She Should Run for President in 2012!

By Katie Cobb

Published June 12, 2010| FOXNews.com

Only nine months ago, politically speaking, Jan Brewer had flatlined; the Arizona governor's approval rating was at 22 percent. And as recently as three months ago, a Rasmussen poll of likely voters showed her trailing her likely opponent, state Attorney General Terry Goddard, by nearly 10 points in the runup to November's gubernatorial election.

But voters in the Grand Canyon State have been singing a different tune since April, when Brewer signed SB1070  --  the state immigration law that has become the focus of a national controversy.

Since then, Brewer's approval ratings have skyrocketed, catapulting her to the top of the polls in the gubernatorial race and launching what may be the biggest political comeback of the year in the U.S.

Just one month after signing the law, Brewer had taken a 13-point lead over Goddard, with 52 percent of likely voters backing her candidacy, according to Rasmussen Reports.

It's a remarkable turnaround for Brewer, who assumed office last year when Gov. Janet Napolitano resigned to become President Obama's secretary of homeland security. Brewer has pulled far ahead in Arizona's Aug. 24 Republican primary race, and she has emerged virtually overnight as a national figure in the debate over border security and illegal immigration.

Matt Roberts, communications director at Arizona Republican Party headquarters in Phoenix, says Brewer's comeback is all the more impressive considering how far behind she was when she took office.

"Our former governor really left our current governor in a bad spot," Roberts said. "The voters hold elected officials accountable, and maybe her polling figures that have gone up are due to the fact that things are going better."

In a second legislative victory last month, Brewer rallied voters to pass a temporary sales-tax increase to help combat the state's budget crisis. She also delighted conservatives earlier this spring when she circumvented Goddard's office in filing a lawsuit that challenges the president's health care law.

But the signature issue in Brewer's surge is Arizona's immigration law, which makes it illegal to be an undocumented immigrant in the state and empowers law enforcement officials to question people they suspect are illegal immigrants about their status. Seventy-one percent of voters in the state support the law, and 63 percent say immigration is "very important" in determining how they will vote. Goddard has said he opposes the law, and Brewer has now hired outside counsel to defend her and the state against impending lawsuits.

Congrats to the US Soccer Team!

June 12, 2010 5:31 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- A disastrous blunder by England goalkeeper Robert Green cost his side victory as they drew 1-1 with the United States in their Group C opener in Rustenburg on Saturday night.


England were leading 1-0 through a fourth minute Steven Gerrard goal approaching halftime when Clint Dempsey sent in a weak shot from just outside the penalty area.

Maradona's Argentina beat Nigeria
It appeared to be a routine save for Green but astonishingly he let the ball slip through his grasp and despite a despairing dive saw it trickle into the net.

England captain Gerrard gave his side a dream start after he latched on to a neat pass from Emile Heskey to beat Tim Howard in the U.S. goal with ease.

Fabio Capello's men were holding onto their lead comfortably enough, aside from a scare when Jozy Altidore connected with a Landon Donovan cross to send his header wide, until the fortunate 40th minute equalizer.

The idea tonight was to win the game, but unfortunately we have let a poor goal in and we couldn't go on and get the winner

The second half saw England press for the winner and Heskey was sent clear by Aaron Lennon but shot straight at Howard.

Wayne Rooney also sent a shot narrowly wide and cleverly set up substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips for a chance from the left side of the penalty area which he sent straight at Howard.

But English hearts were in their mouths as Altidore outpaced Jamie Carragher, who came on for the injured Ledley King at halftime, and bore down on goal.

This time Green came to the rescue, parrying his effort against the post to partially redeem himself for an error which will live long in the memory.

There was no masking the disappointment in the England camp at the final whistle.

So the Census scam is real!

Census Hiring Bolsters U.S. Payrolls

 

By LUCA DI LEO -- WSJ

JUNE 4, 2010, 2:32 P.M. ET

 

The U.S. economy added jobs in May at the fastest pace in a decade, but the gains were inflated by temporary government hiring for the 2010 census and weren't enough to bring unemployment down much.

The U.S. Labor Department said in its closely-watched jobs report Friday that nonfarm payrolls rose by 431,000 last month, the largest gain since March 2000. That followed an unrevised 290,000 increase in April.

The U.S. economy added 431,000 jobs in May, nearly all from census hiring. The private sector added only 41,000 jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 9.7%. Phil Izzo, Sudeep Reddy, Dennis Berman and Evan Newmark discuss. And Jon Friedman looks at ways to save Newsweek, the venerable news weekly.

Economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires were expecting payrolls to rise by an even higher 515,000.
Taking into account revisions to prior months, the U.S. economy added an average of nearly 200,000 jobs a month in the January-May period, a positive sign for the labor market as it recovers from the worst recession since the 1930s.

However, the May figure was boosted by the hiring of 411,000 temporary workers for the census. Only 41,000 private-sector jobs were added.

In a sobering reminder the labor market will take a long time to heal, the unemployment rate, which is calculated using a separate household survey, fell only moderately, to 9.7% in May from 9.9% the previous month. Economists were expecting it to drop to that level.

Analysts were disappointed by the low level of jobs created in the private sector, the worst figure since January and well below the median projection of 188,000.

"These new data do not present a picture of a healthy private-sector growth and nothing closely resembling the job growth needed to dig us out of our very deep hole," said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, an independent think tank.

The jobs report shouldn't change the Federal Reserve's view that short-term interest rates must remain at a record low for at least a few more months to support the recovery. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday said he was still concerned about the persistently high jobless rate.

Following the most severe recession that most Americans can remember, there are still around 15 million people who would like a job but can't get one. Even though the economy started to grow again almost a year ago, companies have until recently been reluctant to ramp up hiring as they waited for more evidence of a stronger economy and focused on producing more with fewer workers.

 

Did she cave in from meeting Obama?

White House Talk Lightens Tone of Dispute on Immigration Law

By HELENE COOPER

Published: June 3, 2010

After the two met at the White House, at Ms. Brewer’s request, she emerged to announce that she and the president would “work together to try to find a solution” on the immigration issue, including the dispute over Arizona’s new statute.

As a first step, officials said, the White House will send staff members to Arizona.

The Arizona law requires the police to determine the immigration status of those suspected of being in the country without proper documentation. Some critics have likened it to racial profiling. Mr. Obama has called the measure misguided, and he has asked the Justice Department to monitor enforcement of the law for possible violations of civil rights.

Ms. Brewer said she felt more optimistic after the meeting, adding that Mr. Obama had promised her that most of the 1,200 National Guard troops he is sending to the border with Mexico would be deployed to Arizona.

“I’m encouraged that there’s going to be much better dialogue between the government and Arizona,” Ms. Brewer said after the meeting. “I hope that’s not wishful thinking.”

She said that the president did not elaborate on his threat to file a lawsuit against the Arizona law, instead telling her that the matter was in the hands of the Justice Department.

Ms. Brewer said she would not make any commitment to support an overhaul of immigration law until the border was secured.

 

 

Illegal Immigrant Crime Spree.

June 1, 2010 - 11:32 AM | by: Dan Springer

One woman is dead and two others were raped recently and police say each crime was committed by a different illegal immigrant. One of the sexual assaults happened just hours before the Seattle city council passed an ordinance boycotting Arizona over its new immigration law.

Gregorio Luna Luna had a history of beating up his live-in girlfriend Griselda Ocampo Meza. He was also in the U.S. illegally. On May 1, Luna Luna was deported to Mexico. Three weeks later Meza was murdered in her apartment in a violent knife attack.

Franklin County prosecutors say Luna Luna slipped past the border again and killed Meza in front of their five year old son.  He's in the county jail awaiting trial.

A suspected rapist in Edmonds, Washington has been deported at least 4 times according to Snohomish County prosecutors. Jose Lopez Madrigal has been charged with raping a woman next to a dumpster behind a Safeway store. A witness to the attack alerted police and Madrigal was taken into custody.

An illegal immigrant just convicted of his possible 3rd strike in Whatcom county- a rape of a homeless woman- has been deported to Mexico five times.

Washington State ranks 11th in the nation in the number of illegal immigrants with an estimated 150,000. They make up 2% of the state's population, but account for 4.5% of those in Washington prisons. In Franklin county, 14% of the jail bookings are illegal immigrants.

Currently, over half of the individuals on the Washington State Patrol's Most Wanted List are suspected illegal immigrants. 18 of the 26 on the list are Hispanic with no place of birth identified. Most are wanted for vehicular homicide and they have languished on the Most Wanted list for several years.

There are about 50,000 felony warrants currently issued in Washington State and according to a source in the U.S. Marshall's office between 30-40 percent are believed to be illegal immigrants.

We asked the State Patrol about the immigration status of the most wanted suspects and they told us they didn't know. Officials say that information is not important in trying to locate the individuals.

The U.S. Marshall's Service disagrees. Leaders of the region's fugitive task force say knowing immigration status can be very important to an investigation. In fact, the Marshall's have an office in Mexico to help with cross-border cases.

Last week, the city of Tacoma joined Seattle in admonishing Arizona for its immigration law. While the council did not go so far as passing a boycott, the ordinance does criticize Arizona for its stand against illegal immigration.