When Harry Reid smiles ...

... and Ted Kennedy preens, watch your wallet, and your back.

That both senators were praising yesterday's passage in the U.S. Senate of the so-called "immigration reform" bill - "This is the way we should legislate -- on a bipartisan basis," Reid cooed - is a clear indication that what was delivered is no reform. Instead it offers what amounts of amnesty for millions of people who are in this country illegally, some of them bent on subverting the sovereignity of the United States.

It contains inadequate provisions for border security and continues the "free lunch" concept of making Hispanic immigrants a protected class deserving of various social welfare favoritism.

Just to show the duplicity involved, the Washington Times noted that as Reid and his Demo cohorts were praising "bipartisanship" ...

As he spoke, a television screen behind him showed a live picture of the Senate floor, where fellow Democrats were at that moment trying to mount a filibuster against President Bush's latest judicial nominee.

In the end, Democrats failed and a final vote was set for today on the nomination of White House lawyer Brett M. Kavanaugh, named to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. After speaking to reporters, Mr. Reid returned to the Senate floor and cast his vote in favor of the filibuster.

Said Rick Santorum, Republican senator from Pennsylvania:

Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, the No. 3 Republican in the Senate, said the bill "puts the cart before the horse" because it gives citizenship rights to illegals, grants full-blown amnesty to employers and opens the borders to millions of new immigrants each year.

"The horse here, that I've been hearing from my constituents, is we need a border-security bill first," said Mr. Santorum, who spends much of his time campaigning for re-election this fall. "And we need a program that makes sure that our country's borders are secure and that they are not a threat either to our national security or economic security."

Or as the Times noted:

But conservatives in Congress -- like many voters -- are skeptical that the federal government will make good on promises to secure the border and enforce the laws.

They suspect that immigration reform is headed for a repeat of the 1986 reforms that granted amnesty to 3 million aliens and promised to seal the border. Ultimately, the laws were never enforced and 3 million illegals were replaced with some 12 million new illegals.

If that happens, it is quite possible that there will be a civil war in the U.S. Southwest to prevent several states from seceeding and joining Mexico.

It is up to the House of Representatives, where the elected congressmen are still a bit closer to the will of the people, to hold firm and tell the elitist senators, "No deal."

Border security first. Then we can talk about a citizenship process.