The Danger of Old News – Open Thread!

© Miri WTPOTUS January 10, 2012

APOLOGIES TO OUR READERS FOR REPORTING OLD NEWS!  Unfortunately, this story is from 2006.  I (Miri) did not do the “due diligence” to check exactly when “yesterday” was!  My bad. 

But it’s a cautionary tale–for me as well as for those of us who  need to keep on top of this issue.  It seemed SO TRUE at first glance, because of …

well, because of everything. 

So, NEVERMIND!  I’m so sorry for misleading everybody and getting you all “wee wee’ed up!” 

I’ll leave the story here, with a few changes, so y’all know what we WERE mistakenly talking about. 

This story, from the Washington Times, explained it all (some emphasis and editorial snarks added):

The Senate voted yesterday [in 2006!] to allow illegal aliens to collect Social Security benefits based on past illegal employment — even if the job was obtained through forged or stolen documents. … [This is known as the Uncle Omar Obama Clause. Just kidding!]

“There was a felony they were committing, and now they can’t be prosecuted. That sounds like amnesty to me,” said Sen. John Ensign, the Nevada Republican who offered the amendment yesterday to strip out those provisions of the immigration reform bill. “It just boggles the mind how people could be against this amendment.”

Indeed it does boggle SANE minds:  Those who honor our LAWS and our Constitution.  The Ensign amendment was defeated 50 to 49. 

For kicks, guess who said this:

The Ensign amendment would undermine the work of these people by preventing lawfully present immigrant workers from claiming Social Security benefits that they earned before they were authorized to work in our community. If this amendment were enacted, the nest egg that these immigrants have worked hard for would be taken from them and their families.

RINO John McCain.  Maybe it’s just me, but I think they deserve the penalty of LOSING their so-called “nest egg,” especially given that many of us are going to lose ours, or at least part of ours, because this Congress just will NOT stop spending our “nest eggs.”  Illlegal aliens should lose what they “contributed” as the price of breaking our laws.  What part of illegal alien does McCain not understand?  Then there’s this:

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, said it would be unfair to deny illegals the benefits.

“We should not steal their funds or empty their Social Security accounts,” he said. “That is not fair. It does not reward their hard work or their financial contributions. It violates the trust that underlies the Social Security Trust Fund.” … [No, they violated the LAW. And I doubt that any of the DemocRATS have changed their minds since.]

On Wednesday, senators narrowly approved an amendment to require a foreign worker to have a job lined up in the United States before applying for a green card. The purpose, supporters say, is to ensure that the job market isn’t flooded with foreign workers. Also, it prevents foreign workers from coming to the United States only to wind up unemployed and dependent on public assistance.

But yesterday, the Senate essentially gutted that amendment by allowing foreign workers to apply for permanent residency without having a job lined up.

“What that means is that up to 200,000 unskilled workers a year would become eligible for a green card, regardless of economic conditions, regardless of whether that worker has been actually employed for four years, and most importantly, regardless of whether there are unemployed U.S. workers available to fill those jobs,” said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican.”

This would be welcome news (NOT) to all the hard-working soon-t0-be CITIZEN retirees who face cuts to their Social Security benefits because Congress has seen fit to STEAL their “nest eggs”, leaving behind IOUs that they cannot or will not honor.  Where will AARP come down on this debate?