Theodore's World

RE: Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell
NRO
by W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Smith is a contributing editor for NavySEALs.com. A former U.S. Marine rifle squad leader, parachutist, and shipboard counterterrorism instructor, Smith writes about military/defense issues and has covered conflict in the Balkans, the West Bank, and Iraq.

The interview further down is from NRO and Smith is the interviewer.

Marcus Luttrell and his three buddies had to make an impossible decision. Afghani goat herders disrupted their secret mission to track a Taliban leader. Killing them would be a violation of the ROE (Rules of Engagement). Holding them would reveal their position. Letting them go would likely bring the Taliban upon them.

Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of Operation Redwing, and the desperate battle in the mountains that led, ultimately, to the largest loss of life in Navy SEAL history. But it is also, more than anything, the story of his teammates, who fought ferociously beside him until he was the last one left-blasted unconscious by a rocket grenade, blown over a cliff, but still armed and still breathing. Over the next four days, badly injured and presumed dead, Luttrell fought off six al Qaeda assassins who were sent to finish him, then crawled for seven miles through the mountains before he was taken in by a Pashtun tribe, who risked everything to protect him from the encircling Taliban killers.

A six-foot-five-inch Texan, Leading Petty Officer Luttrell takes us, blow-by-blow, through the brutal training of America’s warrior elite and the relentless rites of passage required by the Navy SEALs. He transports us to a monstrous battle fought in the desolate peaks of Afghanistan, where the beleaguered American team plummeted headlong a thousand feet down a mountain as they fought back through flying shale and rocks. In this rich , moving chronicle of courage, honor, and patriotism, Marcus Luttrell delivers one of the most powerful narratives ever written about modern warfare-and a tribute to his teammates, who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Luttrell, who’s riveting new book ‘Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10’ is fast top seller, talks to Breitbart.tv in front of the U.S. Capitol about courage, the consequence of decisions, and the meaning of his Navy Cross.

If you don’t have trust in us as a military, as a fighting force, as special forces; then I don’t understand why you would send us over there.
I use the analogy — and I’m not trying to insult anybody — but an interviewer asked me that same question; and I was like, ‘Look, how long have you been married?’
He was like, ‘ten years.’
I was like, ‘Do I come into your bedroom and tell you how to make love to your wife? No I don’t. Alright? I assume you know how to do it.’
I’ve been doing this [being a special operations warfighter] for a long time. So have the generals and the admirals and the colonels who tell me how to fight. So I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t come onto our battlefield and tell us how to win this war.
We know how to do it. It’s our job.
If you’re a politician, you deal with politics.
I’m a soldier. I deal with war.

Wild Thing’s comment…………
I agree let the soldier deal with war and stop messing with our troops missions, their minds and their morale.

GOP challenges Bush on immigration reform
latimes
House Republicans, in opposition to Senate bill, also detail ways they think U.S. has failed on border and law enforcement. With no chance of passage, the measure underlines the party’s split.
WASHINGTON
In a sharp rebuke to President Bush, House Republicans unveiled legislation Tuesday that would bar illegal immigrants from gaining legal status in the U.S., require tamper-proof birth certificates for Americans and make English the nation’s official language.
The measure’s core principles include gaining control of the border and enforcing existing immigration laws. It does not provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, as the Bush plan does.
The House bill stands virtually no chance of becoming law, or even advancing, in the Democratic-controlled Congress. Still, it casts in bold relief the split between Bush and many fellow Republicans in the immigration debate.
The bill surfaced one day after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), working with the White House, resurrected efforts to pass the broader legislation Bush wants.
The authors of the House bill also are pushing for a congressional resolution detailing ways in which they think the federal government has failed to enforce immigration law and has made it easier for illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S.

“The current illegal immigration crisis is a direct result of this and previous administrations failing to enforce or adequately enforce at least eight immigration laws,” the resolution said.

The bill’s authors, Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), said it was meant to challenge the immigration bill the Senate planned to return to this week.

That measure, King said, goes “against the wishes of the American people.”

In another sign of GOP restiveness over immigration, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) introduced a resolution Tuesday calling on Bush to enforce existing immigration laws in order to halt “the lawlessness at our borders.”

Sessions has been a vocal critic of the Bush approach to revamping immigration laws. The president, however, travels to Alabama this week to headline a fundraiser for the senator.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel rejected the criticism that the administration has been lax in border enforcement. As one example, he cited a sharp rise in funding under Bush for stricter border control.
In 2001, enforcement funding totaled $4.6 billion; that has increased significantly. In his latest budget request, Bush is seeking $11.8 billion.
Stanzel also noted that the Senate bill included border security goals that would have to be achieved before other aspects of the overhaul could proceed.
Reid wants the Senate to decide the fate of the immigration bill one way or the other before Congress breaks for its July 4 recess. But even if the measure passes the chamber, it faces an uncertain fate in the House.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) has told administration officials that she will not take up the bill unless about 70 Republicans are brought on board to help pass it.
The bill unveiled Tuesday is the equivalent of a warning flag that conservatives intend to fight for those Republican votes.

“It seems a formal way of putting proponents on notice that there will be resistance from those quarters in the House,” said Roberto Suro, director of the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center.

He added that the number of cosponsors the bill attracted could act as “an indication of how many votes there are to oppose something that resembles the Senate bill or … includes the legalization program.”

The measure would require that 18,000 border patrol agents be deployed by Dec. 31, 2008. Currently, the force totals about 12,000.
It would also require the full implementation of US-VISIT, a program that is meant to track entries and exits at all ports of entry but that has fallen short of that goal.
U.S. citizens would be affected by many of the changes proposed for work site enforcement, including mandatory checks of all employees’ eligibility and a nationwide electronic system for tracking birth and death records.

Smith, one of the bill’s authors, said it would allow for greater information-sharing among the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration and the Department of the Treasury to identify illegal immigrants.

Wild Thing’s comment………
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel rejected the criticism that the administration has been lax in border enforcement. As one example, he cited a sharp rise in funding under Bush for stricter border control.
Hey, Scotty-boy, you’re really gonna have to do better than that. We’re onto your pathetic Clintonistic snow jobs regarding your “efforts”.
When a sitting President will not listen to the voice of the people, and continually goes out and pushes a proposal that would reward criminal behavior, flood our social services, and create a voting block dedicated to reacquiring large areas of our country, that is not securing our borders and enforcing our current laws the security……….then why are we sending our troops into danger to fight the enemy on foreign lands when the President demands to let them in unfettered through our open borders.
Every politician needs to remember the preamble to the Constitution starts We the People Not We the elected few. Don’t insult us with your pathetic justifications of absolute and willing failure. You’re out of your league when it comes to explaining your slick little shenanigans to the conservative blogosphere.

The muslim brotherhood motto:

“Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.

Bush Weighs Reaching Out To ‘Brothers’
New York Sun
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is quietly weighing the prospect of reaching out to the party that founded modern political Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood.
Still in its early stages and below the radar, the current American deliberations and diplomacy with the organization, known in Arabic as Ikhwan, take on new significance in light of Hamas’s successful coup in Gaza last week. The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is widely reported to have helped create Hamas in 1982.
Today the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research will host a meeting with other representatives of the intelligence community to discuss opening more formal channels to the brothers. Earlier this year, the National Intelligence Council received a paper it had commissioned on the history of the Muslim Brotherhood by a scholar at the Nixon Center, Robert Leiken, who is invited to the State Department meeting today to present the case for engagement.
On April 7, congressional leaders such as Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the Democratic whip, attended a reception where some representatives of the brothers were present. The reception was hosted at the residence in Cairo of the American ambassador to Egypt, Francis Ricciardone, a decision that indicates a change in policy.
Should Mr. Bush ask his diplomats to forge new channels to the Muslim Brotherhood it would also be a recognition of the gains their parties have made in elections in the last three years.
Nonetheless, administration officials this week also stressed that no decisions have been made as to a new initiative. One leading European Islamist, Tariq Ramadan, who is the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, is being denied a visa to assume a professorship he has been offered at Notre Dame University. The policy debate inside the administration is also contentious, with law enforcement agencies such as the FBI skeptical that the Muslim Brotherhood is not clandestinely more involved in supporting violent jihad than the organization’s emissaries let on.
Arguing against a new policy on the brothers today will be a Hudson Institute expert on Islam, Hillel Fradkin. Mr. Fradkin declined to comment on his presentation ahead of the meeting. A colleague of his at the institute who has also taken a skeptical view of the brothers, Zeyno Baran, did say she was worried about a new direction by the Bush administration.

“The thinking is that to deal with terrorism, we need to deal with Muslims who will take care of their communities so there will not be people here and there doing terrorism,” she said.

“So we treat the brotherhood like an umbrella organization, like the Council on American Islamic Relations or the Islamic Society of North America. You make them partners. They might Islamize the Muslims, but it’s okay because they can think or do what they want as long as they are not violent. That is the misunderstanding and mistake.”

Wild Thing’s comment………..

So, he’s reaching out to Ted Kennedy, illegal aliens, and the Muslim Brotherhood. Wonder when he will “reach out” to his base?
The Al Qaeda is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. You cannot reach out to these people, for one thing if you do reach out to them you will only appear to be weak. That might be one true thing we can agree on with the Muslim Brotherhood, I can agree with that. Reaching out to them IS weak and simply aid’s them in their agenda.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been active in the US since the 1960s. Its goals have included propagating Islam and creating havens for Muslims in the US, and integrating Muslims The Muslim Brotherhood is reportedly behind all the sharia nonsense in Minnesota lately with the cab drivers etc.
The architect of the Sept. 11 strikes, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, told U.S. interrogators that he was drawn to violent jihad after joining the Brotherhood in Kuwait at age 16 and attending its desert youth camps.
Muslim activists who know current and former Brotherhood sympathizers in this country say bitter opposition to Israel is a key part of Brotherhood beliefs. Law enforcement sources say hundreds of current and former members and supporters nationwide are under federal investigation for alleged financial support of Hamas and other Palestinian groups deemed terrorists by the U.S. government.
According to a transcript provided by the Investigative Project, a Washington terrorism research group. “Conquest through dawah, that is what we hope for,” said Qaradawi, an influential Qatari imam who pens some of the religious edicts justifying Hamas suicide bombings against Israeli civilians. “We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America, not through the sword but through dawah,” said the imam.
He named the Muslim Students Association (MSA) and has opened a headquarters complex built on former farmland in suburban Indianapolis. With 150 chapters, the MSA is one of the nation’s largest college groups.
Of course this is just a tiny part of the information on the Muslim Brotherhood. But to reach out to them knowing what we all know about them, how they are already in our country, their ultimate agenda to take over this country and the world…………. I just don’t understand why we can’t have a clean line drawn against our enemy and the enemy of the world.

Hillary and Bill Spoof the Soprano’s Ending on the Hillary Campaign Song
Hillary’s presidential campaign on Tuesday unveiled its new campaign song with a Web video that spoofs the final scene of the popular HBO mobster series.
The scene: A diner and a jukebox. A nostalgic song. A long fade to black. It worked as a finale for “The Sopranos.”
In the new Clinton clip, Hillary Clinton, like Tony Soprano, spins through the musical selections in a diner in Mt. Kisco, N.Y., near her home in Chappaqua.
Where’s Chelsea?” Sen. Clinton asks. Outside a car tire hits the curb. “Parallel parking,” President Clinton replies.
“How’s the campaign going?” he asks.
“Well, like you always say, focus on the good times.”
“So what’s the winning song,” he presses.
“You’ll see.”
“My money is on Smash Mouth,” he says. “Everybody in America wants to know how it’s going to end.”
“Ready?” Hillary asks.
The scene fades to black.
But, no, unlike the Sopranos, it’s not over. You can click to hear Dion’s song. A new page pops up. The most prominent word stands out against a red background:
“Contribute.”

Wild Thing’s comment……….
This is so weird, here we have America’s most criminal draft dodger EX President and his wife. The couple that brought us one criminal ‘GATE ‘ after the other, one dead body after the other in their rise to powe,r and to stay power. All the lives they destroyed in their trail to the White House and what do they decide to use for a commercial????
A copycat version from a hit TV Mafia series, the Soprano’s!

Here is my suggestion for a "donation"to the Hamas

Hamas: We’ll obtain emergency U.S. aid
After seizing American weapons in Gaza, ‘hopes’ more arms provided to West Bank
JAFFA, Israel – The Hamas terror group will obtain emergency aid the U.S. announced it will provide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah organization.

“Like the American weapons in Gaza we told you will come to Hamas, also the weapons and aid the Americans are giving to Abu Mazen (Abbas) as part of their conspiracy against us in the West Bank will find its way to the Palestinian resistance and Hamas,” said Abu Abdullah, a senior operational member in Gaza of Hamas’ Izzedine al-Qassam Martyrs Brigades, Hamas’ so-called “military wing.”

The terror leader, speaking from the Gaza Strip, said Hamas was “swimming” in American weapons it seized last week when it gained control of Fatah bases, including Fatah’s major Ansar complex – where American-provided weapons were delivered and stored – and Abbas’ presidential guard complex.
Abu Abdullah today was responding directly to an announcement yesterday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the U.S. will resume “full assistance to the Palestinian government,” lifting an economic and political embargo against the Palestinian government enacted after Hamas came to power in March 2006.

Rice said she will ask Congress to rework a previous $86 million aid package to Abbas that was lowered following concerns by some lawmakers that some of the money would end up financing terrorism. Congress in April only approved about $59 million of the aid package and stipulated the money cannot be used to purchase weapons. Rice intends to request Congress now grant the full $86 million.
Rice also said the U.S. would contribute an additional $40 million to the United Nations to help Palestinians, particularly in the Gaza Strip, which is now controlled by Hamas.

According to Palestinian and Israeli diplomatic sources, the bulk of the $86 million is slated to be used to fund Force 17, which serve as de facto police units in the West Bank and previously patrolled the Hamas-seized Gaza Strip.
Many members of Force 17 are also openly members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, which took responsibility together with Islamic Jihad for every suicide bombing in Israel the last two years.
Hamas’ Al Aqsa Television last week broadcast footage of Hamas gunmen brandishing American assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, rocket launchers and ammunition the U.S. reportedly provided to Fatah over the past few months. Hamas fighters also showed what they said were 10 American-provided armored personnel carriers the terror group said it seized from U.S.-backed Fatah security compounds it took over Tuesday.

Abu Abdullah last week commented, “We informed you many times we would obtain all American arms brought to Gaza.”
“We have no worries about running out of weapons or ammunition thanks to your American government,” said Abdullah.

Besides obtaining American weapons, terrorist groups, including Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees, claim they seized large quantities of CIA security files stored at major Fatah compounds. Terror leaders claimed the files contain, among other information, details of CIA networks in the Middle East.

“The CIA files we seized, which include documents, CDs, taped conversations and videos, are more important than all the American weapons we obtained the last two days as we took over the traitor Fatah’s positions,” said Muhammad Abdel-El, spokesman for the Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees terror group.

The Committees has been accused of carrying out anti-U.S. attacks, including a 2003 bombing of an American convoy in Gaza that killed three U.S. contractors.

Hamas’ Abu Abdullah said, “Now our job is to study these files, which are already showing that they are crucial for our fight against the Zionists and anyone who collaborates with them, including the Americans.”

Wild Thing’s comment…………
Good grief, STOP FUNDING Terrorists!

Mexico, U.S. to discuss health plan for migrants
MEXICO CITY
The health ministers of Mexico and the United States are to work out a joint strategy Tuesday for caring Mexican migrants suffering health problems along the border, the Mexican Health Ministry said on Monday.
The final plan will be sent to the U.S. Congress that is now in recess, the ministry said in a statement.
Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said he began talking about the health plan for migrants with his U.S. counterpart Michael Leavitt a few weeks ago in Geneva, Switzerland, at the World Health Organization headquarters.

“The plan would guarantee basic medical help for thousands of future migrants as they cross the border,” Cordova said.

According to statistics from Mexican and U.S. governments, around 500,000 people enter the United States illegally via its border with Mexico each year.
Mexican illegal migrants reach the U.S. border in a variety of ways, many of them dangerous, such as crossing the Texas desert in harsh climatic conditions and risking the attack of poisonous animals, or being hidden in secret compartments inside vehicles facing the risking of suffocation.

Cordova said the health plan would apply to migrants suffering from serious injuries or chronic diseases, who, in that condition, would be repatriated and receive treatment via the Seguro Popular (People’s Health Insurance) in hospitals on the border.

Wild Thing’s comment……….
Yeah, “undocumented Americans” were getting claustrophobic in the tunnels, and wet crossing the Rio Grande. Anyone willing to guess what is next? A bridge across the border?

Illegals light border fires to sidetrack U.S. agents
washington times ….for complete article
U.S. Border Patrol agents seeking to secure the nation’s border in some of the country’s most pristine national forests are being targeted by illegal aliens, who are using intentionally set fires to burn agents out of observation posts and patrol routes.
The wildfires also have resulted in the destruction of valuable natural and cultural resources in the National Forest System and pose an ongoing threat to visitors, residents and responding firefighters, according to federal law enforcement authorities and others.
In the Coronado National Forest in Arizona, with 60 miles of land along the U.S.-Mexico border, U.S. Forest Service firefighters sent in to battle fires or clear wild land fire areas are required to be escorted by armed law enforcement officers.
Armed smugglers of aliens and drugs have walked through the middle of active firefighting operations, the authorities said.
The Border Patrol’s Tucson, Ariz., sector, which encompasses most of the Coronado National Forest, has the highest incidence of cross-border violators in the nation.
Nearly 500,000 illegal aliens were apprehended last year — more than 30,000 a month. In addition, nearly 100,000 pounds of marijuana, with a street value of $200 million, was seized as it was hauled through the Coronado National Forest.
Wildfires are being set by alien and drug smugglers, authorities said, to create a diversion in an attempt to gain undetected access across the border. The fires correspond to a dramatic rise in assaults against Border Patrol agents — up more than 100 percent over last year.

Wild Thing’s comment………..
They know that if the Border Agents do their job, they’ll end up in jail. Bring in a couple helicopter gunships and lets see who starts the fires next time.

Kennedy: Immigration Reform Critical to National Security
fox boston
U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy said Monday that failing to pass immigration reforms would push illegal immigrants into isolation and create breeding grounds for homegrown terrorists.

Kennedy pointed to several European countries where he said alienation and immigration problems has led to terrorist acts. “Just look what happened in Great Britain, with the isolation of the communities,” Kennedy said at a meeting of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. “Look what has happened in France. Look what has happened in Germany. Look where the cells are in terms of al-Qaida. They’re all in different communities, which failed to assimilate individuals.”

The Massachusetts Democrat is a leading proponent, along with President Bush, of legislation that would grant millions of illegal immigrants lawful status, while tightening border security and creating new measures for weeding illegal workers off of job sites. The legislation has stalled in Congress amid criticism — especially from conservatives — that it gives lawbreakers amnesty.
But Kennedy said passing such legislation was critical to the country’s national security, among other arguments.

“Why is it that virtually no Muslims in India are members of al-Qaida. Has anybody asked that question?,” Kennedy asked. “It’s because they all feel they’re included.”

Wild Thing’s comment………..
“Why is it that virtually no Muslims in India are members of al-Qaida. Has anybody asked that question?,” Kennedy asked. “It’s because they all feel they’re included.”
This guy is oblivious to reality. Islamic violence is widespread in India. Has he ever heard of Kashmir? And um Ted please DO try to keep up!!!!
Al-Qaida declares holy war on India
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2007/06/09/al_qaida_declares_holy_war_on_india/
And then there is France and of course thats why the French are not eager to add more imigrants. Belly up to the bar again, Swimmer. This is the funniest phony claim yet coming out about this bill.

Rushdie Suicide Bomber Attack Threat
sky news
A Pakistani minister says Muslims would be right to carry out suicide attacks over author Salman Rushdie’s knighthood.

Religious Affairs Minister Mohammed Ijaz ul Haq told the country’s parliament: “The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism.”

“If someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so unless the British government apologises and withdraws the ‘Sir’ title.”

In Multan, effigies of the writer and the monarch have been burned by about 100 students carrying banners and chanting “Kill Him! Kill Him!”
Lawmakers in Islamabad have passed a resolution calling for the honour – given in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List – to be withdrawn.
Britain’s fist Muslim peer, Labour’s Lord Ahmed, said he was “appalled by the decision”.

“I am appalled that someone like Salman Rushdie, who has been very provocative and insulting to Muslims and Christians, has been knighted,” he told Sky News.

There are many other good British writers, such as JK Rowling, who makes a huge contribution to British society, who could have been knighted.

“It seems like a deliberately provocative action.”

The knighthood was also greeted with fury in Iran, which accused the UK of “anti-Islamism” by honouring the “detested” author.

Sir Selman caused outrage in the Islamic world with his book The Satanic Verses, in which he was accused of blaspheming the prophet Mohammed.
He was forced into hiding when an order to kill him – a fatwa – was issued and has only just returned to public life.
The fatwa was issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989.
Iranian government officials declared in 1998 that it would not support the order, but some say it is irrevocable.

Wild Thing’s comment…………
I see they are too cowardly to threaten the person responsible for knighting Rushdie. Good on her for doing it
“The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism.”
… And we’re going to kill innocent victims to prove them wrong!
Officials say the knighthood is an insult to the religious sentiments of Muslims.
Oh good grief what isn’t!
If the Queen is indeed sending a message, good for her!

Rare Tactic May Allow Immigration Votes
Washington Post …….. for complete article
WASHINGTON
Only in the arcane world of the U.S. Senate could a quirky gambit known as a “clay pigeon” make the difference between passage of an important immigration measure and its death at the hands of opponents.
Democratic leaders hope the complex maneuver _ which makes use of the Senate’s labyrinthine rules to insist on votes on amendments _ will frustrate conservatives’ attempts to derail the embattled immigration bill, instead putting it on a fast track to passage next week.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would revive the bill to legalize as many as 12 million unlawful immigrants late this week. To do so, though, he needs backing from 60 senators, and a way to guarantee votes on a tentative list of 22 Republican and Democratic amendments whose consideration is seen as vital to satisfying key waverers.
The tactic gets its name from the target used in skeet shooting, which explodes into bits as it is hit. In the Senate, an amendment is the target, and any one senator can demand that it be divided into separate fragments to be voted on piecemeal.
Under the tentative plan, Reid as early as Friday would launch his target _ an amendment encompassing all 22 proposals _ and shoot it into its component pieces. The Senate would then vote on ending debate on the immigration measure, which would take 60 votes and limit discussion of the bill to 30 more hours. After that interval, all 22 amendments would have to be voted on, with little opportunity for foes to interfere.
Ironically, the move is usually used by mavericks _ not leaders _ to slow down legislation, not free it from a procedural thicket.

It’s a brilliant way to gum up the works,” said Robert B. Dove, a Senate rules expert who was the chamber’s referee for 36 years.

The maneuver appears to be a relatively modern innovation; Dove said he first became aware of it in the early 1970s, when then-Sen. Jim Allen, D-Ala., a master of parliamentary procedures, used it against a bill pushed by the then- majority leader, Sen. Mike Mansfield, D-Mont.

“I remember people being dazzled when he did this,” Dove said.

Reid’s plan has its risks, chief among them further inflaming the vocal conservative opponents who have vowed to do whatever they can to kill the immigration measure.

Wesley Denton, a spokesman for Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., called the plan a “stunning” effort by Reid “to choke off debate and handpick amendments.” He threatened that Republicans would unleash the same tactic on the majority in the future.

“I’ve seen ideas like this really backfire. You pay a price for this kind of thing,” Dove said, noting that the Senate functions almost entirely on consensus. “It can be done _ I’ve seen it done _ but it’s a difficult maneuver.”

Wild Thing’s comment………
Notice how they use the word “Immigrant” instead of illegal. They’ve already done this without any hearings. Wrap your mind around that. No cost estimates, no testimony, no investigation, no staff work . . . just boom, here’s a bill, let’s pass it, only our nation at stake.