March 20, 2007 | By Nathaniel Ward

“Our borders are broken”

Heritage Foundation national security expert James Carafano recently traveled to the southern border on a five-day visit to assess the situation there and gain new insights into securing the frontier.

“Our borders are broken,” he explains in a new video. Drug smugglers and other criminals mix in with hundreds of thousands of would-be job seekers crossing the border each year, creating a lawless situation.

Carafano proposes that America:

• Step up security to control the borders
• Increase workplace enforcement, to remove incentives to come illegally
• Create legal opportunities for those who obey the law
• Reject amnesty—those who are here illegally “should not benefit” from America’s immigration reforms

Above all, Carafano insists in the article he wrote about his border trip, the United States must adopt a “dynamic” defense that can adapt to changing tactics by lawbreakers. “Active interdiction and investigative operations that target smugglers and smuggling routes show a lot more promise” than a simple static defense.

The importance of family

Traditional family structure is linked not only with reduced poverty and improved well-being, but also with reduced levels of domestic violence. This last is the conclusion of the latest important report summarizing social science research from Heritage’s FamilyFacts.org.

The latest FamilyFacts.org Top Ten outlines the correlation between domestic violence and family breakdown.

Click here to read the whole list.

Liberals waste taxpayer money in anti-war push

President Bush recently asked Congress for $103 billion in additional funding for the vital American missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the liberal Congress—many of whose members campaigned on promises of fiscal restraint—have tacked on an extra $21 billion in wasteful spending.

This is really an “accounting gimmick” to “hide the spending from budget documents, but taxpayers will still be on the hook for it on April 15,” Heritage’s Brian Riedl explains. This spending, he continues, includes a number of items that almost certainly don’t belong in regular spending bills, let alone an emergency bill of this sort.

Click here to read about the egregious waste, including a pay hike for Congressmen, and a threat to the president’s constitutional powers.

Ted Kennedy snubs Fox News chief

Two weeks ago, Roger Ailes, president of the Fox News Channel, attended a dinner hosted by the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation, where he was to be awarded the group’s First Amendment Leadership Award.

“But before he could utter a word,” Heritage’s Rebecca Hagelin reports, “Sen. Ted Kennedy rose from a table in the front of the room and exited. His silent, rude snub was plainly intended to send the honoree a message: Your work and values are invalid. I’m taking my toys and going home!”

What could have prompted Sen. Kennedy to march out like this? Click here for Hagelin’s theory.

In other news

• The White House has said a bill to grant the District of Columbia a vote in Congress is unconstitutional. The Constitution maintains that “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states.” The nation’s capital is not a state.
• Russian technicians have reportedly stopped work at the Iranian nuclear power plant they helped build because of payment delays.
• In a rejection of long-standing politically-correct policy, British schools may soon have the authority to ban schoolgirls from wearing Islamic head coverings.
• Former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan was hanged early this morning. He is the latest of several officials from Saddam Hussein’s toppled regime to face death sentences for their crimes.
• Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who has in the past favored amnesty for those who broke the law to enter the country unlawfully, told The New York Times that “he was open to legislation that would require people who came to the United States illegally to return home before applying for citizenship.”
• A film is in the works about Prime Minister Thatcher’s leadership during the Falklands War.
• Columnist Michael Barone takes a look at liberal distortions of history and how they fuel anti-Americanism. “Yes, there are faults in our past,” he writes. “But Americans and the English-speaking peoples have been far more often the lifters of oppression than the oppressors.”

Coming up at Heritage

To attend these or any other Heritage Foundation events, RSVP at Heritage’s events website. Or you can watch these events live online at Heritage.org.  All times are Eastern.

• On Thursday, March 22 at 10:00 am, Dr. Irwin Jacobs the founder and chairman of Qualcomm, will discuss Congress’ proposals to reform patents—and thereby strip innovators of property rights to their inventions.
• On Tuesday, March 27 at noon, Heritage hosts a panel including representatives from SAT-7, a satellite channel bringing a Christian message to the Middle East.

Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.

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