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Some Jewish humor:
Subject: JEWISH STORIES
Saul Epstein was taking an oral exam in his English as a Second Language class.
He was asked to spell "cultivate," and he spelled it correctly. He was then asked to use the word in a sentence, and, with a big smile, responded: "Last vinter on a very cold day, I vas vaiting for a bus, but it vas too cultivate, so I took the subvay home."
THE SINKING BOAT
Morty remembers how to carry another swimmer from his lifeguard class when he was just a kid, so he begins tugging Saul toward shore.
After ten minutes, he begins to tire. Finally about 100 feet from shore, Morty asks Saul, "So Saul, do you suppose you could float alone?"
Saul replies,"Morty, this is a hell of a time to be asking for money!"
THE PARKING SPACE
Miraculously, a place opens up just in front of him. He turns his face up to heaven and says, "Never mind, I just found one!"
PHILANTHROPY
A visitor to Israel attended a recital and concert at the Moscovitz Auditorium.
He was quite impressed with the architecture and the acoustics.
He inquired of the tour guide, "Is this magnificent auditorium named after Chaim Moscovitz, the famous Talmudic scholar?"
"No," replied the guide."It is named after Sam Moscovitz, the writer."
"Never heard of him. What did he write?"
"A check, " replied the guide.
CHANUKAH STAMPS
"What denomination?" says the clerk.
The woman says "Oy vey...my god, has it come to this?"
"Okay, give me 6 orthodox, 12 conservative and 32 reform!"
MOISHE
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The rabbi grabbed Moishe by the hand, pulled him aside and whispered these words at him: "You need to join the Army of God!"
Moishe replied: "I'm already in the Army of God, Rabbi."
The rabbi questioned: "How come I don't see you except for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur?"
Moishe whispered back: "I'm in the secret service."
Israel's bottom line - they will not place their fate in other's hands! (See 1 below.)
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Nuclear talks with Iran questioned. (See 2 below.)
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Giving away the store - our new strategy? (See 3 below.)
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This from my ;earned friend of long standing and fellow memo reader: "I don't understand why the Republican negotiators do not have a simple condition -- the Republicans will agree to let 12 million low-skilled immigrants develop a path to regularization if the US agrees to admit 12 million high-skilled workers from China and India. It is the high-skilled workers who will be creating the new businesses and jobs-- and the ones that we so direly need. We have been discriminating against the workers who are waiting in China and India (and Japan and the Philippines, etc.) far too long.
An article yesterday pointed out that we are the only country that does not permit the richer immigrants to get preference -- they can pay more, agree to invest, etc. in Canada and Canada is getting a higher quality immigrant. The US should become again what it has always been -- a magnet for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial immigrants."
I responded because our immigration policy is thrust towards loving the poor and having no use for the rich and does not comprehend the economics of immigration only the human soul aspect. (See 4 below.)
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Thatcher was hard nosed but when it came to ice cream she was very soft. (See 5 below.)
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Dick
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1)'We will never leave our fate in the hands of others'
By Israel Hayom
“In every generation our enemies rise against us to destroy us. In every generation, each man must view himself as though he had survived the Holocaust and went on to found the state of Israel. In every generation, it is our duty to ensure that the Holocaust does not recur.” So said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday at the start of the annual ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
“During the generation of the Holocaust we were helpless to prevent the destruction. Many failed to recognize the danger in time, and once they did, it was too late. The trap had been set, the trap door had shut. The gates of our land were closed to Jewish refugees, as were the gates of most countries. From that point, it became very easy to exterminate our brothers and sisters — six million of them.”
“Hatred of Jews, which peaked in Nazi Germany, the Jews' weakness in exile and the world's helplessness — these three factors came together to bring about the tragedy of the Holocaust. However, in the depths of darkness, a major shift in the fate of the Jewish people began. In the death camps and the ghettos, in the Warsaw Ghetto, Jewish history shifted. That is where the Jewish resistance rose up again.”
“That is where the spirit of the Maccabees was rediscovered. That is where the flag of rebellion was waved anew. In the depths of despair unlike anything humankind had ever known, young Jews mustered up their power to resist and their Jewish courage, and fought back against the Nazi enemy. The fact that they were defeated did not diminish the power of their courage, nor did it diminish the great transformation they instigated in the history of our people.”
“The defenders of the ghetto went from being helpless victims to becoming brave fighters. Five years later, with the same spirit, the few versus the many, Israel Defense Forces soldiers, among them many Holocaust survivors, defeated the Arab armies that tried to destroy the State of Israel. Our ability and willingness to defend ourselves are what ensures our continued existence and our future.”
“We will know how to defend ourselves”
“Several days ago, I bid farewell to a young lieutenant colonel who served in the military secretary's office at the Prime Minister's Office. He is relocating to the Negev to train the future commanders of the IDF at the officers' academy. He moved me immensely when he told me about his grandmother Hannah, who survived Auschwitz. The number that the Nazis tattooed on her arm ended in the numerals 78. As luck would have it, the identification number that Hannah received upon entering the State of Israel also ended in 78. Her number of death had turned into a number of life in the State of Israel. Hannah, who is watching us from the audience right now, survived the Nazi inferno, and today, her grandson, an officer in the IDF, is preparing our future commanders.”
“I am proud to be the prime minister of this people, but there are those who seek to extinguish this light of ours. Iran has openly declared that it intends to annihilate the State of Israel. We appreciate the efforts made by the international community to halt Iran's nuclear program, but at no point will we ever leave our fate in the hands of others, not even the closest of our allies.”
“I am certain of Israel's power, and I have faith in the Israel Defense Forces. I believe in you, the citizens of Israel. We are stronger today than ever before, and we will overcome the challenges that face us, as difficult as they may be. Never again will we get to a point where it is too late. Never again will we stand helpless in front of those who seek to kill us.”
“We will know how to defend ourselves. In this place, and on this day I vow: There will never be another Holocaust.”
The Jewish spirit cannot be burned in crematoria
President Shimon Peres also addressed the gathering at Yad Vashem on Sunday, saying:
“The Holocaust will not sink into history's gaping hole. It is here with us, burning, real. It resonates as we step on the stones of the ghettos. It hovers like a ghost in the barracks of the camps. It cries from the prayer shawls, the hair and the shoes that we see with our own eyes.”
“It whispers from the tears that dried before we said goodbye. It is reflected in the photographs of the babies in their mothers' arms. The noise of those murderous trains which have ceased moving still rings in our ears. The smoke has cleared, but it has not faded as it drifted into the sky above.”
“Survivors walk among us, the Holocaust and its horrors are with them every day. Their blood flows through our veins.
Their bravery accompanies every step of our lives. There was no greater horror in the history of mankind. Nothing can undo the greatest darkness mankind has ever known.”
“The 74 years that have passed are more of a biography than a history. Millions of names are still missing, of parents and children, of entire Jewish communities that were destroyed. There is no substitute for the culture, for the values, and for the talents that are gone. They remain as an open wound.”
“We will not stop searching for every scrap of information, for a name yet to be identified, for a photograph that has been blurred. A third of our people, six million, were murdered for no reason.”
“The Jewish people today are fewer compared to their number at the eve of World War II. We decreased in size, but not in spirit. We are working with all our might to fill the void. Physically and spiritually. To grow out of the ashes, to create something out of nothing, to defend. To foster our independence, and not to tire from efforts to better the world we live in, tikkun olam.”
“The Holocaust is an orphan with no comfort and a moral responsibility that cannot be compromised. It does not permit us, the Jewish people, to turn a blind eye. It must always serve as a warning to all of humanity.”
“The map of Europe still contains local stains of anti-Semitism. The racism that was rampant on that land in the last century dragged it down to its lowest point. Ultimately the killings there damaged it as well.”
“To our shame, there are some who have learnt nothing. Young [neo-nazi] skinheads. False scientists dressed in false suits. Yes! There remain those who repress the Holocaust and there are those who deny the Holocaust. Not all the volcanic eruptions have subsided. Crises are once again being exploited to reestablish ridiculous, yet dangerous, Nazi parties. Sickening anti-Semitic cartoons are supposedly part of the freedom of the press.”
“The journey for justice and freedom is not over yet. When I hear the four words, 'Let My People Go' I feel again and again that the journey out of the house of slavery our people embarked on has not ended, and must not ground to a halt. It must not stop until slavery, in every way shape and form, is abolished — in every place, in every situation, until the winds of freedom blow away the stench of racism and clear the evil smoke.”
“The enlightened world must ask itself how, so soon after the crematoria were extinguished and despite the terrible death toll the Allies had endured in the effort to counter the Nazi devil, the leaders of Iran feel they can openly deny the Holocaust and threaten another Holocaust.”
“Whoever ignores the threat against one nation, must know that the threat of a Holocaust against one nation is a threat of a Holocaust against all nations.”
“The Jewish people may be small but it they are large in spirit. That spirit cannot be burned in crematoria. From the ashes of the Holocaust emerged a spiritual revival and a political renaissance. Some of our people were cut off from the rest, but we rose and we built a state of our own.”
“We lost possessions, but retained our values; We returned to our ancient homeland; We renewed our moral legacy;
We returned to independence; We returned to creation, to education, and we returned to hope.”
“We built a defensive force capable of dealing with dangers, new and old. The Israel Defence Forces, which was formed in response to the attempt to annihilate the Jewish state that had just been created, is also the right lesson from the Holocaust. It is founded upon the bravery of Jews in the Holocaust.”
“Today, Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day is also the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. There has never been a rebellion like it. They were so outnumbered, but their bravery remains as a model for so many. From now and forever! Today we salute their bravery with the flags flying in the wind of freedom. These are flags of exaltation, not only of grief.”
“The resistance in the ghettos, in the camps and in the forests and the rebirth and bravery of the State of Israel all have a common thread. This involves dignity, renewed independence, mutual responsibility and kiddush Hashem [willingness to sacrifice oneself in the name of God]. As a ray of hope that continued to beam alongside terrible anguish. The ghetto fighters sought life even when circumstance screamed despair.”
“A few days ago, Peretz Hochman passed away. The small cigarette vendor who became a great hero. Peretz Hochman came home to Israel and fought in Israel's wars with the courage that so typified him. He passed away only a few days before he was supposed to stand with us, here today, on this stage and light the torch. His flame is now orphaned, but his light will continue to illuminate.”
“Touting the heroism of the fighters is not just a matter of doing justice to their bravery. It is an existential need, for each of us, for all of us as a people. We have always praised their heroism, but not always paid tribute to the actual heroes.”
“It is now time we do that. We have not always listened to their heartbeats or attended their health and taken care of their well-being. Time has come to right this wrong.”
“The history of the Holocaust is not just a lesson from the past, it is also a lesson for the future so that we know how to defend ourselves against dangers and thwart them in advance. It serves as a lesson that we shall rely on ourselves, so that we retain our moral legacy, which withstood impossible situations. We must maintain our friendship with friends, and work with them to foster a better future, for every person, for every nation, for all nations so we can ensure humanity never again becomes inhumane. We'll ensure that every person has the right to be unique — unique and equal. We will never despair. After all, we were commanded: 'Do not fear, my servant Jacob' because 'The Lord will give strength to his people.'”
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2)Why Nuclear Talks with Iran is a Fool's Errand
By Reza Kahlili -
Although a new round of talks begin on Friday in Almaty, Kazakhstan, between the six world powers and Iran, the Islamic regime has no intention of giving up its goal of achieving nuclear weapons status.
Despite years of failed negotiations, the P5-plus-1 group of nations (the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France plus Germany) will once again try to solve the nuclear impasse diplomatically.
It won't work.
Mashregh News, a media outlet run by the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence unit, dissected why the Obama administration's plan will continue to fail.
“Barack Obama's look on Iran in his second term of presidency is that he will want to achieve some results,” a Mashregh analysis said. “He, of course, does not want to reach an agreement with Iran but rather wants to force Iran to retreat. As he said himself: 'We don't want to control Iran but rather stop it.' He believes that since science cannot be bombed, Iran can be stopped before reaching full nuclear science.
“It is obvious [the United States is] not after an agreement and believes if they present a reduction of sanctions to Iran [in the negotiations], the Islamic Republic will change its nuclear direction, which [already] is completely in line with the regulations of [the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty].”
U.S. pressure on Iran will only increase, the analysis said, although President Obama knows that pressure for sanctions within the United Nations has peaked and that he does not have many cards to play. Despite the sanctions, Mr. Obama has failed to persuade Iran to change course, the report said, and Iran has left no doubt about the direction of its nuclear program.
The analysis, which reflects the view of the Islamic regime, concludes that the continuation of the nuclear program will help expand the country's anti-American policies in the region, which would force the United States to leave the Islamic world, from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, and it would not be farfetched to conclude that in the near future, the region would be controlled by the Islamic movement.
I have believed for a long time that the Islamic regime truly believes the West and, specifically, the United States under Mr. Obama has a military confrontation as a red line they won't cross and that, ultimately, containment will be their policy of choice. That policy is already failing, though, because the regime is close to developing nuclear weapons.
I revealed recently that Iran has built a new, secret nuclear site. A high-ranking intelligence officer in the regime's Ministry of Defense provided me with the coordinates to the site and said Iran's scientists have succeeded in not only enriching to weapons-grade but have converted the highly enriched uranium to metal and are now working on a neutron reflector, which is one of the final stages in making nuclear bombs.
Satellite imagery of this vast site clearly shows facilities were hidden deep in a mountain similar to what Iran did at Fordow and that an array of missiles protects it. Experts who viewed the imagery warned of the imminent danger.
“[The satellite images] suggest the possibility that Iran may, in fact, be further along in its nuclear weapons program than is generally assumed,” said David Trachtenberg, who for 30 years served in the national security policy field and who, as principal deputy assistant secretary of defense, played a leadership role in nuclear forces and arms-control policy. “It is clear they have gone to great lengths to bury and protect high-value assets at this site, which also complicates the possibility of direct military action and illustrates the risks of allowing years to pass while hoping diplomacy will work. An accelerating train is harder to slow and takes longer to stop. These images reinforce my concern that Iranian nuclear progress is accelerating.”
“[This] imagery strongly suggests that Iran is working on what we used to call an 'objective force.' That is the objective of a deployed force of nuclear weapons on mobile missiles, normally based in deep underground sites for survivability against even nuclear attack, capable of rapid deployment,” said Fritz Ermarth, who served in the CIA and as chairman of the National Intelligence Council.
“This open-source analysis by itself illustrates that Iran is very serious about building survivable facilities for its nuclear enterprise,” said Peter Vincent Pry, executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and an expert on nuclear strategy and weapons who served on several strategic congressional commissions and in the CIA.
“A nuclear Iran is such a grave threat to U.S. and global security that, at minimum, Congress should hold hearings on this matter,” Mr. Pry said after reviewing the imagery and information from the source.
It is clear that the Islamic regime is determined to achieve its goals by becoming not only a nuclear-armed state but also by creating an “objective force” where it can become a major player in world politics. Regime history shows that if Iran is allowed to achieve such stature, world peace and the global economy will, at the least, become its hostage.
Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for an ex-CIA spy who requires anonymity for safety reasons. He is a senior fellow with EMPact America and the author of A Time to Betray, a book about his double-life as a CIA agent in Iran's Revolutionary Guards, published by Threshold Editions, Simon & Schuster, April 2010. A Time to Betray was the winner of the 2010 National Best Book Award and the 2011 International Best Book Award.
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3)'Proportional' Response
3)'Proportional' Response
Since when has it been considered smart to tell your enemies what your plans are?
One of Hollywood’s leading executives who supports the Republican party said the GOP is being “hijacked” by anti-immigration groups and other special interests.
Michael Burns, the vice chairman of Lions Gate Entertainment, the filmmaker and entertainment powerhouse, tells Newsmax TV in an exclusive interview the GOP needs to open up to Hispanics and other immigrant groups or it will wither.
“The Republicans are losing a marvelous opportunity to embrace the Hispanic community through immigration reform and it’s now or never,” he said.
“The moderates that I know — and I consider myself a moderate — feel very strongly about this.”
Burns, who has written on the need for reform within the GOP in the Huffington Post and Newsmax, said he discussed his ideas with Mitt Romney before the last election. Burns was one of a handful of Hollywood insiders who backed Romney in 2012.
But Burns slammed Romney’s “self-deportation” plan that would have required illegal immigrants to return to their home countries before becoming eligible to apply for legal status.
“It’s lunacy,” he said. “People aren’t going to return to their countries just so they can come back here in three to five years. They’ve built their life here and their family is here in many cases. They’re obviously in many cases not on a legal payroll system, but they’re earning a living here,” he said.
Burns added that such talk further distances Hispanic voters from the GOP.
Instead, Burns is arguing for an immigration plan that would allow illegals to buy citizenship if they are sponsored by an American family. Burns believes the fees could be substantial and and help solve budget problems in states that struggle with a high rate of illegal immigration.
“In California alone, if you could offer that program and have it accepted by millions of undocumented workers, you’re talking about raising potentially $10 billion,” he said.
“That could go a long way toward solving a bunch of budget issues in a large number of states. Obviously, you’d have to get the federal government to play along, but it would be a smart way to go.”
Burns points out similar federal programs currently exist, such as the EB-5 Program.
Created by Congress in 1990, the EB-5 was designed to promote economic and job growth by encouraging foreign investment.
Under the program, investors meeting certain criteria, such as creating at least 10 jobs or taking over a troubled business, are granted an allotment of EB-5 visas for their employees.
“It’s happening, but at a more expensive scale, so this is not a novel concept.
Burns talked about his family’s immigrant experience.
“I come from a family of Irish immigrants and they passed through Ellis Island,” he said.
“That was when America was a different place, but the idea that we continue to alienate these people who have been here for years when we have a chance to give them legal status and put them on a legal payroll and collect taxes … that’s an opportunity missed if we don’t take advantage of it.”
Burns suggest his plan could motivate illegals to embrace the American culture.
Immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship should get extra credit if they speak English, although the language should not be a requirement, he says.
“The idea that you would get additional points or you’d get some different credits … because you could speak English or write English well, that’d be a good thing,” he said.
Burns sees a new Republican take on immigration as the cornerstone of efforts by the party to reach out to moderate voters.
Burns said the fear of a tea party challenge is silencing moderates who could help restore the party’s luster.
“Take a look at what happened in Indiana, a state that went for Romney this year where the Republicans lost the seat because [Senator] Dick Lugar got beaten by a tea party fellow who lost the general election.
“That is happening again and again and somewhere the moderates need to grab the bull by the horns and say we want our party back.”
Burns also believes special interests are gaining an increasing amount of control over elections.
“Congress is being effectively blackmailed by special interests who are coming in and saying ‘Vote for this, don’t vote for that,’ whether it’s gun control or immigration reform and effectively hijacking these elections. That’s a sad thing.”
He said he believes Republicans need to continue the push for states to have greater control over key issues.
“The federal government, particularly in this present administration, doesn’t want to cede power to the states because Republicans control so many state governments at the moment.
“What has to happen is Republicans on the federal level have to push to give states wider rights and the ability to manage their own states fiscally. In many cases, they’re doing a better job than the federal government is doing, so that would help.”
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5)Margaret Thatcher Helped Invent Soft-Serve Ice Cream
p
Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first female prime minister, died Monday morning at the age of 87.
Yet there on the front page of the April 8th New York Times was a story about how unnamed "American officials" were planning a "proportional" response to any North Korean attack. This was spelled in an example: If the North Koreans "shell a South Korean island that had military installations" then the South Koreans would retaliate with "a barrage of artillery of similar intensity."
Whatever the merits or demerits of such a plan, what conceivable purpose can be served by telling the North Koreans in advance that they need fear nothing beyond a tit for tat? All that does is lower the prospective cost of aggression.
When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, should we have simply gone over and bombed a harbor in Japan? Does anyone think that this response would have stopped Japanese aggression? Or stop other nations from taking shots at the United States, when the price was a lot lower than facing massive retaliation?
Back before the clever new notion of "proportional" response became the vogue, our response to Pearl Harbor was ultimately Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And Japan has not attacked or even threatened anybody since then. Nor has any war broken out anywhere that is at all comparable with World War II.
Which policy is better? There was a time when we followed the ancient adage "By their fruits ye shall know them." The track record of massive retaliation easily beats that of the more sophisticated-sounding proportional response.
Back in ancient times, when Carthage attacked Rome, the Romans did not respond "proportionally." They wiped Carthage off the face of the earth. That may have had something to do with the centuries of what was called the Pax Romano -- the Roman peace.
When Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982, the British simply sent troops to take the islands back -- despite American efforts to dissuade Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher from doing even that.
For more than a century since the British settled in the Falkland Islands, Argentina had not dared to invade them. Why?
Because, until recent times, an Argentine attack on a British settlement would be risking not only a British counterattack there, but the danger of a major British attack on Argentina itself. That could mean leaving Buenos Aires in ruins.
Today, Argentina's government is again making threatening noises about the Falkland Islands. Why not? The most the Argentines have to fear is a "proportional" response to aggression -- and the Obama administration has already urged "negotiations" instead of even that. When threats are rewarded, why not make threats, when there are few dangers to fear?
Can you think of any war prior to Iraq and Afghanistan where the United States announced to the world when it planned to pull its troops out? What has this accomplished? "By their fruits ye shall know them." What have been the fruits?
First of all, this constant talk in Washington about not only pulling out, but announcing in advance what their pullout timetable was, meant that Iraqi political leaders knew that a powerful Iran was on their border permanently, while Washington was a long way away and intended to stay away.
Should we be surprised that the Iraqi government has increasingly come to pay more attention to what Iran wants than to what Washington wants? Once more, vast numbers of American lives have been sacrificed winning victories on the battlefield that the politicians in Washington then frittered away and turned into defeat politically.
What about other countries around the world who are watching what the American government is doing? Many have to decide whether they want to cooperate with the United States, and risk the wrath of our enemies, or cooperate with our enemies and risk nothing.
There is no need to respond to a North Korean artillery barrage by wiping North Korea off the map. But there is also no need to reassure the North Koreans in advance that we won't.
What announcing the doctrine of "proportional" response does is lower the price of aggression. Why would we want to do that?
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4)Michael Burns: GOP Needs to Open to Immigrants, Moderates
One of Hollywood’s leading executives who supports the Republican party said the GOP is being “hijacked” by anti-immigration groups and other special interests.
Michael Burns, the vice chairman of Lions Gate Entertainment, the filmmaker and entertainment powerhouse, tells Newsmax TV in an exclusive interview the GOP needs to open up to Hispanics and other immigrant groups or it will wither.
“The Republicans are losing a marvelous opportunity to embrace the Hispanic community through immigration reform and it’s now or never,” he said.
“The moderates that I know — and I consider myself a moderate — feel very strongly about this.”
Burns, who has written on the need for reform within the GOP in the Huffington Post and Newsmax, said he discussed his ideas with Mitt Romney before the last election. Burns was one of a handful of Hollywood insiders who backed Romney in 2012.
But Burns slammed Romney’s “self-deportation” plan that would have required illegal immigrants to return to their home countries before becoming eligible to apply for legal status.
“It’s lunacy,” he said. “People aren’t going to return to their countries just so they can come back here in three to five years. They’ve built their life here and their family is here in many cases. They’re obviously in many cases not on a legal payroll system, but they’re earning a living here,” he said.
Burns added that such talk further distances Hispanic voters from the GOP.
Instead, Burns is arguing for an immigration plan that would allow illegals to buy citizenship if they are sponsored by an American family. Burns believes the fees could be substantial and and help solve budget problems in states that struggle with a high rate of illegal immigration.
“In California alone, if you could offer that program and have it accepted by millions of undocumented workers, you’re talking about raising potentially $10 billion,” he said.
“That could go a long way toward solving a bunch of budget issues in a large number of states. Obviously, you’d have to get the federal government to play along, but it would be a smart way to go.”
Burns points out similar federal programs currently exist, such as the EB-5 Program.
Created by Congress in 1990, the EB-5 was designed to promote economic and job growth by encouraging foreign investment.
Under the program, investors meeting certain criteria, such as creating at least 10 jobs or taking over a troubled business, are granted an allotment of EB-5 visas for their employees.
“It’s happening, but at a more expensive scale, so this is not a novel concept.
Burns talked about his family’s immigrant experience.
“I come from a family of Irish immigrants and they passed through Ellis Island,” he said.
“That was when America was a different place, but the idea that we continue to alienate these people who have been here for years when we have a chance to give them legal status and put them on a legal payroll and collect taxes … that’s an opportunity missed if we don’t take advantage of it.”
Burns suggest his plan could motivate illegals to embrace the American culture.
Immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship should get extra credit if they speak English, although the language should not be a requirement, he says.
“The idea that you would get additional points or you’d get some different credits … because you could speak English or write English well, that’d be a good thing,” he said.
Burns sees a new Republican take on immigration as the cornerstone of efforts by the party to reach out to moderate voters.
Burns said the fear of a tea party challenge is silencing moderates who could help restore the party’s luster.
“Take a look at what happened in Indiana, a state that went for Romney this year where the Republicans lost the seat because [Senator] Dick Lugar got beaten by a tea party fellow who lost the general election.
“That is happening again and again and somewhere the moderates need to grab the bull by the horns and say we want our party back.”
Burns also believes special interests are gaining an increasing amount of control over elections.
“Congress is being effectively blackmailed by special interests who are coming in and saying ‘Vote for this, don’t vote for that,’ whether it’s gun control or immigration reform and effectively hijacking these elections. That’s a sad thing.”
He said he believes Republicans need to continue the push for states to have greater control over key issues.
“The federal government, particularly in this present administration, doesn’t want to cede power to the states because Republicans control so many state governments at the moment.
“What has to happen is Republicans on the federal level have to push to give states wider rights and the ability to manage their own states fiscally. In many cases, they’re doing a better job than the federal government is doing, so that would help.”
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5)Margaret Thatcher Helped Invent Soft-Serve Ice Cream
p
Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first female prime minister, died Monday morning at the age of 87.
Though the Iron Lady is recognized for her vast political and economic impacts, her culinary contribution to the world is less known.
As a chemist for food manufacturer J. Lyons and Co. in the 1940s, Thatcher was part of the British research team that made soft-serve ice possible, according to The Washington Post's Caitlin Dewey, citing a 1983 New Scientist article.
Thatcher, and colleagues, invented a way to add more air into the ice cream so that it was less dense and used less ingredients, which also made it more cost-effective.
The new formula also made it possible to push ice cream through a machine, producing the signature soft-serve swirl that we're familiar with today.
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