May 31, 2004

"The 1965 Immigration Act: Anatomy of a Disaster"

Posted to Immigration2003 at 04:16 PM | Comments (0)

Beware of the Mexican government bearing gifts

An L.A. Daily News editorial discusses the Mexican government's latest scheme:

Although it's poor form to criticize a gift, it's hard not to second-guess the Mexican government's choice of presents for the people of Los Angeles County.
The country's local consulate has donated some 27,000 textbooks, novels and other literature to 40 school districts throughout the county. It's a nice gesture -- a recognition that the Mexican government ought to shoulder some responsibility for the thousands of economic refugees it drives into Los Angeles every year -- but not a very practical one.

Forget the 27,000 titles; what we could really use are the 300 killers...

The editorial goes on to suggest that Mexico should extradite murderers who flee the U.S. to Mexico, knowing they won't be extradited because they face the death penalty.

While it gets that part right, the editorial unfortunately seems to think the gift of the books is a good thing. It is not. It's a blatant attempt to keep its citizens from assimilating. While it's good to see them coming out against one of Mexico's policies, the Daily News should condemn the book dump as well.

Posted to Immigration_consul at 04:14 PM | Comments (1)

Why I didn't go to the AFI blogger panel

Because I already had some sleeping pills, but not enough to go. I kid! I had RSVP'ed, but I canceled at the last moment because I had things to do.

I really would have loved to have gone. I'm sure I would have learned a lot about blogging! Especially those insider tips & tricks that would make me a better blogger. Why, I even wrote up a nice flyer! As long as no one was able to ascertain the source of the flyer, I'm sure it would have been the talk of the blog-o-sphere.

I am, of course, a bit miffed about not being invited to be on the panel, but I realize that with heavyweight political bloggers like Moxie on the dais, there just wasn't room for someone like me. I also, of course, know my place.

Posted to Bloggage at 03:43 PM | Comments (0)

Is there really a "campaign against fat people"?

I don't know, let's go to SeattleBBW.com and find out. "Whoa, hold up a minute there pardner," I hear you saying, "isn't that a porn site?"

Relax. It's not a porn site. Although the sight of those lovelies promoting the Summer Pajama Party at the Wild West VFW in Tacoma are shore enough raising my blood pressure!

No, what you want is the link right under "WELCOME MATT DRUDGE LISTENERS!" You know, the one that says 'More about the REAL story on ConsumerFreedom.org':

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago when it comes to any political
lobbying organization, before you accept what they say as gospel to
FOLLOW THE MONEY!

What is the REAL goal of the efforts of ConsumerFreedom.org? It is
actually what is called a "front group"...

It actually appears that he is a hired gun trying to make you believe
that the government wants to limit your freedom ... when in effect
he's trying to keep his clients free from having to justify turning a
blind eye to the country's obesity problem so they can keep selling
fatty burgers without scrutiny.

More about Berman's real agenda at
http://www.prwatch.org/improp/ddam.html

Posted to Privacy at 03:14 PM | Comments (1)

Dieter Sues Atkins, Just As The Lonewacko Blog Predicted

From 'Dieter Sues Atkins, Says Diet Clogged Arteries':

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A man who blames his heart disease on the Atkins diet said on Thursday he is suing the privately held Atkins Inc. to force it to disclose what he called the risks of the popular high-fat, low-carb regimen...

You, my bloggees, are of course ahead of the curve. See the May 3, 2004 post 'Low Carb, High Liability?'.

Posted to Miscellania at 02:57 PM | Comments (0)

May 25, 2004

This isn't a good sign

I downloaded the open source Eclipse IDE from IBM and friends and unzipped it into a directory as the instructions said.

Then, I double-clicked the 'eclipse.exe' icon, and all I get is the error message above.

Hey, at least I got an error message, right?

Lord knows I'm not perfect, but if I were going to distribute something like this with the full might of IBM behind me, I'd make pretty darn sure that my starter application worked under various conditions and configurations. If I needed to run under a specific set of circumstances, I'd search for those circumstances and if I couldn't find them I'd inform the user of that fact. Anything less would be amateurish in the extreme.

But, that's not the java mindset. No, the java mindset is the less platform-specific code, the better. Even if it's in something as isolated as a launcher. Or, even if by using a little native code you could make something actually work instead of being a 100Meg boat anchor. I'm sure the answer is out there, probably related to something about it using the wrong VM and my needing to write a batch file to launch their launcher to tell it which VM to use. The customer should never have to do things like this, but, then again, not making the customer jump through hoops would be contrary to the Java Way.

UPDATE: It works! And, all I needed to do was open up an MS/DOS window and type in:

eclipse -vm C:\java\jdks\jdk142\jre\bin\javaw.exe

That's all! Thanks for your professionalism, IBM.

Posted to Miscellania at 10:42 PM | Comments (0)

"Fabricating a Statistic in the Immigration Debate"

The L.A. Times questions Sen. Tom McClintock's math. McClintock wrote the following:

This year, nearly 7,500 qualified California residents � who would otherwise be entering California state universities as incoming freshmen � are likely to be turned away for lack of funds. Meanwhile, approximately 7,500 illegal immigrants will receive heavily subsidized university educations at a cost of between $45 million and $65 million annually at those same universities.

They think the 7500 figure is too high.

If McClintock used bad data to arrive at that number he should correct it. However, it's certainly at least interesting to see the L.A. Times jump all over an immigration restriction editorial like this.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 05:56 PM | Comments (1)

"US closes in on deal with Iraqi cleric"

From the CSM:

...behind the scenes, direct negotiations were under way to transform Sadr's militia into a political entity and end a violent rebellion.

The coalition has declared repeatedly that it will not negotiate with "militias and criminals." Nonetheless, a deal may be forthcoming with Sadr, said an official close to the talks. The coalition has previously said it wanted the cleric killed or captured.

If the deal pans out, it could bring to an end the seven-week conflict. The hope is that by engaging Sadr politically, the coalition can neutralize him militarily. His militia might also eventually be integrated into the Iraqi national security forces...

Posted to Iraq at 12:04 AM | Comments (0)

May 23, 2004

"Pew Survey Finds Moderates, Liberals Dominate News Outlets"

According to the latest Pew report:

At national organizations (which includes print, TV and radio), the numbers break down like this: 34% liberal, 7% conservative. At local outlets: 23% liberal, 12% conservative. At Web sites: 27% call themselves liberals, 13% conservatives.
This contrasts with the self-assessment of the general public: 20% liberal, 33% conservative...

UPDATE: There are some quotes about the poll in 'Poll shows liberal tilt escalates in newsroom'. Also, it should be noted that asking someone whether they're "liberal" or "centrist" is a fairly meaningless question. Something like an Americanized version of the 2D political test - including more sociocultural questions - would be much better.

Posted to Politics at 11:34 PM | Comments (0)

What a roadie, Part 2

From Josh Marshall:

Along related lines, I can't help but wonder whether the spill the president took from his bicycle today won't become iconic in the same way that the state dinner the first President Bush attended in Tokyo on January 8th 1992 in which he collapsed into the arms of, and then vomited on, Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa became a symbol of his then-faltering presidency.

I'm sorry, what was that you were saying, Josh?

Posted to Politics at 04:03 PM | Comments (1)

"Sources say U.S. funded arm of Iraqi Congress was used by Iran"

Did Iran use Chalabi to get us to invade Iraq? That's what the DIA says. However, 'Chalabi Denies Spying for Iran'. Like I said before, who knows who's doing what in the Land of Conspiracies?

Posted to Iraq at 03:59 PM | Comments (0)

NYT: "Border Desert Proves Deadly for Mexicans"

From the NYT:

At the bottleneck of human smuggling here in the Sonoran Desert, illegal immigrants are dying in record numbers as they try to cross from Mexico into the United States in the wake of a new Bush administration amnesty proposal that is being perceived by some migrants as a magnet to cross...

In FY2002, just 13 (thirteen) companies were fined for immigration violations. Reduce the demand, and you'll reduce the supply.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 03:52 PM | Comments (0)

May 22, 2004

California driving is about to get doubleplus safe

Limiting cell phone usage is a common goal of many legislatures, but California�s lawmakers want to up the ante, adding more than that to the list of what motorists can and can�t do behind the wheel.

A bill passed by the California state Senate would subject drivers who:

talk on the phone
put on makeup
drink
eat
smoke
interact with pets or kids
read
write
tune the radio or
program hand-held devices like Blackberries to:
fines of $35 for the first offense and $150 for the second.

Aw, fuck you.

Oops, sorry, I forgot this is a family blog.

But, just for this one post, consider that the sponsor of this bill is Kevin Murray, who was supposedly caught getting a BJ in a state-owned car. The car was, however, not in motion.

Posted to California at 12:09 AM | Comments (1)

May 21, 2004

Chalabi gets street cred?

As previously discussed: "when[Iraqis were] asked which leader they trusted the most,
just 0.2% said Ahmed Chalabi; he's not trusted at all by 10.3%." Maybe his numbers will change for the better after the raid. Who knows who's doing what in the Land of Conspiracies?

Posted to Iraq at 12:50 AM | Comments (0)

Wireless transmitter found hidden beside Philadelphia train tracks

From this:

Action News has learned that last week SEPTA police recovered an infrared sensor that was carefully concealed along SEPTA's track bed near 34th and Powelton. The device, a commercially available wireless infrared transmitter made for home security use was discovered spray-painted black and tucked neatly in the trackside ballast. Such devices transmit a signal when something cuts across their infrared beam. And while there is no indication of any specific threat, investigators are concerned because the sensor has the potential to be used as a triggering device...

Posted to Terrorism at 12:44 AM | Comments (0)

U.S. 3/11 suspect released

From this:

An American lawyer who was arrested two weeks ago in connection with the terror attacks in Spain was set free Thursday after evidence pointed to another suspect in the deadly train bombings.

Brandon Mayfield, 37, was released soon after Spanish officials said fingerprints found on a bag near the bombing site were that of an Algerian.

Posted to Terrorism at 12:35 AM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2004

Kerri Dunn pleads innocent to all charges

Visiting Claremont McKenna College professor and alledged hatecrime perpetrator Kerri Dunn has pleaded innocent to all charges.

Previous Kerri Dunn coverage starts here.

Posted to MultiCultiCult at 12:22 AM | Comments (0)

Kerry would pull the troops out of Iraq...

... by the end of his first term. Story here.

Cautionary tale here.

Posted to Politics at 12:05 AM | Comments (0)

May 19, 2004

The other lame 'Times'

Ann Coulter discussing L.A. Times editor John Carroll's big speech:

The editor of the Los Angeles Times telling reporters how to behave ethically is a complete contradiction, like ... oh, I don't know ... giving Yasser Arafat a Nobel Peace Prize or something. You know, just patently silly.

This is the same L.A. Times that engaged in desperate, 11th-hour attempts to sabotage Arnold Schwarzenegger during the California recall election with lurid sex stories from anonymous assistant crudite girls who worked the craft services tables on Arnold's movies from the 1980s and were still trying to break into show biz 20 years later.

This is the same L.A. Times that in recent years instituted racial and gender quotas for sources on "so-called" news � oops, I mean, news stories � which puts reporters in the position of having to round up a black expert on nuclear fusion, a Native American expert on cubism, and a female expert on great moments in football.

This is the same L.A. Times where reporters had to be told in an internal memo (from Carroll himself) to stop injecting opinion in news stories, specifically the practice of prefacing the term "pro-life" with the term "so-called..."

Read about Carroll's speech here.

Another view on Carroll's big speech is here.

Posted to Politics at 11:55 PM | Comments (1)

GOP incumbents face challenges on immigration

From this:

Immigration is turning into an election battleground among Republicans, with several challengers running primary campaigns against leading congressional supporters of legalizing illegal aliens.

Rep. Christopher B. Cannon, Utah Republican and a prominent legalization supporter, failed to win 60 percent of the vote at a Republican nominating convention a little more than a week ago. Now, he faces a primary next month against Matt Throckmorton, a former state legislator who is running hard on the immigration issue...

"The odds are still with [Mr. Cannon], given the percentage at the convention and he's an incumbent, but here's a four-term congressman who basically gets a 43 percent vote of no-confidence from his own party's regulars," [Roy Beck of NumbersUSA] said. "For those of us who are making the argument to members of Congress that the fact that amnesties are being considered at all is a sign of great disconnect with the American population � this helps confirm that..."

Previous Cannon coverage starts here.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 12:08 AM | Comments (0)

May 18, 2004

For English, please press '1'

Recently, MD Gov. Robert Ehrlich referred to the multiculticult as "bunk" and "crap." Now Michelle Malkin takes on the multiculticultists who are whining about it:

Two politicians in Maryland are now in trouble for stating the obvious: People who work in customer service should speak English. And out-of-control multiculturalism is to blame for the failure to preserve America's common language.

The professional victims are up in arms as usual -- demanding apologies, whining to the press and clamoring for government subsidies to nurse their hurt feelings. But for once, the truth-tellers refuse to back down. They are role models for the rest of the nation's spine-deprived public officials...

The language-Balkanizers naturally attack their opponents as racists and immigrant-haters. Jorge Ribas, a Hispanic activist, likened Gov. Ehrlich to Adolf Hitler and Gov. George Wallace. Most politicians would crumple in fear and start singing "Kumbaya." But both Ehrlich and Schaefer have refused to retract their remarks. Befuddled professors and reporters view the controversy as some kind of calculated political maneuver by Ehrlich, instead of a rare outbreak of common sense.

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

May 17, 2004

A translation of the Berg video

WND has excerpts from the Berg video in 'Berg video called
how-to-kill demo: Translator-expert sees jihadist message to Muslims worldwide'. The translation was done by "Joel Cohen, with a master's degree in Semitic languages from Princeton University and a student of the Quran at the University of Chicago." I'm going to assume he's not a native speaker; it would be better if it had been discussed with a few native speakers who are familiar with the accents of the area. Cohen says the message was not intended for the West, but for Muslims:

"The author goes at great pains to convince the Ummah (the body of Muslim believers) that the time for negotiations with unbelievers is over," explains Cohen, who adds the address was carefully crafted rather than delivered impromptu.

Along the way, the speaker refers to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa, Bush, and Pakistani President Pervis Musharaf.

Conclusion:

"In the mind of the writer of this document, it's simply a call to kill all non-Muslims and those they perceive challenge Islam. By concluding with this ayat, he wants the Ummah to know that Nick Berg is not being killed simply because he is a prisoner. He is being killed because he is not a Muslim."

Meanwhile, Musharaf facing opposition to his attempts to liberalize Pakistan:

Mutahidda Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) Monday announced that it would strongly resist in case the government attempts to change blasphemy and Hadood laws, and alleged that US was behind the move to convert Pakistan into a secular state. �We will not allow to impose American agenda on 140 million people of Pakistan,� said the MMA Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman here at a Press conference after the alliance�s Supreme Council meeting. The meeting, Fazl maintained, decided to call a national conference in June in order to invite all political forces to resist attempts that are meant to make the country as secular and liberal state. �We took a strong exception of General Pervez Musharraf�s recent statement on blasphemy and Hadood laws, and will not allow to change the existing Islamic provisions.�

Posted to Terrorism at 11:46 PM | Comments (0)

"Immigrant Voters Could Change Election Landscapes"

From FOX:

A scattered movement growing across the country would buck decades of conventional wisdom and allow non-citizens the right to vote in local elections, a move that proponents say would give immigrants the ability to directly impact government in their communities.

"We�re a stronger society as a whole if we have a good quality of life and everyone participates," said Ron Hayduk, political science professor at the City College of New York and a supporter of the movement.

"There is a greater likelihood that our representatives will be responsible to everybody," Hayduk told Foxnews.com. "This is a mechanism to make sure they are held accountable."

Everyone, Ron? Gosh, Ron, do you think there's any possibility that other countries might cause people to immigrate here just so they could vote in our elections? And, in that case, just who would our representatives be resposible to? The elites of Mexico? The ChiComs? Perhaps we should allow foreign governments to donate money to candidates as well. Why not? Anything less would be unfair and mean-spirited.

Another Voice of Stupidity in this article is from the World Policy Institute. Sidney Blumenthal and Eric Alterman are on the Advisory Board of their Journal, and Katrina vanden Heuvel is on their main Advisory Board. Yes indeedy.

Previous coverage of voting for citizens of other countries starts here.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 03:36 PM | Comments (0)

An excerpt from Eric Garcetti's diary

L.A. City Councilbeing Eric Garcetti is writing this week's Slate Diary.

Here's my version:

Then, on Monday I mulled over the latest proposition from the Neighbors for Peace and Justice. Sure, that bit about only invading Iraq if we were directly and militarily invaded by Iraq was either disingenuous or just stupid, but what do my constituents expect of me? So, let's make that the law!

I was out of breath from all that thinking, so I took a breather and went to the AM/PM in Atwater Village for ~~some hot dogs and a Big Gulp~~ one of those frozen fruit bars (they're only about 100 calories and, unlike ice cream bars, some of which have 50% of your saturated fat, they have no fat).

Then, I jumped back into my solar-powered car and my driver drove me to sign another proclamation declaring L.A. the Ellis Island of the West Coast. Once again the question is: disingenuous or just stoopid?

UPDATE: I decided to pimp those frozen fruit things and I changed what Eric bought at the AM/PM.

(Via LA Observed)

Posted to Los_Angeles at 03:26 PM | Comments (0)

May 16, 2004

Thank gosh I'm just a blogger!

Top scientists have been having an awful lot of "accidents" these past few years. Not just Russians or Iraqis, but Americans and British as well.

The latest is Dr. Eugene Mallove, who received one or two doctorates from Harvard and "also taught science journalism at MIT and Boston University and previously was chief science writer at the MIT news office."

He was a cold fusion expert and published a magazine and ran a foundation dealing with that subject.

He had apparently suffered from cold fusion falling into disfavor for alledgedly political reasons. However, things seemed to be looking up, as this March 20, 2004 press release says:

Exciting news that has circulated for about a month in the low-energy nuclear reactions field (LENR, a.k.a. "cold fusion") has now been confirmed. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has agreed to perform a review of the entire "cold fusion" (LENR) question. The DOE has made a startling reversal of its past refusal to evaluate with a fresh look the large body of experimental evidence that now supports highly anomalous non-chemical magnitude excess heat phenomena in some hydrogen systems, plus associated nuclear anomalies. The details of how the review will be conducted and when it is to begin have not yet been released formally, but it is expected to be completed by the end of 2004...

He was a guest on Coast To Coast AM, and you can listen to an excerpt here (Window Media) or here (Real).

Unfortunately:

Mallove was discovered at the small 119 Salem Turnpike house at 10:55 p.m. Friday after police received a report of an injured person.

At the house, situated at the entrance to Interstate 395 in a primarily commercial area, police found Mallove unresponsive, the victim of an assault. He was later pronounced dead by medical personnel called to the scene.

Police said initial investigation indicated a robbery, during which a physical confrontation took place. Several unidentified items were taken from the scene and Mallove's vehicle was missing, according to a written statement released by Norwich police.

Several hours later, Mallove's 1993 green Dodge Caravan was found in the Foxwoods employee parking lot on Route 2 in Preston. The vehicle is easily identifiable by several large bumper stickers, including an American flag and his company Web site, www.infinite-energy.com, in the rear window. The New Hampshire license plate bears the registration INFNRG.

The "Foxwoods" mentioned above appears to be a casino, and the two locations appear to be about 5 miles apart.

Maybe it was just a random crime, or perhaps it's just the latest in a series.

There's more background in this article.

UPDATE: The Norwich Bulletin has an article entitled 'Killing sparks questions: Some colleagues wonder if scientist could have been slain over his research into cold fusion', although it just broaches the subject and doesn't go into specifics. A similar report in the Boston Globe doesn't cover the conspiracy angle: 'Police eye robbery in killing of scientist'.

Posted to Terrorism at 09:34 PM | Comments (2)

"1970s Law Laid Groundwork for Out of Control Immigrations"

Here's a history lesson.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 09:00 PM | Comments (0)

He said what now?

UPDATE: Phwoar! Tits oot for the lads! Cor! Blimey! Alexandra and her friends have got my vote! (Link courtesy of Drudge, who is quite impressed by Alexandra. Looks like Matt's in love!) a

Posted to Politics at 07:48 PM | Comments (0)

"Border Agents Warn of Influx"

The L.A. Times has a report on millions of illegal aliens poised to enter the U.S. due to talk of amnesty. They obtained internal border patrol documents that, among others, have this to say:

"Possible terrorist cell groups may exploit this high influx phenomenon," one agent wrote. "[O]ur immigration system may in fact become over burdened to the point that many individuals may fall through the cracks allowing subjects that may be affiliated with terrorist groups to enter the country without being identified, or stopped."

See also the earlier AP report 'Illegal Entry From Mexico to U.S. Spikes'.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 03:37 PM | Comments (1)

"Democrats meet goals for diverse delegation"

I'm not going to spend any time discussing this article. Suffice to say that it's much as you'd expect given the title. However, even I wasn't expecting to find something named as explicitly as the "Kerry campaign unified diversity recommendations."

Posted to Politics at 03:31 PM | Comments (0)

"Radio talk show host taking aim at the Houston Chronicle"

The Houston Chronicle has some competition:

Local radio talk show host Dan Patrick describes himself as a conservative and a Christian. But one thing he's not is a fan of the Houston Chronicle.

"They've never met a conservative they like, they are the only paper that I know of that gave 'The Passion' an 'F' rating, for example. It's the only film they gave an 'F' rating to. So whether it's in its news issues, whether in their faith-based issues or feature articles..." said Patrick.

Whether it's in any of these categories, Patrick is accusing the Houston Chronicle of a liberal bias.

And he's not just talking about it over the airwaves of 700 AM. He's writing about it on a web site he launched Friday.

It's called ChronicallyBiased.com.

Past coverage of the Houston Chronicle's bias is here and here.

Posted to Politics at 03:09 PM | Comments (0)

May 15, 2004

Ooooochen interessssno

I haven't seen the Nicholas Berg video, but I did scan through some of the many conspiracy theories. One of the more popular pages is this. That has aztlan.net as its source. While I usually completely trust aztlan.net as a news site, in this one case (and this one case only) I'm a bit skeptical.

However, consider the following (unverified) informatsia:

"...The terrorists in Berg's beheading video are communicating to each other in Russian ! One of them tells to the executioner who was cutting Berg's head: "Davay pozhivee!" meaning "Do it quicker !", or "Hurry up !" in pure unaccented Russian. Initially, I thought I was the only one who noticed it, but other Russian speakers confirmed it as well independently from me. So, who actually killed Berg ? BTW, "Allah o Akbar" they pronounce not with Arabic, but with a Russian-like accent. Also, their demeanor was not Arabic at all, but resembles that of people from the North Caucasus. Those were not Arabs!"

The source for that appears to be a poster at - gasp! - Democratic Underground. But, it is easily verified by those who've seen the tape.

Moving a bit up in the credibility category, consider the following from CNN:

Now, of course, the original claim was that Zarqawi is the actual man who performed this execution. Our experts listened to the accent, as you said, and they determined the accent is not Jordanian...

The CIA says it was Zarqawi who did the beheading, and Zarqawi apparently has a Jordanian accent...

The mystery deepens.

Posted to Terrorism at 01:43 PM | Comments (1)

May 14, 2004

Euro leaders to strip naked, spell out "peace" to celebrate D-Day

From the AP:

Against the backdrop of war in Iraq, world leaders will issue "a message of peace" when they gather in France next month to mark the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings, the French war veterans minister said in an interview...

"There's a desire to gather on that day to say, even without saying it aloud: 'Never again. We are here so that there is a space on a global scale for peace,"' Mekachera said. "Otherwise it would make no sense. Why do all this if it is not a message of peace?"

Two world wars on its soil in the 20th century taught France there are no winners in armed conflict, he said.

"We paid a heavy price. The Americans, perhaps, had no war on their territory. Americans who did not fight the war, who did not come to Europe to fight, cannot perceive as much as we do the disastrous consequences of war," the minister said. "We became aware that in the end, those who lose the war and those who win it are all losers."

They'll never learn!

Posted to Terrorism at 05:59 PM | Comments (0)

"Rooting for the enemy"

From the NY Post:

A MAN has his head cut off by al Qaeda in Iraq, and The New York Times aggressively markets the idea - on its front page yesterday - that his death is somehow the fault of the United States...

Whatever the circumstances of Nick Berg's detention in Iraq and his family's torment at his unspeakable murder, the Times' decision to offer this angle as its main story in the matter of his beheading is a very telling fact about that newspaper, the mainstream media and the politics of 2004.

No matter what happens in the war with Iraq, no matter what the evildoers do, the Times wants to bring it back to high-level American misconduct - misconduct so severe that it supposedly calls the entire mission in Iraq into question. To blame the United States for Berg's beheading might be acceptable for Berg's own grief-deranged kin. But it is not acceptable for The New York Times or anyone else...

Posted to Iraq at 03:09 PM | Comments (0)

Alex Polier to write "tell-all" article

You remember alleged John Kerry "intern" Alex Polier, of course. Sources say:

Word from Nairobi, Kenya - where Polier has been living with the family of her Israeli fianc�, Yaron Schwartzman - is that she's toiling on an epic essay about her experiences at the center of a political firestorm.

According to an informed source, the former Associated Press intern is writing her account - for which New York magazine is paying $10,000 - of how it felt to be on the wrong side of the reporter-subject equation...

My informant tells me: "She is also going to detail her work for Kerry and, possibly, her relationship with one of his staffers, not the candidate..."

Posted to Politics at 03:04 PM | Comments (0)

Subsidizing Illegal Immigration

From CA Sen. Tom McClintock:

This year, nearly 7,500 qualified California residents � who would otherwise be entering California state universities as incoming freshmen � are likely to be turned away for lack of funds. Meanwhile, approximately 7,500 illegal immigrants will receive heavily subsidized university educations at a cost of between $45 million and $65 million annually at those same universities.

Is it just me, or is there something wrong with this picture?

Under a law signed in 2001 by Gov. Gray Davis, an illegal alien who has graduated from a California high school after three years of attendance � all while in violation of U.S. immigration laws � is entitled to attend a community college or state university at the in-state tuition rate previously reserved for legal California residents.

The subsidy is substantial. At the University of California, proposed student fees for a California resident will be $6,028 next year. Non-residents will pay the full cost of $22,504. The difference is paid by California taxpayers.

Under this bizarre law, American citizens from other states pay more than three times as much as illegal aliens to attend California schools. An American citizen who moves to California from Arizona will pay $12,946 to attend the California State University. While she is waiting tables to pay her tuition costs, her taxes will be used to subsidize illegal immigrants who are paying only $2,776 to attend the same school...

California's law is similar to the anti-American DREAM Act, which would be national.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 11:35 AM | Comments (0)

Houston Chronicle says BICE should ignore "undocumented workers"

From the editorial 'ON ICE: Immigration agents right to hunt terrorists, crooks':

In recent weeks the Houston office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been falsely accused of conducting mass and indiscriminate raids on places where illegal immigrants live and work. When ICE officials denied conducting any such raids, U.S. Rep. John Culberson and other conservative ideologues asked why the agency wasn't doing its duty by rounding up illegal immigrants...

[...there are more pressing concerns like terrorism, smuggling, etc...]

...With all that and more to accomplish, it is no wonder that ICE agents in Houston are not raiding construction sites, schools, churches and other places where honest but undocumented workers congregate. Even the most resentful opponent of uncontrolled immigration would not wish ICE to reorder its priorities and leave the field to ever-bolder terrorists and vicious criminals.

Previous coverage of BICE not doing their job starts here.

Terrorism and smuggling are certainly important, however part of BICE's supposed job is to prevent illegal immigration. I'm sure they can work a little workplace enforcement into their busy schedule.

Please contact the Chronicle's editor and let him know what you think: jeff.cohen@chron.com

I wonder if he considers himself an Open Borders ideologue, or perhaps a liberal ideologue.

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

Have you visited BoreAmerica... lately?

News of Air America possibly being sold is now available over at BoreAmerica.

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

May 13, 2004

"Tenn. Legislature approves bill barring illegal immigrants from using driver's licenses as IDs"

From the AP:

A bill passed Wednesday will transform Tennessee from a haven for illegal immigrants seeking driver's licenses to the state with the strictest driver's license policy in the nation, state officials say.

The legislation, approved 96-2 in the House after it passed the Senate earlier this week, now goes to Gov. Phil Bredesen, whose administration developed the bill.

"The changes we're making today are necessary given the ongoing threat of terrorism that exists in this country," sponsor Rep. Phillip Pinion said before the 96-2 vote. "If we'd had this (across the country) the 19 hijackers would not have been able to get on the airplanes that caused the terrorist attacks of 9/11..."

This isn't a full restriction; illegal aliens can get "certificates of driving" which are marked as not valid for ID purposes. Whether they would be considered as ID is not known.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 04:28 PM | Comments (0)

"Leash Gal's Sex Pix"

Courtesy of Drudge, here's the scoop from the N.Y. Post (which is not a tabloid, I swear):

Shocking shots of sexcapades involving Pfc. Lynndie England were among the hundreds of X-rated photos and videos from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal shown to lawmakers in a top-secret Capitol conference room yesterday.
"She was having sex with numerous partners. It appeared to be consensual," said a lawmaker who saw the photos.

And, videos showed the disgraced soldier - made notorious in a photo showing her holding a leash looped around an Iraqi prisoner's neck - engaged in graphic sex acts with other soldiers in front of Iraqi prisoners, Pentagon officials told NBC Nightly News.

"Almost everybody was naked all the time," another lawmaker said.

Phwoar.

Lonewacko predicts: 2 years in prison, followed by an appearance in Playboy, followed by a "reunion" tape, followed by rehab, followed by an offer to anchor CNN's nightly news.

I saw Tonya Harding's "honeymoon" tape. Lynndie's tapes probably make Tonya's effort look like an Andrew Blake production. Perhaps if the soundtrack is a loop of 'Dueling Banjoes' it might have some comedy value.

Posted to Iraq at 11:42 AM | Comments (2)

Lonewacko to cover the Democratic National Convention...

...for $3000.

That's right, if I get just $3000 put in my Amazon Honor System account, I'll go to Boston and cover all four days of this event.

Bloggers can apparently get press credentials to the DNC, so I'd have almost as much access as Wolf and Judy and Dan and Peter. I'd just do it much, much better.

My blogging resume is here. Of especial note is my Blogging Across America tour, in which I spent four months driving from L.A. to Maine and back, blogging all the way. If I can do that, I can certainly stand four days of Democrats.

Posted to Bloggage at 12:28 AM | Comments (2)

AP: "The Lonewacko Blog reaches #421 on Blogging Ecosystem's Traffic Ranking"

According to the AP:

BELL GARDENS, CALIFORNIA (AP) -- Earlier today, officials from the Lonewacko Blog announced that their blog had reached #421 on the Blogging Ecosystem's Traffic Ranking.

"This is a great day for the Lonewacko Blog," an unnamed source from the blogging phenom stated. "What's quite interesting is that we're going to go even higher," the souce continued.

Sources say that there are only 20 or so blogs higher in the list but with a lower link rating. "The Lonewacko Blog is ranked 4591 in the general Ecosystem. That means 4590 blogs have more links to them than the Lonewacko Blog. There are only 20 blogs that get more hits with fewer links. That makes the Lonewacko Blog a true underground phenomonom," Lonewacko stated.

Posted to Bloggage at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2004

L.A. Times uses a two-level proxy to attack those opposed to illegal immigration

Here's a community commentary ("Day-laborer issue is about one thing, and it's not 'concern'") from Burbank resident Alfred Aboulsaad. It concerns Home Depot's plans to build a store in Burbank. They'd construct a day laborer center on-site, and pay the city of Burbank $94,000 a year to run it.

Note that this appeared in the Burbank Leader, which appears to be owned by the Times. Thus, it's a two-level proxy.

My first idea was to find out whether Mr. Aboulsaad is an employee of MALDEF or HomeDepot. However, he appears to be (or have been) a "help desk analyst."

I didn't attend the Burbank meeting in question, but perhaps I should have. Could there be a chance he's mischaracterizing some of the comments made? One might think that based on the canards he uses in the rest of the article. If it's correct that "[n]ot one of those people speaking had a solution or even a viable suggestion" that just speaks to those commentors, it doesn't mean that there are not very good arguments to be opposed to illegal immigration.

In any case, let's all give HomeDepot a call at 1-800-553-3199 and find out whether they support illegal immigration explicitly or implicitly.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)

Cannon "shocker:" immigration issue forces primary battle

Here's more on mass-immigration-advocate Chris Cannon (R-UT) having to face Matt Throckmorton in the Utah GOP primary.

This has national implications because of Cannon's role as Bush's "point man" on immigration matters. Cannon admits that the reason he has to go to the primary is because of his stance on immigration. So, send this news to your local politicians if their immigration policies are similar to Cannon's.

Previous Cannon coverage starts here.

UPDATE: Here's more on the primary.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2004

"Arab Street Erupts in Rage Over Beheading Video"

The so-called 'Arab Street' erupted in rage and grief today, as devoted Muslims crowded into public squares by the hundreds of thousands, in dozens of cities, to denounce the brutal videotaped beheading of American Nicholas Berg by Muslim extremists affiliated with Al Qaeda...

Unfortunately, here's the link.

To be fair, Ibrahim Cooper of CAIR has issued the following:

"We condemn this cold-blooded murder and repudiate all those who commit such acts of mindless violence in the name of religion. We call on people of all faiths and cultures to work together for peace and reconciliation, not war and destruction."

I'm still trying to figure out what loopholes if any that contains. Note also that that's only at NewsWire, it's not on CAIR's site.

UPDATE: It's now on CAIR site.

Posted to Iraq at 04:05 PM | Comments (3)

Campin' with the coyotes

Illegal alien smugglers appear to have a new tactic. Rather than stashing illegals in drop houses, they're temporarily parking them out in the desert. Of course, that leads to things like not having water for a few days, and even worse things.

If we could start doing workplace enforcement again - including heavy fines and imprisonment for employers - demand would drop dramatically and with it supply.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 02:41 PM | Comments (0)

"Congress Ignored Reports of Prisoner Abuse"

From NewsMax:

Democrats howling for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for not informing them of reports of prisoner abuse in Baghdad are ignoring the fact that concerned parents of an accused soldier informed 16 members of Congress - top Democrats such as Senators Hillary Clinton, Edward Kennedy and John D. Rockefeller - and the governor of West Virginia of the burgeoing scandal as far back as February 26th of this year.
None of these 17 people acted to disclose the detailed information contained in the letters...

Here are the the 17 names, all Democrats except for Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, Sgt. Frederick's congressman:

Senators Jack Reed, Mark Dayton, Robert Byrd, Bill Nelson, Evan Bayh, Mark Pryor, Edward Kennedy, Benjamin Nelson, Hillary Clinton, Joseph Lieberman, Daniel Akaka, Paul Sarbanes, John D. Rockefeller, Governor Mark Warner and Rep. Roscoe Bartlett.

Senator Byrd's office would not even accept the letter e-mailed to him on the grounds it was too long.

Posted to Iraq at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)

May 10, 2004

ArabNews: Jesse Jackson Calls for Troop Withdrawal [speaking in Greece]

Two weeks ago I linked to Jesse Jackson's comments on Iraq. He said the same thing more recently in Greece, and the Arab News was the only source that reported his remarks:

During the opening session of a conference on religions and cultures in Greece, Jackson said Bush must �end the occupation of Iraq and return sovereignty to the Iraqis as quickly as possible in cooperation with the United Nations and Europe.�

�The US bias toward Israel and its support for (Ariel) Sharon�s aggressive policies have obstructed peace and triggered violence and hate in the region,� he said.

(Via WND)

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

A setback for the bad guys

Mass illegal immigration advocate and U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) will now have to face challengers in the Utah GOP primary. That's the first time he's had to do that since 1998, and his stance on immigration probably had a great deal to do with it. Cannon is referred to as President Bush's "point man" on immigration, and he's also a recipient of the Excellence in Leadership Award from MALDEF.

Let's hope that Matt Throckmorton beats him in the primary; most of their positions are the same except for their stance on immigration.

Previous coverage of Chris Cannon starts here.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 06:38 PM | Comments (0)

"[UK] Abuse Pictures Looking 'Increasingly Like Hoax' - Hoon"

From this:

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon tonight said that the Daily Mirror pictures which allegedly showed British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners appeared �increasingly like a hoax�.

Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan swiftly issued a statement saying that the newspaper does not accept that the Ministry of Defence had proved that the photographs � one of which appeared to show troops urinating on a prisoner and striking him with a rifle � were faked.

Mr Hoon�s comments were an expansion on information he gave to MPs earlier today.

During a statement to the Commons, Mr Hoon said that the Special Investigation Branch had told him there were �strong indications� that the vehicle in which the pictures were taken was not in Iraq at the relevant time.

The Beeb misleadingly entitles a similar story 'Apology demanded on abuse photos'. However, the demand is coming from the British regiment involved, not the Iraqis.

Posted to Iraq at 12:08 PM | Comments (1)

May 09, 2004

Did I mention that I know Ward Connerly?

Pluses: Cute in her own way. Slim, upper arms not big. But, has a tuchis. Looks a little outdoorsy, even though that's not a "real" daypack/backpack like the ones Lonewacko has. Has a 1.5L water bottle like Lonewacko uses.

Minuses: The Young Revolutionary sunglasses. A bit too "in your face." Might be a bit too broad-shouldered.

Possible things we could do: Endless discussion of how the White Devil Oppressor patriarchy is oppressing People of Color and institutionalized hatecrimes are anti-human and how evil AmeriKKKa is bad to oppress Berkeleyites and how coffee cups should not be styrofoam and how great Noam Chomsky is and why he's only appeared on the NewsHour one time and how Joe Lieberman is a traitor to the righteous cause. And, did I mention that I know Ward Connerly?

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

Danish extremist group in big membership push

Details here. Previous coverage of Jihad in Europa here, here, here, here, and elsewhere in the blog.

Posted to Terrorism at 10:45 PM | Comments (0)

And now, a message from our Spiritual Advisor

Via our giant antenna, we have received the following transmission from The Lonewacko Blog's Spiritual Advisor:

Perhaps al-Ani [see the previous post --LW] was paid by the Coalition to discredit those coming forward with horror stories. Just think about it. Hmmmm....

Posted to WackyHumor at 10:34 PM | Comments (0)

"Frauds Try to Exploit Iraq Abuse Scandal"

No, the title doesn't refer to CBS, CNN, the rest of the news media, John Kerry, the DNC, "liberals," or all the rest. Instead:

At a press conference by human rights groups in Baghdad on Sunday, numerous former prisoners came forward to tell of abuse including beatings by soldiers and sleep deprivation...

Fallujah native Abdul-Qader Abdul-Rahman al-Ani, his left elbow wrapped in bandages, his right forearm bound in a cast, recounted how he was beaten by soldiers who picked him up last month. The soldiers tied him and two others arrested with him to a tree and sodomized them one after the other, he told journalists.

``I ask President Bush,'' he said. ``Does he agree with this?''

Shocking, truly shocking. I'm ashamed to be an American, and I'm moving to Canada. But, wait, you say, there's more:

As Ani, 47, repeated his story, he was interrupted by Jabber al-Okaili, a member of one of the human rights groups that organized the gathering. ``He's lying,'' al-Okaili shouted. ``He's a liar!''

Al-Ani was rushed to an office, where al-Okaili and others unwound the bandage on his left arm and found the elbow unscarred and healthy. They cut off half of the cast on his forearm, even as al-Ani insisted, ``By God, it's true, everything I say is true.''

``All his papers were forged,'' al-Okaili, of the Free Iraq Institute, said after al-Ani left the building. ``Who knows why he did this. Maybe he was paid by former members of Saddam Hussein's regime.''

Maybe they're paying CNN too.

Posted to Iraq at 10:24 PM | Comments (1)

Buying into housing discrimination

The city of Baltimore is holding home-buying fairs in a program called Buying Into Baltimore where they take people around Baltimore on trolleys, encouraging them to buy houses in that city. In fact, the first 50 people who buy a house through the program will get $3000. What the page linked to above doesn't mention is this:

Baltimore is offering 15 $3,000 grants to Hispanics who buy homes in the city... Legal scholars aren't sure the program could pass legal scrutiny -- in part because it singles out one minority group for special treatment...

There's more in this press release from the city:

In addition to 50 $3,000-grants available to the general public, ten grants will be reserved for Hispanic families participating in the workshop on September 6thand the trolley tour program. The Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development is undertaking this expanded grant program in cooperation with the Mayor�s Hispanic Liaison Office, Live Baltimore Marketing Center, Fannie Mae, and Centro de la Comunidad. According Jos� Ruiz, Hispanic Liaison and project coordinator, "The Road to Your Home in Baltimore / El Camino a Su Hogar en Baltimore� workshop and tour will provide participant with the main ingredients to becoming homeowners. The chance to receive a $3,000 grant will be a great incentive to participants who might otherwise be unable to make a down payment. For more information and to register contact Lorena Beltran at 410-545-6532. Special thanks to Assisi House, Home Down Payment Gift Foundation, BB&T Mortgage, Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corporation (see also this), Countrywide Home Loans, Live Baltimore, El Mensajero, El Tiempo Latino, and Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).

All animals are now supposedly equal, it's just that some animals are, well, you know the rest.

As you can see from the above, the feds are involved via Fannie Mae. So, contact your congressmen about this example of blatant housing discrimination and suggest they do something about it. Also, I'll be looking up the contact information for the corporations mentioned. Centro de la Comunidad is a non-profit, and, based on past experience, is probably a recipient of money from the Ford Foundation. Their annual report is not available online, and their 990 (from guidestar.com) doesn't say where their money comes from. Note however that one of their directors is associated with a foreign consulate (the Dominican Republic) and their president seems to have had a bit of trouble of late.

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

"What is the 2D Cartesian Coordinate System, Lonewacko?"

The "Cartesian Coordinate System" is something almost everyone is familiar with. Don't worry, this isn't hard math! It's the xy-plane, where you have the x-axis extending left to right, and the y-axis extending top to bottom, and they meet at point (0,0). Something you all remember from your early education.

Now, why is this in the Politics category?

Because, you can agree to offset something placed in this coordinate system. That is, you can agree to place something a little to the left. As long as you place everything else a little to the left, everything lines up. You can agree that the point on the x-axis is 3 units to the left and at point 0 on they y-axis is your new origin, and as long as everything else is moved 3 units to the left, everything's OK.

That is the mathematical explanation of John Carroll, editor for the L.A. Times.

You see, in Carroll's world - as in the world of many other newspaper editors - their origin is a few ticks to the left. They think they're at the center, but they're actually to the left.

Xrlq has more here.

Posted to Politics at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)

May 07, 2004

More on the American 3/11 suspect

It turns out that American 3/11 suspect Brandon Mayfield is an immigration lawyer, or at least took immigration cases.

His fingerprints were found on bags containing detonators used in 3/11, although according to his wife it was only a partial print. More here.

UPDATE: The NYT is saying there's been a rush to judgement.

Posted to Terrorism at 06:59 PM | Comments (0)

FLASH: Critics call for CNN's resignation

Developing...

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

"Hispanics will help build future of U.S."

From a KC Star report on the 'Latino Civil Rights Summit 2004':

Jose Angel Gutierrez, a Dallas lawyer and author, said it best as Friday's luncheon speaker: �We are the future of America. Unlike any prior generation, we now have a critical mass. We're going to Latinize this country...�

Gutierrez said people from Mexico, Central and South America are not immigrating to the United States. They are simply migrating because this land had been theirs. Spain had held it, and before that it had belonged to the indigenous people. Hispanics should never put up with others telling them to go back where they came from. �You don't have to apologize to anybody,� Gutierrez said...

Do you think the author of the piece, Lewis Diuguid, did a little googling before writing this? Remember, Diuguid is a member of the KC Star's Editorial Board, so he probably should do his research. If he had, he would have found these earlier quotes from Mr. Gutierrez:

The border remains a military zone. We remain a hunted people. Now you think you have a destiny to fulfill in the land that historically has been ours for forty thousand years. And we're a new Mestizo nation. And they want us to discuss civil rights. Civil rights. What law made by white men to oppress all of us of color, female and male. This is our homeland. We cannot - we will not- and we must not be made illegal in our own homeland. We are not immigrants that came from another country to another country. We are migrants, free to travel the length and breadth of the Americas because we belong here. We are millions. We just have to survive. We have an aging white America. They are not making babies. They are dying. It's a matter of time. The explosion is in our population.

And, this classic:

"We have an aging white America. . . . They are dying. . . . They are ******** in their pants with fear! I love it!" "We have got to eliminate the gringo, and what I mean by that is if the worst comes to the worst, we have got to kill him."

If you'd like to suggest that Lewis Diuguid do a bit of research before quoting people who should be shunned by mainstream society, please send a polite email to the KC Star's Reader's Rep: readerrep@kcstar.com

Posted to Immigration2003 at 12:06 AM | Comments (2)

May 06, 2004

Outsourcing just keeps getting better and better!

India is trying to become "the world's IT lab." This bit that appears to have been ghostwritten by the Indian Chamber of Commerce has the scoop. It's not just the grunt coding work that's being outsource, google, IBM, Nokia, Intel, and Sun have R&D labs there and India is trying to get more. It might take a decade or two, but I'd imagine that lower demand for American programmers will lead to lower demand for universities to teach prospective programmers. Eventually software will become something that the U.S. isn't too very good at, and we'll be reliant on foreign countries to supply the innards of our basic and not-so-basic electronic devices. That will not be a good thing.

Posted to Politics at 11:34 PM | Comments (1)

Was an American convert to Islam involved in 3/11?

From Newsweek's 'An American Connection':

FBI agents today detained a Portland, Ore., lawyer after receiving evidence from Spanish authorities that the man�s fingerprints allegedly were found on bomb-related evidence associated with the March 11 railway attack in Madrid...

The man was identified as Brandon Mayfield, a convert to Islam who is tangentially linked to one of the chief defendants in the so-called �Portland Seven� case � a suspected terror cell in Oregon whose six surviving members pled guilty last year of plotting to fight for the Taliban against U.S. soldiers during the war in Afghanistan.

Sources said that Mayfield had been under round-the-clock surveillance by the FBI for some time. According to law-enforcement sources, he was picked up by agents in Portland today and is being held as a �material witness� in a Grand Jury investigation � a status that allows the Justice Department to hold him in secret without formally filing charges against him...

Posted to Terrorism at 04:57 PM | Comments (0)

Moore admits Disney 'ban' was a stunt; PETA tells Moore to lose weight

It's a Mikey Moore two-fer!

First, he admits the "ban" was all a jolly jape:

Less than 24 hours after accusing the Walt Disney Company of pulling the plug on his latest documentary in a blatant attempt at political censorship, the rabble-rousing film-maker Michael Moore has admitted he knew a year ago that Disney had no intention of distributing it...

(Via Jane Galt)

To make matters worse, PETA is starting to eat its own and has called Mikey on his porciness:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has selected the gadfly filmmaker as one of its"Flab Five" and is treating him to a Veg Eye for the Fat Guy makeover. "Looks like the 'Downsize This' author has been doing too much supersizing," notes PETA.

(Via DailyPundit)

Posted to Celebrities at 03:34 PM | Comments (3)

Drudge must be slipping, Part 2

I already considered blogging the 'Woman Reportedly Bites Into Live Bullet In Hot Dog' story a couple days ago. I decided against it because anything that I would say would lower the discourse level of this blog.

Posted to Bloggage at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)

May 05, 2004

An Abu Ghreib flashback

So much has been written recently about the Abu Ghreib prison that its past has apparently been forgotten:

"Qusay, [Saddam's] second son, ordered Abu Ghreib prison to be "cleaned out" and had 2,000 prisoners executed in 24 hours." (link)
"Abu Ghreib prison, 30 kilometres (19 miles) west of Baghdad, was by all accounts one of the darkest places in Saddam's benighted realm..." (link with much more)
"The grave diggers say that the bodies in many of the graves here in a walled-off enclave of the Kirkh Islamic Cemetery, a mile down the road from the big prison, lie twisted in twos and threes. For over 20 years, they report, almost no one has been allowed to visit here, apart from a lone shovel man and the secret police who heaved the bodies from their cars toward the holes in the earth." (link)
"[American Kenneth Beatty] was sentenced to 7 or 8 years in prison and transferred to Abu Ghreib prison in Baghdad. There he lived in a cell invested with vermin and shared a toilet with more than 200 prisoners. He suffered from a heart condition but was denied medical attention." (link)
"During captivity [in Abu Ghreib], both [American] men were in constant fear for their lives. The captors displayed little respect to human life. At one point, an Iraqi guard attempted to execute Mr. Barloon, but was stopped by another guard." (ibid)
"On Monday, hundreds of people gathered at the headquarters of state security in Baghdad seeking information on those who never appeared [after Abu Ghreib was opened by Saddam before the war]... But within the crowd were elderly women and other relatives demanding information about prisoners. After some forced their way into the Foreign Press Center, shots were fired into the air, dispersing the crowd. Two hours later, they returned... One man told an official that he had not seen his brother since 1980..." (link)

Posted to Iraq at 11:49 PM | Comments (5)

"Proposal to Let 14-Year-Olds Vote Clears First Legislative Hurdle"

Self-esteem guru and scheming California politician John Vasconcellos' attempt to lower the voting age is crawling forward:

A state senator�s proposal to lower California�s voting age to 14 passed its first legislative test Wednesday on a party-line vote of the Senate Elections and Reapportionment Committee.

With Democrats in support and Republicans in opposition, the controversial bill by Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, cleared the committee on a 3-2 vote.

By the same vote, the committee also approved a companion measure -- a proposed amendment to the state constitution which would be needed to lower the minimum voting age from 18 to 14. The constitutional amendment would require voter approval...

It'd be so nice if the Bay Area would just secede from the rest of California.

As I've said before, this is much more than just wacky legislation from a wacky legislator, and I'd suggest taking him - or at least those like him - seriously. Previous coverage starts here.

Posted to California at 04:00 PM | Comments (0)

What if Kerry doesn't support the Democrat's Plan to Give Away the Store?

Kerry is apparently not jumping at the chance to endorse Teddy Kennedy's plan to Give Away the Store: see 'Kerry Hesitates as Democrats Promote Immigration Plan'.

Perhaps Kerry realizes this would create a huge backlash from his constituents. For instance, consider the following:

Separately on Tuesday, a Harvard scholar released a study estimating that immigration reduced the wages of U.S. male workers by an average of about 4% from 1980 to 2000, with heavier losses for high school dropouts, Latinos and African Americans. George J. Borjas, a leading immigration economist, said immigrants added to the supply of low-skilled workers, pushing down wages...

Perhaps this is a good chance to educate Kerry's natural constituencies about the effects of the Kennedy plan on their lives.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)

"[Navy] Base security scrutinized over illegal-immigrant workers"

Illegal aliens have not only worked at Norfolk Naval Station (the world's largest naval base), some of them appear to be members of a violent Salvadoran gang:

Federal authorities said Monday that they are investigating whether local construction companies bribed Norfolk Naval Station security officials to allow illegal immigrants and suspected foreign gang members through the gates to work...

The investigation began nearly two years ago, when five undocumented men were found on the world's largest naval installation taking photographs near a pier...

As the investigation broadened, Norfolk police learned that some other workers claimed to be members of a "notoriously violent" El Salvadoran gang called "MS Thirteen" and that Ramos had smuggled them into the country, court records say.

Later, Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents discovered MS Thirteen-related graffiti in living quarters on the base, the papers say.

Navy officials said they have not changed or reviewed their security procedures as a result of the case.

"I wouldn't say that there is a security hole," said Beth Baker, a spokeswoman for the Navy's Mid-Atlantic Regional Command, headquartered in Norfolk.

"Our security and access to our bases is pretty tight," she added. "The Navy appears to be a relatively small part of a larger investigation here..."

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

A tribute to the women of Iran

Yeah, baby, raise those fists. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah baby, jam that crack.

Posted to WackyHumor at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)

Al Gore, video guy

Via DailyPundit comes this post:

...I remember a friend telling me about Gore taking Final Cut Pro classes over at DV Dojo a few months back. Apparently the secret service was in there the next week asking what the hell Al was doing there. Anywho, this is interesting b/c of Gore's plans to tap Camera Planet braintrust to create a bottom up production network...

Soon Gore will be staying up all night fiddling with color correctors, patch cords, and the Video Toaster. Oh, wait, they don't use those things anymore.

Posted to Politics at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)

Canada: The Bible as hatespeech?

Sexual orientation has been added as a protected category to Canada's hatecrime law:

Some members of Parliament have called it a "dangerous" law that muzzles free speech, including Liberal Party member John McKay, who dubbed it a "chill bill."

"Anybody who has views on homosexuality that differ from Svend Robinson's will be exposed rather dramatically to the joys of the Criminal Code," McKay said last fall.

Posted to Privacy at 12:49 PM | Comments (0)

May 04, 2004

"Report Warns of Infiltration by Al Qaeda in U.S. Prisons"

From the NYT:

Groups promoting extremist brands of Islam have gained a foothold in American prisons, and counterterrorism officials believe Al Qaeda are likely to try to use the prisons "to radicalize and recruit inmates," according to a Justice Department investigation...

A classified addendum to the report details cases in which counterterrorism officials assert that people leading prison prayer sessions � including authorized chaplains, volunteers and inmates � may have ties to terrorist groups.

In a briefing Tuesday for Congressional officials, the inspector general's office said it found evidence that volunteers leading prayer services had been linked to people who showed up on terrorist watch lists, and that people associated with Al Qaeda had already managed to recruit support within the federal prisons, said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.

Federal prison officials "were putting out the welcome mat to any group that wanted to infiltrate the prisons," Mr. Schumer said. "There was virtually no vetting of who would become a chaplain or a volunteer, and there was virtually no supervision. It was an invitation to danger..."

There are a few more links in my post from a couple days ago.

Posted to Terrorism at 11:17 PM | Comments (0)

"CAIR's war on conservative radio"

Michelle Malkin discusses CAIR's latest cries of victimization:

...The most recent target of CAIR's campaign to stifle critics of radical Islam is Boston-based radio talk show veteran Jay Severin. On April 23, CAIR issued a press release headlined: "Boston Radio Host Says Kill All Muslims; Islamic Civil Rights Group Calls for Host's Termination." On April 25, the Boston Globe parroted the charges in a story that quoted CAIR spokeswoman Rabiah Ahmed accusing Severin of saying on his show, "I've got an idea, let's kill all Muslims."

Just one teensy problem with the story. It wasn't true. On April 27, the Globe was forced to publish a correction admitting that Severin never said "kill all Muslims." CAIR, however, has refused to admit the fabrication and continues to call for Severin's termination...

Posted to Terrorism at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)

How biased is the Arizona Republic?

Let's take a look at the AZ Republic's reprint of the L.A. Times story about the Democratic Mass Illegal Immigration Plan. Bear in mind that both identify the author as Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and are (more or less) the same article.

The AZ Republic version is named 'Alternative on migrants: Dems set to offer more lenient plan on immigration'.

The L.A. Times version is named 'Dueling Immigration Ideas Frame a Key Election Issue: Democrats counter Bush's guest-worker concept with a move toward citizenship'.

But, that's not the worst part.

The AZ Republic's version has replaced every occurence of the word "illegal" with "undocumented" or similar. No, really. For instance, here's the first paragraph of the Times story:

Congressional Democrats, playing catch-up with President Bush's guest-worker proposal, plan to introduce an immigration reform bill Tuesday that would put millions of illegal immigrants on the path to citizenship but restrict the entry of future workers.

And, here's the first paragraph of the AZ Republic story:

Congressional Democrats, playing catch-up with President Bush's guest-worker proposal, plan to introduce an immigration reform bill Tuesday that would put millions of undocumented immigrants on the path to citizenship but restrict the entry of future workers.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 10:52 AM | Comments (1)

'No Illegal Alien Left Behind' Bill Introduced

Here's FAIR's response to the Democratic Party's attempt to give away the store:

Legislation unveiled today by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) would guarantee legal U.S. residence for virtually every illegal alien living in the U.S. and countless millions additional relatives who would be permitted to join them in this country. Under the Kennedy-Gutierrez legislation, most, if not all, of the estimated 8-13 million illegal aliens in the country would be granted immediate amnesty, and nearly all existing limits on people seeking admission to the U.S. would be lifted.

In addition to granting amnesty to illegal aliens and moving their relatives to the front of the immigration queue, the bill would allow newly legalized immigrants to sponsor additional relatives to come to the United States, even if they lack the means to fulfill their commitments of support. The legislation also waives existing re-entry bars for illegal aliens who have been removed, allowing them to return to the U.S. to claim amnesty...

Posted to Immigration2003 at 10:42 AM | Comments (1)

May 03, 2004

Low Carb, High Liability?

At the same time that McDonald's is radically altering its menu to avoid being a litigation target, some restaurants are offering menu items that might lead to future litigation. For instance, Carl's Jr. is offering a 'Low Carb Breakfast' to Atkins dieters. Just reading that I feel my arteries clogging. It's 900 calories, 660 of which are from fat? 73 grams of fat, of which 33 are saturated? Almost a gram of cholesterol, and over 2 grams of sodium? Crikey! It's almost like a Homer Simpson joke.

What if, instead of their current practice of attacking SuperSizing and the like, greedy lawyers decide to go after the Atkins diet and those who offer low-carb choices?

I have a fairly low opinion of the Atkins diet, but I don't have any scientific proof it's a bad thing. What if a study comes out definitively showing it's bad? Won't that then open those fast food restaurants and other food providers to law suits? Are there potential litigants chomping away at Carl's Jr. and on various other low carb fast food?

The Lonewacko dieting suggestion is simple: eat a fairly traditional balanced diet, just eat less of it. And, just as important, spend a lot of time exercising. If you're very overweight, consider some form of surgery.

Posted to Miscellania at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)

"Look who's teaching Johnny about Islam"

From WND:

A top textbook consultant shaping classroom education on Islam in American public schools recently worked for a school funded and controlled by the Saudi government...

The consultant, Susan L. Douglass, has also praised Pakistan's madrassa schools as "proud symbols of learning," even after the U.S. government blamed them for fueling the rise of the Taliban and al-Qaida...

[Douglass] has edited manuscripts of world history textbooks used by middle and high school students across the country. She's also advised state education boards on curriculum standards dealing with world religion, and has helped train thousands of public school teachers on Islamic instruction...

...up until last year Douglass taught social studies at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Va., which teaches Wahhabism...

See also the earlier article 'Report: Saudis funded infiltration of U.S. military':

Saudi Arabia has funded the indoctrination of U.S. soldiers and inmates to an ideology adopted by Al Qaida.
Research conducted by the Washington-based Institute of World Politics has asserted that Saudi Arabia poured tens of millions of dollars into spreading Al Qaida-related ideology among American soldiers and inmates. The report said the Saudi aim was to form insurgency cells throughout the United States that support a Wahabi agenda...

For more, see 'Military probes hiring of clerics'.

And, consider CAIR's Saudi-funded 'Library Project.' For instance, see 'Dhimmitude in the libraries: an antidote'.

Posted to TheSaudis at 04:23 PM | Comments (0)

I have one more thing to monitor

I'm already (supposedly) monitoring AirAmerican Radio for my new blog BoreAmerica.com.

Now, conservative-turned-Loony-Leftie David Brock has started a web site to monitor the right. He seems to especially targeting this blog: "Media Matters for America will monitor cable and broadcast news channels, print media and talk radio, as well as marginal, right-wing websites that often serve as original sources of misinformation for well-known conservative and mainstream media outlets."

While there's no indication he was referring to this blog specifically, my ears are in fact burning. In return, I'll be occasionally monitoring Media Matters.

Posted to Bloggage at 03:21 PM | Comments (0)

May 02, 2004

The Democratic Party's plan to give away the store

The Democrats are proposing a new immigration "reform" plan, and - surprise! - the L.A. Times has obtained a pre-release copy. The proposal is authored by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.).

It would basically allow almost all illegal aliens in the U.S. to become citizens. Even worse, "recent arrivals would not be shut out." In other words, expect another few million to cross our borders in expectation of receiving an amnesty from whoever wins the presidency.

But, wait! It gets even worse: "The Democratic proposal is largely silent on enforcement."

Since this is being proposed by Democrats, one way to fight it is to educate their voting base - such as blacks - about the effect that massive illegal immigration will have on their lives. I'm sure Moby has a plan.

Posted to Immigration2003 at 09:53 PM | Comments (0)

Amnesty International Says It Has Evidence of 'Pattern of Torture'

Yeah, that's nice. Perhaps we could talk about AI's Pattern of Anti-American Bias? Sure, as previously stated, Abu Ghraib is not a good thing, and it needs to be dealt with. However, we also need to watch for those who will seek to use this incident to suit their agendas. Especially if they largely ignored Saddam's years and years of torture and murder.

Posted to Iraq at 09:41 PM | Comments (4)

What a roadie

I'm sorry, but any slight amount of respect I had for John "French" Kerry has dissolved away. No, the T-shirt doesn't absolve him; the color scheme and the shorts cannot be counteracted. What a poor, pathetic roadie.

He took a spill, but thankfully wasn't injured. No word on whether he tried to blame it on one of his Secret Service agents.

UPDATE: Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds weighs in.

Posted to Politics at 04:21 PM | Comments (1)

Abu Ghraib: Much worse than I thought

Based on the 60 Minutes report, I originally thought this was just an isolated incident involving yahoos, and that no one was physically hurt. The Hersh article says this is much worse, and the responsibiilty for at least covering it up might go much higher. Not only that, we might have been employing private torturers. This is not good; it will require people at a high level to be at least fired, and not just Reserve members. It might also require a structural change regarding how we do business and under what circumstances we employee Wackenhut-style companies.

That does not excuse members of the left who want to use this for political purposes or as part of a general plan to bash AmeriKKKa.

It also does not excuse groups - some in the U.S., some outside - who will condemn this to the skies, but who fail to condemn or who attempt to apologize away even worse acts committed against Americans.

However, the allegations about prisoner abuse by British troops may be false.

The piece 'We're fighting for the right to be outraged at those photos' includes this:

Still, the outrage felt at those photos of torture is what makes this society worth living in. It distinguishes us from our enemies. But, like everything, this outrage has a price. If it is to conclude that we should not defend ourselves against the Saddams of the world, then it is too dear. The secret is to retain the outrage and not draw that conclusion. We have to keep two thoughts parallel in our heads - these are appalling acts that must not be tolerated, but neither are they to be used as a block against our instincts of self-preservation or to render us defenceless against the worst systems and enemies of civilisation...

UPDATE: Someone else says the British photos are fakes, while the Mirror stands by its story.

Posted to Iraq at 03:31 PM | Comments (2)

Put "For personal services" in the memo line

Remember Jerry Springer? Talk show host, former Cleveland mayor, payer for prostitute services with a check?

He's running for Senate from Ohio, and Jesse from Pandagon is now his official blogger.

Posted to Bloggage at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)