Legalize longtime immigrants, most tell poll

Majority also favors proposal to deport more-recent arrivals
(CNN) -- More than three-quarters of Americans favor allowing
illegal immigrants who have spent many years in the United States to
apply for citizenship, according to a poll conducted for CNN by
Opinion Research Corp.

In the poll, released Tuesday, 77 percent of those responding
favored allowing illegal immigrants who have been in United States
for more than five years to stay and apply for citizenship if they
have a job, and pay a fine and back taxes. Twenty percent said they
opposed such a measure.

A majority opposed a proposal to allow illegal immigrants who have
been in the United States for two to five years to stay on a
temporary basis, without a chance to apply for U.S. citizenship.
Fifty-four percent opposed that measure, and 40 percent favored it.

A proposal to deport illegal immigrants in the United States for
less than two years was favored by 64 percent and opposed by 31
percent.

For the poll, 1,012 adult Americans were interviewed by telephone
between Friday and Sunday; it has a sampling error of plus or minus
3 percentage points.

A proposal being considered by the Senate would treat illegal
immigrants differently based on the amount of time they have lived
in the United States.

Earlier this month, senators left for a two-week recess after
failing to agree on legislation to increase border security, create
a guest-worker program and develop a legalization process.
Proponents of the latter called the system "earned citizenship,"
while opponents decried it as "amnesty."
With lawmakers returning to work Monday, President Bush reiterated
his support for immigration legislation that would include a
temporary guest-worker program.

Bush called the proposal that bogged down in the Senate
an "important compromise" and blamed the failure to pass it
on "needless politics." That proposal was based on legislation
proposed by Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, and Sen. Edward
Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat.

Minority Leader Harry Reid said Monday, "The Senate can move forward
on immigration if President Bush and the majority leader will stand
up to those Republicans who are filibustering."
A Republican leadership aide said last week that Majority Leader
Bill First will bring immigration legislation back to the Senate
floor by Memorial Day.

The issue presents a delicate balancing act for Bush. His guest
worker program has support in the business community, and he has
courted Latino support. But he also must deal with an outspoken
segment of his conservative base demanding tougher restrictions on
illegal immigration.

Republicans have been divided over the worker program and the
legalization process.

Bush said Monday that the best way to enforce border
security "besides making sure it's modern and we've got manpower and
equipment down there ... is to come up with a rational plan that
recognizes people coming here to work, and lets them do so on a
temporary basis."

The poll found opinions divided on a worker program that would allow
people from other countries to stay in the United States for several
months but require them to leave when that time was up, without a
chance to apply for citizenship. That was favored by 47 percent and
opposed by 45 percent.

Any immigration legislation the Senate passes would have to be
reconciled with a plan passed by the House in December. The House
version includes neither a guest-worker program nor a legalization
process.

The House bill, which helped spark weeks of protests nationwide by
supporters of illegal immigrants, included provisions to build 700
miles of fence along the border with Mexico and to make entering the
country illegally a felony.
In the poll, Americans were split evenly over the fence proposal,
with 47 percent favoring the idea and the same percentage opposing
it.

A majority -- 56 percent -- opposed making illegal immigration a
felony, while 39 percent favored it.

After Congress started its recess, the top Republicans in both the
House and Senate indicated they would not support the felony
provision.

In the poll, 68 percent of those responding said they favored
increasing penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants,
while 27 percent were opposed.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/25/immigration.poll/index.html
section=cnn_topstories&eref=yahoo

Visit The Weekly News at http://localnews.yourdesign2.com
or join our mailing list to get weekly updates at http://yourdesign2.com/mailinglist.htm

Santa? No! It's Naked chimney guy!

Believing they had a botched burglary on their hands, police in
Hayward, California, called to a house instead found a naked man
wedged in its chimney, a police officer said Monday.
"He didn't have a stitch on," Lt. Gary Branson of the Hayward Police
Department said, referring to Michael Urbano.
The 23-year-old man came home early Saturday morning and, finding
himself locked out and without his keys, tried to enter the single
story house through its chimney.

"He told us he took off his clothes because as he was going down the
chimney the clothes would rub up against it and slow him down,"
Branson said. "If it was skin on cement he felt he would go down
easier."

Urbano's effort ended disastrously when a cable-television wire he
used to lower himself snapped. He fell and was wedged in a section
of the chimney tapering into the home's fireplace.

For the next four hours he cried out for help. A neighbor called
police and fire fighters, who dislodged Urbano, Branson said.
Officers booked Urbano for being under the influence of drugs, he
added.

Story by Recuters
http://news.yahoo.com/

Visit The Weekly News at http://localnews.yourdesign2.com
or join our mailing list to get weekly updates at http://yourdesign2.com/mailinglist.htm

9/11 Memorial, are they really doing the right thing?

We have seen it all over the news and in all the headlines about the
debates over the 9/11 Memorial in NYC. What we need to look at is
this all for publicity or just a lack of organization? Maybe we need
to look into the smaller communities for the answers.

Rockaway Park, NY is one of many small communities to construct a
memorial in memory of 9/11.

Last week hundreds of community members gathered for the unveiling
of the cupola at what was named Tribute Park. Tribute Park is small
a location in Rockaway Park on Jamaica Bay, from here on a clear day
you can view the Manhattan skyline. Many people gathered along the
Jamaica Bay line in the Rockaway’s on 9/11 and watched as the
buildings fell and history was made.

The Cupola resembles a gazebo, the ceiling lined in glass etched
with the names of the 57 people from the area that died in 9/11.
Artist Patrick Clark designed the Cupola.

Unlike the big project debates surrounding the memorial at ground
zero, this small community chose to erect their memorial for the
memories not the publicity. The local media was not even alerted of
the unveiling of the Cupola until about an hour prior to it taking
place.

Maybe Mayor Bloomberg should take a lesson from this small
community. A true memorial is not about public debate, wide spread
media or approval ratings. It is about remembering those that should
be remembered.

It’s is time for Bloomberg to step back a little and allow the
families of those lost on that day to have a true say in the
memorial.

Written by A. Wallace

Visit The Weekly News at http://localnews.yourdesign2.com
or join our mailing list to get weekly updates at http://yourdesign2.com/mailinglist.htm

Bush Orders Probe Into Gas Price Cheating

President Bush, under pressure to do something about gasoline
prices that are expected to stay high through the summer, has
ordered an investigation into possible cheating in the markets.

During the last few days, Bush asked his Energy and Justice
departments to open inquiries into whether the price of gasoline
has been illegally manipulated, said White House press secretary
Scott McClellan. Bush planned to announce the action Tuesday
during a speech in Washington.

It's unclear what impact, if any, Bush's investigation would have
on prices that are near $3 a gallon. Asked if Bush had any reason
to suspect market manipulation, McClellan responded, "Well, gas
prices are high right now, and that's why you want to make sure
there's not."

Republicans who control Congress have become concerned that the
high cost of filling up could become a problem for them in the
November elections. Polls suggest that voters favor Democrats
over Republicans on the issue, and Bush gets low marks for
handling gasoline prices.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Senate Majority Leader
Bill Frist, R-Tenn., urged Bush in a letter Monday to order a
federal investigation into any gasoline price gouging or market
speculation.

"There is no silver bullet," Frist said Tuesday on ABC's "Good
Morning America," but "we need to make sure that any efforts at
price-gouging be addressed and addressed aggressively." Meanwhile,
Frist said, consumers should take steps to conserve gasoline — drive
at slower speeds, tune up car engines for maximum efficiency and
carpool.

McClellan said Bush had already ordered investigations into market
pricing.

"We share a commitment with congressional leaders to make sure that
we're acting to ensure that there is no price gouging," McClellan
said.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada dispatched his own
letter, calling for a multi-pronged approach to restrain gas prices.
Among the steps were swift enactment of anti-price gouging
legislation, an appeal to oil companies to refrain from further
price increases, use of more alternative fuels and increased
attention to existing fuel-saving laws and regulations.

Bush also planned to announce that his attorney general and Federal
Trade Commission will send a letter to all 50 state attorneys
general, who have primary authority over price gouging, to remind
them to stay on top of the issue and offer federal help to do so.

And he planned to call on energy companies to reinvest their profits
into expanding refining capacity, developing new technologies and
researching alternative energy sources, McClellan said.

"I think you'll hear the president say very clearly that he will not
tolerate price gouging," McClellan said.

Bush has said consistently that gas prices are high because global
demand is rising faster than global supply and that the problem
cannot be solved overnight. McClellan said Bush planned to talk
about how experts predict the price will increase this summer and
how the switch to a summer fuel mix is contributing to the problem.
Bush's actions are part of a four-part plan to address gas prices in
the short- and long-term, McClellan said.

The steps are:
_Making sure consumers and taxpayers are treated fairly.
_Promoting greater fuel efficiency.
_Boosting gasoline supply at home.
_Aggressive long-term investment in alternative fuels.

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/

Visit The Weekly News at http://localnews.yourdesign2.com
or join our mailing list to get weekly updates at http://yourdesign2.com/mailinglist.htm

A search for the Truth.

Many of us watch “Reality TV”, “Police shows”, “CSI”, etc. This article is reaching into the privet life of those involved in an actual situation, allowing readers to follow as a real life story unfolds and giving our readers a chance to take an active role in the outcome of the overall situation. This is one of two articles that I am working on of this nature. We will follow through with this one, we will do our part in seeing that justice is served and see it’s completion prior to having the next article released and continuing as we do our part together to make a better tomorrow. This is only an introduction to what will be coming in the weeks to follow. Please follow along starting next week as we start getting into “A Search for the Truth”.

Some of you may recall a story I did some time ago titled "Corruption within our system" or an old story I reposted from a few years ago titled "When Justice becomes a crime", this is where it all continues.

In “A search for the Truth”, I will be asking our readers to not only follow along with the story as it unfolds, but to also take an active role in helping to make the story have a positive outcome. As you may have guessed, the article is in the process of unfolding as it is being written. This is due to the fact that there has never been any kind of satisfaction offered on the part of the authorities involved and justice has not been served as of yet.

The Weekly News has vowed to reach out to areas out side our own community in a recent issue. In doing so, we hope with articles like this, we will also reach inside our readers and make a difference in not only our lives but also in the lives of others.

Reader’s support will be greatly needed as we take on articles like these. So it is time to devote one less hour a week to that crime show on TV and devote that hour to real life situations and be part of the outcome, or should I say be part of the solution. One hour a week to situations like this is all it would take to make the difference.

“A search for the truth” will continue in next weeks issue with the first part of what I am sure will be many weekly follow ups before we see that justice has been served. Please follow along and post your comments below each weekly posting of the article. Your comments will be a great help in bringing the situation to a close.

Recerched and Written by A. Wallace

Visit The Weekly News at http://localnews.yourdesign2.com
or join our mailing list to get weekly updates at http://yourdesign2.com/mailinglist.htm