Criminal aliens should be deported immediately

I have a proposal which I hope the Obama administration will consider and implement. 

Immediately, or as soon as possible, the United States should deport all illegal aliens now in our federal, state and municipal prisons to their countries of origin. In 2005, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on the number of illegal aliens incarcerated in the United States. The report stated:

They were arrested for a total of about 700,000 criminal offenses, averaging about 13 offenses per illegal alien. One arrest incident may include multiple offenses, a fact that explains why there are nearly one and half times more offenses than arrests. Almost all of these illegal aliens were arrested for more than 1 offense. Slightly more than half of the 55,322 illegal aliens had between 2 and 10 offenses. About 45 percent of all offenses were drug or immigration offenses. About 15 percent were property-related offenses such as burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and property damage. About 12 percent were for violent offenses such as murder, robbery, assault, and sex-related crimes. The balance was for such other offenses as traffic violations, including driving under the influence; fraud - including forgery and counterfeiting; weapons violations; and obstruction of justice. Eighty percent of all arrests occurred in three states - California, Texas and Arizona. Specifically, about 58 percent of all arrests occurred in California, 14 percent in Texas, and 8 percent in Arizona."

The GAO reported that the number of convicted criminal aliens incarcerated in federal prison on December 27, 2003 was 46,063, and the number in state prisons and local jails was 262,105.

According to the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, "Today, criminal aliens account for about 30 percent of the inmates in federal prisons and 15-25 percent in many local jails. Incarceration costs to the taxpayers were estimated by the Justice Department in 2002 to be $891 million for federal prison inmates and $624 million for inmates in state prisons [annually]."

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The insurance and drug industries must be defeated

Carthago delenda est are words I recall from my days as a student at South Side High School in Newark, New Jersey, now called Malcolm X Shabazz High. I attended South Side High from 1937 to 1941, and in those days its core curriculum required the study of Latin. We learned that every day in the Roman Senate, Cato the Elder rose from his seat to say to his colleagues, Carthago delenda est - Carthage must be destroyed. In fact, it ultimately was destroyed by the Romans and its very earth salted so that nothing would ever live there. I believe that to this day, Carthage is a ruin.

We Americans are facing in the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries a threat at least as powerful and destructive to our medical safety and security as Rome faced with regard to its territorial security in those ancient days. We need a Cato the Elder in each House of Congress to stand up every day and sound the alarm and to challenge his and her colleagues with the battle cry, "Citizens, gird your loins and prepare for battle; the insurance and drug industries must be defeated."

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The next uprising will be over immigration reform in 2010

On August 16, The New York Times ran an angry editorial entitled, "Water In The Desert."  It referred to a man named Walt Staton, who placed water jugs in the New Mexico desert along the Mexican border for those seeking to cross the border illegally, some of whom die in the desert from lack of water. Staton was convicted of littering and "sentenced last week to probation and 300 hours of picking up trash after he refused to pay a fine."

I agree with and share the outrage of the Times’ editorial. To try to save human lives by leaving water along the route of illegal entry should be applauded, not condemned.  However, I disagree with the Times’ solution and its reference to those illegal aliens whom they refer to as "migrants."  They can't even bring themselves to call them by their rightful name: illegal aliens. The Times apparently believes in open borders for the United States. Anyone, they apparently maintain, can enter the US without authorization. 

As far as I know, no country in the world has "open borders," nor should they. The Times believes the next major issue - immigration reform - will be addressed by President Obama in 2010, and "that the only real solution to the border problem [is] immigration reform that gives people an alternative."

The alternative they espouse is granting amnesty to the estimated 12 to 20 million people in this country illegally and allowing them to apply for American citizenship, instead of being required to return to their home countries.

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Falling out of love with Obama

 I continue to be a supporter of President Barack Obama. He has had several outstanding successes. The major one has been a positive change in the economy due primarily, I believe, to his hand-picked team of economic advisers who, from all indications, have fashioned an effective economic recovery plan.

The recovery still has a long way to go, but using the language of my doctors at the hospital in which I recently spent six critical weeks recovering from open-heart surgery, "All the numbers are going in the right direction." I also believe his reaching out to our allies and those not allied with us has somewhat calmed the world's roiled waters.

Yet, strangely, the president's support is waning. A recent CNN poll gave him a C-minus after 200 days in office, whereas at the end of his first 100 days, he got an almost universal B-plus.

I think most people would say that the president's standing with the American public has suffered as a result of his handling of health care policy. During the election, Obama promised to speedily deliver universal health care. However, to date he has presented no health care bill to the Congress, and that legislative body has come up with a number of proposals for which he is being held responsible.

Furthermore, the president has seemingly caved on important aspects of his health care agenda such as not restricting private insurance coverage and obtaining volume discounts from drug companies. 

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Are we our brother's keeper?

The news story that has incensed me more than any in many years involves the alleged corruption of 44 people in New Jersey, about 15 of whom are identifiable as Jewish. The majority of those arrested were not Jewish. They are accused of various crimes, including money laundering, the selling of body parts (i.e. selling a kidney for $160,000 while paying the donor $10,000), and other crimes. Three mayors of New Jersey towns were arrested and two have since resigned, but still proclaim their innocence.

Those who will immediately point to our well-known maxim of the presumption of innocence until proven guilty should know that it in no way relates to the court of public opinion. We are entitled to have our own opinions on innocence or guilt before the trial based on what we conclude from the media reports on the government charges. The maxim of presumption of innocence relates to the burden of the government to prove its allegations in court beyond a reasonable doubt. The burden of proof is not on the defendant to prove his innocence.

We all know that mistakes are made and that innocent people are on occasion found guilty and criminals occasionally go free. So let me say up front that I believe the government will succeed in proving its case against most, if not all, of the defendants.

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Universal medical insurance is absolutely essential

Well, I'm back. I was admitted to New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center on June 14 and discharged on July 26. I spent most of that time in the ICU recovering from valve replacement and quadruple bypass surgery. Because my heart cavity filled with blood, a second surgery was performed to clean the area. Other complications included a pancreas that acted up and a gallbladder that had to be removed. I expect to return to the office sometime next week.

That I am alive today is due to the extraordinary medical care I received in the hospital from brilliant doctors, marvelous nurses and dozens of technicians. I shall be forever grateful to each and every one of them. For those who will say that I, as a former mayor of New York City, received special treatment, they should know that those same physicians, nurses and technicians were simultaneously treating other patients recovering from similar surgery in the same ICU.   

I don't know what the total expense will be for my hospitalization, but most of it will be covered by Medicare and my private health insurance policy. Others are not so fortunate. Forty-seven million Americans, some holding jobs and others unemployed, are without medical insurance, and twenty-five million more are underinsured. I don't believe people without insurance who are treated in emergency rooms can receive the same adequate, ongoing care that insured individuals receive. 

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Israel must fulfill its obligations even if Palestinians fail to honor theirs

A secure Israel is a priority for Jews around the world, even for those who have no desire to ever permanently live there.

We Jews who live in the United States appreciate our extraordinary good fortune and are passionate in our love of this
country with a fervor equal to that of the most loyal and thankful citizens.  But we know from experience that when Jews were in enormous danger back in the 1930s in Nazi Germany when Hitler offered to release them to any country that would take them, no country would do so in any significant number and the German Jews were left to ultimately perish, together with the majority of the Jews of Europe, at the hands of the Nazis who murdered 6 million of Europe's Jews. We also know that had there been an Israel -- a Jewish state -- in existence, then it would have taken every Jew -- old, infants, invalid -- no matter who they were or the cost of caring for them. 

That is why Jews are so concerned about the United States government 's attitude toward the State of Israel and the pressures it appears to be bringing to bear upon Israel's government.

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A truth commission on the use of torture

In 2004, I was one of the few people in the country who campaigned for the Bush-Cheney ticket, and in 2008, campaigned for the Obama-Biden ticket. I did not agree with President Bush on a single domestic issue, but endorsed and campaigned for him because of his strong stance in opposition to Islamic terrorism, which was not, in my opinion, matched by his Democratic opponent, John Kerry. 

In 2008, I went to Florida and other states to campaign for the Obama-Biden ticket. I announced that I was supporting and campaigning for Barack Obama, having decided that he did understand, in my opinion, the threat of Islamic terrorism. Furthermore, I agreed with him and the Democratic Party on every major domestic issue in the campaign, including national health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, achieving tax equity for the middle class.

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Kettle of fish

Aren't we being overly harsh to Vice President Joe Biden who, to everyone's consternation, recently said, "It's not just going to Mexico, if you're any place in a confined aircraft and one person sneezes it goes all the way through the aircraft. That's me. I would not be at this point, if they had another way of transportation, suggesting they ride the subway."

I would give the Vice President credit for acknowledging the elephant in the room - the swine flu pandemic. In newspapers around the world, there are pictures of people wearing surgical masks. According to The New York Times, "In this country [US], hundreds of schools have closed, including Fort Worth's entire school district of about 80,000 students. Texas has 26 confirmed cases." In the US, there are now 226 confirmed cases and 49 of them are in New York City where two schools are closed for a few days and will be reopening this week.

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Pakistan disintegrating

Pakistan, a nuclear nation, is in danger of falling to the Taliban. The Pakistani army, which the world has relied on to prevent the Taliban from taking over the northwest frontier tribal areas, is collapsing. The Taliban, by agreement with the army, has already moved into the Swat Valley and recently partially occupied the adjacent Buner area which is 60 miles from the Pakistan capital of Islamabad.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, husband of the former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated on December 27, 2007, is weak and ineffective. He and his government depend on the Pakistani army to keep the country under control and most importantly, to secure the country's nuclear arsenal from the Taliban and al-Qaida. The world worries that terrorists will steal, buy or otherwise come into possession of nuclear weapons. When President Pervez Musharraf, the former general and dictator, was the head of Pakistan's military-run government, the world breathed easier. He lost power when the army command deserted him and democratic elections produced the new Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, who would be assassinated and followed into national office by her husband.