 · 5 answers · asked by Salem 5 in Other - Politics & Government

1. Overthrow the dictatorship in Iraq which had kept a stranglehold on the simmering Shia/Sunni civil war.

2. Shia Muslims are now free to blow themselves up in order to kill Sunni Muslims.

3. Muslims from other nations rush to Iraq to help Muslims on their side blow up Muslims on the other side.


Letting Muzzies kill Muzzies means Americans don't have to kill as many Muzzies.

Best idea in a long time here.

2006-09-24 09:17:32 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Other - Politics & Government

what do you think,

2006-09-24 09:17:30 · 16 answers · asked by jim007 1 in Military

will the crazy yanks be looking for a new scape goat now

2006-09-24 09:15:16 · 16 answers · asked by phileemac 2 in Other - Politics & Government

My religion (can't think of a name yet, would appreciate thoughts on that) is a blend of Christianity, Judaism Islam and Sikhism. It recognises the gurus and Mohammad as prophets and has th 10 commandments.

2006-09-24 09:15:09 · 17 answers · asked by autisticspectrumkid 2 in Other - Politics & Government

be outside naked?? like in your back yard?

2006-09-24 09:14:51 · 6 answers · asked by gameboy2065 2 in Law & Ethics