Immigration Enforcement: The Rhetoric, The Reality

Immigration Enforcement: The Rhetoric, The Reality

Wow, where do you start? What is the charter for DHS (Department of Homeland Security)? My assumption was to protect the United States from Terrorism. The White House has stated repeatedly that "...fighting terrorism is the central mission of the Department of Homeland Security...".

This is what we have been told every time George W. Bush speaks. In fact, his most recent rhetoric is "They are a threat to your children, David," he said to NBC's David Gregory.

However, the facts appear to show that the impact of DHS is something altogether different. The link above is to a summary report from TRAC (Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse) at Syracuse University. They analyzed data acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Summary from the source is below:

• Despite repeated claims by high officials of the Bush Administration that fighting terrorism has been the central mission of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) since it began operating, the data show that in the last three years a claim of terrorism was made against only 12 (0.0015%) out of 814,073 individuals against whom the DHS has filed charges in the immigration courts.


• A separate, but somewhat broader, grouping of immigration court cases concern what are called "national security" charges. Here, an examination of the data in the FY 2004 to 2006 period revealed that such charges were made against only 114, or 0.014% of the 800,000-plus individuals. When it comes to actual removals, the record is even smaller, with DHS being credited for only 37 such cases in the three year period.
• Similarly, while combating human traffickers, drug dealers, and other kinds of traditional criminals has also been repeatedly proclaimed as a central mission of the immigration enforcement agencies within the DHS, the records show that these kinds of allegations were made against only 13 out of 100 of all individuals charged in the courts since FY 2004.
• In fact, according to the detailed case-by-case information obtained from the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), practically all the charges — 86.5% of them — involved a variety of immigration violations such as entering the U.S. without an inspection, not having a valid immigrant visa, or overstaying a student visa.

Mark D. Uhl is a Terrorist

ABC News: Bomb Plot Thwarted at Falwell's Funeral

It will be interesting to see how this is handled. Mark D. Uhl is obviously a terrorist. However, he was a terrorist for the Christian Conservatives. Will he be sent to Gitmo? Will he be investigated by Homeland Security? Will he be charged with Federal or State crimes?

The bomb was described as a 'slow burn' device which would not cause much damage. Does incompetence mitigate the crime? I think not, his intentions were clear.

How is this different from a student at Georgia Tech who was fooling around with CO2 and a plastic soda bottle (and an overlooked bottle was found by a custodian)? The Georgia Tech student was thrown off campus and it was investigated as a bombing attempt.

I expect at least the same level of vigor in the investigation and prosecution of Mark D. Uhl. I want him in jail (and therapy) for a long, long time. I feel threatened by Mark D. Uhl. Not only is he a wack job (thank you Liberty University), but he is also incompetent. If your going to the trouble of making a bomb, it should at least work as designed (or conceived).

While we are talking about Liberty University (and it's fourth tier Law School which has fouled our Executive Branch), Jerry Falwell is not a nice man. The world is just a little bit better now that he is dead. I spent some time in Lynchburg, VA in the mid-70's and met some of the Liberty University students. First of all, on the whole, they were not very bright. Second, they spent more time ratting out other students for minor offenses than on furthering their education. I suppose they thought this was the road to salvation. I was an engineering student in torn jeans, sandals, long hair, and a beard. I was the anti-Christ because I was not clean shaven and wearing polyester.

Oil Price ‘Gouging’: A Phantom Menace? - New York Times

Oil Price ‘Gouging’: A Phantom Menace? - New York Times

Review this and post summary of refining costs to produce gasoline from oil.

Joe,

As you know, I have not been a 'real' chemical engineer in years, but my senior design project was desulphurization of naptha (taking sulphur out of oil before it becomes gasoline). I have no affiliation with any oil companies. I don't even own any oil company stock. But,because I understand the industry, and I like to annoy people, I thought I would weigh in on the gasoline price issue with a different viewpoint.

Gasoline prices will never, ever be $2.00 per gallon again in our lifetime. Period. Not gonna happen, don't even think about it.

Here's what I know that most people don't.

How many gallons are in a barrel of oil? There are 42 US gallons in a barrel of oil.

What is the price of oil, as imported into the United States? In the past year, crude (unrefined) oil prices have been been between $80 and $61 per barrel in the past year. In May 2007, it is down to $61/bbl.

This means that the raw material for gasoline costs between $1.45 and $1.90 per gallon. This is before it is imported and shipped to the refineries.

Next, you have to add taxes. State and Federal. As of March 2007, the national average was $0.27 and $0.45 per gallon respectively, so the current US average cost for raw material and taxes are now between $2.17 and $2.62 per gallon.

...and we haven't even refined the oil into gasoline yet! To refine the oil, we have to heat it (energy costs), 'crack' it (break it into various components in a distillation column), and whip a little technology into it so it meets local, state, and federal emissions and production standards (additives, blend for octane, etc). There are also transportation costs for shipping from regional refineries to your local station. There is also a large, national network of oil pipelines (East and West coast and Alaska) that must be maintained. And don't forget your local gas station - they need to make a profit as well (typically under $0.10 per gallon).

NOTE: Due to the lower densities of many petroleum products, a 42-gallon barrel of crude oil can generate roughly 44 gallons of petroleum products. About 20 gallons of gasoline and 7 gallons of diesel are produced from each barrel of crude oil. Also, the generally accepted energy yield for refining operations is 10% - it takes the energy of one barrel of oil to refine ten barrels of oil.

References: http://genomicsgtl.energy.gov/biofuels/transportation.shtml

If I wanted to play with the numbers, I could now state that each barrel of gasoline produces 27 gallons of fuel (20 gallons of gasoline and 7 gallons of diesel), so my net cost per gallon of fuel is between $2.26 and $2.96. With a $3.00 per gallon price at the pump, this would yield a retail profit of $0.74 to $0.04 per gallon, but this is an artificial number because oil companies squeeze everything they can out of a barrel of oil and they produce everything from fuel to tar out of each barrel.

The current, national, retail price for gasoline is currently under $3.00 per gallon, so in round numbers, the Big, Nasty Oil companies are RIPPING US OFF because we are paying between $0.83 and $0.38 per gallon over the raw material costs.

We can criticize the oil companies for making HUGE profits, but the only reason they made record profits is because gasoline consumption is at record levels. The record profits also also amounted to less than 15% growth, but that's another story you won't hear on Fox News.

I also believe that most people have not taken the time to take a critical look at the US Energy Policy (oh, wait, we don't have one!) and figure out where we need to be to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

Creationist is the only cantidate for National Board of Education

The candidate is Kenneth R. Willard, a Kansas Republican who voted with the
conservative majority in 2005 when the school board changed the state’s
science standards to allow inclusion of intelligent design

This is just sad. Willard is scheduled to take his position in January 2009. Each state has one vote in the election. I will dig up who to contact in each state to see if anything can be done to either obtain another cantidate to run against Willard, or have them withhold the vote.

A No-Frills Kitchen Still Cooks - New York Times

A No-Frills Kitchen Still Cooks - New York Times

This is a great article about outfitting your kitchen for $200-$300 (total). I'm not too keen on the cooking shows with the $2000-$3000 of equipment and the oven/stove that requires you upgrade your home's HVAC unit to cool your kitchen.

Some of our favorite equipment includes:

Swiss knife set (Victorinox, awesome, w/AK whetstone to sharpen)
cast iron skillet (adds iron to your diet, really!)
9x13 earthenware dish (casseroles, baking, roasting)
round, flat, earthenware plate (heating/reheating)

Seeing No Progress, Some Schools Drop Laptops - New York Times

Seeing No Progress, Some Schools Drop Laptops - New York Times

Who would have thought that giving kids laptops would cause problems like increased administration, hardware break/fix, security, and end user support problems?

This program was dead on arrival and I'm shocked that it took the school districts this long to catch on. Our local school board was approached with this idea several years ago, by Apple, I believe, and they wisely passed on the 'opportunity'.