Snippets – American Political Scene – December 1st 2007

• In the political news, California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer (you know, the one who wants to take away all firearms away from the citizenry) is blocking the nomination of former Republican Congressman James Rogan to the federal bench. Why? NewsMax reports that it is because of his role in the impeachment process of President Bill Clinton.

“U.S. Rep. Rogan was one of the enthusiastic backers of impeachment – he thought President Clinton had committed high crimes and misdemeanors,” Boxer’s spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz said.

Immigration Update – Chris Gonsalves

Immigration Population Hits Record 38 Million by Chris Gonsalves, NewsMax.

A new study by the Center for Immigration Studies, based on the latest Census Bureau data, shows the number of immigrants in America, both legal and illegal, has swelled to a record 39 million this year …
One third of immigrants are on some form of welfare, costing states nearly $20 billion a year, the study claimed, adding that efforts to legalize the spiraling number of illegal aliens will only increase the amount of uneducated, uninsured legal immigrants burdening America’s welfare rolls. …
The impact is being felt most pointedly in a handful of states. California, Florida, Texas, New Jersey and Arizona are bearing the brunt of immigration increases both legal and illegal, the CIS study found. California’s 10 million immigrants alone make up 27 percent of the nation’s total immigrant population.
“Some 75 percent of immigrants settle in ten states,” Krikorian tells NewsMax. “But Americans in other states are not immune to the effects of mass immigration. …
A third of all U.S. immigrants come from Mexico, making it the top country of origin followed by China, India, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Almost 60 percent of the Illegal aliens entering the U.S. come from Mexico. …
In places such as Los Angeles County and New York City, the children of immigrant fathers make up nearly 60 percent of the school-age population.
On top of that, a quarter of these immigrant children live in poverty and a third lack health insurance, something Camarota says “creates enormous challenges for the nation’s schools, healthcare system and physical infrastructure.”
… Many immigrants do ultimately find a better life here. But the study reveals that even those who have been in the U.S. for more than two decades are more likely than native residents to live in poverty, lack health insurance and use the welfare system. …
Of the estimated 12 million illegal aliens in the U.S., nearly 7 million have jobs. Illegal immigrants earn an average of $46,000 per household annually compared with $67,000 for native families, the CIS study shows. …
“Even illegal immigrants must be treated humanely as they are detained and returned to their homes,” Krikorian says. “But future legal immigration is a different question – mass immigration is simply not compatible with the goals of a modern society and should be minimized to the extent possible.”

The problem has been identified, but the present government, or rather the elected officials within the US government, is not recognizing the levity of this situation. And their “fix” is to welcome lawbreakers of US immigration laws (amnesty legislation) and provide continued welfare for people (part of that legislation and others they tried to pass recently) who used to have to provide a bona fide source of income before lbeing considered candidates for legal immigration to the United States. Much has to change and the only way to do this is to drastically change leadership. The White House, of course, in 2008, and, more importantly, the US Congress requires a thorough cleaning.

Motorcycle Daredevil, Evel Knievel Dies in His Home

Evel Knievel Dies at 69, Mitch Stacy, December 1^st 2007, Associated Press …

…He had been failing in health for years, suffering from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs. He had undergone a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying of hepatitis C, likely contracted through a blood transfusion after one of his many spills. He also suffered two strokes in recent years.
Longtime friend and promoter Billy Rundle said Knievel had trouble breathing at his Clearwater condominium and died before an ambulance could get him to a hospital. …
Knievel’s son Kelly, 47, said he had visited his father in Clearwater for Thanksgiving.
“I think he lived 20 years longer than most people would have” after so many injuries, Kelly Knievel said, “I think he willed himself into an extra five or six years.”
Immortalized in the Washington’s Smithsonian Institution as “America’s Legendary Daredevil,” Knievel was best known for a failed attempt to jump an Idaho canyon on a rocket-powered cycle and a spectacular crash at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. He suffered nearly 40 broken bones before he retired in 1980. For the tall, thin daredevil, the limelight was always comfortable, the gab glib. There always were mountains to climb, feats to conquer. …
He garbed himself in red, white and blue and had a knack for outrageous yarns …
His death came just two days after it was announced the he and rapper Kanye West had settled a federal lawsuit over the use of Knievel’s trademarked image in a popular West music video.
Although he dropped off the pop culture radar in the ‘80s, Knievel enjoyed resurgence in popularity in recent years. He made a good living selling autographs and endorsing products. Thousands came to Butte very year as his legend was celebrated during “Evil Knievel Days.” …
…In the beginning he charged $500 for a jump over two cars parked between ramps. He steadily increased the length of the jumps until , on New Year’s Day in 1968, he was nearly killed when he jumped 151 feet across the fountains in front of Caesar’s Palace. He cleared the fountains but the crash landing put him in a coma for a month.
His son Robbie Knievel followed in his father’s footsteps and successfully completed the same jump in April 1989.
In the years after the crash, the fee for the elder Knievel’s performances increased to $1 million for his jump over 13 buses at Wembley Stadium in London – the crash landing broke his pelvis – to more than $6 million for the Sept. 8, 1974, attempt to clear the Snake River Canyon in Idaho in a rocket-powered “Skycycle.” The money came from ticket sales, paid sponsors and ABC’s “Wide World of Sports.” The parachute malfunctioned and deployed after takeoff. Strong winds blew the cycle into the canyon, landing him close to the swirling river below.
On Oct. 25, 1975, he jumped 14 Greyhound buses at Kings Island in Ohio. …
Many of his records have been broken by daredevil motorcyclist Bubba Blackwell.
Knievel also dabbled in movies and TV, starring as himself in “Viva Knievel” and with Lindsey Wagner in an episode of the 1980s TV series “Bionic Woman.” George Hamilton and Sam Elliott each played Knievel in movies about his life. Evel Knievel toys accounted for more than $300 million in sales for Ideal and other companies in the 1970s and ‘80s.
Born Robert Craig Knievel in the copper mining town of Butte on Oct. 17, 1938, Knievel was raised by his grandparents. He traced his career choice back to the time he saw Joey Chitwood’s Auto Daredevil Show at age 8. …
Knievel also worked in the Montana copper mines, served in the Army, ran his own hunting guide service, sold insurance and ran Honda motorcycle dealerships. At various times and in different interviews, Knievel claimed to have been a swindler, a card thief, a safe cracker, a holdup man.
Evel Knievel married his hometown girlfriend, Linda Joan Bork, in 1959. They separated in the early 1990s. They had four children, Kelly, Robbie, Tracey and Alicia. …
Knievel lived with his longtime partner, Krystal Kennedy-Knievel, splitting his time between Clearwater condo and Butte. They married in 1999 and divorced a few years later but remained together. Knievel had 10 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.