Rebels with a cause

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Even as the president announces how he proposes to pay for a new spending bill and cut the deficit at the same time (hint: creative accounting that would get him arrested & sued if the United States were a publicly traded company) the very same federal government is not paying its due bills.

And it's about time too.

Yep. I am not kidding.

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/12/140407306/cook-county-ill-bucks-immigration-enforcement

For a long time county and state jails and prisons have held illegal immigrants at the request of federal authorities. The federal authorities have also not paid for housing these inmates, which means the local taxpayers are picking up the tab.

Cook County, Ill - Chicago - has said enough.

"The ordinance requires the jail to free inmates wanted by ICE unless the federal government agrees in advance to pay for the extended confinement — something federal officials say they don't do."

The Revolution will result in bloodshed.

Amen and God bless 'em! It's about time someone stood up. But this ain't gonna be pleasant.

I have LONG believed that people and governments should pay their bills.

If federal authorities want inmates held, then federal authorities should pick up the tab.

Before you say these are illegal immigrants and should be left locked up, I give you this quote from the story "County board commissioners who voted for the measure bring up issues beyond the cost. They say holding inmates for ICE violates due-process rights and erodes community trust in local police."

Furthermore, ever heard of something called "Innocent until proven guilty?"

So how should these people be treated? Does the Constitution cover them?

Let's not go there right now.

What if someone is arrested, and is here legally, but just doesn't speak English and so has to sit in jail past the legal hold time until a translator is found? What if the person simply refuses to answer questions - a legal right under the Constitution's 5th Amendment?

As for the issue of eroding trust in the local police, no comment.

The real issue here is who has the rights.

The history of this nation is pretty well split down the middle on that one, except on the really big ones.

Where the really big questions of rights is concerned, the historical record is clear - the federal government takes the rights away from everyone else - state, local government and individual. Sometimes this is done legislatively, sometimes judicially and all too often with an application of plumbum.

Remember the last time a group of people in this nation really stood up to the federal government? People died. Pick a time, an incident, a person, a movement - Randy Weaver, David Koresh, the Civil Rights movement and, of course, the War of Northern Aggression.

I ain't saying that folks in the Windy City are going to be cut down in a hail of flying lead delivered by the jack-booted Gestapo thugs.

I am saying that when the federal bureaucracy is challenged, those in power do not much tolerate those challenges.

Chicago is walking on some dangerous ground by standing up and telling federal boys to do what's right. Considering it is a Damnocrat stronghold, this is even more surprising.

Regardless, I'm glad to see someone standing up and demanding accountability from the federal government.