Sons of Anarchy

The Right-wingers are collectively freaking out over Obama's forthcoming immigration plan, which he will announce in a (selectively) televised speech tonight. The lies and distortions from the detractors are flying fast and furious, so here is an honest overview of the president's plan, thanks to ABC News (which along with the other alphabet networks, have no plan to actually air the prime-time address tonight):

"The White House says Obama will 'maximize the use of his authority' to extend temporary legal status to more than 5 million undocumented immigrants.

Who Gets Relief?

4.1 million undocumented parents and families of U.S. citizens who have been in country more than 5 years with no criminal record.

300,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children, so-called Dreamers, will be newly eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Current age limits for the program will be dropped, sources say.

400,000 highly-skilled workers will be eligible for visas.

Some other smaller categories for relief will bring the number affected above 5 million.

Who Gets Left Out?

Undocumented parents of DACA recipients will not be eligible for legal status.

Undocumented agricultural workers will not be addressed.

Border Security

Obama will direct more resources on border security with an emphasis on deporting new arrivals. Guidance to law enforcement will be to focus on criminal aliens rather than those living quietly in the shadows with no arrest record.

The Legal Argument

The White House believes Obama's acts are effectively bullet-proof in court, backed up by the precedent of more than a dozen presidents who have used discretion in enforcement of immigration law and granted temporary legal status to thousands of immigrants on their watch. Advocates have been told the dreamer families were left out because White House believes inclusion of non-citizen families would jeopardize the legal underpinning of the plan.

The Caveats

Obama will sign his executive order tomorrow at the event in Las Vegas, but it will take several weeks for many of the new initiatives to roll out, people familiar with the plan say. Terms of the action will take effect in six months, giving time for congressional action to replace the order with legislation and allow advocacy groups to organize people to apply for relief.

Nothing in Obama's plan will create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and any legal status received would be temporary. Officials have said the eligible immigrants -- as under DACA -- would not be entitled to federal benefits such as Medicaid, health care subsidies, etc."

Gee, that doesn't seem so radical or controversial. We know their knee-jerk reaction is to oppose anything he proposes, and the fact that he's following the tried and true tactic of acting on executive order (as so many Republican executives have done before him) only fuels the unexpected fire in their l'il teabagger bellies.

Yes the do-nothing Neocons in Congress have awakened from their hibernation and have flown into an atypical frenzy of activity, plotting their lines of defense against the President's executive action. And they aren't mincing words or sparing any exaggeration in their outrage. Oklahoma's favorite Rapture Rightie, Senator Tom Coburn, is actually predicting some kind of hellish chaos should Obama make good on his "threat."

MSNBC (which is airing the speech) offers this:

"Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn warns there could be not only a political firestorm but acts of civil disobedience and even violence in reaction to President Obama's executive order on immigration Thursday.

"'The country's going to go nuts, because they're going to see it as a move outside the authority of the president, and it's going to be a very serious situation,' Coburn said on Capital Download. 'You're going to see -- hopefully not -- but you could see instances of anarchy. ... You could see violence.' The far-right senator went on to say, 'Here's how people think: Well, if the law doesn't apply to the president ... then why should it apply to me?'