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And now, a message to our Farsi-speaking readers

Isfalahan marit reishon, UFO-an jam i jam! Goreli, fristina jam, noo rooz revorba prelish. Dozher ghelen Art Bell!

Posted to WackyHumor at 08:09 PM | Comments (0)

U.S. Rep. wants to know why the INS isn't doing its job

Earlier I discussed the town hall meeting in Houston where a BICE (new name for the INS) official assured illegal aliens that the INS was not conducting workplace raids. I.e., a BICE official told illegal aliens that he wasn't doing his job.

The meeting got some attention:

Now U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, wants to know why not.

"I am appalled and outraged that federal law enforcement officials would hold a meeting with lawbreakers to tell them they won't enforce the law," Culberson said in an interview Thursday.

Culberson, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, said he will do anything in his power to make immigration officials understand that "if they expect to get funded, they must enforce the immigration laws."

While not calling for an official investigation, Culberson said he will conduct his own inquiry to find out what is happening in Houston...

Posted to Immigration2003 at 07:29 PM | Comments (1)

Make Lonewacko Part of Your Lesson Plan

Earlier today Lonewacko was standing outside a business in Koreatown just off 8th Street waiting for something. As I stood there I watched the parade of humanity pass by. Two guys pushing a cart holding a few boxes with stereo equipment or something. A guy walking by with a box with a miniature bike: "Burns fat! Amusement!" General slouching slovenly members of the lower orders.

Suddenly, Lonewacko spots a white person. And, yet another white person. In fact, a whole large group of white persons. Lonewacko was momentarily shocked before Lonewacko realized that he too is white like them. While the Lonewacko only occasionally "hangs" with the "homies" in Koreatown, he knew this was out of the ordinary.

Certainly, there are a few white people in the area, but they're mainly crazies and bums and the occasional office worker. These were not office workers intent on a mass invasions of a K-town ethnic restaurant. These were what looked to be students. They had a healthy suburban look to them that was quite out of place. I began to wonder what the heck they were doing there.

As they passed by looking a bit scared and somewhat disgusted with the neighborhood, I began searching for a leader of some kind. At the end, I spotted a leader and asked her what this was. It turns out they were students from Biola College in La Mirada and they were taking a field trip as part of an urban studies class or something. And, just by standing there, Lonewacko became part of their lesson.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 07:12 PM | Comments (1)

"Hussein's Agents Are Behind Attacks in Iraq, Pentagon Finds"

Maybe it isn't a popular insurgency after all:

A Pentagon intelligence report has concluded that many bombings against Americans and their allies in Iraq, and the more sophisticated of the guerrilla attacks in Falluja, are organized and often carried out by members of Saddam Hussein's secret service, who planned for the insurgency even before the fall of Baghdad...

Posted to Iraq at 08:48 PM | Comments (0)

It's a job for the patriotic Left...

...all two of them. But, I kid.

Several "liberals" are complaining about U.S. military police allegedly mistreating Iraqi POWs. For instance, here's TalkLeft's post.

The few patriotic "liberals" could point out that a) this is an isolated incident, b) (most of) those responsible are being prosecuted, c) these actions in no way tarnish our overwhelmingly above-board actions in Iraq, and d) these actions are in no way comparable to Saddam's actions over many years. Whether they will or not is another question; we can already see how CBS is trying to spin this. For more opinion on this story, see this or this.

UPDATE: Several members of the Unhelpful Left can be found commenting here. I'd imagine DU is slightly worse.

Posted to Iraq at 07:47 PM | Comments (0)

Drudge must be slipping

At noon yesterday I blogged about Manalapan Florida's dream of monitoring all cars entering their city. I immediately sent Brother Matt an IM, seeing as he covers those types of stories, plus it's in Florida.

It's taken him over 24 hours to put it on the Drudge Report. Score one for Lonewacko.

Posted to Bloggage at 06:12 PM | Comments (0)

Vindication for Norm MacDonald

On some TV talk show a while back, TV funnyman Norm MacDonald was discussing how the Heaven's Gate cult members had been neutered: "I'd like to fly in a spaceship too, but..."

Now, NASA is considering making that real.

On a lighter note, the story does have encouraging news of what top scientists are now terming a possible "space DP:"

there were allegations that Russia claimed a space first in 1982 when Svetlana Savitskaya shared the Salyut 7 space station with two Russian male colleagues

Phwoar.

Posted to WackyHumor at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)

Michael Kinsley now working for the L.A. DogTrainer-Enquirer-Times

Captain Kevin alerts us to Michael Kinsley having been named editorial and opinion editor of the Los Angeles Times.

Some of the Captain's commentators aren't happy with it. You see, Kinsley is a mite too conservative for some. Geez, imagine what would happen if they'd named a real conservative. Oh, wait, that would never happen.

I fail to see what's in it for Kinsley. The L.A. Times is a second-rate paper in - let's face it - a second-rate town compared to the power centers in NY and DC.

Hopefully Kinsley will look with disfavor on smear attempts.

UPDATE: The Lonewacko Blog has issued the following statement: "We at the Lonewacko Blog would like to make it perfectly clear that we meant "second-rate" only in the political power and influence sense. In no way did we mean to imply that Los Angeles is a second-rate city other than its status as being behind NYC and DC as centers of U.S. politics."

Posted to Los_Angeles at 01:33 PM | Comments (2)

INS, Houston police assure "immigrants" that the laws aren't being enforced

Welcome to Wacky World. The INS called a town hall meeting in Houston to calm the fears of illegal aliens. You see, there's a rumor going around Houston's illegal alien community that the INS is actually doing its job and conducting raids.

The INS called the meeting to inform the illegal aliens that they are, in fact, not doing their job. The Houston Police chimed in with confirmation that they are prevented by local laws from following federal laws:

The rumors have persisted for weeks, causing illegal immigrants within the Hispanic community to flee or hide.

"People are staying home. They don't even go to work, they don't go shopping, they don't go have fun, because they are scared. And it's not true -- that's not happening," said Escamillo.

"We are not conducting mass raids of work sites, of schools, of construction sites. That is not the case," said ICE official Joe Webber.

Other reports on the meeting - which was held almost all in Spanish - are here, here, and here.

Yes, it does seem like a bad Twilight Zone episode.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 08:47 PM | Comments (1)

More proof that 'Friends' sucks

When clicking through channels every month or so I stop and watch about 30 seconds of Friends. Just to imagine what Jennifer Aniston looks like "down there." But, I immediately become disgusted with these yuppie scum and switch channels.

Now, a former 'Friends' writer's assistant is suing Warner Bros. et al. for sexual harrasement allegedly committed by the writers for the wacky hit comedy. It gives a window onto their wacky little world:

58. I saw ['Friends' writer] Greg Malins draw in the coloring book the vaginal area of a cheerleader who had her dress up and legs open.

...68. I heard ['Friends' writer] Chase once rhetorically asked [sic] the group, of Cox and Arquette, "do you think they fuck in the dressing room". [sic]

...74. [Three of the writers] regularly discussed making the character Joey a serial rapist...

...77. [Three of the writers used the terms] "dick," "schlong," and "cock."

...83. I can recall sitting around waiting to go home while writers were sitting around pretending to masturbate and continually talking about schlongs.

The writer's assistant appears to be a black female; she complains about white males receiving better treatment. So, not only is it a study in the creative processes behind 'Friends,' it's a study in paranoia and extreme sensitivities.

UPDATE: An update is available in "Jennifer Aniston naked". No, she's not nude, we - including, allegedly, the Friends writers - just wish she was.

Posted to Celebrities at 01:15 PM | Comments (6)

Is there a way to boycott Manalapan, Florida?

The city of Manalapan in Florida will soon begin automatically taking photos of every car that drives through town. They'll run a check on the plates, and store that information together with a photo of the driver. Cops cars will be dispatched after suspect cars...

There are only 321 residents of this wealthy community, so it's probably not possible to boycott them, and protesting would probably be a bit difficult. This might be a good thing: after a few months of constantly living in a surveillance zone they might decide to give up a little safety for a lot of liberty.

Posted to Privacy at 12:47 PM | Comments (0)

"Illegal Entry From Mexico to U.S. Spikes"

From the AP:

After a four-year decline, illegal immigration from Mexico is spiking as several thousand migrants a day rush across the border in hopes of getting work visas under a program President Bush (news - web sites) proposed. Many also are trying to beat tighter security to come in June.

The U.S. border patrol told The Associated Press that detentions — which it uses to judge illegal migration rates — jumped 25 percent to 535,000 in the six months ending March 31 compared to a year ago.

Repeat after me: "Amnesties - or even the talk of amnesties - do not encourage illegal immigration. Karl Rove's plan was a brilliant political ploy! Everything is going to turn out A-OK!" Pass the Kool-Aid, George.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)

"Illegals policy angers leaders [Arlington County, VA]

From this:

Virginia lawmakers and the state attorney general yesterday expressed dismay that Arlington County plans to ignore a new law aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants in the fight against gangs and terrorists.

Delegate Robert G. Marshall suggested cutting state funding to Arlington's police force or even shutting off the county's water if local officials opt not to implement the law...

The law, which takes effect July 1, permits local police to arrest any illegal immigrant who previously was convicted of a felony and deported...

Arlington County Board Chairman Barbara Favola was not available for comment yesterday...

See this post for some prime quotes from Ms. Favola. I hope a law-abiding challenger to her is available.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 09:56 AM | Comments (0)

"Human tsumani"

The Washington Times has a long, depressing piece on (largely illegal) immigration to Los Angeles: 'Human tsumani'. The Voice of Stupidity is provided by political scientist Raphael Sonenshein, who used to work for Maxine Waters.

Is there some way to force "liberals" and liberaltarians to not just read this article, but to live with the impacts it describes? Kinda like how slum lords are occasionally forced to live in their own buildings. Yeah, I like that idea. Let's find Chris Cannon an apartment in Pico-Union.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 12:08 AM | Comments (2)

Jesse Jackson said what?

I must have missed this the first time around, because it happened over three weeks ago:

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said yesterday that the United Nations should consider sanctioning the United States for its decision to ``murder all these people on faulty information'' by waging war in Iraq.

Speaking in Boston on the eve of the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, Jackson said the word ``murder'' was appropriate - if inflammatory.

``When you kill people outside of international law, I'm not sure what you should call it,'' the civil rights leader said.

Jackson later called the U.S. invasion of Iraq ``a crime against humanity.''

``Iraqis are human beings, too. We killed them, . . . we executed people on this flawed policy,'' he said...

A U.N. investigation into the Iraq war is warranted, he said, because the United States is acting as ``our own referee, judge and jury in this action.''

``I'm not sure the U.N. has the power to act against us in a miltary way, but they have a right to make a moral judgment,'' he said. ``There should at least be a hearing and a judgment.''

About a year ago, a "peace" group was trying to get the U.N. to do what Jackson wants, using force as necessary. See the links in this post, specifically the one to the article 'Could U.N. use military force on U.S.?':

Could the U.N. use military force to prevent the United States and Britain from waging war on Iraq without a Security Council mandate?

Some anti-war groups are urging the world body to invoke a little-known convention that allows the General Assembly to step in when the Security Council is at an impasse in the face of a "threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression."

The willingness by the U.S. and Britain to go to war with Iraq without Security Council authorization is the kind of threat the U.N. had in mind when it passed Resolution 377 in 1950, said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a human-rights group in New York City.

In a position paper, Ratner wrote that by invoking the resolution, called "Uniting for Peace," the "General Assembly can meet within 24 hours to consider such a matter, and can recommend collective measures to U.N. members including the use of armed forces to 'maintain or restore international peace and security.'"...

Posted to Politics at 11:54 PM | Comments (0)

Is she "Dunn" yet?

Charges have been filed against Claremont professor Kerri Dunn:

Prosecutors charged a Claremont McKenna College professor Monday with filing a false report and insurance fraud in connection with her report of her car being vandalized and spray painted with hate messages.

Kerri Dunn, 39, faces as many as six years in state prison if convicted as charged. She is set to be arraigned May 19 in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Pomona.

"You can't commit a hate crime against yourself,' said Los Angeles County District Attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons. "So we couldn't file a hate crime charge against her.'

Previous Dunn coverage starts here.

Posted to MultiCultiCult at 11:44 PM | Comments (0)

Wacky comments! Wacky spam!

First, here's a letter from Liz Taylor:

IN A BRIEF INTRODUCTION,I AM MISS LIZ TAYLOR,SISTER OF THE FORMER PRESIDENT CHARLES TAYLOR OF LIBERIA,PRESENTLY SEEKING REFUGE IN NIGERIA., I WAS THE FORMER DIRECTOR OF MILITARY LOGISTICS,PLANNING/SUPPLY,TO THE GOVERNMENT OF PRESIDENT,CHARLES TAYLOR. BEFORE THIS INTENSIVE HIT FROM PRESIDENT BUSH,TO OUSTED US FROM OFFICE AND EVEN WITHIN LIBERIA,I AND A COLONEL,SERVING UNDER MINE JURIDICTION,SMUGGLED THIS SUM... CONSIDER TO RELEASE 30%OF THIS TOTAL SUM TO YOU,FOR ANYKIND OF ASSISTANCE YOU MAY BE TO US [etc. etc.]

Next up, let's look at recent comments. There are now two women who think I have Kiefer Sutherland's email address. Look, I just biked past a '24' shoot, I didn't "hang" with "Kief." The latest one even has an email of rosysutherland [AT] hotmail.com.

Last and not by any means least, Ms. Shavonde Johnson just left a 60k comment here. It includes her resume and a long screed about reparations. I'd say it was composed at a public library or homeless shelter in Oakland.

Posted to WackyHumor at 11:36 PM | Comments (0)

Watching "liberals" self-destruct

Captain Kevin Drum invites Bruce Reed, "Bill Clinton's chief domestic policy advisor for eight years and now president of the Democratic Leadership Council" to write a guest post.

The guest post is reasonable, and suggests that "liberals" encourage the creation of a "religious center-left:"

But I'd feel a lot better if our side spent less time running down the religious right, and more time building a religious center-left. After all, those who fought for civil rights in the '60s saw standing up for their political convictions as a natural extension of their religious convictions. Reverend Martin Luther King filled the Mall with a sermon.

OK, let's forget for the moment that the reason he mentioned the Mall was because of the recent march for abortion.

Anyhoo, do I need to tell you how it turned out? Here are some sample comments:

religion has generally been a negative influence on human history and America would be a more liberal, just place if religious expressions in politics died out entirely.

...No wonder the DLC has be marginalised by most upstanding liberals...

...Can we please lay off this religion bullshit? Great waste of a "guest post" spot. Can it... [from perennial favorite "Dave"]

There are some reasonable comments. At least, as of post time.

Posted to Politics at 10:51 PM | Comments (0)

"Immigration fuels school-building frenzy"

From this:

The last time anyone undertook a project as massive as the Los Angeles Unified School District's current construction program, gymnast Mary Lou Retton was America's sweetheart...

The 10-year, $10 billion project, the biggest school-construction program in the nation, is nothing if not ambitious. The LAUSD plans to build 160 schools between 2002 and 2012, as well as expand and update some of its existing 800 facilities.

And yet when the project is officially completed in eight years, it won't be enough. That $10 billion will buy 162,000 seats, but projections are that, by 2012, the district will need an additional 33,700 seats, Mr. McConnell said.

Such is the size of the immigration wave into Los Angeles. With the state growing by about 600,000 people per year, virtually all of it from immigration, the school system can't keep pace with the growth...

Posted to Immigration2003 at 02:53 PM | Comments (0)

I Can't Believe It's Not the Soviet Union!

On last week's edition of PBS's 'NOW with Bill Moyers', the "interview" Bill Moyers conducted with the former head of the BBC is a classic. It was only matched by an "interview" on the same show conducted by David Brancaccio of the Sierra Club's Carl Pope.

Read the transcript here if you dare.

The leading puff-ball questions just jump from the page in a multi-colored burst of love. Of especial note is Moyer's fanboy love for the British media vs. America's version. Also note the bit about the TV license fees. They forgot to mention that the BBC has vans that drive around making sure that everyone has paid their TV fee.

Posted to Politics at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)

'Electronic voting will never be 100% secure' - draft zero

In a future post I'll make the following points:
- electronic voting will never be 100% secure
- perhaps the old ways are best
- righties should take this issue away from the Loony Left

Here's draft zero of part of it:

The Johns Hopkins report raises several issues with a Diebold system, the software for which had appeared on the web. They discuss how that Diebold system comes with smart card readers, and all the hacking that that allows.

The solution, as I have pointed out a few times, is this:
- paper print out of some kind
- voter verifies his paper
- paper put in ballot box
- a percentage of paper ballots are counted (say, 10%)
- discrepancies between the paper sample count and the electronic results leads to all paper ballots being counted
- paper ballots are considered the real ballots in case they have to be counted

That rules out almost all of the attacks mentioned in the report.

As for the report itself, I have a few problems with it. Here are a few:

The authors state "Of course, a better solution would have been to write the entire system in a safe language, such as Java or Cyclone. In such a language we would be able to prove that large classes of attacks, including buffer overflows and type-confusion attacks, are impossible assuming a correct implementation of the compiler and runtime system."

I think - but I'm not sure - that with enough work I might be able to confuse Java's type system.

In any case, the phrase "assuming a correct implementation of the compiler and runtime system" is the killer. There are many, many bugs in Sun's Java implementations, and I'd imagine there are many in any other group's implementation as well. Malicious Java code could take advantage of those bugs to make the VM crash. I doubt there will exist a VM that will not crash under some set of circumstances. And, those VMs are written in "unsafe" (author's phrase) languages like C++.

The report says "Due to... the use of third-party code and operating systems we believe that any sort of comprehensive, top-to-bottom code review would be nearly impossible."

Yet, they also recommend it be written in Java. In almost all cases, Java is yet another layer of software that runs on top of an OS. That OS might be Windows, or it might be Linux, but Java still requires an OS.

Using this same argument, they could chase their tail down to the silicon atoms. Even if they used a Java processor and a small OS on specialized hardware, someone could insert hacking code into the CPU's microcode (or into the network card, etc.)

The authors also plump for Open Source and Linux. The fact that they appear to be advocates for those does not make me look at them in a good light. Not that those are bad things, but advocating for them over, for instance, MS products adds bias to their report.

It's good the authors took apart the Diebold system, but they should expend the same effort encouraging that only audit trail systems are used.

Posted to Politics at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)

Would you buy a Kevin Spacey expose?

Kevin Spacey's older, apparently far less-successful brother has the goods on Kevin:

"I've got over 1,000 photos," [Spacey brother and $100 per night Rod Stewart impersonator and drummer Randy B Fowler] said. "I've been obsessive about this. I've got his diaries and the full story."

Posted to Celebrities at 10:50 PM | Comments (5)

"How to climb 5.24"

All you need are 624,000 setules attached to your claw tufts.

Posted to OutdoorSports at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)

"Chinese diplomats rush past [Los Alamos National Laboratory] guards"

From this:

Two Chinese diplomats, away from their Los Angeles consulate improperly, recently sped their vehicle past a Los Alamos National Laboratory guard post near classified facilities...

U.S. officials said the incident involving the two diplomats was an intelligence-gathering mission, with the men probably testing Los Alamos security to see how guards react... The diplomats also might have been trying to recover material left by an agent or planning to meet with an agent, the officials said...

Posted to Terrorism at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)

Lonewacko "dream girl" announced

According to the "physical attration" test at match.com, this is my dream girl:

Just kidding!

Here's the real dream girl:

These were the runners-up:

I want to do them all!

(Via Right-Thinking)

Posted to WackyHumor at 08:37 PM | Comments (0)

You're a Special-American!

Based on yesterday's post ('Hyphenated-Americans are John Kerry's Strength!'), I'm thinking up some new slogans for the Kerry Campaign:

• "You're a Special-American!"
• "Hyphens are Our Strength!"
• "You're Special!"
• "If You've Got a Hyphen, You've Got a Home."

The period instead of an exclamation mark in the last slogan makes it more folksy.

In addition to the current list of panderees, here are some other -Americans Kerry can outreach to:

• French-Americans
• Francophone-Americans
• French-Looking-Americans
• Felon/Parolee-Americans
• Urban Pervert-Americans
• Redneck-Americans
• Used Car Salesperson-Americans
• Realtor[SM]-Americans
• Drunk-Americans
• Gullible-Americans
• Emotionally Distant-Americans
• Pissed Off-Americans
• Northeast Super Rich Liberal Elite Establishment-Americans
• Ski Bum-Americans
• Trust Fund Baby-Americans
• Conspiracy Theorist-Americans
• Extraterrestrial-Americans
• Canadian-Americans
• Klingon/Trekkie/Trekker-Americans
• Gigolo-Americans
• Elbonian-Americans
• Group Member-Americans
• Regional-Americans
• Generic-Americans
• Taxonomically-Challenged-Americans
• Too Specialized To Worry About-Americans

Posted to MultiCultiCult at 10:15 AM | Comments (0)

Hyphenated-Americans are John Kerry's Strength!

John Kerry continues his outreach to Hyphenated-Americans:

The Kerry Campaign today announced several important additions to its senior leadership, including key members of its community outreach team. With the addition of these staff, the campaign will expand its program to engage core Democratic constituencies across the country...

• ...Handling African-American community outreach for the campaign will be Jena Roscoe...
• ...Luis Elizondo-Thomson will lead Hispanic outreach...
• ...[Jay Footlik is working] with the Jewish Community and serving as new Senior Advisor on Middle East and Jewish Affairs...
• ...George Kivork has joined the Kerry Campaign to coordinate outreach to ethnic communities, including Arab Americans, Irish Americans, Italian Americans, Hungarian Americans, Polish Americans, and Portugese Americans...
• ...Victoria Lai will handle Asian Pacific Islander American issues for the campaign...
• ...Chad Lennox takes over the Campaign’s outreach to the Environmental community...
• ...Mark Seifert joins the campaign to handle LGBT Outreach...
• ...Tory Vallely will lead the campaign’s outreach to women...
• ...Mara Vanderslice will handle the campaign’s religious outreach...

These groups join Hunter-Americans and Canine- and Canine-Caretaker-Americans in Kerry's list of 'Activist Communities.'

Will those who belong to two or three groups (for instance, African-American Lesbian-American Women-Americans) get twice or thrice as much attention from Kerry?

What about Oppressor-Americans? Or, at least those who won't be voting for Bush.

Meanwhile, there's a distinct lack of hyphens in Kerry's inner circle. See 'Is Kerry's Campaign Colorblind?'.

Posted to Politics at 11:32 PM | Comments (0)

"Radical Cleric Is Unwanted by His Neighbors"

From the NYT:

...Standing in the courtyard of [Najaf's] golden-domed Shrine of Ali on Friday, staring at 2,500 worshipers seated on rugs, the imam, Sadr al-Din al-Kubanchi, hurled words as sharp as scimitars at the army that had invaded this holy city.

But the soldiers he denounced were not Americans but members of [Moktada al-Sadr's] Mahdi Army...

"It's not brave to take refuge in the house or the mosque or the markets and use women and children as human shields," Mr. Kubanchi said of the Mahdi Army. "They are people who are trying to cheat you, and they are people from the regime of Saddam Hussein, former intelligence officers. They want to drag you into battle to be destroyed. If that happens, the soldiers will attack Najaf, and our enemies will happily see our blood flow."

The standoff in Najaf has turned into a showdown between the clerics of the city and Mr. Sadr, as the religious and tribal leaders here try to nudge their unwanted neighbor out of town...

Gingerly, since Mr. Sadr now runs the city, they have handed out flyers and given speeches urging the Mahdi Army to take its fight elsewhere. They have done so while their mosques and homes are surrounded by undisciplined militiamen...

Posted to Iraq at 09:59 PM | Comments (0)

Illegal alien drop house busted in Watts

The LAPD and the BICE busted a drop house in Watts in which over 110 illegal aliens were held captive. The house is 1100 square feet, and the doors were chained shut while the smugglers demanded more money. 88 of the aliens are now in BICE custody awaiting deportation.

The smugglers escaped, and the aliens are out thousands of dollars.

While we can occasionally bust drop houses, the more intelligent way to reduce the number of such incidents is to make it unprofitable to hire illegal aliens.

The backstory is the most interesting part of this:

Local law enforcement officials say the only thing unusual about the case is the large number of people found in the house — and the active involvement of federal immigration officials.

LAPD Cmdr. Jim Tatreau said that the department has encountered numerous safe houses and human-smuggling rings that federal officials chose not to handle.

In many of these cases, he said, the immigrants were released into the streets after police ensured that they are in decent health and not victims of other crimes because the LAPD does not have authority to hold them.

LAPD rules prohibit officers from seeking deportation proceedings against illegal immigrants who have not committed a crime, Tatreau said.

City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, whose district includes Watts, said the immigration agency has largely abdicated enforcement responsibilities in Los Angeles.

"The federal government is turning a blind eye to what's happening at the border," Hahn said.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 01:16 PM | Comments (0)

"French court says imam can return"

The French have reversed themselves:

A Muslim preacher who was ejected from France on Wednesday for saying men should beat their wives is free to return, a Lyon court has ruled...

Posted to Terrorism at 12:27 PM | Comments (0)

"Georgia Tech Spreads Communist Propaganda"

From Front Page Magazine:

In the latest front on the war against academic bias in our colleges and universities, the Georgia Association of College Republicans is dismayed to report that the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology is formally engaged in distributing a propaganda flyer opposing the Academic Bill of Rights. The flyer is a reprint of an article attacking the Academic Bill of Rights that was published by the Revolutionary Worker (www.rwor.org), a self-identified communist organization. It is being distributed through the school’s Public Policy Office and had been posted throughout the building on professor’s personal boards and office doors.

Posted to MultiCultiCult at 10:19 PM | Comments (0)

Ditching Diversity

The Derb has an interesting column asking whether the elites will return to racism: 'Ditching Diversity'.

He thinks there's a 90% chance that over the next generation the elites will drop multiculturalism (i.e., the idea that every culture is just as worth "celebrating" as any other, and that the old idea of assimilation into a common American culture is "oppressive" and "racist") and the chance of the elites turning racist, approving a new social order in which legal privileges will accrue to races over-represented in the cognitive elites, and be denied to races over-represented in the underclass is about 25%.

Posted to MultiCultiCult at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)

France invents "French Islam"

From Reuters:

France must tackle the issue of training Muslim prayer leaders in a moderate "French Islam" that respects human rights and rejects terrorism, Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin says.

Speaking a day after he deported an Algerian imam for saying Islam let husbands beat adulterous wives, Villepin urged the country's prefects Thursday to expel any foreign preacher who advocated violence, hate, racism or abuses of human rights.

Only about 10 percent of imams in France are citizens and about half of all imams in the country speak French, experts say.

Most are imported from Arab countries, where some have been trained in radical Islamist views that clash with France's secular laws...

See also the 11/02 post 'Strange Preachers in the House of Saud'.

Posted to Terrorism at 10:12 PM | Comments (0)

"Climbers Breach Ape House Walls At Lincoln Park Zoo"

The Lincoln Park Zoo brought in professional rock climbers (how many professional rock climbers live in Chicagoland?) to test whether amateurs - specifically our ape ancestors - could escape from a new ape house.

Details here.

Posted to OutdoorSports at 09:58 PM | Comments (0)

Are you "mature, well-organized, flexible, proactive, and hardworking?"

If so, Ted Kennedy is looking for a driver:

2) Driver for Senator Kennedy: Responsibilities will include driving, advance for events, and general administrative assistance. It is important that this individual be mature, well-organized, flexible, proactive, and hardworking. We are looking for someone who has a good head on theirs shoulders, is able to multi-task, has good interpersonal skills, and an interest in Government.

The applicant must have a Class C license and be able to swim.

Posted to Politics at 09:45 PM | Comments (0)

Single ballot theory

Arlen Specter looks to be in trouble. From 'Poll: Toomey narrows Spector's lead':

A surge in support for conservative challenger Rep. Pat Toomey has narrowed Sen. Arlen Specter's lead to a scant 5 percentage points a week before Pennsylvania's Republican primary, according to a poll released Tuesday. Toomey, a three-term congressman from the Allentown area, was backed by 44 percent of likely Republican voters, compared with 49 percent for Specter in the survey by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. Seven percent were undecided...

President Bush has endorsed Specter and appeared at a Specter fund raiser in Pittsburgh on Monday night. But national conservatives have funneled nearly $2 million worth of contributions and attack ads into the state to help Toomey, who has also spent another $2 million since the start of the year...

Let's hope Toomey pulls ahead. See, for instance, 'The Awful Specter of Yet Another Term'. See also his voting record on immigration.

Posted to Politics at 02:10 PM | Comments (0)

Missed show? See clip now

Missed show? See clip now. Nice clip. You like. You have lizard brain. We talk directly to it. Your lizard brain happy happy.

Posted to WackyHumor at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)

"[Idaho] County Commissioner Bills Mexican Government For Illegal Aliens"

From this:

Thousands of migrant farm workers are here legally but many are here illegally. It was that portion of the migrant labor population that Canyon County Commissioner Robert Vasquez singled out for special attention today suggesting that the Mexican government should reimburse local taxpayers for their expenses. "My fellow American's, constituents, friends and neighbors expect their county commissioner to spend the taxes on services for American's not on illegal alien's healthcare, education or detention."

That is why Vasquez today showed off a $2 million bill he is sending to the Mexican consulate in Salt Lake City. Vasquez says Canyon county has tallied up $1.4 million in housing illegal aliens in the county jail, and $575,000 on welfare services for illegal aliens over the last two years. "The reality is we are securing the borders of Iraq but we are not securing the borders of the United States, that is the reality..."

As can be expected, a member of the Race Industry is on hand to provide a stock argument:

But officials with the Idaho Migrant Council say Vasquez is missing the point. They say without illegal aliens a lot of the crops here in this country would end up rotting in the ground, according to Dr. Albert Pacheco, the council's director. "They would, because no native born American wants to work for those wages to work for those conditions and I think historically if we look at it America it has been built and has prospered based on illegal immigration."

Pacheco also suggests that Vasquez' use of words like "fight" and illegal "invasion" is subtle hate speech. "I think he is trying to pander to the racism and the ignorance that still exists in this country."

In other words, shut up. As for the actual argument that Pacheco tried to present, the line about crops rotting in the fields has been trotted out before, and it's usually false. See 'The Mirage of Mexican Guest Workers' and 'In Florida Groves, Cheap Labor Means Machines'.

Note also that the Idaho Migrant Council is one of those groups supporting U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon's AgJobs amnesty.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 11:57 PM | Comments (0)

"Police half-baked in Kerry protest?"

A Freep of MoveOn's bakesale for Kerry has made The Hill (scroll to 'Police half-baked in Kerry protest?'):

Police told a group of conservatives affiliated with FreeRepublic.com to cease a mock bake sale they held in front of John Kerry’s D.C. campaign headquarters last weekend...

Not long after members of the group set up on the sidewalk, said Taylor, the Kerry people came out to try to get them to leave. “They hid behind building security,” he said, “but every time security came out, the Kerry people were right behind them.”

After a few minutes of back and forth, he said, one of the campaign workers said they’d call the police...

After police arrived some time later, there was some confusion as to why the group had to be moved. The people couldn’t be ticketed for an improper protest, as they were under the 25-person threshold, said Taylor, nor were they selling anything.

The cops finally settled on a charge of “occupying a public space without a permit” due to the protesters’ two card tables. Despite the protesters’ request, cops refused to issue a $50 ticket.

“The Kerry people were outside monitoring it the entire time,” Taylor said...

A report on the protest appears here.

The Kerry blog also deletes comments.

Posted to Politics at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)

"Monumental Rip-Off?"

ABC has a long, worthwhile scoop on Oil For Food:

At least three senior United Nations officials are suspected of taking multimillion-dollar bribes from the Saddam Hussein regime, U.S. and European intelligence sources tell ABCNEWS.

One year after his fall, U.S. officials say they have evidence, some in cash, that Saddam diverted to his personal bank accounts approximately $5 billion from the United Nations Oil-for-Food program...

Most prominent among those accused in the scandal is Benon Sevan, the Cyprus-born U.N. undersecretary general who ran the program for six years...

The second page of the letter [found by ABC in the Iraqi Oil Ministry --LW] contains a table titled "Quantity of Oil Allocated and Given to Mr. Benon Sevan." The table lists a total of 7.3 million barrels of oil as the "quantity executed" — an amount that, if true, would have generated an illegal profit of as much as $3.5 million...

Other Iraqi government documents have been suspected of being or have been shown to be false, so it's not an open and shut case.

See also "UN officials 'covered up Saddam theft of billions in aid for Iraqis'":

Saddam Hussein diverted huge sums from the £60 billion United Nations oil-for-food programme for the poor and sick of pre-war Iraq to foreign governments and vocal supporters of his regime worldwide, the US Congress heard yesterday.

Senior UN, French and Russian officials were alleged to have connived at the scandal...

Sully has an excerpt from a 3/02 interview with Sevan here. (search for the 4/21 4:03pm entry if that link doesn't work)

Posted to Iraq at 09:36 PM | Comments (0)

"[Abu] Hamza seeks legal aid for citizenship fight"

From this:

Abu Hamza, the extremist Muslim cleric, has applied for legal aid to contest an attempt by the Home Office to strip him of British citizenship.

The Government had originally rejected his request for public funds to fight the case, which begins next Monday. But a review committee has now told the Legal Services Commission to "re-evaluate" that decision...

The only reason they should keep this guy around is so they can keep an eye on him and his "parishioners."

(Note also that the hyperlink appears in the Telegraph story just as it appears above. Other newspapers will hopefully follow their lead.)

Posted to Terrorism at 09:23 PM | Comments (0)

"Take Your Guns to Work Day"

Remember, tomorrow April 22 is Take Your Guns to Work Day. Bring your collection to your cubicle and show them off to your friends and co-workers.

Posted to WackyHumor at 08:45 PM | Comments (0)

"Hillary's Secret War"

This looks like an interesting book: 'Hillary's Secret War: The Clinton Conspiracy to Muzzle Internet Journalists'

After clicking the link above, click here for more information:

ON FEBRUARY 11, 1998, Hillary Clinton told reporters that the Internet needed an "editing" or "gatekeeping" function. The World Wide Web was out of control, she said. It needed to be reined in. Hillary neglected to mention at the press conference that she had already been waging a secret war to silence Internet dissidents for the last four years.

From her own War Room in the White House, Hillary commanded a secret police operation dedicated to suppressing evidence of Clinton crimes...

Hillary's operatives silenced witnesses; neutralized federal investigations; blackmailed Senators and Congressmen and intimidated journalists. They looked upon the "unregulated" datastream of cyberspace as a threat to their power, potentially devastating in its ability to bypass the controlled, corporate media. For that reason, Hillary's secret police persecuted Internet dissidents with special ferocity...

Posted to Politics at 07:41 PM | Comments (0)

All MulchGate, all the time

'Senator's Wife Charged With Assault'

Sources: Dispute Started With Garden Mulch

Full story here.

Even less serious coverage - with pictures - starts here.

Thanks to Brother Drudge for the link.

Posted to WackyHumor at 07:17 PM | Comments (0)

How to make "liberals" drop support for the DREAM Act

Bleeding heart leftie TalkLeft directs us to yet another demonstration in favor of the anti-American DREAM Act. (Note the URL is at MTV and that the article is basically an advocacy piece. For an earlier demonstration for the DREAM Act, see the post Karl Rove meets his new "voters".)

At TalkLeft, I provided the story of "Mike Jackson" to illustrate why this is horrible, anti-American legislation:

Mike - a U.S. Citizen from Alabama - wants a discounted college education. If Mike can't get a discounted college education, he won't be able to go to college, and he'll be forced to go work at Wal*Mart as a stocker.

Mike knows that there are only a finite number of discounted college educations available. There are only a limited number of colleges, and there's only a finite amount of money available for discounted college educations.

Mike is very worried about the DREAM Act. Under the DREAM Act, a citizen of another country could take Mike's hope at a college education away.

Mike wonders, "Why should a citizen of another country get the discounted college education I should have gotten? How could anyone support explicitly anti-American legislation like this? Shouldn't we give discounts to our own citizens before the citizens of other countries? Those citizens of other countries are eligible for free or discounted educations in their own countries. It's just not fair!"

Let's support Mike Jackson and all the other citizens who will have their discounted college educations taken away by a student from another country. Most of those citizens who will be affected by the DREAM Act are People of Color like Mike.

Mike doesn't exist. However, I have no doubt I could find thousands or tens of thousands of students who'd be adversely affected by this horrible bill.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 03:53 PM | Comments (0)

'Smurf House' greenlighted

Now, over to our Little Persons reporter, Bridget the Midget:

When a local dry-cleaner and his wife finally move into their new four-story home, they'll have a convenient downtown location, a drop-dead view, and plenty of room to breathe � as long as they don't puff out their cheeks too much.

Their entire spread will be built on a lot of 20 feet by 20 feet � an area about the size of a deluxe room at the Four Seasons Biltmore just down the highway.

Last week, the Santa Barbara City Council unanimously approved plans for the whimsical, Spanish-style tower. Neil Ablitt, owner of the pint-sized parcel, was jubilant about the council's action...

"It's an incredibly beautiful structure," Ablitt said. "It's a house of whimsy."

Meanwhile, a million more worthy stories happened while the L.A. Times was trying to compete with Reuter's Oddly Enough category.

Other coverage of this momentous event here.

If, like me, you'd rather think about Bridget the Midget, go here, here, here, or here.

Posted to WackyHumor at 01:00 PM | Comments (0)

Guilty "liberals" at Sierra Club choose smears over fact

From the AP report 'Sierra Club chooses establishment candidates in board election':

Sierra Club leaders beat back efforts by anti-immigration forces trying to gain control of the nation's largest environmental group, persuading members to defeat the challengers by a landslide in board elections...

An increasingly vocal faction of the San Francisco-based Sierra Club has advocated a tougher stance on immigration, calling U.S. population growth the greatest danger to the environment.

Leaders of that faction have accused the club's leadership of unfairly trying to influence the election by using club resources to back candidates picked by the nominating committee.

Lies by the "non-liberal" press didn't help. For instance, the lie above about the challengers being "anti-immigration." Sure, it's a step up from calling them "anti-immigrant," but it's still a smear. The challengers aren't "anti-immigration," they prefer restrictions on immigration. Maybe next election the press can be encouraged to lie less.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 12:09 PM | Comments (0)

"Activist accused of smuggling 2 into U.S."

Stifle your schadenfreude:

A high-profile Latina activist upset over a series of deportations involving young, undocumented Phoenix residents was caught Thursday trying to smuggle two of them back into the United States from Mexico in the trunk of her car, officials said.

Ana Lizabeth Roman de Harvey, 40, of Phoenix, was charged Friday with felony alien smuggling and a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to make illegal entry...

She faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the felony charge...

Ramon de Harvey was upset after a tense meeting with Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, city officials and other Latino leaders Monday about a March 28 incident in which at least eight juveniles [some of whom were alleged gang members --LW] were sent back to Mexico because they could not prove they were living in the United States legally...

Ramon de Harvey came to the United States illegally in her late teens and became a citizen in 1993. Her work with LULAC and the Phoenix Police Department's Hispanic advisory board has made the native of El Salvador a well-known face in the immigrant community and on the political scene...

"She's not a smuggler," said Salvador Reza, who worked with Ramon on Palomino's day labor center. "She's an activist that takes her job so serious that she's willing to risk it. She gets something into her head, thinks it's for the 'good of the cause' and doesn't care what the consequences are. She follows her heart but just doesn't use her brain."

(Via this)

Posted to Immigration2003 at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)

Sioux warriors seize part of Badlands National Park

This is news to me, but apparently for over two years a group of Sioux have been occupying part of Badlands National Park.

According to Backpacker Magazine:

A band of armed Sioux warriors have seized 134,000 acres of Badlands National Park to protect what they say is a sacred burial ground...

This local article attempts to downplay the Backpacker article.

See also this and this.

Posted to OutdoorSports at 10:25 PM | Comments (0)

"Terror on the dole"

Interesting article about British Muslim extremists and their dreams of committing terrorism in Britain: 'Terror on the dole'. It includes the following:

The question is: how worried should we be? Is al-Muhajiroun nothing more than a repository for disaffected Muslim youths who have adopted an extreme interpretation of Islam - perhaps to cock a snook at the white establishment - but who are essentially posturing? Or does the group also perform a more sinister function, sucking in alienated young men and brainwashing the more impressionable into becoming future suicide bombers?

Britain could, of course, avoid having to ask itself that question by expelling as many of these people as possible and refusing entry to anyone else who might be a danger.

Posted to Terrorism at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)

Lcpl Boudreaux: The photo was doctored

From the AP story 'Marines reopen photo probe':

The Marines have reopened an investigation into a photograph circulating on the Internet that depicts a reservist with Iraqi children and a sign saying the serviceman killed one boy’s father and impregnated the boy’s sister.

The reservist under investigation, Lance Cpl. Ted J. Boudreaux, has told investigators that the photograph was doctored, Marine Reserve spokesman Capt. Jeffrey Pool said Monday.

Muslim civil rights groups had complained that the picture is demeaning to Iraqis, and demanded that the soldier be punished if the image is genuine.

To assist in the investigation, the Marines have retained the help of imaging experts from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

“Because this is so specialized, we’re going to have to seek outside help,” Pool said.

The Marines announced last week that the probe was complete, but said Monday that it had been reopened, with investigators focusing on the authenticity of the image.

Previous coverage starts here.

UPDATE: The Marines Corps Times informs us: "...Boudreaux maintained throughout the investigation that the photo was altered by someone else." (latter link via this)

Posted to Iraq at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)

"Oil-for-Terror?"

Here's a discussion of "BCCI with a U.N. label:"

...Especially with the U.N.'s own investigation into Oil-for-Food now taking shape, and more congressional hearings in the works, it is high time to focus on the likelihood that Saddam may have fiddled Oil-for-Food contracts not only to pad his own pockets, buy pals, and acquire clandestine arms — but also to fund terrorist groups, quite possibly including al Qaeda.

There are at least two links documented already. Both involve oil buyers picked by Saddam and approved by the U.N. One was a firm with close ties to a Liechtenstein trust that has since been designated by the U.N. itself as "belonging to or affiliated with Al Qaeda." The other was a Swiss-registered subsidiary of a Saudi oil firm that had close dealings with the Taliban during Osama bin Laden's 1990's heyday in Afghanistan...

Posted to Iraq at 11:31 PM | Comments (0)

"Spaniards celebrate Iraq pull-out"

The Beeb has a slanted discussion of more "spontaneous demonstrations" in Madrid:

Most Spaniards have welcomed Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's announcement that he will bring home the 1,300 Spanish peacekeepers from Iraq as quickly as possible since they have no UN mandate to be there.

In central Madrid, hundreds poured out on to the streets to celebrate.

Twenty-one-year-old Juan said: " It made me sick every time I see footage of Spanish soldiers in Iraq. We have no business to be there."

Sandra brought her two young children to the spontaneous demo.

In other news, the body of one of the Spanish policemen killed in a recent terror raid has been desecrated.

Posted to Iraq at 11:27 PM | Comments (0)

"FCC Gets S-Word Complaint"

Holy S! Check out this major proof-reading error:

Looks like the S-word might be the next profanity in the sites of indecency foes.

Can you believe that? Spelling errors like that are in my 'sites.'

As for the rest of the article, it goes into how decency maven John/Jack Thompson has complained about 60 Minutes airing the "S-word:"

Attorney John Thompson, whose complaints about Howard Stern helped prompt Clear Channel to banish the jock and the FCC to fine the company almost half a million dollars, says he has faxed a complaint to the FCC about Sunday night's 60 Minutes broadcast, in which singer Mary J. Blige uttered an under-her-breath "shit."

60 Minutes? Holy s!

For more on Thompson's wacky quest, see this, this, this, this, and this. Maybe one way to get this guy out of our hair would be to make him Minister of Decency in Iraq.

Posted to Privacy at 11:19 PM | Comments (0)

NYT, Bloomberg against non-citizen voting

The New York Times has an editorial ('A Citizen's Right') opposing voting for non-citizens. They mention that Mayor Mike Bloomberg is also opposed to it:

This page believes that it is in the nation's best interest to encourage people who live here permanently to become citizens and throw in their lot with the interests of the United States. Extending the most important benefits of citizenship to those who still hold their first allegiance to another country seems counterproductive.

On the other hand, the Houston Chronicle has a news article slanted towards voting by non-citizens ('Immigrants' voting rights becoming a major issue'). It should come as no surprise that "liberal" blogger TalkLeft supports non-citizen voting; see my excoriating comments here. I'm sure countries like Mexico and China would just love to have their citizens voting in our elections. I mean, more than they do so already.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 11:08 PM | Comments (0)

Sharon Mitchell starring in "Backdoor to Hollywood"

The L.A. Daily News covers the recent HIV cases in the adult cinema industry in 'Adult film scare could alter rules'. It contains some quotes that are scary, and one that's really funny. Completely unattractive 70s porn starlet Sharon Mitchell - now conducting testing and various other adult-cinema-industry related services - says this about prospective porn stars:

"They think it's the back door to Hollywood ... they get stuck here on this side of the hill."

One of the scary quotes concerns possible regulation of the adult-cinema-industry:

"We want to bring this industry into the mainstream by putting it under the regulations that currently exist for Cal-OSHA. This would be a model for the rest of the country."

Yes, but will the state give them a kiss afterwards?

SEXY NAKED FREE PORNO UPDATE: According to the bible of the adult-cinema-industry, "The Los Angeles County Health Department is expected to subpoena records relating to the current HIV scare from the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (AIM) this morning, though adult industry lawyers are at hand to verify the subpoenas are enforceable." Maybe they can weave government screwing inspections into their story lines. Sexy government gal comes to a porn set to make sure everything's on the up-and-up, and gets caught up in the sexy action and covered with Valley sweat. Yeah!

Posted to Los_Angeles at 08:04 PM | Comments (0)

"Sponsor Drops Efforts To Give [Florida] Illegal Aliens Drivers Licenses"

From the AP:

A bill that would have allowed illegal aliens in Florida to obtain driver's licenses has been abandoned by its sponsor following security concerns raised by law enforcement officials around the state.

Sen. Rudy Garcia, R-Hialeah, said Friday he would propose studying the issue before next year's legislative session begins. The bill (SB 1630) was backed by Gov. Jeb Bush, but it was quickly dismissed by sheriffs who questioned whether other countries could provide acceptable criminal background checks.

Bush acknowledged Saturday it would not pass this year but said he would continue to work with law enforcement to try to improve the measure before the next session...

It's over for now, but I have no doubt it will be back. Perhaps Jeb can come up with an even more complicated plan to work with several foreign governments. No doubt working with our own federal government to enforce our laws was considered too easy a solution.

Previous coverage starts here.

Posted to Immigration_dls at 11:00 AM | Comments (1)

What holds us VRWC members together?

"Captain" Kevin Drum sets to sea in a quest to determine what holds us "conservatives" together. Why do we think this way? Is there any way to prevent us from thinking this way? Can we somehow be taught to think the right way?

Herewith are some of the main things holding us VRWC members together:

• Hatred of "liberals."
  
• Hatred of Mark A. R. Kleiman.
  
• Sheer, visceral disgust with self-satisfied, pompous, correctthinking, self-righteous, anti-American "liberals."
  
• Decades of evidence that "liberalism" is bad for society: multiculturalism, tolerance for some forms of racism and bigotry, freedom through authoritarianism, "liberal" intolerance for mainstream American thought and lifestyles being portrayed as tolerance, political correctness, helping Oppressed Minority People Of Color deal with their Oppression under the Yoke of the White Devil Oppressor, Anything-But-America, weakness when dealing with foreign countries, etc. etc.

For more, see 'How the Intellectuals Took Over (And What to Do About It)' or 'Beyond Tolerance?' from the much-hated-by-rightthinking-folks John Derbyshire.

Posted to Politics at 09:40 PM | Comments (0)

It must be sob story season

Yesterday I covered the AP story of the Mexican legal immigrant who faces deportation because she was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. I didn't discuss the case itself so much as AP's treatment of it and their treatment of other more important news stories. It includes the following line:

Now she faces another ordeal - the prospect of being torn from her family and sent back to a country she no longer knows...

Today, Radley Balko alerts us to this 4/8/04 Richmond Times-Dispatch article about another immigrant in a similar situation. It includes the following line:

O'Brien is still there three months later, awaiting possible deportation to a country she no longer knows and far away from the family she has raised in America.

What a coinkydink! It could in fact be just a coincidence. Or, some advocacy group or other could be feeding these reporters quotes which they then incorporate into their articles. Why spoil perfectly good verbage?

For an example of how something like this might work, consider this article:

Since late November [2002], the Mexican government, via its Consulate Offices in the U.S., has planted the exact same Op-ed, give or take a comma or two, into at least 17 major U.S. dailies...

Posted to Immigration2003 at 11:16 AM | Comments (1)

"9/11 Panel Calls Policies on Immigration Ineffective"

The NYT article "9/11 Panel Calls Policies on Immigration Ineffective" discusses the immigration programs which were presumably put in place after the 9/11 attacks. It does have a dissenting comment from a former administration counsel. I don't have enough knowledge of these programs to comment, however my thoughts at the time regarding the roundup of immigrants from Middle East countries was that they were designed to fail. In other words, a pro-mass-immigration bureaucrat might have decided to make the program look bad by making a draconian roundup which was doomed to get bad press.

In any case, the article includes supporting quotes from the usual suspects. Read the NYT article in light of these two articles which describe those usual suspects in more detail than the NYT would ever give you: 'The Open Borders Lobby and the Nation's Security After 9/11' and 'Strange Bedfellows: Left and right on immigration'.

Posted to Immigration_terror at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)

Berkeley lecturer urges 'uprising' against U.S.

From WND:

A University of California at Berkeley lecturer speaking at an anti-war rally Saturday called for a Palestinian-style intifada, or uprising, against the United States in response to American actions in the Middle East...

An estimated 2,000 to 3,000 people attended the "emergency" action organized by the radical anti-war group International A.N.S.W.E.R. in response to the increased fighting in the Iraqi city of Fallujah...

The lecturer in Berkeley's Near Eastern Studies and Ethnic Studies Departments continued:

"Well, we've been watching intifada in Palestine, we've been watching an uprising in Iraq, and the question is that what are we doing? How come we don't have an intifada in this country?

Extra special bonus: he was "a translation consultant for the San Francisco Chronicle on stories relating to Islam, Muslims and world politics."

This type of stuff needs to be nipped in the bud. Please go to this page to send an email to the Chancellor of Berkeley.

Posted to Terrorism at 10:47 AM | Comments (0)

Dissing Sam Huntington

On March 14, 2004, the L.A. Times ran an editorial that tried its best to counter Samuel Huntington's Foreign Policy essay 'The Hispanic Challenge'. The editorial was entitled:

Wrongheaded Assault on a 'Brown Peril'

Just so there's no mistake, that was the exact title, punctuated as shown. The editorial starts with the following, once again retaining the original punctuation:

"The best Injun is a dead Injun." "The Yellow Peril." "The Red Menace." To this colorful array of prejudices and many others past and present, Harvard professor Samuel P. Huntington now adds the latest object of hate and suspicion: "the Brown Menace."

Based on the fact that "Brown Menace" is put in quotes, as is "Brown Peril," wouldn't you think those two phrases would appear in Huntington's essay? Well, if you did, you'd be wrong. The only place the word "brown" appears is in a discussion of massive immigration perhaps leading to the development of white nationalists:

These new white nationalists do not advocate white racial supremacy but believe in racial self-preservation and affirm that culture is a product of race. They contend that the shifting U.S. demographics foretell the replacement of white culture by black or brown cultures that are intellectually and morally inferior.

Haven't you already lost when the only argument you can present is one obtained by misquoting or misrepresenting the other's argument? I have to tell you, I'm shocked the L.A. Times would sink this low. Oh, wait, no, actually I'm not shocked.

I haven't been following the anti-Huntington screeds spewing forth on the "non-liberal" newspapers throughout the land, but I'd imagine that a good number of them employ the same device, safe in the knowledge that most people are not Foreign Policy subscribers nor are they compulsive googlers for said magazine's articles.

Now, a new anti-Huntington editorial has arrived that also makes similar mistakes. It's in a much smaller market, namely readers of the University of Miami's rag: 'Lost in translation Perdido en la traducción'.

Of the many problems, one is that the supposed Huntington quote "lack initiative and accept poverty" is a) taken out of context, and b) is actually a quote from someone else. Another problem is that the second supposed Huntington quote - "low work ethic" - does not appear in Huntington's essay.

One thing that does appear is an unflattering portrayal of Miami.

At least former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castaneda's attempt to counter Huntington's argument (also printed in the L.A. Dog Trainer) didn't distort his message, even if it ended up showing just how right Huntington is.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 07:33 PM | Comments (0)

If the Lakers don't win the championship, you only have yourself to blame

All residents of Los Angeles must immediately affix as many Lakers flags to their cars or bicycles as possible. If you fail in this, the Lakers will lose. It is that simple.

Sure, you've got a "phat ride." But, is it "phat" enough? Couldn't you fit just one more Lakers flag to it, such as Lakers flags on each hubcap, or a Laker flag affixed to your gas cap door?

Those spinning rims that keep spinning when your tires stop sure are spiffy. But, they'd be even spiffier in blue and gold. Hop to it, Los Angeles!

Posted to Los_Angeles at 01:17 PM | Comments (0)

MorfordBot is back

S.F. Chronical columnist Mark Morford has unfortunately returned from his hiatus. No news is provided on why he was off for more than a month.

Posted to Celebrities at 01:13 PM | Comments (0)

"Bush 'amnesty' blamed for rise in illegals"

And here you thought the Bush/Fox Amnesty was just a harmless political ploy that would have no real effect except on the electorate:

The number of illegal aliens being apprehended on the southwestern border has jumped 25 percent in the first three months of 2004 compared with last year, and some are blaming President Bush's immigration proposal in January for enticing immigrants across the border...

The increase in apprehensions was driven by a spike within the two Arizona sectors, Yuma and Tucson, which saw increases of 60 percent and 51 percent, respectively...

Mr. Bush says his plan doesn't amount to an amnesty, but [Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican and chairman of the House Immigration Reform Caucus] said that's how those in other countries see it.

"The rest of the world knows exactly what he said. A Mexican peasant in Chiapas interpreted it correctly," he said.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 11:45 AM | Comments (1)

Does "AP" stand for "AgitProp?" - Part 2 of a long series

Part 1 of this series discussed the "possible hate crime" the AP reported on back in February. It concerned an illegal alien mother and daughter who were murdered in Fremont, CA. On the slimmest evidence, the AP's Justin Pritchard declared it a possible hate crime and tried to lay the blame for their murders on the fact that, as illegal aliens, they did not have driver's licenses. Gil Cedillo since used their murders for political purposes. As of a month ago, the murders were unsolved.

Part 2 of this series concerns AP reporter Laura Wides.

Today she has a long piece on a legal Mexican immigrant who is trying to fight deportation after being convicted of conspiracy to commit murder ('Paroled Mexican woman fights deportation'). Our goal here is not to discuss the merits of the woman's case, but AP's coverage of the story.

Laura Wides' latest piece goes into the legal issues of the case. It discusses the history leading up to the murder. It appears that Laura Wides interviewed at least five or six people for this piece. And, I'm sure she spent some time confirming statements made by the woman, her lawyer, and others. And, it's written in a weepy, Struthersian style that makes you almost want to pick up your phone and donate to her defense fund:

"Now she faces another ordeal - the prospect of being torn from her family and sent back to a country she no longer knows..."

"...a permanent U.S. resident whose ailing mother and eight siblings are U.S. citizens..."

"From the yard of the detention center, Suarez, now 43, catches glimpses of the life she missed."

"Suarez's nightmare began in 1976..."

Now, compare the AP's coverage of this story to their coverage of the previous post, 'Central American and Mexican consulates to aid Calif immigrants'. That story is far more important. It will have a far greater impact on people in the U.S. and other countries. Where are the interviews, including from those who might say this is a bad thing for America? Where is the backstory? Go read the original report; one might be forgiven for confusing it with a press release from the Mexican consulate.

If foreign countries are forming pacts to help their citizens evade our laws and to give the corrupt elites of those countries even more political power within our country, shouldn't the AP be covering that pact with the same force with which they cover weepy Sally Struthers pieces?

Send your comments to info [AT] ap.org.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)

"Central American and Mexican consulates to aid Calif immigrants"

From the AP:

Consuls from Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica and Mexico say they're uniting forces to improve the quality of life for Hispanic immigrants in California.

The consuls announced a plan Wednesday to work with U.S. officials and community groups to provide joint education and legal assistance in areas of health, immigration and labor rights...

"The question is not, 'what do the countries gain from uniting?', it's 'what do we stand to lose by not doing it?'" Guatemalan Consul Fernando Castillo said before signing the agreement in Los Angeles' Olvera Plaza, where the city was founded by Spanish settlers more than two centuries ago.

The consuls maintain the United States relies on migrant labor, while Central American countries and Mexico rely on the revenue those migrants send home...

The consuls will begin the new effort with an event to raise awareness about civic participation. They also plan to hold a health fair to highlight programs available for immigrants and share legal resources to help those detained by immigration authorities.

But they were clear that as diplomats, they will not get involved in the upcoming U.S. elections, and their focus remains Los Angeles County, which has roughly 4 million Central American and Mexican immigrants, the largest concentration in the country...

You gotta wonder. Do these people have hypnotic powers or something? How are they able to tell outright lies and make pacts designed to evade our laws and sign those pacts in our own country, yet no members of the press nor politicians notice that something is deeply wrong?

For an introduction to how Mexican consuls work with community groups to evade our laws, see the Washington Times article 'Mexico lobbies for alien amnesty'.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 10:32 PM | Comments (2)

"Good Grief, What's In The Tally Water???"

From the columnist Daniel Ruth writing about Jeb Bush's plan to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens:

...Any bets that within six months, had the Florida Senate not killed Bush's flight of fantasy, Osama bin Laden might well have been driving a cab in Miami?

C'mon, this is Florida state government - a SNAFU (Situation Normal, All Floriduhed Up) waiting to happen.

In a state where at least 12 of the 19 terrorist hijackers of Sept. 11 possessed Florida driver's licenses or identity cards, Jeb Bush wanted everyone to believe those bent on evil-doing weren't going to figure a way around any paper- pushing safeguards the state could concoct?

Previous coverage of Jeb Bush's wacky plan here, here, and here.

Posted to Immigration_dls at 10:01 PM | Comments (0)

Don't let an oppressor end her dream

I urge all Oppressed Minority or Power-Deficient Peoples of Color to call the Housing Rights Center at 1-800-477-5977 and ask what you can do to prevent Oppressors - whether blonde or dark-blonde like the one on the left - from taking away the dream of Young Ladies of Color like that pictured above. That'll show those Oppressors!

Posted to MultiCultiCult at 07:40 PM | Comments (0)

Lonewacko predicts...

Predictions made at 4/15/04 8pm PST:

- a poll will be held in Europe: "should Europe accept OBL offer of peace?"

33% will answer :yes"; 50% will answer "NO"; 17% will be undecided

- "peace" groups in the U.S. - including A.N.S.W.E.R. and NION - will formally announce their request for a peace agreement with OBL.

- "liberals" close to being (truly) mainstream "liberals" will allude to OBL's offer; the idea that OBL wants peace and can be dealt with will start at the far left and slowly work its way towards "mainstream" liberals.

(See also 'Dean Wheeler on the Spanish elections')

Posted to Terrorism at 07:22 PM | Comments (0)

If you were John Kerry, you'd be home by now

Class warfare is not right!

Posted to Politics at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)

Put it on autopilot, did you, Hal, you old dawg!

LAObserved alerts us to this defense by septigenarian KTLA anchor Hal Fishman of perky sex kitten and fellow KTLA anchor Sharon Tay. Ms. Tay had been featured in an L.A. Times story asking if TV newsreaderettes were too hot.

Alright Hal! Hal, you old dawg. You da man!

Posted to Los_Angeles at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

"Mexican Consulate seeking free [office] space [in Dallas]"

The Mexican consulate in Dallas (that's in Texas, in the United States) needs more office space to avoid long lines. And, they want it free.

Moreover, the mayor of Dallas did not tell them to go get stuffed, she had this to say: "We may not have any space. But we'll take a look at it."

Not only that, Mayor Laura Miller has two locations in mind, both public libraries.

Wait, there's more! The Dallas Morning News report by Dave Levinthal has this to say:

Every day, 800 people visit the consulate, many of them Mexican immigrants lining up outside the building near Love Field before dawn to obtain a passport or a document issued to expatriate cititzens known as the matricula consular.

Dave Levinthal is also the author of this earlier smear piece. The ads mentioned in that article are sponsored by a group which counts the well-known FAIR among its membership; they are not "anti-immigration" as stated in that article, and the other claims are lies or gross distortions. Unfortunately, the two candidates involved may join together to keep the ad off the air. You can read the script of the ad here.

Even without seeing a video of the ad I think I'm safe in assuming that calling it "racist" is simply another smear.

Posted to Immigration_consul at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)

"Ruling Aids Illegal Workers"

The L.A. Times reports on a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that makes it easier for illegal aliens to sue their employers ("Ruling Aids Illegal Workers"):

"Granting employers the right to inquire into workers' immigration status in cases like this would allow them to raise implicitly the threat of deportation and criminal prosecution every time a worker, documented or undocumented, reports illegal practices," Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote in the ruling. Reinhardt said such inquiries would discourage workers from coming forward, and "countless acts of illegal and reprehensible conduct would go unreported."

While it does give rights to illegal aliens, it also makes those workers less attractive to prospective employers. One of the main reasons employers hire illegals is they're less likely to complain. And, that makes them cheaper overall. However, recent suits have ratcheted up the total costs to employers and will hopefully serve as a disincentive to hire illegals. Why not hire a legal resident or a citizen, and avoid headaches?

Posted to Immigration2003 at 02:15 PM | Comments (0)

LOST and in trouble

The Law of the Sea Treaty looks to be in trouble:

The Law of the Sea Convention, an international treaty governing uses of the world's oceans, was steaming toward Senate ratification last fall, backed by everyone from the White House to the Navy to lawmakers from both political parties.

But U.S. approval may be capsized by conservatives wary of having the country sign any more international agreements, especially one overseen by the United Nations.

The Bush administration appears to have backed away from the treaty, and despite exhortations by such Republicans as Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, Senate leaders are making no effort to bring the treaty to a vote....

Perhaps this had something to do with it:

Former U.N. ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick told a Senate hearing today that the Law of the Sea Treaty threatened America’s sovereignty and interests not only on the high seas but in the air and outer space as well...

Previous LOST coverage starts here.

Posted to Politics at 10:32 PM | Comments (0)

"Bustamante agrees to largest ever campaign violation fine"

I don't know whether this is what Bustamante wanted or not; it's certainly not as good as the $9 million they could have fined him:

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante paid a record $263,000 fine for violating state limits on accepting campaign donations, California's Fair Political Practices Commission said today.

The state's political watchdog agency charged in a civil lawsuit filed in January that Bustamante and his supporters improperly moved $3.8 million between campaign committees during the recall election in an effort to skirt contribution limits.

Although FPPC officials have said Bustamante faced fines of as much as $9 million, the $263,000 settlement is still the largest ever paid by a candidate...

Bustamante's shenanigans are mentioned in this older article.

I vaguely recall another donation violation with an exorbitant fine that seemed to be politically motivated. They were fined for each occurence, adding up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, I can't remember enough keywords to find it.

Posted to California at 08:44 PM | Comments (0)

Anyone seen Bush?

He seems to have wandered off.

He got slightly back on track after the refreshing pause provided by the stuttering Asian-American reporter.

Oops, now he's wandering again... now he's back... wandering... back...

His messianic zeal for the liberation of Iraq is a little off-putting. However, hopefully his message about staying the course will strike a chord with people. He is, of course, right about the attacks in Iraq being designed to get us to pull out. And, he's right that we can't give the enemies what they want.

He failed to mention that there are some people in the U.S. who end up supporting our enemies by encouraging that we leave Iraq immediately.

As for the comment about some people thinking Iraqis can't be free, he was correct in stating that was a stupid comment when made out of ethnic grounds. However, adding the bit about "brown-skinned" was too much. Presidents shouldn't play the race card.

Posted to Politics at 04:58 PM | Comments (0)

Relax! Plus, burqas are now in fashion

In the April 4 NYT, historian Niall Ferguson discussed that the formation of "Eurabia" was one possible result of massive Muslim immigration to Europe:

The French historian Alain Besancon is one of a number of European intellectuals who detect a significant threat to the continent's traditional Christian culture. The Egyptian-born writer Bat Yeor has for some years referred to the rise of a new ''Eurabia'' that is hostile in equal measure to the United States and Israel...

A youthful Muslim society to the south and east of the Mediterranean is poised to colonize -- the term is not too strong -- a senescent Europe...

Now, two lesser lights inform us he's being alarmist ('Scot’s vision of Islamic Europe is condemned as ‘alarmist’):

Angus Calder, the Edinburgh-based historian, said Mr Ferguson was seeking to alarm and shock, while Neal Ascherson, the author and journalist, accused him of "playing along with fundamentalist panic"... Mr Calder said yesterday: "Ferguson is a clever man but his basic position tells me he has taken free market liberalism to an insane pitch. I would not deny that it could happen but I think he is being alarmist.

"He is definitely not a racist but he is a historian who fizzes with ideas, not all of them considered long and hard enough."

Mr Ascherson said: "The idea that they (Muslims) are coming to get us, that they will invade, settle and conquer us, is ridiculous. He is having fun, pulling our legs and enjoying himself...

Well, that puts my mind at ease. It could happen, but he's being alarmist about it. And, it's all just a jolly jape, too! The Herald article includes a history lesson at the end that our two apologists might want to pay attention to. As well as quotes such as this: "Islam will return once more to Europe as a conqueror and as a victorious power." And, of course, there's all that talk about al Andalus.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 02:35 PM | Comments (2)

More peace-loving Kerry supporters

MoveOn.org is holding bake sales across the country in order to raise money for Kerry.

There are only a few in general Northeastern L.A. Most are on the Westside, such as this lovely event:

MECHA for Kerry and Bustamante (10 baker(s)/helper(s))
Santa Monica Library on Montana
Santa Monica, CA
WE will set up out front on the Montana side of the Library. The UCLA group and USC will have competitive tables to see who can raise the most money for our cause. We are waiting to hear from CSU Northridge and from Santa Monica City College. All are welcome; if you come to protest our event - rest assured that we will take care of you - do not protest us.
Friday, April 16, 01:30 PM

Ah, peace-loving liberals! For a recent example of other peace-loving Kerry supporters, see “The Margolis Incident”.

UPDATE: As indicated above, most of these bakesales are in the Westside. There are none in Inglewood. There are none in the Compton area. The only one in the northern South L.A. area is at USC, which doesn't count.

UPDATE 2: There are now two general South L.A. bake sales, one near LaBrea/Adams, the other near Western/Adams. The Crenshaw area is still bake sale-free. Perhaps they could cut a one-day-only deal with the Nation of Islam.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 09:05 PM | Comments (0)

Some people should be out of a job

Check out the quotes in the story "Are the suburban counties inviting terrorists?"

An official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said jurisdictions that fail to check the immigration status of people receiving tax-funded rent subsidies are opening the door to terrorists.

"Those are the vulnerabilities that people have exploited in the past to commit acts of terrorism," said ICE spokesman Garrison K. Courtney.

The Washington Times first reported last week that Arlington and Montgomery counties are the only jurisdictions in the metropolitan area that do not perform the immigration check, creating a loophole that allows illegal aliens to receive county rent assistance. [See "Illegals escape subsidy scrutiny" and the earlier "Sanctuaries for crime"]

Officials in Montgomery and Arlington counties defended their hands-off policy, saying that catching illegal immigrants isn't their responsibility.

"It is the federal government's role to check the borders and monitor for illegal aliens. It isn't my job," said Barbara Favola, Democrat and chairman of the Arlington County Board... Miss Favola also said an immigration check would be insulting to people seeking aid dollars. "We really work at developing a trust level with all our residents in Arlington," she said. "I want to be a friendly and welcoming place, period — to anyone who comes within our borders."

..."We are not in the immigration business," [a spokesman for Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan] said. "If the federal immigration service needs more staff, they need to lobby Congress for more staff, not rely on local governments to do [the job]..."

"Where there is no federal requirement," he said, "we adopt the position that we are in the service business and we do not want to impede the delivery of those services."

Help for Ms. Faviola might be on the way: "For [Arlington] County Board & School Board: [GOP] nominees or endorsees will be selected at an Arlington Republican canvass election, to be held Monday, May 10..." That's assuming, of course, that a Republican can be found who will do his job.

The page "Montgomery County Executive Encourages Illegal Immigration, Charges FAIR" has a lot more information on Douglas Duncan, who is truly a supporter of illegal immigration.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 08:37 PM | Comments (0)

"Arab TV networks accused of fueling violence in Iraq"

"Anti-US sentiment has been heightened by Al-Jazeera and other anti-coalition media reporting" on the closure of a Shiite radical newspaper and the siege of the insurgent bastion of Fallujah, the coalition's deputy director of operations, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, told a news conference...

[...whining about al Jazeera deleted...]

...But Al-Jazeera, which has been in hot water many times before regarding its reporting in Iraq, insists on its professional standards...

Yeah, so? What did you expect from the Land of Conspiracy Theories?

Why is a General complaining about this at a press conference? Here's a wild thought: do something to counter their propaganda, and don't step right into attempts to have propaganda used against you.

For instance, what are we doing to discredit al Jazeera or counter their claims? I have no specific information on that as I am not in Iraq and I do not have access to Iraqi media. However, it appears that we aren't doing much if all we do is whine about it at press conferences.

Posted to Iraq at 01:06 PM | Comments (0)

"Way Too Many People in Paradise"

L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez expresses his middle-class dissent about massive immigration:

Only those who commute, work for a living or breathe air should have any concerns about the latest news out of paradise.

I'm talking about the story informing us that in the last three years, 1 million additional people have taken up residence in sunny Southern California...

Millions more are expected to join the party in the years to come, and once they get acclimated to local customs, every last one of them will be the lone occupant of a slow-moving vehicle traveling an insane distance from home to work...

Immigration is a federal rather than a state responsibility, but California gets more immigrants than any other state. So why can't the congressional delegation at least speak up for tighter control of illegal immigration? Better yet, why not lobby for investing in south-of-the-border development the way we are investing in Iraq?

He also touches on the current battle for control of the Sierra Club, quoting one of the leaders of the restrictionist side. And, unlike other articles in the L.A. Times and elsewhere, he doesn't verge into the Restrictionists Are Nazis thing. So, congrats to Steve for finally seeing a glimmer of light.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)

John Kerry's blog is now deleting comments

On the thread 'Middle-class Misery Index Hits Record Under George Bush', I left a comment concerning JFK's immigration policies. It was posted; I checked after having posted it. It's no longer there.

Not only that, when I tried to repost it, I was forced to go through their verification again, after which I was confronted with a message telling me "You are not allowed to post comments."

My comment was not abusive, libelous, etc. in any way, I simply pointed out major problems with JFK's immigration policies. See my comment on this thread for an example (search for 'TheLonewackoBlog'). I don't know how long that comment will be there if they decide to start sending things down the Memory Hole.

Here's the deleted comment from memory:

Meanwhile, JFK's immigration policies will invite millions of illegal immigrants to come to the U.S.

That will drive down wages for the poorest Americans, and increase the tax burden on the middle-class.

But, don't worry! Some people will benefit from JFK's immigration policies: super-rich corporate tycoons who love low-wage foreign labor.

UPDATE: I should make it clear that blog.johnkerry.com is private property, and they have the right to delete comments at will. However, I also have a right to bring it to the attention of as many people as possible that the information contained at blog.johnkerry.com is moderated and that apparently JFK can't stand public debate but instead wants to wallow in samethink.

As for the comments here, I've only got about 500 in over a year and half of blogging. I've deleted several spams comments concerning Male Enhancement Products and gaming, however I've only deleted two non-spam comments. One was from this post on Nicholas "a thousand Mogadishus" DeGenova; it appeared to give his home address. The second comment I deleted was from this recent post about the Marine with the sign.

Posted to Politics at 10:31 AM | Comments (5)

That was a real Marine, and the sign was real (update: or was it?)

Remember the picture of the supposed Marine with the cardboard sign? ("Lcpl Boudreaux Killed my Dad. then he Knocked up my Sister!") It turns out that it was probably a real sign held up by a real Marine reservist. See the story in the Marine Times.

Would that it were true, but here's a fake based on the original sign: "Lcpl Boudreaux saved my Dad. then he rescued my Sister!"

The only problem is the handwriting is internally inconsistent, for instance in the lower-case "d"s. Nice try, but let's do better next time.

There's a higher-res version of the original picture here.

Supposedly the Marines will finish their investigation in a week or two, and I'll provide an update when that's released.

UPDATE: I just spoke with Jeff Pool, the Marine Forces Reserve spokesman mentioned in the Marine Corps Times article. He indicated that all aspects of this event are being investigated, and that it's still open whether the photo was altered or not. The Marine Corps Times article had implied that the photo itself was not in question, only the information on the sign. So, it might turn out that the photo itself was altered. The results of the investigation are expected shortly, perhaps even today.

UPDATE 2: There's a long discussion about this here.

UPDATE 3: Boudreaux says the sign was doctored; the Marines have reopened their investigation.

Posted to Iraq at 09:50 PM | Comments (4)

Canine-Americans for John Kerry!

Ah, corporate pluralism at its finest. Not content with the human vote, John Kerry is going after Canine-Americans:

Join the growing number of K9s who are supporting their owners in their efforts to elect John Kerry as the next President of the United States!!!!!

The founders of this site are SparQuay and Karo Mae. We believe that every dog should be a "yellow dog democrat" at heart. Join us as we support our owners who support John Kerry.

Isn't that cute! I'd laugh if not for the fact that in the U.S. there are probably a few thousand pets registered to vote, and most of those are Democrats.

Canine-Americans and Canine-Caretaker-Americans join Hunter-Americans in the long list of hyphenated "Activist Communities" that JFK is trying to reach out to.

A statement from Feline-Americans is expected on Monday.

Regular-Americans could not be reached for comment.

Posted to Politics at 09:12 PM | Comments (0)

WWEPSAGHD? (*)

August 6, 2001:

Vince, I'd like to talk to you about stopping this right-wing conspiracy to keep senior citizens from getting their prescription drugs. Will you be available at 10am?

Yes, sir.

President Gore! We have an urgent Daily Briefing for you. It's quite disturbing!

Thanks, Ron... Hmmm... This does look quite disturbing. Would you two please excuse me?

[President Gore closes the Oval Office door behind his two guests, and changes into his cape]

Ron, get me the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the phone! Line up all the former Presidents for a briefing at 9:30am! Stat! Get Tenet on the phone! I know there are 70 investigations, but I want 170! This Daily Briefing has opened my eyes to the imminent threat of Saudi terrorists flying airplanes into the WTC and other targets! It's as clear as the nose on your face, Ron! I demand immediate action, stat!

Yes, Sir, Super Al Gore!

Now, excuse me for a moment while I use Astral Projection and Remote Viewing to determine the names and current locations of the hijackers!

Yes, SIR!

* What Would Elected President "Super" Al Gore Have Done?

Posted to Politics at 08:21 PM | Comments (1)

What Does the War on Wal-Mart Mean?

I wondered why the heck Jesse Jackson would show up in Inglewood to protest Wal*Mart. While I've known of anti-WalMart organizations for a long time, recent articles are focusing on what's really involved.

See 'What Does the War on Wal-Mart Mean?'

Posted to Politics at 04:21 PM | Comments (0)

"'Skyscraper' Suicide-Hijack Warnings Came During Clinton Era"

NewsMax lays all out the terrorist threats that were reported on during the Clinton era, ending with:

The above information is far more specific than anything reportedly revealed in the Aug. 6, 2001 briefing given to President Bush - and was available to President Clinton via published reports [if not through the intelligence briefings he routinely avoided] for most of his second term in office.

Posted to Terrorism at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)

I love a funny stunt!

If you want to contribute to John Kerry's campaign, use my page.

If you want to set up your own fun JFK contribution page, all you have to do is sign up.

Posted to Politics at 03:56 PM | Comments (0)

The most important paragraph of the 8/6/01 PDB memo

The text of the 8/6/01 PDB has been released. This paragraph implies that the CIA and FBI are diligently working away:

The FBI is conducting approximately 70 full field investigations throughout the US that it considers Bin Ladin-related. CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our Embassy in the UAE in May saying that a group of Bin Ladin supporters was in the US planning attacks
with explosives.

Condi and Ben Veniste agree there was no specific threat information. The information contained in this memo is quite vague and indicates that proper steps are being taken. What were they supposed to do, invade Afghanistan based on it?

Here's a digest of Condi's remarks.

Posted to Terrorism at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)

"Outsourcing of U.S. Jobs Abroad Very Unpopular, According to Harris Interactive(R) Survey"

ROCHESTER, N.Y., April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Outsourcing of U.S. jobs to countries like China, India and Mexico where labor costs are much lower is very unpopular. Only 16% of Americans agree with President Bush's economic advisor's comment that it is good for the U.S. economy when companies use less expensive foreign workers to do work previously done in this country. A lopsided 69% to 17% majority would support a special tax on companies that use less expensive foreign workers to replace American workers...

There's a chart showing the results here.

Posted to Politics at 09:55 PM | Comments (0)

An overview of Bush's impeachment

This article gives a good overview of today's impeachment of President Bush:

washington, april 9, 2004. A hush fell over the city as George W. Bush today became the first president of the United States ever to be removed from office by impeachment. Meeting late into the night, the Senate unanimously voted to convict Bush following a trial on his bill of impeachment from the House.

Moments after being sworn in as the 44th president, Dick Cheney said that disgraced former national security adviser Condoleezza Rice would be turned over to the Hague for trial in the International Court of Justice as a war criminal. Cheney said Washington would "firmly resist" international demands that Bush be extradited for prosecution as well.

On August 7, 2001, Bush had ordered the United States military to stage an all-out attack on alleged terrorist camps in Afghanistan. Thousands of U.S. special forces units parachuted into this neutral country, while air strikes targeted the Afghan government and its supporting military. Pentagon units seized abandoned Soviet air bases throughout Afghanistan, while establishing support bases in nearby nations such as Uzbekistan. Simultaneously, FBI agents throughout the United States staged raids in which dozens of men accused of terrorism were taken prisoner.

Reaction was swift and furious. Florida Senator Bob Graham said Bush had "brought shame to the United States with his paranoid delusions about so-called terror networks." British Prime Minister Tony Blair accused the United States of "an inexcusable act of conquest in plain violation of international law." White House chief counterterrorism advisor Richard Clarke immediately resigned in protest of "a disgusting exercise in over-kill..."

There's more on the Bush impeachment in the weirdly similar article "In a parallel universe called 'what if.'"

Posted to Iraq at 09:47 PM | Comments (0)

Florida sheriffs oppose Jeb Bush's illegal alien driver's licenses bill

Finally some good news:

Sheriffs around the state are quickly opposing a proposal backed by Gov. Jeb Bush to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, saying it is too great a security risk.

The opposition has included sheriffs who serve on the state's Domestic Security Task Force.

"It's incomprehensible to me that you would legitimize through the issuance of a driver's license someone who is here illegally," said Marion County Sheriff Ed Dean, who heads the law-enforcement arm of the task force. "I'm sure the governor has his reasons. From strictly a law-enforcement viewpoint, I would have to respectfully disagree..."

"This law is very poorly crafted and flawed from a domestic security standpoint. I strongly oppose it and cannot support the conceptual intent, either," [Collier County Sheriff Don Hunter] wrote in an e-mail.

He warned that there are six Latin-American terror groups that are active in and around Florida. The documentation they would need from their countries to get a license can be easily obtained or counterfeited, he said...

I couldn't find a definitive list of Florida terrorist groups. Perhaps one or more of them are Cuban exile groups; others are probably Islamist; he might be thinking of groups from other backgrounds as well. One possible reference is to Sami al-Arian. ('Feds expose Florida 'cell', 'Al-Arian was FBI informant briefly, documents show', 'Bush's terrorist buddy'. See also the section "Palestinian Islamic Jihad-Shaqaqi Faction" at this page.

However, my search for terrorist groups in Florida brought up some links of varying wackiness. This page ties cronyism and alleged dirty tricks by the whole Bush family to - wait for it - bass fishing. Terrorism is mentioned in relation to Bush appointee Otto Reich; see 'Bush nominee linked to Latin American terrorism' or 'The President's Favourite Terrorists'. Coming from the other side of the wackiness scale, see 'Russia Hides Information That Could Save Lives in War on Terror'.

Many or most of the allegations in that last set of articles might be false. However, isn't it a bit interesting that there's such a Latin American flavor to all those Bush connections. Jeb and illegals, Dubya and illegals, Jeb and Dubya and George I and Cuba, etc. etc. Taken in this light, the Bush family loses whatever all-American facade it had as one realizes that in their case "all-American" refers to a hemisphere.

Posted to Immigration_dls at 09:19 PM | Comments (0)

"FileGate" seems to have a few problems

CNS News has obtained the police report from the case where Kerry's old FBI files were supposedly stolen in Northern California:

The author who alleges that three boxes of FBI files dealing with Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's anti-war group were stolen from his home last month, did not allow police officers the opportunity to process the crime scene.

The police report of the incident also neglects to mention that the Kerry campaign dispatched a messenger to the home of author Gerald Nicosia to pick up copies of the FBI files a week before the alleged theft of the documents...

It's beginning to sound more and more like the work of Karl Rove, if you ask me. You see, it's like this...

Posted to Politics at 01:28 PM | Comments (0)

"Iran's Rafsanjani Praises Sadr's Shi'ite Uprising"

From Reuters:

Iran's influential former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, on Friday hailed the Shi'ite Muslim militia of firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr as "heroic" for rising up against the U.S. occupation in Iraq.

Rafsanjani told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran that a distinction should be drawn between Shi'ite fighters, who have battled U.S.-led troops across southern Iraq this week, and insurrectionist supporters of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party he described as "terrorists..."

Posted to Iraq at 12:32 PM | Comments (0)

Doing the high security jobs Americans won't do

From 'Navy contractor workers arrested for immigration violations':

"Thirty-one employees of a Navy contractor who have access to military installations and vessels were arrested Thursday on immigration charges, authorities said.

The suspects worked in San Diego for Continental Maritime, a unit of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Newport News division. They worked in ship maintenance jobs, including welding, painting, mechanics and pipefitting..."

Last I heard, welding and pipefitting are fairly critical jobs; one bad weld in the wrong place, and really bad things could happen. Foreign citizens - even if they're the nicest, hardest-working people in the world - should not be doing sensitive jobs on Navy vessels or have access to Navy installations.

On the one hand, the Bush Administration is to be congratulated for catching this. However, if not for their Wink 'n' Nod immigration policies, this might have been caught earlier, and the company might have been extra vigilant to make sure they were only hiring citizens.

Posted to Immigration_terror at 07:05 PM | Comments (2)

Racism in heavy rotation

A while back I discussed the HUD/Ad Council commercial that uses racism to show that racism is bad. I just saw this TV commercial on both CNN and MSNBC.

In the commercial, an actor makes calls about an apartment for rent. He uses various ethnic voices; after each he's told the apartment has been rented. Only when he uses his WASP voice does he find out the apartment is available.

In other words, our government is spending money to convince people that only WASPs are the perpetrators and beneficiaries of racism. In other words, our government is using our money to show us how one ethnic group is bad.

My attempts to draw attention to this commercial have so far failed, but maybe now that more people are seeing it someone might get interested in doing something about this.

Posted to MultiCultiCult at 05:43 PM | Comments (0)

"[CAIR] sues critic for $1.35 million"

From this:

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has filed a $1.35 million lawsuit against the founder of a website that accuses the controversial lobby group of supporting terrorism.

The Washington, D.C.-based CAIR charges five statements made by its Internet critic, Anti-CAIR, amount to "libelous defamation."

Daniel Pipes is not affiliated with Anti-CAIR, but they've supported him and he supports them. As he points out, this lawsuit might be a major error as it will open CAIR up to the discovery process. If enough money could be found, I'm sure Anti-CAIR could hire high-powered attorneys who'd get some really interesting and damning information.

See the Anti-CAIR site for more information on this matter.

Posted to Terrorism at 01:03 PM | Comments (0)

"Is Bush's base beginning to crumble?"

Howard Fineman in Newsweek asks the titular question:

Can the unshakeable be shaken? Is it already shaking? These are relevant questions as Condi Rice testifies and Iraq turns ugly. Especially since 9/11, a key feature of the political landscape has been George W. Bush's granite-like Republican/conservative base. But fissures are appearing and the war may widen them. Facing a close race with Democrat John Kerry, the president can't afford to spend much time reassuring his friends. But he may have to...

But varying elements of the GOP "base" have developed grievances that could, if nothing else, disillusion some voters on the margins, keeping them home instead of at the polls on Election Day in swing states the president needs to carry. Some of the grievances:

1. Immigration. A firm stand against illegal immigration is a bedrock belief of most conservatives - indeed, of most Americans. But activists on the right are furious at the administration, which is eager to court Hispanic voters, for its proposals to grant what amounts to amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. Conservative anger has been stoked by the president's brother, Jeb Bush, who has proposed to allow illegal immigrants to acquire driver's licenses. The assumption - probably the correct one - is that the governor of the key state of Florida would not have made such a move without first checking with his brother the president, or Rove.

I'm speechless. The word "undocumented" doesn't appear above. They're actually calling things by their true names.

For more information, visit my extensive Immigration category.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 10:20 PM | Comments (0)

Meanwhile, over at BoreAmerica.com...

In a gruelling test of both my blogging skills and my ability to stay awake, I just live-blogged the Hatrios interview on AirAmerica. Check it out at my new blog BoreAmerica.com.

Posted to Bloggage at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)

"April Fools' Editions Sink College Papers"

...Besides apologizing, The Gateway is planning sensitivity training for its staff members and a forum on student relations. The Tartan has decided to hire an ethics manager to review future issues...

Write the rest of the article yourself or click here if you're lazy.

Posted to MultiCultiCult at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)

Iraq conflict map

DebkaFile has a map showing who's currently fighting in Iraq and where. Consider the source, but it's probably accurate.

Posted to Iraq at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)

Jeb Bush answers your questions on driver's licenses for illegal aliens

A FReeper received a reply from Jeb Bush regarding his support for illegal alien driver's licenses:

Florida Safe Driving Act

[1] Why give driver licenses to undocumented aliens? [sic, that should be "illegal aliens" -- LW]

Florida has no power over immigration and naturalization issues, but it does have a duty to protect the safety of its citizens. Allowing Florida’s more than 400,000 illegal aliens to obtain a driver license under very strict conditions will increase safety on our roads and highways. It will boost compliance with Florida’s auto registration and insurance laws...

[2] Why wouldn’t the state just deport the aliens once they have verified their identity?

Under Federal law, no state has the power to deport anyone; it is exclusively the domain of the Federal government...

The bill creates a mechanism for Florida to work with foreign consulates to approve a stringent means by which to verify the alien’s identity and ensure the consulate is not issuing a duplicate ID...

[5] How does this differ from California law?

First, California law did not exclude applicants from the list of countries maintained by the U.S. Department of State as state sponsors of terrorism. In addition, California did not require state and national criminal background checks, nor did it provide procedures in conjunction with foreign consulates to verify identity and criminal backgrounds with an applicant’s home country...

I've got a better idea. Just get your brother to do his job, one major one being to enforce the immigration laws.

Florida is able to make complicated deals with foreign consulates, but they're unable to work with the federal government to enforce our immigration laws? I don't buy it.

I have the vague feeling that there's some kind of coordination here between Jeb Bush and Arnold. This consulate scheme sounds too complicated for just one state to implement it; there's probably a plan to export it to California at some point.

Hopefully someone in Florida is working on a recall petition right now.

Posted to Immigration_dls at 08:50 PM | Comments (1)

"Open Borders, Closed Wallets"

From this:

A Republican fundraiser learns firsthand that the GOP grassroots resent the president’s amnesty proposal.

The telephone rang and an old wealthy conservative friend answered. After the usual pleasantries, I told him I was a co-host for the upcoming Jan. 15 Bush-Cheney event at Atlanta’s World Congress Center and pitched him for $2,000 to attend and see the president on a rope-line. For $20,000, I explained, he could have a personal audience and photograph with the commander-in-chief. Before I could even finish my last sentence, though, I was cut off. “You should know I wouldn’t be writing a check after his crazy amnesty proposal.”

I was not surprised, replied that I was as disgusted as he was, and pressed on with my next call. Same response—but angrier. “Why are you even helping Bush?” was the question from the third conservative donor on my list. The fourth rejection was emphatic—“I’m not giving him a dime because of that immigration announcement.” The fifth person got right to the point: the president “is pandering to the open borders crowd.” No check. My sixth target, who said he was “maxed out” to the campaign, was the only one to “support” the president: “Bush has given up on immigration, but I’m not concerned. Let’s deal with the Democrats on other issues.”

There was more of the same on my second day dialing for dollars, so I gave up. Then I warned the Georgia Bush-Cheney chairman, Jamie Reynolds, that I was failing to receive checks because of the president’s stand on illegal immigration. His response was a polite admission that he had heard rumblings too but that we all should press on...

Posted to Immigration2003 at 02:01 PM | Comments (0)

"Tancredo Pleads With Bush to Reverse Amnesty Plan as Illegal Immigration Spikes"

From this:

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) pointed to illegal immigrant apprehension rates by the U.S. Border Patrol for 2004 on Monday as evidence that President George W. Bush's temporary worker policy has not lowered illegal immigration, but has rather increased it dramatically.

"I hate to say this to the president, but I told you so," Tancredo exclaimed.

Tancredo, who serves as the chairman of the Immigration Reform Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, has been adamantly opposed to the Bush "guest worker" plan from the beginning. He and the other members of the caucus have been warning Bush that providing amnesty to aliens rewards illegal behavior and will further exacerbate an already serious problem with illegal immigration in the U.S.

Border Patrol Public Information Officer Rob Daniels, who is stationed at the Tucson Sector of the Border Patrol, reports more than 200,000 illegal aliens have been apprehended to date in 2004, a 50 percent spike over last year.

In fact, more than 60,000 detainees were captured in March, an incredible 85 percent jump over the March 2003 statistics.

Tancredo said the numbers will only get worse because April and May tend to be busy months for illegal immigration activity as aliens attempt to avoid the oppressive summer heat...

Posted to Immigration2003 at 01:57 PM | Comments (0)

"Governor [Jeb Bush] endorses illegal-alien driving bill"

As predicted in the last post. From the Miami Herald:

Saying rigorous screening standards would ensure recipients ''won't be terrorists,'' Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday strongly endorsed issuing state driver's licenses to both illegal immigrants and foreign nationals who make Florida home for part of the year.

Hundreds of thousands of people could be affected by the proposal, which is currently making its way through the Florida Legislature. Sen. Rudy Garcia, a Hialeah Republican pushing the measure in the Senate, says it would enable those stuck in immigration limbo to drive with valid licenses and get insurance while they work to become citizens.

''Our roads and streets will be safer because of this,'' Garcia said, adding that the sprawling nature of most Florida cities makes owning a car a necessity, and that the state, by not giving illegal immigrants licenses, ``almost tells these folks to break the law, because that's the only way they're going to be doing anything.''

...The driver's license question presents lawmakers with a potentially volatile election-year issue, one that could woo Hispanic voters but is also credited with helping defeat former California Gov. Gray Davis during last year's recall election.

...Bush also made it a point to say he was not encouraging more illegal immigration into the United States.

''We shouldn't allow them to come into our country to begin with,'' Bush said. ``But once they're here, what do you do? Do you say that they're lepers to society? That they don't exist? It seems that a policy that ignores them is a policy of denial.''

We've come to expect bizarre behavior from Floridians, and the quotes above are prime examples.

As for "those folks" breaking the law, they've already broken at least one law by illegally staying in our country. They may have broken others as well. As for Jeb's statement that this won't encourage more illegal immigration, that's beyond laughable. When you offer incentives for a certain behavior, you automatically encourage more of that behavior. By making it easy to be an illegal alien in Florida, Jeb will just encourage more illegal immigration.

Jeb would be advised to consider the following from the Davis recall:

An exit poll commissioned by the Federation for American Immigration Reform showed that 30 percent of California voters said they were somewhat or much more likely to vote against Mr. Davis because he signed the law. Only 8 percent of voters were somewhat or much more likely to support him because of it.

Posted to Immigration_dls at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)

Jeb Bush comes out in favor of illegal alien driver's licenses

According to the Stein Report:

The Stein Report has learned that Florida Governor Jeb Bush today endorsed granting driver's licenses to illegal aliens. Bush's position comes despite the fact that several of the Sept. 11 hijackers used Florida driver's licenses, and driver's license security remains a pressing issue nationwide. Bush reportely commented that illegal immigrants should be kept out of the country, but once they are here they shouldn't be ignored.

Posted to Immigration_dls at 07:55 PM | Comments (0)

Offensive propaganda

Is this sign real or fake? It seems quite convenient how CAIR and others are using it for propaganda purposes.

How do we know this is from Iraq? That appears to be a Real Madrid T-shirt. Are those being passed out or sold in Iraq? There is Arabic writing behind them, however that doesn't imply Iraq specifically. The thumbs up signs are just too much. Supposedly they do not have the negative connotation when used by or to Americans in Iraq, but they still are an insult in much of the world.

And, could the supposed Marine pictured be a Boudreaux, or could he be Spanish or an Arab?

As for the writing, it's already been pointed out that the abbreviation should be "LCPL" instead of "Lcpl." It's already been pointed out that the text is oriented too far to the right, almost as if to avoid the shadow. What about the other words. How many English speakers capitalize non-proper nouns such as "Dad," "Knocked," and "Sister?"

I suspect it will come out this is a fairly sophisticated attempt at propaganda.

UPDATE: I'm no handwriting expert, but this writing appears a bit too curvilinear for someone who's a native user of the Roman alphabet. Look at the tails of the 'd's. The segment in the lower right goes down at a 45 degree angle, much like the Greek alpha. Look at the lower legs of the 'K's. They're too horizontal, and they don't match the upper legs. The 'S' in "Sister" looks almost like an Arabic letter. The 'u' in "Boudreaux" is also missing a tail, making it look like the Greek letter. I also noticed a period after "Killed my Dad." However, "then" is not capitalized; most English speakers would consider that disconcerting.

UPDATE 2: Also, note the supposed Marines' sleeves. If he put his arms down to his sides, it looks like his sleeves would be an inch or two too long. Based on that and the information above, I strongly favor this being a real picture of a fake event.

UPDATE 3: The Marine and sign appear to be real.

UPDATE 4: I deleted the last comment. No suggestions of violence please. For more on comments here, see this post.

Posted to Iraq at 12:44 PM | Comments (10)

Why couldn't Janet have done this?

I'm pretty sure Janet would have looked better from this angle.

Posted to Celebrities at 11:55 AM | Comments (0)

An incompetent attempt to take down Samuel Huntington

The Chicago Tribune's Alfredo Lanier attempts to counter Samuel Huntington's 'The Hispanic Challenge' in the editorial 'Latino migration dividing America'. (use 'anonymous' as the username and password)

I'm not going to fisk the whole thing, just a couple things from it.

Lanier says this: "there is no evidence whatsoever that a reconquista--a reconquest--of the land lost by Mexico to the U.S. in the 19th Century is brewing in the Southwest."

Is Lanier lying, or just completely uninformed? Has he never heard of Aztlan, or the "liberation" of it as promoted by racial separatist groups? Some members of those separatist groups are now academics and politicians, so they do have a bit of power. Perhaps we should send Lanier a copy of Mexifornia so he could educate himself a bit. I hear it's a popular book, I'm surprised he's never heard of it.

Lanier gets even worse:

If Huntington is troubled by Mexican-Americans' failure to assimilate and their potentially separatist tendencies, he would not be altogether comfortable in Miami either. There, Cuban-Americans have assimilated so well they have taken over the place, leaving some native Miamians feeling like foreigners in their own city.

It's a puzzling concern. Huntington admits the obvious--Cuban refugees revived Miami's near-dead economy by making it the financial and commercial capital of Latin America. Politically, Cuban-Americans also assimilated with a vengeance. As Huntington points out, the mayor of Miami, plus the mayor, police chief and state's attorney of Miami-Dade County, plus several U.S. representatives and state legislators, are Cuban-American or of Cuban descent.

Isn't that the ideal of Americanization?

Huntington's treatment of Miami referred to how many "Anglos" feel unwelcome there, and how they feel that the Cubans took over and kicked them out. Excerpt:

The Cuban and Hispanic dominance of Miami left Anglos (as well as blacks) as outside minorities that could often be ignored. Unable to communicate with government bureaucrats and discriminated against by store clerks, the Anglos came to realize, as one of them put it, "My God, this is what it's like to be the minority."

Once again, is Lanier lying, did he misread that section of Huntington's article, or does he think that form of discrimination is OK and represents Americanization?

See also Jorge Castaneda's attempts to counter Huntington here. At least Castaneda knows what he's talking about.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 12:35 AM | Comments (1)

Somewhere jokes are writing themselves

MegaLoMart is sponsoring a ballot initiative in Inglewood, CA that would let them build a megastore next to Hollywood Park. Not only that, it would be a big shopping center, complete with a set of stores that don't compete with MegaLoMart. The names or even the SIC codes of those stores were unavailable at press time.

But, wait, there's much more.

Not only would it allow a big shopping center, the ballot initiative "would essentially exempt Wal-Mart from all of Inglewood's planning, zoning and environmental regulations, creating a city-within-a-city subject only to its own rules."

Allow me to suggest an alternative: MegaLoMart should buy large chunks of Indian reservations. These are their own nations and subject to their own laws. MegaLoMart could do anything they damn well pleased, even expanding their line of merchandise to include munitions and body parts.

The Gabrielino Indians have branches in the Westside and in the SGV. If that didn't work out, perhaps they could contact the Angelino Indians.

If worse came to worse, they could build out near Palm Springs, and move shoppers out there in ultra-high-speed bullet trains.

For a non-joke example of a group trying something like this before, see the old post 'Black helicopters on the Rez'.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 11:25 PM | Comments (0)

"Bomb found on Spanish rail line"

It supposedly was made out of "10-12 kilograms (22-26 pounds) of what appeared to be the Spanish-made Goma 2 Eco explosive, which was used in the Madrid bombings and is widely used in mining operations..."

Recall that 200lbs. of Goma 2 was allegedly given to the Madrid bombers by a colleague or friend. The good news is that their supplies of it might be running low, although that might not mean much.

Posted to Terrorism at 04:26 PM | Comments (0)

I was so used to the grating sound, I didn't notice it stopped

Remember S.F. Chronical columnist Mark Morford? You know, this guy? He's supposed to be writing a bi-weekly column for them. Except, his last column was almost a month ago, on March 5. All of the other columnists appear to be maintaining their schedules. Could he be on vacation? Why didn't they post a notice for his many fans then? There is a notice on the page above for someone else: "Harley [Sorensen] is on sabbatical and will resume writing weekly columns in September".

How long before he's air-brushed out of their communal photos?

Posted to Politics at 04:16 PM | Comments (0)

Jorge Castaneda proves just how right Samuel Huntington is

Samuel Huntington's 'The Hispanic Challenge' describes how current Hispanic immigration presents a unique challenge to America. In the L.A. Times, former Mexican foreign minister and current Mexican presidential candidate Jorge Castaneda tries to counter his argument ('Addition to the Melting Pot Requires a New Recipe Book'):

And they lead, in [Huntington's] view, to one fundamental trend: Mexican immigrants are not assimilating into the American melting pot the way other ethnic groups have in the past. If this is even partly true, then Huntington's concern for the future is warranted...

Former Melrose Place actress Daphne Zuniga     deals with her Oppression yesterday.

But despite Huntington's pessimism, the reality is that such an outcome is not inevitable for Mexicans in the U.S.

U.S. history includes several examples — including the Irish — in which broad assimilation occurred without immigrants' losing their traditions or links with their native country.

Irish traditions? Irish links? Few Irish-Americans know anyone in Ireland. Most Irish would have trouble discerning Irish traditions among Irish-Americans. For most Irish-Americans, their celebration of Irish traditions consists of getting drunk every March 17th.

Why can't it be the same for Mexicans? It is true that many previous groups of immigrants didn't face a language barrier, and that they probably didn't face racism as acute as Mexicans today face. But that does not mean it cannot happen.

The most relevant criticism of Huntington's argument is that it describes a situation he characterizes as undesirable but makes no effort to offer a solution. That, in part, is why his argument has been so controversial and why he's faced charges of racism — unfairly in my opinion. Huntington is a conservative, but he is not a racist.

Mexican immigration does have distinctive traits that do make difficult, if not impossible, the automatic assimilation that characterized previous waves of immigration. This is not a question of lack of will; it is a matter of history.

That is why the United States must make a major effort to construct a new type of assimilation that is both voluntary and effective...

Ah, here we finally get to the point where Castaneda proves Huntington's point. According to Castaneda, we need to change our way of assimilation to accomodate these new immigrants. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. And, these changes that Castaneda suggests run counter to America principles.

His suggestions:

1. amnesty for illegals
2. fighting discrimination against Mexicans
3. dual citizenship ("Mexico has helped with this process in the recent past")
4. Mexicans in Mexico should consider Mexicans in the U.S. as part of the overall Mexican Nation
5. a guest worker agreement

As Castaneda himself says, "Huntington's concern for the future is warranted" if we have to radically change our system to meet the needs of these new immigrants. No other immigrant groups have required such changes, and that includes the Irish. All of these proposals are bad for America.

Proposal #2 above is disingenuous at the least. While anti-Hispanic or anti-Mexican discrimination does exist, the fact remains that once a Mexican makes it over our southern border he automatically becomes a member of a Protected Class, sometimes having more rights than U.S. citizens. Those new Protected Minorities are automatically enrolled into the forces of the Victimization and Race Industry. Perhaps Castaneda is referring to the extremist position that any form of border control is a form of discrimination.

However, the worst idea of all is that of dual citizenship, which automatically leads to divided loyalties. From the Revolutionary War on, this country has not looked at all favorably on those who have such divided loyalties.

If Castaneda's proposals aren't acted on, what is he going to do? Perhaps he could propagate militant activities in the U.S. Oh wait, he's already done that, and with some success.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 01:16 PM | Comments (1)

"The high-immigration Right is on the warpath"

From Mark Krikorian in National Review:

The high-immigration Right is on the warpath, trying to delegitimize all conservatives who stand between them and the illegal-alien amnesties they crave. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal ran an outrageous piece � slamming National Review, Fox News, various Republican congressmen, and my own organization as being part of a restrictionist cabal of baby-killing, white-supremacist, Chi-Com lovers. [See my excoriation of the WSJ's smear article in the comments here --LW] Of my Center for Immigration Studies, the Journal's Jason Riley wrote, among other things, that despite the fact that CIS "may strike right-wing poses in the press," we nonetheless "support big government, mock federalism, deride free markets and push a cultural agenda abhorrent to any self-respecting social conservative." The fact that none of this is even remotely true didn't stop the flood of adjectives from continuing, with CIS described as "repugnant" and a "big fan of China's one-child policy," and by implication "neo-Malthusian," eugenicist, and an opponent of free trade, to boot!

...Believe it or not, there are numerous liberals (though few members of their elites) who are concerned about admitting a million-plus immigrants a year. The divide is between the patriotic and the non-patriotic Left. Liberals who worry about America's poor oppose mass immigration; liberals whose advocacy for the poor stems from their loathing for America want more immigration. Liberals who love America's environment and quality of life are concerned about immigration; liberals who express their hatred for America through environmentalism support more immigration...

Now, since they brought it up, let's look at which elements of the Left the high-immigration Right has allied itself with.

On June 6, 2002, Rep. Cannon received the Excellence in Leadership Award from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), a leftist group created by the open-borders Ford Foundation. At the fundraising banquet where he received the award, he said that "We love immigrants in Utah. And we don't make the distinction very often between legal and illegal. In fact, I think Utah was the first state in the country to legislate the ability to get a driver's license based on the matricula consular [the Mexican government's illegal-alien ID card] and of that I'm proud." (listen to his speech, taped from C-SPAN, here). In this speech he also praised pregnant women sneaking into the United States in order to have U.S.-citizen children; recognized the member of his own staff who was "translating what MALDEF would like to do into legislative language"; and described himself as an example of the phenomenon that, in politics, "as you come to the extremes, you actually get close together."

In light of Cannon's high-profile advocacy on immigration, it's curious that his campaign website contains no mention of immigration, neither on the "issues" nor "legislation" pages. Perhaps he thinks his constituents might not be thrilled by his support for illegal-alien amnesties and mass immigration. In fact, at a 2002 convention of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (listen to his AILA speech here), he jokingly welcomed the assembled immigration lawyers to move to Utah to help him deflect a primary challenge based on his support for illegal-alien amnesties. And he faces the same challenger again this year, while the issue is being highlighted by billboards in his district...

There much more, go have a look. I discussed Chris Cannon's "expose" here. That post also includes his email address and phone numbers in case you want to politely let him know just how wrong he is.

(I will point out, however, that instead of 'der Nationalrat das Volk' it should read 'der Nationalrat des Volkes,' AFAIK.)

Posted to Immigration2003 at 11:46 AM | Comments (6)

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My trip to Alpine County What not to do, again (September 1-2, 2002)

Boston Market Cornbread Temperatures Please help contribute to this important study (August 28, 2002)

Did The Gap Put Celebrities at Risk? An Open Web Letter to The Gap (May 20, 2002)

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