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November 30, 2004

"The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Californians"

FAIR:

Analysis of the latest Census data indicates that California's illegal immigrant population is costing the state's taxpayers more than $10.5 billion per year for education, medical care and incarceration. Even if the estimated tax contributions of illegal immigrant workers are subtracted, net outlays still amount to nearly $9 billion per year. The annual fiscal burden from those three areas of state expenditures amounts to about $1,183 per household headed by a native-born resident...

Posted to Immigration2004 at 04:16 PM | Comments (0)

L.A. Mayoral debate: TV Thu. 12/2 7pm

Broadcast live by KNBC. Details here.

How about someone asking the follow-up to this question that was asked four years ago?

It has been reported Mr. Villaraigosa that when you were at UCLA you were active in a Latino rights group which among other things says in its constitution that it is in favor of forming a separate republic in the Southwest United States. Do you hold the beliefs of that organization as your own and do you still support the group and what do you tell kids that see this kind of stuff on the Internet?

Villaraigosa didn't answer the question. Maybe the follow-up could make him tell us what he really thinks.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 04:10 PM | Comments (0)

Tom Ridge to resign

This is all ABC has right now:

Tom Ridge is resigning as secretary of homeland security, ABC News has learned.

Ridge, the former governor of Pennsylvania, has sent his letter of resignation to President Bush, sources told ABC News.

A formal announcement is expected later in the day.

OK, you're saying to yourself, "wouldn't just about anyone else do a better job?" or "aren't all Bush appointees pretty much the same?" Well, consider that a possible successor is Asa Hutchinson, last mentioned here. Check out the links at the end of that post to see what this might mean.

UPDATE: Here's a (Freudian slip?) from the AP, the Washington Times, or Ridge himself:

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has informed the White House and department staff that he has resigned, U.S. officials said today.

In an e-mail circulated to senior Homeland Security officials, Ridge praised the department as "an extraordinary organization that each day contributes to keeping America safe and free." He also said he was privileged to work with the department's 180,000 employees "who go to work every day dedicated to making our company better and more secure."

Compare that with this version of the AP report:

In a much anticipated move, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, whose name became synonymous with color-coded terror alerts and tutorials to the public about how to prepare for possible attack, announced Tuesday that he was stepping down.

In an e-mail circulated to senior Homeland Security officials, Ridge praised the department as “an extraordinary organization that each day contributes to keeping America safe and free.” He also said he was privileged to work with the department’s 180,000 employees “who go to work every day dedicated to making our country better and more secure.”

At post time, news.google.com shows 99 with "country" and 86 with "company", the earliest for both being 11am Pacific time. Perhaps someone with access to the raw AP feed can weigh in.

For more on the DHS, see Red Alert.

To see the leading lights of the blogosphere weigh in on this announcement, go here or here. A comment from the last link on Ridge's replacement: I nominate the US Marine who killed the the playing-dead enemy in Falluja. Just having that man’s picture at some airports would be a deterrent.

UPDATE 2: That's odd. See the link in post #8. It concerns the order of succession for DHS and involves FEMA, and it's from yesterday. And, for some unknown reason, some FEMA regions are not included; see the map in post #49.

UPDATE 3: Hutchinson gets defended in post #172; a report of a San Diego townhall meeting with Tom Ridge is in post #174.

Posted to Politics at 10:28 AM | Comments (1)

Warm up your phones

The National Council of The Race wants you to call Congress about the 9/11 bill. Sure, why not? Here's the phone numbers, and you know what to do.

Posted to Immigration2004 at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)

"Not in the mood for guests"

U.S. News discusses Bush's "guest worker" plan:

Back in 2001, George W. Bush, a newly elected president from a border state, had immigration on his mind. Within weeks of his inauguration, Bush vowed to extend a hand to Mexico, making an ambitious guest-worker proposal a hallmark of his administration. The president's dream was dashed by 9/11; tightening border controls, not loosening them, became the priority. He must have been serious, though, because just weeks after winning a second term, Bush has embraced the guest-worker proposal anew. Secretary of State Colin Powell and White House counselor Karl Rove have called the initiative a high priority. And Bush pledged to renew his push for the legislation in a talk with Mexican President Vicente Fox at the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference.

But Bush faces opposition in his own party--from border-state voters and House Republicans. In late November, conservatives derailed intelligence-reform legislation in part by refusing to get behind a bill that did not include strict immigration proposals. The president has made much of his willingness to spend political capital, but this issue may prove prohibitively expensive...

Bush faces an even tougher crowd in the next Congress. Seven new con-servatives will join the Senate, and in the House, Tancredo's group will be 75 members strong. In mid-November, 22 House Republicans, led by California's Elton Gallegly, signed a letter urging the administration to give up the guest-worker proposal. On the intelligence reform bill, the House Republican leaders refused to back down until the 11th hour on proposals that would have made it easier to deport aliens and deny them driver's licenses. "These people looked the administration in the eye and said, 'Drop dead,' " says Mark Krikorian, who runs a conservative immigration reform group...

...Administration officials say Bush really believes in the guest-worker idea, and there is speculation that he wants to reward the estimated 34 to 44 percent of Hispanic voters who supported him. His ability to bring home a win may depend on how much he's ready to risk. Gallegly says he respects the president but adds that if Bush insists on peeving House Republicans early in his term, he could put his entire agenda at risk. "Washington," says Gallegly, " is a land of grudges."

Posted to Immigration2004 at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)

Rush on the 9/11 bill

Let's go to the tape:

The chairmen of the 9/11 Commission don't really care much about immigration as it relates to national security...

Now, we're back here to James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in Wisconsin, and he's pushing for language to prevent illegal aliens from obtaining driver's licenses. And as he told us on this radio show last week: The 19 terrorists who attacked the U.S. on 9/11 had 63 different driver's licenses from five states, all obtained legally. By the way, is it not just plain common sense that illegal aliens should not be able to get legal driver's licenses? What better time and place to push for this than now?

Posted to Immigration2004 at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)

"Prop. 200 foes take challenge to court"

AZ Republic:

Proposition 200's latest legal saga begins today when its opponents seek a temporary restraining order in Tucson federal court to prevent the immigration measure from becoming law...

The U.S. District Court judge could immediately grant the 10-day restraining order and prevent it from becoming law while a judge determines its constitutionality, or refuse to issue the order and let Proposition 200 become law. Either way, the judge, who has not yet been selected, will set a hearing for within the next 10 days on the merits of the request to declare the initiative unconstitutional...

MALDEF (which was created nearly out of whole cloth by the Ford Foundation) is leading the anti-200 forces.

Another opponent is "Unidos Contra 200 (United Against 200)" which is "made up of document preparers, bankers, educators, religious advisers and health care providers." Gosh, do you think they might have a, you know, financial interest in illegal immigration?

The rest of the article discusses the fear (illegal) immigrants feel as the try to skirt our immigration laws and as groups try to help them do so.

Note that this AZ Republic report is printed in the Tucson Citizen as "Group out to kill Prop. 200 before birth". They don't print the last several paragraphs of the article; note where the break comes.

Posted to Immigration2004 at 09:52 AM | Comments (0)

We all knew this day would come

Sad, sad news:

He fulfilled his teacher’s prophecy that the so-called “nerd” would have the last laugh in the end.

But “Jeopardy” phenom Ken Jennings’ laughing days may be coming to a close, game show gurus say. After a 74-game winning streak that earned him more than $2.5 million, rumor is abuzz that Jennings’ reign is about to end.

Or rather, those in the know — audience members and fallen foes — claim he was dethroned months ago. But in the not-so-tightlipped game show universe, these prescient souls claim that the fatal blow will air at 7:30 p.m. tonight. [IMPORTANT NOTE: local air time may vary -- LW]

The rumors, experts claim, could have some merit. Telltale signs include an ABC “Nightline” behind-the-scenes peek at Jennings’ life, set to air later in the evening; and a party of Jennings’ defeated comrades, also slated for tonight...

Posted to Celebrities at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)

November 29, 2004

The perils of a high google ranking

My 6/03 entry about Fear Factor shooting in Griffith Park has generated 12 comments from people who think I'm Joe Rogan or have some way to get him a message... (Several visitors to that post have come after searching for "fear facter"; that was a mistake made by one of the commentors, not by me...)

I'm also top ranked for the phrase "sell your body to science". The entry dealing with a spam message I received has now generated 25 comments from people who want to sell their body to science.

Why am I not making money off these people?

Posted to Bloggage at 04:55 PM | Comments (0)

"Poor leadership at ICE cited as security threat"

From the WashTimes:

U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement's ability to gather and share intelligence data, conduct the investigations needed to guard the nation's borders against terrorists and enforce immigration law is being challenged by a growing number of ICE supervisors and agents.
Both supervisory and rank-and-file personnel, in numerous interviews, said the Department of Homeland Security agency is overwhelmed by low morale, mismanagement and the lack of a clearly defined mission, and said the lack of effective leadership threatens its ability to defend the United States against a new terrorist attack.
At least two congressional committees are reviewing the accusations and have met with ICE supervisors and agents to discuss the matter.
"Serious accusations have been made and there is a concerted effort under way to determine their validity and, more importantly, find out how they impact the country's ability to fight the war on terrorism," said one congressional investigator. "The complaints are specific and widespread. We take them seriously."

...[ICE supervisors and agents] questioned whether ICE has sought to maintain the legacy of its predecessor, the U.S. Customs Service, which developed an expertise in smuggling and money-laundering investigations, and said they doubted the new agency is committed to enforcing immigration law, particularly in the nation's interior, where 10 million illegals live...

Much of the criticism targets Asa Hutchinson, Homeland Security undersecretary for border and transportation security, who oversees ICE, and ICE Assistant Secretary Michael J. Garcia, who heads the agency...

See also "Tancredo presses White House on control of border", "Hutchinson’s Remarks Indicate Cheap Labor Bias of Administration", "Rounding up all illegals 'not realistic'", and "D.C. hamstrings border officers".

Posted to Immigration2004 at 03:11 PM | Comments (1)

"Border agents are bracing for expected surge of immigrants"

From this:

A renewed focus on immigration reform after the election by the Bush administration is making some Border Patrol agents nervous.

They are worried that misinformation about an "amnesty" program will trickle down to prospective immigrants by word-of-mouth, resulting in a surge in illegal immigration similar to the one noted last spring, after President Bush announced plans for a foreign guest-worker program in January.

Already there have been increases in apprehensions borderwide during this month, compared to the same period a year ago.

While the reason for this increase is unclear, Border Patrol union leaders fear that with recent immigration reform discussions between U.S. and Mexican officials making headlines in both countries, an increase in illegal border-crossing traffic is sure to follow...

Posted to Immigration2004 at 03:01 PM | Comments (0)

From Catalina to San Jacinto Peak

Thanks to the Santa Ana winds, the Los Angeles basin is just about as clear as it ever is. Yesterday, from Mt. Hollywood in Griffith Park your blogger could see Catalina 26 miles from the coast 10 miles away, all the way over to San Jacinto Peak about 100 miles east, all the way down to Santiago Peak in Orange County 50 or so miles to the south. And, they were clearly visible.

Today, the haze was back a bit, but Catalina and San Jacinto were slightly visible.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 03:00 PM | Comments (0)

"9/11 Commishes: Leave Immigration Loophole Open"

NewsMax:

The chairman and vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission said Sunday that Congress shouldn't press to close a giant national security loophole exploited by the 9/11 hijackers before passing new intelligence reform legislation - even though the Commission itself urged dealing with the problem.

"We're very reluctant to see that whole bill held up just by this one provision," Commission chairman Tom Kean told NBC's "Meet the Press" when asked about a proposal favored by House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., to deny driver's licenses to potential terrorists who are non-citizens.

...Vice chairman Lee Hamilton acknowledged that Sensenbrenner's provision was part of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations, but said closing the terrorist loophole wasn't the job of the federal government.

"There isn't any doubt that the hijackers use the state driver's licenses to get by a lot of checkpoints," he told "Meet the Press." "So standards are important here."

"But the fundamental question ... whether or not, for example, you issue a driver's license, that's a state matter and ought to be resolved by the state," Hamilton contended...

See also "Immigration-reform calls block intelligence overhaul", which has several quotes from various Congresspeople, including this:

Rep. Jane Harman, D-El Segundo, the leading Democrat on the Select Committee on Intelligence and also a member of the negotiating team, pilloried GOP leadership.

"If there is another major terrorist attack on our soil -- and sadly, there likely will be one -- we will have only ourselves to blame. Congress had the chance to protect America and Congress failed."

Someone tell her that 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers had a total of 63 driver's licenses from various states, OK?

Posted to Immigration2004 at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)

November 28, 2004

These Wacky Times

Posted to WackyHumor at 08:03 PM | Comments (0)

The "Semantic Web" could have happened last decade

I've occasionally referred to the web as a bunch of "text crap." To see what I mean, simply look at the source to this or any other web page. It is indeed a bunch of text crap.

Because the web involves sending blocks of poorly formatted text around, it leads to all manner of problems: "innovations" like cookies and style sheets and javascript and all the rest.

For an example from one of the organizations that perpetrated the web, see this:

...I have had a lot of success lately using XSLT to screen-scrape RDF out of XHTML pages...

That is, quite simply, absurd. Because the W3C designed the web the way it is, their home page is just one big text file with no real "semantic" information readily available. To get some of that semantic information out of their big blob of text, they're forced to screen scrape like one would if they were dealing with a dinosaur-era mainframe system. Nevertheless, to people who don't know any better this might seem "advanced." It is not.

There's another, much more interesting and useful example of screen-scraping here. In a way, these are similar to the village elders mandating that everyone has to throw their garbage in one big pit. Then, since some of that garbage might be useful, employing some village members to go into the pit looking for useful items.

All of this screen-scraping is designed to facilitate the "semantic web", the newest invention from the same people who brought you the web. Using the second case as an example, the idea would be to define what exactly a "Senator" is, then publish a list of Senators in a form that could be readily machine-processed. For instance, if you want to send emails to each Senator, in the current system you'd have to visit each of their pages and get their emails or locate their email form. With the semantic web, you could directly get a list of Senators and their emails. And, you could get other information, like their birthdays or a list of Senators from 1989 or whatever. And, with the semantic web none of this screen-scraping would be necessary.

As part of the semantic web, they define "ontologies", which describe what constitutes various fields of knowledge (baseball, chemistry, etc.) and the interrelationships of those items. For instance, here's an ontology for baseball, and here's one for people. (I'll note that an Error is not a kind of fielding play, and Male is not a Subclass of Animal, so there already seem to be problems a-brewing in the semantic web).

Could all of this have been avoided, and could we have had the semantic web from the get-go? The web didn't have to be a bunch of poorly formatted text files, it could have been something infinitely better.

Let's imagine if the web had been designed by people familiar with object-oriented design. Let's say there was no such thing as the web, and various people had been shown a mock-up of this blog's main page. Some of those people might suggest using some variant of SGML to send blocks of text around, which would then be parsed by a text processing program and would display the page. I.e., the current system.

However, an object-oriented designer would see the mock-up as a series of objects. Let's call the design he would have made the "OOWeb". With the OOWeb, you have a Site object that contains a series of Post objects. Each of those Post objects contains certain things and has certain characteristics:

CreationDate
Title
PostText
Comment[] (the "[]" mean a series of Comment objects)
Trackback[]
Author

Other objects that the Post object contains are less visible. Such as copyright information, revision history, other objects that reference the Post object, etc. etc.

When someone wants to see my blog, they send a request to my server. In the current case, they get a big blob of text back. In the OOWeb case, they'd get a series of objects. Their browser would then display those objects just as in the case of the web.

However, the semantic web would have been built-in with the OOWeb. If you have a Post object, you could ask it for its Author object, then query that Author object for other things, like the Author's email. No screen-scraping required.

After visiting my blog, you would have a cache of Post objects on your computer. You could look at a list of those Post objects, or browse through them looking for Posts with comments. You could directly tell a Post object to monitor its counterpart on my server, letting you know when someone had replied to that Post. In effect, you'd have a series of intelligent "agents" on your computer that could maintain a relationship with their original versions on my server.

Each Post object could be displayed using a standard display object, or you could use a third-party display object or write your own. Let's say you want to see the copyright notice for each post in your browser. You'd modify the code that displays Post objects to get the copyright information from the Post and then display that. Similarly with things like translating the text of a Post or displaying the Post using large print or special fonts or on special devices or whatever else. All of these things would be fairly easy with the OOWeb. With the current web, all of those things are problematic and would involve some form of screen-scraping or parsing or other things which would be fraught with the possibility of error. (I can already hear the complaints from web-supporters: 7-bit gateways, security, Java didn't exist when the web was invented, editing would have been problematic, binary formats are Micro$oftian, etc. etc. There are answers to each of these objections, some of which are answered here. Overcoming all of them would have been easier than the current situation.)

Now, perhaps the very fact that the web was so horribly designed lead directly to its success. And, its horrible design has certainly created a lot of money for a lot of people as they've invented "brilliant" workarounds like cookies, javascript, and all the rest.

Nevertheless, there was a better way and it's too bad that hadn't been explored at the time rather than the current mess.

(Additional information on the semantic web can be found here, here, here, and here.)

Posted to Miscellania at 12:03 PM | Comments (1)

A BelderBlog classic

In the past, we've featured BlogsForBush and PoliPundit classics, now it's time to fish down even deeper into the barrel:

Note the "hat-hair" — Dubya's been wearin' his Stetson, but hung it up upon entering (probably on a deer-antlers hatrack). Grandson of a senator, son of a President, Yale College and Harvard Business School — but this is a man who's entirely comfortable, entirely at ease, meetin' and greetin' in a roadside diner. He wouldn't turn up his nose at a couple of scoops of cherry cobler served in an orange Melmac bowl, either. That his napkin was paper, and came from a stainless-steel dispenser next to the catsup bottle (note: Heinz), wouldn't bother this man a bit.

If you have a mental image of, say, a propaganda drawing of Lenin talking to a group of school children, or a publicity photo of L. Ron Hubbard personally disenturbulating someone, don't worry. Although the subjects are not the same, the propaganda is.

Posted to Politics at 11:42 AM | Comments (0)

World's largest composited photo of the real world

If you look closely at the small image in the upper left corner above, you can see a small red dot. The image above is a zoomed-in part of the much larger image in the upper left.

In fact, this is a 2.5 gigapixel photo of Delft Holland. It was created out of many smaller digital photos that were stiched together, so it's not like it was taken in one shot by a mega-camera. Nevertheless, it's quite interesting especially the technical details. You can see the big picture and do your own zooming here.

(Via this)

Posted to Miscellania at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)

November 27, 2004

Mr. Badger or Mr. Rat?

I always thought badgers had fairly short and at least furry tails. I just saw an animal crawling along the top of a fence that certainly looked like it was a badger, yet it had a long, thin tail like a rat. So, it was either a very large, furry rat with badger features, or my knowledge of badgers is slipping, or it was something else entirely.

Trying to get a picture of badger tails, I fired up images.google.com, but I couldn't find any pics of badger tails.

I did, however, find this nice mug shot. And, I found a site specifically about badgers; the tail pictured here is what I thought all badgers had. That site, however, doesn't say whether the American badger has a furry or a rat-like tail.

I also found this collection of drawings. Some of those may not be work-safe; this one is not anywhere-on-this-earth-or-elsewhere-safe. I also found this site, which is also definitely not anywhere-on-this-earth-or-elsewhere-safe.

Posted to WackyHumor at 12:17 AM | Comments (1)

November 26, 2004

BigMediaBlog.com

You've probably experience this dozens of times: you're reading Instapundit, or Andrew Sullivan, or TalkingPointsMemo, and you want to leave a comment telling them how they're just plain wrong.

But, without a possibility of comments or even trackback, there's little you can do.

Until now!

BigMediaBlog.com to the rescue!

Each day, BigMediaBlog.com posts several open threads for various sites that don't have comments: Instapundit, or Andrew Sullivan, or TalkingPointsMemo, the WaPo, NYT, LAT, TV/cable, etc. etc.

BigMediaBlog.com also has open threads for sites that have a habit of deleting comments with which they disagree: DemocraticUnderground and DailyKos.

Yes, you do need to sign up for a TypeKey ID, but that's fast and free if you're one of those who doesn't have one already.

So, head on over to BigMediaBlog.com!

Posted to Bloggage at 09:28 PM | Comments (0)

"Club to remove barriers"

I'm all for clubs that remove barriers, and if you are too, read this San Bernardino Sun article.

What's that you say? It starts out with race baiting and goes downhill from there? It refers to illegal immigrant activists as "immigrant activists"? It includes the following:

The Mexican-American Political Association is forming an organization at Cal State to help Latino students know their rights and strengthen their cultural identity.

One mission of the MAPA club is to inform undocumented high school students of a three-year-old state law that allows them to attend colleges and universities paying the same tuition rates as other California residents.

Assembly Bill 540 was signed into law by former Gov. Gray Davis in October 2001.

It doesn't go into how Gray Davis is, like, the former governor specifically because of bills like that? And, it even gets worse, giving the impression that both MEChA and MAPA are mainstream groups? It doesn't mention those various boycotts the leader of MAPA has sponsored, as well as how that leader was recalled from the majority-Hispanic Santa Ana School District? And, it doesn't go into things like this:

[Lt. Gov. Cruz] Bustamante campaigned for Mr. Lopez even though the entire Santa Ana City Council, which has a Latino majority, supported his recall. Beatriz Salas, who immigrated from Mexico 20 years ago, says she was appalled when she and other parents attended a meeting with Mr. Lopez in 1999, where he admitted that his goal was to make Spanish the primary language in California.

Holy Moses! All those things seem to have been left out of the SB Sun's article. Why, it's almost as if... they have an agenda or something.

It probably won't do any good, but their editor's email is steve.lambert@sbsun.com. For more information on the chain of which that paper is a part, see this.

Posted to Immigration2004 at 08:36 PM | Comments (0)

What happened to Drudge?

He hasn't updated his site for a couple days now. Did a "turkey stuffing" incident get out of hand? Did forces loyal to Commandante O'Reilly kidnap him from a South Beach club?

Posted to Celebrities at 08:02 PM | Comments (1)

XML-RPC API: metaWeblog.newPost, no publish/draft/future capability

[If you don't know what the XML-RPC API is or don't care, please skip to the next or previous post]

As described here, the "metaWeblog.newPost" method "creates a new post, and optionally publishes it." It takes these parameters:

String blogid, String username, String password, struct content, boolean publish

The publish parameter doesn't do what you think it does. You can't use it to set a post's status to draft versus to publish. That issue is described here, complete with a workaround.

However, that workaround still won't let you create posts with a status of "future." For that, keep reading...

I wanted to set the status of entries to "future", and NoPublishMeansDraft doesn't help with that.

What I ended up doing is using my imperfect knowledge of Perl to edit [MT install directory]/lib/MT/XMLRPCServer.pm

In version 1.31 of that file (for MT 3.121), I inserted the following at line 165 in the newPost function:

## Java-like Perl courtesy of
## BigMediaBlog.com / Lonewacko.com
if ( defined $item->{mt_entry_status} ) {
my $statusString = $item->{mt_entry_status};
my $status = MT::Entry::status_int( $statusString )
or die MT::XMLRPCServer::_fault( "Value for mt_entry_status undefined (was '$statusString')" );
$entry->status( $status );
}

That should be inserted right after the following:

if ($mt->{cfg}->NoPublishMeansDraft) {
$entry->status($publish ? MT::Entry::RELEASE() : MT::Entry::HOLD());
} else {
$entry->status(MT::Entry::RELEASE());
}

I write Java, so there might be problems with that Perl or it might be possible to make it a one-liner. However, it seems to work. Sample code to use this:

import org.apache.xmlrpc.*;
import java.util.*;
// etc....
XmlRpcClient xmlrpc = new XmlRpcClient( "http://example.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-xmlrpc.cgi" );
params = new Vector();
params.add( "1" ); // your blog ID
params.add( "[*YOUR LOGIN NAME*]" );
params.add( "[*YOUR PASSWORD*]" );
hashtable = new Hashtable();
hashtable.put( "title", "TITLE" );
hashtable.put( "description", "ENTRY TEXT" );
hashtable.put( "dateCreated", "20041126T05:43:43" );
// mt_entry_status can be "draft", "future", "publish", or "review"
// if mt_entry_status is not given, the NoPublishMeansDraft controls
// as described here:
// http://www.jayallen.org/journey/2003/10/tip_xmlrpc_and_movable_type
// if mt_entry status is not one of the allowed values, a fault is sent back
hashtable.put( "mt_entry_status", "future" );
params.add( hashtable );
// the publish parameter;
// actually whether to rebuild the post or not; see also the link above
params.add( new Boolean( false ) );
String postID = (String) xmlrpc.execute( "metaWeblog.newPost", params );

Posted to Bloggage at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)

Hillary's stealth issue for '08

[Cross-posted to the Command Post and redstate.org/story/2004/11/26/163449/72]

NewsMax offers a roundup of Hillary being to the "right" of Bush on immigration matters: "Hillary Eyeing Immigration as Top 2008 Issue". There's no outright statement from her saying if she ran she'd make it a key part of her campaign, but some of the things she's said might make people think she's got that in mind. If she makes reducing illegal immigration a key part of her campaign, who would support her and who would oppose her?

On the opposition side would be the de facto left-right alliance that supports massive legal immigration and massive illegal immigration. You can see this alliance at work in the opposition to Arizona's Prop. 200 or in the categorized list of the 400 companies and organizations that support the AgJobs amnesty program. The members of this alliance include:

What about the other side of the ledger?

Here's who Hillary would get support from:

If handled correctly, I think she'd find that the support would far outweigh the opposition, despite the opposition's clout. For every member of the far left she lost, she'd gain at least one and probably more from the center or the right.

In the words of the Sacramento Bee's Daniel Weintraub:

I wouldn't be surprised if immigration became a major issue again, and it will happen overnight if we are attacked by terrorists who are found to have entered the country through the Mexican border. Right now both parties are reluctant to address it. The Democrats seem to believe that illegal immigration is really no different from legal immigration, and the Republicans are afraid that if they focus on it, they will suffer a backlash from Latino voters, as they did in the 1990s. I have always thought that a leader willing to take a calm, rationale look at illegal immigration while lauding legal immigrants would do fine. Seems to me that illegal immigrants hurt legal immigrants by "cutting in line" in front of those who are waiting and by bidding down wages in the entry level jobs that many legal immigrants hold as they try to climb up the economic ladder. Handled carefully, this should be an issue that appeals across party lines.

Posted to Politics at 01:32 PM | Comments (2)

November 24, 2004

Blogger gets SLAPPed?

Remember the story about OBL specifically threatening U.S. states that voted for Bush, and offering peace to those U.S. states that voted for Kerry?

It was first reported in the NY Post on November 1 in "MONSTER'S DEADLY WARNING TO 'RED' STATES" based on a report by MEMRI.

That soon spread like wildfire throughout blogdom. For the "simple" version, as usual, we turn to blogsforbush.com. Hey, nice graphic. I don't know if Insty covered it, but it was covered here and here. There are lists of the dozens of other blogs that covered it here, here, here, and here. Hopefully somewhere in those links there are at least a few bloggers who considered this an attempt by Bush supporters to throw the election to Bush.

Some people disputed MEMRI's interpretation of the OBL video, as discussed here. One of the people quoted in that last article is Juan Cole, a leftie history professor at the University of Michigan, who's also a blogger.

On 11/3, antiwar.com published his article "Osama Threatening Red States?" (Disclaimer: antiwar.com - though not Justin himself - once referred to your blogger as a "warbot".)

Now, because of that article, he's received a lawsuit threat from MEMRI. He says it appears to be a threatened SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation) suit. Let's see if this gets as much attention as the original report.

Posted to Bloggage at 11:54 AM | Comments (1)

November 23, 2004

"An Education in Expansion"

The LAT has a 1726 word article about Los Angeles' answer to the Big Dig. From "An Education in Expansion":
Using a combination of aggressive real estate negotiations, political gamesmanship and eminent domain, the Los Angeles Unified School District is scooping up hundreds of acres of land in a $14-billion campus building program that will result in enough new classroom seats to fill Dodger Stadium three times over.

When the program is completed in 2012, officials say, they will be close to ending overcrowding in the district, boosting academic performance and remaking neighborhoods. Some call it the largest public works project in the western United States � possibly rivaled in the nation only by Boston's $14.6-billion highway tunnel project known as the "Big Dig."

...The district hasn't been in the business of erecting schools for years. Most campuses were built before 1960, and for decades, they mostly sufficed. Then, in the 1980s, district enrollment began to swell past capacity...
Gosh, why could that be? I don't know, because the LAT won't tell me.

However, I do have this article: Immigration fuels school-building frenzy:
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...
Why isn't the LAT covering this massive subsidy to those who employ "cheap" labor? Many of the students in the LAUSD are the children of "cheap" laborers and illegal aliens. Shouldn't the employers pay the true cost for that "cheap" labor, rather than shoving the ancillary costs off on the rest of us?

And, shouldn't the LAT be covering those issues?

Let's all send an email to Readers.Rep *at* latimes.com and ask.

On a side note, I suggest also looking at who passed the school bond in question. It only passed by 20,000 or so votes. If San Francisco County had voted like the rest of California, it would have failed. However, the "liberals" in S.F. pushed it over the top.

(Via this)

Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:43 PM | Comments (3)

Today in creepy political news

That's a real billboard in Orlando FL. The text below the picture says it's a "political public service message brought to you by Clear Channel Outdoor," but the person who paid for it might be a local construction magnate. The AP is aware of the billboard but doesn't plan a story unless it receives a local reaction.

In other creepy news, see today's PoliPundit classic, specifically the comments like these:

...Everyday I find a new reason to love W...

...I love President Bush even more. I pray for him everyday. I didn’t vote for President Bush to be prom queen or cheerleader. I voted for him to be leader...

Posted to Politics at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)

November 22, 2004

"Hillary Eyeing Immigration as Top 2008 Issue"

NewsMax offers a roundup of Hillary being to the "right" of Bush on immigration matters. There's no outright statement from her saying if she ran she'd make it a key part of her campaign, but some of the things she's said - bearing in mind Billary probably polled the type of dog they should get - might make people think she's got that in mind.

Back in July I noted that at the DNC convention she said we need to "secure our borders." My thoughts at the time still stand: the Clintons weren't so good on immigration during their presidency, but that doesn't necessarily rule out her receiving a lot of support if she earnestly (yeah, I know) pledges to do something positive this time around.

Posted to Politics at 02:46 PM | Comments (2)

My kind of reporting

Hey Josh, here's your ticket for Little Rock. Just go to the Clinton library with a tape recorder or a notepad and stand at the only computer there that lists the donors. Then, collate those results and get linked to by Drudge: "Saudis, Arabs Funneled Millions to President Clinton's Library".

In earlier news, Rush admits that both Dems and Repubs have their hands in the Saudi till.

UPDATE: The NY Sun link now only works for subscribers. It's currently available here.

Posted to TheSaudis at 02:25 PM | Comments (0)

The morality of delousing pens

Professor Bainbridge has yet another post supporting Bush's "guest worker" plan. Not only that he's linking to a yet another column by Jason Riley of the WSJ that supports the plan.

Bainbridge seems to think Bush-style "immigration reform" is the moral choice. Driving millions of wages down near the minimum wage is "moral"?

There is no news yet on whether the Bush/Fox Amnesty will include workers put through delousing pens as did the Bracero program of the 50s, but the exploitation this time will probably be the same as before.

Perhaps the more moral choice would be to try to automate and mechanize rather than using serf labor. Bainbridge might also want to look at poll results before throwing around terms like "nativist right." Three-quarters of Americans oppose what Bainbridge and the WSJ support.

P.S. I partially fisked an earlier Jason Riley editorial in my first comment here, and Mark Krikorian discusses that editorial here.

UPDATE: See also "Is Bush Pandering to the Hacendados?"
Upon deeper inspection; however, the real nature of Bush's approach to immigration becomes apparent. What President Bush and his Machiavellian cohorts are trying to do is develop a strategy that allows them to have it both ways on immigration and at the same time relieve wealthy Mexican elites of any responsibility to improve the lot of the poor in their country...

the hopeless people flooding the US border today are not the white Y Tu Mama Tambien-making, Selma Hyacks you see on TV, they are overwhelmingly disenfranchised Indo-Mexicans who have been a pawn in the political machinations of European-Mexican and American elites since very day Cortez laid waste to Tenochtitlan. This Republican proposal is yet another move in a sad legacy of actions whose purpose is to keep a seething revolution from boiling over and overthrowing the land holding, European-Mexican elites who control Mexico...
I generally agree with that bit, but I have some disagreements with the other things in that post.

I'll also add that making foreign countries dependent on sending us their excess population in exchange for money sent back home (i.e., remittances) is hardly a moral thing.

Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:39 PM | Comments (1)

BigMediaBlog.com

How many times have you read something on a blog that doesn't accept comments - or on a blog that regularly bans commenters - and wished you could respond?

Enter BigMediaBlog.com.

If you see a post at, say, Instapundit that you'd like to comment on, simply go to BigMediaBlog.com and enter your comments in that day's Instapundit comments entry.

Each day, BigMediaBlog.com posts open threads for the following:

The site will be live after about 10am Eastern today.

Posted to Bloggage at 12:57 AM | Comments (0)

November 21, 2004

Snow Watch 2004

...workers were working to remove the cash from the beaver's dam. That was worth more than a tinker's dam, eh Paul?

That's right Colleen. Now, let's go over to meterologist Lonewacko. I thought you said it was going to be warm?

Sorry Paul and Colleen! I tried! In fact, today, we were supposed to have snow levels down to 3500' with accumulation of a few inches at 5000'.

Wow, Lonewacko! What is this, Colorado? So, did you see any of the white stuff?

I tried Colleen, Lord knows I tried. But, that goldarn Billy Graham was having a meeting at the Rose Bowl and the freeway was completely locked up. In fact, I reversed off the on ramp it was so bad. I was hoping to hike up from Altadena to at least the clumps-of-slush level, but I just couldn't make it. So, I went to Griffith Park instead. It was pretty cold with the wind! I almost wished I'd brought my balaclava! Now, back to you Paul!

Posted to OutdoorSports at 08:59 PM | Comments (0)

Brand Dimocrat, Part 2

Previous coverage of Brand Dimocrat here.

(I think the actual Homer Simpson quote might be "See Marge, because of me there's a warning" but I'm not going to change it.)

Posted to Politics at 01:20 PM | Comments (0)

What is it about Salina Kansas?

Last year, while driving across Kansas, I stopped at a store selling gothic/fetish clothing.

Now, someone is camped out on the roof of a different store that sells porno:

Written on a white sheet tacked to the front of Behind Closed Doors, 768 N. Broadway, are the words: “Honk if you support the right to choose for yourselves.”

Ray Morris, a Salina man who is spending a week on the roof of the adult store, got more than honks his first two days.

“Mostly, I’ve had a good response,” Morris said. “Some people honk. Some say, ‘Fight the good fight,’ or ‘We’re behind you,’ or things like that.”

Others, Morris said, have made obscene gestures.

Morris is spending a week on the roof to demonstrate against a group that is seeking a grand jury to investigate whether Behind Closed Doors and Priscilla’s, 2144 Planet, are promoting obscenity by selling sexually oriented products...

AP report here.

Posted to BloggingAcrossAmerica at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)

Brand Dimocrat

Oliver Willis is trying to create Brand Democrat posters. I'm helping with the first graphic above; the second graphic is from here which has more.

Hey Kids! Here's a fun project. The text will start out big and line by line get smaller until it's unreadable. And, it will consist of a list of famous Democrats: Nanci Pelosi, Teddy Kennedy, Al Sharpton, Barbra Streisand, Gray Davis, Barney Frank...

Another fun project would be to take one of Oliver's posters and leave the text as it is. Just add reality-based footnotes...

UPDATE: More here.

Posted to Politics at 11:46 AM | Comments (2)

November 19, 2004

She's a boxer, a fighter, and comes in third in two ways

Liberal Boxer was third top vote getter in the nation

The other way California's loopier Senator came in third?

Various Congressional aides and other wonks voted her #3 in the "No Rocket Scientist" category. Here are the complete results for that category:

Senate:

1. Tie: Rick Santorum (R-PA), Patty Murray (D-WA)
2. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
3. Tie: George Allen (R-VA), Jim Inhofe (R-OK)

House:

1. Tie: Duke Cunningham (R-CA), Katherine Harris (R-FL), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Karen McCarthy (D-MO), Loretta Sanchez (D-CA)

Meanwhile, the millions who voted for her were tied for positions #94,000,000 to 100,000,000 in the same category.

Posted to Politics at 01:48 PM | Comments (1)

"How The Immigration-Related Provisions Of H.R. 10 Implement The 9/11 Commission Report"

A FAIR attorney shows how the House version of the intelligence reform bill is based on the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission here. Don't let the ACLU or the Race Industry tell you different.

Posted to at 01:33 PM | Comments (0)

"Norwood targets Bush illegals plan"

WashTimes:

...Rep. Charlie Norwood, Georgia Republican and chief sponsor of the Clear Law Enforcement for Alien Removal Act (CLEAR Act), joined with 21 other House Republicans this week in urging President Bush not to grant what they called amnesty to illegal aliens, saying it would be "detrimental to our national and economic security."

...According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), 80,000 criminal aliens cannot be found and are living within the United States' borders — including nearly 4,000 of whom have been identified as foreign nationals from countries that support international terrorism.
ICE, because of budgetary restraints, has committed 2,300 agents to find those missing aliens.
Mr. Norwood said ICE needs help in capturing the convicted aliens, who include murderers, rapists, drug dealers and child molesters.
"Sending 2,000 federal agents into the field to find 80,000 criminal aliens is like trying to stop a tidal wave with hand towels. It's a farce, it doesn't work and the outmanned folks at ICE — as the numbers now show us — are simply drowning," Mr. Norwood said.
His bill is pending before the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, border security and claims. In addition to 125 bipartisan congressional co-sponsors, the bill has been endorsed by an overwhelming number of national, regional and local law-enforcement organizations, including the National Sheriffs' Association, the Law Enforcement Alliance of America, and the Southern States Police Benevolent Association...

Posted to Immigration2004 at 01:30 PM | Comments (2)

November 18, 2004

Maybe Joe Trippi could have helped

From March 30, 2002's "Saudis Pledge up to $20 Million for Clinton Library":

Disgraced ex-president Bill Clinton, whose disdain for national security over the last eight years is widely believed to have rendered the U.S. vulnerable to last fall's terrorist attacks, is set to collect millions of dollars from Saudi Arabia, home to 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers.

Estimates of Clinton's expected Saudi jackpot range from "less than $1 million to $20 million," according to columnist Robert Novak, who cites high-ranking members of the Saudi royal family as the source for the information.

In addition to the hijackers, al-Qaeda terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden is a Saudi national, and most of his family now live in the country.

Ostensibly U.S. allies, Saudi leaders have refused to allow American pilots to use U.S.-built air bases in the country to fight the war on terrorism, and have been described as uncooperative in 9/11-related investigations.

On Thursday Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah planted a kiss on the cheek of a top Iraqi official during a Mideast Arab summit, in a move widely seen as a slap at the Bush administration, which has identified Iraq as a member of the "axis of evil."

From this November 18, 2004 report:

Earlier reports said the Saudi and Kuwaiti governments were among the early donors to Mr. Clinton's library. Asked if the Saudis and Kuwaitis had backed the museum financially, [The president of the Clinton foundation, James "Skip" Rutherford] urged a reporter to ask those governments or consult the display, which will not be accessible to the public until tomorrow...

And, from Rush:

We know that Marc Rich paid a lot of money. We don't know how much George Soros paid, but we also know that the Saudi royal family contributed a great deal of money to the Clinton library. Now, isn't it interesting that you never hear about the Saudi royal family being involved with Democrat presidents. You don't get documentaries and books produced and written about the close ties between Democrat presidents and the Saudi royal family. A dirty little secret, ladies and gentlemen, is that the Saudi royal family has helped to finance most of the presidential libraries probably in my lifetime, and it's one of the reasons that there is such a close bond between presidents and ex-presidents and the Saudi royal family, all presidents, doesn't matter what party...

To read about far lesser lights that aren't even willing to be as honest as Rush in this instance, see this.

During the Blogging Across America tour, I visited Little Rock and saw the artist's conception of the Clinton Library. I summarized Bubba here. Perhaps after touring the library the next stop will be to the Hot Springs Showmen's Association.

Posted to TheSaudis at 05:55 PM | Comments (0)

November 17, 2004

Just put Readers.Rep@latimes.com on speed dial

The L.A. Times continues to define the new normal. The article Governor, Mexico Far From a Good Fit contains many hidden assumptions that would be shocking if things in California - specifically California's liberaldom elite - were at least somewhat normal. For an example, let's examine this passage:

Schwarzenegger seems to have damaged his relationship with Mexico by using the driver's license issue as a campaign theme last year, analysts said. When asked about it during the recall effort, Schwarzenegger replied on the radio: "You have to understand, I love Mexico. I have done four movies in Mexico."

His relationship with the nation contrasts sharply with that of former Gov. Gray Davis, who met with Fox eight times during his first term and referred to the Mexican president as a compadre. Davis was pointedly trying to contrast himself with his predecessor, former Gov. Pete Wilson, who had a chilly relationship with Mexico.

For more on Davis' links to Mexico - the very links that played a large part in his recall - see this:

In a transparent effort to appease ethnic interest groups, newly elected California Governor Gray Davis has used a blatantly rigged legal maneuver to overturn the will of 5 million California voters and kill Proposition 187, the law that banned state funded non-emergency benefits for illegal aliens...

"In no democracy in the world," FAIR Executive Director Dan Stein charged, "are the results of an election overturned without the voters having their day in court -- that is, until today. The decision to drop the appeal of Prop. 187," he continued, " has absolutely nothing to do with its constitutionality. This is a capitulation by Governor Davis to pressure from an elite group of pro-illegal immigration politicians and organizations. The implications of this are as frightening for the future of self government in our country as they are outrageous."

Or, this:

On August 4, 1999, the page 1 headline in the LA Times read "Zedillo Key to End of Prop 187." It should have read - “Heads of State Impose Their Will on Citizens of California.” But no, instead Mexican President Zedillo gets headline kudos for playing a key role in ending Prop. 187. A foreign leader working to thwart the will of California voters?

Or, specifically concerning another California politician's "friendly ties" with our neighbors to the south, see this.

Please send those links or anything else you find appropriate to: Readers.Rep@latimes.com

Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:03 PM | Comments (2)

Hey, values voters! Let's make a deal!

You promise to elect mainstream American conservatives with solid American values instead of what we've been getting, and I'll show you how to do it. Deal?

OK, here's all you have to do: send out an email to everyone you know telling them about this new site that'll help Red Staters see the errors of their ways. But, when you send the email, pretend you're a liberal and you're sending the email to other liberals, it just got to the people on your list by mistake. Tell the supposed recipients about how this site is so funny and it shows those inbred hicks in the Midwest and South for what they are.

The site is called the Lie Girls, and it's from the people who brought you "Pleasure Boat Captains for Truth".

Send those links out, and watch the votes come back!

Posted to Politics at 10:33 PM | Comments (0)

Iceland, Norway, Sweden and North Korea now safe for Westerners

From The rise of terrorism leaves much of world off-limits to Westerners":

LARGE swaths of the globe have become too dangerous for Westerners to visit or do business in, according to a report by a group of security experts.

The Middle East, much of the Islamic world and large parts of Asia and Africa are no longer safe, and attacks by Islamic militants against Western targets may increase, the RiskMap for 2005, published today by the Control Risks Group, says...

...more popular destinations make the second “high risk” category, including parts of Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia and the Philippines. The only “high risk” area in mainland Europe is Kosovo...

...The only countries to have an "insignificant" security risk are Iceland, Norway, Sweden and North Korea...

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

OMG! OMG! You won't believe who I think I just saw!

OMG!

I think - I'm pretty sure - I think I JUST SAW MICHAEL KINSLEY AT THE EAGLE ROCK TARGET!!!!!!

I was so shocked I didn't try to speak to him, but I'm pretty sure it was him! OMG! I almost PMPed! He was about 5'11" 160 with short-cropped hair and wearing a yellow/orange button-down shirt.

Let me put it this way: if it wasn't him, someone looks just like him and wears his glasses!

He had a cart with several items in it and he looked straight ahead all the time with a kind of dour look on his face. I couldn't help but stare at him, but he never looked at me. He must have known I knew who he was. I couldn't help myself and I followed him a bit before he went downstairs with the cart. Despite me staring at him as he went downstairs, he never looked at me. That pretty much tells me he knew I knew who he is.

If you're Michael Kinsley - or you know him - tell him the guy in the black short pants who yelled "Aren't you Michael Kinsley" after him was me!

Next week: a discussion of the time I saw the top of Patt Morrisson's hat off in the distance.

Posted to Celebrities at 09:39 PM | Comments (0)

"Record number of illegals deported from U.S."

Here's some good news:

A record 157,000 illegal immigrants were removed from the United States during the past year as U.S. authorities stepped up efforts to track down those who may pose security risks, the government said Tuesday.

About half of those deported in the year ending Sept. 30 had criminal convictions, an increase of 6.6 percent over the previous year, while removal of illegal immigrants who have no criminal record increased by more than 10 percent, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.

Much of the increase came from targeting fugitive immigrants who failed to report for removal after receiving an order of deportation...

[... reporter looks through Rolodex to find this article's Voice of Stupidity... ]

"These immigration laws are being enforced against immigrants who are simply in this country to work and find a better life for themselves," said Michele Waslin, an immigration policy analyst at the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights organization. "We don’t have any evidence that they were national security threats or terrorists."

Also see "Leftist Sugar Daddies"

...The Ford Foundation, for example, in 1968 single-handedly funded the creation of The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) and The Southwest Council Of La Raza, later renamed National Council Of La Raza. Both groups are radical mouthpieces for the "rights" of illegal immigrants (including the advocacy of college tuition for illegals at state universities), have managed to force bilingual education in many areas and remain wholly unrepresentative of the average Hispanic-American citizenry...

Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)

"Congressmen urge Bush to drop guest-worker plan"

I hate to be cynical, but the senders of the letter are the "usual suspects" and they've sent other letters in the past that the Bush administration appears to have basically ignored.

Nevertheless, they should be congratulated for continuing trying to talk to the brick wall:

The chairman of a House International Relations subcommittee yesterday urged the Bush administration to drop its proposed temporary guest-worker program and not "reward Mexican nationals living and working illegally in the United States" with legal status.
"It is our hope that in future discussions with the Mexican government, you will encourage Mexico to do its part to address illegal immigration rather than encourage their citizens to illegally enter the U.S.," said Rep. Elton Gallegly, California Republican...

"Cooperation with our close neighbor Mexico is essential, but we also feel that Mexico must respect our sovereignty and our laws, and should encourage its citizens to do the same," Mr. Gallegly said in the letter, which was co-signed by 21 other members of Congress...

In addition to Mr. Gallegly, others to sign the letter were Republican Reps. Lamar Smith, Sam Johnson and John Culberson of Texas, John Hostettler of Indiana, Charlie Norwood and Nathan Deal of Georgia, Ed Royce and Gary G. Miller and Dana Rohrabacher of California, and Tom Tancredo of Colorado.
Also, Reps. John J. "Jimmy" Duncan Jr. of Tennessee, Roscoe G. Bartlett of Maryland, Kevin Brady of Texas, Robert B. Aderholt of Alabama, Charles W. "Chip" Pickering Jr. of Mississippi, John Sullivan of Oklahoma, J. Gresham Barrett of South Carolina, Barbara Cubin of Wyoming, Sue Myrick and Walter B. Jones of North Carolina and Steve King of Iowa.

Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:29 PM | Comments (2)

CalInsider on illegal immigration

Daniel Weintraub of the SacBee held an online chat. Here's one Q&A:


Question: How big a role will our broken immigration policy play in the next election (federal and state)?

answer: I wouldn't be surprised if immigration became a major issue again, and it will happen overnight if we are attacked by terrorists who are found to have entered the country through the Mexican border. Right now both parties are reluctant to address it. The Democrats seem to believe that illegal immigration is really no different from legal immigration, and the Republicans are afraid that if they focus on it, they will suffer a backlash from Latino voters, as they did in the 1990s. I have always thought that a leader willing to take a calm, rationale look at illegal immigration while lauding legal immigrants would do fine. Seems to me that illegal immigrants hurt legal immigrants by "cutting in line" in front of those who are waiting and by bidding down wages in the entry level jobs that many legal immigrants hold as they try to climb up the economic ladder. Handled carefully, this should be an issue that appeals across party lines.

I got my question in a minute before the Q&A closed, so I don't know if I was just too late or if the question was too hot to handle. I asked for his opinion of this, and why he hadn't been reported in any U.S. newspapers: "California legislators ask Mexican Senate to intervene [in driver's licenses for illegal aliens]".

Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)

"Homeland Security? Not Yet"

Heather MacDonald has a new column discussing, among other things, political correctness, Norm Mineta, the Temecula illegal alien sweeps, and our porous northern border:

...A glance at a tiny section of the northern border, separating Vermont and a small part of New York from Canada, makes clear how lackluster the government's response to illegal entry remains. Every week, agents in the border patrol's Swanton sector catch Middle Easterners and North Africans sneaking into Vermont. And every week, they immediately release those trespassers with a polite request to return for a deportation hearing, since the Department of Homeland Security failed to budget enough funding for sufficient detention space for lawbreakers. In May, Swanton agents released illegal aliens from Malaysia, Pakistan, Morocco, Uganda, and India without bond. In July, they gave illegals from 11 terror-sponsoring countries a free pass. Since all these aliens chose to evade the visa process, none has had a background check by a consular official that might have uncovered terrorist connections. All are now at large in the country, outside the reach of law enforcement.

The failure to interdict northern trespassers is particularly worrisome, since Canada is a proven springboard for terrorists. Ahmed Ressam, the Algerian caught at the Canadian border with 100 pounds of explosives destined for the Los Angeles airport in December 1999, ran an al-Qaida cell in Montreal, despite having previously been ordered deported by the Canadian government. Two of the seven most wanted al-Qaida members, announced by Attorney General John Ashcroft in May, are naturalized Canadians. One, a Tunisian who has received flight training, has videotaped a "last will" in preparation for "martyrdom"; the other, an Egyptian who allegedly trained in Afghan terror camps, may already have slipped into the U.S. And Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, arrested in July in Pakistan with detailed computer plans for attacks on financial buildings in New York, Newark, and Washington, visited Canada in 2000 and had recently applied for a return visa.

In response to the detention-space crisis, the Swanton bureau chief admonished his agents in May that before they released an illegal from a terrorist-producing country into the woods, they should write up a Significant Incident Report, listing all "suspicious facts and issues." A typical report: on May 31, agents stopped an illegal Bangladeshi whose visas the State Department had revoked in 2003 and whose driver's-license records contained a notice that he was a member of a terrorist organization. After the FBI told the border agents that it was not interested in the Bangladeshi, the agents released him...

See also "Illegals detained at border released onto U.S. streets" and "D.C. hamstrings border officers".

Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:17 PM | Comments (0)

"Homeland Security Employees Required to Sign Secrecy Pledge"

WaPo:

...all 180,000 employees and contractors are being required to sign the three-page forms as part of working for the agency...

...congressional critics and government watchdog organizations such as the Federation of American Scientists call the policy a potentially precedent-setting expansion of official secrecy whose provisions are overly broad and unworkable, if not unconstitutional.

Ken Johnson, spokesman for House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), said GOP aides have been approached by DHS officials as a group and individually. One junior aide contacted directly signed the agreement, but his supervisors and Cox repudiated it as soon as they found out.

"We have steadfastly refused to sign any nondisclosure agreements. From our perspective it would be inappropriate, and at the very least unnecessary," Johnson said. "This is unclassified material and Congress has a right to it without signing away our lives."

Democratic staff also refused to sign nondisclosure agreements, minority committee spokeswoman Moira Whelan said.

"They're forgetting who's overseeing who," another panel official said...

See also the earlier "Border Patrol agents fear coming retribution".

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

"Illegal immigrants from Mexico pose real threat to Social Security"

Phyllis Schlafly:

...The real threat to Social Security doesn't come from giving young people this opportunity. The threat comes from a Bush administration plan to load illegal immigrants into the Social Security system, an idea that would skyrocket costs and bankrupt the system at the same time baby boomers flood into their benefit years...

Previous coverage starts here.

Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)

November 16, 2004

But, wouldn't implants be better?

In the same spirit as the last post, I somewhat support the system described in "In Texas, 28,000 Students Test an Electronic Eye":

In front of her gated apartment complex, Courtney Payne, a 9-year-old fourth grader with dark hair pulled tightly into a ponytail, exits a yellow school bus. Moments later, her movement is observed by Alan Bragg, the local police chief, standing in a windowless control room more than a mile away.

Chief Bragg is not using video surveillance. Rather, he watches an icon on a computer screen. The icon marks the spot on a map where Courtney got off the bus, and, on a larger level, it represents the latest in the convergence of technology and student security.

Hoping to prevent the loss of a child through kidnapping or more innocent circumstances, a few schools have begun monitoring student arrivals and departures using technology similar to that used to track livestock and pallets of retail shipments.

Here in a growing middle- and working-class suburb just north of Houston, the effort is undergoing its most ambitious test. The Spring Independent School District is equipping 28,000 students with ID badges containing computer chips that are read when the students get on and off school buses. The information is fed automatically by wireless phone to the police and school administrators...

To me, this sounds like a great idea with a poor current implementation. After all, badges can be removed or lost. They could be placed on household pets or even accomplices. Children could trade badges or drop them down a sewer.

What's obviously need here for the utmost in security are implanted chips. And, not to be morbid, several implants should be made in various random and undetectable parts of the body.

For the utmost in safety and security, everyone - not just impressionable children - should go and Get Chipped [TM].

Posted to Privacy at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)

Pop the top and blue sky with me

Have you ever "blue-skyed" about an uninvented technology, or thought of a way that a current technology could get even better?

Even if you aren't "technical", please read the following press release from Siemens and imagine the possibilities:

The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) has received an order from Puget Sound Regional Council, Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington, to implement a satellite-supported road pricing system as a pilot project, during which around 500 vehicles are to be fitted with on-board units (OBUs). With the help of the Global Positioning System (GPS), the position of the vehicle is detected in real time. The OBUs use GSM technology to communicate with a management control center where the user accounts are kept. The aim of the pilot project is to assess the feasibility of a use-dependent electronic pricing system. Another objective is to investigate the levels of acceptance encountered by the new system among motorists and the American public. Introduction of this system, unique in North America, is scheduled for the middle of 2004.

Using this system, drivers could be charged by the mile depending on how they use the roadways. States currently have gas taxes, but new, more fuel-efficient cars mean less gas tax revenue. Plus, there's a difference between driving a gallon's worth on an uncongested freeway and driving the same distance on the same freeway during rush hour. And, heavy trucks pay the same gas tax as small passenger cars, yet they cause much more damage to the roadways. Why shouldn't they pay their fair share?

This new system could allow a true, fair, level playing field for drivers. Those drivers who spend a lot of time on a freeway downtown during rush hour will pay more; those who drive during off-peak hours will pay less. Drivers could start allocating how much time they spend on each type of street. You don't leave your tap running all day because you don't want to pay a high water bill. In fact, some utility companies charge a higher rate for peak usage. Why shouldn't driving be the same?

Bear in mind this isn't "rocket science". GPS and GSM (cellular) are both here now and they're very widely used technologies.

And, it's only going to get better! Insurance companies could use this system to lower rates for safe drivers. The GPS could be used to determine how fast a driver goes and even if they change lanes too often. Coupled with data from computerized traffic signals or central traffic control centers, the insurance company could determine whether someone frequently runs red lights or commits other traffic infractions. If you're a safe driver shouldn't you pay a low rate even if you happen to live in a certain zip code? After all, fair's fair, right?

In fact, the police could even use these systems to automatically fine those who speed or park in handicapped parking spaces. And, what if a heinous crime is committed in your neighborhood or against a loved one? The police would be able to subpoena the records of all those drivers who were in the area at the time. The innocent would be eliminated from their list of suspects, and the guilty would be quickly caught. These systems could lead to a very sharp decrease in crime and make our streets very much safer.

Or, imagine if there's a possible terror attack. The police or other authorities could focus in on those drivers in affected areas, and tell them to evacuate immediately and what routes to take. Traffic could be routed on various roads to make sure everyone was safe. The cars of suspected terrorists could be monitored without the need for costly and error-prone physical surveillance.

But, bear in mind, the data recorded by these devices would only be used by those authorized to receive the data. The computer systems can be programmed to only give out information to the various departments of transportation or law enforcement agencies. It's only a few "Nervous Nellies" and "Worried Wilberts" who care about things like "usage creep." To be frank, while some people are concerned about civil liberties, most people are not. Let's face it: if the government wanted to track you, they have other ways to do it.

This is simply a smart - and cost-saving - use of technology that's already available. I applaud its use and I strongly encourage everyone to do the same.

For further reading, see:

"[CA] DMV Chief Backs Tax by Mile"

"At 87, [WA] state's transportation guru still a driving force"

"Travel Value Pricing: Better Traffic Operations Management and
New Revenue for the Puget Sound Region"

"Speakers say value pricing could ease Twin Cities congestion"

You can also contact the CA DMV and tell them you fully support this proposal here or by calling their Executive Office at 916-657-6940. Or, call Arnold Schwarzenegger at 916-445-2841. While he hasn't yet seen the light and come out in favor of the wonderful new proposals of his new DMV appointee, it can't hurt to tell him what you think.

Posted to Privacy at 10:23 PM | Comments (1)

A PoliPundit classic

Sure, most of the posts at PoliPundit are "classic", and in the bad sense. But, this one and its comments take today's cake.

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

November 15, 2004

FREEPERS TO BATTLE STATIONS!

Now is the time for all FReepers to come to the aid of a beleagured comrade!

Apparently a FReeper is being sued by one Rev. Boise Kimber for assault and battery. This happened all the way back in the Sore-Loserman days. The suit was filed 9 months later, and it's still going on. The FReeper proclaims his innocence and is seeking donations. The circumstances are explained at that last link.

The plaintiff sounds like a real piece of work; articles on him here, here, here, and here. More links at the thread.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, DU commiserates. Sample classy "liberal" comment: "CRY ME A FUCKING RIVER, FREEPER DIRTBAG!" The fact that the FReeper in question appears to have attempted to prevent the Reverend from interfering with the rights of a former CT state senator to speak apparently mean little.

UPDATE: Please make the siren stop!

See also this entry (#699). I think this guy needs a more creative lawyer.

Posted to Politics at 10:59 PM | Comments (0)

Canada - You'll like it here

The frostbitten sirens are calling:

CanadianAlternative.com is a collaborative project led by Communicopia.Net, an online communications company with offices in Vancouver and Toronto. We work with non-profit organizations and socially responsible businesses across North America to help them tell their stories and connect with their audiences.

We are proud Canadians who cherish Canada as a thoughtful, open-minded, inclusive society that is a working model of progressive values in action. We gladly welcome anyone who shares these values.

This site is not meant to provoke a wave of immigration from the US. We strongly encourage progressive Americans to stay in America and keep working on important issues. However, many of our American friends are considering moving to Canada and have been asking for information on the immigration process. Our goal with this site is to provide useful information on how to settle in Canada, what life is like here, and why we love it so much.

Link via AP's "Canadians open arms to Americans". That also mentions a Canadian immigration lawyer who's holding a How-To-Become-A-Canuck seminar in L.A. on December 5. I'd go except the entry fee is $25 CDN ($5 U.S.) It also mentions MarryAnAmerican.ca, but it doesn't mention hot4classwar.

Posted to Politics at 08:57 PM | Comments (0)

Beavers? Casino cash? What???

That's right Bob. Remember that bag of cash that was stolen from the video poker casino? It got into a river, and beavers tore open the bag and incorporated it into their dam.

Hot damn!

Funny, Bob. How about, "Beaver dam includes stolen casino cash".

No, too wordy.

OK, "Stolen casino cash made into dam by beavers"

That's even worse. Here, try this: "Beavers Weave Stolen Cash Into Dam".

Yeah, that's pretty good. Think Drudge will link to it?

Yes. In fact, he already has.

Posted to WackyHumor at 05:42 PM | Comments (0)

Next time just stay inside the beltway

From the WaPo guest editorial "A Line Has Been Drawn in the Arizona Sand" by Tamar Jacoby:

Arizona voters sent a signal to Washington on Nov. 2. That front-line border state is feeling besieged and, not surprisingly, sharply divided over illegal immigration. Though its booming economy is dependent on foreign labor, the costs of the unauthorized influx from Mexico -- smuggler shootouts, bankrupt hospitals, a mounting toll of deaths in the desert -- have risen to the point that many residents just can't take it anymore. So on Election Day, Arizonans voted decisively -- 56 percent to 44 percent -- in favor of a state ballot initiative to bar illegal immigrants from receiving government services...

I was deeply disappointed in the outcome: I'd been working for months to help defeat Proposition 200, both in-state and out. But having spent a good part of the fall listening to Arizonans talk about immigration, I worry that the message they sent is being misinterpreted. Far from a simple anti-immigrant backlash, their vote for the proposition seemed more like a cry for help -- a plea for federal action -- and that could be heartening news for immigration reformers...

...But it wasn't Arizonans who turned the state into a national battleground. That was the work of Washington-based anti-immigration activists looking for an easy electoral victory...

...The restrictionist coalition set out to stop this momentum [of various "guest worker"/amnesty plans] with what it thought would be an overwhelming landslide telegraphing voters' generalized hostility toward immigrants...

... The nativist activists designed the measure to have maximum public appeal, and it worked...

...Unlike in California 10 years ago, a broad bipartisan coalition came together to oppose the measure: Democrats and Republicans, business and labor, grass-roots ethnic activists [no doubt funded by the Ford Foundation --LW] and state employees including firefighters and health care workers...

[...it goes on and on...]

...Concerned as they are, most voters aren't reflexively anti-immigrant...

If I had photoshop skills, this post would probably be accompanied by a picture of a sincere Tamar Jacoby listening intently to what Arizonans were telling her. Dressed in her business suit she'd be a little out of place in the 130 degree Phoenix heat. The crowd to whom she was listening would be passing the hat to buy her a ticket back to D.C. But, since I don't have those graphic skills, you're just going to have to imagine it. Or, alternatively, you can send an email to ombudsman@washpost.com

Posted to Immigration2004 at 03:22 PM | Comments (1)

"Guest-worker measure awaits a new Congress"

From the SacBee:

...Bush is signaling renewed attention to immigration. That's heartening advocates of reform, dismaying skeptics and raising questions of both strategy and tactics...

With a filibuster-proof 63 senators already co-sponsors, the AgJobs bill could be poised to move. Supporters, many of them organized through the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform, hope for Senate action by spring.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., though not a co-sponsor, said Friday that she "could support such an effort if it is done properly and not in a way that would serve as a magnet for new illegal immigration."

But, although a companion House bill claims 126 supporters, opponents hold strong opinions and key positions, including chairmanships of the House immigration subcommittee.

"The next Senate and House will be, if anything, less receptive" to immigration reform, predicted Mark Krikorian, president of the Center for Immigration Studies. "If the president makes a big push on this, he's going to waste a lot of political capital on something he can't win..."

...Bush himself has thus far resisted the centerpiece of the AgJobs bill. This is the guarantee that an undocumented agricultural worker can get on track to secure legal status.

Bush's own concept is both more modest, providing only a temporary worker permit for illegal immigrants, and more sweeping, as it includes workers from outside of agriculture. It is also more vague, lacking specific legislative language...

Talk about burying the lede. As discussed here, Bush's plan could include "nurses, teachers, high-tech workers" and others. In other words, it would be one giant H1-B program that might cost millions of Americans their jobs or sharply reduce their pay.

The rest of the article discusses Bush's supposed gain in Hispanic support and Political Human Sacrifice. Regarding the former, see "Bush Didn't Win 44% of Hispanic Vote —The Smoking Exit Poll".

Posted to Immigration2004 at 10:54 AM | Comments (1)

"Dreier race illustrates cautionary tale on immigration policy"

AP:

Tucked into last week's otherwise predictable California election results lay a cautionary tale about the election year's most uncovered issue: illegal immigration.

Republican Rep. David Dreier, the 24-year Los Angeles-area veteran who chairs the powerful House Rules committee, won re-election to his House seat with just under 54 percent of the vote, down from 64 percent in 2002. His Democratic opponent, Cynthia Matthews, won almost 43 percent of the vote, despite spending just over $31,000 in her campaign, compared to more than $900,000 spent by Dreier. A Libertarian candidate won 3.5 percent of the vote.

While Dreier's winning margin over Matthews can't really be characterized as close, it was his worst showing since 1980...

[...it was because of Political Human Sacrifice... ...AP reporter searches for this article's Voice of Stupidity and finds it in occasional KCAL political commentator Allan Hoffenblum:]

"Immigration is a very emotional issue, and there is a group of voters who have an intense, intense dislike for illegal immigrants," said Allan Hoffenblum, editor of the California Target Book. "Dreier has the same position that Bush has, which a lot of right wingers don't like, and it's easier to go after Dreier than Bush..."

..."The Republican establishment strongly, strongly supports [Dreier]," Hoffenblum said. "Dreier would have Schwarzenegger walking precincts for him, and the president would probably join him."

Posted to Immigration2004 at 10:04 AM | Comments (2)

Who'll replace Powell?

Top contenders:

- Zell Miller
- Pat Robertson
- Tommy
- Steven Seagal
- Henry Kissinger
- the inventor of "Freedom Fries"

Posted to Politics at 08:41 AM | Comments (0)

November 12, 2004

Safe and Sane eVoting

[Cross-posted to the Command Post; note that I've also posted several entries about possible voting fraud or error in this category at the same site. Please leave comments about this entry at the first link, not here]

I’d like to know if this eVoting system is used already, and if someone can point out flaws:

It’s a two step process.

The voter first fills out a normal paper ballot using some standard technique: filling in circles, connecting arrows, etc.

Then they walk over to a scanner with a monitor and insert the ballot into the scanner. The monitor displays their selections. If the voter sees everything is OK, they press “OK” and the ballot is ejected from the machine. The monitor (or keyboard) only has two choices: "OK" and "Cancel." The voter can't use the scanner/monitor to change their votes, they can only accept or reject the selections shown. If the voter chooses "OK", the voter then puts that ballot into an envelope and puts that envelope into the ballot box.

Poll workers make sure no one can put a ballot into the ballot box without first putting it through the scanner; perhaps the ballot could be marked by the scanner with a mark identifying the exact machine but not using a sequential number that could be used to identify the voter.

The scanner records a preliminary count which stands as the official count unless something unexpected happens. A memory card in the scanner is physically transported to a central tabulator and the votes are read and published. The scanner would not have a modem. (Someone switching in a fake memory card here would need to be addressed in some way).

Random samples of precincts are done to ensure that the machines worked OK and the data on the memory card(s) from that precinct matches the votes on the physical ballots.

There would be a possible series of random samples of widening sizes, depending on errors found. If, in the first random sample no errors are found, then the preliminary count is assumed to be correct. However, if a certain percentage of problems are found, then a larger sample is taken. At some point, the whole state would be recounted if enough problems are found in the preceding samples. When doing a sample, the physical ballots would be counted by hand using a group of observers from all major parties.

In the case of a recount, the physical ballots are counted and they take precedence over the electronic count.

If, during the voting procedure, the voter says the scanner’s output doesn’t match how they voted (i.e., they press "Cancel"), that ballot is placed in a special bin, perhaps together with a note about the specific discrepancy. Then, the voter is given a completely new ballot and has to go through the process from the beginning. These "canceled" ballots could be inspected later to investigate problems or to correct flaws in the system.

If enough voters notice discrepancies, then we have first warning of a problem with that scanner or the ballot or other things.

Posted to Politics at 01:58 PM | Comments (0)

My grief counselor is standing by

Phwoar! I'd like to help her deal with the Kerry loss.

Posted to WackyHumor at 01:42 PM | Comments (0)

November 10, 2004

"California People... California Values"

Catchy slogan that, and somewhat self-enforcing for the "Committee to Explore California Secession". Despite the URL, "Move On California is the website of the Committee to Explore California Secession and is not affiliated or funded by moveon.org or any corporation, political action committee or other special interest." I'm strangely unconvinced.

Posted to California at 02:05 PM | Comments (2)

"Terrorists at The Border?"

Chuck Henry - yes, Chuck Henry - reports for KNBC. Apparently the video of the story is available at the link:

DOUGLAS, Ariz. -- It's no secret that people sneak into the United States from Mexico every day. But what has been kept under wraps is exactly who is coming in. NBC4's Chuck Henry went deep in the Arizona desert to find out.

It's a place that used to go by the name "Cocaine Alley" because of all the drugs that were smuggled through. But now some officials are more concerned about human smuggling, specifically illegal entry at the border by individuals who are not actually from Mexico. They're called "Special Interest Aliens," because they're coming from countries believed to be a threat.

"People are coming here with bad intentions. I know of 10 that have been detained at my station alone," said a Border Patrol agent whose identity has been withheld at his request. He said this is something that agents have been told not to talk about.

"We know for a fact that people coming from the Middle East are now coming into Mexico and spending a year, even two years in Mexico, to learn how to speak Spanish," the Border Patrol agent told NBC4.

"The key is to pass yourself off as a Mexican," said retired Army Colonel Ben Anderson. He has been following what he calls the terrorist trail and connecting the dots on his website...

"Any American that thinks we have security on our southern border is mistaken, " said California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher...

...NBC4 called the Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security asking them to speak on camera about the issues surrounding "Special Interest Aliens." They declined.

See also August's KVOA-TV (Tucson) report "Illegals from terrorist nations are crossing the border into Arizona".

Posted to Immigration_terror at 01:56 PM | Comments (1)

"Bush Breaks First Campaign Pledge By Renewing Call For Illegal Alien Amnesty"

FAIR reacts to Bush's renewed attempts to push through the Bush/Fox Amnesty.

Away back on September 5, I reposted this February 5 2004 WashTimes article, so don't say you didn't know what was coming:

[White House spokesman Trent Duffy] said the president delivered a passionate defense of his immigration plan, telling the Republican caucus that his policy is not a political ploy.

"He said he didn't do it for politics [but] because that's what he believes is good for the country," Mr. Duffy said, adding that Mr. Bush drove his point home by saying, "I'm from Texas and I know this issue."

Meanwhile, here are Powell's November 9 remarks in Mexico City:

...In our meetings, we reaffirmed President Bush's plan to work with our new Congress on developing a temporary worker program to match willing foreign workers with willing U.S. employers. The president is committed to making this a high priority in his second term...

[...]

On the first question, I can assure you that the president remains committed to migration reform. As he noted in his January 7 speech, he wants to move forward with a temporary workers program. And now that our election is over, and as we also are coming out of the 9/11 period and doing a better job of securing our borders, and as we have the president re-elected for a second term and a new Congress coming in as well, we think that the environment has improved significantly for this kind of reform.

At the same time, we don't want to over-promise. What I said to Secretary Derbez is that when the new Congress comes into place in January, we will make an assessment with the new Congress the pace at which we can proceed with temporary worker programs, and how fast and how far we can move in what period of time.

We don't have congressional elections next year, but our next set of elections for Congress will be 2006. And so this upcoming period as we get ourselves organized, listen to ideas on this program from our Mexican colleagues, and then make an assessment with the new Congress, I think this is an important period as we move forward. [i.e., if we do this now, the citizens will forget by the time the 2006 elections come around -- LW]

There are other issues that we know that our Mexican colleagues wish to look at -- regularization [i.e., a massive amnesty -- LW] and all of the other aspects of migration reform -- and all of these issu