From the CIS article:

According to President Obama, the allegedly record-breaking deportation numbers released this week by ICE Director John Morton are “a little deceptive.” I agree. They give the impression that this administration is enforcing the law more than, say, the previous administration. But other ICE numbers suggest that immigration enforcement is declining, not increasing.

via Obama: Deportation Numbers ‘Actually a Little Deceptive’ | Center for Immigration Studies.

A provision from last summer’s financial regulation bill promoted by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) capped the fees that banks can charge retailers when customers pay with debit cards. The new rule goes into effect on Saturday.

Until the voters can address, in 2012, the economic disaster which has been the Obama administration and Democrat majority rule, we will have to find our own way to lower the cost of living, and banking, in particular.

My family has used ING Direct, an online bank, for several years with unparalleled success. ING offers a wide range of services, from checking to savings to home loans and retirement accounts. The “Electric Orange” checking account has no monthly fee, no debit card fee and actually pays interest on the balance. Transferring money between the checking account and savings accounts is quick and easy, and can even be automated. The debit card can be used at tens of thousands of ATMs nationwide.

Great Customer Service

Our single experience with customer service came when my sweetheart lost her debit card while shopping. A store employee picked it up, used it at two locations, then returned it to the “lost and found.” We called ING after discovering that the card was lost and that the fraudulent transactions were pending (via the free mobile app). After a quick phone call (also via the app) and within a few days, the stolen funds were restored to our account.

Greater Convenience

Two issues had prevented me from moving entirely to an online bank in the past– the lack of paper checks for those rare occasions in which one is needed (we pay almost everything online) and the difficulty in depositing checks and cash (also a rare occurrence). ING now offers paper checks and is working on a process whereby paper deposits will be processed digitally. We just stick cash in the vacation fund coffee can.

I am not a Bank of America customer but my bank, Suntrust, recently notified me that the free personal account that I had maintained for greater convenience for 15 years will soon be subject to a $7 monthly fee… at least, it would be if I kept it, which I will not. I have no doubt that my free checking has met its demise at the hands of federal over-regulation.

How to Switch

To open an ING Direct account, you must have an existing “brick and mortar” checking account from which to transfer funds initially. Contact me and I’ll send you a referral. Open the ING account, link your existing BoA, Suntrust or other account, and transfer a small amount to get started. Order a book of checks, open a couple of savings accounts (incidentally, ING will soon offer a student account with debit card) and begin the process of redirecting any automatic deposits. As soon as you receive your debit card and/or checks, transfer the balance from the old account.

Finally, enjoy closing the “brick and mortar” account before any fees kick in. Oh… and vote in 2012. Choose freedom.

• The Atlantic: Did Congress Kill the Debit Card?

“We are not talking about a national ID card. We are not talking about a government-controlled system. What we are talking about is enhancing online security and privacy, and reducing and perhaps even eliminating the need to memorize a dozen passwords, through creation and use of more trusted digital identities,” Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said at an event Friday at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, according to CNET.com.

It is a very short step from freedom to “identify,” then an even shorter one to “control.” We are fools if we don’t understand that the President who will take the first step will, without hesitation, take the next.

Obama Administration Reportedly Plans to Create Internet ID for All Americans – FoxNews.com

The U.S. has a progressive income tax system. That means that lower-income taxpayers pay a lower percentage of their income than do higher-income taxpayers. Those with income up to $100,000 might pay 15% of their income; those with income from $100,001 to $250,000 might pay 28%; and those with income over $250,000 pay 35%. Those reporting under $30,000 might not pay any tax at all (not the correct rates and income brackets… just for illustration).

Early in his term, President Bush and the Congress voted to reduce the tax percentage rates from those of a previous administration. Taxpayers from top to bottom have paid a lower income tax rate for about 10 years. That the Bush administration changed the income tax rates was not unusual; income tax rates have moved up and down numerous times for various reasons under both Democrat and Republican Presidents.

To secure the votes required to pass the tax rate reduction, the Bush administration agreed to a time limit; the rates would remain at the lower level for a specific time period, subject to renewal. The law establishing the lower rates is set to expire at the end of this year. Unless an agreement is reached, the tax rates will return to the levels at which they were prior to the reduction.

(Incidentally, the “Bush tax cuts” are not the only tax benefits expiring on December 31. Unless extended, the so-called “death tax” (a tax on the value of your estate at your death) will return to the prior level of 55% from the current 0%.)

You should now understand that many of the arguments by the Democrats against extending the tax rates are not valid at all. In fact, some rise to the level of outright deception:

1. Extending the current tax rates is not a “tax cut for the rich.” It is not “giving more money to millionaires.” It is simply extending the current tax rates– for everybody– for longer than the 10 years that they have been in place.
2. Extending the current tax rates does not “give more money to the millionaires.” It allows them to keep more of what they have earned. There’s a difference.
3. There is no definitive, permanent, “official” or even optimal tax rate. For that reason alone, extending the current rates cannot be called a “cut.”
4. Failing to extend the rates will result in a tax increase; an individual earning $47,000 will see his income tax increase in 2011 by $2,600.
5. Regardless of whether or not the current tax rates are extended, those with a higher income will continue to pay a higher tax rate than do those earning less. As long as we have a progressive tax system, “the rich” will always pay more (for the same services… unless you include tax credits, welfare and other entitlements. Then “the rich” pay more for less return from the government!).
6. Republicans want to do nothing more at this moment than maintain the status quo. Democrats want to raise the tax rate for one segment of the population, if not for all.
7. Extending the current tax rates will not “cost” the government $700 billion. There is no definitive or “official” tax revenue level. The government does not have a right to your money.  It is not first the government’s to “spend,” so there cannot be a “cost.”  Finally, if the tax rates are extended, the government will not receive any less tax revenue than it has in the previous ten years (as a result of the extension).
8. Extending the current tax rates will not “add $700 billion to the deficit.” As just noted, extending the current rates will not result in any less income tax revenue to the government than was received last year or in any year of the previous decade.

Campo-Duartes, who was employed as a plumber, spent just over two years awaiting trial in jail, then was allowed to plead to lesser charges and was released immediately on “time served.” A condition of his release was that he “voluntarily” deport himself, but Campos-Duartes is back in jail today, having been arrested—for at least the third time since his incarceration—for driving without a license and disorderly conduct.

Judging by the headlines, Celso Campo-Duartes will never be deported… you and I will continue to pay his “room and board” or, more likely, he will be back out on the streets.

Last year, after one of his traffic arrests, an immigration hold was placed on Campo-Duartes, meaning that he had been tagged for deportation. Although the arrest pre-dated the county’s enrollment in the 287(g) program, the jail had numerous ICE agents stationed there on a full-time basis at the time. Despite the federal involvement, Campo-Duartes was released after only eight days in jail.

This time, Sheriff Conway has decided to process Campos-Duartes through the once effective 287(g) program. In the past, the illegal alien would be in the custody of ICE and back across the border in a couple of weeks. However, one of the first immigration-related acts of the Obama administration and DHS head Janet Napolitano was to revamp the program, significantly reducing the number of aliens who qualify for deportation.

Today, ICE is focused on “criminal aliens;” illegal aliens who have been convicted of serious, often violent crimes. The federal government is no interested in aliens arrested for minor crimes. Because Celso Campo-Duartes has nothing but traffic offenses on his criminal record; he will not qualify for deportation under the new guidelines, despite the fact that he contributed to a legal citizen’s death just five years ago.

Sheriff Conway touts the alleged effectiveness of the 287(g) program, primarily because it gives him 18 more deputies and millions with which to pay them. Conway says that Campo-Duartes proves the need for the program in Gwinnett, but his positive assessment of the program’s effectiveness isn’t grounded in reality.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief John Morton, an Obama appointee, has already implemented a “catch and release” policy… ICE currently accepts removable aliens from local jails, but then releases all but the worst offenders; most on a promise to return for an administrative hearing. As you might expect, very few actually appear.

ICE is prepared to adopt a policy by year’s end that will further restrict the county’s ability to remove illegal aliens from the community. Under the policy, ICE will not accept illegal aliens whose sole offense is traffic-related, except under limited circumstances. ICE will not even consider processing an illegal alien unless and until local law enforcement has actually arrested the suspect.

Finally, ICE will not issue a detainer on a removable alien until after the alien has served whatever sentence has been imposed for conviction on the local crime. This aspect of the policy eliminates any value that the 287(g) program had to save tax dollars by removing the detainee from local jails instead of housing them until the sentence is served.

We Must Protect Ourselves

Given the emasculation of the 287(g) program, ICE’s “catch and release” policies and the even weaker, soon-to-be-adopted directive, Gwinnett County has no choice but to defend itself.

Enforcement of immigration law might be a federal responsibility, but the effects of lax enforcement are all local—the public cost of providing services like medical care and education; the jobs taken from legal citizens in a tough economy when those jobs are needed most; the cost to arrest, prosecute and house criminal offenders, including those who mow down 83-year-old men with their vehicle and then drive away.

Despite the Obama administration’s efforts to neuter the federal immigration enforcement effort, there remain several tools that the County Commission could use to reduce the economic and social impact of illegal immigration on our county. I have written extensively on the topic (here, here, here, here, here and here, and a web site here).

Once such tool, the federal E-Verify program, could virtually eliminate the primary reason that illegal aliens come to Gwinnett—jobs. Like a growing number of cities, states and counties across the nation, the Commission could require that employers enroll in the program to verify the employment eligibility of their new hires in order to receive or renew a business license.

E-Verify is free for employers to use; adds little to the workload associated with hiring a new employee; and requiring all employers to use the system would “level the playing field” for employers who hire illegal aliens and those who obey the law.

Currently, a majority of the County Commission have shown no interest in the program, and Chairman Bannister inexplicably believes that the county already requires employers to enroll in E-Verify to receive a business license.

In January 2008, the suspect entered a negotiated plea to a charge of failure to stop at or return to the scene of an accident in the death of Aubrey Sosebee, an 83-year-old World War II veteran who was run over by the plumber as he was retrieving his mail. Campo-Duartes was sentenced to two years in prison and three years of probation and was released for time served.

A little more than a year ago, he was arrested for driving without a license and released the same day on $760 bond. In October, he was arrested on the same charge.

Sheriff: Hit-and-run driver ‘voluntarily’ deported last fall  | ajc.com