What is wrong with you kalidiots?

[url]www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000034275may15.story[/url]

LOS ANGELES
L.A. to Honor Identity Cards From Mexico
Experiment: Council votes to accept matricula consular on a trial
basis, opening city services to illegal immigrants. Some say it
undercuts U.S. law.
     
By SEEMA MEHTA, TIMES STAFF WRITER


The Los Angeles Police Department and other city agencies will accept
identification cards issued by the Mexican Consulate as valid ID for
illegal immigrants on a trial basis as a result of a closely watched
City Council vote Tuesday.

The Los Angeles City Council voted 13 to 1 to approve a six-month
pilot program to accept the matricula consular, an identification
card the Mexican government has issued to expatriates for more than a
century.

The decision means illegal immigrants--ineligible for Social Security
cards, driver's licenses and other officially recognized U.S.
identification documents--will be able to obtain many of the same
city services as legal residents. Among other things, they will be
able to borrow books from libraries, attend hearings at City Hall,
and be cited and released by police for minor traffic violations,
rather than being taken to jail to be processed for those stops.
Immigrants' rights groups and most council members hailed the move,
saying it allows immigrants to prove their identity--especially
important in a post-Sept. 11 world--and to ease the travails of
everyday life.

"It's an issue of human dignity and respect," said Councilman Nick
Pacheco, urging his colleagues to support the matter. "This country
has long respected all of our residents, and this is an expansion of
that respect."

Victor Narro, a project director with the Coalition for Humane
Immigration Rights of Los Angeles, said the decision helps hundreds
of thousands of undocumented workers, such as day laborers and
domestics, who form a key element of the region's economy.

"These workers basically live in the shadow of our city," he said.

Others, however, argued that the decision will undercut federal
immigration laws.

"This document is almost a flat-out admission that the person who
holds it is in the country illegally," said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman
for the Los Angeles office of the Federation for American Immigration
Reform. "The city of Los Angeles should not adopt an official policy
of not only are we going to turn a blind eye, but we're going to
recognize these documents that say we're here illegally."

(continued)

[b]The Mexican government has advised its 48 U.S. consulates to promote
the ID cards for the estimated 3 million undocumented Mexicans living
in the United States. Applicants must provide a birth certificate,
military or school ID or other valid Mexican identification to
receive the matricula consular.[/b] A new generation of cards
incorporates security features such as holograms to discourage
forgeries.

Despite the measure approved Tuesday, Los Angeles city workers do not
have to accept a card they find suspicious. If police pull over a
speeding cardholder, for example, they can call the Mexican Consulate
to verify his or her identity.

Similar measures have been approved in Phoenix, San Francisco, Santa
Ana and other cities. Banks, airlines and other businesses courting
Mexican customers have been recognizing the cards as legal ID in
recent years.

Indeed, Miriam Galicia Duarte of Wells Fargo in Los Angeles said
20,000 new accounts have been opened at her bank's branches since it
began accepting the cards last November. About $50 million has been
deposited in California banks overall, she said.

It "has been an incredible program that has given the opportunity to
thousands and thousands of individuals in the U.S. to now be a part
of the financial mainstream in this country," she said.

Councilman Hal Bernson--the lone member of the council to vote
against the pilot program--said he believes individual institutions
such as Wells Fargo have the right to decide whether to accept the ID
cards. But "I have some questions about why we should recognize this
card officially," he said.

Mehlman agreed, saying police officers can already exercise
discretion when dealing with illegal immigrants. "You couldn't do any
police work without certain discretion," he said. But "we shouldn't
be giving people any blanket assurances that they never have to worry
about the police."

Local and police officials countered that the move--supported by the
LAPD--will help protect neighborhoods, and especially the vulnerable
residents preyed upon by slumlords and gang members who know their
victims are afraid to call the police.

"People will be able to report crimes to the LAPD without any fear,"
said Councilman Eric Garcetti. "We need to have that in our
communities."

Is it any wonder that we have a $23.6 billion budget shortfall?

[url]http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/latimes/20020515/lo/davis_seeks_tax_hikes_to_bridge_gap_1.html[/url]

Davis Seeks Tax Hikes to Bridge Gap

By JULIE TAMAKI and MIGUEL BUSTILLO

Gov. Gray Davis (news - web sites) proposed raising taxes Tuesday on smokers and motorists to help overcome what has grown into a $23.6-billion budget shortfall, saying there was no other way to protect schools.

The move reversed a promise Davis made in January not to ask for tax increases.

The tax hikes--an $84 increase in the average vehicle license fee and a boost of 50 cents per pack in the cigarette tax--would total $1.75 billion, according to Davis' estimates. But although they probably will account for most of the Capitol's budget debate in coming weeks, they represent only a share of Davis' plan to fill the budget shortfall. Much of the gap would be closed by $7.6 billion in spending reductions, including deep cuts in health programs for the poor. Davis also relies heavily on various accounting shifts, budget transfers and loans, such as borrowing $4.5 billion against the state's future share of the national tobacco settlement and postponing some payments to schools.

His fourth budget as governor surely isn't the one Davis hoped to propose as he seeks reelection. It represents a dramatic reversal of fortunes in just two years. In May 2000, Davis presented a budget that featured an unanticipated surplus of $12.3 billion and offered tax rebates along with new spending on education and transportation.

Keep changing the rules to accommodate law breaking and you'll get more of it. That's the history so far.

Satan lives in kali..... the new Babylon......



just "in the mood" to kali-bash today....