CDR: Gore's Misleading us (was: Congress proposes raiding census records.)

[jim bell]

----- Original Message -----
X-Loop: openpgp.net
From: Sampo A Syreeni <ssyreeni at cc.helsinki.fi>
To: Multiple recipients of list <cypherpunks at openpgp.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2000 10:58 AM
Subject: Re: Congress proposes raiding census records.


> On Wed, 25 Oct 2000, jim bell wrote:
>
> >Not "mexican-american."  The average American's illusion is that when an
> >illegal alien is found he's immediately kicked across the border.  Well,
the
> >first time maybe, but there is now a 2-year sentence for illegal entry
for
> >repeat offenders.
>
> What's the history of this particular piece of legislation? A naive person
> might think there has to be something special about the crime if
> jurisdiction can be obtained merely via the presence of an individual.

It's called illegal entry.  Probably most countries have such laws, although
whether they are quite so actively enforced as southwestern US is a
question.

>
> >Very convenient, because the majority of prison guards
> >are probably ex-US Military-types who "need" to be kept in the Federal
fold.
> >For every couple of beaners they keep, they get to hire another guard.
>
> OK. This would be 'rent-seeking', right? ;)

In the last day or two, Gore promised (in response to Bush's criticism) that
he wouldn't increase the size of the Federal Government.  (Don't know the
exact wording, but I think it was based on the number of employees.)
Sounds reassuring?  No way.  Over the last 10 years the US military has
shrunk due to the end of the Cold War, etc.  As it should, and in fact it
should probably shrink a lot more. ( I wish I had the exact figures with
me.)  But what has happened is that many ex-military-types were simply
shifted to other areas of the Federal Government.  Sure, the overall size of
government is smaller, but not nearly as much as it could have been if the
non-military areas of government were fixed in size and did not help absorb
the overflow.

If anyone has the statistics, I'd like to read the details.

Jim Bell