Colorado Democrat Party State Convention

“We are going to mop the floor with John McCain”--Rep. Diane DeGette, D-Denver

If you're interested in what our friends across the aisle are doing at the Colorado Democrat Party state convention, the folks at Colorado Confidential are team-blogging the event:

Day 1

Day 2

They also have some photos, a roundup of the invited state party bigwigs (Gov. Ritter, Congresswoman DeGette, Rep. Salazar and Sen. Salazar, Senate candidate Rep. Mark Udall, Rep. Perlmutter, and Clinton groupie and campaign manager Terry McAuliffe-stirs a bit of controversy with Clinton vs. Obama speech), and an update on two anti-war protestors arrested for leaving the "Free Speech Zone".

Not My Tribe, the blogging home of one of the arrested protestors, features a local Colorado Springs news bit on the anti-war protestors' plans on using this weekend's festivities as a "dry run" for Denver's Democratic National Convention in August.

There was also a moment of silence in Sen. Ted Kennedy's (D-MA) honor.

Other highlighted quotes (via The Rocky Mountain News):

Even before the event opened at 10 a.m. today, the crowd was on its feet as various slogans ran across huge TV screens at the World Arena:

“Right now, Marilyn Musgrave is shopping for moving vans.”

“Right now, Bob Schaffer is still trying to figure out what a Colorado mountain looks like.”

But the loudest whoops and hollers were reserved for this one:

“Right now, Tom Tancredo is serving up his last term in Congress.”

In the Denver County area, three Clinton supporters held up signs that read “Yes” “She” “Will.”

The euphoric atmosphere of the state convention no doubt elicited one of the more interesting comments of the day:

“We are going to mop the floor with John McCain,” promised Rep. Diane DeGette, D-Denver.

Immigration Bill Roundup; Colorado Going To Hell In Fruitbasket

At least that is what the fearmongering, "recession" is imminent, media coverage would have you believe.

Putting the pinch on Colorado farmers:

Colorado farmers and others squeezed by a labor shortage will be pinched even more by the death of President George W. Bush's immigration proposal in the Senate, business leaders said Thursday.

"Our labor supply is going to continue to diminish," said Mike Gilsdorf, leader of Colorado Employers for Immigration Reform, or COEIR. "I can see a lot of overtime expenses."
. . .
"Immigrant workers benefit all of us by keeping the economy growing and healthy," she said.

Adams said by not fixing the current immigration system, the United States is inviting major labor shortages and an even worse recession than the one she is predicting now.

Fewer immigrant workers could mean less production and money circulating in the economy, plus other ripple effects, Adams said.

"We get many things cheaper because they were made in other countries or because of immigrant labor. That gives us additional money to spend on other things that create new jobs," she said.

For one thing, the likelihood that current laws will be enforced with any greater consistency is extremely low; secondly, the illegal immigrants living "in the shadows" (they are quite visible while living in those shadows) are not likely to leave en masse. Finally, the immigrant workers the farmers' advocates refer to are mostly illegal--and by law, they shouldn't be hired anyway. That is one of the thrusts of enforcement--businesses should be punished for hiring illegal immigrants, and creating the draw the lures more and more here illegally.

In addition, the argument that illegal immigrants benefit the economy due to the cheapness of their labor sounds suspiciously similar to what old Southern slaveholders argued would happen to their plantations should slavery be abolished--we need our cheap labor, or we'll die!

Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar puts the blame on "poison" from some members of the Senate--and likely the vaunted but "evil" talk-radio/blogosphere--for defeating the messy, pointless, unenforceable slop that was Bush/Kennedy's comprehensive immigration reform:

U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar expressed disappointment this morning at the demise of the immigration reform bill, blaming "poison stemming from some members of the Senate" and predicting continuing crisis for the country's "broken" immigration system.

"I think we can expect chaos, confusion, porous borders, victimization and tremendous economic insecurity among farmers and ranchers and others who want us to fix the system," said Salazar, a Colorado Democrat, during a telephone news conference after the vote.

A fix worse than the problem it is designed to correct is not desirable in any context. At least Sen. Wayne Allard recognized this much in his vote against the bill:

"Porous borders and lax enforcement present major security risks to our country," Allard said. "Instead of enacting so-called 'comprehensive immigration reform,' we need to find common sense solutions to the labor concerns we face in the agriculture industry and start doing what we all know needs to be done: secure the border and enforce our existing laws."

Hear, hear. Amnesty is not the solution. Nor is punishing the millions of legal immigrants that have plowed their way through the labyrinthine paperwork and excessive fees to acquire the "documents" that would have been given willy-nilly to any and all here illegally. Fairness? I think not.

The left is worried about the people "living in the shadows". The last two May 1 immigration rallies don't put too much credence into that notion:


Beware Democrats who voted against this bill, or dare call illegal immigrants illegal--you'll be "drummed out" of the party.

Criminal Illegal Immigrants Reported, But Not Deported

"Reports to ICE soar, expulsions don't"

Gee, there's a shocker:

"Law-enforcement officials harbor doubts that their enhanced reporting of suspected illegal immigrants in criminal cases has led to any increase in deportations by the federal government."

Yet another job those picky, lazy Americans won't do.

This law was touted by Colorado's Democrats as among the "toughest" immigration policies "in the nation". Another broken promise--all hype, no follow through--and Democrats knew that before the bill passed.

This is why enforcement-first Americans don't buy the what Senators like Ted Kennedy, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Mel Martinez (or even President Bush) are shoveling:

Police agencies in Colorado turned over the names of at least 15,000 suspected illegal immigrants to federal authorities during the second half of last year.

Their offenses ranged from minor infractions to first-degree felonies but each referral was in compliance with a new state law designed to get tough on illegal immigration.

Law enforcement officials, however, debate whether the new law is having its intended effect.

They said they doubt the enhanced reporting has led to any more deportations of criminal illegal immigrants.

"I still sense that there is simply no infrastructure in the federal system in place to actually do anything with these undocumented aliens beyond the occasional, token deportations," said Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates.

The law, enacted by the legislature in 2006 as part of a statewide crackdown on illegal immigration, required all cities and counties to report any suspected illegal immigrants arrested or cited for crimes to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

And these are the illegal aliens arrested for committing crimes. If the Feds won't do anything about illegal immigrants who flagrantly break the law (aside from being here illegally), how can we expect them to do more if and when a new shamnesty bill is passed?

Do the politics think we are simply gonna trust them (wink wink, nudge nudge)?

For more on shamnesty, visit Michelle Malkin, Freedom Folks, and Lonewacko.