right ear, The

LICENSE SECURITY: President Bush's national strategy for Homeland Security proposes standards for state drivers' licenses, but does not fix a major loophole in the law that allows illegal aliens to live in the United States with ease. Rep. Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz.) wants to fix this problem by requiring that driver's licenses for foreigners expire when their visas expire, instead of remaining valid for years afterward. "A valid driver's license permits visa overstayers to open bank accounts, rent cars, and perform countless other tasks that make living in the U.S. illegally unproblematic," said Flake's office. "Requiring states to tie the expiration dates of driver's licenses and visas will put up a red flag alerting law enforcement officials when a foreign national tries to remain in the country illegally." Said Flake last week, "Tying the expiration date of driver's licenses to visas is a simple way to make it more difficult for foreign nationals to overstay their visa, and it's going to take legislation at the federal level to make that happen."

PACK YOUR BAGS: Another apocalyptic prediction from the left. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF)--fresh from legally forcing the World Wrestling Federation to change its name-now warns that if human consumption is not drastically reduced, the planet Earth will be unable to support its human population by 2050. Without quick and dramatic cuts in resource consumption, the WWF claims, humans will be forced to colonize two other planets. But unless we actually do head for Mars, this means that the world economy must dramatically shrink. A HUMAN EvENTs statistical analysis found in April that since 1950, the only time energy consumption has decreased in the United States has been in times of severe economic recession (see HUMAN EvENTs, April 29).

SKLADANY TO FDA: For all the, budding complaints on the right about the Bush Administration's retreat on major spending issues ranging froth education to the farm bill, conservatives still give the President high marks for many personnel choices. The latest Bush selection to draw bouquets among conservatives is that of former Reagan White House aide Linda Arey Skladany to be associate commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Skladany, who made a strong bid for the U.S. House from Virginia in 1988, also served as acting chairman of the OSHA Review Commission.

ET TU, TOURISME? Even tourism officials think that making it harder for foreigners to receive visas is a good idea. The Orlando Sentinel reported July 16 that Florida officials said in a congressional hearing held in Florida that "they want homeland security to be the overriding consideration when U.S. officials decide who should get visas to visit the United States. That would make both domestic and foreign tourists feel more secure, they said. `Some may argue that a thorough visa-review process will create delays that would be detrimental to the tourism industry,' said Mike Horner, president of the Kissimmee/Osceola County Chamber of Commerce. 'I would argue that nothing would be more harmful than another terrorist attack.' On Monday [July 15], U.S. Representatives Dave Weldon (R.) and Ric Keller (R.) came here looking for such support." Weldon wants the proposed Homeland Security Department to issue visas rather than the State Department, but U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell vigorously insisted at recent congressional hearings that visas should be handled by his foreign-service officers-- the people who know foreign affairs best and therefore supposedly can best weed out security risks. Last week, two congressional committees went along with Powell and voted to keep visa-issuing at State. Congressional opponents of this arrangement, however, have, not yet given up trying to change or modify it.

NO SURPRISE: A recent Zogby poll concluded that 75 % of American college seniors say that their professors teach that there is no such thing as right and wrong. The poll, commissioned by the National Association of Scholars, found that professors talk about such issues in the context of "individual values and cultural diversity."

IT HURTS: The media complain that the Pentagon does not tell them enough, but Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is concerned that it tells them too much. When CNBC's Brian Williams asked him on July 15, "Why telegraph U.S. options militarily on the ground in Iraq?" Rumsfeld replied, "Well, first of all, we're not telegraphing U.S. options on the ground.... Every once in a while there are people in the United States government who decide that they want to break federal criminal law and release classified information. And they ought to be in prison and if we find out who they are, they will be in prison. It is putting people's lives at risk."

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Jul 22, 2002
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