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L.A. City Council: Stop "multitasking", start paying attention
From this:
A three-judge panel ruled Thursday that the Los Angeles City Council must hold a new hearing on a controversial strip club because its members were too busy eating, talking on the telephone or doing other activities to listen to the public's testimony...
...Neighborhood activists from across the city have long complained that council members -- as well as the county Board of Supervisors -- show a lack of respect to them at their meetings. The issue surfaced repeatedly in 2002, when community leaders in the Harbor Area, Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley tried to break away and form their own cities...
...A spokeswoman for City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said the city is studying the decision. But Councilman Dennis Zine defended his colleagues, saying their jobs require that they sign documents, read reports and hold other conversations even while meetings are taking place.
"We're basically multi-tasking," he said. "Good, bad or indifferent, that's unfortunately what's required to keep pace with the activities taking place in the council."
Councilwoman Janice Hahn struck a more conciliatory note, saying she and other council members should try harder to give the public their undivided attention. Still, she argued that she listens even while she talks privately with a colleague.
"I can only speak for myself, but if I'm eating, I certainly am listening," she added...
...Diamond said the council's behavior gives the public the impression that council meetings are "fixed," with all of its decisions being arranged in advance. The real business, he argued, is conducted behind the scenes with lobbyists and political allies...
Posted to Los_Angeles at 11:44 AM | Comments (1)
Libertarianism reaches a new low
Ayn Rand Institute: U.S. Should Not Help Tsunami Victims
The ferret candidate and Mr. Druid were funny. But this is just sad.
(Via Josh)
Posted to Politics at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)
Lil' Marky wants some attention
Aw what the heck. Just so we know what's wrong with San Francisco:
Do you care much that greasy ol' Pizza Hut gave tens of thousands in PAC money to the GOP last year? How about the fact that Taco Bell stopped pumping out their happily toxic semirancid meatlike substances just long enough to write a fat check to the conservative Right? Isn't that weirdly fascinating, in a depressing and indigestible sort of way?
Does it matter a whit that, say, Fruit of the Loom underwear gave nearly 100 percent of its corporate donations to tighty-whitey-wearing Republicans, nearly every one of whom I'm guessing wouldn't know appetizing undergarments from a flap of burlap and some string?
[etc. etc. etc.]
Posted to MultiCultiCult at 12:30 AM | Comments (0)
"[California's] middle class hinges on Bush's immigration policies"
Dan Stein of FAIR has a guest editorial about the impact of illegal immigration on California here:
...One week after his re-election, President Bush dusted off an immigration proposal first made in January 2004 that proved to be so wildly unpopular with voters that it was not only pulled off the table, but shoved to the back of the closet for the duration of the campaign. The Bush plan -- now back on the agenda -- calls for turning current illegal aliens into guest workers for six years (what happens to them at the end of six year is apparently a problem for some future president to grapple with), and allowing unlimited numbers of new guest workers to enter the country.
The Bush proposal would be a viable solution if the problem of mass illegal immigration were merely a question of legality. As Californians have understood for decades, the problem is not just about people breaking the law. The phenomenon of mass illegal immigration has profound consequences on labor markets, education, public health and the fiscal solvency of state and local governments...
Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:26 AM | Comments (1)
SPOD: Alternatives to the Pet Rock
Continuing with our Strange Pet of the Day feature.
Is a Pet Rock slightly too inanimate for you? Would you like an alternative that is almost as inanimate as a Pet Rock but which is still occasionally capable of some observable movement?
Your problems are all solved. Can you guess which pet this is based on this snippet of the FAQ for that pet?
12) They do not seem to be climbing on the tree branch I have for them in the cage - at least not very much - is this ok?
Don't worry, they're probably climbing while you're sleeping. Even if you don't see your [MYSTERY PET] climbing, you should still provide pieces of wood and coral for them...
18) I think my [MYSTERY PET] is dead but I'm not sure...
If you really are not sure whether your [MYSTERY PET] is dead or just [DELETED], or if you think it's dead but you just don't want to accidentally throw away a living [MYSTERY PET], the best thing to do until you have more experience with [MYSTERY PET] is to leave the [MYSTERY PET] in the cage for about a week. If it is dead, you'll know because it will give off a strong, [DELETED] odor after a few days...
Can you guess the [MYSTERY PET]? We know it's not a dog, or even a cat. Could it be a snake? No, even they move occasionally. It's certainly not a Wackalookaburribarwall.
Give up?
Here's a hint: you've probably eaten pounds of this pet's close relatives. So, you know it's not a really strange animal.
Here's another hint: the people who own this as a pet and not a future food item are apparently serious. This does not appear to be a joke.
OK, final hint: you've probably eaten lots of this pet's relatives if you're near the Chesapeake Bay.
The MYSTERY PET is the hermit crab. You can read about Assateague, Tiger, Ossippee, Wallops, Isabella, Bolivia, the late Antonio, Fenwick, Santana, and Arista here. There are pictures of hermit crab pets here. The aforementioned FAQ is here.
And, to learn how to handle crabs, click the following picture:
Posted to WackyHumor at 12:23 AM | Comments (0)
My 2005 Resolutions
Here's mine:
1. Post more cheesecake photos like the women's Olympics beach volleyball pics available in this category.
2. Continue harping on scams.
3. Climb 5.7c, maybe even 5.7d or even 5.8.
4. Climb Mt. Hood or some other technical snow climb.
5. Lose enough weight and increase conditioning to do #4.
6. Improve my google ranking through keywords and placing the URL to this blog in messages posted to various non-blog forums around the web so that people around the world can come to this site and learn.
7. Think up a name for a software product I have that lacks almost all but a name. This one has stumped me for a while.
8. Promote BigMediaBlog.com
9. Kick my $200-a-day heroin habit.
Posted to Bloggage at 11:54 PM | Comments (5)
"Mi Casa Es Su Casa? Get Real"
[...Describes an anti-illegal immigration group in Utah...] GOP activists such as Sears spell trouble for George W. Bush. As the President woos Hispanic voters with Cabinet appointments, political appeals, and immigrant-friendly policies, a rebellion is bubbling up through his party's ranks. The reason: The influx of illegals is hitting such solidly red states as Arizona and Utah particularly hard. "The problem seems to get more attention during times of fiscal distress for the states," says Jeffrey S. Passel, who studies immigration at the Urban Institute in Washington.
Look for the clash to intensify in late January. Although the issue got put on the back burner in the wake of September 11, the President plans to push once more for partial amnesty and a guest-worker program for illegal immigrants. But that call will run smack into rank-and-file Republican pressure to crack down on illegals...
The intraparty crossfire has Corporate America worried. The agriculture, hotel, and restaurant industries rely on low-wage immigrants -- many of them illegals who evade hiring controls. "There are probably 6 million or more [undocumented workers] who are raising children and paying taxes and are the backbone of some industries," says Sandra Boyd, a vice-president at the National Association of Manufacturers. "It's ridiculous to think we would deport them all..."
I have a few cavils with the article, but their tone is generally favorable so I won't complain that much.
I'll note that not only is Ms. Boyd with the National Association of Manufacturers, she's also a board member of the National Immigration Forum along with several other fine people from the ACLU, the National Council of the Race, CARECEN of L.A., SEIU, the National Restaurant Association, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The left and right elites, working together against the rest of us.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:49 AM | Comments (1)
What's a good "liberal" to do?
Apparently some "liberals" are boycotting Amazon because their employees donate to Republicans in a 60-40 ratio over Democrats.
Per Pandagon:
I'll certainly buy more from Barnes and Nobles (91% Democrat) and Borders (100% Democrat), but I don't know that giving up Amazon is the right thing to do...
Apparently they didn't get the memo. B&N and Borders are evil! Shouldn't "liberals" only patronize local bookshop collectives?
Posted to Bloggage at 11:38 AM | Comments (0)
"[Kansas] Ed board member wants lessons on immigration drawbacks"
From this:
A state Board of Education member says students studying immigration should learn about the effect illegal immigrants have on crime rates, education costs and language barriers...
As one might expect, the media and "immigrants rights" groups are up in arms. The very thought that someone would not want to present immigration as a natural good with no faults at all!
Connie Morris, no stranger to criticism for her opposition to state-funded education for the children of illegal immigrants, says proposed curriculum on immigration should include study of possible drawbacks of illegal immigration.
"It's facts; it's history," Morris said. "Our children should not be subjected to inaccurate, one-sided dogma."
Morris was responding to proposed additions to state social science standards. Earlier this month, the state board adopted one of her suggestions on lessons regarding illegal immigrants, but it toned down her language, removing negative connotations...
One of those up in arms is from the Kansas Families United for Public Education. There's a whole page on their financial ties here.
The other is Elias Garcia, who had this to say on another occasion:
"Hispanics are doing the Lord's work -- we're populating this earth, basically," said Elias Garcia, executive director of the Kansas Advisory Commission on Hispanic Affairs. "Quite bluntly, let me say that we're not going anywhere. This is our home."
His other statements make it clear that among those "Hispanics" of which he speaks are a large number of illegal aliens. The reader is invited to imagine the uproar if a white person had said the same thing, especially referring to white illegal aliens.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:12 PM | Comments (0)
"Mexico's consul general visits day labor center"
Last paragraph:
"He basically told us to stay on a straight path and avoid getting into trouble," Hilario Morales, 48, a day laborer [and presumably an illegal alien --LW] from Oaxaca, said after the consul general's visit.
Whole thing here, but I think you can figure out what it's about from that paragraph alone.
Posted to Immigration_consul at 11:02 PM | Comments (0)
An epistle directly from the hands of David Dreier
You have to see this handwritten letter [200k PDF] from Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) to believe it. It looks like something a kidnapper who'd run out of newspapers to clip would have sent.
Via John & Ken's post here.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
I just drove in from the westside and boy are my forearms tired
I haven't been to a rock climbing gym since March and the last time I climbed outside was when I pulled myself up the Third Flatiron outside Boulder last year. I would have taken a hike today but, since thunderstorms were still predicted, I decided to brave the drive and go to a climbing gym in the South Bay instead. In the past I've gone to the L.A. Rock Gym in Hawthorne. Over a year ago they changed ownership and they're now called Beach City Rocks. Shortly before they changed hands I bought a punchcard for $100 that entitled me to eight visits.
The last time I went to Beach City Rocks was in March. For some reason one of the new owners didn't seem to like me all that much. As they say in the Beach Cities, I kept picking up some very bad vibes from her. I don't think there's anything I said or did that could have caused that. In any case I was feeling quite unwelcome. So, after finishing my time with the self-belay device I asked for the money back for the remaining three visits I had on the card. She said that was the prior owner's responsibility and that she wouldn't give me money back. She did say I could use up the card.
However, when I went back there earlier today I was told they no longer accepted those cards. She claimed that in our earlier conversation she had told me that they would no longer accept the cards, which is not what she had told me before. She said the card was from L.A. Rock Gym, and they were a different company. She did offer to give me a rebate on one of their new cards, but I declined the offer. I just wanted to use up the three remaining visits that I'd already paid for. Based on those bad vibes I wasn't interested in doing any business with the new owners.
Despite telling me the opposite of what she had told me before, she might indeed have a point. Or, she might not. When they bought the company I'd tend to think they would have had to deal with the prior company's assets and liabilities, one of the latter being cards such as mine. What of the non-card-based memberships? Were they terminated and the money refunded when the company changed hands?
In the past I've seen reports of health clubs changing owners and I was under the impression that clubs had to honor prior memberships. However, glancing at the law doesn't show anything about that. Perhaps it's in some other section.
In any case, I won't be going back to Beach City Rocks unless they change owners again.
However, after that unfortunate incident I drove to Rockreation in West L.A. I was able to meet someone else who needed a belayer and I spent a couple hours climbing a few 5.6's and a couple 5.7's and some other easy things. I'm sure you're impressed just as long as you don't know what those numbers mean. Hey, it has been 9 months, OK? If you're in the market for a rock climbing gym, I'd suggest you go to Rockreation instead, even if it means a longer drive for you.
Posted to OutdoorSports at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)
SPOD: Have plenty of Band-Aids on hand
Continuing our Strange Pet of the Day series, we come to one of my favorites, crocodiles and alligators. Many people are confused over the differences between them. I use this handy mnemonic: with alligators, you have to be "all" the way in before you lose consciousness and begin to be digested, but crocs prefer to viciously tear their food to pieces first, thus you endure less pain all things considered.
There's information on keeping gators and crocs as pets here, including this intriguing bit:
...At the same time, however, there has recently been a disturbing tendency for certain authorities (both legitimate and self-appointed) to seize captive crocodilians in the UK in what can be described at best as devious tactics and at worst as outright theft. Certainly in cases where owners have legitimate paperwork, the excuses for these raids have been very flimsy, and even in one case where the owner did not possess a DWA license for these particular animals, this was at least partly because the local authority had told him in advance that they would never grant him a licence, and the vet employed by that authority had openly expressed a loathing of crocodilians and reptiles in general. It is also highly suspicious that the animals thus seized turned up in Portugal at premises run by a friend of the so-called "expert" who had played a large part in these proceedings. It was generally agreed in court that the crocodiles kept by the local man had been well looked after. There is doubtless more unpleasantness to be exposed to the public gaze in this particular case, so watch this space...
The page was last updated in April 2003...
When I was in Arkansas, I visited an alligator farm.
There's more on the Reptilian Agenda here.
Posted to WackyHumor at 01:01 PM | Comments (0)
Perhaps you should choose MasterCard (or just cash) instead
Visa hopes to entice Latinos into money-transfer business:
Eager to accelerate the growing trend away from the use of cash and checks, Visa International is pushing plastic in Latin America.
Visa — composed of thousands of banks that issue credit and debit cards — has launched an aggressive campaign to capture a bigger piece of the $40 billion in remittance payments migrant workers annually send to their families in Latin America...
Many of those sending remittances are illegal aliens, and the banking lobby supports the use of Mickey Mouse foreign ID cards that those illegal aliens use to open bank accounts as described in "Their money or your safety". Remittances are bad for the reasons outlined here. See also "The Fastest Way To [profit from illegal immigration]" for information on Western Union.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)
NYT's immigration "reform"
In "A Passion for Immigration Reform" the NYT offers the usual canards ("jobs Americans won't do") and lies ("anti-immigrant group") and confusion (what exactly is "amnesty", and isn't giving "immigrants" a green card "amnesty"?)
For the truth about this matter, see the following:
Bush Immigration Plan Would Allegedly 'Destroy the Middle Class'
Homeland insecurity: The year in review
Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:15 PM | Comments (1)
"Bush Biking, Relaxing at Texas Ranch"
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
CRAWFORD, Texas - Besides monitoring the devastating earthquake in Southeast Asia, President Bush is biking and strolling around his ranch here and pondering tax reform and other goals in his second term...
Now, if I didn't fully support most forms of anti-Bush thought, I would think the reporter and the headline writer were trying to make Bush look bad. However, some forms of "liberal" bias I'm forced to accept and encourage.
Posted to Politics at 07:55 PM | Comments (0)
SPOD: Devil Dogs
Today's Strange Pet of the Day (SPOD explained here) are Devil Dogs. You might not be familiar with the name, as they're called both "Devil Dogs" and "Wackalookaburribarwalls" in Australia, "Les Envois d'Enfer" in France and the Low Countries, "Devil Dogs" in most of the rest of Europe, and "Wallabies" in the UK and the U.S.
Whatever their local name, they represent 30-40 kgs of hopping, hermaphroditic, furry fun with a "wild" streak. Although there has been much misinformation provided about these feral beasts, some of it is not true. Weekly inspections by a licensed Exotic Animals Veterinarian can help control their prediliction for rabidity. And, careful and continual monitoring of their glycemic index can avoid most bouts of clawing and general annihilatory behavior.
For more on keeping Wackalookaburribarwalls as pets, see this.
Posted to WackyHumor at 02:52 PM | Comments (1)
"Ex-official tells of Homeland Security failures"
From this:
The government agency responsible for protecting the nation against terrorist attack is a dysfunctional, poorly managed bureaucracy that has failed to plug serious holes in the nation's safety net, the Department of Homeland Security's former internal watchdog warns.
Clark Kent Ervin, who served as the department's inspector general until earlier this month, said in an interview last week that airport security isn't tight enough and that little has been done to safeguard other forms of mass transit. Ervin said ports remain vulnerable to terrorists trying to smuggle weapons into the country. He added that immigration and customs investigators are hampered in their efforts to track down illegal immigrants because they often lack gas money for their cars.
"There are still all these security gaps in the country that have yet to be closed," Ervin said. Meanwhile, he added, Homeland Security officials have wasted millions of dollars because of "chaotic and disorganized" accounting practices, lavish spending on social occasions and employee bonuses and a failure to require competitive bidding for some projects.
Asked what's wrong with the department, he said, "It's difficult to figure out where to start..."
The rest of the article discusses the good job Ervin did, and the circumstances under which he's no longer employed. Those two things would seem to be related.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:38 AM | Comments (0)
"Taking license with hijacker ID rumor"
Lisa Friedman from the Long Beach Press-Telegram's National Bureau (they have a National Bureau?) takes issue with the statement that the 9/11 hijackers had a combined total of 63 driver's licenses. She repeatedly refers to it as false, an urban legend, etc. etc. However, she provides no contrary proof that they did not have those licenses.
It closes with this humorous bit from the National Council of The Race:
...Opponents of the national driver's license standard say they are angry at the ease with which the false statistic gained currency.
"It's so frustrating and so maddening to listen to what they've been getting away with saying," said Michelle Waslin, an immigration policy expert with the National Council of La Raza.
Posted to Immigration_dls at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)
"Report: U.S. is waging `war on immigrants'"
When foreign nationals arrive at Miami International Airport and ask for asylum, some wind up criminally charged for trying to sneak into the country with false papers. Others are detained, some for months, before their cases are decided.
Prosecution and detention of asylum seekers are among the examples cited in a new report by a Miami-based immigrant rights group of what it says is growing intimidation of refugees and undocumented migrants in Florida and across the country.
The report of more than 150 pages, Securing Our Borders: Post-9/11 Scapegoating of Immigrants, is the first comprehensive account of the local and regional impact of immigration measures since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks...
Wow, it sounds damning. Who wrote it?
...The report was written by Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, and Kathie Klarreich, a freelance journalist who specializes in Haitian issues. The report is scheduled to be released next month. The Miami Herald obtained a draft...
While I have no prior knowledge of those two fine scribes - who were able to crank out a full 150 pages - I do have google. Let's try a search for '"Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center" "ford foundation"'. Holy Multiculturalists! 54 choices.
Let's try this one:
The Four Freedoms Fund (FFF) is a foundation collaborative that includes the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Ford Foundation, Open Society Institute (OSI), Joyce Foundation and Mertz Gilmore Foundation. The Fund, started in 2003, was created to promote immigrant civic participation; build capacity among vulnerable groups after Sept. 11; and develop a network of organizations that support immigrant integration and protect civil liberties. Initial grants totaled $2.6 million and were distributed to 45 organizations...
[...a grantee includes...]
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC), Miami – Funded by the Ford Foundation to strengthen FIAC advocacy and legal representation work on behalf of immigrants and refugees in South Florida.
I don't have the report, but I think we can understand exactly where it's coming from.
This article is from Knight-Ridder, and it's available here under the much less alarming title "Report examines impact of immigration measures since Sept. 11".
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)
"Lawmakers resubmit special tuition bill for undocumented immigrants [Mass.]"
From this:
BOSTON -- Legislators have reintroduced a bill that would allow the children of undocumented immigrants to attend state colleges and pay regular tuition.
In June, Gov. Mitt Romney vetoed the legislation, known as the In-State Tuition Bill. This month, Rep. Marie St. Fleur, D-Suffolk, and Sen. Jarrett Barrios, D-Cambridge, re-introduced the bill...
Immigrant students gathered at the Statehouse recently to support the bill.
The proposed legislation would allow the children of undocumented immigrants, who have attended state high schools for at least three years and graduated, to attend state public colleges and pay the in-state tuition.
Children of undocumented immigrants are currently forced to pay out-of-state tuition when they try to attend public colleges and universities...
Please contact feedback@s-t.com and let them know that "undocumented immigrant" is not the correct phrase. "Illegal alien" is the phrase used in the U.S. Code (example) and it's the phrase they should be using.
The 12/01/04 Boston Globe article on this bill also used "undocumented" and it included a race-baiting quote from Sen. Jarrett Barrios, D-Cambridge.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:07 AM | Comments (1)
PLEASE SUPPORT THIS SITE!!!
The best way to support this site would be to buy one or more Rejuvenique RJV10KIT Facial Toning Mask Kits, as currently or formerly endorsed by TV Megastar Linda Evans.
Whatever you do, pay no attention to this page, this page, this page (the fact that the inventor is from Clearwater, FL is reportedly not a coincidence) or this page.
Posted to WackyHumor at 12:16 AM | Comments (0)
SPOD: Strange Pet of the Day
Herewith a new series, inspired by the ferret-owning Libertarian candidate for CA Lieutenant Governor.
Today's SPOD: Triops.
Introduction here:
Triops grow as large as most freshwater community fish and they do so in a day to day manner that always amazes. Their behavior is as interesting as almost any fish and they do engage in those "aqua-batics" as Triops, Inc. claims on their packaging. Their Klingon behavior with one another also never ceases to entertain. Nothing like watching one of your triops parade happily about the tank carrying the head of one of its dead comrades like some bizarre trophy while it cannibalizes it to bring a lump to your throat. They are easy to care for and maintain, plus they require a minimum of equipment and space. Unlike fish, you don't need to get anyone to take care of the tank when you leave town for a month - just drain it and refill it when you get back to start the process over again.
Other pages from that author here. Pics of triops here. Vids here.
Posted to WackyHumor at 12:14 AM | Comments (0)
How would you like it if this happened to you?
Let's say you ran the second-largest corporation in America, with 5055 employees working for you.
Suddenly, you're forced out of the corporation over some minor matters.
How would you feel? Wouldn't you want to be compensated for your sweat and toil over the years? If this happened to you, I'm sure you'd agree this is only fair:
WASHINGTON (AP) - Franklin Raines, who was forced out as Fannie Mae's chief executive after five years, is slated to receive a monthly pension of more than $114,000 for life, according to documents the mortgage lending giant filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The documents also reveal that Raines has deferred compensation of $8.7 million to be paid out through 2020 and owns more than $5.5 million in Fannie Mae's stock... [...the amount might be disputable...]
[...But,...] either way, Raines is slated to take home more than $1.3 million annually, plus benefits such as life and health insurance...
Fair is fair!
Posted to Politics at 07:14 PM | Comments (0)
"L.A.'s Mayoral Debates Notable for Man Who Isn't There"
As previously noted not just once or twice but thrice, both of L.A.'s mayoral debates have reflected L.A.'s rich political spectrum: all five candidates who were invited to the debates were Democrats.
Now, this is getting a bit of attention from the minor MSM:
So far, there have been two televised debates for L.A.'s 2005 mayoral election. In each, the supposedly reform-minded sponsors took the path of expediency by inviting only professional politicians. For all the talk among liberals and reformers about demanding that free air time be provided to candidates, when push came to shove the League of Women Voters and the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters excluded all the unfunded and underfunded candidates from their debates.
We got to see Mayor James Hahn go up against four challengers. Missing were seven other people who have qualified to be on the March primary election ballot.
The ones invited were all men and interestingly enough, all Democrats. The one Republican who might make a respectable showing was pointedly excluded...
One might have thought that given a chance, the League of Women Voters and the L.A. League of Conservation Voters would at least take a stab - just one tiny little shot - at this most sacred of liberal goals. Why not let some of the small-money candidates come to the party too? Let them try to sell their ideas. Give them a chance to have their say with the voters. Perhaps one or two, untainted by the stain of political contributions, would surface as legitimate candidates.
That didn't happen. Whoever they are, whatever they would try to communicate, they were excluded.
When questioned about the choice of who gets to participate and who doesn't, the debate sponsors' answer comes down to one dreary little word, a word that aptly summarizes the conflicted motives in our liberal universe.
That word is viable...
Posted to Los_Angeles at 11:02 AM | Comments (1)
Could our collective memories have erasers?
Thanks to Betsy's Page, I learned that Hugh Hewitt's yet-to-be-published book Blog is climbing the Amazon sale ranks, breaking the Top 1000 and then the Top 500 today. I received a recent draft of the book last week and finished it...
Good for you!
UPDATE: Also, thanks to Hugh for including Blogs For Bush in his "must visit at least weekly" list!
Intrigued, I clicked over to Hugh's site. Unfortunately, it's not as bad as I'd hoped:
A year ago you had probably not heard of Powerline, KerrySpot, INDC Journal, BlogsforBush, the Belmont Club, LGF, Jeff Jarvis, RadioBlogger, One Hand Clapping, Shot in the Dark, Beldar, RatherBiased, Professor Bainbridge, VodkaPundit, TriGeekDreams, Scrappleface, Bill Hobbes, Blackfive, RedState, Matt Yglesias, Kevin Drum, RightWingNews, JohnMarkReynolds, PoliPundit, The Fourth Rail, StonesCryOut, CadetHappy, BrainShavings, Al Mohler, Betsy's Page, Smash, Patrick Ruffini, Captain's Quarters, Wizbang... (This is my "must visit at least weekly" list, along with others named above or below.)
I've never heard of a few of those, and, except for a few of the rest I think we'd all be better off if most of them would just go rest on their laurels.
Posted to Bloggage at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)
The 2004 BushBot Blog Awards
[Cross-posted to the comments at BigMediaBlog.com]
What if the BushBot Blogs gave out an award for the most notable blogging events of 2004? What if they reciprocated the links in the article, propping each other up? I posit it would look an awful lot like this TechCentralStation post.
Posted to Bloggage at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)
If it were a "Best Of" list, I would no doubt be on it
LABlogs selects Notable Blogs of 2004. The disclaimer gives me hope:
...from the beginning want to state that this is NOT a "Best Of" list. I would like to point out some notable Los Angeles based blogs, mostly because I personally appreciate the writing that they do. Of course, no matter what I say, someone is going to feel left out and there is not much more I can say, except that this list doesn't mean crap, it isn't based on votes, is only a glimpse at the tremendous community that is out there and is entirely by my own hand, so blame me if you feel shafted.
OK, I will.
Posted to Bloggage at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)
Happy socialist racist separatism from Karl Rove!
Text of President Bush's Kwanzaa 2004 message:
I send greetings to those observing Kwanzaa.
During Kwanzaa, millions of African Americans and people of African descent gather to celebrate their heritage and ancestry. Kwanzaa celebrations provide an opportunity to focus on the importance of family, community, and history, and to reflect on the Nguzo Saba or seven principles of African culture.
These principles emphasize
* unity
* self-determination
* collective work and responsibility,
* cooperative economics
* purpose
* creativity
* faith [listified by LW]
Kwanzaa strengthens the ties that bind communities across America and around the world and reflects the great promise and diversity of America.
Laura joins me in sending our best wishes for a joyous Kwanzaa.
Let's pause and reflect on those seven principles ("Nguzo Saba"):
...in The Seven Principles of the [Symbionese Liberation Army], ["Cinque"] DeFreeze gives the meaning of each head in Swahili, Spanish, and English. You'll recognize these as being the seven principles of Kwanzaa, the African-American year-end celebration, first celebrated in 1966:
* Umoja: Unity
* Kujichagulia: Self Determination
* Ujima: Collective Work and Responsibility
* Ujamaa: Cooperative Production
* Nia: Purpose
* Kuumba: Creativity
* Imani: Faith
If I have the dates correct, Kwanzaa was celebrated before Cinque's manifesto. Nevertheless, the very fact that the SLA considered that philosophy to be aligned with theirs should give a (principled) politician pause. Of course...
Even if Kwanzaa came before the SLA's manifesto, consider for instance Ujima/Ujamaa:
...so I posted [a Kwanzaa card] on my dormitory door [in Tanzania]. It wasn't long before some of my Tanzanian floor mates were milling around outside my dorm room, asking "What the fuck's up with that card?" Perhaps unsurprisingly, many of them felt it was one of the most bizarre holidays they had ever heard of; not one had even heard of it before. The use of Swahili terms for something rather far-removed from anything connected to the cultures of East Africa threw them for a complete loop, and I have to wonder whether or not the creators of Kwanzaa were sufficiently familiar with the political overtones of the term used for the fouth principle, Ujamaa - it's translated on the Kwanzaa homepage as "cooperative economics," but in the Tanzanian context, it meant roughly twenty years of late President Julius Nyerere's own special blend of African Socialism. Now, Mwalimu Nyerere was a nice enough guy and all, and most Tanzanians still respect him despite his running a de-facto one-party state for most of his time in office. That being said, very few people had anything positive to say about Ujamaa, which left Tanzania, by the time I got there, the fourth poorest country on the planet with an annual GDP per capita of US$150 (and the three countries below it - Mozambique, Afghanistan, and if memory serves me right, Ethiopia - were war-torn hellholes that at least had proper excuses for being dirt poor)...
Continuing on, we could read about the much less than stellar past of Kwanzaa's founder. See Ann Coulter's "Kwanzaa: A Holiday From the FBI" from 2002. Or Mona Charen's "Kwanzaa born of separatism, radicalism". Or "The True Spirit of Kwanzaa". Of course, if you want the PC version, see CNN's guide to the holiday.
We could wonder why President Bush is encouraging racial separatism and socialism, but, does that really come as that much of a surprise and, as with his other moves, is wondering why really all that productive?
Posted to Politics at 12:29 AM | Comments (0)
But, they're good-hearted!
Forgive me if I missed the media coverage of the international dustup between Democratic state Sen. Gloria Romero of Los Angeles and the Mexican government the other day. The media downplay stories they perceive as "blaming the victim," particularly on the hands-off topic of illegal immigration.
Romero has gone against the tide before. Now she's rattling cages over the 28,672 foreigners in California prisons who cost taxpayers a staggering sum to feed and house, one-half of whom are illegal aliens from Mexico...
[...at Romero's prison system hearing in Los Angeles on Dec. 16...] diplomats from the consulates of Canada, Germany and Sweden testified about fixing a flawed country-to-country prisoner transfer program the Schwarzenegger administration hopes can someday send up to 6,400 eligible prisoners home -- mostly to Mexico. The behavior of the Canadians, Swedes and Germans stood in stark contrast to that of the Mexicans. In a bizarre bit of public theater that reminded me of my year in Czechoslovakia in 1991, where I observed bumbling ex-Communist officials firsthand, the Mexican government boycotted Romero's hearing, offering one of the lamest official fibs I've ever heard...
But the Mexicans do nothing but double talk on illegal immigration. On the prisoner issue, Mexico strictly limits the number of prisoners it takes back -- yet comically insists it has no limits. Pathetic. According to the California Board of Prison Terms, "all other nations accept all of their prisoners for transfer." Except Mexico.
In 2003, Mexico took back only 109 prisoners from the U.S., even though in California alone, 17,500 prisoners are Mexican nationals -- including more than 14,000 illegal aliens. And get this: Mexico won't take back those who've been here longer than five years. Just because.
Our biased media hate placing even a smidgen of blame on Mexico for illegal immigration. But in fact, most solutions won't be found in Sacramento or Washington. The lasting fixes must come from Mexico's legislature, courts and President Vicente Fox -- or more likely, his successor...
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:54 PM | Comments (2)
"Should the U.S. get tough on illegal workers? Yes"
Mark Krikorian of CIS:
Sometimes it seems that the only people who are expected to comply with the immigration law are nominees for cabinet posts...
...A humane but uncompromising effort would welcome legal newcomers but do everything possible to prevent illegals from entering the country and prevent those who got through from living a normal life here.
Such a policy would cause the illegal population to start declining through attrition, eventually reducing the problem to a manageable nuisance rather than today's crisis...
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:50 PM | Comments (0)
Shhhhhh!
The El Paso Times offers up "Guest-worker plan is needed, but not under pressure". While certainly not as bad as other pro-amnesty editorials, it slightly sneakily tries to give Mexico some helpful words of advice. After issuing the usual canards ("Mexicans working illegally in this country take jobs that Americans won't take", etc.), it offers some words of wisdom to Mexico:
But President Vicente Fox and other officials need to exercise some care when trying to pressure and influence U.S. officials and public sentiment about an immigration program.
The Dallas Morning News recently reported that Mexican government officials are planning to lobby in the United States at several levels on behalf of the undocumented workers.
A little attention is needed here because this is a domestic issue, and the Mexican government must exercise caution...
Hey, thanks, maybe next time they'll hire you or something.
Continuing:
...There's a good deal of opposition in Congress, opposition that could be solidified and even expanded if Mexico is too heavy-handed about "selling" an immigration program...
Aw, c'mon. I say we let them spend some money on commercials and buying spokesmen. Let's see what they have to say, OK?
(Shhh... I know...)
Posted to Immigration2004 at 09:46 PM | Comments (1)
TAP-bashing
I'm always up for a jolly good round of TAP-bashing, and apparently Steve Sailer is involved in some kind of dispute with The American Prospect.
Posted to Bloggage at 09:38 PM | Comments (0)
"ID System Gets in Face of Criminals"
The Los Angeles Police Department is seeking half a million dollars from the federal government to expand the use of advanced facial-recognition systems to identify criminal suspects.
Police officials say the technology could be an important step in fighting crime.
"It's like a mobile electronic mug book," said Rampart Division Capt. Charles Beck. "It's not a silver bullet, but we wouldn't use it unless it helped us make arrests."
Civil liberties advocates are less enthusiastic about the technology, questioning its reliability and the privacy issues it raises...
Similar (re-written?) AP report here.
Posted to Los_Angeles at 09:37 PM | Comments (0)
"Immigration bill won't come easy in new Congress"
WASHINGTON - Everyone considers immigration reform a top priority when Congress reconvenes next month.
But no one agrees what "reform" means.
"I fully understand the politics of immigration reform," President Bush assured reporters this week.
Many lawmakers, including the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, call tougher enforcement the centerpiece of reform. Many others interpret reform as a code word for a guest-worker program that puts illegal immigrants on track toward a green card.
This apparent contradiction could doom legislation. Or perhaps Capitol Hill's long immigration stalemate could be broken by some deft combination of getting tough and giving hope...
The "giving hope" part is then defined as passing AgJobs, a horrible amnesty program. Coverage of AgJobs starts here. Somewhat surprisingly, the SacBee pimped for AgJobs at least once before.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 09:34 PM | Comments (1)
Immigration "reform," McCain-Kennedy-Arizona Republic style
WASHINGTON - Arizona Sen. John McCain and Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy are working together to draft a bipartisan bill for comprehensive immigration reform to introduce in the new session of Congress.In addition to the "news" that John McCain is completely on the wrong side of immigration matters, I'm going to hazard a guess that Ira Mehlman of FAIR was misquoted vis-a-vis the "immigration foes" bit. The author's information is billy.house@arizonarepublic.com or at 1-(202)-906-8136.
The efforts, bolstered by President Bush's reiteration on Monday that he wants to give temporary legal status to any "willing worker" who has found a job Americans do not want, come as many Republicans in Congress are pointing to the threat of terrorism as a reason to further restrict immigration...
[...quotes from "immigrant advocacy groups" deleted...]
...Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation of American Immigration Reform, said that even if the White House gets behind a guest worker bill sponsored by McCain and Kennedy, or anyone else, the measure will face "serious opposition," from immigration foes, including many Republicans in the U.S. House.
"The president doesn't have to run (for office) again. House members are always running for re-election," he said.
5/14/05 UPDATE: McCain and Kennedy have introduced their "2005 Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act".
Posted to Immigration2004 at 09:29 PM | Comments (4)
How unlikely is this?
I'd say this image has very little chance of happening:
Very, very little chance. It would probably never happen.
(Via Fark's Best Photoshop of 2004 contest. The Gigli one is pretty funny too.)
Posted to WackyHumor at 09:23 PM | Comments (0)
"You're wrong, Mr. President"
President Bush says he wants to revamp an immigration system that is "not working" and is "not compassionate" through a program that can't work and would be anything but "compassionate" to Americans forced to pick up the tab.
During his end-of-the-year news conference, the president formally revived his expanded "guest worker" proposal first laid out as a set of "principles" a year ago. But the Bush plan is quite unprincipled and, by any other name, another in a long line of amnesty programs. Bush confidante and former Montana Gov. Mark Racicot disputed that characterization to me during the fall campaign. But that's exactly what it is. And it will do what amnesty programs do best -- fail...
And, from George Putnam:
It is this reporter's opinion that the president of the United States refuses to change his approach to an open door policy. Oh, he will deny that he favors amnesty or graduating citizenship, but it's all there. It's what he says repeatedly over and over again, as he did in his December 20 news conference proposing allowing workers in other countries to enter or remain in the U.S. legally to FILL JOBS AMERICANS WILL NOT DO.
When asked a question about his plan to reform U.S. immigration policy, the president responded half a dozen times: FILL JOBS AMERICANS WILL NOT DO.
As a youngster of what Tom Brokaw describes as "the greatest generation" - Depression, WWII, growing up in America - I never, working in the farmlands of the Midwest, ran across a job or participated in a job Americans would not do. We planted, harvested, threshed, milked 10 cows by hand, slopped the hogs, made certain that all the farm animals were cared for, and worked sunup to sundown to put food on the table ... and ended up paid as little as a dollar for a day's work. Not only were these jobs Americans would do, WE did them! We learned the work ethic as part of our day-to-day education.
At White House news conferences, they do not allow follow-up questions. May I now join Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) in asking the president the following:
[...FAIR's questions for Bush...]
Posted to Immigration2004 at 09:11 PM | Comments (1)
"'Bush refugees' arrive in Canada"
"Initial influx of distraught Democratic voters get visas".
Next year: unveiling the plans for the new high-speed rail line linking Seattle and San Francisco with Vacouver.
Posted to Politics at 02:40 PM | Comments (0)
The price of "cheap" labor is about to go up
Wal*Mart is facing a class action lawsuit from former janitors:
After the raids, nine of the immigrants filed a suit in state court in New Jersey, with Cuban lawyer Gilberto Garcia of law firm Garcia and Kricko. Before that case developed, New York City attorney James L. Linsey of Cohen, Weiss and Simon LLP, contacted Garcia, and the two decided they had a case that was more far-reaching than a state court complaint. Together, they filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of thousands of affected Wal-Mart janitors last November. The case, Zavala v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. , makes claims against the company for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act, including overtime violations and minimum pay violations. In addition, it charges Wal-Mart with forced labor, false imprisonment and civil rights violations. To top it off, the lawsuit claims that Wal-Mart--specifically the "Wal-Mart Enterprise"--violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, for operating in criminal conspiracy with its cleaning contractors...
There are 17 class representatives in the lawsuit, including Victor Zavala of Mexico, for whom the case is named, each with a similar story that, even in dry legal language, shows a known pattern of abuse at the hands of Wal-Mart's contractors. Zavala worked for Wal-Mart for 36 months for a weekly sum of $500. Many others in the suit were paid only $350 a week. Though Zavala and the others were obligated to work seven days a week, for 60 hours or more, they received no overtime pay. They and others were locked in the stores at night and could not leave unless a Wal-Mart store manager came to release them. As Linsey explains, the janitors were locked in to prevent "inventory shrinkage." The janitors received no sick leave pay and had no taxes withheld from their pay. Of the meager wages they earned, many of the workers were required to pay an additional $500 "security deposit" to their employers to ensure that they would not leave, a sum that was never returned.
One of the janitors, Antonio Flores, who is diabetic, cut his hand severely while working for Wal-Mart. The lawsuit states "because he was locked in, he was forced to wait until the next morning to go to a hospital." One 26-year-old man from the Czech Republic spoke to the Prague Post last year about his three-day experience working for Wal-Mart, a job he quit due to the horrible conditions. Ondra, who refused to give his last name, said, "I met two [Czech] guys. They were in Chicago for two years. All they did was work, cleaning every day, 365 days a year. They had never been to the downtown Chicago Loop. ...It's slavery..."
The lawsuit is described at walmartjanitors.com.
While many of the supporters of suits like this will be the usual "liberal" suspects, they could play a key role in limiting illegal immigration. These suits could lead to both negative publicity and large settlements. The former would cost the companies sales, and the latter would increase their cost of doing business. That would have the effect of making illegal labor less desirable.
That would cause the businesses to push all the harder for some sort of "guest" worker program. However, it might also cause some of them to make the decision that "cheap" illegal labor just isn't worth it, and that it's better to use automation or raise wages to attract legal workers.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:54 AM | Comments (3)
If they went to Utah their heads would explode...
It's only 80 miles from the headquarters of the L.A. Times to Murrieta deep in "red California."
But, to the L.A. Times, it's like going to Mars: "In GOP They Trust":
...This devout Mormon couple, whose Boy Scout son Christopher marched on Veterans Day with his uniformed pals from Troop 524, will not see a movie that is rated R. They lump Whoopi Goldberg in with Dan Rather, the Dixie Chicks with CNN. They put Moore, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and most of Hollywood in the same bad grab bag of the biased and the out-of-touch...
So where do the Blantons get their information? For Bruce, at least, the same place as many of his neighbors, men and women whose affordable homes are here in Murrieta but whose jobs are geographically undesirable. Trapped in their cars en route to the office, they listen to talk radio on their long commutes...
Joe Russo remembers the daily commute to Orange County from Encinitas, where he couldn't afford to buy a house and his wife, Juliana, had to work. That's the only way they could make ends meet. It was 1998. "On my commutes, I'd listen to Christian radio, getting a daily infusion while driving on the road," he said. "You have a lot of time on the road to think..."
[Russo's wife] says many of her family values likely come from Dr. Laura Schlessinger, the conservative talk radio personality and self-help author, whose books she reads when she can find the time in her hectic days with her two young children...
"Now I see the family values and the goodness of people," [another featuree] said, as she made Sunday dinner after Mass. "I thought you could be a good person and a good friend if you didn't live my values. Now, I trust the ones who follow my values. That's what I'm learning, living out here."
See also 2003's "Conservatives in the Mist".
Posted to Politics at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)
"Why I Am Running For Lieutenant Governor"
The following is a real statement from a real candidate from a couple years back. Today's fun contest: how many sentences (or words) does it take before you correctly figure out the person's party, replaced in the following with "[MYSTERY PARTY]"?
My experiences over the past ten years have inspired and prepared me to run for Lieutenant Governor. While the [MYSTERY PARTY] would do well to run a "name" candidate, or someone with wide voter-appeal for Governor, as someone who has gained a degree of notoriety working for ferret legalization, I can show voters and non-voters a real example why they should support the [MYSTERY PARTY] for their own self-interest.
At the risk of appearing to be a one-issue candidate, I intend to show California voters what many would consider a small infringement of freedom is actually another instance of disappearing liberty and the great threat we face if we let this go unchallenged.
After 2 terms as chairman of the [MYSTERY PARTY] of California (where we doubled membership) ended in 1993, I thought it was time to get serious over the ferret issue. Ferret owners previously relied on their solid documentation that ferrets were safe pets, but the state of California continued to make up outlandish stories about domestic ferrets.
I formed Ferrets Anonymous that year, and when my chairmanship of that organization ended in 1998 it had a mailing list of 6,000 names. During my chairmanship I was on CBS This Morning, had a full page article in People Magazine numerous articles in newspapers, television and radio.. Back then, because of the absolute absurdity of what our opponents in the state government were saying, it was fun to debunk them and the media enjoyed covering ferrets.
The fun ended in 1998 when my ferret was removed from his vet and euthanized while he was in quarantine for biting a cameraman. I had helped many people get their ferrets through quarantine, but when the state of California learned that my ferret was in quarantine, the Department of Health Services ordered him picked up and destroyed immediately. To lose a ferret, a cherished family member, because I made fun of our opponents almost ruined me...
...I could go on at great length about my legal battles. But I won't let the emotional and financial drain from those battles stop me. I'm not going to surrender. I'm going to fight back the best way I can, by running for Lieutenant Governor...
It gets - believe it or not - even better... And, when you read about his erstwhile running mate, it gets even better...
UPDATE: The Ferret Candidate inspired my Strange Pet of the Day series. Latest entry in that series here.
Posted to Politics at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)
"SEIU's Hostile Leftist Takeover"
Here's a roundup of SEIU's far-left leanings and their influence on other unions.
The SEIU opposed in Prop. 200. There's a Soros connection. They supported California's Prop. 56. And, there's another roundup of their activities in "How Socialist Unions Rule the Democratic Party".
Posted to Politics at 05:43 PM | Comments (0)
Life is about to get a lot safer!
Once inserted into a human, [the RFID chip from VeriChip] can be tracked by GPS technology and the information relayed wirelessly to the Internet, where an individual's location, movements and vital signs can be stored in a database for future reference...
Previous VeriChip coverage is here. Get Chipped[TM]!
Posted to Privacy at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)
Arnold: somewhat misquoted by the AP
Dan Walters has the scoop:
...This is what Schwarzenegger said in the transcript of the interview, which was conducted in English: "I think that right now the Republican Party is all the way from the right to the center. And the Democratic Party is all the way from the left to the center. And I like the Republican Party to cross that center line. Keep it to the right where it is, but I mean cross over that center line a little bit, because that would take immediately away 5 percent from the Democrats and be home free for good. That's the trick."
Hujer's German-language story, including that passage, was published in his newspaper on Saturday. International news agencies picked up the quotation, translating it back into English. The version that the Associated Press distributed quoted Schwarzenegger, inaccurately, as saying he wanted Republicans to move "a little to the left."
"I would like the Republican Party to cross this line, move a little further left and place more weight on the center. This would immediately give the party 5 percent more votes without it losing anything elsewhere," read the AP version, which was also distributed Saturday...
Posted to California at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)
All illegal aliens to head to Trenton, New Jersey
TRENTON -- Mayor Doug Palmer issued an executive order yesterday, promising immigrants ["illegal aliens"] they will have access to city services without fear of being hassled, interrogated about their immigrant status or deported.
Here's what the mayor of Trenton, New Jersey has to say. What we need to do is translate this into Spanish and then get the Mexican press - both that in Mexico and that here - to print it:
"This fear, of having your family torn apart, of not having the right documentation on hand at the critical moment, goes against the grain in our city, because we are an open city...
We are a city whose mission explicitly recognizes that, as the people of Trenton have made us guardians of the public trust, we are committed to govern with integrity and fiscal responsibility, to seek excellence in the city’s operations, and to serve all the city’s people with respect and compassion...
Kids aren’t even going to school... [because of immigration raids...] Sick little children aren’t being taken to the doctor.
We have not been doing enough. We’ve got to reach way down into the immigrant community to explain what their rights are. This is an issue that affects everyone. This is a human rights issue.
...It is critically important that we ensure good relationships with all residents in order to get tips and information about actual crimes.
Communities where people are afraid to report crimes are unsafe and unstable... When rape, prostitution, domestic violence, theft, robbery, or beatings occur in the immigrant community, we want our response to be just as timely and as helpful as can be.
In fact, it is both our obligation and the individual immigrant’s right.
As an immigrant to Trenton, New Jersey, here are the services to which you have a right:
- Police and fire services
- General medical, mental health and public health services at clinics and emergency medical assistance, nutrition programs, programs for women and infants and children and for the disabled;
- Services dealing with non-conforming landlords, real estate tax payments or water/sewer bills, labor and employment enforcement, and access to the courts, schools, transportation services, shelter services and emergency disaster relief.
Other highlights include:
- Information in city files about an immigrant’s status will now be kept confidential, and only disseminated as required by law in the investigation of a case of illegal activity -- other than mere status as an undocumented alien -- or potential terrorist activity.
- City employees other than police officers "shall not inquire about a person’s immigration status" unless that information is necessary for the determination of program, service or benefit eligibility."
- Another section ordered that "Citizen children of undocumented parents have the same rights to public benefits as all other U.S. citizens. Undocumented parents may apply for their citizen children."
- Also, "A city employee required to establish the identity of a person seeking city services shall accept as valid photo identification."
Police officers are barred from inquiring about the immigration status of crime victims, witnesses, or others who call or approach them for help, unless they are investigating illegal activity.
However, they'll still "continue to cooperate with federal authorities in investigating and apprehending aliens suspected of criminal activity". But, it's gotta be really bad criminal activity. Just be cool and you'll be OK. Now, get a move on!
Posted to Immigration2004 at 10:10 AM | Comments (1)
Fred Muscara, Nancy Serpis win the Dean Wheeler Award for Sensitive Excellence
If Sully can create awards, so can I.
From 'Santa' told to lose costume at Hampton school dance:
A student dressed as Santa Claus was told to remove the suit and white beard when he arrived at a Hampton [New Hampshire] Academy Junior High School dance last Friday...
Nancy Serpis, chairman of the Hampton School Board [insisted] the dance was a "holiday" event and that dressing as Santa Claus was "inappropriate..."
...Principal Fred Muscara, who declined to be interviewed for this story, is quoted telling a Hampton newspaper: "It was a holiday party. It was not a Christmas party. There is a separation of church and state. We have a lot of students that go to Hampton Academy Junior High that have different religions. We have to be sensitive to that..."
Posted to MultiCultiCult at 01:07 AM | Comments (0)
"Ethics judge steals to fund brothel romp"
A top French judge is to be suspended after he allegedly stole a German colleague's credit card to pay for a prostitute, having earlier delivered an hour-long speech on ethics, reported The Times...
...The first time he had paid for the alleged sexual service with his own money, according to the report. The second time, he had allegedly paid with a credit card that he had nicked from a German prosecutor at the conference...
...Mr Hontang's alleged shenanigans came to light after he had complained to the owner of the brothel's service. The boss had noticed that he had not paid with his own credit card and alerted German police officers, who got on the case...
Those wacky cheese-eating surrender monkeys!
Posted to WackyHumor at 01:01 AM | Comments (0)
Jennifer Aniston naked
[Important updates below]
Don't we all wish?
However, the sexual harassment lawsuit brought by the writer's assistant who worked for Friends for four months proceeds and is getting some attention from AP.
From "'Friends' lawsuit takes on tradition":
But if the tradition of the raucous, freewheeling "writers room" is the Hollywood status quo, Amaani Lyle is fighting it. The 31-year-old former writer's assistant for "Friends" has filed a lawsuit that has landed before the California Supreme Court.
Lyle alleges the raw sexual remarks that peppered writers' work sessions and conversations added up to harassment, even though they weren't aimed directly at her or other women in the room.
Her suit, which also alleges demeaning remarks were made about blacks and constitute racial harassment, names "Friends" producers Warner Bros. Television Productions and Bright Kauffman Crane Productions, as well as writers Adam Chase, Greg Malins and Andrew Reich.
Lyle worked for four months in 1999 before she was told she was a poor typist and fired. But Lyle, who is black, claims she was let go after pressing for black characters on the sexually charged NBC comedy about six pals in New York....
So, if I were fired for suggesting they introduce a character named Ozmodiar, I could sue too?
Now, here's the funniest part of the article:
"It's always very hard to describe the process of what writing a comedy series is really about," ["Murphy Brown" creator Diane English] said. "It involves so critically the ability to completely be open and let yourself go. It's the only way the really truly funny stuff is born."
For the even funnier bits, see the excerpts from the suit:
...74. [Three of the writers] regularly discussed making the character Joey a serial rapist...
...77. [Three of the writers used the terms] "dick," "schlong," and "cock."
...83. I can recall sitting around waiting to go home while writers were sitting around pretending to masturbate and continually talking about schlongs.
UPDATE: OK, so the title of this post is a bit mean. I mean, I don't have any pictures of Jennifer Aniston naked. However, here are some interesting Jennifer Aniston pics. Note that some of these sites are questionable, might have popups or worse, etc.:
big pic, fake or real?, naked on stomach, face + partial butt
older; might be fake; hiding her nips
older; long straight blonde-highlighted hair; barefoot; bordello setting
a "spicy" jennifer aniston gallery; appear to be real
You can buy the Office Space DVD here:
side butt in jeans shot; more here; warning: questionable site
And, my favorite so far:
big facial pic with a cherry in her mouth (warning: questionable foreign site)
A personal note to Jennifer: I'm sorry to hear about your breakup with Brad Pitt. Over time I hope you will recover from this unfortunate incident. Remember, there are many bloggers out here that care.
UPDATE 2: Man, that cherry pic is something else. Here are more Jennifer Aniston links.
UPDATE 3: Holy moley! Jen has had her sharks send letters about a new crop of photos that they claim photog Peter Brandt took from a mile away. Do you know how far a mile is? C'mon. He says it was only 300 yards, and topless pics are hard to sell anyway.
But, don't despair, as some other very interesting photos have been located here, here, here, here, and here, all via this. I don't think these are the ones in question. Photos that is.
UPDATE 4: For the ladies: Jennifer Aniston hair style: Sedu or T3 Tourmaline?
Posted to Celebrities at 12:58 AM | Comments (0)
Have a very Merry Yulemass
If you'd like to enter into the Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays debate, the L.A. Times has enough scary quotes in "School Yuletide Observances Shift Into Neutral" (also here) to fill your stocking to the brim.
The ironic thing about all this is that in their urge to strike against displays of Christianity, the secularists/multiculturalists/"liberals"/a-holes have brought the pagan part of Christmas to the fore. Mangers are verboten, but gift giving and Christmas trees are OK. Perhaps those in favor of a (real) holiday season could sue to stop all such favoritism towards paganism.
Even the word "yule", as used in the title of the L.A. Times article, is derived from a pre-conversion Germanic pagan festival. And, the word "holiday" is derived the Old English for "holy day". That formulation may have appeared in Germanic languages before the conversion to Christianity. In that case, a "holiday" would have meant a pagan festival and it now literally means a holy day.
There's more on the past history of the Winter Fest in the following:
Pagan Origins of Modern Christmas Traditions
When did Christmas become a political statement?
’Tis the time to feel offended, tra-la-la-la….
Public Schools: Are They Missing the Baby Jesus?
Anthony Browne: Unholy war on Christmas
Generic greeting doesn’t leave Christians feeling merry
Bill White: A Merry Pagan Christmas And The Search For The True Meaning Of Christ
Posted to MultiCultiCult at 08:11 PM | Comments (0)
Merry XMas to Arizona
TUCSON - A federal judge on Wednesday lifted a restraining order blocking enforcement of a voter-approved initiative to deny illegal immigrants some public benefits.
The order means the initiative immediately becomes Arizona law...
Posted to Immigration2004 at 02:32 PM | Comments (2)
Pictures of the collapsed KFI tower
On the 19th a small plane hit the 750' tower of radio station KFI in La Mirada. The two people aboard the plane were killed in the crash, but the tower caused little damage on the ground.
Pictures of the collapsed tower are here, here, and here. A previous picture of the tower is here.
Posted to Los_Angeles at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)
When is an Asian-Pacific Islander not an Asian-Pacific Islander?
Your guess is probably close, but, to make it exact, here's a hint: Sacramento.
Now that your guess is almost 100% correct, here's the article.
"Two lawmakers seeking membership in Democrat-only Asian caucus":
Two Asian lawmakers are asking to be admitted to the Legislature's Asian-Pacific Islander Caucus, or be given money to start a club that will include Republican lawmakers.
Republican Assemblymen Alan Nakanishi, of Lodi, and Van Tran, of Garden Grove, said they're being unjustly excluded from the Democrat-only caucus, even though members of the vast Asian community in California have many varied political views...
They do?
..."I think the caucus represents only 50 percent - if that - of the (Asian) constituency," Tran said. "It should live up to its spirit, as Speaker Nunez said, to represent the great diversity of California. As it stands right now, it does not..."
...Asian Caucus Chairwoman Judy Chu, D-Monterey Park, said the group debated whether to include Republicans when it formed in 2001, but members ultimately decided to be Democrats-only...
The only surprising thing in the article is that Leland Yee - whose very name instantly makes me roll my eyes - supports just one caucus.
Of course, whether we need race-oriented caucusi in the first place is quite an open question, not least because the Asian-Pacific Islander caucus costs (us) $100k a year.
Posted to MultiCultiCult at 09:04 PM | Comments (0)
"Mexico plans to step up immigration-policy pressure in 2005"
Mexican President Vicente Fox's renewed efforts to lobby for change in U.S. immigration policy may hurt his cause more than help it and could galvanize opposition in a divided American Congress, senior U.S. officials said.
The Mexican government is planning a multipronged effort in the United States on behalf of the millions of Mexicans working without proper documentation [i.e., illegal aliens]. Targets would include agricultural groups and Latino organizations...
...One senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Mexico should "work with us and remember that this is a domestic issue. It's not a Mexico-specific bill. ... If it's seen as a unilateral demand from the Mexican side, I think there will be plenty of people, particularly on the Hill, who will not receive that particularly well."
...A Mexican official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the sensitivities involved and said, "Mexico will take very careful steps" in its lobbying efforts. "We recognize that this is a very delicate matter."
Mexican officials say they plan to spend "hundreds of thousands" of dollars to promote the issue through its 47 Mexican consulates in the United States, focusing on regions that government officials consider crucial to success.
Mexico plans to hire lobbyists and to work closely with leading U.S. think tanks and universities to promote its national interests, the Mexican official said...
...The official said Mexico would launch the lobbying effort early next year, perhaps coinciding with the planned visit of Fox to Washington in late February or March...
...The migration issue ignites passion, especially among anti-immigration groups. [see the following note]
"Mexico's blatant foreign interference in U.S. domestic affairs," is the issue, said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington. The group favors reduced immigration. [but, the preceding paragraph implied they were "anti-immigration"]
"The Mexican consulates have gone from promoting trade and travel to Mexico to actively involving themselves in U.S. domestic affairs ... and the Bush administration has been irresponsible for not telling Mexico in a friendly but clear way that this is not acceptable," Krikorian said...
This is just more of the same, except now they're being completely open about what they intend to do. So, when we see a race group, university, or think tank supporting Mexico's position, we can ask whether they're being paid to do so.
On a minor note, you might want to contact grodrigue@dallasnews.com about the use of the euphemism for illegal aliens and the "anti-immigration" slam in the article.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 02:09 PM | Comments (1)
"President Bush To Fix Illegal Immigration Problem By Removing Immigration Laws"
This just in:
President Bush announced today that he will once and for all fix the problem with illegal immigration by making everyone a legal immigrant starting January 2005 and removing any immigration barriers for entering the U.S.
"Listen, the only reason we have illegal immigrants is because we have immigration laws." Stated President Bush, "If you remove those laws, then there is no problem! So, starting in January, not only will all 'illegal immigrants' be considered legal, but also all immigration laws will no longer exist. Therefore, I will be known as the president who fixed the immigration problem..."
I believe this is a joke, but nowadays it's so hard to tell.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 01:23 PM | Comments (1)
Barbara Boxer not "liberal" enough for some
From this:
It's an old adage that politics makes for strange bedfellows. Perhaps the latest example of this might be liberal California senator Barbara Boxer's support of the California Mission Preservation Act, a bill signed into law last week by the president. The Act sets aside $10 million over five years as funds for the restoration and preservation of California's twenty-one missions, their artwork, artifacts, and indigenous plants. Boxer emphasizes on her website that aside from their historical significance, the missions bring in substantial income for local businesses from tourists visiting the state. The Chicago Tribune offered a helpful comparison on that point—the missions bring more money into the state's economy than any other public attraction, excepting Disneyland.
All well and good, but there's a catch … one that Ms. Boxer has apparently decided to overlook. Nineteen of the twenty-one missions are owned by the Roman Catholic Church and, moreover, have active congregations. Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a lawsuit in a federal court last week, asserting the bill violates the Constitution...
Here's the board for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. That organization has been around for 50 years, but I'm not familiar with them and I don't know if there's a tie to the Ford Foundation, PFAW, or other fine groups.
There's another report on the controversy in "Missions are dear to Californians, but should they get U.S. funds?"
In slightly related news, today's Disturbing Visual is the picture of Boxer and Feinstein at this link. Little sister/big sister? Barbara takes her Geritol? Feel free to provide your own disturbing tagline.
Posted to MultiCultiCult at 01:01 PM | Comments (0)
"FAIR Letter to President Bush About His Guestworker Proposal"
FAIR on Bush's press conference:
At this morning's White House press conference, you were asked a question about your plan to reform U.S. immigration policy. In response to the question, you repeatedly made the point that your proposal entails allowing workers in other countries to enter or remain in the U.S. legally to fill "jobs that Americans will not do."
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and millions of Americans throughout the nation are highly troubled by your policy proposal. First, your proposal both forgives and rewards businesses that have flagrantly violated laws against the hiring of illegal aliens with a novel approach to sustaining for them a never-ending supply of cheap foreign labor. Second, your proposal both forgives and rewards illegal aliens who have and continue to be in violation of our immigration laws by making your guestworker/amnesty program available to them.
The American public has a right to be clear about your intentions and policymakers in Congress deserve a degree of certainty about the consequences of adopting your policy proposal. Your position on this proposal could be much more clearly clarified if you would address the following questions publicly...
They ask five questions that a) Bush couldn't answer, and b) no reporter will (probably) ever ask.
The question relating to Kerik would be a bit of a low blow, but, then again, if they can't even correctly vet their proposed head of the DHS how well are they going to do with 10 million citizens of another country, especially given that most of them are from a corrupt third-world country?
Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:56 AM | Comments (1)
Bush's Immigration Pet Phrases
Michelle Malkin provides several links you need to fully understand Bush's recent press conference.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:56 AM | Comments (1)
Mt. Lukens: Day Two
I've already visited Mt. Lukens - the highest point in the City of Los Angeles - and I don't necessarily want to go back. It's not that the view is that bad, it's just that the top is devoted to a very large antenna farm so it's not exactly an aesthete's dream.
However, when I went there I took an fairly gently-graded fire road. As a training hike, I wanted to take the Stone Canyon Trail, which gains 3200' in 8 miles round-trip. It doesn't go straight up, but that's still a workout.
Since the trail is said to be a bit difficult to find, I decided to scope it out first. Yesterday I drove up Big Tujunga Canyon Road in an attempt to follow these directions. First problem: the Wildwood Picnic Area was closed. It was later in the day and there was no sun in the canyon, so, rather than parking on the road then hiking down to the canyon bottom I decided to keep on driving. I'm not that familiar with the other hikes in that area and I was cutting it too close to go exploring.
So, earlier today (stop me if I'm boring you) I decided I'd try to explore the ways to Mt. Lukens from La Crescenta side. The link above mentions a route from the Deukmejian Wilderness Park at the northern tip of Glendale. However, there's no trail named the "Cresenta Valley Trail". There is a "Crescenta View Trail", as the guide pictured here shows. Yet, it seemed to me the Dunsmore Canyon Trail would be the one that would be the one to go to Mt. Lukens rather than the Crescenta View Trail. So, I took the Dunsmore trail up. After less than a mile, it dead-ended. There looked to be a very rough use trail at the end and I went up it about 10 feet until I decided it wasn't really a use trail at all and I didn't want to pick up dozens of ticks crawling through brush.
So, back down and I asked at the Ranger's station (there had been no one there when I left). They told me both the Rim-of-the-Valley and the Crescenta View Trail go to Mt. Lukens, but they couldn't quite figure out what "Roy's" comment at the first link was talking about.
So, for Mt. Lukens: Day Three (which probably won't be tomorrow), I'll try one of those two, or I'll see if this Doske Road exists (Route 1 here). I believe that's also the route taken by Roy Randall. Or, I'll take one of the routes from the Wilderness park.
On the way up the Dunsmore trail, I noticed that I was being followed by a guy carrying a black case, and he was gaining on me (truly a rare occurence). As he passed me he asked, "You don't mind if I" - at this moment I thought he was going to say something like "fall back and let you pass me instead". However, what he said next "blew" me away: "You don't mind if I play my saxophone?" Well, that's a new one on me! He walked ahead then over onto a dam. As I hiked ahead and then back I had a musical soundtrack.
On the way back after my mini non-adventure, I was leaving a parking lot when I noticed an elderly gentleman collapsed on the sidewalk. He was bleeding from his mouth and he couldn't get up. I summoned the paramedics and he was hopefully OK.
Posted to OutdoorSports at 12:55 AM | Comments (0)
"Fortress America's problem at the border"
The BBC has a "report" on illegal immigration into the U.S. The scare quotes are because it has all the insight that you'd expect, couple with a few errors, at least one of which has been corrected. As might be expected the correction isn't noted in the new version.
It's not a major correct, but it certainly is indicative.
Here's the first version, posted about four hours ago to FreeRepublic:
In the summer, the temperatures in Arizona soar to well beyond boiling point.
And, here's the version currently at the BBC's site:
In the summer, the temperatures in Arizona often soar to 40-45C (104-113F).
Read the FR link for some of the more substantial errors, including his description of the race-baiting film "A Day Without A Mexican."
You can send feedback through this form or contact the author directly: matt.frei@bbc.co.uk
Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:25 AM | Comments (1)
Somewhere, a Zamboni cassandra is saying, "I told you so."
"Explosion causes more than $600,000 in damage to Duluth rink":
DULUTH, Minn. - Investigators were trying to determine on Monday the cause of the Sunday night explosions that destroyed a local ice arena and injured several broomball players and fans.
People inside the building said they suspected the explosion came from a room containing an ice-grooming machine, which are often known by the brand name Zamboni...
(Via Br'er Drudge)
Posted to Miscellania at 07:04 PM | Comments (0)
Partayin' down with the Norwegian women's handball team
"'Handball girls' party all night":
Norway's national handball team, and thousands of their fans, were ecstatic after beating Denmark to win the European championship on Sunday. Their victory followed Saturday's decisive 44-29 win over the Hungarian national team, which was on home turf at the championships in Budapest.
The champagne flowed along with tears of joy when the winning female athletes, known collectively simply as the "handball girls" (hĺndballjentene), gathered for their victory party at a hotel in Budapest.
..."We're good in handball but quite good at partying also," said team captain Gro Hammerseng, as she helped teammates tackle a double-magnum bottle of bubbly...
Posted to WackyHumor at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)
Today's comments
The "libertarians" at Reason Magazine have yet another post supporting illegal immigration. See my comments.
"Liberal" TalkLeft supports driver's licenses for illegal aliens. I supply the correct side of the argument here and in the extended entry.
The comment at TalkLeft:
First-We have an enormous number of illegal aliens in this country because that is the way a large slice of the electorate wants it to be. From cheap nannies to cheap farm workers and everywhere in between, many persons and businesses from accross the political spectrum benefit from the labor of illegal aliens.
The great majority of Americans are opposed to illegal immigration. It's the elites that benefit and that have caused the current situation, not the "electorate."
As for the organization, here's the board for their parent organization. Katrina VD Heuvel, Eric Alterman, the Ford Foundation, etc. etc. I suspect they're a "liberal" group.
As for their reasons:
First, the very fact that 13 million illegal aliens are already within our borders means that a perimeter-based defense is porous.
The problem isn't with the perimeter defense so much as with what happens behind the perimeter. "Liberals" try to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens. That makes it easier to live here illegally. That increases the number of people trying to come here. That makes the job of defending the perimeter more difficult. Plus, those who employ illegal labor are rarely punished. Correct those issues and the perimeter defense would be much more effective.
As for the second reason, we reduce the size of the haystack by refusing to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens. That will force many of them to self-deport and many fewer to come. That's an effective way to reduce the size of the haystack.
The "market" is already supplying fake documentation. If you reduce the number of illegals here, you would drive the price for fake documentation up. And, by improving the security of DLs, you'd make such counterfeiting more difficult.
I also think it's funny the various contortions of the language TL uses to describe illegal aliens. I'm sure TL has a copy of the U.S. Code handy. Look at, for instance, this. Yep, that's right. The U.S. Code uses the phrase "illegal aliens." That is the correct, legal term.
I also wonder why "liberals" would support cheap, exploited labor and massive corporate subsidies.
Much information on this subject is available in my Immigration category.
Posted to Bloggage at 11:17 AM | Comments (1)
Our borderline security
It remains to be seen whether intelligence reform legislation will produce substantive improvements in our national security. Republicans and Democrats alike certainly hope so, as do we all. But Congress and the White House failed to approve other reforms passed by the House of Representatives that would have ensured heightened border security and the ability to control immigrant documentation and identification, which the 9/11 commission recommended.
...However, more than three years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it may seem ludicrous to many that we have reached only the stage of dialogue and debate instead of concrete action. While it is critically important that we have the best intelligence possible about the radical Islamist terrorists who would destroy this nation and its citizens, no amount of intelligence and improved analysis and communication can prevent an individual terrorist or group from entering our poorly protected ports and insecure, porous borders...
...Economic interests are dominating the discussion of immigration reform. Big business, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and organized labor both seek open borders--business to exploit the cheap labor that is provided by illegal aliens and labor organizations to add to their membership rolls. Incredibly, much of organized labor in this country, including the AFL-CIO, supports open borders even at the expense of its current members...
Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:34 AM | Comments (0)
"More Aggressive Congress Could Hinder Bush's Plans"
From this:
President Bush's second-term plans to reshape Social Security, immigration laws and other domestic programs are facing a stiff challenge from a group that was reliably accommodating in the president's first four years: congressional Republicans.
After essentially rubber-stamping much of Bush's first-term agenda, many House and Senate Republicans plan to assert themselves more forcefully to put their mark on domestic policy in the new year, according to several lawmakers...
...But the president's most nettlesome intra-party issue in early 2005 may be immigration, lawmakers said. Bush's goal of granting guest-worker status to large numbers of undocumented immigrants is about to collide head-on with House Republicans' push to crack down on illegal immigrants, in part by denying them driver's licenses...
"If the president wants to maintain credibility with House Republicans, he has to be engaged and willing to pass immigration reform that conservatives want," said Rep. Ray LaHood (Ill.), one of 57 House Republicans who voted against the intelligence bill Bush just signed into law. "If he does that, he will build a bridge" that could open the way to far-reaching changes to Social Security, the tax code and other policies, LaHood said. "If he's missing in action on that issue, he's going to have big problems..."
Posted to Politics at 12:33 AM | Comments (1)
Santa's visit to the little sex-slaves of Bangkok canceled
Merry XMas from Canada:
...What, Santa Claus real? You might as well say that there is no such thing as hunger, that poor children never sleep on the street while bankers bloat themselves on six-figure salaries. Virginia, some people even complain that not enough children are in prison. They say this though they know that to imprison a child is the surest way to turn a single mistake into a life of crime. Why do they want to lock away the children? Because they are so poor in spirit as to hate and fear the young.
What a world it would be, if only a jolly elf could come down once a year, and bring sweetness, light, and plum pudding to all the children of the world, one half of whom go without enough to eat. What a better place if one magic sled could do the job that a hundred aid organizations can never manage, because there are never enough resources.
Santa Claus won't be coming to the murdered children of Fallujah this year, nor to the little sex-slaves of Bangkok. He won't be visiting the children crippled by cluster bombs or torn open by shrapnel. There will be no Santa for the orphans of Afghanistan or Palestine. In the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, there will be no peace this Christmas.
Santa Claus does not exist, as surely as hatred and greed and violence rule the world. Alas Virginia, how dreary life is for Santa’s real helpers, the Asian children who labor to manufacture the war toys under your tree. There’s no childlike faith on the factory floor, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable their daily existence...
Posted to MultiCultiCult at 12:31 AM | Comments (1)
Germans to become less depressed, more cheerful
"Germans get taste of tropics an hour's drive from Berlin":
Winter-weary Germans basked yesterday in 70F temperatures amid palm trees and sandy beaches - only an hour's drive from Berlin.
At dawn yesterday, thousands of people began flocking to a bulbous former airship hangar transformed into Europe's largest leisure resort.
As the wind howled outside and snow settled on the ground, they pitched their tents and watched a golden sunrise projected on to a 450ft long screen...
70 degrees? That's sweater weather here in ever-sunny SoCal.
Posted to Miscellania at 12:03 AM | Comments (0)
What ever could the residents of Mink, LA want?
MINK, LA. - It's no secret what the 15 householders in this tiny settlement want for Christmas: the same thing they have always wanted year-round --- ??????
What could they want?
- dialect removal lessons
- indoor plumbing
- telephones
- a group marriage to Louisiana sweetheart Britney Spears
- topographic variety
If you're stumped, click the link.
UPDATE: Mink has now joined the 21st century, at least in this specific way.
Posted to Miscellania at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)
The root of the problem
From Lou Dobb's 12/16/04 show:
...CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They sneak across the border seeking jobs they can't find in Mexico. The question isn't why they come, it's why can't Mexico's economy support its own people.
Nearly half of Mexico's population lives in poverty. Ten percent are indigent, existing on a dollar a day. Yet the nation has vast wealth. Mexico has more "Forbes" billionaires, 11, than all but eight other nations. It has more billionaires than Saudi Arabia, Switzerland or Taiwan. It also has more than 85,000 millionaires.
GEORGE W. GRAYSON, COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY: There is a small economic elite who live like maharajas, and there's a political elite that protects them. Our border provides an escape valve which really lets the Mexican political and economic elite off the hook in terms of providing opportunities for their own people.
WIAN (on camera): About 10 percent of Mexico's 105 million people live here in the United States. They're called national heroes by President Vicente Fox because this year they'll send home about $16 billion, more than any Mexican industry except oil.
(voice-over): The country sits on oil reserves worth about $400 billion, but Mexico's state-owned oil company, Pemex, doesn't have the investment funds to tap those reserves, and Mexico's Congress refuses to allow foreign investment in Pemex.
Mexico's outdated tax system is plagued by widespread tax evasion. It collects taxes at less than half the rate of the United States. As a result, Mexico's public-school and health-care systems suffer.
CHRIS WOODRUFF, CENTER FOR U.S.-MEXICO STUDIES: We now realize -- and particularly in a world where capitalists are mobile -- that redistribution isn't going to work, and what people focus on now instead is allowing the poor to build assets. Mexico has undertaken some programs which will allow the poor to do that. But that's not a process that changes overnight.
WIAN: Meanwhile, the gap between rich and poor is growing. So Mexico continues to export one of its most valuable assets, people...
Posted to Immigration2004 at 01:39 PM | Comments (1)
"Sheriff's Group Urges Boycott Of Mexican Products"
Mexico refuses to extradite suspects facing the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
The boycott started with the Los Angeles County deputies, then the California Coalition of Law Enforcement Associations, and now Riverside deputies.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 01:33 PM | Comments (0)
New survey finds Republicans hate minorities
Away down towards the end of "Survey finds support for restricting Muslim-Americans' freedoms" we find this bit:
[James Shanahan, an associate professor of communications and a principal investigator in the study] said researchers expected the correlation with party affiliation.
Can you say "observer bias"? Note that that clear case of observer bias follows other questionable quotes from the same "researcher."
(Via this)
Posted to MultiCultiCult at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)
The (clinically) lunatic left
From the post "Ordinary People in a Blue Town":
TIME & PLACE: Yesterday afternoon at the supermarket checkout [in Santa Barbara]...
SETUP: I've bought a pound of broccoli salad at the deli counter, and when I look at the register tape, I see that I've been charged $27. The checkout lady goes off to the deli counter to get a corrected price sticker. On her way she says to her supervisor, "C'mere, you gotta see this." She gets back and starts writing up the refund.
CHECKOUT LADY: $27 for a pound of salad. That's George Bush inflation.
SUPERVISOR: It could come to that. Bush. Ugh.
ME: Remember that his father didn't like broccoli and said so? Pissed off the farmers in these parts.
GUY: I hate George Bush. Father and son.
CHECKOUT LADY: Bush. Hate him.
SUPERVISOR: Hate him...
Once again, I'm no psychologist, but doesn't this seem a bit... odd? The first thing on the checkout lady's mind seems to be George W. Bush. Her supervisor, the unnamed other customer, and the author all seem to share that same affliction. Could they perhaps all be suffering from... PEST?
I left the following comment, self-rated as a 4 in the humor department:
Their breakroom must be a fun place:
Checker 1: "I hate George Bush!"
Checker 2: "Me too. Except, I hate them both. Father and son!"
Bagger 1: "I hate the whole family, even the ones I've never heard of!"
Supervisor 1: "I HATE THEM ALL!!!!"
Bagger 2: "I too hate all of them, each and every one."
Produce jobber 1: "I was passing by and I heard how much you hate George W. Bush! I have to say, I hate him too!"
Bagger 3: "So, can anyone give me a ride to the PEST sing-a-long?"
I had to finish it some way, right?
Let's try this one instead:
Their breakroom must be a fun place:
Checker 1: "Did you wear your new bikini to the beach yet?"
Checker 2: "No, I had some yard work to do, clearing bushes."
Checker 1: "I hate George Bush!"
Checker 2: "Me too. Except, I hate them both. Father and son!"
Bagger 1: "I hate the whole family, even the ones I've never heard of!"
Supervisor 1: "I HATE THEM ALL!!!!"
Bagger 2: "I too hate all of them, each and every one."
Produce jobber 1: "I was passing by and I heard how much you hate George W. Bush! I have to say, I hate him too!"
Bagger 3: "So, can anyone give me a ride to the PEST sing-a-long?"
Posted to Politics at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)
Dan Rather is easy
[Also left as a comment at BigMediaBlog.com]
On Tuesday, CBS Evening News ran a "human interest" report on LA Dog Works, an upscale spa for... dogs. I can only think up three possible explanations: they know someone at CBS, they wrote one cracking hell of a press release, or Dan Rather just couldn't resist the opportunity to comment on "those wacky Hollywoodians, what will they think of next?"
Today, CBS Evening News had another human interest story, but this seemed quite a bit more worthy. Nevertheless, I was confused.
The piece showed two "elves" pushing a cart containing a computer down a hospital hallway. The voiceover explained that Santa was there to visit terminally-ill children, and Santa was shown delivering live, personalized messages to a couple of children.
Now, if you're like me, you would be sitting there saying over and over to yourself, "Why couldn't they have found a Santa who could make a visit in person?" I originally thought it might be because the kids had contagious diseases, but that didn't appear to be the case. So, I was - foolishly as it turns out - mystified.
The mystery was soon solved when the voiceover announced this was a demonstration of a new camera phone from Cisco Systems.
This same PR event made NBC4, WISTV, and a couple others:
(Boston, Massachusetts-NBC) Dec. 17, 2004 - Some Boston children too sick to leave the hospital got their own chance to see Santa before Christmas.
For the first time Santa made a very special "Cyber Stop" at Children's Hospital. Rob Lopez of Cisco Systems explains, "What we are doing is connecting kids with the North Pole, and we are doing it with the magic of the Internet."
Cisco Systems of California donated their technology for the day to allow patients and visitors of the hospital to link up with Old St. Nick, "What they do is they step up to the phone, simply push a speed dial button and over the Internet they are connected to the North Pole..."
Down in Texas, they call that a whoppin' good press release.
Posted to Celebrities at 08:09 PM | Comments (0)
"Hate has no place in [insert your community's name here]"
I'm no psychologist, but if you are and you're looking to write a paper, you might want to check out a few of the links at these searches:
rally "against hate" (13,500 hits)
rally "against hatred" (7,820 hits)
rally "anti hate" (4,830 hits)
A small sample:
Bainbridge Island Anti-Hate Rally
Anti-hate resolution may not turn into force of law
L.A. County hate crimes decline
the transcript of Kerri Dunn's anti-hate speech
Life After Hate: How Racial Crimes Affect the Culture
of Northwestern University (another fake hatecrime)
Now, one might ask, what would motivate so many people to try to stomp out hate?
Is it money, or power, or far-left ideology, or it is something deeper?
Many of these rallies appear to be self-flagellation rituals designed to drive out inner demons disguised as attempts to drive out external demons. Now, for all I know psychologists or mythologists have already studied this, but if not it's certainly be an interesting thing to look into.
Posted to MultiCultiCult at 04:44 PM | Comments (1)
"Ridge says Los Angeles police chief, sheriff could be candidates to replace him"
Well, theoretically speaking, most anyone could be a candidate. However:
The police chief and sheriff of Los Angeles could be candidates to become the next secretary of homeland security, outgoing secretary Tom Ridge says -- but both men say they're not interested in the job.
Ridge praised Police Chief William Bratton and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, saying they understand how to protect large cities from terrorism.
"These two are doing this for their entire careers, so it's no surprise that their names are being publicly mentioned and maybe even privately discussed," Ridge said Wednesday at a news conference to announce $282 million in homeland-security money for California.
Ridge declined to comment on whether the White House has seriously considered either man...
Yes, but there's the possibility they were being privately discussed.
On the other hand:
Because of the tenacious efforts of grass roots activist Hal Netkin , Los Angeles Police Department Chief William “Bill” Bratton took the coward’s way out by failing to show up at a May 8 tribute in Santa Clarita, CA. to honor murdered police officer Deputy David March...
Bratton... was on the confirmed speakers list. But once the chief learned that Netkin would be passing out flyers reminding the attendees of Bratton’s continuing support of Special Order 40... poof!
Netkin told me that he distributed 1,500 flyers. “Everyone in the stadium received one, even the deputies. And they seemed very resentful of Bratton and his policies,” Netkin said.
Special Order 40, which prohibits police officers from questioning Los Angeles residents about their immigration status until they are charged with a criminal offense, was established in 1979 under order of the City Council and then-police chief Darryl Gates...
Posted to Politics at 12:45 PM | Comments (1)
Darrell Issa apparently wants your input
The California congressman who bankrolled signature gathering for the recall of Gov. Gray Davis has taken a first step toward financing a constitutional amendment that would deny benefits to illegal immigrants in the state.
Rep. Darrell Issa, through the Rescue California Leadership Committee, is mailing letters to every voter who circulated a petition last year to recall the Democratic governor...
...his consultant, David Gilliard, said Issa is testing whether to join the drive to qualify the ballot measure. Gilliard said Issa is looking "very seriously" at providing financing for the new petition drive and will make his decision "before Christmas, maybe."
You can contact him here and let him know you would support this.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)
"Mexico envoy calls on U.S. to protect rights of illegals"
Mexican Ambassador Carlos de Icaza yesterday said millions of Mexican nationals now illegally in the United States are hard-working residents who take jobs Americans refuse, but their rights are "completely unprotected" and the White House and Congress need to find a solution. "It is up to the American public to be concerned about the rights of these people as human beings," Mr. de Icaza said during a meeting with editors and reporters at The Washington Times. "They contribute to the U.S. economy, work hard on a daily basis, but live in the shadows completely unprotected," he said...
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)
It's not their fault
Helmet-haired demi-MILF Linda Chavez provides this bit of surreality:
...Whether we care to admit it or not, most of us benefit from the services of illegal aliens, even if indirectly, and the law that ensnarled Kerik has turned many good people into scofflaws...
...I have special reason to be concerned. My own nomination to be secretary of labor was derailed in 2001 when it became public that a decade earlier I had taken into my home and given modest financial assistance to a battered and abused woman from Guatemala, who at the time was illegally living in the United States...
...Although some news organizations have suggested that other ethical and moral lapses doomed Kerik's nomination, this does not appear to be the case. The Washington Post reports, "White House officials said they knew in advance about other disclosures now emerging about Kerik's background, including alleged extramarital affairs and reported ties to a construction company with supposed mob connections, but had concluded that they were not disqualifying." So suspicions about mob ties don't doom a nomination but hiring an illegal alien does? Something is very wrong here, but it's not the White House's fault...
...The only solution is to make it easier -- not harder -- for immigrants who want to work to come here legally. The president's much-maligned guest worker proposal is a step in the right direction. But a solution still has to be found for dealing with those illegal aliens already here. It makes no sense to kick them out in order to bring in millions of different people to fill their jobs. A one-time fine of both illegal aliens and the employers who knowingly hire them, along with the chance for undocumented workers to legalize their status if they have not broken other laws, would seem the proper punishment. Then maybe we could quit disqualifying otherwise good candidates from serving the nation.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)
The Two Hour Anti-Hate
"Anti-hate vigil lights up Tam High"
Students, teachers, parents and community members gathered in front of Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley last night to declare their solidarity against recent hate speech at the school.
Illuminated only by streetlights and the candles they held in their hands, 250 demonstrators crowded shoulder to shoulder on the hillside facing Miller Avenue. Peace activists, student speakers and local leaders, as well as representatives from the Anti-Defamation League and the office of California State Assemblywoman Carole Migden, encouraged rally attendees to continue to be compassionate and kind in the face of last week's anti-gay vandalism...
"The acts of hatred and violence that have taken place have shocked the school and the community,"
...Last night's rally was the latest in a number of recent student-led efforts aimed at promoting tolerance and spreading an anti-hate message...
...The Leadership class and other students have distributed nearly 600 lavender ribbons to students and community members who are wearing them in solidarity against the hate crime...
"We're hoping the community and school will recognize Tam is still a safe place... Just because we've had a few instances of hate speech does not mean we're a gay-bashing school."
..."I don't see this as a reflection of the typical Tam student. It's just not in the culture of the school, and that's what raised the concern level... It was bizarre, but it shows us that no one is immune to this. There are no guarantees - no matter how progressive, how well-educated the community is - there are no guarantees there aren't going to be some people with a problem..."
At the close of the rally, as Tam student George Hines led the demonstrators in singing the Beatles' "Let it Be," a tear slid down the cheek of a gray-haired man in a blue track suit. Bob Jacobs, a science teacher for 14 years at Mill Valley Middle School, wiped his face when the song ended. Among the many Tam High students he has taught is the young girl the community came to support.
"Obviously, this is very sad," Jacobs said as a few of his current students came to greet him. "The students at this school should just keep their heads up and realize they're a wonderful group."
No word yet on whether Sammy Hagar showed up to burn a big "HATE" sign.
(Via this)
Posted to MultiCultiCult at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)
Janet, put down the flame thrower
From this:Since the arrival late last winter of the "marrying people," as one of Eldorado's more eccentric citizens calls them, there's plenty to talk about in this tiny west Texas town, if not much to see. The polygamous enclave of the YFZ (Yearning for Zion) Ranch is marked by nothing more than a "No Trespassing" sign on a locked gate off a country road. A long lane undulates over rocky rangeland, past stunted mesquite and juniper trees and ubiquitous prickly pear cactus. There may be 50 fundamentalists in there, says the local sheriff; or 200, says the local newspaper editor. They were chosen by the prophet -- Jeffs -- from the enclave on the Arizona-Utah border and likely also from Bountiful, where believers have contributed truckloads of lumber and prefabricated buildings to the cause...Let's hope he's right.
The 1,900 folks of Eldorado are annoyed and offended that this group of polygamists -- the women dressed in pioneer garb, as if they've stepped off a wagon train -- won't make eye contact, let alone acknowledge a "how y'all doin?" They've certainly shown no need of flowers, jewellery or small talk, all available in abundance in Cathy Niblett's shop in the business district. "Texas hospitality is worldwide known," she says. "We're courteous and expect the same."
Texas law enforcement officials are watching, too. There's talk of a kidnapped Canadian woman and her three sons out there, of forced marriages amounting to child rape, of obedience unto death to the prophet. Jeffs is under investigation by the Utah attorney general's office and faces civil suits in the state, including one that alleges he and two brothers repeatedly sodomized a nephew -- allegations Jeffs has denied. Jeffs has avoided being served with a summons by shuttling among his enclaves, says Sam Brower, a private investigator who has tracked Jeffs for months on behalf of the law firm mounting the civil cases.
Brower isn't alone in fearing that attempts to apprehend Jeffs may trigger a dangerous reaction. "Backed into a corner, there is the potential for all kinds of violence on the magnitude of Jonestown," he says, evoking the 1978 mass suicide in Guyana where 900 American cult members died on the orders of leader Jim Jones. Brower spends several days each week in the fundamentalist enclave of Hildale-Colorado City, and has extensively interviewed current and former followers of Jeffs. "I know there's people who will die for him, lie for him, steal for him," he says. "I've heard people say they'd kill their family if Jeffs asked them to, that's how strongly they believe..."
...Folks in Eldorado, fluctuating between bemusement and worry, are prone to black jokes about Waco, Texas, and the disastrous 1993 FBI raid that triggered the blazing end to David Koresh's armed fortress. That's one subject that can turn Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran, an amiable man, as prickly as a cactus pear. Ill-advised federal raids are no longer likely, nor is there evidence to warrant police intervention, he says. "The dynamics of this are totally different than Waco..."
(Eldorado is twenty miles north of Sonora. I didn't visit that city on my Blogging Across America tour, but apparently their compound started up after I was in the area.)
Posted to Politics at 08:40 PM | Comments (0)
Mor-TON! Didn't you get the memo?
Morton Kondracke offers a column in support of the Bush/Fox Amnesty. In a way, it seems like something that would have been written all the way back in January 2004:
If President Bush is going to keep his promise to spend political capital on a bold second- term agenda, he should include comprehensive immigration reform that offers deserving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.
To do so, he'd have to face down a noisy, but not large, anti-immigrant claque in the Republican Party that's determined to use the threat of terrorism as an excuse to, in effect, erect "Stay Out!' signs at the U.S. border, even to restrict legal immigration.
In reality, creating a process to legalize illegals would help homeland security by allowing law enforcement agencies to concentrate on border security and tracking down criminals and potential terrorists - rather than chasing after millions of ordinary undocumented aliens, especially Hispanics.
This logic seems to have impressed border-state Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has told immigrant-rights groups that comprehensive immigration reform is his top priority for the next Congress...
One has to wonder what rock Mor-TON! crawled out from under.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 08:33 PM | Comments (0)
"The Wall Street Journal and Immigration"
From this:Wall Street Journal senior editorial writer Jason Riley doesn't think much of conservatives who don't accept his employer's "there shall be open borders" dogma. Consequently, his occasional op-ed pieces slamming what he calls the "anti-immigrant Right" demonstrate no effort to engage their arguments or confront immigration realities that might complicate his facile talking points...
[...discussion of the debunked increased Hispanic support for Bush...]
This would be a minor technical dispute if it weren't for misleading open-borders polemicists. After all, most conservatives would love to see increased support for the GOP among Hispanics and other minorities. But the problem is that commentators keep reciting bogus numbers to invent a political constituency for immigration policies that are bad for America -- and rejected by most Americans across racial and ethnic lines...
Posted to Immigration2004 at 08:31 PM | Comments (1)
"Return to Terrorist Alley"
From Tucson's KVOA:
In August, The Investigators on Eyewitness News 4 first reported the possible threat of terrorists using the Arizona/Mexico border to cross into the U.S...
Now, we've uncovered even more evidence that the threat along our border is real.
"The story you did was 100% accurate. It showed what's happening on the border on a daily basis. It was completely accurate," says a Border Patrol agent...
..."So they took him back to the Naco station for further investigating there, and when they entered his fingerprints into the AFIS database, which is maintained by the FBI, several minutes later they received a phone call from someone on the other end -- I'm not sure who it was..."
"We received intel that seven males of Middle-Eastern descent had entered the United States illegally, and they were here to carry out a terrorist attack on this country. I'd never seen the agency go to the level that we did as far as treating it with such urgency."
"and when we got that information we immediately sent agents to patrol the highways. We had never done anything like that before. And like I said before, within a week, there I am, watching the nightly news, and the terror threat was raised, and they actually showed pictures of these seven men who had reportedly entered the country. And that's when it kinda really hit me for the first time that it's really happening."
"We were told specifically that these people had terrorist pasts and they were coming here specifically to carry out a terrorist attack."
As far as we know, no arrests were ever made in that case, but this Border Patrol agent says he's been told that other terrorists are, perhaps, lying in wait south of the border...
Posted to Immigration_terror at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)
"Exclusive: UN Conference Shuts Up Reporter; Calls Global Warming Science Questions 'Silly'"
Buenos Aires, Argentina (CNSNews.com) - The moderator of a panel discussion at the United Nations climate change conference here shut down questioning by a reporter who asked about disputed scientific claims regarding global warming, calling such questions "silly."
The panel discussion featured representatives of the Inuit people, who were announcing their intention to seek a ruling from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights against the United States "for causing global warming and its devastating impacts."
But when asked by CNSNews.com to defend the science behind the group's legal challenge, the moderator of the event cut off the reporter's questions and threatened "to put a stop to this..."
Posted to MultiCultiCult at 12:44 PM | Comments (1)
"Illegalize illegals: Time for showdown in open frontier"
The new intelligence law, courtesy of 9/11, is mystifying because it does not face directly what is the most prominent threat to homeland security. It is: inimical action by non-Americans. All the people who participated in 9/11 were foreigners, here under various auspices. And yet the bill that has evolved from the findings of the 9/11 commission reads like an elocutionary exercise by a national committee to avoid saying anything unpleasant about unpleasant people born abroad...
The immigration problem is the primary unmet challenge of modern times. It is so because the whole of our political establishment cringes at any suggestion that the United States is inhospitable to immigration. We do have laws on the books, but they are apparently made for the sole purpose of flouting them. Time magazine published the most florid essay on the question, estimating the annual flow of illegal immigration at more than 2 million persons...
(Also available here.)
Here's a link to an online dictionary.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)
Congratulations to "heh"!
Yesterday, a person calling themselves "heh" and giving a fake email address became the first person (other than your blogger) to comment on my new site BigMediaBlog.com! Yes, it's a nonsense comment that uses profanity, but it's a start.
(It's too bad "heh" didn't leave a real name, otherwise he or she would have been eligible to receive the $10 award for being the first such commentator. Since I have no way of knowing who he or she is, I'll be donating that amount to charity in "heh"'s name.)
If you'd like to comment on the day's output of more than a dozen big media sites including Insty, Josh, Mickey, Sully, and all the rest, head on over to BigMediaBlog.com and leave a comment or a link to your comments.
Posted to Bloggage at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)
The enemy within
From the AP's "ACLU sues for access to records on immigration sweeps":
A lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union seeks access to public records involving the arrests last summer of more than 400 illegal immigrants in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
In June, a small group of Temecula-based Border Patrol agents set off a panic among immigrants by beginning to patrol and arrest people in cities far north of the border, including Corona and Ontario.
The next month, the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking information about whether the Border Patrol was acting lawfully. The organization asked for details about the people involved and their interactions with the Border Patrol, methods used during the sweeps, records of involvement by local and state law enforcement, and communications approving the patrols...
Previous coverage of the sweeps and the townhall meeting they engendered starts here. If you aren't familiar with the backstory, click the link.
I note the story says "set off a panic among immigrants". Perhaps they should have said "set off a panic among illegal immigrants". If you think that's the correct wording, contact readers.rep@uniontrib.com or feedback@ap.org .
Posted to Immigration2004 at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)
Top candidates to head DHS
In reverse order:
#5: Asa Hutchinson
#4: Gil Cedillo
#3: The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal
#2: The U.S. Chamber of Open Borders and Cheap Labor, LLC (A Bermuda Corporation)
#1: Golan Cipel
Now, here's the big question: will the actual choice be any less funny?
Posted to WackyHumor at 09:32 PM | Comments (0)
"Former Claremont professor who faked vandalism gets year in jail"
I didn't expect Kerri Dunn to receive any jail time at all, and I think the sentence is quite harsh:
A former Claremont McKenna College psychology professor convicted of falsely reporting her car was vandalized and spray-painted with racist and anti-Semitic slurs was sentenced Wednesday to a year in state prison.
Kerri Dunn, 40, of Redlands, had claimed her car was targeted in what at first appeared to be a hate crime while she was speaking at a campus forum on racial tolerance...
Dunn was convicted Aug. 18 of one misdemeanor count of filing a false police report and two felony counts of attempted insurance fraud stemming from the March 9 incident. She had faced anywhere from probation to three years in prison...
Previous Kerri Dunn coverage starts here.
UPDATE: Apparently there's a press release or similar statement here, but I can't access that page at the present time.
The 11/22/04 entry here starts with: "I am not embarrassed that I was hoodwinked by Kerri Dunn. I was present at the fervent meetings that transpired in the days after the hate crime happened, including a prayer walk and vigil at the Claremont Colleges’ Walker Wall. I heard the inexplicable shouts emanating from a passing car on Foothill, trying to intimidate our collective..." and goes downhill from there.
UPDATE 2: There's a local report here. It includes these quotes from the judge: "What she did was at least temporarily terrorize the minority students on campus and make suspects out of the rest." "Something is going on with her such that she hasn't been able to get a grip on herself." "I have literally laid awake nights wondering about the tack she's taken."
Posted to MultiCultiCult at 06:14 PM | Comments (1)
"Safety's Not No. 1"
Now that the Bernard Kerik nomination has crashed and burned, President Bush should ask the next candidate for Department of Homeland Security chief the most important question for the job: Will you enforce the law against border trespassers?...Yet fear of offending the race and rights lobbies has trumped national security at DHS. This spring, for example, Asa Hutchinson — the department's undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security and now a contender for the top job — shut down a successful border-patrol initiative to catch illegal aliens.
A specially trained team had apprehended about 450 border trespassers in several southern California cities. The Los Angeles Times, La Raza and every other advocacy group for illegal aliens protested that the arrests were racially motivated and that they were "scaring" illegal aliens.
The White House promptly called the team off, and Hutchinson appeased the race hustlers by denouncing the initiative as "racial profiling." He followed up with a memo to every U.S. immigration, border patrol and customs agent declaring that "preventing racial profiling is a priority mission of this department."
... These authorities seem to believe that they can give a pass to the hundreds of thousands of Mexicans who cross illegally every year and still strengthen the border against terrorists. But since the government forswears consideration of national origin, race, religion or ethnicity in its law-enforcement activities, strict immigration policing across the board becomes even more crucial for catching terrorists.
Without real enforcement, terrorists will make use of the infrastructure of illegality — such as corrupt Mexican officials. In 2003, authorities busted Mexico's consul in Lebanon for selling fake visas for up to $4,500. Her ring had smuggled about 300 Lebanese into the U.S. from Tijuana from 1999 to November 2002...
I don't necessarily blame Hutchinson for this. He was probably just doing what he was told.
However, in an administration where symbolism means everything, choosing Hutchinson would send the completely wrong message.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 05:47 PM | Comments (0)
California Democrat's Magical World
It's a magical world:
Adding to the immigration debate, state Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero has scheduled a hearing Thursday in Los Angeles on the cost of holding illegal-immigrant convicts in state prisons and why the federal government isn't paying more.
Romero, D-Los Angeles, estimated the state pays as much as $868 million a year to incarcerate up to 28,000 felons who are immigrants, including many who entered the country illegally...
... Schwarzenegger's chief budget spokesman H.D. Palmer said the governor is working as hard as any governor has to get more federal money.
"This governor has worked with both Republican and Democratic governors in other states to get Washington to recognize that states bear a disproportionate cost for the federal government's inability to control the border."
In the California Democrat's Magical World, they can reduce the money spent on jailing illegal aliens at the same time as their driver's licenses for illegal aliens laws roll out the welcome mat. To a certain extent a few of them must realize they're partially to blame for the problem and this is just another attempt to bother Arnold. However, for the most part most of them are living away off in Magical World where Everything's Going To Be OK.
("The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Californians" says Romero's figure is off by a few hundred million.)
Posted to Immigration2004 at 02:25 PM | Comments (0)
Debbie Schlussel pictures
Here's one with terrible lighting and everything else:
And here's one with better lighting but with Debbie Schlussel's conservative assets less visible:
Here's another horrible picture of Sean Hannity with Janeane Garofalo. Can't this guy get the VRWC to spring for a better photog?
The other pictures at Hannity's site are pretty funny.
TO DO: crop out Sean Hannity, remember the Golden Ratio.
Posted to Celebrities at 01:12 PM | Comments (5)
I guess I need to cut back on the Hillary jokes then
These will have to hold you for a while.
Posted to Politics at 11:35 AM | Comments (0)
"God bless Hillary Clinton"
...I have a hunch that there will be a large unwanted guest in Washington next year— Immigration and border control reform legislation. No, I don't just mean the president's guest worker proposal that is unlikely to pass the Republican House of Representatives. And I don't just mean House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner's driver license and amnesty provisions (good as they are) that were cut out of the intelligence reform bill a few weeks ago, and for which he has been promised a vote next year.
What I suspect may be a gathering storm on President Bush's horizon in 2005 is a confluence of factors that will force on Washington a fundamental immigration reform — one that will seek to genuinely secure our borders. This is something that up until now neither the Republican Party nor the Democratic Party has wanted, and that the mainstream media have not pressured the politicians to deliver on...
[...anti-illegal immigration quotes from Hillary...]
...These are hardly idle pensees coming from The Iron Maiden of Chappaqua. Rather, it is a part, and a big part, of her calculated strategy to shed her liberal image and seize the White House from the Republicans in 2008 by attacking them on the most vulnerable part of their right flank: open borders, illegal immigration and lax anti-terrorist security...
Posted to Politics at 11:35 AM | Comments (0)
Putting the "X" back in Xmas
TalkLeft is exercised about this AP report, but for different reasons than the ones I quote:
Emboldened by their Election Day successes, some Christian conservatives around the country are trying to put more Christ into Christmas this season...
The push from the religious right troubles Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. [Barry Lynn is apparently a "normal"...]
...But the "keep the Christ in Christmas" contingent is particularly agitated this year over what its members see as a troubling trend on Main Street: Target stores banning Salvation Army bell ringers; UPS drivers complaining to a free-speech group that they have been told not to wish people a "Merry Christmas" (an accusation UPS denies as "silly on its face and just not true"); and major corporations barring religious music from cubicles and renaming the office Christmas bash the "end of the year" party...
Conservative radio and TV talk show hosts have chortled over some recent incidents of what they consider political correctness run amok.
In Kansas, The Wichita Eagle ran a correction for a notice that mistakenly referred to the Community Tree at the Winterfest celebration as a "Christmas Tree." And the mayor of Somerville, Mass., apologized after a news release mistakenly referred to the Dec. 21 City Holiday Party as a "Christmas Party."
But to many ["normals"], the threats and demands that stores put up "Merry Christmas" signs are no laughing matter...
Posted to MultiCultiCult at 11:35 AM | Comments (1)
"Redondo Beach will fight ruling on day laborers"
Redondo Beach lawyers said they plan to file an appeal after a judge Monday extended her order barring the city from enforcing a law prohibiting laborers from soliciting employment on public streets and sidewalks.
City Attorney Jerry Goddard said unless directed by the City Council to do otherwise, he will appeal U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall's decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
While labor and immigrant rights groups viewed enforcement of the law as harassment, city officials contend the law is needed because in some locations day laborers have created traffic hazards and sparked complaints...
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:33 AM | Comments (1)
"[AZ] solicitor general: Enforce 200 now"
I can't comment on all the machinations involved here and what they mean, but:
Attorneys for the state want a federal judge to let Arizona begin enforcing the provisions of Proposition 200 next week.
In legal papers filed Monday, Mary O'Grady, the state's solicitor general, said nothing in the voter-approved initiative conflicts with federal law. She told U.S. District Judge David Bury of Tucson that the state is entitled to tell government workers to check the immigration status of applicants for public benefits.
O'Grady said Bury should also permit enactment of a related provision that requires those same government workers to file written reports when an applicant turns out to be in the United States illegally...
See also "Prop. 200 supporters file motion to intervene in lawsuit":
A group supporting a voter-approved initiative aimed at keeping illegal immigrants from obtaining some government services filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Tucson to be allowed to help defend the measure.
An attorney for Protect Arizona Now filed the motion Monday to intervene in the lawsuit the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed Nov. 30.
MALDEF's suit argues that Proposition 200 is unconstitutional because it usurps the federal government's power over immigration and naturalization...
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)
Walter Moore no longer joke candidate
The L.A. mayoral candidate has loaned his campaign $100,000.
Maybe now the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters will change their mind and invite him to their Dec. 21 debate.
(Via this)
Posted to Los_Angeles at 12:35 AM | Comments (0)
Just 8 hours until I can post at FreeRepublic.com again
Whaaaat?
Your posting privilege has been suspended until 2004-12-15 05:46:18
Reason:
You have a one day suspension. CLean up the language or you will be banned.
#$@@! All I did was post this $#)(* quote from that #$(@*##*#(@# Nativo Lopez. As as I explained to the FreeRepublic.com webmaster in an unanswered email, the quote wasn't from me. It was a quote from Nativo Lopez, and I provided the quote to point out Mr. Lopez' personality.
Of course, this isn't the first time I've had a bit of a problem there. Some months ago I crossposted the post "The Feds threatened L.A. radio station KFI?" to FreeRepublic. I posted it to their front page news section, but shortly after having received a few comments it was moved to the "bloggers & personal" section, which is much less frequented than the news section. Now why ever would they do that? As the first comment at my version of the post said, "The reason your posting on freerepublic was moved is because you posting something that is negative against the Bush Admin. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are conservative, all that matters is they have a R by there name."
UPDATE: I posted this there too, and it had two bad words as well. Now it's gone. But, hey, I can post again! I'm so fucking happy.
Posted to Bloggage at 09:45 PM | Comments (0)
Cry me a river of Sally Struthers' tears
The federal government wants to deport convicted felon Patricia Ann Law but freed the Santa Clara woman from jail last month anyway.
Law, 52, is among the first Northern Californians to participate in an experimental program intended to keep immigrants out of jail while their deportation and asylum cases proceed.
Though Law must wear an electronic ankle bracelet and observe a strict curfew, she says she's grateful to be out of detention and close to her family.
Genoveva Noriega Perez and her husband, Salvador Perez, are decidedly less enthusiastic...
[...whining... ...whining from a lawyer... more whining...]
...The need for better tracking is obvious, officials say: Roughly 80 percent of the immigrants who aren't in detention when given deportation orders disappear...
Posted to Immigration2004 at 04:19 PM | Comments (0)
Jury Recommends Death For 'Sausage King'
Dec. 14 (AP) — Jurors in the trial of convicted killer Stuart Alexander have recommended the self-proclaimed "sausage king" be put to death...
Alexander was convicted in October of three counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of two federal inspectors and one state inspector at his Santos Linguisa factory in San Leandro in 2000.
The entire incident was captured on Alexander's surveillance videotape, which was shown repeatedly to jurors during his five-month trial.
Posted to Miscellania at 04:10 PM | Comments (0)
" Central America wants to open borders"
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) - Central American nations are putting aside border bickering to allow the relatively free movement of people and goods between nations - a goal that has U.S. officials worried about a jump in smuggling of drugs and people in a region already plagued by crime and on the lookout for terrorists...
...Costa Rica, Belize and Mexico have declined to participate, in part because all three countries are already struggling with an influx of illegal Central American migrants who come to either look for work or, in the case of Mexico, pass through to the United States.
Citing the illegal migration, drug trafficking, corruption and gang activity that thrives in Central America, U.S. officials have expressed concern about removing the border checks. Michael O'Brien, the head of the U.S. federal Drug Enforcement Administration in Guatemala, said the old border controls, complete with drug-sniffing dogs and car searches, often were the strongest safeguard against criminal activity.
The United States is also keeping a close eye on the region after several recent terrorism scares. U.S. officials have said that an alleged top al-Qaida operative, Adnan El Shukrijumah of Saudi Arabia, spent 10 days in Panama in April 2001. Honduran officials said he was spotted more recently at an Internet cafe there.
But Central American leaders say the new border plan won't hamper their fight against drugs and other crime. So far, El Salvador and Guatemala have put up more highway checkpoints to keep a closer eye on traffic through the two countries...
Posted to Immigration2004 at 04:07 PM | Comments (0)
The WSJ's libertarian fantasy world
The Wall Street Journal has an editorial supporting the Bush/Fox amnesty, and using Bernie Kerik's nanny problem as an example. It's only available to subscribers, but an excerpt is here:
...Think about the Kerik example: The man and his wife have two small kids.... A nanny offers that help, and she seems both nice enough and gets along with kids. Whether or not she's "legal" seems less important to most American parents than whether she's trustworthy and hard-working.
As for the nanny, she's traveled hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from home to make some money and get ahead. Her primary concern isn't running some Immigration Service gantlet but is to find a good family that pays decently and treats her well. Are we really supposed to believe that this kind of transaction between consenting adults jeopardizes our national security?
Leaving aside any ethical issues, and only looking at this matter on the surface, it all seems so simple. A couple wants a nanny, a nanny wants a job. They exchange a little bit of money, and everyone's happy.
In the perfect case, or in the case of just one nanny, everything might be fine.
However, the nanny problem becomes a problem for the rest of us when you move out of the WSJ's libertarian fantasy world and when you consider the numbers involving, say, 1000 nannies.
Out of that number, some of them will get sick. Will their employers pay for their medical treatment, or will they encourage the nanny to go to the emergency room? What of those nannies that get injured on the job? Will the couple give her a little bit of money then threaten to call la migra if she doesn't go home?
What of all the other public services those nannies will have an impact on simply by being here? Won't 1000 nannies require new roads, new utility services, and all the other services that apparently are paid for by others in the WSJ's libertarian fantasy world?
What if the nanny has a U.S. citizen child while she's here? Who will pick up the tab to educate that child? The nanny will send back money to her home country, making her a valuable commodity to that country. That monetary incentive will cause that country to meddle even more in our immigration laws, reducing American sovereignty. Is there a price tag we could put on that?
The WSJ's scenario would have some merit if they were willing to pay the true cost for their nannies' labor. But, that would be contrary to the goal of cheap labor: pay as little for the labor as possible, and stick the rest of us with the true costs.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:45 PM | Comments (2)
Voting fraud... using VB?
From WIRED:
A government watchdog group is investigating allegations made by a Florida programmer that are whipping up a frenzy among bloggers and people who believe Republicans stole the recent election.
Programmer Clint Curtis claims that four years ago Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Florida) asked his then-employer to write software to alter votes on electronic voting machines in Florida...
It goes downhill from there.
A transcript of the programmer's testimony is here, where I left the following comment. Either the comments are moderated or there was an error, but here's the comment:
This would have to be the most amateurish attempt at voting fraud imaginable.
I mean, if you read 'Undocumented DOS' you'll hear sordid tales about MS XORing assembly code to prevent walking through it with a debugger, or jumping into the middle of an assembly language instruction because the destination byte was itself an instruction as well.
Now, we're to believe that voting fraud was contemplated using something as high-level, pedestrian, and "beginner's-language" as VB? Somehow I have a great deal of trouble believing this.
One would think they would not want to get caught, and they would not want to use something like VB that just about anyone could notice and understand. And, one would think they'd invest a bit more than five hours in the attempt. Instead, they'd use some of the ASM tricks described above, wiping the code and the memory and the disk where it was all stored just in case.
Since Curtis' code didn't do those same tricks, perhaps performing a detailed analysis of everything that was ever stored on the hard drives might be useful.
I also find it a bit difficult to believe that they would just blab their plans to someone who they hadn't, for instance, already compromised.
While there are certainly big problems with eVoting, I wouldn't put much faith in this story unless solid evidence is provided.
Posted to Politics at 12:36 AM | Comments (0)
The Problem of the Strange Academic
The December weather had been even colder and wetter than usual. Looking out the window of our Baker Street flat at the thick, yellow London fog I could barely see to the other side of the street.
Suddenly, I espied a strange figure making his way up the street, pausing occasionally to look at the house numbers. In his hands I noticed a strangely tied box.
"That looks an odd bird," I remarked to my old friend and colleague Sherlock Holmes.
"Yes, indeed," Holmes remarked. "Without even seeing him, I can tell he has a shoelace and a wooden spoon in the box. I deduce he's going to commit suicide and try to make it look like murder in order to pin the blame on a rival academic."
"Why, Holmes!" I cried. "That would be just like The Problem of Thor Bridge!"
"Yes, indeed it would be, Watson. It's elementary, my dear Watson. Now, hand me my cocaine spoon and my violin and my meerschaum pipe and my deerstalker and all those other accoutrements, some of which were never mentioned in those stories you wrote but which have become part of my lore, as I read these stories."
From "Hint of murder in suicide of expert on Conan Doyle":
A leading authority on Sherlock Holmes took his own life in a way meant to suggest that a rival had murdered him, it has been claimed.
Richard Lancelyn Green, 50, a prolific author and collector of memorabilia relating to the fictional detective, was found garotted on his bed in March after trying to stop a Ł2 million ($5 million) auction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's papers.
Although the coroner returned an open verdict, friends and relatives of Lancelyn Green now claim that the evidence suggests he took his own life in a manner that would implicate an American rival.
In an interview with the magazine The New Yorker, James Gibson, who co-edited the first comprehensive Conan Doyle bibliography with Lancelyn Green in 1983, concludes that his colleague had wanted his death to look like murder, and that he had set up a trail of "false clues".
Police found Lancelyn Green's body in his flat in Kensington, west London, on March 27. He had a shoelace tied round his neck and a wooden spoon, which had been used to tighten the noose, still entangled in the cord...
Earlier report here.
Posted to Miscellania at 05:40 PM | Comments (0)
When Libertarians attack!
In response to the WashTimes article mentioned in the last post ("Hillary goes conservative on immigration"), Nick Gillespie of Reason Magazine offers the following. I've tried to condense his thoughts down as much as possible, and I've put fact-based corrections in brackets and in bold:
Hillary's National I.D. Card
[...slags off on the WashTimes because of their Moonie connection and their cost...]
...stance against immigrants ["illegal immigrants", just like it says in the article]...
...Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), the leading congressional spokesman against people with last names that end in vowels (if you know what I mean)... [...sounds more like a race-baiting "liberal" than a Libertarian...]
Yeah, that's really fucking heartbreaking to see people lined up to work in the morning. God, this used to be a beautiful country, before all these people--many of whom look different than Hillary--started getting up early in the morning and working really hard at shit jobs for a living. [Awww. They're just here to do the jobs Americans won't do. Never mind all the downsides.]
[...promotes a Reason Open Borders piece...]
[...compares Hillary to a "camp commandant"... Who said Hitler references were just for "liberals"?...]
[...promotes another Reason piece...]
[...and another...]
Previous coverage of Reason's Open Border stance is here and here.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:13 AM | Comments (1)
"Hillary goes conservative on immigration"
The WashTimes offers a roundup that's similar to the one earlier offered by NewsMax. It also mentions HillaryNow.com, "a group dedicated to drafting Mrs. Clinton to run for president."
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)
World's largest lawyer captured off Canada
This Mako [a specialized type of PI attorney -- LW] was hooked in the mouth, only fought slightly for 15 minutes, came up along side of the boat to have a look, long enough for one of the crew to put a rope around its tail !!!
[... The lawyer] took off towing the 42 foot fishing boat backwards through the water at about 7 Knots. Just like in JAWS. The boat was taking on water, [the advocate] would jump completely out of the water at times.
This went on for an hour before [the barrister] actually drowned.
He weighed in at 1035 LBS
Posted to WackyHumor at 09:09 PM | Comments (1)
A MEChista scorned
"Bustamante lashes out at governor in speech":
MONTEREY - Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante ripped into Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in Monterey on Friday, accusing the governor of playing presidential politics and engaging in hypocrisy on the use of steroids.
Bustamante, the top elected Democrat in California who lost badly in the October 2003 recall election to Schwarzenegger, also took digs at the governor's height, his alleged sexual harassment on movie sets and his early days as an immigrant...
``Our response is that it sounds like sour grapes from someone who is going to be a casino greeter in two years,'' said Margita Thompson, the governor's press secretary. In the recall election, Bustamante drew heavy fire for alleged connections to some Indian gambling casinos...
I'll wait until you stop laughing.
Despite strong rumors that Schwarzenegger drove and worked without permits when he was a young immigrant, as governor he continues to oppose driver's licenses for ``new immigrants working hard and driving'' [Bustamante said...]
Bustamante marveled at Schwarzenegger's continued popularity. ``It's like we're all playing in his latest movie and the people of California are all movie extras,'' he said. ``His ratings are still very good and the press just can't get enough of this guy.''[
Arnold was a legal immigrant. Those "new immigrants" former MEChA member Bustamante was referring to are "illegal aliens." You might be a "liberal" if you can't tell the difference.
Posted to California at 09:02 PM | Comments (0)
Oh yeah? So, when's the last time a magazine's web editor misstated your position?
Reason Magazine is apparently a well-known libertarian magazine with a press run of somewhere around 10,000 or 20,000 issues, most of them distributed for free on racks at AR*CO.
OK, maybe their circulation is more around 50,000 or something.
In any case, their Hit & Run blog frequently posts pro-Open Borders posts, and I frequently tell them exactly where they're wrong.
With that background, they recently posted on Bernie Kerik withdrawing his name from consideration for the head of the DHS. They pointed to this article by journalist Doug Ireland.
On the latest thread I commented:
I can think up three reasons not having to do "the immigration debate" why Kerik continuing to have an illegal alien nanny would be a bad idea. Can you do better?
Doesn't Doug Ireland write for the L.A. Weekly or something? Couldn't you find a better link? It was certainly action-packed, but surely a few links with the similar information from other sources might be a bit more credible.
As for Kerik's possible replacement, let's hope Asa Hutchinson is no longer in the running.
That resulted in Tim Cavanaugh posting the following:
I don't often stand up for the Lonewacko, but this characterization is a crock. He's up to head the department charged with overseeing not only all immigration but all movement into and out of the United States; even if it were not a woefully dysfunctional department that recently detained an 81-year-old Baptist minister with a valid visa until he died, the DHS needs an unimpeachable hand at the top. It doesn't take an anti-immigration wacko to perceive that Kerik's failure to follow the rules with an out-of-status employee is a straightforward dealbreaker. If the head of the IRS cheats on his taxes, you don't need a debate about the rightness or wrongness of the income tax to understand that he shouldn't be holding that job.
Tim - for those not in with the in crowd - is Reason's web editor. Admittedly this isn't as good as if I'd had my positions misstated by, say, Nick Gillespie, but I'll take it.
(P.S. Two of the possible downsides I was thinking of were: blackmail or spying by the illegal alien worker. The fact that the Reasonoids are unable to come up with those as possibilities indicates yet another reason why libertarians should be kept as far from the levers as possible.)
Posted to Bloggage at 08:51 PM | Comments (0)
No Republicans please, we're Angelenos
At the first Los Angeles Mayoral debate, the five candidates who were invited to speak represented Los Angeles' rich political spectrum: all were Democrats.
Those same five Democrats are the only candidates who have been invited to the second debate, which is being sponsored by the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters.
On Friday, I spoke with David Allgood from the League. He indicated that Walter Moore - the "leading" Republican in the race - had not been invited because he hadn't met their test of "viability." According to Allgood, Moore only has $8,000 in his campaign chest. Furthermore, the fact that he's running as a Republican in a non-partisan race raised their suspicions.
While I don't favor Moore, he probably would have raised points that the other candidates would not. I suspect that's one of the unstated reasons why he's being shut out of these debates.
Here's the blurb on the second debate:
JOIN Mayoral hopefuls Antonio Villaraigosa, Bob Hertzberg, Richard Alarcon, Bernard Parks and incumbent James Hahn as they share their views on the environment on December 21, 2004, 6:00 p.m., Bing Auditorium, L.A. County Museum of Art at 5905 Wilshire Blvd (Wilshire east of Fairfax). A panel of environmental activists will ask questions on a host of environmental issues. This event will be taped and televised by Channel 36. KABC will air an edited version on December 26, Sunday, from 11:00 a.m. till 12:30 p.m. KCET and KPFK will also air the event. BE THERE WHEN THIS MUCH-AWAITED MAYORAL FORUM ON THE ENVIRONMENT HAPPENS!
RSVP to mayorevent@lalcv.org or call (310) 441-7663.
Posted to Los_Angeles at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)
Tomorrow's nightmare headlines today
"'Trusted' Janet Reno Aide Touted as Homeland Chief"
Posted to Politics at 01:05 PM | Comments (0)
It's Conspiracy Theory Sunday
From August 25, 1998's "Total Coverage: The CIA, Contras, and Drugs":
...top officials at the CIA knew the agency was working with Contra drug traffickers and didn't do anything about it. But the story, even with that shocking headline, quickly disappeared. None of the other major papers, news magazines, or TV networks reported the NEW YORK TIMES' findings.
How did it come to this? The paper of record running a story, perhaps leaked purposely by the CIA itself, that admits what many have charged for years...and then the story disappears as quickly as it came.
If you've heard about the CIA/Contra/crack allegations, it's probably because of Gary Webb, who in August 1996 authored several stories for the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. Titled "Dark Alliance," the series linked drug smuggling by CIA-trained Contras to the crack epidemic that has ravaged America. It never actually said the CIA knew about the drugs, but it did strongly imply it (the logo for the series -- yes, it had a logo -- showed a person smoking crack, superimposed over the CIA seal.)
The series ignited a firestorm of controversy. And the major papers, specifically the NEW YORK TIMES, LOS ANGELES TIMES, and WASHINGTON POST, all ran lengthy pieces questioning the accuracy of Webb's reporting. (These stories were themselves criticized for being hell-bent on proving Gary Webb wrong, rather than attempting to follow up on his stories.) Even Webb's own editor retreated from the story's conclusions...
Now, back to the present day.
Gary Webb has committed suicide:
Gary Webb, a prize-winning investigative journalist whose star-crossed career was capped with a controversial newspaper series linking the CIA to the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles, died Friday of self-inflicted gunshot wounds, officials said.
Mr. Webb, 49, was found dead in his Carmichael home Friday morning of gunshot wounds to the head, the Sacramento County Coroner's Office said Saturday.
He left a note, but officials would not disclose its contents...
There's an interesting article on Webb here.
The conspiracy theorists get the ball rolling here and here.
Posted to Politics at 12:56 PM | Comments (2)
Today in Trini news
"Rent-a-gun racket in police service?":
Concerned policemen are calling on Commissioner Trevor Paul to investigate what they describe as a lucrative practice at a particular police station where guns are rented to hunters for more sinister motives from a station plumb in the East-West Corridor.
Sources say the guns that traded through a third party and that now the renters are mostly hunters who want to take advantage of the hunting season. Hunters don’t have to pay cash to rent a gun but rather pay with wild meat, the source said.
“A senior officer’s instructions, through his liaison, are that the pot is on fire, the garlic is peeled, the bundle of chadon beni is on hand and the only payment necessary is to bring back wild meat for the officers to enjoy,” the source said.
“Boy, you should see the unlucky hunters who take advantage of the offer but haven’t caught any wild game.
“They have to continue hunting into the broad daylight to ensure that they have something to put in the officers’ pot because the word has gone out that one gun-renter who didn’t bring back wild meat was put in jail for 24 hours,” said the source...
Another restaurant proprietor patently applied modern thinking to this problem. "Ministry: Dog carcasses used to make sausages":
The dog carcasses found deep in the Valencia forest by Ministry of Public Utilities and the Environment workers last month are remains of animals slaughtered so their flesh could be processed as sausage.
This is the shocking trail Ministry of Public Utilities investigators are uncovering as they continue to probe the mysterious carcasses that prompted an initial suspicion that restaurants in Sangre Grande were offering cooked dog meat on their menu.
A Public Utilities Ministry spokesman told the Sunday Guardian that investigations are not yet completed but the information so far points to the canine remains being the bones of animals which have been killed to provide meat for processing into sausage.
“When our foresters stumbled upon the bones it seems people were seen skinning animals and they scampered.
“Our investigations have led us to a particular company,” a source from the Ministry of Public Utilities said...
In other news, Candace Guppy feels like she's in the Matrix. Peter Quentrall-Thomas responds to a reader's complaint about his remarks about Liat. Judy Raymond discusses aroused passions. And, last but by no means least, Anand Ramlogan continues his discussions of integrity. Go read the whole thing!
Posted to WackyHumor at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)
Presentation is important
Posted to WackyHumor at 01:27 PM | Comments (0)
The tyranny of mankind is nearing its end
I know there's a couple cheap jokes out there, but I just can't pin them down. Yeah, well, you aren't too funny either.
Joke #1: Ted Bell on Bernie Kerik's nanny situation. (Ted Bell, of course, is the owner of the world-famous steakhouse Ted's of Beverly Hills. In the past, he's advocated special laws that would allow rich people such as himself to import illegal aliens to serve as domestic help.)
#2: Something about monkeys taking over the earth. See "Tool use confirmed in monkeys".
Posted to WackyHumor at 01:11 PM | Comments (0)
What if "liberals" held a protest, and...
There was no discernible anti-U.S. or anti-Bush component?
In what might one of the most shocking protests in recent memory, liberals will soon be protesting against the genocide in Darfur. And, they'll be protesting against the government of Sudan and the United Nations, not the U.S.:
Diverse groups will join in a candlelight vigil on Monday, Dec. 13, at the Fountain Plaza in Washington Square Park in New York City at 6:30 pm EST.
Slavery survivor Simon Deng will be a keynote speaker at the event.
The first genocide of the 21st century continues in Sudan, and despite the death toll of 70,000 and counting, the international community and the UN have largely refused to come to the aid of the 2 million Sudanese who have been forced into the desert, and the thousands more who have been raped and enslaved. The United Nations still refuses to acknowledge that these events constitute genocide. This candlelight vigil is sponsored by the Columbia Coalition for Sudan, NYU Law Students for Human Rights, Judson Memorial Church, the Massaleit Community in Exile, Brooklyn Parents for Peace, the Church of St. Francis Xavier, the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, the Darfur Rehabilitation Project, Jews Against Genocide, the New York Board of Rabbis, the students of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, and the American Anti-Slavery Group.
The movement to stop the genocide in Sudan is growing stronger every day. Through rallies, candlelight vigils, petitions, divestment campaigns, and fundraisers, activists are making a difference. Individuals and communities across the country are demanding immediate action to stop the genocide perpetrated by the Sudanese regime.
I read that press release over and over. I looked at a couple pages at the Sudan grassroots activism center. I even read through TalkLeft's post about this. And, I just can't find the expected anti-American component.
So, does that mean this is a U.S. front, or are "liberals" starting to grow up?
Posted to ThePeaceMovement at 11:50 AM | Comments (0)
"Driver's licenses: California should not ease rules for illegals"
From a San Diego Union-Tribune editorial:
At least some of the Sept. 11 terrorists, all Arabs, obtained illegal driver's licenses and used them to board airliners on that horrific day. Which is why the issue of granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants is a matter of pressing national security concern.
Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, has led a long-running campaign to enact a bill allowing illegal immigrants to obtain California driver's licenses freely. His efforts run counter to post 9-11 initiatives at the federal, state and local levels to strengthen homeland security against terrorist infiltration...
But Sen. Cedillo is unfazed. He believes California should adopt its own standards for granting driver's licenses... Cedillo recently reintroduced his revised measure, which would extend licenses to an estimated 2 million illegals in California, and called on Schwarzenegger to negotiate a deal.
But the governor sensibly cited the new intelligence bill and declared that the question of driver's licenses for undocumented Californians should be put off until the new federal guidelines are developed. That is expected to take up to 18 months...
Apart from national security concerns, there are other reasons why illegal immigrants should not be given driver's licenses. One is a simple matter of fairness. Extending the privilege to undocumented residents would reward them for their illegal conduct. What's more, it would severely undermine enforcement of America's immigration laws. Gov. Schwarzenegger should stand firm against Sen. Cedillo's ill-advised attempts to legitimize illegal immigration.
Posted to at 01:04 PM | Comments (1)
Lower tuition rate for undocumented immigrants ["illegal aliens"] sought
Let's play newspaper editor and correct the problems in the article "Lower tuition rate for undocumented immigrants sought" by Elise Castelli of the Boston Globe. My corrections are in brackets and in bold:
Advocates for [illegal] immigrants and refugees yesterday renewed their demand for cheaper, in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants ["illegal aliens"] at state colleges...
[flyers sent opposing providing] tuition breaks for undocumented students ["illegal aliens"]...
...The in-state tuition bill... would allow [illegal] immigrant students who have lived in Massachusetts for three years and graduated from a Massachusetts high school to pay in-state tuition rates at the state's colleges, regardless of their immigration status. [...race-baiting by Jarrett T. Barrios deleted...]
Eight other states have laws that permit illegal immigrants [use of correct term noted] to attend school at residents' tuition rates.
[...personal touch added via an] East Boston High School graduate [who] immigrated to Boston from Peru when he was 11 ["whose parents illegally immigrated, perhaps in expectation of 'immigrants rights advocates' using a sympathetic press to push through a cheaper-educations-for-illegal-aliens-than-for-U.S.-citizens bill"]
Please send an email to ombud@globe.com and suggest they make these changes on their own in future articles.
I also posted a message about this to Boston.com's forums.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:50 PM | Comments (1)
Where will your new IBM PC be built?
Here's a list of the factories by province.
(Special note: the preceding is satire and commentary. It does not necessarily reflect where new IBM PCs or the parts for them will be built.)
Posted to Miscellania at 11:41 PM | Comments (0)
"House to see new bill on immigration security"
The immigration security provisions stripped out of the intelligence overhaul bill will be introduced as a separate bill on the first day of the next Congress, House leaders promised yesterday, and will be their first priority for passage.
"We're doing this to stop the next terrorists and to take necessary steps to protect the American people," House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. said. "The bill will address the three most critical elements, including real driver's license reform, tightening our asylum laws to stop exploitation by terrorists, and finishing the fence on California's border with Mexico."
See also "Congress snubs Bush's immigration plan"
Posted to Immigration2004 at 02:35 PM | Comments (1)
"Beaten Paths: Illegal immigration and smuggling continue to wreak environmental havoc in Southern Arizona"
Tucson Weekly has more on the environmental damage caused by massive illegal immigration.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)
"Phoenix official dies after jumping or falling from car going 60 mph"
I don't know what category to put this in:
Witnesses told police that Kevin Keogh, 55, [Phoenix's] finance director, climbed through sun roof onto the top of his moving Mercedes-Benz near 64th Street, stretched out his arms and then jumped or fell from the car.
The car continued driverless until it crashed into a Dodge Neon waiting for a stoplight at 68th Street around 3 p.m. No one else was hurt...
...At a brief news conference Thursday morning, City Manager Frank Fairbanks praised Keogh's business acumen, calling him an "extraordinary professional," but also hinted that the bizarre death could have been related to a mental defect or medical condition.
Fairbanks said Keogh's wife, Karlene, had informed him that her husband had contracted a parasite in Mexico two years ago that had affected his brain and other parts of his body. The city was not aware of Keogh's illness, Fairbanks said.
The family said it believes the accident "is related to the impacts of this disease on his central nervous system."
In rare instances, people who ingest a parasite that lives in the soil and makes its way into fruits and vegetables in other parts of the world can develop frontal lobe disinhibition, which can make people do crazy things, said Dr. Christina Kwasnica, director of brain injuiry rehabiliation at Barrow Neuroligical Institute in Phoenix.
When it comes to making a decision, "our frontal lobes tell us what's socially appropriate," she said.
"The first idea that comes to mind, without the frontal lobe stopping it, we just act on it."
Posted to Miscellania at 02:23 PM | Comments (0)
Interesting cartoon...
Posted to Immigration2004 at 02:08 PM | Comments (0)
"Anti-illegals group targets 2 senators"
A new grassroots group that wants to close the borders to illegal immigrant is targeting Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, both R-Utah.
Barry Hatch urged dozens of people attending a meeting at the South Jordan public library Wednesday night to flood their offices with phone calls and letters, urging them to strengthen and seal off the nation's borders.
"We are about to lose our country the way we know it," said Hatch, who is a second cousin of the U.S. senator. "Illegals are coming in. Jobs are going to be lost."
In an emotional speech, Barry Hatch, who used to live in California, said, "Immigrants are coming as conquerors. They are colonizing and spreading fast . . . I watched California become a third-world country."
...Hatch also suggested that President Bush should be impeached for his pro-immigration reform, which would provide temporary work visas for some illegal immigrants. He said such policy would lead to no borders, with only one nation from Canada southward...
I'm pretty much reflexively opposed to anything from Orrin Hatch too, but I'd strongly advise them to lighten up on the rhetoric.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 01:49 PM | Comments (0)
Another feverish missive from the OBL noted
Tamar Jacoby has yet another misleading editorial about massive immigration, this time in the NY Post. It might help if you read the editorial in a Tokyo Rose voice.
From "Winning the Border Battle":
Our increasingly educated, middle-class workforce isn't interested in hard manual work, but millions of campesinos south of the border are. [Tamar is down! --LW] We need them and they need us — supply and demand — and the resulting flow is good for our economy.
That's right, you soft Americans! Despite the incredible downsides of inviting 10% of another country's population to in effect invade your country, the global market must reign supreme! Don't worry about things like Mexico still not having gotten over the loss of "their" territories or their claims that all Mexicans everywhere are part of the greater Mexican Nation. Just think about the cheap labor.
In addition to the "jobs Americans won't do" canard, Jacoby also brings up the "the economy will collapse" canard and the "enforcement hasn't worked" canard. Enforcement has several parts. Jacoby only mentions border security. She conveniently does not mention that under the Bush administration workplace enforcement is even lower than under Clinton.
... Once we've adjusted the law — once most needed workers have a way to come legally and the only unauthorized foreigners in the country are people we don't need or want here — many of Sensenbrenner's proposed provisions would make good sense.
Indeed, in that case, we'd want to use every means at our disposal to find and catch those who eluded the guest-worker program or tried to come illegally outside it. And tightening up on drivers' licenses and other I.D. cards would be an extremely effective tool — to use against not just uncooperative migrants but also smugglers and terrorists...
Yeah, after we enact the Bush/Fox Amnesty, we'll get tough on enforcement. Unfortunately, that's what we've been promised after past amnesties, and it turned out to be lies. And, if Bush won't truly enforce the immigration laws now, that tends to cast doubt on his intention of ever enforcing those laws.
If we passed the Bush/Fox Amnesty it would create millions more illegal aliens to replace those who had been magically transformed into legal workers. Thence would follow more editorials from people like Tamar Jacoby telling us how we need our new crop of illegal aliens and how the economy will collapse without them and how we need a new amnesty and so on and so forth.
For the truth about the Bush/Fox Amnesty, see The Big Show on the Border.
Previous columns or quotes from Jacoby are here, here, and here. She's also a signatory to the *cough* "Conservative" Statement of Principles on Immigration.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 01:37 PM | Comments (0)
South African illegal alien sentenced for time served, to be deported
(12-08) 21:10 PST HOUSTON (AP) --
A South African woman whose arrest heightened fears that terrorists were slipping across the U.S.-Mexico border has been sentenced to time served and will be deported.
Farida Goolam Mahomed Ahmed, sentenced Tuesday, had been in custody since July 19, when Border Patrol officers at the airport stopped her as she tried to board a plane for New York; she did not have a visa to travel in the United States.
The officers later discovered her passport had three pages ripped out of it.
Ahmed, 48, also was carrying about $7,300 in various currencies as well as flight itineraries indicating she traveled from Johannesburg on July 8, via Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to London, then to Mexico City on or about July 14...
Previous coverage starts here.
Posted to Immigration_terror at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)
"Judge gives OK for Napolitano to sign Prop. 200 into law"
PHOENIX - A federal judge has given the OK for Gov. Janet Napolitano to officially proclaim approval of Proposition 200.
Judge David Bury, in an order released Wednesday, said Napolitano is free to declare that voters approved sections of the initiative which require proof of citizenship to register to vote and mandate that those seeking to cast a ballot must first present identification.
That, in turn, permits the state to submit the change to the U.S. Department of Justice for its required review of whether the measure illegally impairs the voting rights of minorities.
But Bury left intact part of his original Nov. 30 order which bars the state from enforcing the section of Proposition 200 which says government employees must get proof that applicants for public benefits are here legally and are required to report illegal entrants to federal officials. That order also precludes proclaiming voter approval of that section of the initiative...
Who knows what these fine public servants are up to. Napolitano claims she'll support 200, but I tend to be a bit skeptical seeing as just about all of Arizona's establishment was opposed to it.
Yesterday's "Will of the people ignored again" from Joseph Farah discusses judges and *cough* grass-roots groups like MALDEF trying to thwart the will of the voters, even if it does go a bit overboard.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:27 AM | Comments (1)
I wear short pants and I operate my laptop on a table
Drudge is linking to "Careful, lads, that laptop might burn your genes":
...To keep the testicles at an ideal temperature — and for greater comfort — men naturally sit with their legs further apart than women. When working on a laptop, however, they will adopt a less natural position in order to balance it on their laps, which results in a significant rise in body heat between their thighs...
...Using 29 volunteers aged 21 to 35, the researchers, led by Yefim Sheynkin, found that sitting with the thighs together to balance a laptop caused scrotal temperatures to rise by 2.1C. But when the laptop was in use, average temperatures rose by 2.6C on the left of the scrotum and 2.8C on the right...
Posted to WackyHumor at 08:09 PM | Comments (1)
"[CA] Latino caucus calls GOP ads racist"
Accusing the Republican Party and business groups of stoking "anti-immigrant, anti-Latino" fervor, the Legislature's Democratic Latino Caucus on Tuesday urged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to denounce "racist" GOP campaign ads mailed during recent Assembly races.
Members of the 27-member caucus also called on the Republican governor to speak out against a campaign to qualify a ballot measure that would deny benefits - including driver's licenses - to illegal immigrants.
"I would hope that the governor will make a response to these (campaign) tactics," said state Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Whittier, the new chairwoman of the caucus...
..."All I can assume, as a lawyer, is it was temporary insanity," Escutia said. "But I can tell you, as a Latina, that these types of attacks will not ever happen again on my watch..."
ZZZZzzzzzz...
Based on the description of the ads, they don't sound "racist," but I guess we could have figured out that they weren't racist based solely on the people who were making the charge.
The anti-Arambula mailer may have some merit, even if it was out of date. From November 1's AP report "Democrats accuse GOP of using racist mailers in Assembly races" (yes, this isn't the first time they've played this specific card):
...Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, charged that the mailers aimed at Arambula, a Fresno County supervisor, "crossed the line of racism.
"It is an outrage that racism is being utilized by the California Republican Party to wage a campaign against one of the most creditable candidates running," he said.
The Arambula mailers have a photo of the Mexican border in the background and quote a 1991 Fresno Bee article in which Arambula says he found non-citizens voting an "intriguing idea" that could "encourage participation in school-related matters by parents that have not really had much say."
The mailers also state that Arambula belongs to Mexican government organization that "lobbies the United States to increase taxpayer benefits to Mexicans living in the U.S."
Arambula said he attended no more than two meetings of the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior and resigned a year ago. He also said he had rejected the idea of allowing noncitizens to vote in school board elections...
"I just attended a couple meetings." Hey, it's been tried before. In his case it might even be true, and it might indicate that he sees a problem with that group.
For an idea of what the Democratic Latino Caucus would consider normal, see "California legislators ask Mexican Senate to intervene [in driver's licenses for illegal aliens]":
Mexico City — Members of the Assembly of California have asked the Mexican Senate (sic) to beseech Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign the bill so that almost 2 million undocumented Mexicans can obtain driver’s licenses that would serve as identification...
...Marco Antonio Firebaugh, said that the governor “is the one who has the ability to make it law, to give this right to Mexicans, whether they have settled in California or not... We want the Mexican people to know that the measure is on his desk... However it is now September and he has not responded whatsoever, although we will insist on approval of the bill, basically so that illegal migrants can have access to education and health services in the U.S..."
Assemblywoman Cindy Montańez, from the San Fernando Valley, said that it is vital for Mexico to ask Schwarzenegger to approve this legislation "so that he would know that not only people of California, but an entire country is asking that he sign the bill."
If we're going to call what appear to be fact-based mailers "racist," what would we call the above? And, will any prosecutor dare to file charges?
Posted to Immigration2004 at 03:03 PM | Comments (1)
Donald Rumsfeld on border infiltration
From the transcript of Lou Dobbs' 11/16 show:
DOBBS: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is warning of the threat of terrorists entering this country through the same routes as those used by illegal aliens. Secretary Rumsfeld, traveling in South America, warned that enemies look for weaknesses and take advantage of them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The risk is that some of these human-smuggling routes into our country from this hemisphere could be used just as easily for terrorists.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: And three million illegal aliens are estimated to be entering this country this year.
Secretary Rumsfeld also said the United States has to be, as he put it, smarter and quicker in securing our borders. The federal government's failure to secure those borders is leading individual states to take action. Arizona's Proposition 200, which limits state benefits for illegals, passed overwhelmingly two weeks ago. Now at least half a dozen other states are considering similar measures.
Posted to Immigration_terror at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Janet wants to sign Prop. 200?
For some unknown reason: Napolitano wants OK to get law ready to go:
..."We're obligated to implement the law unless a judge tells us we can't," said Napolitano, adding her proclamation is merely a formality. She said state agencies are ready to carry out Proposition 200 when the judge tells them to do so.
Daniel Ortega, one of the lawyers who filed the federal lawsuit in Tucson challenging Proposition 200's constitutionality, declined to comment on Napolitano's legal maneuvering.
On Dec. 22, Bury will consider evidence for and against the anti-illegal immigration measure. He could issue an injunction or let it become law.
In other strange news, I had to double check that the above does in fact use the word "illegal" instead of their (past?) practice of conveniently omitting that bit.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:52 PM | Comments (0)
"Redondo Beach temporarily blocked from arresting day laborers"
A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the city of Redondo Beach from arresting day laborers who solicit jobs on the street...
In issuing a temporary restraining order, U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall said the city's policy could do "irreparable harm" to workers and questioned whether it was constitutional...
...If the city's attorneys are unable to show cause, the ban could be extended through the duration of the case, said Thomas Saenz, vice president of litigation for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund...
Saenz said his organization has identified at least 50 cities statewide that prohibit day laborers from soliciting work in the street, among them Agoura Hills, San Bernardino and Chino.
The organization has successfully represented day laborers against the city of Los Altos in Northern California and against Rancho Cucamonga, Upland and Los Angeles County.
A case against Glendale is pending, Saenz said.
In case you're wondering about the link I added to the article, see this:
...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 11:48 PM | Comments (2)
The 9/11 hijackers and driver's licenses
There's a detailed article from November 2001 here:
When [9/11 hijackers] Hanjour and Almihdhar showed up at DMV Express [in Virginia], they apparently already had two forms of ID--a passport and a legal visa would have been accepted---because they did not submit DL6s to establish their identity. But they did submit DL51s, to "prove" their Virginia residence. Martinez [an illegal alien day laborer from El Salvador who they'd hired to help them get driver's licenses] allegedly certified the forms for both of them.
On the forms, the men claimed to live in an apartment complex on the 5900 block of Leesburg Pike--one block down from the strip mall. "This address did not belong to either Hanjour or Almihdhar," [FBI agent] Gomez wrote in his affidavit, "but was rather the address that appeared on Martinez's Virginia identification card. Martinez no longer lived at the address, but had in the past."
With their newly minted photo IDs, the two suspected terrorists drove back with Martinez to Culmore. "At the 7-Eleven they all got out of the van," wrote Gomez. "Hanjour and Almihdhar went inside the store and appeared to use the ATM machine. They then came out, paid Martinez $100 in cash for his efforts, and left in the van. Martinez did not see them again."
But the Virginia DMV had not seen the last of these two. Hanjour and Almihdhar were now qualified to certify the legal residency of other terrorists.
That is exactly what they did the next day--at a DMV about three miles from the Pentagon on South Four Mile Run in Arlington.
Wrote Special Agent Gomez: "DMV records also show that Hanjour and Almihdhar used the address Martinez gave them on August 1, 2001, to complete DL51 forms for [9/11 hijackers] Majed Moqed (Moqed) and Salem Alhazmi (Alhazmi) on August 2, 2001..."
Three other suspected hijackers showed up at the Arlington DMV that very same day. They, too, needed witnesses to help them secure Virginia IDs. But unlike Hanjour and Almihdhar, they needed not only DL51s, to establish a residence, but also DL6s, to establish their identities. That meant they had to have the help of a witness, a notary, and a lawyer...
...Herbert and Lopez-Flores [also illegal alien day laborers] got into Herbert's car and drove to an attorney's office on Columbia Pike in Falls Church. The three Arab men followed in their van...
One of the Arab men in the office that day was Ahmed Alghamdi, one of the suspected hijackers of United Airlines Flight 175, which flew into the World Trade Center towers. Lopez-Flores vouched for his DL51 form, on which Alghamdi falsely claimed to live on Edison Street in Alexandria.
Abdul Alomari was another one of the Arab men in the law office that day. He is a suspected hijacker of American Airlines Flight 11, which also crashed into the World Trade Center towers. Alomari claimed to live on Buchanan Street in Arlington. "Oscar Armando Diaz," whom the FBI believes to be Villalobos, certified Alomari's residency on the DL51. (The actual resident at this location was Villalobos' cousin.)
Villalobos, who told the FBI he believed the men to be Pakistani or Iraqi, added an interesting note. "Villalobos said the attorney then came out of his office and signed the forms as well," wrote Special Agent Weidner. "Here, Villalobos noted that the attorney conversed with the 'Pakistanis' in 'their language.' After this conversation, each 'Pakistani' man paid the secretary $35, and then all returned to the Arlington DMV office. Once back at the DMV office, the 'Pakistani' men paid Villalobos $50 for his assistance and then went into the DMV to get identification cards."
When the FBI later showed Villalobos photos of the suspected September 11 hijackers, he identified five of them--Hani Hanjour, Salem Alhazmi, Majed Moqed, Khalid Alghamdi and Abdul Alomari--as being at the Arlington DMV that day. "These identifications," Special Agent Weidner wrote, "were later confirmed by Virginia DMV records which show that all five men did in fact conduct various transactions relating to Virginia identifications cards at the Arlington DMV on August 2, 2001..."
Much more information at the link.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 10:40 PM | Comments (0)
"Liberal" Loony Land vs. the Realm of Reality
From "Liberal" Loony Land:
The prospect of revisiting the immigration reforms [which were stripped out of the Intelligence "Reform" Bill] alarmed others.
During a pointed exchange on the House floor last night, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the reforms "egregious" and "extraneous" and signaled that Democrats would oppose them.
"I have serious concerns," the California Democrat said. "I hope Republican leaders won't tarnish the achievements of today" by bringing up the immigration reforms again after the new year.
From the Realm of Reality:
"We are here today because on September 11, 2001, 19 men, all of whom entered our country illegally, overstayed their visas or obtained fraudulent visas, boarded four airplanes and used them as bombs to kill thousands of our citizens," said Rep. Nathan Deal, Georgia Republican. "The primary identification documents that allowed them to board those airplanes were state driver's licenses. Nothing in this bill would prevent those hijackers from using those same driver's licenses to board those same airplanes and repeat the events of 9/11."
Quotes from the article "Border security up next, Bush says". It starts with this generally unbelievable bit:
President Bush is vowing to help House Republicans enact tighter immigration-security controls "early in the next session" of Congress...
Posted to Immigration2004 at 10:24 PM | Comments (3)
The benefits of having a cold
I don't feel as guilty as I would if I didn't have a cold and I was monitoring The Rebel Billionaire to watch the 700' rappel.
Posted to Miscellania at 08:33 PM | Comments (0)
Intelligence vs. the S.F. Chronical
From the S.F. Chronical editorial "Intelligence vs. immigrants":
Attempts to improve the nation's security should not be used as a cover to carry out a stealth attack against immigrants.
That is in effect what Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and his allies in the House of Representatives have been trying to do by blocking the bill to overhaul the nation's intelligence system in exchange for immigration provisions that are, at best, tangentially related to the war against terrorism...
Fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers had a combined total of 63 driver's licenses. The Sensenbrenner provisions would have attempted to prevent future terrorists from getting driver's licenses.
Since the 9/11 hijackers used those driver's licenses to function on a day-to-day basis in the U.S. before the attacks, it's clear that the Sensenbrenner provisions were directly related to preventing future terrorist attacks.
The editorial continues with a few more paragraphs and a few more lies. Strangely, it includes a swipe at FAIR:
...The materials on [FAIR's] Web site include ''sample messages'' for callers to deliver to key legislators, such as: ''America cannot be truly protected as long as states issue driver's licenses to all comers, including terrorists.''
Holy Moses! An advocacy group includes "sample messages" for people to give to their congresscritters?!?! What is the world coming to?
If you'd like to suggest the S.F. Chronical gets their facts straight or just stops lying:
Reader representative: If you have comments on The Chronicle's coverage, standards or accuracy, please call Dick Rogers, the readers' representative, at (415) 777-7870. Written comments can be e-mailed to readerrep@sfchronicle.com, faxed to (415) 442-1847, or addressed to Readers' Representative, c/o San Francisco Chronicle, 901 Mission St., San Francisco, CA 94103. For information on delivery, billing or how to become a subscriber, call (800) 281-2476.
Letters to the Editor should be addressed to letters@sfchronicle.com. Due to space considerations, only letters of less than 250 words will be considered for publication. Please provide your name and telephone number along with your letter. You will be called if your letter is being considered for publication.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 08:23 PM | Comments (0)
"Illegal aliens cost California billions"
The WashTimes covers the FAIR report previously blogged here. From the WashTimes article:
Illegal immigration costs the taxpayers of California — which has the highest number of illegal aliens nationwide — $10.5 billion a year for education, health care and incarceration, according to a study released yesterday.
A key finding of the report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) said the state's already struggling kindergarten-through-12th-grade education system spends $7.7 billion a year on children of illegal aliens, who constitute 15 percent of the student body.
The report also said the incarceration of convicted illegal aliens in state prisons and jails and uncompensated medical outlays for health care provided to illegal aliens each amounted to about $1.4 billion annually. The incarceration costs did not include judicial expenditures or the monetary costs of the crimes committed by illegal aliens that led to their incarceration.
"California's addiction to 'cheap' illegal-alien labor is bankrupting the state and posing enormous burdens on the state's shrinking middle-class tax base," said FAIR President Dan Stein...
San Diego's North County Times' article on this report is here.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 03:35 PM | Comments (1)
Chinga Chinga Boom Boom Chinga Chinga
Can you imagine some really bad porno music? You know, the kind with the rhythm guitars or the saxophones, preferably from the 70s or 80s?
OK.
Now, read this report from the LAT: "We're Not in G-Rated Kansas Anymore"
ABILENE, Kan. — Outside, the prairie lies dark and still. In the windowless gray building by the Interstate 70 offramp, a clerk with a tired face rings up sex toys. "Need batteries for that?" she asks politely, again and again...
Adult "superstores" like this are popping up all over rural America — brightly lighted, clean, as well-organized and well-stocked as a Wal-Mart.
Remote freeway offramps are X-rated in Quaker City, Ohio (pop. 563), and Nelson, Mo. (pop. 212), in Montrose, Ill., and Perry, Mich. The Lion's Den chain operates 29 stores in the Midwest, including this one in Abilene, off Exit 272, near the cows and hay bales of Dickinson County...
Of course, I noticed this last year and recently as well.
Posted to BloggingAcrossAmerica at 03:28 PM | Comments (0)
"Liberalism" at its finest
Sure, it's just a comment from a semi-anonymous "liberal", but it's also a peek into the wee little world of "liberalism":
Some pundits say that a Democrat should seize a "Sister Souljah moment." But Clinton was very careful about launching his attack. Sister made a comment about killing white people and was later invited to speak at the Rainbow Coalition meeting. There was very little ambiguity that what she said was out of bounds.
Clinton felt free to scold her for what she said. He didn't say she was a bad person. He didn't say she didn't belong in the party. He only rebuked her for a single statement that she made. A few people were upset, but reasonable people knew he was right.
What were those people upset about? That he only rebuked her one statement, or that he rebuked her at all? I suspect the author means the latter.
Posted to MultiCultiCult at 10:42 PM | Comments (0)
Oppose sham "intelligence reform"
The immigration-related provisions might have been removed from the Intelligence Reform Bill. If the bill passes, illegal aliens could continue to get driver's licenses and could continue to use foreign IDs that are only of use to illegal aliens.
- That's despite the fact that 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers had a combined total of 63 driver's licenses from various states.
- And, the FBI and the DOJ call those foreign ID cards - including Mexico's Matricula Consular - a security threat.
- And, from Chapter 3 of the 9/11 Commission Staff Report: "...abuse of the immigration system and a lack of interior immigration enforcement were unwittingly working together to support terrorist activity..."
- And, the media barely covers the immigration-related provisions. The news media rarely mentions that there's more than one group of 9/11 families, and that the "9/11 Families for a Secure America" opposes this bill unless it includes immigration-related provisions. (See also "9/11 Families Back Sensenbrenner in Intel Fight")
What you can do:
Please contact your representatives and tell them: don't pass this bill unless it includes those immigration-related provisions.
You can send free FAXes here.
And, here are some phone numbers:
Sen. Collins(R-ME) at (202) 224-2523
Sen. Lieberman (D-CT) at (202) 224-4041
Rep. David Dreier (R-CA)
Glendora 626-852-2626
DC 202-225-2305
Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) at (202) 225-2976
Rep. Hoekstra (R-MI) at (202) 225-4401
Rep. Harman (D-CA) at (202) 225-8220
(According to KFI's John & Ken, David Dreier might have found religion: due to Political Human Sacrifice, he might have supported these immigration-related provisions.)
UPDATE: Cross-posted to the-lonewacko-blog.redstate.org/story/2004/12/7/13423/4563, the Command Post, and Free Republic.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 07:27 PM | Comments (1)
Dems don't seem to get out much
Take a look at this chart. It has the result of a survey of the differences between Republicans and Democrats regarding the cars they drive, the TV they watch, and what activities they partake in.
Out of 30 activities, Dems (supposedly) only do 5 more than Repubs: surfing, basketball, antiquing, casino gambling, and dancing. Seriously, how many surfers are there? Wouldn't those who "antique" also do other things like volunteer work, gardening, and photography?
Casino gambling I can understand; something about average IQ.
An interesting chart would include location/cost info. Ice-skating would appear to be a low-cost activity and available in liberal areas like the Northeast and upper Midwest, yet it's largely Repub. Tennis is a fairly low-cost activity, as is fair weather dayhiking.
Full article here. Previous report here. Via this.
Posted to Politics at 04:39 PM | Comments (0)
Racist oppressors refuse to fund King/Drew Medical Center!
The LAT - yes, the DogTrainer-Enquirer - punctures that myth:
For years it has been a heartfelt cry: "This hospital desperately needs more money!"
Whenever Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center is criticized, as it often is, the response from supporters is the same. They say Los Angeles County leaders never wanted King/Drew built in the first place — and have been trying to starve it ever since...
..."You know damn well the county knows what we need," said "Sweet Alice" Harris, long revered for her charitable efforts in South Los Angeles' black and Latino neighborhoods. "My problem is: Why is it that they don't love the poor people and want to help them? We're the first to be cut and the last to be rewarded."...
... The numbers, however, tell a different story. Though widely believed, the notion that King/Drew is being shortchanged is false.
The medical center spent more per patient than 75% of the public and teaching hospitals in California, according to a 2002 state audit that looked at fiscal year 2000...
...King/Drew's problem is not the amount of money it gets but the way the money is squandered, according to audits, financial records, legal filings and dozens of interviews...
[...list of examples...]
...Some employees habitually fail to show up, logging weeks, even months, of unexcused absences each year. And those who do come to work often don't do their jobs, causing one consultant in 2002 to remark that they had "retired in place."...
Posted to Los_Angeles at 04:35 PM | Comments (0)
"Prop. 200, democracy thrown for loop"
From the Arizona Republic's Robert Robb:
I was critical of Proposition 200, the illegal immigration initiative, prior to the election.
It was, in effect, expressing a sentiment by enacting a law of unknown effects and consequences. And I don't think that's good governance.
But the voters passed it, and supporters deserve a good-faith attempt at implementing it...
But last week, good-faith implementation - and democracy - got at least temporarily derailed.
A federal judge, Tucson's David C. Bury, temporarily enjoined the law from going into effect. His rationale was that Proposition 200 might be pre-empted by federal law, and that the "balance of hardships" fell on those challenging the law, not on the state for a deferred implementation.
According to Bury's opinion: "It seems likely that if Proposition 200 were to become law, it would have a dramatic chilling effect upon undocumented aliens who would otherwise be eligible for public benefits under federal law."
Bury's decision is perplexing in a couple of respects...
Posted to Immigration2004 at 04:30 PM | Comments (0)
Have you rented a Mr. Bean movie lately?
In what may be a publicity stunt, or may be something he actually believes in, Rowan "Mr. Bean" Atkinson:
...is to warn MPs that a Bill outlawing the incitement of racial hatred could undermine free speech and stop comedians making fun of religion.
Atkinson will head a coalition of comedians, writers and academics at the launch of a campaign against elements of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill tonight.
The Bill, due for its second reading this week, will create a new offence of incitement to religious hatred to protect faith groups - particularly Muslims - from hate attacks...
But a Home Office spokesman defended the Bill, insisting it would not interfere with the right to free speech.
She said: "There is a clear difference between criticism of a religion and the act of inciting hatred against members of a religious group.
"The incitement offences have a high criminal threshold and prosecutions require the consent of the Attorney General."
Based on recent actions in this area, I'd say they're wrong.
Posted to Privacy at 04:22 PM | Comments (0)
"Immigration reform crucial to security"
From Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA):
If the intelligence reform bill has any chance of passage when Congress returns to the Capitol this week, it must meet all the goals outlined by the September 11 commission's comprehensive report, not just the few selected by the Senate. Specifically, it will have to address illegal immigration as a national security threat...
Posted to Immigration2004 at 03:59 PM | Comments (0)
Winter Storm Watch 2004!
Paraphrasing KCAL:
"Welcome to Winter Storm Watch 2004! We've got Team Coverage [TM]! Now, let's go to Clint Brockman in Pacoima"
"Thanks Dave... the freeway's dry since the rain stopped at 6:30pm. Back to you, Dave!"
"Thanks Clint. Now, let's go to Stacy Smith at the Rim of the World Highway!"
"Thanks Dave. I'm at 5500' on the Rim of the World Highway! I don't know if you can see it, but we have a dusting of snow on the ground... [...camera pans to ground...] But, it is windy here. Now, back to you, Dave!"
"Thanks Stacy! That should give you an idea of just how bad it is out there!"
Posted to Los_Angeles at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)
Drug tests for Senators! Breathalyzer tests before voting!
Br'er Drudge, on his radio show, is suggesting drug tests for Senators and Congressmen and breathalyzer tests before they vote on bills.
If McCain wants to micromanage baseball, why not require drug testing in a place where it really matters?
All we need now is a acronym, a web site, and an online petition.
Posted to Politics at 08:01 PM | Comments (0)
BigMediaBlog.com
Ever wished that Sully, or Insty, or Josh had comments?
Until they see the light, head on over to BigMediaBlog.com. Every day it posts open threads where you can comment on that day's posts from Sully, Insty, Josh, and ten other comments-free sites.
Posted to Bloggage at 07:16 PM | Comments (0)
"Bush Pressuring G.O.P. to Approve Intelligence Bill"
Drudge is currently headlining this NYT article.
There's not a word in there about the immigration-related provisions. For the reality, you'll have to turn to "Hunter, Sensenbrenner Hold Line".
See also "9/11 Families Back Sensenbrenner in Intel Fight". That post has some phone numbers, and you can send free FAXes about this bill here.
Posted to Politics at 05:50 PM | Comments (0)
We could make outsourcing even better!
Sometimes my comments aren't exactly top-drawer. In most cases that's simply because I crank them out instead of spending the time to make them as good as they could be. So, the comment I left here should be considered simply a work-in-progress:
The only problem with outsourcing is all the money that's wasted in transport.Wouldn't it be great if we could benefit from the tremendous benefits of outsourcing, but without all the inefficiencies? The solution is clear: we need to invite several million Chinese to come here and work in our factories or doing field work or other forms of manual labor. That way we can enjoy the benefits of outsourcing, without having to pay for the transoceanic freight!
Even better, we could cut a deal with the Chinese government to use some of their slave/prison labor. Look, let's face reality. Those people are in prison for doing bad things, and if they're in China they're going to be doing work. Why don't we face up to reality, do them a little favor, and make money in the process? That's what I call a win-win!
We establish "worker camps" in the U.S. to house those Chinese "laborers". China will want us to make sure their "laborers" work hard and are kept "under control." We'll do that, but we'll also provide better conditions than they'd normally get. We could even establish satellite "worker camps" at various business parks around the nation!
Oh yeah! Oh yeah yeah!
Posted to Immigration2004 at 03:05 PM | Comments (1)
Libertarians on the loose
The Cato Institute's Daniel Griswold has a column in Reason Magazine supporting Bush's "guest" worker plan: "Beyond the Barbed Wire: Bush won a mandate for immigration reform".
In their Hit & Run post about this article, I left the following comment:
If you have the time, I'd very strongly suggest you watch this video. It's 80 Megs, but you can download it first using something like Offline Explorer Pro.
The video features the author of this piece, together with an administration representative discussing Bush's plan.
Of particular note are the statements from the administration rep that Bush's plan:
"...would be open to any type of employee and any type of employer, such as nurses, teachers, high-tech workers, low-skilled workers. This is a concept that can apply broadly"
In other words, they want to invite the world to come to the U.S. to take American jobs. A wet dream for libertarians, a nightmare for everyone else.
On the video, you'll also see Griswold asked whether those "guest" workers will want to vote. He says something similar to: "they'll be too tired working for a few years to think about voting."
At what point in time do other people finally realize that "immigration reformers" just don't seem to get this "American" thing? Or, perhaps their concept of "America" is rooted a couple centuries in the past.
From the article:
Immigration reform is popular with Hispanics
Indeed it is. 47% of Arizona Hispanics voted for Prop. 200. On the other hand, the Open Borders Lobby strongly opposed 200.
Simply throwing more money and manpower at the problem hasn't worked. Since the early 1990s, we've quintupled spending and tripled personnel at the Mexican border. We've built three-tiered walls for 60 miles into the desert. We've imposed sanctions on employers for the first time in U.S. history.
We have? The numbers show that employer sanctions are lower under Bush than even under Clinton. Could those publicly available numbers be lying?
Our existing immigration system is out of step with the realities of American life. Our economy continues to produce opportunities for low-skilled workers in important sectors of our economy such as retail, services, construction, and tourism.
Yes, indeed. Powerful people seem to want to build something akin to manoralism.
Opponents of immigration demand more of the same failed policies: more walls and barbed wire, entire divisions of troops at the border, the massive deportation of undocumented workers at great economic and human cost.
Two - I repeat two - strawmen for the price of one! Someone who wants to restrict legal immigration and/or sharply reduce illegal immigration is not an "opponent of immigration." And, as pointed out by Steven Camarota of CIS at the video referenced above, mass deportations are not necessary: simply follow the existing laws and many illegal immigrants will self-deport and those who intend to come here won't.
The response then was to dramatically increase temporary worker visas under the Bracero program; the result was an equally dramatic decline in illegal immigration.
Illegal immigration rose during and after the Bracero program. That program created an infrastructure and those who couldn't get into the program came anyway.
Legalization would not equal "amnesty." Under the president's plan, legalized workers would not get automatic citizenship or even permanent residency.
Please. As pointed out in the Big Show on the Border, those "guest" workers will have U.S.-citizen children. They'll be here to stay and eventually they'll have to be given rights. Nanci Pelosi and Teddy Kennedy and other "liberals" will see to that.
They would have to pay a fine for having lived here illegally that would not be chump change for low-skilled workers.
That's a relief. Meanwhile, all those thousands of companies that have made billions employing illegal workers will have gotten off scot-free.
Legalization would also enhance our national security.
"Legalization" would give a foreign government even more power over our immigration system than they have now. That's the opposite of "national security." And, as pointed out in Chapter 3 of the 9/11 Commission Staff Report, at least one WTC 1 terrorist tried to take advantage of an earlier amnesty program.
Also see my comments on this other Reason thread.
There's more on Griswold's plans here and in Dogmatic Libertarians: Over the edge.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 01:47 PM | Comments (0)
Your Nativo Lopez summary
News of Nativo Lopez has been featured here in the past. He's the president of the groups Mexican-American Political Association and Hermandad Mexicana and he tends to get a fair amount of almost always favorable press attention.
Just a week ago he was featured in a discussion of the San Bernardino Sun article "Club to remove barriers". Before then, AP gave a previous boycott threat some attention. There's more on him here.
Yesterday, while announcing his latest boycott threat, this is what he had to say about KFI and the use of the term "illegal alien":
"We are not niggers. We are not kikes. We are not paddies. We are not homos. Uh-kay?"
As pointed out many times in the past, "illegal alien" is the correct, legal term. In fact, that's the term used to describe illegal aliens in the U.S. Code, a.k.a. the law of the land.
What's interesting is the ease with which these derogatory terms fall from Lopez' lips. Listen to the quote here, or directly in either this file or, if that doesn't work, in this file.
The next time you see a press article with a quote from Lopez, email them the links to that audio.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 03:24 PM | Comments (3)
"Pandering to interlopers?"
From immigration lawyer Matt Hayes in the WashTimes:
At last weekend's APEC summit, President Bush made clear the administration will try to justify its planned amnesty of illegal aliens as something necessary for greater border security. Despite unending criticism of his January call for the amnesty, the overwhelming passage of an Arizona state ballot initiative that prevents the use of public money on services for illegal aliens and every poll showing roughly 80 percent of Americans favor greater enforcement of our immigration laws, the president has decided the first political capital expenditure will be on an item Americans decidedly do not want.
The president now adopted completely the canard of the Wall Street Journal wing of the Republican Party, saying to the press corps at the summit that our border patrol's time would be better spent intercepting terrorists and drug traffickers than "people going to work." But members of the Border Patrol, speaking in defiance of a gag order issued by Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson, say privately their recent deployment orders have created the widest holes in our border in 30 years. "We've been told, in essence, to park the trucks," said one agent in October...
...Though the president's plans remain vague, every bill that has been drawn up in response to his call for an amnesty has no provision mandating minimum wages for applicants for legal status. When the White House was asked if the administration sought a minimum wage guarantee, it said there were no plans to do so...
...Utah's 3rd Congressional District saw this year a race that can rightly be called a referendum on the president's amnesty plans. In one of the most heavily Republican districts in the country, incumbent Chris Cannon, who massively outspent his rivals, faced Democratic challenger Beau Babka. Before the general election, Mr. Cannon made it through a bruising primary contest in which his challenger — who campaigned almost solely on opposition to Mr. Cannon's sponsorship of the AgJOBS bill, the primary House amnesty bill — peeled off more than 40 percent of the incumbent's primary votes. Then in the November election, Mr. Babka, the Democrat, garnered the majority of the district's Latino votes even after he came out solidly against amnesty...
I can't find the Bush quote, but it sounds like something he'd say. I also have a question about the minimum wage requirements. That was the only wage-related provision mentioned when the plan was first announced. Now, even that is gone? This issue needs a bit of clarification.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 02:54 PM | Comments (0)
"9/11 Families Back Sensenbrenner in Intel Fight"
Leaders of a group representing more than 300 family members of 9/11 victims urged Congress on Tuesday to scrap the intelligence reform bill because it doesn't include key provisions to secure the nation's borders against terrorist infiltration - the same objection raised by one of the bill's leading opponents, Wisconsin Rep. James Sensenbrenner.
"No bill should pass the Senate, the House, anywhere, unless it contains immigration reform," said Joan Molinaro, the mother of a New York City firefighter killed on September 11 and a member of the group "9/11 Families for a Secure America."
...Molinaro, Burlingame and other 9/11 familles who back Sensenbrenner's efforts have been largely ignored by the media, which has focused instead on other victim families aligned with 9/11 Commission Chairman Tom Kean, who strongly backs the bill...
Time to make some calls. Call these for starters:
Sen. Collins(R-ME) at (202) 224-2523
Sen. Lieberman (D-CT) at (202) 224-4041
Rep. David Dreier (R-CA)
Glendora 626-852-2626
DC 202-225-2305
Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) at (202) 225-2976
Rep. Hoekstra (R-MI) at (202) 225-4401
Rep. Harman (D-CA) at (202) 225-8220
Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)
She's a boxer, a fighter, and a bodice-ripping good read
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Chronicle Books has acquired the rights to a novel by United States Senator Barbara Boxer of California. The novel of personal friendships and betrayal, political in-fighting and pragmatism, follows Ellen from her days as an idealistic college student, through romantic entanglements, to a difficult marriage to a rising political star. When her husband is killed, she steps into his campaign for the Senate and is elected. On the eve of a crucial senate vote, her personal and political worlds collide when her right-wing adversaries recruit her former lover to sabotage her credibility and career. With a fascinating, up-close view of how politics and power are shaped by personal friendships and revenge, this novel is an exciting fiction debut by an experienced senator.I'm sure the hardest part of all this was Boxer thinking up the name of her character.
...The yet untitled book, to be written with Mary-Rose Hayes, who has written several novels, will be published in November 2005...
Posted to Politics at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)
Behind the discordant tones
The Arizona Republic article "Successor must know border issues" was written before the announcement of Bernie Kerik as the new head of the DHS, so it's a little out of date. Nevertheless, in the process of discussing the "re-education" of the new head of DHS to understand border issues, they give us an invaluable peek into the little world of the Arizona Republic. The article has three quote sources, as follows:
...Of those being mentioned as successors, Shadegg said Asa Hutchinson, who is Ridge's deputy for border and transportation security, would be a "fantastic choice" and a "tremendous asset for Arizona" because he knows border issues... [Oh boy does he -- LW]
...Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., agreed that Ridge's replacement may have be "re-educated" about immigration enforcement and border issues facing Arizona. But he doesn't expect efforts launched under Ridge to be abandoned...
...Tamar Jacoby, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, said President Bush likely will appoint someone to replace Ridge who shares the president's commitment for immigration reform, including pursuing a guest-worker program that would make increased border enforcement more plausible by allowing more foreign workers to enter the country legally.
"Plausible" indeed. The only question is, who's Freudian slip is that?
Posted to Immigration2004 at 12:26 AM | Comments (0)
4 illegals caught working for military contractor
From this:
Four employees of a San Diego military contractor were apprehended by immigration authorities yesterday morning at work after federal agents determined them to be undocumented immigrants.
The four men, all Mexican nationals, worked for Marine & Restaurant Fabricators, a company that installs aluminum and fabric in commercial restaurant kitchens as well as inside Navy ships.
This is just the latest of a long string of such incidents.
Posted to Immigration_terror at 12:20 AM | Comments (0)
It's like 187, but with quills
From this:
The Save Our License Committee joined with Assemblyman Mark Wyland today in announcing a new initiative designed to prevent California State and local governments from granting benefits to illegal aliens.
[...list of provisions designed to prevent "tampering" by anti-American politicians and foreign governments deleted...]
..."We are very confident of our success with this initiative," noted [Mike Spence, with the Save Our License Committee]. "We start with a strong and enthusiastic base of supporters. We have financial commitments to help with the paid signature gatherers. And the legislature is keeping the issue in front of everyone with their efforts to pass a new driver’s license bill."
The Save Our License initiative, which was filed with the Attorney General today, will amend California’s Constitution. For it to qualify for the ballot, proponents must collect approximately 600,000 valid signatures.
Under California law, the Attorney General has fifteen days to review the language and prepare an official Title and Summary. If the Attorney General determines that the initiative may have a fiscal impact, he must forward it for a fiscal review before issuing the Title and Summary.
Once complete, the Attorney General will transmit it the Secretary of State who will record is and start the clock on the signature gathering. Proponents will then have 150 days to gather the necessary signatures.
Posted to Immigration_dls at 11:51 PM | Comments (0)
"Concern Voiced Over Gonzales' Connections with La Raza"
From this:
...the Washington, DC-based Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is calling [White House counsel Alberto Gonzales] to task for his reported involvement with the National Council of La Raza, which has endorsed his nomination for attorney general...
I don't think they should be compared with the KKK. However, their name literally means "National Council of The Race." And:
...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...
Wow, that's a shocker. Yet another link between our "conservative" president and "liberalism."
Posted to Immigration2004 at 11:43 PM | Comments (1)
"The threat from life on Mars"
Drudge is linking to this Times of London article about the possible dangers posed by Mars life forms being brought back to Earth on a space probe. (That is, the probe is of Earth origin; the article doesn't touch on the topic of Mars-origin probes.)
I note that our very own spiritual advisor, pictured right, has been warning about this very same issue for some time now.
(Hat tip: my giant antenna)
Posted to Miscellania at 11:30 PM | Comments (0)
"Big immigration waves nearing political beach"
From a Palm Beach Post editorial:
Social Security used to be considered the untouchable "third rail" of American politics, but immigration soon may replace it.
Both candidates bobbed and weaved around the subject during the presidential campaign, and neither party has offered credible ideas for reform, fearing the political implications of being the first to propose unpopular solutions to long-ignored problems. A report released last week by the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based group that favors tighter immigration controls, underscores the nation's need to confront the issue head-on...
...The political calculus is difficult as ever, but a deal with Mexico, which President Bush promised at the start of his first term, remains the critical centerpiece for comprehensive reform.
As Time magazine reported in September, the issue has national security ramifications. About 60,000 of the illegals who cross from Mexico are not Mexican; some are from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. Without control of the border, there is no control of security...
...From a business standpoint, immigrant labor remains essential, especially in the restaurant and hotel industries that dominate the Florida economy. That is a reality the federal government cannot continue to ignore. Frustrated border states such as Arizona, which just passed a citizens' initiative restricting public services to illegal immigrants, are starting to act on their own. Such a hodgepodge policy will bring unintended consequences, not progress.
So, the editorial isn't as strong as it could be. However, unlike many other articles and editorials, it at least takes a clear-eyed look at the problem.
I note also that the editorial has a hash code attached. (A "hash code" attempts to summarize a long string of bytes in a short series of bytes. In this case it distills a 1000-character or so editorial down into 8 bytes. The attempt is to uniquely identify the long series, as an ID or to determine whether changes have been made for instance.) I have no idea why they'd do this.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 09:16 PM | Comments (1)
Live-blogging the Flagstaff Mayoral Debate
Wait! It's not the Flagstaff Mayoral Debate, it's the Los Angeles Mayoral Debate. The chintzy set and the low-wattage politicians had me fooled for a minute. (No offense to the attractive and welcoming city of Flagstaff.)
The debate puts Los Angeles' political spectrum in sharp focus. All five candidates are Democrats. In any other debate, the absence of a Republican might be a bit glaring. Not so to the sponsors of the debate, including KNBC and perhaps the League of Women Voters.
Walter Moore - said Republican - stands no chance whatsoever. However, at the least he could have raised points that the other candidates won't. That's probably the main reason he was excluded.
Note that this blog is not endorsing Walter Moore, for various reasons including an email I sent him and the response I received, which indicated to me that he's tone-deaf. But, most importantly, everyone needs to vote for Jimmy Hahn because his competitors (with the possible exception of Bernard Parks) are horrible. I don't often throw around the term "anti-American," but I think there are one or two candidates who might at least partially fit that description. Parks has played the race card, which is a strong suit against him. Thus, I strongly, urgently suggest everyone vote for Hahn. Even if he's the Devil Incarnate, he's better than the others.
As for the debate, the candidates are currently being asked questions that boil down to, "how much of that wonderful socialism are you going to treat us to?" Given the facts above and in the earlier post, I don't really care about the debate, and I have just this to say: Vote for Hahn!
UPDATE: Herzberg has a little fire. The Ronstadt guy (from Spanish-language KWHY) is flinging out what is literally a shibboleth. He's prefacing each question with "buenos noches." The goal is simple: get a response back, preferably verbal. The response will then indicate whether a candidate is Hispanifriendly.
Now it's heating up! Hahn to Herzy: "I'm not going to take any lectures from you... get your facts straight." I haven't looked in to the Fleishmann-Hillard affair, so I don't know who's telling the truth. Who cares? Vote for Hahn!
UPDATE 2: How we're going to bring the NFL back to L.A. and how we're going to do something about L.A.'s traffic are certainly interesting and important questions. However, perhaps for the next debates we won't avoid a small elephant in the room.
Posted to Los_Angeles at 07:37 PM | Comments (0)
Kumbaya, amen.
Both Josh and Sully are up in arms about the networks refusing to air an ad from the United Church of Christ.
After seeing a snippet of the commercial, I don't see what the problem is. All it does is show a white bouncer and a black bouncer turning people away from a church. First, a straight white male parishioner with a John Edwards-style pompadour is allowed in by the white bouncer. Then, the white bouncer (assisted by his black bouncer in the background) starts turning Parishioners of Color and Parishioners of LGBT Genderial Orientation away. Then, the commercial closes with pictures of other Parishioners of Color smiling broadly. (I didn't hear Kumbaya in the background, but the snippet I saw was without sound.)
The commercial sends the message that the United Church of Christ is not just for straight white people, and that there are no white bouncers (with black sidekicks) who'll turn you away despite your Melatonin Index or Gender Identification. It's truly a wonderful, inclusive, completely harmless message and I see absolutely no problem with this commercial.
Amen.
Posted to MultiCultiCult at 07:11 PM | Comments (0)
Backstage at the L.A. Mayoral debate
- I'll be somewhat live-blogging it tonight at 7pm. I haven't been following L.A. politics recently, but I'll do my best.
- I finally got around to removing a certain site from my list of blogs; said site had publicly objected to me including links to the article "MEChA, Villaraigosa And The LA Mayoral Campaign" in a whopping two posts.
- I called Ron Kaye of the L.A. Daily News (one of the questioners at tonight's debate) and asked if he was going to ask Villaraigosa about this past involvement with that organization. His cell phone made it sound like he was driving through the Chunnel, so about all I can say is that he won't be asking that question. Apparently he feels there are more important bread & butter issues to discuss.
- I tried to contact Colleen Williams of KNBC-TV (another questioner). Both times I got the same jughead in the newsroom who gave me incorrect information. Namely, that Williams wasn't writing her own questions but they were being supplied by the debate's producer. The producer told me that's wrong. The jughead told me Williams doesn't have an assistant or a producer and there was no one who could ask her to ask a question. Local old media is the worst kind; at least the NYT, WaPo, and to a certain extent the LAT are feeling some heat from we bloggers.
- This site has more information on the L.A. mayor's race.
- More debates are scheduled for February. However, I believe tonight's debate was postponed, so that doesn't mean they'll happen.
- The Committee to Recall Antonio Villaraigosa appears to be a grassroots organization. I have no knowledge to the contrary, but I'd imagine his political opponents would at least support such an effort. I know I do. They want to recall him because he said he'd serve as councilman for four years, but now he's running for alcalde, er, mayor.
UPDATE: In defense of jughead, Colleen Williams was just the moderator. There were only two questioners. Live-blogged to a certain extent here.
Posted to Los_Angeles at 04:31 PM | Comments (0)
None have a "None of the above" option
Grab your vaseline and your wank rag and head on over to the 2004 Weblog Awards. Just don't vote until they add a "None of the above" option.
Posted to Bloggage at 04:03 PM | Comments (0)
"Anti-Immigrant Forces Said to Gain Strength in U.S."
From Alan Elsner of Pravda, er, Reuters:
Republicans who want to slow immigration to the United States and crack down on illegal immigrants believe they are gaining political strength and public backing, which may pose a problem next year for President Bush...
But he may face growing anti-immigrant sentiment, not only his own party but in the country at large, several opponents claimed...
[quote from FAIR]
...anti-immigration conservatives recently defied the White House by insisting that a bill to reform the nation's intelligence services include anti-illegal alien provisions...
[... etc. etc. ...]
Those of you just joining us might not see a problem with this article. However, consider the juxtaposition of the phrase "anti-immigrant sentiment" followed immediately by a quote from FAIR. Doesn't that tend to imply that FAIR - and others who oppose massive illegal and/or legal immigration - are "anti-immigrant?" The title of the piece - which may have been written by the author or by an editor - gives the same intentionally false impression: those who are opposed to massive illegal or legal immigration are opposed to the immigrants themselves or are completely opposed to immigration.
Not only does the author of this piece have his own site, he has a barely-used blog (no comments) and an email address: gatesofinjustice@aol.com
But, here's the more important email address: editor@reuters.com
This article is discussed here. See, for instance, this post:
[The author] knows the difference full well, as do all the reporters and leftists who use this slimy tactic.
Any rationale examination of the proposals put forth by people like Tancredo would prove that he is anti-mass legal immigration, anti-all illegal immigration, and anti-amnesty.
Likewise, any fair look at what Americans consistently tell pollsters would show them to be the exact same things.
Another thing that the press and academics like to do is explain WHY Americans aren't so keen on unending mass immigration at a particular time, chalking it up to economic or security fears. This of course doesn't explain why public sentiments are pretty much the same during prosperous times as well. Its as though these people think it is unrationale to oppose mass immigration.
Posted to Immigration2004 at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)
"W's 2nd term agenda: Set Jeb up"
[etc. etc.] ...the Bushes have been thinking about Jeb's candidacy for years...
...What Reagan, Kennedy and the Clintons shared was boldness and an understanding of how fragile the "rules" really are. By the time Jeb wins the nomination in the primaries - and its hard to see him losing with the backing of the Bush machine - the public will have gotten used to the idea...
...The Constitution makes Dubya ineligible for a three-peat but it does not rule out a third consecutive Bush administration. That's why it would be a mistake to view the next four years as a terminal presidency.
I guess we Citizens just need to warm up to the idea of a neverending string of presidents named Bush, differing only by their first two names.
The "conservatives" here think it's a great idea; not one says anything about, for instance, dynasties and America not mixing too well.
A liberal opposes the idea.
Special note: I guess its hard to make apostrophes when youre typing with one hand.
Posted to Politics at 07:23 PM | Comments (0)
Latest pestering attempt noted
BlogsForBush has this to say on the 9/11 bill:
No big surprise here, Democrats always let special interest groups rule their thinking. They rather have illegal's get driver’s licenses than protect this country.
Gosh, and here I thought it was both Bush and the Democrats who did the above. Silly me. I posted the following, perhaps short-lived comment:
Make War Not Appease writes: They're too afraid of offending people and so they pander to the minorities. We need both borders to be heavily secured for our security. Most importantly, we need ouyr immigration laws to be enforced.Thankfully, President Bush is our President and Our Leader. He spent the last four years ensuring that our borders are secure, and he will spend the next four or more years doing the same. If Kerry were president, he probably would have cut a deal with Vicente Fox to absorb Mexico's excess population or accept their "Mickey Mouse" ID cards, or proposed a guest worker amnesty plan or something else extremely dire. Plus, can you imagine President Kerry wearing a stetson or going to a diner with regular people? Thank God the American citizens made the correct choice!
(The Stetson referenced is explained here; the Our Leader reference is explained here.)
Posted to Politics at 05:19 PM | Comments (1)
1000' a day is almost all I ask
Over the past week I've gained an average of 1000' a day on these hikes:
Altadena to Inspiration Point: 11 miles RT, 2800' gain
Red Box to Strawberry Peak: 7 miles RT, 1500' gain
Griffith Park Ranger Station to Mt. Hollywood: 5 miles RT, 1300' gain (times two)
Let's just say there's more than one blogger with power glutes!
Posted to OutdoorSports at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)
Jane Harman, lost cause
As part of my effort to help out the National Council of The Race, I called Jane Harman's office and expressed my support for the immigration-related provisions of the 9/11 bill. The lady who answered the phone sounded nice, but she didn't seem to grasp the implications of the Matricula Consular scam. After suggesting a reading of Chapter 3 of the 9/11 Commission Staff Report, she said, "I will get the message to her... click."
A couple weeks ago I called the Washington office and, OK, rather stupidly, said something like, "I'm calling about the 9/11 bill. I understand your talking points say..." Suddenly, the phone went dead. Looking back, I believe it was Congresswoman Harman herself who answered the phone. Hey, at least it was a Brush with Fame.
Tomorrow is the big day for my effort:
Sen. Collins(R-ME) at (202) 224-2523
Sen. Lieberman (D-CT) at (202) 224-4041
Posted to Immigration2004 at 03:28 PM | Comments (0)
