Forging the papers needed by illegal aliens to qualify for amnesty.

The head of a Mexican forgery ring was convinced he could make phony documents that illegal aliens could use to indicate fraudulently that they were eligible for a new amnesty, says a government affidavit recounting wiretapped phone calls the man made.

Julio Leija-Sanchez, who ran a $3 million-a-year forgery operation before he was arrested in April, was expecting Congress to pass a legalization program, which he called "amnesty," and said he could forge documents to fool the U.S. government into believing illegal aliens were in the country in time to qualify for amnesty, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent said in the affidavit.

In recounting a wiretapped telephone conversation, ICE agent Jason E. Medica said he heard Mr. Leija-Sanchez tell an associate the forgery ring could "fix his papers" to meet the requirements of a legalization program such as the bill the Senate is debating today.

"When Leija-Sanchez said 'if there's an amnesty, he can fix his papers,' Leija-Sanchez was referring to the possibility of pending legislation which would allow a certain class of illegal aliens to remain in the United States, as long as they can prove a term of residency in the United States with no convictions," agent Medica wrote.

"When Leija-Sanchez said 'he can fix his papers,' he was referring to the fact that the organization could fraudulently create or alter documents to falsely prove the requisite residency period," the agent wrote.

I guess they are just doing the jobs that American forgers won't do.

Posted by: Greg at 01:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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But Newsweek is really much more interested in the presidential numbers, hence the story being written in such an unbalanced fashion.

In 19 months, George W. Bush will leave the White House for the last time. The latest NEWSWEEK Poll suggests that he faces a steep climb if he hopes to coax the country back to his side before he goes. In the new poll, conducted Monday and Tuesday nights, President BushÂ’s approval rating has reached a record low. Only 26 percent of Americans, just over one in four, approve of the job the 43rd president is doing; while, a record 65 percent disapprove, including nearly a third of Republicans.

Yep -- gotta look at the Bush numbers and talk about how bad they are. Frankly, the breakdown of the polling data makes me seriously wonder at the level of ignorance shown by my fellow Americans. For example, only 34% approve of the president's handling of the economy, despite the fact that we are in the 5th straight year of strong economic growth following the Clinton recession and the economic disruptions caused by 9/11 -- growth that can be directly attributed to the president's income tax cuts for all Americans who pay them.

But then Newsweek glosses over this number.

If there is any good news for Bush and the Republicans in the latest NEWSWEEK Poll, itÂ’s that the Democratic-led Congress fares even worse than the president. Only 25 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing.

In the scariest news for the Democratic candidates seeking their partyÂ’s nomination in 2008, even rank-and-file Democrats are unhappy with Congress, which is narrowly controlled by their party. Only 27 percent of Democrats approve of the job Congress is doing, a statistically insignificant difference from the 25 percent of Republicans and 25 percent of independents who approve of Congress.

Overall, 63 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing, including 60 percent of Democrats, 67 percent of Republicans and 64 percent of Independents. Apparently, voters arenÂ’t happy with anyone in Washington these days.

Newsweek, it seems, isn't interested in why the numbers are low, or what areas are driving the low congressional ratings. After all, they don't even ask about such things in their poll.

Posted by: Greg at 12:37 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You know, this development may make me give up my status as "the last dial-up customer in America".

Without any sort of fanfare, AT&T Inc. has started offering a broadband Internet service for $10 a month, cheaper than any advertised plan.

The DSL, or digital subscriber line, plan introduced Saturday is part of the concessions made by AT&T to the
Federal Communications Commission to get its $86 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp. approved last December.

The $10 offer is available to customers in the 22-state AT&T service region, which includes former BellSouth areas, who have never had AT&T or BellSouth broadband, spokesman Michael Coe confirmed Monday. Local phone service and a one-year contract are required. The modem is free.

The plan was not mentioned in a Friday news release about AT&T's DSL plans, and is slightly hidden on the AT&T Web site. A page describing DSL options doesn't mention it, but clicking a link for "Term contract plans" reveals it. It's also presented to customers who go into the application process, Coe said.

The service provides download speeds of up to 768 kilobits per second and upload speeds of up to 128 kbps, matching the speeds of the cheapest advertised AT&T plan, which costs $19.95 per month in the nine-state former BellSouth area and $14.99 in the 13 states covered by AT&T before the acquisition.

I checked it out last night, and I am eligible. Since I'm paying $10 a month right now for dial-up connection that has been a little bit unsteady the last few days, I may just have to make the switch.

My question -- do other DSL providers start dropping their prices to match this AT&T offer? Will this set off a bidding war for customers?

Posted by: Greg at 11:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This is an interesting development.

Apple said Monday that it would make its Safari Web browser available for Windows-based PCs, opening a new front in its rivalry with Microsoft.

The announcement came at the end of a presentation made by Steven P. Jobs, AppleÂ’s co-founder and chief executive, at the companyÂ’s annual World Wide Developers Conference. It indicates that Apple is increasingly confident in its ability to compete against MicrosoftÂ’s desktop computing monopoly.

I'm downloading the program to see how it works -- though it is still in beta rather than a final release. Still, given that Internet Explorer and most other Microsoft software is released with as many bugs as your average beta software, I don;'t see a problem with that. You can get it here.

Posted by: Greg at 04:50 AM | Comments (50) | Add Comment
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I wonder if this idea actually works. It is supposed to boost page rank.

———copy and paste the Viralink and instructions below this line———

Below is a matrix of 120 stars, I have already added a link to my blog onto one of the stars, all you need to do is copy and paste the grid into your blog and add your own link to one of the other spare stars, and tell others to do the same!

Viralink

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New Addition: When I receive a ping back once you have added the Viralink to your site I will add your link to this grid, and each person who copies the grid from here will also link to your site!

———copy and paste the Viralink and instructions above this line———

One minor correction here -- since mu.nu's trackbacks have been turned off, you will either have to comment here with your link or email me privately. Hopefully they will be working soon when the new blogging platform is up.

H/T Yoga for Health

Posted by: Greg at 02:46 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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