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Jeb, Laura, Noelle, Rutger, Wilbur, Cletus, or their clones?

Which Bush should be our next president? Wilbur and Cletus Bush are still a bit too young, as are P. and the twins. On the other hand, Rutger is still tied up in Saudi Arabia for a while. Perhaps he could commute or something...?

What about Noelle? She'd be the Party President. Is she still in rehab though?

That leaves a couple other fine, Bush-related choices:

From "Elder Bush would like son Jeb to run for president":

...In an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live," former President Bush said he would want Jeb to run for president "someday," but now was not the time...

OK. Well, here's a suggestion! From "She'd vote for Laura Bush":

"I think Mrs. Bush ought to run for president," Cheney joked during an interview with CNN's Larry King Live scheduled to air yesterday. "If we want to have a Bush dynasty, let's get Laura Bush."

Cheney sat for the interview with her husband, Vice President Cheney, who said he had no plans to run for president or any other office after he puts in his eight years with President Bush. "I've got other things I'd like to go do," he said...

Tell me this is all just a very, very bad dream.

Previously:
"Jeb in '08? Jeb in '12? P. in '16? P. in '20? Wilbur [Bush] in '24? Wilbur in '28? Cletus [Bush] in '32? Cletus in '36? W. [first clone] in '40? W. [first clone] in '44?"
"W's 2nd term agenda: Set Jeb up"
"You can probably figure out where this story is going" (all about P.)
Which candidate is less "American"?

Posted to Politics at 08:29 PM | Comments (0)

The hidden risk of biodiesel

Sure, it sounds good. Take some fast food grease and put it into your tank. Save money, save the environment, la de da de da. But, think about what that means for a minute: your car will end up smelling like cheeseburgers. And, simply because of this, a Connecticut man found his biodiesel car vandalized, broken into, and the hoses damaged...

Details here.

Posted to WackyHumor at 02:01 PM | Comments (1)

Hiking or biking in Azusa considered unaesthetic

Earlier today I bagged Azusa Peak. Unfortunately, said Peak is mainly a weed covered bump that's only at an elevation of 2081'. I decided to do this based on the description here of the Garcia Trail that leads to near the summit:

This great little trail starts at the fire station on Sierra Madre Avenue between Azusa and Glendora and climbs 1,040 feet in 1.2 miles! Once you arrive at the Glendora Ridge Motorway, a dirt service road that runs along the ridge, you can hike east to several summits with splendid views of Azusa, Glendora, and the valleys beyond. And there are great views up the San Gabriel Canyon and to the back ranges beyond.

Garcia Trail is steep, climbing some 866 vertical feet per mile... A typical trail in the San Gabriels gains 400 to 600 vertical feet per mile, so Garcia Trail not only gives the legs and lungs a workout, but it also provides a reference mark in evaluating other trails...

It is steep, but not as steep as I would have liked. Despite carrying a 32 lb. pack and it being hot out, it was only a moderate hike, mostly because of the short distance over which that steepness plays itself out and also because of the low altitude. If you're in the area and you want a short workout, the trail itself is not that bad. For a slightly less steep hike that's much more difficult, try Mt. Baldy's Ski Hut trail.

On the plus side, there was no one else around during the middle half of the hike and there were a fair number more flowers and interesting vegetation trail-side than other nearby hikes. And, because the trail is steep you're quickly looking down on Azusa.

Unfortunately, looking down on Azusa isn't exactly the treat for the senses that it would have been 50 or 100 years ago. Nowadays there's that catchment basin. And, the large bare area which used to be a nursery but which is now being prepared for a housing development.

And, lo!, off in the distance, what are those hammering sounds? Why, that's the folks at the local gun range. You mostly only hear that when you get to the motorway, but, together with the traffic sounds, it's still annoying. When you get to the motorway, keep walking a bit and you will get a good bird's eye view of the West Fork of the San Gabriel River. You will also, however, get a view of and the sound from Highway 39 (aka "Diaper Alley").

In a way this trail is similar to the new Fish Canyon Trail, which I hiked part of a few years ago. When I got to the fence I couldn't find exactly where the trail continued, so I turned around. That part of the trail is also steep and sun-exposed, and it affords a similar view. You can, however, hear the gun club much better.

And, some months ago I biked up the San Gabriel River bike path past the quarries, scoop loaders, possible Superfund sites, etc. etc. and that goes within half a mile or so of the gun club, so you can be serenaded even closer than both of the hikes can get.

My advice is to avoid front range hiking in the Azusa area.

Posted to OutdoorSports at 05:59 PM | Comments (1)

Major UFO Breakthrough in Brazil!!!

Whitley Streiber removes the probe and reports:

The nation of Brazil is relaxing its policy of UFO secrecy. It is the first among a number of countries known to be considering the idea of abandoning the secrecy mandate that has been in place worldwide since the phenomenon first began to be publicly known nearly fifty years ago.

A.J. Gevaerd of the Brazilian Committee of UFO Researchers reports that a number of important files have just been released, including a folder containing documents from 1977 that cover dozens of cases of UFOs in the Amazon with over 100 pictures made during Operation Saucer, an official Brazilian military investigation that was carried out between September and December, 1977...

The second and most important meeting took place just after this one at the very reserved facilities of Brazilian Air Defense Command (Comando de Defesa Aerea Brasileiro, Comdabra), an even more sensitive installation that controls the entire air defense situation in the country and surrounding areas of Atlantic Ocean and South America. In this facility the UFO researchers were given full briefing of the top aspects of aerial defense of the country.

It was in this facility that its own commander, brigadier Atheneu Azambuja, admitted to the UFO researchers how concerned the Brazilian military are about the UFO phenomena...

More information here (Portuguese) and here (different content, in English).

Posted to WackyHumor at 10:49 PM | Comments (1)

NYT goes to Idaho, discovers illegal immigration

Monday's New York Times has a front page article about illegal immigration to Idaho and County Commissioner Robert Vasquez's attempts to do something about it: "A Battle Against Illegal Workers, With an Unlikely Driving Force".

In what might be a first for the NYT, it's not a PIIPP, and the bleeding heart "liberalism" of Nina Bernstein is nowhere to be found.

It does, however, approach this issue with the idea that being Hispanic implies that one must also support illegal immigration. If that's true, does that mean that all or most Hispanics don't respect our laws and put their race before their country? Perhaps the NYT should look into that in more depth in a future article.

The article also says, "Mr. Schwarzenegger was criticized by many Latinos after he praised a group of citizens patrolling the border." Do far-left (or worse) racial demagogues (including one with alleged links to the Mexican government) really count though?

The NYT also generally supports the idea that without all those illegal serf laborers Idaho would be forced to declare bankruptcy and be sold to Canada or something. For the answer to that, see "How Much Is that Tomato in the Window?" or "The Mirage of Mexican Guest Workers":

...California Farmer reported in 1963 that if the flow of braceros stopped, tomato growers and canners "agree the State will never [again be able to plant] the 100,000 to 175,000 acres planted when there was a guaranteed supplemental labor force in the form of the braceros..."

Reality, however, never confirmed these dire predictions. In 1960 some 45,000 farm workers (mostly braceros) had harvested 2.2 million tons of processing tomatoes. By 1999, it took only 5,000 workers to operate machinery that harvested some 12 million tons. Thanks to these efficiency gains from mechanization, the real price of processing tomatoes declined 54 percent while per capita consumption rose 23 percent...

It's a good start, but I hope the next time the NYT will look into this in a bit more depth. And, perhaps they should consider coming to Los Angeles and reporting on our situation here.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 09:55 PM | Comments (3)

New South Federal Savings Bank... and RICO?

Dimitri Vassilaros might be an unforgivable idiot when it comes to biking ("Keep Bicycles off the Road"), but he does have an interesting column about home loans for illegal aliens. From "Banking on illegals":

New South Federal Savings Bank is giving illegal aliens home mortgages to help them realize the American dream.

Its Casa Mia program is designed to help tax-paying immigrants "without traditional forms of documentation" -- like anything indicating they are Americans...

If enough illegals apply, New South plans to offer Casa Mia mortgages in Atlanta, Phoenix and Houston "in the near future."

Unless, that is, the bank officers are arrested for helping to harbor illegal aliens.

"What this bank is doing is a clear violation of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act," said Craig Nelsen, executive director of Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement...

...[FILE] is threatening to use the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to file a civil damages lawsuit against the bank...

Previously: "Most banks would sell the kidneys of Brazilian garbage men if they could get away with it".

Note that this article also mentions Atlanta's Mexican Consul general, Remedios Gomez Arnau, who I seem to recall from the Pedro Marin story. See Mexican agents in the state houses? Part 2.

UPDATE: Here's the FILE letter:

...It is very likely a court would find the issuance of a mortgage under your new program to be a criminal violation of 8 U.S.C. 1324 (Bringing in and Harboring Certain Aliens), which makes it a felony to encourage an alien to reside in the United States knowing that such residence is in violation of law. §1324(a)(1)(A)(iii) It is hard to imagine any court taking seriously a claim that helping an illegal alien buy a house situated inside the United States isn't knowingly encouraging the illegal alien to reside illegally in the United States...

Posted to Immigration2005a at 08:40 PM | Comments (0)

Why there will never be a "President Condi"

From a much longer article about an appearance in San Francisco:

...[Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was] asked for her opinion about the role of armed volunteers guarding the border with Mexico.

"As to enforcement, that is a role for the United States government and the United States government alone," she said bluntly...

Yes, well, unfortunately, the U.S. government is intentionally not doing the job.

If she ever gets close to being nominated for an elected office, expect her support for Bush's various Open Borders goals to be a major part of the opposition from anyone to the right of things.

For previous examples, see "She's a team player!", "Borderline Insanity - Part IV: Globalized Insanity", and "Visas for Terror".

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

AVWatch: Mexico to play important role in Villaraigosa's policies

Los Angeles mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa was interviewed by Mexico City's El Universal a few days ago, and:

[he said] that Mexico will play an important role in shaping his policies...

Furthermore:

...Villaraigosa stressed that as mayor he would look to improve relations with Mexico.

"We are starting a new era. Instead of closing the borders, as stated by (California Governor Arnold) Schwarzenegger, we should look at our border as an opportunity," said Villaraigosa. "This is a time of great importance, not just for us to rediscover our roots, but looking to create a mutually beneficial relationship."

...He said he would not support policies that persecute the city's large migrant population...

"I support Special Order 40 (prohibiting police from making migration-related arrests)," he said. "We need our police officers to fight gangs and organized crime. That will keep them more than busy."

He lamented the Real ID act, recently passed by the U.S. Congress, that if signed by President George W. Bush would prevent undocumented migrants from getting driver's licenses.

"Politicians in the United States need to understand that immigrants come here for the same reason that immigrants have always come: To work," he said. "Instead of punishing and demonizing them, we should try to integrate them."

He added that while his position does not allow him to make policies on immigration, he will speak out in favor of "humane, realistic and effective" migration reform...

Not being able to make policy hasn't stopped him from doing things like congratulating former MX president Zedillo on helping to block Prop. 187. And, while he might not have federal legislative powers, he can set immigration policies for Los Angeles by doing things like exactly what he says above: opposing Special Order 40.

Note also that AV misquotes Arnold Schwarzenegger above. Since Arnold made clear he was only referring to securing the borders, and AV undoubtedly knows that, wouldn't you consider that AV is intentionally trying to mislead the readers of this article?

Regarding Special Order 40, see also "Immigration Laws Might Have Stopped Sept. 11 Plot" and a similar policy discussed in "'Sanctuary' practice in Houston draws fire". The fire came from 9/11 Commission member John Lehman, who might be better able to speak to this issue than the mayor "for all of Los Angeles."

Note to all of AV's apologists, defenders, and supporters: expect this only to get worse as our Open Borders mayor drives Los Angeles even further down the road to ruin. Get out now while you still have some slight credibility left.

Note to the NYT: I see that you published "In New York, Fringe Politics in Mainstream" in your NY Regional section. Could you please come out to Los Angeles and do a special on our politics here? Sure there will be some bias, but I have no doubt you'll do a much better job than the L.A. Times. (Readers are urged to contact public *at* nytimes.com and ask them to do this.)

Posted to Immigration2005a at 02:15 PM | Comments (0)

SEIU to split from AFL-CIO?

Andrew Stern of the Service Employees International Union - which is one of the unions in the AFL-CIO conglomeration - is considering leaving the federation and forming a new group of unions. According to the L.A. Times article "Head of Big Service-Workers Union Weighs Separation From AFL-CIO", he wants to concentrate on just two areas: recruiting new members and consolidating small unions into larger groups.

The Times Q&A is at about the level of a Robert Hilburn Q&A, but it includes this from Stern:

For our union, there are three challenges. One is to continue to build a global union. We thought we had made a big step forward because we put someone to work in Geneva. Now we have people working in Australia, in London, South Africa. We hope to have people in South America soon. We're about to have a second meeting of a group of unions to talk about launching a couple of different global campaigns. So we are well on our way to try to do what's never been done: to try to figure out how to have a global union or global campaigning...

Hey, it's been tried, but that time it was called a "Soyuz." But, seriously, previous coverage starts in "SEIU's Hostile Leftist Takeover".

Posted to Politics at 02:06 PM | Comments (3)

Rich Lowry on the McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill

From NRO:

This bipartisan deal cut by Sen. John McCain is noxious. No, the issue isn't judges. (Or campaign finance, or health care, or any number of other things.) It's illegal immigration and a proposal that has just been cooked up by the Arizona maverick and the Massachusetts non-maverick Sen. Ted Kennedy to grant an amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants...

The bill could make illegals stand on one foot and wave their arms before becoming legal - but it would still be an amnesty...

...The McCain-Kennedy bill has the hallmarks of continuing in the tradition of the 1986 legislation... "A lot of it seems intended actually to handcuff DHS enforcement people," says [Mark] Krikorian. The rest of the enforcement provisions are a mishmash of calls for reports, coordination plans, advisory committees - in other words, the usual dodges when politicians want the public to think they are doing something they don't want to do...

Posted to Immigration2005a at 08:24 PM | Comments (4)

Sierra Club to rent Goodyear blimp

From the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club's website comes this (older) news:

Sierra Club members turned out in historic numbers in April to elect five of their peers to the Board of Directors and to reject a ballot initiative that would have forced the group to support restrictions on immigration. Over 15 percent of the Club's membership returned 122,308 ballots - the second highest in the Club's recent history - and defeated the anti-immigration measure by more than a 5 to 1 margin...

That's linked from their home page by the headline "Club elects new board; measure to restrict immigration soundly defeated". The prominent placement given to the defeat of the measure, and the use of the word "soundly" immediately prompted me to add, "Did you hear that, Mr. Gelbaum?"

For those who don't know the name, David Gelbaum has given the Sierra Club Foundation over $100 million. Here's a quote from him:

"I did tell Carl Pope [Executive Director of the Sierra Club] in 1994 or 1995 that if they ever came out anti-immigration, they would never get a dollar from me..."

In case they want to make sure that he hears their message, perhaps they should rent the Goodyear blimp, buy billboard space, print up some coasters, or do all three.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 08:10 PM | Comments (1)

Why I hate Seattle, Part 4519

From "Weather Service issues first ever heat advisory for Seattle area":

While much of the country bundled up for rain and stormy weather, Seattle residents dusted off the sunscreen and shorts Friday as the National Weather Service issued its first-ever heat advisory for the city.

The advisory... was prompted by a second day of expected record temperatures. Thursday's high temperature of 89 degrees at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport broke a 58-year-old record. A high of 87 was forecast for Friday...

In sunny-but-hugely-troubled Los Angeles, it's that temperature before noon several days a year. And, of course, Arizona and other Southwest states are even hotter. Have another double frosted mocha latte capuccino frappe, wimps.

Posted to WackyHumor at 06:20 PM | Comments (18)

"Sens. Cornyn, Kyl Prepare Massive Guestworker Plan"

Paul Egan of FAIR reports on a Senate immigration hearing attended by John Cornyn (R-TX) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ). Those two worthies are preparing their own massive guest worker plan/amnesty (not to be confused with the McCain-Kennedy Open Borders, Open Wallets bill.)

According to Egan the meeting was one-sided in favor of Open Borders types:

...Deputy labor secretary Stephen Law proposed a wide-open foreign worker program, for every sector of the U.S. economy. He was joined in supporting this proposal by the other witnesses, including Tom Donohue president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Dan Griswold director of Trade Policy Studies at the CATO Institute, and Princeton sociology professor Douglass S. Massey.

The witnesses also told senators that illegal immigration would solve the social security problem. Assistant Secretary Law made the incredible observation that the use of h-1b guestworkers in the high-tech industry, proves there is continued job growth in the high-tech industry, completely ignoring the record high levels of under- and unemployment for U.S. high tech workers...

For his part, CATO's Griswold responded to a question about the tax burden of illegal aliens on local communities by claiming that illegal aliens pay more in taxes than they get in benefits. He went on to offer another gem, saying one of the main problems of the 1986 IRCA legislation was that it didn't liberalize legal immigration. (Meaning, unlimit it.)

Egan says that neither Kyl nor Cornyn endorsed the statements of the pro-Open Borders crowd, but I doubt whether they renounced them either.

In case you think Law's comments were just a one-off or didn't reflect Bush's opinions, bear in mind that Margaret Spellings (former assistant to Bush for domestic policy and our current Secretary of Education) said the same things in January 2004. That's discussed in Bush "guest worker" program to be "open to any type of employee", and, strangely enough, Dan Griswold was on the same panel at that time. See also Bush immigration plan could affect techies.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 05:48 PM | Comments (5)

Illegal immigration activist offended, media alerted

Mayra Latimer - a counselor at high schools somewhere in Wisconsin - is angry. Very angry.

You see, there's a TV commercial playing in Wisconsin which opposes WI Gov. Jim Doyle's plan to give illegal aliens a better deal than U.S. citizens. Doyle wants to give citizens of other countries discounted college educations. Meanwhile, U.S. citizens who live outside WI but who want to (for some reason) attend WI colleges would be forced to continue to pay the full rate.

Let me put Jim Doyle's plan in chart form:
Illegal aliens: discount
U.S. citizens: the shaft

But, back to Latimer:

[she] says the ad makes her angry not just because it exists but because it drives an even bigger wedge between the people on both sides of the issue.

"We want to create a better future for our kids, and as a parent it's hard for me to see that kind of reaction."

That's nice, but it still doesn't explain why the U.S. citizens in Wisconsin should pay for the educations of citizens of foreign countries and give the shaft to other U.S. citizens from other states.

So far, I've only been able to come up with two explanations as to why this high school counselor was given air time: either the station agrees with her and was using her to make their point, or the news director is high on cheese.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 04:13 PM | Comments (0)

Nigerian blog spams?

Yes, you read it here first. "Dr. Nate Obaseki" just left a comment, and he wants you to know that his group deals on raw materials and export into Europe/America. They want representatives who can "help us establish a medium of getting to our clients in America/Europe as well as making payments through you to us... There will be no financial obilgation required from you in this transaction..."

Of course, we can see what comes next: there's the minor perfunctory nature of the transfer fees. You see, those need to be paid beforehand, and to be on the up and up, it has to come from your account. It's just a minor matter, and it will make get the 17 Million and Four Hundred Thousand Dollars U.S. ($17,400,000 USD) to you that much quicker.

Posted to Bloggage at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)

Chinese illegal immigrants detained in Texas

From this:

Goliad County wrote a new chapter Tuesday in its ongoing dealings with human smuggling. Sheriff Robert DeLaGarza said more than a dozen Asians who appear to be illegal immigrants were caught traveling through south Goliad County by a deputy patrolling an area north of Sarco.

DeLaGarza said the suspected illegals had passports from the Republic of China. It appears they are obtaining passports to enter Mexico as tourists, then making their way to the United States border, he said.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent who picked up the immigrants later in the day told DeLaGarza the agency is seeing more and more Chinese coming across the Mexican border...

There are no reported ties to terrorism or spying. Note that this article could have been a bit clearer. When they say "Republic of China" I assume they mean it in the Taiwan sense, and their use of that term is not just shorthand for the People's Republic of China.

Posted to Immigration_terror at 01:07 PM | Comments (0)

Richfield Minnesota gets infiltrated

Keep reading, because you might be shocked how this ends up. From "Mexican consulate representative joins in ordinance debate":

A representative of the Consulate General of Mexico in Chicago joined several other panelists last week in supporting a proposed ordinance that would officially restrict Richfield city employees from asking about immigration status in most cases.

Consulate representative Joyce Graciela Stellick took part in a community forum sponsored by the Richfield Human Rights Commission. She said that in her 2 1/2 years of experience in Minnesota and Wisconsin, she has seen many cases in which Mexican victims of crime have been unwilling to come forward to report crimes because they fear police...

...The Mexican government has a stake in policies outside its borders just as the United States has a stake in what happens to its citizens in Mexico, Stellick said.

"It's just like you wouldn't want something to happen while you're sitting on a beach in Mexico, with someone asking for your passport or visa," she said...

...Although Stellick wasn't originally a panelist, Human Rights Commission Chair Mark Olson asked her to join the panel after she introduced herself...

Of course, you already know that Mexico's "stake" in their exported population is a multi-billion dollar industry. And, you know that there are not 10 to 20 million illegal Americans living in Mexico, unlike our situation. I don't have to go into all the other ways her analogy is just a line that only the most brain-dead liberals would fall for. And, if you've been following along the idea that Mexican consuls would try to meddle in our laws - even attending local council meetings, sometimes with an illegal alien cheering section in tow - is not that surprising.

But, what's disturbing is what you find when you search for more information on this representative of a hostile foreign nation. From this:

...Joyce Graciela Stellick, who was born the daughter of a high ranking civilian government interpreter in Puerto Rico. "My mother spoke six languages and was an interpreter for the U.S. government for three presidents," Stellick explained, "Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Kennedy."

...Stellick moved to Colorado when her mother was transferred in 1964. Growing up there, she said, was sometimes difficult for a young Puerto Rican girl. "When I went down for my drivers license test, they asked me for my Green Card," she said, shaking her head.

Puerto Ricans are born U.S. citizens, and are not immigrants when they come into the United States.

Stellick never thought it was unusual that, while growing up, she had been in the Pentagon, the White House and NORAD, and it was not until after her mother's death that she learned why her mother was traveling in those circles. "I didn't realize this until after my mother died, but she actually worked for the CIA," Stellick explained. Stellick, although not working for the CIA, did follow in her mother's footsteps by becoming an interpreter, speaking six languages. She is certified to provide interpreter services all the way up to the Minnesota Supreme Court Roster, a high honor for interpreters...

Hey, what a coincidence! I'm thinking of the "T" word too.

Posted to Immigration_consul at 05:19 PM | Comments (1)

They take the jobs teens won't do. Or something.

From the article "Finding summer job is no child's play. Teens have to slog to find work, more so in some states":

Employment rates for younger Americans have been falling steadily, hitting a historic low last year and likely to be about as low this summer. An expected improvement in teen jobs has failed to materialize even as the overall job picture has brightened.

Teens, facing stiff competition from older workers, immigrants and college kids, will fare about as well this summer as they did last summer, predicted Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.

About 36.7% of U.S. teens age 16 to 19 will work this summer, Sum said, just about matching the 36.1% of teens employed last summer, which was the lowest rate in 57 years...

"Teens really benefit a lot when employers add a lot of jobs," [Sum] said. And because of a stable influx of older workers, immigrants and young adults age 20 to 24, "employers just haven't had to reach back that far in the queue to reach the kids..."

Why are we giving low-wage jobs to people from another country, when we could be giving them to our own citizens? And, is how socially healthy is this situation? Shouldn't teenagers get crap job experience as part of their development?

Previously: "[Illegal aliens] do the jobs that even blacks won't do."

Posted to Immigration2005a at 05:08 PM | Comments (3)

Tucson: free educations for all!

Tucson's a nice little city, but it has its problems. Two of those problems appear to be Pima County Schools Superintendent Linda Arzoumanian and, in the same county, Ajo Unified School District Superintendent Robert Dooley.

From this:

The state's top school official said Wednesday that students who live in Mexico regularly attend public schools in Ajo at the expense of Arizona taxpayers and that Pima County's school superintendent has refused his request to investigate the matter.

That refusal could result in a challenge of future per-pupil funding requests, said state schools superintendent Tom Horne

Horne said the allegations first raised a year ago in news reports were confirmed by a private investigator he sent to the border. The investigator videotaped students walking across the Lukeville border and boarding a nearby school bus...

...Horne said Pima County Schools Superintendent Linda Arzoumanian declined to investigate further, and Ajo Unified School District Superintendent Robert Dooley has yet to respond.

Should Arzoumanian or Dooley fail to take action, Horne said he may challenge schools' requests for per-pupil funding, an annual allotment which is currently set at $5,000 per student...

[Arzoumanian] said discriminating against students based on citizenship, race or national origin is unconstitutional - and because address checks aren't common practice - she hesitates to focus on border-area students of apparent Mexican heritage.

"It's not within my right to do an investigation," she said.

If, as in the Ajo schools, students provide the rent and utility receipts, or guardianship documents that they need to prove they live in the district, then they are eligible to attend public schools.

"I'm not sure that any (students from Mexico ) are attending. … There's no way to know," she said...

Other than the videotape and the investigation, of course.

Previously: "Southwestern schools root out illegal pupils"

Posted to Immigration2005a at 04:45 PM | Comments (0)

Another Drudge classic

Isn't Drudge setting the bar a bit high for 48-point red? How will we know when something actually important happens? Will he have to go to double-sirens and flashing 64-point red?

Posted to WackyHumor at 11:32 AM | Comments (0)

Oriana Fallaci on trial; some "liberals" support her

From Reuters:

A judge has ordered best-selling writer and journalist Oriana Fallaci to stand trial in her native Italy on charges she defamed Islam in a recent book.

The decision angered Italy's justice minister but delighted Muslim activists, who accused Fallaci of inciting religious hatred in her 2004 work "La Forza della Ragione" (The Force of Reason)...

The "liberal" who posted this story at DU sounds a bit, well, "classical" in his liberalism:

I have to say that, independently of what Oriana Fallaci said, this is NOT a good development. This should not stand in a free society, and allowing a writer to stand trial because she "defamed" a religion is tantamount to censorship. By the way, Fallaci has not gone nearly as far criticising Islam as some of our domestic loudmouths like Coulter. To her credit, Fallaci was both a feminist activist and a war reporter (sort of an Italian Christianne Amampour) in the Middle East for a decade.

Furthermore, it's my humble opinion that charging this writer with "defamation of Islam" is tantamount of forcing Islamic laws into our societies. I may not fully agree with Oriana Fallaci, but she deserves full protection of the right to free speech that we defend in western civilization...

Surprisingly, some of the DUmmies agree.

Posted to Terrorism at 05:30 PM | Comments (2)

Tortured by Tyson, whipped by Lisa Franzetta

PETA's gone out and bought a new domain: TorturedByTyson.com. They intone:

From December 2004 through February 2005, a PETA undercover investigator worked on the slaughter line of a Tyson Foods chicken processing plant in Heflin, Alabama. Using a hidden camera, he documented the treatment of the more than 100,000 chickens killed every day in the plant. Anyone would be horrified by what he saw: live birds who had their heads torn off by hand because workers couldn't be bothered to kill them by slitting their throats; birds who had their bodies mutilated by throat-cutting machines that didn't work properly, including one bird who had the skin torn entirely off her chest; workers who threw chickens around and were cruel to them just for fun; and chickens who went through the "scald bath" (a tank of scalding-hot water used to remove their feathers) while still conscious and able to feel pain. Watch the video and see for yourself the agony of these animals' last moments...

It'd be nice if they could expend this same amount of energy going after the reputed other activities of Tyson, such as hiring illegal workers ("Federal Court OKs Suit Against Tyson for Hiring Illegal Aliens"; see also "Mmmm... Tyson Chicken and TB").

But, if like me you'd prefer to think happy thoughts, here's a page about Lonewacko's favorite loony animal rights' activist Lisa Franzetta. It features a pic of her in a leather dominatrix outfit. And, from her essay "It's Better to Bare Skin Than Wear Skin":

For several years now, I've spent a good deal of time caged and nearly nude, my body painted like a tiger or other exotic animal. It's not what I imagined I'd end up doing when I was a student at Brown University, but I'm an animal rights activist, and if there is one thing I've learned, its that baring a little skin certainly shines the spotlight on animal issues...

Indeed.

Previously: "Sultry activists bare their skin in freezing weather to protest wearing fur".

Posted to Miscellania at 01:30 PM | Comments (1)

Legislature pay raise: It's only a million and a half a year

The California Legislature was recently given a pay raise by an independent commission. Before each of our 120 reps was getting $99,000 per year. In the future, they might get $110,880 per year. That works out to just $1.44 million, a mere drop in the bucket.

Now, as for that $70 million that Gov. Schwarzenegger wants to spend on a special election, that's real money, and it's right for the California Nurses Association to oppose that waste of money.

Continuing with the mockery:

In his speech before about 2,000 state business leaders, Schwarzenegger said he had been willing to consider the idea that legislators deserve a raise after seven years of no increases.

"So I sat down and started thinking about it," he said in a mocking voice, relating how former Gov. Pete Wilson, Davis' predecessor, left the state a surplus. "They have spent all of that money and they went and created a $22 billion debt. And They continue to spend more than we have. And they have chased businesses out of the state and jobs out of the state. They took the economy right down into the toilet and almost made the state go into bankruptcy.

"Yes, they deserve a raise! That's fair!" he said, drawing laughs from the crowd. "Under any normal circumstances, they would be fighting to keep their jobs, and keep their salaries."

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

Chris Cannon, Grover Norquist, WSJ, Fox News all linked together?

Regular readers of this blog are probably familar with Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT). (If not, see "Rep. Chris Cannon, great American and great Republican" for the latest or see "Aide to U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) solicits campaign contributions from illegal aliens" for a classic.)

On Monday, the NYT published "Link to Lobbyist Brings Scrutiny to G.O.P. Figure", which showed all the links between Grover Norquist and indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Now, Project USA reports:

On May 02, 2004, Norquist wrote a dishonest article for FoxNews.com attacking Matt Hayes of Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement after FoxNews.com ran a piece by Matt detailing the negative impact on working Americans of the immigration policies pushed by Rep. Chris Cannon of Utah...

By the sheerest of coincidences, in the last election cycle, Chris Cannon's campaign paid Janus Merritt Strategies, the firm Grover Norquist started with David Safavian, Cannon's chief of staff in 2001, $5,960 for "Campaign Consulting & Fundraising Exp." Also during the 2004 cycle, Cannon's campaign paid $5,614 for fundraising expenses to Williams Mullen, the influence-peddling company that was in the process of buying Norquist's influence-peddling company.

Matt had a crushing response to Norquist ready to submit (crushing responses to immigration extremists, forced as they are to rely on dishonesty in order to be convincing, are very easy to write), when he got word that word had come from higher up not to print any more articles by him that mentioned Chris Cannon...

...In the 2004 cycle, News America Holdings gave $5,000 to Cannon for Congress...

Note that American Patrol says that Norquist is supposedly now in favor of greater immigration control, but who cares.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 11:41 AM | Comments (1)

Soros-funded Media Matters now deleting comments?

Media Matters - which admits it receives money from George Soros - appears to have deleted several comments from this thread about Bill O'Reilly discussing Harvard's plan to spend $50 million to promote "faculty diversity." O'Reilly said: "Any woman who signs on to work at Harvard gets 100 pair of shoes ... because all women want shoes."

I left a sarcastic comment in the Manolo Shoe Blog style, and linked to that blog. I also said, "I think MMFA, they have no sense of the humor." That comment is now missing, as are about 50 others that were there.

Posted to Bloggage at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)

A dozen or so "nurses" hold pathetic anti-Arnold protest in Chicago

My title again! MSM report actually titled "Chicago Protesters Greet Gov. Schwarzenegger".

Schwarzenegger was in the city to attend a private fundraiserevent at the Chicago Hilton and Towers, but several local nurses protested outside the facility... The local nurses are supporting their California counterparts who say Schwarzenegger may try to privatize their pensions...

The reader is invited to try to count all of the nurses shown in these photographs. It looks to me like there were a dozen there, but some people might be able to spot one or two more.

I note also that all of them appear to be carrying the same printed sign. And, I wonder if it's entirely accurate to simply refer to them as "nurses." While the article does mention the American Nurses Association, wouldn't it be more accurate to describe them as nurses who are members of nurse's unions or of membership/lobbying groups like the ANA?

Note that the ANA is (I believe) affiliated with the California Nurses Association, which is working with the California Teachers Association on their anti-Arnold smears.

And, note that the ANA has 150,000 members and is only open to R.N.s, yet our own Census Bureau is eager to inform us that there are 2.4 million R.N.s in these United States.

Posted to California at 12:20 AM | Comments (2)

"Immigrants rally against Schwarzenegger"

The SB Sun family of newspapers reports on the anti-Arnold rally yesterday in which busloads of "immigrants" were brought to Sacramento to support illegal immigration.

After the comments previously discussed and a few others of the same level demanding massive state benefits for all, we get this:

Schwarzenegger spokesman Vince Sollitto said in an interview afterward that Schwarzenegger, as an immigrant from Austria, understands the contributions immigrants have made to California and the nation.

But the governor also "appreciates the difference between legal and illegal immigration' and the need for "public safety and homeland security.'

Obviously, the protestors and the organizers do not, prefering to place their ethnicity and their ethnic power base above those more generally American concerns.

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

Far-lefties support illegal immigration, use strawman argument

There I go again, giving MSM reports my own title. In fact, what we have is "Speakers say immigrants don't get fair shake":

"Immigrant bashers" got bashed Monday afternoon at a rush hour rally in support of immigration reform.

[...quote from SEIU deleted...]

...Speakers at the event denounced "Real ID," which they said makes it virtually impossible for an undocumented immigrant to get a driver's license...

But, isn't that a good thing?

I realize this is just a blurb, and it's probably from a cub reporter, but perhaps that reporter could have made a slight attempt at journalism and asked them what they mean by "bashing" rather than just serving a stenographic role. Can they give examples of this "bashing?" Could they in fact be referring to U.S. citizens simply asking that our immigration laws be enforced? And, could the reporter have given a slight clue to the far-left nature of the SEIU rather than requiring her readers to search for that information? And, by "immigration reform", don't they in fact mean "the Kennedy-McCain massive guest worker and amnesty program"?

Send your thoughts to metro at RockyMountainNews.com

Posted to Immigration2005a at 12:03 AM | Comments (0)

David Hasselhoff partly "responsible for a lot of world peace"

This is from May 1, but consider it a classic. At the recent Bollywood Movie Awards - held in Atlantic City - Mitch Buchanan a.k.a. David Hasselhoff won the award for international star of the year.

Over to Mitch:

"I'm proud of shows like Baywatch and Knight Rider because it's about saving lives, not taking lives," he told Reuters.

"It's entertainment, it's tongue in cheek, it brings the world together," he said, adding that the entertainment industry was a powerful force for good in the world.

"I think it's responsible for a lot of world peace," Hasselhoff said, adding that he was hoping to work in India soon on a project based on a series of romantic novels.

"I never knew exactly how to get there. Now I've got this (award) it's like my key to India," he said.

As everyone knows, David Hasselhoff is a Megastar in Deutschland, but what few know is his impact on the world stage: "Did David Hasselhoff really help end the Cold War?" See also "Hasselhoff ready to make Knight Rider return" for more good news.

The picture has nothing to do with the awards or Hasselhoff, it's just some eye candy from the older post "Today's news from India".

On a personal note, I met someone from the German consulate. One of her jobs was to go out to (the street outside) David Hasselhoff's house and collect her countrygirls who'd come to L.A. hoping to meet the Megastar himself and had not only been unsuccessful but had run out of Geld as well.

Posted to Celebrities at 07:51 PM | Comments (1)

Should Bryan Barton sue San Francisco?

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is voting on a resolution that would condemn Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his support of the Minuteman Project.

The resolution is in this PDF file. As you might expect, it's full of innuendo and misleading statements.

However, it also contains at least one thing that I consider to be an outright lie:

WHEREAS, The federal border patrol had to call in the County Sheriff's Office when Minuteman vigilantes held a 26 year old Mexican man against his will, physically restrained him and forced him to hold a t-shirt with a mocking slogan while his picture was taken and he was videotaped...

That refers to Bryan Barton. I realize that in the alternate reality of Frisco the above statement might be true, but it's false in our reality. Even the Mexican consul agrees no crime was committed.

We can laugh about those wacky S.F. Supes all day long, but when the state lies about you and falsely accuses you of having committed a crime, that affects all of us irrespective of ideology. If I were Barton I know what I'd do, and I'm sure I'd win and collect a large judgment as well.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 06:30 PM | Comments (3)

Far-left illegal alien advocates bus in anti-Arnold demonstrators (my title)

Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if my title had been used, rather than "Angry Immigrants Protest at Capitol"?

In that case, we'd actually know what's going on. Instead, we get this naive and misleading report:

Angry immigrants tried to get the governor's attention Monday with a noisy protest outside his office...

[...they don't like his support of the Minuteman Project...]

[Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, D-Newark informs:] "The governor of the people is afraid of the people... He's become an embarrassment to our state."

...Immigrant groups began boarding buses for the Capitol just after sunrise to celebrate Immigrant Day. In Sacramento, they delivered an open letter to the governor and the legislature, asking them to recognize the contributions of immigrants and reject vigilantism.

[Reshma Shamasunder of the California Immigrant Welfare Collective intones:] "...Let's support comprehensive immigration reform. Let's not invite lawless folks into our state."

Some of these people might in fact be immigrants. Others, perhaps most of them, are actually immigrants. Oops! I forgot to call them "illegal immigrants" just like the article did. Thankfully I believe in calling things by their true names.

I note also that the California Immigrant Welfare Collaborative (the correct name of the group mentioned, although collective is certainly accurate) is a far-left organization:

(CIWC) provides information on public benefits for immigrants in California. Some of the issues CIWC addresses include: Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI), health care, domestic violence, language access, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Food Stamps, CalWORKs, public charge, and affidavits of support.

At this point in time you're probably thinking of that guy who sells books telling you how to get as much government money as possible. Except, when they say "immigrants", I think they're talking about "immigrants" too. As in the illegal variety. And, I don't know whether Matthew Lesko has chapters on that yet.

CIWC's homepage is here. You'll note two things: one of their collaborators is Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. Click the link to see why that's not a good thing at all.

And, another of their collaborators is the National Immigration Law Center, which also hosts the CWIC's site. Read that link for much more on CWIC and their fellow travelers.

See also "The Enemy Within the Justice Department's Office of Special Counsel". The DOJ at one time linked to the NILC.

And, here's an action alert from the CWIC and their fellow groups advocating for the Mexican government's Matricula Consular cards.

Now, if I could do the foregoing, why couldn't CBS 5's John Lobertini?

Posted to Immigration2005a at 10:25 PM | Comments (2)

Other-than-Mexicans give themselves up to get released into the U.S.

"OTM" means "other than Mexican", and refers to Central Americans, South Americans, Middle Easterners, North Koreans, etc. who are caught sneaking over our southern border. The article "Officials: OTMs 'a very grave problem'" states that many crossers choose Texas as the place to cross because they know they won't be detained due to limited detention space. Not only that, but:

"Down in Eagle Pass, we'll see them sitting by the side of a road, and they'll chase us down and nearly beg to be arrested," said one field agent who asked to not be identified.

"They know they’ll be released pretty fast, and that paper (court "notice to appear" document) is like their ticket to go wherever they want."

...Berg explained that OTM release actions have been widely broadcast throughout Central America and beyond, causing the Texas section of the U.S. border, from Del Rio to Brownsville, to be the geopolitical objective in the sights of millions of would-be border crossers...

From October 2004 to the present they detained 42,239 illegal aliens. 14,569 of which were OTMs, and about 13,000 of those were released into the U.S.

See also:
"Illegals detained at border released onto U.S. streets"
"Bonilla demands review of OTM release policy"
"Illegals from terrorist nations are crossing the border into Arizona."

Posted to Immigration_terror at 03:14 PM | Comments (3)

60 illegal aliens arrested at critical infrastructure sites

From "ICE arrests 60 illegals working in sensitive areas":

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have arrested 60 illegal aliens working as contract employees at a dozen critical infrastructure sites nationwide, including seven petrochemical refineries, three power plants, a national air cargo facility and a pipeline company.

There was no evidence that any of them had terrorist ties or were engaged in a terrorist plot, although they had access to sensitive critical infrastructure locations and posed a serious homeland security threat, said Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Michael J. Garcia, who heads ICE...

The arrestees are from Mexico and Central America, and all of them worked for Brock Enterprises, which is reportedly cooperating with and isn't a target of the investigation.

The above is a Jerry Seper report; the AP report is similar except papers seem to have given it various interesting titles:

The Houston Chronicle's title manages to not be the longest and still be the clearest: "60 illegal immigrants arrested at plants in 6 states".

The S.F. Chronical stresses the arrestors and not the arrestees: "US immigration agents arrest 60 illegal workers across country".

An HR site gets PC: "60 Undocumented Workers Arrested".

And, the L.A. Times continues to lead the way with impartial, journalistically-excellent headline writing: "60 Immigrant Workers Held".

See the other posts in this category for many other examples of illegal aliens - even including gang members - working at secure facilities, including military bases.

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

"Immigration excuses need some work"

David Harsanyi of the Denver Post gets it right:

Did you know some consider it racist to oppose illegal immigration but perfectly reasonable to support a system that casts illegal Mexican immigrants in the most menial and undesirable jobs?

The enlightened, it would seem, need someone to wash the dishes when they are done with their seared ahi and pinot noir in the finest Cherry Creek bistros.

Makes you wonder, though: Who are the bigots here?

...Colorado provides illegal immigrants free use of hospitals and city homeless shelters, while they make up around 20 percent of the Colorado jail population. And the state affords tens of thousands of immigrant children free schooling.

Is it racist to point out these facts? Or do open-border advocates cleverly equate rational immigration control with irrational bigotry?

He goes on to discuss Denver's sanctuary for illegal aliens policy and their current and former mayors John Hickenlooper and Wellington Webb. For more information on that sanctuary policy, see this.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 11:15 AM | Comments (2)

How Insty does it

How does Insty post all those informative posts? AutoBlogger!

AutoBlogger is a powerful content-authoring software tool designed for online columnists and bloggers. Upon installation, AutoBlogger uses a sophisticated Artificial Intelligence algorithm to 'read' the public entries of your journal/blog to triangulate a sense of your writing style. From that point forward, any time you hit a writer's block, want to take a vacation, or simply wish to step away from your computer for a few days, AutoBlogger can be set to take over, using what it has learned about your posting and writing patterns to author original content in a voice consistent with your existing prose.

Heh. Indeed.

Posted to Bloggage at 12:38 AM | Comments (0)

N.Y. Daily News, Albor Ruiz: Lying, Misleading, Joking, or Telling the Truth?

Welcome to the premier edition of "Lying, Misleading, Joking, or Telling the Truth", or LMJOTTT as it shall henceforth be known. In this series we'll examine editorials and news reports, and try to decide which of those the author is doing.

For this edition, we'll look at "Immigrants get new hope for fairness" from Albor Ruiz in the New York Daily News:

The new bi-partisan immigration reform bill introduced this week in Congress brings some hope for moving the immigration question away from prejudice, partisan grandstanding and merciless repression.

I think I'll put this part in the "he must be joking with his hyperbole scare talk" and part in the "he's misleading verging on outright lying". Is it really "prejudice" or "merciless repression" to enforce our immigration laws? So, is he joking, or just outright lying?

...current anti-immigrant climate...

I think he's referring to the fact that 75% or more of the American public is opposed to illegal immigration, and they seem to actually be demanding that their representatives share their concerns. Is that "anti-immigrant"? No, it isn't. Misleading.

It is too soon to give a verdict on the merits of the proposed reform law, but something is certain: It puts back some needed common sense in the immigration debate.

I get the impression that Albor didn't have the time to go to Kennedy's site and read up on the details. He lays it all out. Perhaps he's waiting for talking points or something.

Then, Ruiz includes a quote from the New York Immigration Coalition. This was the same group discussed in the earlier entry "Hats off to the New York Immigration Coalition", which - surprise! - featured Ruiz discussing a misleading poll that, unfortunately, was performed by an academic rather than a regular-grade hack.

We'll end with this highly misleading statement:

Immigrants are our neighbors, the parents of school children like our own, they are hardworking people who pay taxes, fight wars and hold the most difficult jobs out there.

That's good to know. However, isn't Ruiz mainly discussing illegal immigrants in this piece? Why doesn't he identify them as such? Why does the NYIC suffer from that same problem? Are they... trying to mislead their readers?

Note: just a couple weeks ago, a N.Y. Daily News "news" report was discussed in the post "Get out your hankies, here comes a PIIPP", which also contains the email I sent the NYDN.

Contact editor *at* nydailynews.com with your thoughts.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 09:04 PM | Comments (4)

The upside of hot weather hiking

It appears to have been around 95 degrees in Sierra Madre when I started a brief hike up the Old Mount Wilson trail. It wasn't that hot, or it didn't feel that hot, but it was definitely hot. How hot was it? I personally spotted snakes and lizards falling out of trees and sizzling on the trail.

Want quality trails information including descriptions and topo maps?
Sign up for this 14-day free trial offer.

I only went to First Water, for about 2.6 miles round trip and 1000' of gain. I wasn't exactly being stingy with the water, and I drank over 2L going up and down. Total pack weight was about 22 lbs.

There was enough intermittent shade on the trail and a slight breeze so it wasn't that bad. Going up a trail without any shade would have been a different matter.

The upside is that I saw less than a dozen people on the trip. On a cooler day it could have been twice that number. And, there was no one else at the pool at First Water. So, it had that going for it.

Posted to OutdoorSports at 08:12 PM | Comments (0)

Newsweek: Racial Power!

This week's Newsweek focuses on racial power, specifically White Power. They cover recent elections won by white people, and suggest that, while White Power is great, in order to win future elections whites need to reach out to other races.

Oh, wait! I got that wrong! This week's Newsweek features Black Power.

Ooops. I've been informed that was wrong too. The cover is actually called "Latino Power". Whew! For a moment there I thought they were discussing the bad kind of racial power. Instead, it's the good kind!

The whole issue is about racial power, and the link is to what we can assume is their flagship article. It states that John Kerry could be president today if he'd won Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. That part is true. However, they're confused over how he could have won. Instead of reaching out to Hispanics by, for instance, being even more Open Borders than he already was, he could have won by stressing the American concept of borders.

It also contains this:

Some Latinos see a political opening in Bush's immigration policies—arguing that the president's guest-worker program, for example, does not do nearly enough to help the community that has shown him so much support.

So, despite what 75% of Americans want, President Bush should be even more "liberal". Then, millions more will come. And, they will presumably have even more power to invite in even more people of their same race. And on and on...

And, of course, there's the issue that the Open Borders policies of both Bush and the Dems actually hurt Hispanics by inviting in millions of cheaper workers to compete for their jobs.

In the same issue there's a guest essay from our old buddy Gregory Rodriguez, which includes the following:

"Villaraigosa, a onetime militant campus activist, fashioned his first race for the mayoralty in 2001 around a labor-left-Latino alliance. He lost. Four years later he broadened his message, built a more ideologically moderate multiethnic coalition and won by nearly 20 percentage points."

Great! Pretending to be a moderate in order to win elections works! But, at least the phrase "onetime militant campus activist" is slightly fact-based, even if it's misleading, implying that his far-left activities are in the past.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 07:53 PM | Comments (0)

"Chirac counts on jungle tribes to swing EU vote"

From The London Times:

Among the Wayampi Indians it is not uncommon for children to give birth at 10 and become grandparents in their twenties. They hunt and fish in red loincloths. Their favourite food is smoked alligator.

...1.4m voters [from "the impressive French portfolio of dominions around the globe from the Pacific to the Amazon jungle"] could swing the result in the closely fought May 29 French referendum on the European Union’s constitution and determine the future of Europe, not to mention influence the timing of Tony Blair's departure from No 10.

The Wayampi do not know him but excitement was building last week at the prospect of playing their part in the politics of the palan isi lena, or the "land of the white man", as Europe is known.

Many speak only rudimentary French and have little understanding of qualified majority voting, but an election is always a welcome occasion for a gathering in this alligator-infested corner of French Guiana in South America...

Posted to Miscellania at 12:58 PM | Comments (1)

Anti-Schwarzenegger, anti-Minuteman screed noted

Domenico Maceri, an Italian immigrant and teacher of foreign languages at Allan Hancock College in Ventura County, offers us the charming guest editorial "Arnold plays politics with immigration". It hews to Template #3: "Arnold is attacking defenseless undocumented immigrants and stirring up hatred to become popular again." From the screed:

The prejudice against undocumented immigrants is strong among Americans, and Schwarzenegger is using this bigotry to show that he is a true conservative -- even more conservative than Bush, who disapproves of the Minuteman Project...

When the president of the United States and the Border Patrol say that the Minutemen may not have the legal right to patrol the border, you would think that a governor would pay heed...

Congratulations, Domenico Maceri! You're the 1000th commentator to note that Arnold is pro-MMP while Bush is anti-MMP. Come over here and collect your winnings. Yes, that's right, it's a little thing called "analysis." As in, why would Bush be anti-MMP? Could it have anything to do with Bush and the GOP getting contributions from those companies that profit off illegal immigration? Could the BP leadership being anti-MMP have anything to do with their boss's stated stance on illegal immigrants?

For another example of Template #3, see "Did Pilar Marrero lie about Arnold Schwarzenegger?"

Posted to California at 12:27 PM | Comments (1)

CNN aired Soros-funded documentary?

Well, not exactly. Parse carefully Accuracy in Media's first paragraph from "AIM Report: CNN's George Soros-gate":

Clear and convincing evidence indicates that billionaire money manipulator and anti-conservative activist George Soros provided financing for research on a CNN documentary...

Remove the "research on" and you'd really have something. However:

The program, "Reasonable Doubt: Can Crime Labs be Trusted?," which CNN aired several times last January as a "CNN Presents" documentary, was prepared in cooperation with the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) and hosted by Aaron Brown.

In its own account of its role in the show, CIR acknowledged that "Funding for this investigation was provided in part by a 2003 Soros Justice Media Fellowship awarded to Robin Mejia by the Open Society Institute, and by a grant to CIR from the Ford Foundation and CIR's Investigative Venture Fund."

The Soros Open Society Institute (OSI) reported that the CNN program was "based on the reporting" of "Soros Justice Media Fellow Robin Mejia." The OSI said that the CNN show was the "culmination of more than a year of investigation by Ken Shiffman (CNN) and 2003 Soros Justice Media Fellow Robin Mejia."

But the program itself did not disclose to viewers any role played by Soros or his institute. It also did not reveal that the program promoted his political agenda...

The article goes on and loses its focus a bit by encompassing several other issues, like the recent Million-Word March for Media Reform (alternet.org/mediaculture/22049). Attendees at the latter included Air America's Al Franken. The article also discusses attempts to use the FCC's Fairness Doctrine to "balance" out the media. The article does lose focus, but that's only because all of these groups appear to be interconnected. Next time, they should provide a handy graphic containing hundreds of lines showing the various connections and money flows.

Previously in Soros news: "Media Matters doesn't understand epidemiology, statistics, immigration".

Posted to Politics at 12:05 PM | Comments (2)

Midget Death Cults... in Cambodia?

I knew they were widespread in the South Pacific, but not in Southeast Asia. From the BBC's "Lion Mutilates 42 Midgets in Cambodian Ring-Fight":

...An African Lion (Panthera Leo) was shipped to centrally located Kampong Chhnang especially for the event, which took place last Saturday, April 30, 2005 in the city’s coliseum.

The Cambodian Government allowed the fight to take place, under the condition that they receive a 50% commission on each ticket sold, and that no cameras would be allowed in the arena.

The fight was called in only 12 minutes, after which 28 fighters were declared dead, while the other 14 suffered severe injuries including broken bones and lost limbs, rendering them unable to fight back.

Shocking, truly shocking.

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

Arkancides in Linux Land?

Whodda thunk it indeed. Most tech "journalism" consists of things like, oh I dunno, The LAMP "Cooperative" ("LinuxWorld Magazine's Editor-in-Chief Compares LAMP's Evolution to Farmers' Cooperatives") or the more standard fare of just rewriting press releases.

However, the very same Editor-in-Chief's latest missive is "A Letter To Our Readers":

The editorial staff of LinuxWorld Magazine would like to set the record straight on our efforts and intentions with regards to what we publish on LinuxWorld.com and LinuxWorld Magazine. Due to an unfortunate series of events, we recently advised our publisher to remove content from a sister Web site of another title that does not adhere to the company's publishing guidelines...

...We want to express our sincere best wishes to Pamela Jones of Groklaw (www.groklaw.net) and wish her the best in her endeavors.

It appears there was a cat fight going on between the latter named person and one Maureen O'Gara, both of whom are "journalists" in the Linux space. That feud is described in February's "The Jones-O'Gara Feud".

It seems to involve a lawsuit between IBM and SCO (a Unix vendor) over Linux. Microsoft is on SCO's side and owns part of them. Or something.

On May 12 came "Tragic End to Jones-O'Gara Feud". The feud reportedly "ended with O'Gara's professional destruction." That post includes the following comment:

Except of cause if you are Val Kreidel or Robert Penrose. In which case it become tragically personal.

It is telling you feel that her new found 'persona non grata' status is 'tragic', what do you consider the supossed "suicide" of two people ?

Holy Moses. From the 3/22 Salt Lake Tribune:

The Orange County, Calif., Coroner's Office and Huntington Beach Police Department confirmed Monday that Val Noorda Kreidel, daughter of technology entrepreneur and Canopy founder Ray Noorda, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Kreidel's death came less than a week after her attorneys and those for fired Canopy Chief Executive Ralph Yarro and two associates formally announced a settlement of their dueling lawsuits over control of Utah's premier technology venture capital firm...

Now, back to feudee Pamela Jones. From a May 9 post entitled "Intimidation":

SCO and its minions can never again complain about Linux "zealots", not without being laughed right off the stage, because compared to them and their tactics, it's clear now who are the pros at intimidation and terror.

Darl McBride and Laura DiDio have complained bitterly about receiving nasty email and late-night phone calls. That's kid's stuff by comparison. Without commenting on the latest O'Gara article's contents, because I am considering legal action and can't comment directly at this time, think about this: Have Linux "zealots" ever put up personal info on how to find Darl McBride's mother, with pictures of her home and the number on her mailbox so any stalker can find her readily? That was O'Gara's intent. Has anyone published who DiDio calls from her landline phone? Can you imagine the press conference SCO would hold, and what names they would call the FOSS community, if anything like that happened?

...On a personal note: I've heard from several who are seriously warning me that they think SCO is setting me up so that they can arrange my "suicide". You know, like Val Kreidel allegedly was so overwhelmed by what was printed about her by Maureen O'Gara and others that she ended it all?

I have no experience in such things, so I can't evaluate their warnings, but I have taken note that three persons on the SCOX Yahoo Finance board, one known to be a SCO supporter if not an insider, have already predicted my suicide, two of them since this article...

Maybe I could find someone to help me write a screenplay about this.

Note that back on the 10th, this site had much the same reaction as I did above. I'd imagine we aren't the only ones. Who knew nerddom was so full of (classic) tragedy and pathos?

Posted to Miscellania at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)

What happened to Curly?

I was getting him ready for the County Fair, but I thought he could use a little bit of a sun tan, so I left him at the tanning salon...

OH NO!

P.S. I didn't take the above photo. This is just a joke post. Yes, I realize the subject is quite serious and nothing that should be joked about. However, what can I do? The picture was no doubt taken months ago. There's no way to bring Curly back.

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

"Mexican residents gain ID benefits"

There's so much wrong with this May 1 article from Oregon that I don't know where to start:

For the first time in Ashland - and with no questions about immigration status - Mexican-born residents of the valley flocked to get a highly valued card called the matricula consular, a secure ID card that enables them to open bank accounts, get a driver's license and start on the road to work and legal residency.

Wow. The FBI says the cards aren't secure. Who are you going to believe, them or some smalltown newspaperman who seems to have believed everything he was told by the guy who was handing out IDs for illegals? Plus, these cards do nothing to help people gain legal residency. They only make it look like they're here somewhat legally.

The optically scanned, photo ID cards were given to 200 locals by the Mexican consulate from Portland, whose officials travel to the main towns of Oregon once a year for that purpose...

... Claudia Guzman of Medford, speaking through an interpreter from RCC, said her three trips to the DMV resulted in widely varying requests for documents, with the matricula finally being named as the vital, missing piece of ID.

"It's very important," said Guzman. "You can't get a license without it. And I've found out that it will definitely be accepted at Wells Fargo to open an account."

... Oregon, she added, is in a small minority of states that don't require a Social Security card to get a driver's license. California, Arizona and many other states have set up that hoop, Copeland noted, thus producing a ripple effect of Mexican immigrants to Oregon...

... Consulate official Martin Alcalia from Portland, who was issuing the cards, said determination of one's legal status in the United States is solely the job of the INS and that "it's not a matter for us. We just care if they are Mexicans."

See also "Their money or your safety" for other examples of Mexican consuls doing an end around of our immigration laws.

Posted to Immigration_consul at 04:01 PM | Comments (0)

Jesse Jackson, MALDEF creating "human rights" group

Disturbing news from the Reverend's latest junket:

On the heels of a meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox over his comments about American blacks, the Rev. Jesse Jackson announced he is forming a group that will address issues affecting blacks and Hispanics...

On Thursday, Jackson, along with Ann Marie Tallman, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said they were forming a human rights council that would focus on issues such as fair immigration policies, voting rights and a balanced trade policy...

MALDEF, like many other open borders groups, gets most of their money from the Ford Foundation. See the link for more information on them. Even someone like Jackson should have qualms about forming a group with them. Maybe the other Reverend can do better:

...In a phone interview with The Associated Press, Sharpton said he wasn't satisfied with the contradictory expressions of regret issued by the administration of Vicente Fox this week. He said he would seek an "unequivocal, formal" apology during a meeting with Fox on Monday in Mexico City...

He said illegal migrants in the United States millions of whom are Mexican are working for low wages and no benefits, taking jobs from other minority groups who are in the United States legally.

"We also need to deal with the fact that there has been an inordinate amount of tension where people have come across the border for almost slave wages, competing with Latinos and blacks," Sharpton said. "It's almost like a 21st century slave trade."

Posted to Immigration2005a at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)

"Border police initiative might face roadblocks"

From this:

Assemblyman Ray Haynes' proposal to create a state immigration police force to help patrol the border and enforce immigration laws statewide could meet resistance from the federal government and be disputed in the courts...

Haynes, R-Temecula, cites a 1996 provision of a law that allows state and local agencies to negotiate agreements with the federal government to enforce immigration laws. But federal officials [specifically, Manny Van Pelt, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement] say the law has never been applied to create officers strictly devoted to immigration, and they have no intention of doing so...

One of the legal experts cited is from the American Immigration Lawyers Association. The related group American Immigration Law Foundation was mentioned in this post.

See also the site for the California Border Police.

Posted to California at 10:56 PM | Comments (1)

AVWatch: no California border patrols

Welcome to the first installment of Antonio Villaraigosa Watch, a feature that will highlight the thoughts of the new mayor of Los Angeles.

Today's feature is "LA mayor-elect breaks with governor on civilian border patrols":

Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa said Thursday he opposes civilian volunteers patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border to discourage illegal immigration, putting him at odds with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

AV: "We need our Department of Homeland Security, which patrols the border ... to address the issue of security... It doesn't make any sense for people to take the law into their own hands." [1]

...It's a three-hour drive from City Hall to the border, but illegal immigration was only a passing issue in the mayoral campaign. [2]

...Mayor James Hahn and Villaraigosa, a city councilman, each called on the federal government to enforce immigration laws. And both said they did not believe police officers should contact immigration officials when illegal immigrants are discovered during traffic stops or arrests.

[1] "take the law into their own hands"? Technically, none of the MMP volunteers did so. They called the Border Patrol when they spotted crossers. That phrase also has, of course, negative connotations.

[2] Part of that is because, of course, none of the candidates except Walter Moore made it an issue. And, Moore was shut out of the more important debates. Another of the main reasons it wasn't an issue is because the local media is too scared and/or corrupt to mention it.

Note that like almost all the other articles on Schwarzenegger's comments, this mention that Bush called the MMP volunteers "vigilantes."

Posted to Los_Angeles at 10:46 PM | Comments (0)

"Immigration's not-so-hidden costs hurt American workers"

Liberal Clarence Page informs us:

"We are a nation of immigrants," Kennedy said in announcing the new bill. "And we always will be, and our laws must be true to that proud heritage." I agree with that. But I also know that the nation can have too much of a good thing, especially those who have entered the workforce illegally.

Controlled and orderly immigration is enriching for our country. But massive large-scale immigration puts a squeeze on low-wage workers who already are here and facing a shrinking demand for their low-skilled labors...

...Yet we continue to hear about how illegals only take the "jobs nobody wants." Ideally, there is almost no job that somebody would not want and make themselves available to do, if you offer them enough money to do it. Whenever I hear someone talk about the "jobs nobody wants" what I really hear is: "jobs that pay less than most Americans need to support their families."

Posted to Immigration2005a at 10:34 PM | Comments (4)

"Analysts say racism unrecognized"

The Dallas Morning News article "Analysts say racism unrecognized" gives a bit more background on Vicente Fox's recent comment that Mexican illegal aliens do the jobs "that not even blacks want to do".

President Vicente Fox's controversial comment about blacks in the United States is typical of a Mexico that fails to recognize its own racist attitudes, even as skin tone and economic success move in near lockstep, analysts said Tuesday.

In the official census, Mexicans of African descent are not even counted as a distinct group. White Mexicans dominate TV programs and advertising. Most politicians have light brown skin or are white like Fox, whose mother is from Spain.

"Racism is very deeply ingrained here, but no one accepts (that fact)," said Sergio Aguayo, a longtime human rights activist. "What Fox said was part of the language of all Mexicans. The paradigm of beauty is white skin and blue eyes..."

Previously: "Jesse Jackson and MALDEF go to Mexico".

Posted to Immigration2005a at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)

El Paso poll: no driver's licenses for illegal aliens

From the El Paso Times' "Many oppose licenses for undocumented, poll shows":

El Pasoans, Hispanic and non-Hispanic, largely favor allowing some undocumented immigrants to work and live legally in the United States, but strongly oppose giving them driver's licenses.

An El Paso Times/KVIA-ABC 7 poll indicates that 59 percent of the 300 registered voters interviewed in April favored the creation of a work program for undocumented immigrants. But 65 percent of the same voters said they opposed giving undocumented immigrants driver's licenses, a much-debated issue for years...

In the poll, the answers to the two immigration questions were similar among Hispanic and non-Hispanic voters. Sixty-one percent of Hispanics and 72 percent of non-Hispanics disapproved of driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants, and 64 percent of Hispanics and 50 percent of non-Hispanics favored a work program. The margin of error was plus or minus 6 percentage points...

El Paso is, of course, right on the border and it's around 3/4 Hispanic, almost all of which are Mexican-American.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 08:18 PM | Comments (2)

Gil Cedillo, driver's licenses for illegal aliens, Part 48310

The latest attempt from CA Sen. Gil Cedillo (Democrat - Los Angeles, Mexico) to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens has passed a Senate committee. It now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Note that this current bill is good ol' SB 60, which is distinct from SB 591. That latter bill is described here, and it gives illegal aliens - and only illegal aliens - a pass on the impound period when caught driving without a license.

The AP reports in "Senate panel passes bill to extend licenses to illegal immigrants".

I believe at this point in time it's important to ask yet again: what country does Gil Cedillo really represent? Can anyone say with absolute certainty that he represents the U.S.?

Posted to Immigration_dls at 07:21 PM | Comments (2)

Breaking: Wendy's chili finger settled $50 debt

More shocking revelations were revealed in the Wendy's Chili Finger Watch 2005 case.

San Jose Police now believe the finger to have been obtained by Anna Ayala's husband - to settle a $50 debt!

...The co-worker's right ring finger was sheered off after his gloved hand was caught in a mechanical truck hoist at a Las Vegas paving firm on Dec. 20, San Jose police Detective Jose Martinez said in a statement filed Wednesday in Santa Clara County court.

"Plascencia subsequently purchased the injured co-worker's detached finger, and advised that he intended to create a lawsuit by planting the finger in food at an undisclosed restaurant," according to the statement...

Our Wendy's Chili Finger Watch 2005 Team will have team coverage of this breaking news tonight at 5pm somewhere.

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

Illegal aliens working for the Pentagon, repairing Navy planes

No, really. From "N.C. airport workers arrested on alleged immigration violations":

Nine workers who service U.S. Navy planes at a Winston-Salem airport were arrested Tuesday on alleged immigration violations...

The "Operation Shield America" raid at Smith-Reynolds Airport is aimed at finding illegal aliens doing work for the Pentagon.

Reports also said that those arrested were working on P-3 Orions - surveillance planes known as "submarine killers."

...The arrests come two months after federal authorities arrested 27 workers at the Piedmont/Triad International Airport in Greensboro for using counterfeit documents...

These are just the latest in a long series of such incidents. Start in "DHS: Naval contractor employed 86 illegal aliens".

Posted to Immigration_terror at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)

Jesse Jackson and MALDEF go to Mexico

Jesse Jackson shows exactly what type of person he is. When he first condemned Vicente Fox's remark that "[illegal aliens do the jobs] that not even blacks want to do" I (to a very minor extent) thought he might actually try to do some good. Instead, we get "Fox 'expresses regret' to Jackson for remark":

...During a 40-minute meeting, Fox said he was sorry the statement had offended Americans, Jackson said.

"He expressed his sincere regret of any misinterpretation of what he meant," Jackson said afterward. "He expressed with a very contrite heart that he is not a racist."

The two men pledged to work together on human rights, U.S. immigration reform and other issues, Jackson said. After talking, they posed with a large picture of Jackson and the late Hispanic civil rights leader, Cesar Chavez.

Jackson was accompanied by Ann Marie Tallman, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. The group is leading the legal challenges against Arizona's Proposition 200 and similar initiatives in other states...

Al Sharpton is expected to fly in shortly.

MALDEF gets most of their money from the Ford Foundation. I wonder whether they contribute to the Rev. Jackson as well.

Larry Elder responded to this visit on Lou Dobbs' show:

Think about that. MALDEF wants open borders, effectively. They want driver's licenses for illegals. They want in-state tuition for illegals. They want us really to do nothing about -- about the borders... Then Jesse Jackson is standing there and talking to Vicente Fox about the "problem of illegal immigration." It's a joke...

For his next visit, let me suggest that Jesse Jackson go there with Gil Cedillo:

"Latinos have displaced other work communities - clothing, hotel, and restaurant industries that used to be done by blacks and anglos... Since Latinos are now central to union revitalization, through immigration and high birth rates unions can be partisan for full Latino empowerment."

Posted to Immigration2005a at 01:19 PM | Comments (0)

Feinstein has her own mass illegal alien amnesty plan

From the OCR's "Feinstein gives immigration plan ideas":

Feinstein, D-Calif., said any new guest worker program, even one that required employees to eventually return to their home country, would be a "magnet for illegal immigration" and something she could not support...

OK, I'm with her so far...

"There are plenty of workers here who will work legally if given the opportunity to do it," Feinstein said. "And I think the first step should be taken in the one industry that most assuredly needs it."

Under Feinstein's idea, which hasn't yet been finalized, longtime agricultural workers would get a "blue card," allowing them to continue to work in agriculture. After a period of years of continued agricultural work, they would be entitled to trade their blue card in for a green card.

Doh! Note that at least she's opposed to Kennedy and McCain's 'Open Borders, Open Wallets' plan.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 12:10 AM | Comments (1)

"[Kennedy-McCain] Guest-Worker Plan is Un-American"

Terence P. Jeffrey:

Sen. Ted Kennedy may do a lot of talking about his love for the little guy, but if two major proposals he has made in this Congress were to become law it would be a disaster for the poorest American workers and a blow to American freedom...

...[the Kennedy-McCain massive illegal alien amnesty program] would provide amnesty to illegal aliens while creating a permanent, ongoing guest-worker program to fill--as a summary on Kennedy's website puts it-- "jobs that require few or no skills." This would thrust the American employment ladder down into Mexico and other under-developed regions of the world so that workers who are used to laboring for Third-World wages could routinely, legally and in massive numbers climb into the U.S. job market and compete directly with American workers for pay and positions...

Until now, the American ideal of an immigrant has been someone who comes here with the ambition to work harder, earn more, save more, perhaps start a business, and succeed in the free-enterprise system. But this entrepreneurial spirit will not be encouraged among the sub-class of guest workers Kennedy would create. The bill, says Kennedy's summary, "Prohibits the hiring of temporary workers as independent contractors."...

Posted to Immigration2005a at 12:03 AM | Comments (2)

Bonnie Erbe: Anchor Babies hurt working class

PBS host, columnist, and presumed liberal Bonnie Erbe reports on the children born to illegal aliens:

...Since their children are delivered on U.S. soil, the children immediately become U.S. citizens and "anchor" the mother (and later, the rest of her family) as future legal U.S. citizens as well...

...California will get the largest chunk of this new federal outlay or almost $71 million [for healthcare]. No wonder. FAIR cites Census Bureau data showing Californians spent $10 billion last year (whew!) to subsidize education, medical care and incarceration costs for (not legal but) illegal immigrants.

Guess who's hit the hardest? Not the wealthy Hollywood types, nor the Silicon Valley billionaires, but the hard-working, low-income recent and legal immigrants. It's costing them nearly $1,200 per native-headed household to subsidize illegal immigration in the Golden State.

...This is not about race. For my part, I am the granddaughter of immigrants who came from Poland, Russia and Cuba. My father's side of the family speaks Spanish as a native language and English with heavy Spanish accents. This is about preserving the quality of life for legal immigrants, and the progeny of immigrants who have come here legally since the birth of our immigrant nation.

It's also about fairness to America's working class -- many of whom are legal immigrants. Their housing, education and health care costs go up as their wages are driven down by immense competition from illegal immigrants. Where's the fairness or practicality in that?

Posted to Immigration2005a at 11:54 PM | Comments (3)

Today's Kennedy-McCain news

In the posts "Tamar Jacoby on the Kennedy-McCain mass amnesty", Kennedy-McCain in "accord" with Bush's "principles", and "McCain, Kennedy introduce Open Borders, Open Wallets bill" I presented some of those who favor their massive amnesty for illegal aliens plan.

Another one of the usual suspects has weighed in: U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (Democrat-AZ). Grijalva is a former member of MEChA, and he's proud of having been involved with that group.

Here's what he said about the amnesty plan:

"[the bill] looks to the reality of immigration and attempts to create a safer, accessible and regulated immigration system... Arizona, like no other state in the nation, understands the need to address immigration and realism, fairness and a sense of urgency... [this is a chance to] move forward toward a solution and not merely react with empty rhetoric and increased divisiveness."

And, in other news, McCain has backtracked from recent remarks. Here's what he said last week:

"If we went down to the Camelback Inn today in Phoenix and arrested everyone who's working there illegally, the place would probably shut down..."

The Camelback Inn says everyone they employ is legal. Accordingly, here's yesterday's version from the Senator:

"I did not mean to single out any particular resort in my remarks... The legislation we introduced ... is designed to comprehensively address a broken immigration system. The reference to a specific business in my remarks detracts from the intent and import of my comments and this legislation."

Posted to Immigration2005a at 12:13 PM | Comments (0)

Who rules the world?

I have absolutely no idea. However, the purported list of attendees at this year's Bilderberg confab is here. In addition to the Queens of the Netherlands and of Spain, the following Americans took part:

William C. Ford, Jr., Chairman and CEO, Ford Motor Company
Timothy F. Geithner, President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Donald E. Graham, Chairman and CEO, The Washington Post Company
Richard N. Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations
Richard C. Holbrooke, Vice Chairman, Perseus
Allan B. Hubbard, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council
Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.,, Senior Managing Director, Lazard Frères & Co. LLC
John M. Keane, President, GSI, LLC; General, US Army, Retired
Henry A. Kissinger, Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc.
Henry R. Kravis, Founding Partner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Marie-Josée Kravis, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, Inc.
Michael A. Ledeen, American Enterprise Institute
William J. Luti, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs
Jessica T. Mathews, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Mark C. Medish, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Kenneth B. Mehlman, , Chairman, Republican National Committee
Frank H. Pearl, Chairman and CEO, Perseus, LLC
Norman Pearlstine, Editor-in-Chief, Time Inc.
Richard N. Perle, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
David Rockefeller, Member, JP Morgan International Council
Judith Rodin, President, The Rockefeller Foundation
Dennis B. Ross, Director, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
John Vinocur, Senior Correspondent, International Herald Tribune
Mark R. Warner, Governor of Virginia
James D. Wolfensohn, President, The World Bank
Paul Wolfowitz, President designate, The World Bank
Fareed Zakaria, Editor, Newsweek International

Plus, from Canada, Bruce Mau. That one seems to come out of left field. Except, perhaps he's there for the same reason those from media organizations are there. If you know what I mean.

Previously: "John Edwards, One-Worlder"

P.S. This post is provided for entertainment purposes only.

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

8ulova Watches come to the internet

If you're wearing glasses, could you misadjust them so your vision is slightly blurred? Or, if you aren't could you blink your eyes or do something else to achieve the same blurred effect? Then, read the following:

I recently flew from Boston to Oakland on AmericaWest airlines. This is the second time I've flown like that across the United States of Arnerica.

Cute, huh? In fact, if you go to google and search for BoreAmerica, you'll see that airarnerica.com is in the first page of results. The site appears to be inactive right now, but Google's cache is from the 12th and it appears to be a basic parked directory, but somehow 'boreamerica' wound up in google's index.

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

Villaraigosa's magic race shield

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa gets some negative coverage from a surprising source in a surprising place. From Gregory Rodriguez' "Race Is His Magic Shield":

In the absence of major policy differences between the candidates in this year's mayoral race, character has moved to center stage. The campaigns of Mayor James K. Hahn and his rival, Antonio Villaraigosa, are both out to prove who is more corrupt. But Villaraigosa has an advantage. His ethnicity has shielded him from tough questions about his character...

During this campaign, many political writers seemed to have taken [Gray Davis' former political hatchet man, Garry South]'s appeal one step further and avoided any questions related to Villaraigosa's character. Is it racist to mention that Villaraigosa flunked the bar exam four times? Is it racist to look into his personal life for character clues? And what about this campaign's version of the Vignali spot — last week's TV ad on Villaraigosa's lone "no" vote in the state Assembly on a bill that upped the penalty for fatally beating a child under 8? Does that play into fears of Latino criminals? Or does it reveal something significant about the candidate's character?...

Hiding behind his magic race shield is not a new thing for the candidate. See how he answered the question about his involvement in MEChA back in 2001. He briefly dropped the shield recently to (for the most part) renounce that organization. If you're voting tomorrow, please do some research and make sure you're voting for the right candidate. I hope that will be Jim Hahn.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 07:30 PM | Comments (0)

Snow climbing in Griffith Park?

When I go for training hikes in Griffith Park I usually use my hiking poles to which I've attached snow baskets. That occasionally results in inventive idiots asking, "where's the snow?" Oh boy, that still cracks me up.

Well, today there was snow in Griffith Park. In fact, carrying a heavy pack and climbing a steep slope with my hiking poles, it was almost like being in the "real" mountains. The snow was thin and powdery, so I didn't bother going back for my ice axe, I just plowed up the slope.

How is this possible, you ask?

...

Exactly! Due to this being the wonderland of Hollywood, they were filming a Hallmark Hall of Fame special in the park, and they'd covered a couple hundred feet of trail with "snow." They even had a couple Clydesdales. "Any big stars?" I asked. "Ann Haiche" was the response, so I kept hiking.

Now, the only problem is that there's only going to be a few days of rain over the next few months, so I have no idea how this stuff is going to ever go away. I even saw bits of "snow" about a half mile further on and on a different trail. One would have hoped that they could have done this at a place that's specifically for filming, rather than in a public park that's already struggling with the persistent and careless hand of man.

Posted to OutdoorSports at 05:30 PM | Comments (0)

The other Reverend weighs in on Fox's comments

As discussed yesterday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson expressed his outrage about Vicente Fox's comments that Mexican "immigrants" take jobs "that not even blacks want to do."

Quicker than you can say "Tawana", the other Rev. weighs in:

Another American civil rights activist, the Rev. Al Sharpton, said the comment was especially disturbing because Fox was educated in the United States and "he is not unaware of the racial sensitivities here."

Posted to Immigration2005a at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)

Sauerkraut or WMD, you decide

Coming soon to the Drudge Report:

A package of sauerkraut at an Air Force base in South Korea set off chemical weapons detectors, forcing closure of a post office and shopping center at the base. The sauerkraut was determined to be no more a danger than sauerkraut normally is, and was no doubt quickly consumed by famished flyboys.

Details here.

Posted to WackyHumor at 04:13 PM | Comments (0)

Vienna, then and now

Vienna today:

Austrian Muslims have expressed concerns at a modified immigration law, fearing Muslims would take the brunt of the new restrictions as they make up the majority of immigrants in the south-central European country...

According to estimates, there are some 750,000 immigrants in Austria, representing 10 percent of the country’s eight-million population.

Muslims, estimated at nearly half a million, make up some 6 per cent of the population...

Vienna 1683:

The Battle of Vienna in 1683 (as distinct from the Siege of Vienna in 1529), marked the final turning point in a 250-year struggle between the forces of Christian Europe and the Islamic Ottoman Empire. Over the 16 years following the battle Christian forces would permanently drive the Turks south of the Danube River, where they never again posed a serious threat to central Europe...

There's more on "Eurabia" here. See also "immigration [to Europe] as a Trojan horse to expand jihad", The "Andalus syndrome", and "When Multiculturalists seek to understand!"

Posted to Immigration_euro at 04:08 PM | Comments (1)

Jesse Jackson finally meets his match

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, more popularly known for basically shaking down businesses, actually did something worthwhile for a change:

The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Saturday criticized Mexican President Vicente Fox's comment that Mexican immigrants to the United States take jobs "that not even blacks want to do."

Jackson called the remark "a spurious comparison" with "ominous racial overtones."

Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Derbez tried to cover for Fox with this: "The president didn't make a declaration in the racist sense; of course there are those who interpret it in that way... [Fox was making the point that] Mexican migrants are making great contributions in the United States and that their role is a positive role... ...I think that what we have to be very clear about is that the statement made by the president was in no way motivated by racism."

Unfortunately, the Rev. also says he's going to be giving Fox a call, and you know what that normally means.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 04:01 PM | Comments (2)

Where'd Antonio go?

I used to have an acquaintance whose signature phrase was, "I'll be right back." He'd come back hours or days later. He was also an occasional actor, and I think he'd be perfect for a new round of Antonio Villaraigosa campaign commercials.

As a preview of what a Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa would be like, reporters wanted to question him about a negative (believe it or don't) article in the L.A. Times. KABC reports:

Hahn again called on Villaraigosa to explain his vote against the Tyler Jaeger Act, which stiffened penalties for child abuse resulting in death.

Earlier, Villaraigosa said he voted for a stronger bill, but the Los Angeles Times today reported that legal experts say the other bill was actually weaker...

Needless to say, our tireless press corps wanted some answers:

When reporters tried to question Villaraigosa about The Times story at a campaign stop at a restaurant, he told them he was going to the bathroom and slipped out the back door...

"I was at Art's Deli — [AV's spokesman] was not," [Hahn campaign spokesman Jeff Millman] said. "Villaraigosa agreed to answer questions from reporters, but slipped out the back door instead. Even Controller Laura Chick, (Villaraigosa's) lunch companion, didn't know where he went."

Consider it a preview.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 11:50 AM | Comments (0)

Sexy stews strip for pension calendar

Oh yeah. Oh... yeah. Like fine wine, these sexy United Airlines stewardesses have just gotten better and better. And, to protest the end of their pensions, they're producing a protest calendar so you can see what's on their dessert trays. Yeah.

Aged 55 to 64, these foxy air maidens have certainly put my tray table into the fully locked position.

Read more in "Calendar "exposes" United pension fix". Their site - with a few outtakes from the calendar - is here.

Other fine calendars you might enjoy:

Posted to WackyHumor at 07:13 PM | Comments (1)

Jackie Goldberg's "socialist" leanings

On either March 8 or 9 of 2004 the Los Angeles Times printed a story about California Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg (Democrat-Los Angeles) getting married to her long-time lesbian partner Sharon Stricker up in San Francisco (during Gavin Newsom's big moment). The L.A. Times story is no longer online, but it contained this shocking revelation:

...Goldberg and Stricker met 28 years ago when both were schoolteachers with socialist leanings...

To anyone who's even slightly familiar with Goldberg's history, such a revelation shouldn't be shocking. What's shocking, of course, is that the L.A. Times managed to squeak out something that was even partially true.

It was only partially true because I just ran across the "Thirteenth Report of the Senate Fact-Finding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities--California". The "Senate" is the California Senate, and it's from 1965:

...Jacqueline Goldberg, the sister of Arthur Goldberg, came from Los Angeles to attend the university at Berkeley. She soon became the head of U.C. Women for Peace, a front organization,and was its delegate to a Moscow meeting in 1963. She was also active in the American-Russian Institute at San Francisco, cited by the Attorney General of the United States as a Communist-dominated organization, and is now a member of the Policy Committee for the next World Communist Youth Festival which is scheduled to be held in Algeria. She was a member of both the executive and steering committees of FSM ["Free Speech Movement"], and was arrested during the invasion of Sproul Hall...

Previous Jackie Goldberg news:
No, Jackie Goldberg doesn't have anything better to do
One socialist down, fifty to go... (follow the links)

Posted to California at 05:21 PM | Comments (1)

Tamar Jacoby on the Kennedy-McCain mass amnesty

Tamar Jacoby has issued the following statement:

We the undersigned applaud the introduction today of Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act... [etc. etc...]

The signatories include:

Lee Culpepper (last mentioned here; works for the National Restaurant Association and is Chairman of the National Immigration Forum)

Jack Kemp

Grover Norquist

Rick Swartz:

And then there's the National Immigration Forum, the umbrella organization for high-immigration political advocacy, which works closely with sympathetic Republicans. But NIF is not like the conventional lobbying coalitions that exist on numerous issues. It was cofounded by the National Lawyers Guild in the 1980s, back when the Guild was a Soviet front group. The group's first head was Rick Swartz, a leftist attorney who cut his teeth advocating for Haitian illegal aliens and who, during a 1981 Senate hearing, likened the United States to Nazi Germany.

Like many lobbying coalitions, the NIF board includes representatives of Republican stalwarts like the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the National Restaurant Association, and used to include Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute, now head of the Club for Growth. Whatever his libertarian views on immigration, I imagine Steve hightailed it out of there after he realized what he'd gotten into, because the people sitting around the conference table at NIF board meetings include some decidedly unsavory characters. In addition to the usual leftist suspects — the ACLU, the Service Employees Union, Jim Zogby of the Arab American Institute — the NIF board includes the head of the immigration lawyers' association, one Jeanne Butterfield, who used to be executive director of the Palestine Solidarity Committee, identified by the Anti-Defamation League as an alliance between members of the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine and the Workers World party (the Trotskyites behind the Iraq War protests)...

You'll note that the signatories are almost the same group as those who signed the "Conservative" Statement of Principles on Immigration from over a year ago.

Previously: More straw, Tamar?

Posted to Immigration2005a at 03:05 PM | Comments (3)

Dirt on L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina?

And, it involves SVREP ("Southwest Voter Registration Education Project: Committed to educate Latino communities across the Southwest about the democratic process..."), Los Angeles mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa, and the Chicano Studies Department at CSUN?

I'm not going to repeat the supposed dirt here, and I want to stress this is just from an anonymous source and may have absolutely no basis in reality.

Nevertheless, do a find of molina here to see it.

Think of it as yet another important thing for the "journalists" at the L.A. Times to ignore.

Previously: "Who exactly does Gloria Molina work for?"

Posted to Los_Angeles at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)

They do the jobs that even blacks won't do

Here's a recent quote from Vicente Fox:

"There is no doubt that Mexicans, filled with dignity, willingness and ability to work are doing jobs that not even blacks want to do there in the United States..."

I believe at this point in time my "liberal" readers might want to read up on Mexico's racial hierarchy. Try "America's Imported Caste System" as a starting point.

UPDATE: If you have access to a site snake program, you might want to cache everything in this search for "the jobs americans won t do". I can almost hear history being rewrit as the White House and others work to cleanse their various statements of that phrase.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 11:44 AM | Comments (2)

What's Pete Seghesio's billing address?

Open Borders warrior Professor Bainbridge excerpts an absolutely hilarious article from Wine Spectator magazine. The article is basically an ad for illegal immigration disguised by "some of my best friends are Hispanic" coverage of the Sabor de Napa event. Call it enlightenment, but with a profit motive:

...As vital and energizing as Hispanics are to the wine industry, their contributions to California's overall economy are so pervasive and indispensable that I doubt we could exist without them. They are today's labor force, just as Europeans and Chinese were in centuries past. One of the great ironies is that as the wine industry pays homage to Hispanics, there is talk in the state capital of tightening the border and making it hard for Hispanics to cross...

...It's also a double-edged sword, since many other Hispanics entered California illegally and aren't citizens. Shutting down or even constricting the flow of immigrants across the border would be disastrous well beyond the wine industry.

Hispanics are the backbone of the wine industry, pure and simple, says Pete Seghesio, CEO of Seghesio Family Vineyards in Sonoma County...

...The bottom line, though, is this, says Seghesio: "If people really knew the percentage [of Hispanics working in California] that's driving our economy, there wouldn't be any of this talk from our government..."

Whether he knows it or not or is willing to admit it or not, Seghesio is receiving a massive government subsidy for any illegal aliens that he employs. If Seghesio employs illegal aliens, does he pay for their medical care? How about their schooling? What about all the other medical, social, environmental, and political costs associated with illegal aliens? Is he paying for that, or is he pushing the cost off on the rest of us?

How many illegal aliens are Seghesio, Wine Spectator, Professor Bainbridge, or the rest willing to sponsor? If the California wine industry is important to anyone, then perhaps they should pay the full and correct price for their products instead of shoving the costs off on the rest of us.

UPDATE: Apropos of nothing, did you know that Nanci Pelosi owns a couple vineyards in Napa? Now, they're probably too small to be concerned about. If they were much larger - or grew higher-quality grapes - we might raise substantial concerns about her past support for illegal immigration.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 08:17 PM | Comments (3)

L.A. Daily Breeze endorses Jim Hahn for Los Angeles mayor

They endorsed him during the first round, and they've reiterated their endorsement in the run-off. Read "Credit L.A. mayor on safety, stability, housing" if you aren't convinced already that Hahn's the choice.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 01:35 PM | Comments (0)

Breaking: Wendy's chili finger owner ID'ed

Breaking hard non-exclusive: San Jose police have located the owner of the finger that was found in the chili at Wendy's. The owner is an associate of Anna Ayala's husband. Ayala found the finger, and is currently under arrest.

Developing... Must not credit The Lonewacko Blog... Must credit AP or SJ Merc for their fine reportage...

Related:
"Beware Wendy's free Frosty's weekend offer!"

"Breaking: Arby's Skin Gate Watch 2005"

DA to public: "America should go back to eating at Wendy's"

Posted to WackyHumor at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)

Kennedy-McCain in "accord" with Bush's "principles"

From the WashTimes' "McCain-Kennedy bill opens citizenship path":

...Mr. McCain yesterday said he has told the administration about the provisions of the bill, and that administration officials "certainly agreed that they are in accord with the president's principles. If you think it's different in some key aspects, you'll have to point them out to me."

Erin Healy, a White House spokeswoman, said President Bush's principles were to protect the nation's security and match willing workers with willing employers.

"We look forward to working with the leaders of both parties to pass legislation that meets the president's principles," she said...

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, and the idea that a massive amnesty and guest worker program would be in "accord" with Bush's "principles" isn't exactly news. So, consider this post mainly to be here for entertainment purposes.

Previous coverage in "Why the Kennedy-McCain mass amnesty is important".

Posted to Immigration2005a at 11:28 AM | Comments (0)

Why the Kennedy-McCain mass amnesty is important

It probably doesn't stand much of a chance of passing, but it's important for two reasons:

1. We probably didn't need any more data points, but it will make sure that the American public never takes the phrase "President McCain" seriously.

2. It reveals the base corruption of our elites, and just how far out of touch they are.

On a related note, Mark Krikorian of CIS discusses the bill in "Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me":

The essence of the bill is the same as the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act: amnesty up front for millions of illegal aliens in exchange for paltry promises of future enforcement - promises that will quickly be abandoned...

The enforcement sections of the bill are laughably thin, making the amnesty-in-exchange-for-enforcement claim even less plausible than it would be otherwise. The part on border security is almost a parody of a Washington cop-out: It orders up yet another "National Strategy for Border Security" (how about picking one of the previous strategies and just enforcing it?), plus an advisory committee, two coordination plans, and various other reports and programs and multilateral partnerships...

And the interior enforcement provisions seem intended to actually hobble enforcement. Though the law provides for a system to verify employment eligibility, it instructs the Social Security administration to reinvent the wheel rather than simply expand on the successful pilot system the immigration service has been developing for over a decade. The job of auditing firms for compliance with the immigration law would also be taken away from immigration agents, and given instead to the Labor Department, perhaps the only agency even less capable of doing its job. And the bill specifically says that it does not give state and local cops any new authority to enforce immigration law...

Previous coverage in McCain, Kennedy introduce Open Borders, Open Wallets bill.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 10:32 AM | Comments (1)

Blogs for Bush: off the Kool-Aid?

A few days ago, Blogs For Bush, aka "Kool-Aid Central", announced the winners of their... stamp contest. I kid you not. The emotionally immature, ideologically insecure fanboys at B4B had a contest to design a George W. Bush stamp. The winner's at the link. The picture to the right would have been my entry had I known about the contest.

However, an entry today reports on the Washington Times article "Border Patrol Told To Stand Down In Arizona". It includes this:

If we have another 911-type attack on our soil, and it is shown, that they came through the Mexican border, then there is going to be hell to pay to both political parties for totally ignoring the problem.

I Love President Bush and admire greatly the leadership he has shown on the war on terror. I cannot begin to fathom the stress that he is constantly under. This illegal immigration is the one and only issue that I totally disagree with him on. You can bet the ranch that I am not alone, by any stretch, when it comes to this issue.

Will that entry (from Paul Lewis) be allowed to remain there? Will Paul Lewis be sent to the gulags in West Texas? Stay tuned.

And, for those who haven't been following this story, one of the reasons I laugh at B4B is their habit of deleting my comments. Start in My picture is in the KoolAid Central dictionary under "troll" for the backstory.

Posted to Bloggage at 11:19 PM | Comments (5)

McCain, Kennedy introduce Open Borders, Open Wallets bill

Senators John McCain and Ted Kennedy have introduced the "Open Borders, Open Wallets" bill, informally known as the "2005 Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act".

Do I really need to provide details, aren't the involvement of those two senators enough?

Anyway, their cohorts are Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and Jim Kolbe (R-AZ). This is a massive amnesty program that could lead to not only transforming the 10 to 20 million illegal aliens in the U.S. into citizens, but will most assuredly lead to millions more illegal aliens coming here to take advantage of this and future amnesties. As can be expected, Kennedy specifically denies that this is an "amnesty", but any difference between SAOIA and amnesty is purely semantic. Expect semantics - or, more properly, doublespeak - to be a major part of the debate on this bill.

Read more in "Bill would tighten border security, increase information sharing" and "Bills could grant legality to 10 million immigrants".

The complete details are in this detailed description of the bill.

Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) issued a statement opposing the bill, including this:

...If recent history is an accurate guide, and I believe it is, this so-called guest worker notion would only encourage a new wave of illegal aliens and make America's uncontrolled and unacceptable immigration debacle even worse than it is now.

This legislation is a bad idea not only because it creates a transparent path to amnesty, but also because it would reduce work opportunities, depress wages, and lower worker protection for Americans. Further, it would be impossible to administer and even more unlikely to be enforced...

Those in favor of this legislation include:

FIRM ("Fair Immmigration Reform Movement"). FIRM is a project of the Center for Community Change, and their organizer Bhargava is the executive director of that latter group. One of the members of FIRM's organizing committee is Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. The latter especially is a group that sounds quite dangerous. Despite that, the City of Los Angeles uses them as a quote source: The "L.A. Opens Office of Immigrant Affairs" story just gets worse and worse

The Service Employees International Union issued a press release in support of SAOIA here.

The National Restaurant Association's press release is here. It includes a statement from "Lee Culpepper, the Association's senior vice president of Government Affairs and Public Policy and Chairman of the National Immigration Forum." The page "Organizations Supporting Amnesty for Illegal Aliens" contains a 2002 quote from Culpepper, which sounds similar to something you've probably heard many times from a "conservative":

...we believe that our nation's immigration policy should not only secure our borders, but also match willing employers with willing employees...

In an interesting twist, the Laborers' International Union issued a statement favoring the bill, but moderately opposing its guest worker provisions:

"In light of abuses that have historically occurred with guest worker programs, we believe the provisions in this bill for H5A visas should be improved to ensure that workers have legal recourse against unscrupulous employers and so that U.S. workers are protected from employers whose sole purpose in hiring H5A visa holders is to undercut existing workplace standards," [Terence M. O'Sullivan, General President of the Laborers' Union] said.

And, last but not least, the office of Mexico's Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez has issued a statement. From "Mexico eyes immigration politicking":

"According to the preliminary information that we have, this initiative...supports substantive elements and distinct aspects of the migratory problem that reflect a serious interest and a political determination to adopt a balanced and integral focus on the treatment of the migratory issue and to tackle the issue of security from a wider context."

With friends like these, should we really trust anything from Kennedy or McCain?

Posted to Immigration2005a at 10:15 PM | Comments (7)

Bloggeur sous attaque!

Mon bleu! Un bloggeur est sous attaque par les forces de Puteaux! Donatez vous tout de suite, mon cheries. J'attends le couverature de mon ami l'hack d'instant.

L'UPDATE: Oouups: je m'ai fait realizer que le blogge Boing Boing a deja couvrit cette affaire, donc ceci n'est pas un scoup. Mon mal.

Posted to Bloggage at 08:55 PM | Comments (0)

Has Antonio Villaraigosa renounced MEChA?

I had no idea this was going on, but UCLA's Bruin Alumni Association has been going to Los Angeles mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa's campaign appearances trying to get him to renounce the racial separatist organization MEChA. AV was president of the UCLA chapter of that group. There's much more on their attempts and AV's militant past here.

It's finally had an effect:

On May 11, 2005 at a morning campaign press conference in Pacific Palisades, Antonio Villaraigosa was asked for the second time in three days about his ties to MEChA. Two days earlier on Monday at a North Hollywood press conference, Villaraigosa responded flippantly, "I was in the Boy Scouts, too." This time, with the Bruin Alumni Association banner "Renounce MEChA" pressed up against the window of the restaurant where the press conference was occurring, Villaraigosa answered more seriously.

[translation of a La Opinion article:] While Villaraigosa was speaking inside the restaurant, Mort's Palisades Deli, Andrew Jones, alumnus of the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), demanded with a poster that Villaraigosa reject the principles "of reconquista" of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan [MEChA], that the councilman belonged to during his university years. "Most of the young Latinos who attended universities belonged to MEChA," Villaraigosa said. "I am not in agreement with most of its precepts. But in the university, we were all part of that organization. Of course I renounce its philosophy," he said. "I am absolutely surprised," responded Jones. "Cruz Bustamante did not want to do it, and he was attacked for months about it," he added, referring to the recall campaign of 2003.

Somehow, considering his more recent activities, I'm not entirely convinced.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 05:16 PM | Comments (0)

Far-left churches oppose Schwarzenegger

The Riverside Press-Enterprise informs us in "Churches target governor" that the California Council of Churches doesn't like Arnold's support of the Minuteman Project. At the very end of their article, we get this:

...The California Council of Churches represents 1.5 million members of mainstream Protestant and Orthodox churches, said council spokeswoman Elizabeth Sholes.

Progressive Christians United, a Pomona-based group of congregations, co-authored the letter.

"Hmm... 'progressive', eh?" I can hear you saying. "Could the Press-Enterprise be pulling a fast one here, trying to portray what are actually far-left groups as mainstream groups?"

That's what it looks like to me. Since I'm not familiar with these religious groups, I'd welcome input on the "progressiveness" of the signatories to the letter, which can be found here, which is the site of Progressive Christians Uniting (not "United" as it says in the article). "Peace and justice" are certainly fine things. However, they're also code words for far-left if not even further left.

There's more on the California Council of Churches here. They appear to be at least fellow travelers of the National Council of Churches. And, here's someone else's attempt to find out more about that organization.

If you think the reporter should have reported their ideology more accurately, her email is at the bottom of the article: smcnary *at* pe.com

UPDATE: Whatever they call themselves now, see this from July 2004:

"We represent 1.5 million members of the mainstream and progressive communities of faith," said the Rev. Dr. Rick Schlosser, Executive Director of California Church IMPACT...

IMPACT is the "Legislative Advocacy Sister Organization of the California Council of Churches", and Schlosser heads both organizations.

Posted to California at 12:23 PM | Comments (2)

Foreigners declare war on Arizona

A large group of people from another country have invaded Arizona and are declaring war on the state unless they get what they want.

The force is mostly from Mexico. The war will be of the economic variety. What they want are benefits normally reserved only for citizens or legal residents.

Hyperbole? Let's read "Test of Hispanic boycott fails in Arizona" and find out:

An immigrant advocacy group asked Hispanics to boycott businesses and to stay home from work yesterday to protest legislation by Arizona lawmakers targeting illegal aliens, and said it was a trial run for a full-scale, three-day economic protest planned for July.

"This is a test so people can see and feel the power we have and the actual stranglehold we have on the economy of this state," Elias Bermudez, executive director of Centro de Ayuda, an immigrant advocacy group in Phoenix, told reporters this week...

...The July boycott was called to protest laws that restrict the use of the Mexican matricula, or identification card; require illegal aliens to pay out-of-state college tuition; deny access to literacy programs to illegals; adopt English as Arizona's official state language; and mandate that state funds be denied for the construction and operation of a day-workers center...

Arizona's Prop. 200 only concerned illegal aliens, as do most of those above. The only one on that list that might affect those here legally is the language bill, and that's far outweighed by their objections to Prop. 200 and the others. Of course, illegal aliens are - by definition - citizens of another country. Many or most of those participating in the boycott, such as it was, were no doubt citizens of other countries. And, the boycott was designed with them in mind: recent or proposed Arizona legislation is designed to reduce illegal immigration.

This boycott is a threat against not just the (lawful) residents of Arizona, but against employers as well. Expect almost all of them to buckle under. After all, if they're corrupt enough to employ illegal aliens in the first place, they probably aren't going to spend too much time considering the long-term effects on them and on the country by giving in to such boycotts.

Those few employers who aren't completely corrupt might want to ask themselves, "Where does it stop?" If Arizonans give in to such threats, they'll enable more illegal aliens to come. That will serve to increase the power of racial demagogues and increase the power of such boycotts. What then? Will there be a demand for voting rights for everyone regardless of "status"? What other demands will have to be acceded to in order to keep the money flowing?

Note that while the WashTimes says this wasn't a success, the Arizona Republic (as could be expected) paints it in rosy terms: "Valley Hispanic boycott called a success":

...Hispanics who could afford it or believed it was worth missing a day of pay showed up at rallies instead of work. [The AZ Republic only offers those two choices, truly a false choice. -- LW]

"We are trying to stop the anti-immigrant laws that they are introducing against us who don't have papers," said Rivas, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico...

Moderate Hispanic community or business leaders in Arizona should make it painfully clear to the AZ Republic and anyone else who'll listen that all "Hispanics" are not militant Chicanos, supporters of illegal immigration, and supporters of threats against the U.S. by foreigners. That's what the polls show, even if the AZ Republic would like to think otherwise.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 07:34 PM | Comments (7)

Racial group opposes REAL ID Act

In "Advocates Assail Driver's License Rules" the AP transcribes for us the thoughts of the National Council of the Race about READ ID:

"This is clearly an anti-immigrant bill that's going to have a very harmful impact on the Latino community and all immigrant communities," said Michele Waslin, director of immigration policy research at the National Council of La Raza.

"It doesn't make us one iota safer. Not a single immigrant is going to be returned to his or her home country if they're denied a driver's license."

Obviously, she's wrong. Several of the 9/11 hijackers were able to get driver's licenses, in some cases through fraud. See all the entries in this category for the details.

And, while she doesn't provide an answer and the "reporter" doesn't ask, not giving driver's licenses away like candy will serve as yet another disencentive for prospective illegal aliens. And, of course, the spokesperson from the National Council of the Race confuses "immigrant" with "illegal immigrant". And, the reporter doesn't mention this:

The group was initiated by a research project funded by the Ford Foundation. Today La Raza has more than 270 formal affiliates serving 40 states, and a broader nationwide network of more than 30,000 groups and individuals who reach at least 3.5 million Hispanics in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Notwithstanding this large base of support, more than two-thirds of La Raza's funding comes from corporations and foundations, and much of the rest stems from government sources. Between 2001 and 2003, the Ford Foundation alone gave La Raza some $9.83 million, including a single grant of $8.05 million.

The article rambles on, giving the thoughts of yet another far-left group without identifying them as such. The article - of course - also confuses "immigrant" with "illegal immigrant."

Contact feedback *at* ap.org with your thoughts.

Posted to Immigration_dls at 06:16 PM | Comments (2)

Beware Wendy's free Frosty's weekend offer!

In an attempt to revive interest after the Wendy's Chili Finger Gate Watch 2005 incident, Wendy's is giving away free Frosty's all this weekend.

During my Blogging Across America tour, I ate many Frosty's. I also spent a dollar picking up a book of Frosty coupons, which entitled me to (IIRC) ten or so of the delicious non-dairy desserts. Imagine that: ten Frosties for just a buck!

Needless to say, I was excited (very excited) as I decided to use my first coupon. I literally couldn't believe my eyes. I thought I was suffering some kind of a Lilliputian effect or something. The "Frosty" I was given was about the size of a thimble!

I note that 7-11 tried a similar trick with their free Slurpies. The cup for that was only slightly larger.

Now, if these are at least small size cups, I'll retract everything said above, and I'll gladly go back to Wendy's again and again, dumping the luscious icy treats I get into a large vat for future consumption at my leisure.

However, if these are the micro-sized Frosties I - and most people who take advantage of this offer - will most likely be quite disappointed.

Posted to WackyHumor at 05:35 PM | Comments (0)

Irony on the Border, Part 5: Mexico clamps down on immigrants

Mexico wants to be our primary supplier of cheap labor, so they're starting to crack down on immigrants from Brasil who are using Mexico as a staging area for attempts to sneak across our border. How soon until we see Brazilian "immigrants rights groups" spring up in Mexico and agitate like similar groups do here? Will Sally Struthers-level emotionalism and charges of racism be used as a cover for attempts by the Brazilians to get rid of their own surplus population? Stay tuned.

Details hinted at here and explicitly stated in this PDF file (scan of a WSJ article).

See the previous pieces in this series starting in "Irony on the Border, Part 4".

Posted to Immigration2005a at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)

Huffington Post is not making my job easier

Over at Huff And Blow, I've been trying to satirize the concept of Arianna Huffington's new site.

Unfortunately, I'm having a bit of an identity crisis here. But, it's more than that. I fear I'm having trouble with reality itself.

I know that Ariadne Huffanan, Zeke Whittle, and Cudahy Patel are made-up names, because I made them up. And, I realize all the posts at Huff And Blow are fake, because I wrote them.

But, then I look at the site I'm supposed to be satirizing, and I see that Robert Evans is posting there, and Hillary Rosen out of the RIAA has a sleazy post about Mary Cheney (she's gay, don't you know).

Which is the satire? Where am I? Who am I? Which reality am I really in?

Posted to Bloggage at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)

Endorsement: Jim Hahn for Mayor of Los Angeles

I know most people don't like him for various reasons, many of which are unfair or trivial.

However, even if you think Hahn is horrible I believe I can guarantee that Antonio Villaraigosa would be far, far worse.

As has been pointed out many times, but, strangely enough, has not yet made the L.A. Times, Villaraigosa is the former president of the UCLA chapter of the racial separatist organization MEChA. Four years ago, a KNX reporter asked him to renounce that organization's goals, and he refused.

Now, to most people the preceding information would be enough. However, I realize Los Angeles is quite a "special" place. Therefore, I ask that you spend some time with google or visiting web sites and try to decide for yourself whether what I'm saying is something you should be concerned about. I strongly think it is, and I think that if you do your research you might be as concerned about these matters as I am. Now, of course, some of the pages and sites are just plain poorly designed. So, I'm also asking a slight indulgence that you'll concentrate on the verifiable facts they present and not the POV or the design.

Here are some links:

MEChA, Villaraigosa And The LA Mayoral Campaign

MayorNo.com horribly designed site, but it has a lot of verifiable information, including audio and video

Villaraigosa congratulating the president of Mexico on helping negate a U.S. law: the L.A. Times thought that was a good thing

And, here's more on Villaraigosa's former organization: Bustamante: The Racist in the Race?, and this and this.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 11:20 PM | Comments (1)

Bush supports Georgia's sovereignty!

Maybe I completely misjudged president Bush. Maybe he does support U.S. sovereignty after all! Here's a speech he gave in Georgia earlier today:

"the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia must be respected ... by all nations."

Take that, Mexico! Our stalwart leader is finally standing up to your corrupt oligarchy and their expansionist plans!

Wait a minute... I just realized something. He wasn't speaking about Georgia U.S.A., he was talking about Georgia in Central Asia. That explains everything.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 08:38 PM | Comments (1)

KRCA's anti-American billboard: still up in Koreatown

I was driving through Koreatown (Los Angeles) earlier today and out of the corner of my eye I saw something quite familiar: one of KRCA's anti-American billboards. After driving around the block I stared at it for a minute, and I have trouble believing how anyone could not see it as an overtly agressive, anti-American symbol.

Supposedly, Liberman Broadcasting agreed to revise the billboards, and they were supposed to do that by the 6th ("Public outrage kills 'L.A., Mexico' sign"). However, as far as I could tell, this was the same billboard I've seen in pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me.

This might just be a minor delay, so if you know a liberal apologist who's nearby, take them for a drive and show it to them as soon as possible. It's on the north side of 8th Street near Catalina (between Vermont and Normandie). Note also that despite the name "Koreatown", most of the residents of the area are Hispanic. In fact, I believe a majority are from Central America and not Mexico.

One other subtextual item regarding this billboard is its relation to graffiti. When I first saw a picture of the billboard, I thought it might be graffiti, but then I looked at the lettering and read reports saying that that was the intended design. Something that I haven't read elsewhere is the fact that crossing out one gang's graffiti is considered a hostile act:

Graffiti is also used to cross-out graffiti written by other gangs, in their own and other gang's territories, which is considered both an insult and a challenge. In fact, the crossing-out of rival gang graffiti often leads to retaliation.

Since that's the first thing I thought of, I have an extraordinary deal of trouble believing that the advertising agency didn't mean it in that fashion in addition to their other subtextual messages. And, since the residents of Koreatown are quite familiar with gangs, I believe around 99% of them would get that same message. If you find useful idiot liberals downplaying the billboard, or even considering it funny ("L.A. Times Editors Say the 'Los Angeles, Mexico' Billboard is Funny"), please consider that symbols are quite powerful and the billboard is a quite a noxious symbol.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 06:03 PM | Comments (1)

Feds paid $2 billion/year to jail criminal aliens

WND has the details in "Feds pay $5.8 billion to jail criminal aliens":

...the number of criminal aliens in federal prisons increased from about 42,000 at the end of 2001 to about 49,000 at the end of last year... [that's a 16% increase]

The direct federal costs during the study's time frame were estimated to be $4.2 billion, with federal reimbursements to state and local governments totalling $1.6 billion through the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, or SCAAP. [The last I heard, Bush wanted to eliminate those SCAAP payments. Even if the status has changed in the intervening year, it's still quite indicative.]

The majority of criminal aliens were identified as citizens of Mexico.

In addition, state prisons in fiscal 2003 housed about 74,000 criminal aliens. About 80 percent were in just five states -- Arizona, California, Florida, New York and Texas.

Also, about 147,000 criminal aliens were jailed in 698 local jurisdictions that received SCAAP reimbursement in 2003.

About 30 percent of those criminals were in five municipal and country jails -- Los Angeles County, California; New York City, New York; Orange County, California; Harris County, Texas; and Maricopa County, Arizona...

The GAO report is available in in this PDF file. UPDATE: Regarding SCAAP, see this:

The Senate Judiciary Committee, on Thursday, March 17, approved Sen. Dianne Feinstein's bill to increase funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP). SCAAP partially reimburses state and local governments for the costs of incarcerating undocumented criminal immigrants. Senator Barbara Boxer is a co-sponsor of the bill along with 10 other Senators from both parties.

S.188 authorizes $750 million for fiscal year 2006; $850 million for FY 2007; and $950 million per fiscal year from FY 2008 through FY 2011. The Committee approved the bill by voice vote.

Last year's FY05 omnibus appropriations bill funded the program at $297 million, down from a high of $585 million several years ago. The Bush Administration has proposed zero-funding SCAAP in its last two budgets. California receives about 40 percent of SCAAP funding - almost $112 million of the $281.6 million total available in FY04.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 02:27 PM | Comments (1)

"It was better before they came"

What, you might ask, is the title? Is that the latest racist xenophobic comment from one of those anti-immigrant racists? Why, yes it is. And, even worse, that racist comment is engraved in stone and stands outside a Metrolink Rail Station in Baldwin Park, CA.

Now, based on the last sentence, you can probably figure out that the monument is to racism of the politically-correct variety. Not only does it contain the titular phrase, but the end of this poem:

This land was Mexican once
was Indian always
and is.
And will be again.

Details and pictures here.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 02:20 PM | Comments (2)

Liberals learn about illegal immigration!

The DUmmies report on the latest news that the Feds are going to reimburse hospitals $250 million per year for unreimbursed illegal alien healthcare. Amidst the predictable, sub-Struthers guilty "liberal" whining comes this bit from a 1000+ poster:

Janitorial jobs that would pay up to $15 an hour in Southern California are now being done for $5 an hour by illegals who live 10 to 15 people per dwelling.

It is not that Americans will not do "shit jobs"; it is that they are not willing to live like sardines. $5 an hour in SoCal is not anywhere near a living wage.

I cannot believe someone on a Democratic site would encourage the depression of wages to such levels that living 15 to a house is the only way to survive.

One definition of a Third World country is where there is an extreme concentration of wealth at the top combined with a deliberate policy to destroy the possibility of a large and growing middle class. We're already there. America is Brazil North.

(Not to distract from his point, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that many of the people who post messages in favor of illegal immigration are not in fact simply misguided "liberals," but people who have a financial stake in the matter and are using misguided "liberalism" to help keep the money flowing.)

Posted to Immigration2005a at 11:02 AM | Comments (1)

Lake Tahoe... and a tsunami?

Scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California say that a tsunami could form in Lake Tahoe.

It would require an earthquake of magnitude 7 or higher. Because the lake is the 10th deepest in the world, that would magnify the effect. The result: waves 10 to 33 feet high, which would take just three to six minutes to reach shore. Details here.

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

Russians resuscitate an old favorite

A "Victory Train" rolled through Moscow with the above picture of Josef Stalin on its front to celebrate the end of WWII. Sixty "world dignataries" are on hand to help in the celebrations.

And, a new statue of the great leader was unveiled to a cheering crowd in eastern Siberia. Details here.

Previously: a statue of KGB founder Felix Dzerzhinsky is erected in a small town outside Moscow.

Posted to Miscellania at 05:03 PM | Comments (1)

MSM punsters follow Reuters' wacky lead

The MSM's wacky headline writers took some time off from lying and decided to entertain us all, Reuters Oddly Enough style.

First up comes the story of chickens who were ticketed... for crossing the road!

The AP's title appears to be "Chicken Ticketed for Crossing the Road", which is preserved by most sources. WBOC chooses to stand alone, referring to the same story as "Couple, authorities have ruffled feathers over jaywalking chicken". A station near the incident in question titles it "Kern County chicken cited for jaywalking", and NC's News Observer call it "Couple ticketed for chicken's jaywalking".

And, then there's the entirely different story "Chicken Slaughterhouse Shut After Compaints Of Fowl Smell".

That wacky MSM!

Posted to WackyHumor at 03:34 PM | Comments (0)

Ariadne's celebrity group blog

I see that Ariadne Huffanan - the famous columnist, thinker, author, educator, activist, and former candidate for honorary mayor of Brentwood - has started a new blog: HuffAndBlow.com

One of this blog's favorite "video stars" has joined her as well. None other than socialite and motel heiress Cudahy Patel will be joining her experiment.

America's favorite legendary and avuncular newscaster, Ezekiel "Zeke" Whittle has a post up where he talks about journalistic ethics. Maybe he should learn from his own post.

So far, I'm giving two thumbs down - way down - to HuffAndBlow.com. Check it out and you'll probably agree.

UPDATE: Shocking developments over at Huff And Blow, but thankfully everything appears to be OK. The same can't be said of the other celebrity group blog, Huffington Post.

Posted to Bloggage at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)

S.F. Chronicle endorses Arnold, Minutemen?

I have trouble believing it, but I believe the S.F. Chronicle has tacitly endorsed both Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Minuteman Project.

On Sunday they published "Gov. Vigilante: Just another white guy in a pickup truck" from Marxist UC Irvine professor and "intellectual" Mike Davis. This is apparently a guest editorial, but even so my jaw literally dropped several feet and landed with a thud on the floor.

The editorial is so far gone, so full of lies, so full of false analogies, and just so lunatic that I think something else has to be going on here.

In brief, I think the S.F. Chronicle is running a COINTELPRO-style program.

You might be shocked, but I think it's true. What better way to show that Arnold is right than to print an editorial that sounds even crazier than, say, a drugged and drunken street person in a Hollywood donut shop at 3am?

The columns from, say, Mark Morford are occasionally entertaining, even rarely intentionally so. And, Morford can manage to string a few coherent sentences or even paragraphs together. However, Davis' column is what I would refer to as "literally insane." I believe this to be a tacit admission from the S.F. Chronicle that Arnold is right and all his critics are nuts.

For more on Davis, see "Is Mike Davis' Los Angeles all in his head?" from Salon, or see Brady Westwater's blog.

Posted to California at 10:52 PM | Comments (1)

Did Agence France Press lie about Arnold Schwarzenegger?

See if you can spot the bias in the AFP's "Boost US borders: Schwarzenegger":

CALIFORNIA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who recently angered his state's Hispanic community with his views on illegal immigration, called on the US federal government to boost patrols along the US border with Mexico...

[...quotes from Fox News Sunday...]

...Schwarzenegger, who emigrated from Austria in 1968, came under fire last month by praising the controversial "Minutemen..."

...Schwarzenegger had also drawn a storm of criticism last month by suggesting that the United States should simply close its borders to stop the inflow of illegal immigrants...

He later corrected himself, saying he meant to say "securing" instead of "closing."

Now, unlike Pilar Marrero, the AFP was at least slightly honest enough to print Arnold's correction.

However, look at what else they did, highlighted above. From the way AFP has written this, one would think that not only every single "Hispanic" in California is angered by Arnold's remarks, but so is everyone else. In fact, given the way that the AFP has written this, one might think Arnold is now forced to live in a cave on a hillside, surrounded by an angry populace who are all opposed to his immigration-related statements.

As poll after poll shows, that is very likely false. While there aren't any lies in this AFP's report, it is extremely misleading.

At post time this is available in two Australian papers: this and this. I'll watch and see if any of our fine U.S. sources decide to promulgate the AFP's misleading statements.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 10:25 PM | Comments (2)

Did Pilar Marrero lie about Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Pilar Marrero is a "political columnist and metropolitan editor for La Opinion newspaper in Los Angeles." The Pacific News Service printed a little screed from her entitled "Sagging Arnold Wants To Pump You Up With Diversionary Issue" which includes this:

Borrowing a page from his adviser, former California governor Pete Wilson, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger talked about "closing" the borders...

[Speaking on KFI] Gov. Schwarzenegger also made sure the audience knew he gets his information on immigration from Fox News and that he's against giving water to people crossing the border, many of whom die from lack of it...

As for the first paragraph, everyone who's not a far-left, ethnically-blinded supporter of illegal immigration knows what he meant. Both he and his spokesperson clarified he meant "secured" not "closed." Yet, that distinction didn't make it to Marrero's column.

As for the second paragraph, here's what Arnold actually said:

...but what we are doing basically is by not really securing the borders, we are basically saying look, here are the various different water stations, here are the places where you can cross the borders, here is where we're going to help you. I mean, the whole system is set up to really invite people to come in here illegally, and I think that has to stop.

I believe that even Noam Chomsky would say that Arnold is refering to the system as a whole. And, I believe even Noam Chomsky would be forced to admit that Arnold would not deny water to those who are dying of thirst.

Further, I think (and I believe would Noam as well) that Marrero is deliberately trying to mislead her readers. It's not a flat out lie, but I'll remember her name and I'll remember not to believe anything she says in the future. I'd suggest you do the same. I don't think contacting the PNS would do any good, but if you want here's their contact information. UPDATE: Upon reading her comments again, I believe I was much too kind. I'm going to say that she's flat out lying with the bit about the water.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 10:13 PM | Comments (0)

Thailand's Tiptantree Rujiranon accepts Miss Tiffany Universe award

Thailand's beauty contests are not like those in the U.S. For one, many of the women are prettier. And, for another...

More pics here, here, and here.

Posted to WackyHumor at 09:29 PM | Comments (0)

New York Times tries to restore its credibility

From the surprising NYT article "Times Panel Proposes Steps to Build Credibility":

In order to build readers' confidence, an internal committee at The New York Times has recommended taking a variety of steps, including having senior editors write more regularly about the workings of the paper, tracking errors in a systematic way and just firing everyone and starting over.

The committee also recommended that the paper "discontinue trying to build and apologize for world communism" and "relegate Nina Bernstein to writing Sally Struthers' TV commercials," with more reporting from rural areas and of a broader array of cultural and lifestyle issues. The report also advocated that the New York Times tells the truth for once. The 16-page report is to be made available today on the Times company's Web site, www.nytco.com...

(Note: I modified their text slightly. Can you spot the changes I made?)

At post time, I can't find the report at nytco.com, but I'll look for it on the morn.

Posted to Politics at 09:20 PM | Comments (0)

Get out your hankies, here comes a PIIPP

The NY Daily News is a repeat offender, having published other PIIPPs ("pro-illegal immigration puff pieces") in the past. Their latest ("Best & brightest in bind") starts with this:

Carlos will graduate with honors from Brooklyn College next month with a mathematics degree. It's a subject he loves and hopes to teach one day to elementary school students...

The tear-jerking story goes on to explain that he's "undocumented", and thus won't be able to find a job. Then, after trying to engender as much "liberal" guilt as possible, it includes an ad for the anti-American DREAM Act:

CUNY administrators are hopeful that U.S. lawmakers will resurrect the Development, Relief and Education for Minors (DREAM) Act. Introduced in 2004 by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the bill would allow undocumented students who entered this country as minors to apply for a conditional green card, provided they go to college or enter the military.

"We have a choice to either keep these talented young people underground, or give them a chance to contribute to the United States," Hatch told The News. "I believe that our laws should not discourage those with bright, young minds."

Nowhere in their story is it pointed out that there's only so much money to go around. Every discounted college education that an illegal alien receives means one less discounted college education for a U.S. citizen.

To restate that: the DREAM Act says that illegal aliens should get a better deal than our own citizens. It is quite simply an explicitly anti-American piece of legislation.

Please contact the NY Daily News and suggest they consider their journalistic reputation before expelling junk like this: editor *at* nydailynews.com

See the other posts in this category for examples of pro-DREAM Act PIIPPs published in other papers. For more on the DREAM Act, see "Orrin Hatch's anti-American DREAM Act gets closer to passing", "Kansas City Star: Let U.S. citizens eat cake", and "Twenty-Four Americans Challenge Law, Claiming New Policy Discriminates Against American Citizens". And, see "Where do PIIPPs come from?" for a similar but non-PIIPP article.

UPDATE: The email I sent the NYDN included the following:

Maybe some day some newspaper will write the real story: how do things like this end up in newspapers?

Perhaps you wouldn't mind telling me. How exactly did this article come about? Did someone at CUNY or an "immigrants' rights group" pitch it to you? Or, did one of your editors read about the DREAM Act and they thought it was a good thing without realizing what it really does?

As you might expect, I didn't receive a reply.

See also the newer post "N.Y. Daily News, Albor Ruiz: Lying, Misleading, Joking, or Telling the Truth?"

Posted to Immigration_piipps at 07:44 PM | Comments (3)

Poll: Hahn ties Villaraigosa for Mayor of Los Angeles

Via email:

The Hahn campaign received wonderful news this week when a voter survey showed the mayoral race tied with only a week-and-a-half remaining before election day. The Tyson Organization, at the request of the campaign, conducted a survey of 1,515 voters who represent those who will turn out for the May 17 mayoral election. (A traditional polling firm usually only talks to 300-400 voters.) There were two questions asked in a blind script:

Are you voting? Who will you support?

Hahn 28.3%
Villaraigosa 27.6%
Undecided 44.1%

For those who have decided, Mayor Hahn wins 50.7% of the vote while Mr. Villaraigosa wins only 49.3%.

The news for Jim Hahn is extraordinary with momentum clearly belonging to L.A.'s mayor. Only one month ago, the L.A. Times commissioned a poll that claimed Councilman Villaraigosa had an 18-point lead. No more.

Although Hahn and the L.A. Times won't mention it, Antonio Villaraigosa is also the former president of the UCLA chapter of the racial separatist organization MEChA. You can read more about him here. Those who are moderate Democrats might want to consider what effect it would have on your party if this question is asked by someone who's a) outside of loony-liberal Los Angeles and b) able to ask several follow-up questions.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 05:12 PM | Comments (1)

WaPo opposes the REAL ID Act, supports illegal immigration

That's one of the conclusions I drew after reading the horribly biased report "Immigrant Groups Fight License Bill" which reads like a press release from one of those "immigrants' rights" groups. Perhaps, as a slight sop to whatever journalistic credibility they have remaining, they should have rightfully described those groups as "illegal immigrants' rights" groups.

Another conclusion I drew is that the WaPo and those groups give not a whit for the security of the U.S., prefering to concentrate on what are in fact relatively minor costs. Consider this:

In addition to potentially costing the states millions of dollars to implement, the new measures could mean longer lines at the DMV and spell an end to walk-in, walk-out service to get a license.

Well, gosh, should licenses that allow people to board airliners and enter secure facilities really be a snap to obtain? Apparently the Washington Post thinks so.

Continuing on with their dire warnings:

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the legislation would cost states $100 million over five years to implement.

But Cheye Calvo, director of the transportation committee of the National Council of State Legislatures, said the costs to states could be five to seven times that.

Let's go for round numbers and say the cost could be $1 billion. Then, let's divide that by five years. Then, let's divvy that up by states. Lacking a precise formula, let's say that 10% of that is spent by California, 10% by New York, and the remainder is divided equally.

That means California and New York would pay $20 million per year for five years, and the other states would pay around $3.3 million per year for five years.

Even if we divided it equally, each state could pay as much as $4 million.

And, bear in mind I already inflated the inflated figures discussed by Ms. Calvo.

That's chump change compared to our security and the amount of money that those "immigrants" cost us.

In order to prevent junk like this in the future, please contact the WaPo with your thoughts: ombudsman *at* washpost.com

Posted to Immigration2005a at 01:08 PM | Comments (2)

"Backdoor license plan"

The L.A. Daily News reports on Gil Cedillo's latest attempts:

SACRAMENTO -- Stymied in his efforts to allow illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses, Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, has found a backdoor way around the ban with a proposal that would exempt undocumented motorists from vehicle-impound laws...

Cedillo said law enforcement resources should be dedicated to going after serious driving offenses such as drunk driving, not licensing violations by undocumented immigrants.

"That's what the money should be spent for, not towing people's cars who are taking their citizen kids to school, church or the supermarket," Cedillo said in an interview. "It's just a bad policy and it doesn't make sense."

Unlike his measure that would make illegal immigrants eligible for licenses, which was repealed under pressure from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cedillo has pushed for his new bill quietly...

Note the words the Daily News uses; I think they might be slightly getting it. Note also the anchor babies reference by One Bill Gil.

My report on this is here.

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

The SJ Mercury's "special" editorial board

The San Jose Merc has an editorial entitled "Special licenses better than nothing" which supports giving illegal aliens a special version of a California driver's license. That would be, unfortunately, permissible under the Real ID Act.

In addition to generally opposing the Real ID Act, they also complain that the Act would "force California to spend millions of dollars in the next three years creating and storing digital images without being reimbursed for the costs." Hmmm... what are we missing here? Oh yeah, that $10 billion or so California loses as a result of being Mexico's lifeboat. Next to that, the database is peanuts.

They also briefly reference cars being impounded, without informing their readers (at least of the editorial) of Gil Cedillo's latest attempt to subvert our immigration laws.

Posted to Immigration_dls at 03:35 PM | Comments (0)

Rep. Chris Cannon, great American and great Republican

Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) did it again! At a forum in Washington, he boldly squared off against Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO). Rep. Cannon suggested of Tancredo: "I think he ought to consider his views and decide whether they're consistent with the Republican Party... I don't think there's a place in the Republican Party for racism, for xenophobia, for ideas that are fundamentally un-American..."

If it were possible to clone Rep. Chris Cannon, I know I'd be for it. You can read more about this fine upstanding American in these posts:

Rep. Chris Cannon is off the immigration subcommittee

Utah's loose Cannon is "working like crazy"

"[Rep. Chris] Cannon [R-UT] drums on immigration despite voters" (the AILA is a major contributor and helped him write legislation)

"Loose Cannon in Utah"

And, my personal favorite link for other fans of the Great American:

Aide to U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) solicits campaign contributions from illegal aliens

Posted to Immigration2005a at 08:39 PM | Comments (4)

Forest Service lands the size of Oregon could see roads

In a truly heartwarming development for American commerce and progress, up to 58.5 million acres of Forest Service land could soon see roads for the first time. Imagine! No longer would woodchucks and other furry creatures need to hew to decrepit forest paths. Instead, they can use nifty new modern roads and listen to the charming sounds of logging and other delights. Our forests: truly lands of many uses. And, of course, it's all thanks to our own "conservative" stalwart defender, George W. Bush.

97% of the land in question is in these states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. 34.3 million of the acres are apparently on the front lines. New forest management plans would have to be written for the rest.

To put that in perspective, Oregon is 60 million acres. And, 58.5 million acres is more than half of California's acreage. On the other end, that's 80 Rhode Islands.

More information in "New rule opens national forest to roads". See also the enviro-whacko press release "Bush Administration Guts Protection for Roadless Forests".

Sane use of natural resources should be a conservative thing, not a loony "liberal" thing.

Posted to OutdoorSports at 01:46 PM | Comments (0)

Al Gore gets award: for the Internet

All five of you who've ever heard of the Webby Awards will be glad to hear that they're giving former VP Al Gore an award for his Internet work. The award will be presented by Vint Cerf, who was (in our sphere of reality, not Big Wooden Al's) in fact one of the inventors of the Internet:

Setting the record straight on one of recent history's most persistent political myths, The Webby Awards will present Former Vice President Al Gore with The Webby Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of the pivotal role he has played in the development of the internet over the past three decades. Vint Cerf, widely credited as one of the "fathers of the internet," will present Vice President Gore with the award.

Let's go to the tape. Here's what Al Gore said March 9, 1999 on CNN:

...During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet...

Fast forward to Vint Cerf's thoughts on giving Al an award:

"He is indeed due some thanks and consideration for his early contributions," Cerf said...

But after joining Congress eight years later, he promoted high-speed telecommunications for economic growth and supported funding increases for the then-fledging network, according to the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which presents the annual awards.

He popularized the term "information superhighway" as vice president.

Wow.

Posted to WackyHumor at 01:19 PM | Comments (0)

91% think illegal immigration is a very or somewhat serious problem.

According to a new Fox News / Opinion Dynamics poll about immigration, 91% of respondents think illegal immigration is a very or somewhat serious problem. The report is here. The PDF file with the questions and the results is here.

Here's the actual question that was asked:

How serious a problem do you believe the illegal or undocumented immigration situation is in the United States today? Do you see it as a very serious problem, somewhat serious, not very serious or not at all a serious problem?

63% said "very serious", 28% said "somewhat serious", and 2% were unsure. Leaving 7% who don't think it's a problem. (In future posts, I think I'll call supporters of illegal immigration "The Seven Percenters.")

This was a phone poll of 900 people. Now, I fully expect the usual suspects to claim it was a fake poll or make a enormously humorous pun like "Faux." Well, stifle your laughter because here are three examples of MediaMatters citing other polls from the same source, without questioning their credibility: this, this, and this.

That said, one of the questions is a bit unfortunate:

Do you favor or oppose eliminating all forms of public assistance, including education and health benefits, to all illegal or undocumented immigrants and their children?

Emphasis added. I don't favor eliminating all services, which might include things like legitimate emergencies.

And, on an unfortunate note, a majority support allowing working illegal aliens to apply for "legal, temporary-worker status." I would imagine the responses would be dramatically different if the question had been changed to "legal, temporary-worker status which Teddy Kennedy and other 'liberals' would deal up into a permanent amnesty."

Note also that in most cases Republicans and Democrats are close or very close in their responses. That's similar to other immigration polls.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 08:31 PM | Comments (2)

Yet another attempt by Gil Cedillo to keep illegal aliens driving

Gil Cedillo is back with a new bill. However, this isn't trying to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens.

Rather, it would waive the impound period for those who are here illegally and who are caught driving without a licenses. At the very least you have to applaud Cedillo for his persistence and creativity.

From S.B. 591's text:

...This bill would require a city or county to exempt a person from the impound period where the offense involves a person who has never been issued a driver's license due to an inability to meet the requirement that the applicant's presence in the United States is authorized under federal law...

Eric Leonard on KFI 640 AM Los Angeles says that the LAPD might come out with an official stance on this bill. To keep up with the latest action on this bill, here's its main page.

If you live in California, please contact your representatives and stress your opposition: Senate, Assembly.

Previous coverage of Cedillo's innumerable attempts to circumvent our immigration laws is in this category and also in, for just one example, "Actors, writers and musicians want you to pay all the costs for their cheap labor".

Posted to Immigration_dls at 07:53 PM | Comments (2)

A secret message from Patt Morrison?

Patt Morrison - the variously behatted L.A. Times lifestyle columnist - offers a column about the anti-American KRCA billboard entitled "A Sign of Controversy Over Immigration".

Now, at first glance, you might be tempted to think this is just a stock "liberal" screed designed to apologize for KRCA's anti-American actions and support the elites who favor massive illegal immigration. In fact, it is indeed chocka with "liberalism", including playing of the race card and implying that those opposed to the billboard are anti-semites. And, she tries to tempt people with "cheap" food. After all, what matters corruption and illegality when you can eat cheap? And, she gives Lenard Liberman the opportunity to express his views without asking him those hard questions I know Patt could come up with.

But, I read it twice and I think - like POW Admiral Denton with his eye-blinks in Morse Code - Patt is trying to send patriotic Americans a secret message.

Her column includes this:

"If," Liberman told me, "I put up a sign that had Big Ben in the middle of the L.A. skyline and put my newscasters in tweed jackets and said 'the best British news on the market,' nobody would think I'm telling people the British are coming."

I did point out that there aren't 5 or 6 million Britons living in Los Angeles...

Allow me to translate that into what I think Patt is trying to say:

I'm familiar with American history. I realize we had a War of Independence some years ago. I'm also aware that we have a "special relationship" with Britain, and I'm quite familiar with that relationship, and I realize that in some times and ways it's been a case of the tail wagging the dog. Be that as it may, if we were to assume that Britain wanted their "lost territories" back, being that they're much less powerful than we are, they could send us millions of people as a way to exert more influence on us.

In fact, Mexico has publicly stated that one of the benefits of sending us so many people is to have influence over our policies. It's not out of the question to imagine a more hostile British government attempting something like that.

Now, if we had millions of British living in the U.S., and someone put up billboards claiming that the U.S. had returned to being a British possession, that would indeed be outrageous.

And, the difference between this hypothetical case and the current case is that we could fix the problem and ensure our sovereignty without having to worry about braindead "liberals" at papers like the L.A. Times playing the race card and generally lying through their teeth to stop it.

P.S. Please send me more hats.

I might be wrong, but I think that's the secret message Patt was trying to tell us.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 01:56 PM | Comments (1)

A massive tax break for remittance companies?

Someone who's an expert on the law in question really needs to take a look at this post. It says that remittances companies, like First Data / Western Union and others, are getting massive tax breaks for helping "immigrants" (mostly illegal aliens) send money back home.

If that's true, I can see this story going MSM. Or, at least going to the small parts of the MSM with guts.

For more on Western Union, see "The Fastest Way To [profit from illegal immigration]". They also played a part in Colorado's guide for illegal aliens.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 12:17 AM | Comments (2)

Law of the Sea Treaty and the New World Order

As far as I know, no one has been able to come up with any conclusive proof that Henry Kissinger actually said the words "New World Order" (other than in a later, joking context).

But, what if I presented to you a 2000 quote from one Professor Elisabeth Mann Borgese of the International Ocean Institute in which she actually said the words "New World Order", and the meaning was clear from the context, and then I told you that that late professor was instrumental in developing the Law of the Sea Treaty? OK, so if you haven't been following along with LOST that might not mean much. In that case, start with the previous coverage of LOST here.

In brief, LOST is a power grab by the U.N. that would allow them to create a huge new revenue stream and have control over vast swathes of the world's oceans. As you might expect, the Bushes are in favor of it, whereas Reagan was opposed.

Now, let's take a look at the good professor's speech:

I have devoted the better part of my adult life to the oceans... I had, from the very beginning, the gut feeling that more was at stake than the oceans, great as they are. The fact is that in trying to build a new system of governance and management for the oceans and the coastal areas, we will be making, perforce, a major contribution to the building of a new national/international system or order for the next century. The world ocean has been, and is, so to speak, our great laboratory for the making of a new world order. For a combination of reasons it was in the oceans, and only there, that we could introduce a series of new concepts, principles and norms which eventually will have to be applied to the world as a whole...

As I said above, George Bush supports LOST.

"Socialist was behind U.N. sea treaty" has more on the professor:

The youngest daughter of the German novelist Thomas Mann, Borgese openly favored world government, wrote for the left-wing The Nation magazine and was a member of a "Committee to Frame a World Constitution." She served as director of the International Center for Ocean Development and chairman of the International Oceans Institute at Dalhousie University in Canada...

Borgese received UNEP's "Environment Prize" in 1987 and was credited with organizing the conferences that "served to lay the foundation" for the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea, according to Dalhousie University, which houses her archives.

In a 1995 speech, pro-U.N. Democratic Sen. Claiborne Pell said Borgese's ideas were "embodied in the negotiated texts of the Law of the Sea Convention."

Her ideas included recognizing the oceans as the "common heritage of mankind" and creating an International Seabed Authority to charge U.S. and foreign companies for the right to mine the ocean floor. This has been regarded by many LOST critics as a global tax scheme...

Put on your tinfoil truthseekers, and read the article and the links.

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

Mmmm... Tyson Chicken and TB

At a Tyson Chicken processing plant in Oklahoma, 41 out of 222 workers were found to be suffering from tuberculosis. There's no stated illegal immigration connection in the article ("Workers in Processing Plant Being Infected with Tuberculosis"), but let's just say it's possible that some or many might be of that status. The article also says there's no risk of it having spread to the food and, not being a food scientist I have no way of verifying that. But, one wonders why, for instance, cafeteria workers are screened for TB. Perhaps all 41 of the workers were clerical or something...

Posted to Immigration2005a at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)

Daniel Weintraub's Sacramento cocoon

You have to give CalInsider some slight credit. Unlike many other California newspaper columnists, he doesn't support open borders. However, he also doesn't like the Minuteman project. See "Governor misses the mark on illegal immigration":

Schwarzenegger need not apologize for taking [illegal immigration] on. But as an immigrant himself, this governor was perfectly positioned to elevate the discussion in a way that did not associate his office with the bigots who often travel the same road.

[...Arnold complains about the anti-American KRCA billboard...]

That's when Schwarzenegger went out of his way to endorse the Minutemen, a group of activists - some armed - who have taken to patrolling the borders themselves out of frustration with illegal immigration. President Bush condemned them as vigilantes. The governor embraced them...

As an immigrant, this governor has the chance to lay out a passionate case for legal immigration and all the dynamism it has brought this country, while arguing in a civil and reasoned way for stricter enforcement of the borders and for stronger sanctions against employers who hire illegal workers. Illegal immigrants are breaking the law, cutting in line ahead of people who have waited, sometimes years, for a chance to come here legally. And illegal immigrants, most of whom arrive with few skills, bid down the wages at the bottom of the economic ladder, forcing the poor to get by with less.

But instead of making those points in a way that could have widespread appeal, even among recent immigrants, Schwarzenegger has thrown in with the worst elements of the anti-immigration movement, lending them his credibility rather than merely citing them as yet another unfortunate manifestation of the federal government's failure to deal with the issue...

Weintraub makes some good points in the penultimate paragraph. However, it's in the others that he shows that he's quite a bit out of touch. And, I don't believe he heard the original broadcast on KFI or read the transcript. Apparently he missed Arnold's happy happy feel good rhetoric, like this: "And like I said, it is divisive, and it's the last thing we need in Los Angeles. I think it should be a city where people live together, people of different backgrounds and cultures, immigrants, and everyone should work together, live together and live in peace..." Awww. Even Sally Struthers would probably have been moved.

As for the MMP, there were no doubt some yahoos among the volunteers. However, there's nothing wrong, illegal, or immoral with the MMP as designed. Like almost all the other articles on Arnold's recent remarks, he also seems to want to establish Bush as a standard on immigration matters. Yet, the great majority of Americans oppose Bush's stance on immigration, so if he's a standard it would be among the gated compound branch of the Republican party. The MMP, to their great credit, had the balls to stand up to the establishment, of which Weintraub, Bush, and the SacBee are definitely a part.

And, while there might have been a hitch or two, it mostly went as planned. It also had the fortunate side effect of further discrediting the ACLU and many members of the MSM. Now we know all about, for just one instance, Tim Gaynor of Reuters. And yes, there might have been a few bad apples among the members of the MMP, but not only were they not able to do anything bad, if they'd done anything it would have been against the rules of the project.

Weintraub should stick with pushing the good parts of his article and leave the piling on to the other members of the MSM.

And, you let me know when - for just one of the many examples I could provide - the SacBee covers the story "California legislators ask Mexican Senate to intervene [in driver's licenses for illegal aliens]", which originated right in Weintraub's back yard. Imagine that: supposedly American legislators pimping the U.S. to a foreign government and trying to encourage that foreign government to meddle in our laws. Where was the SacBee on that story? Answer: nowhere to be found.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 08:54 PM | Comments (2)

Tomorrow's hit pieces... today!

The last post linked to an article from Chris Strom of Government Executive magazine.

Mr. Strom might have the honor of being the subject of an upcoming post here. Read the statist psychobabble here to see why:

Strohm has just returned to D.C. from five days of interviewing members of the Minuteman Project in Arizona. He said today: "My interviews reveal a deep-seeded, reactionary, paranoid and anti-government philosophy among Minutemen organizers and volunteers. Their politics are a complex mix of right and left leanings, even if they are not aware of it. They are for strong U.S. labor unions. They feel the political class is corrupt. They are against the war in Iraq. They voted for Bush but now feel he has sold them out. They despise groups like the ACLU. They call employers who hire illegal immigrants 'criminals' and 'the ugly side of capitalism.' Many of them exaggerate the impact of illegal immigration to make it the scapegoat for almost every problem in American society, including traffic gridlock." Strohm added: "They were becoming increasing confused and frustrated at what they perceive as the demise of the 'American dream.' Then they found a face to blame for problems in American society: illegal immigrants. So they went to the border to plant their U.S. flags in the ground and take a stand against something tangible."

It certainly sounds like the article might be a hit piece, but I'm waiting to see it before commenting. If you want to be proactive rather than reactive, here's GovExec's contact information.

Note the internal contradictions in Strom's screed: the MMP volunteers blame the employers in one sentence, and in a following sentence he accuses them of concentrating their blame on the illegal immigrants themselves. The bits are bold are, IMO, along the lines of, "they eat Cheerios. They drive Fords. They sometimes wear hats." The fools!

On a side note, bear in mind that even professional writers make mistakes. It's "deep-seated", not "deep-seeded."

Posted to Immigration2005a at 12:38 AM | Comments (0)

A cover up from the Tucson Border Patrol chief?

Did Tucson Border Sector Chief Michael Nicely engage in a cover up to make the Minuteman Project look bad? The April 18, 2005 article "Border Patrol agents in Arizona face increased confrontations" from Chris Strom of Government Executive magazine included this:

...The Border Patrol has reported reduced illegal immigration activity near the Minuteman posts. But Nicely does not favor efforts such as the Minuteman Project. He said the decreased activity is the result of Border Patrol operations and the presence of Mexican authorities on the other side of the border...

Now, see this unconfirmed report: "Tucson Border Patrol Chief Orders Illegal Border Crossing Cover-Up".

Posted to Immigration2005a at 12:14 AM | Comments (1)

This week in anti-Arnold lies

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's comments about illegal immigration have sent the MSM into a frenzy of lies and misleading statements.

I provide a long survey of the recent anti-Arnold articles here.

Sources mentioned include: AP, LAT, NYT, SacBee, SDUT and the SF Chronical.

On a hubristic side note, one will note that readers of this blog learned about Arnold's comments immediately after he made them, and hours before the AP and others (even including Br'er Drudge) got on the story.

Posted to California at 12:03 AM | Comments (0)

Hurray for Ludditism!

Professor Bainbridge links to an article in the WSJ about the Pew Immigration Study. His post just consists of an excerpt, but I assume he approves since he's an open borders kinda guy. From the excerpt:

The Pew study supports the theory that immigrants are supplementing the U.S. work force, not pushing native-born Americans out of jobs...

Even where illegal immigrants do compete with native-born workers, the larger labor pool may produce more jobs overall. That is because "employers are forgoing labor-saving machinery to rely on more laborers," says Ethan Lewis of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. "That has the effect of saving jobs."

Say what? Is replacing automation and mechanization with serf labor now supposed to be a good thing? Plus ca change... Hey, at least the South's economy won't collapse.

As for the first paragraph, now see this:

The recovery from the recession of 2001 is often described as "jobless." But this is not entirely correct. My analysis of Census Bureau data shows that between March 2000 and 2004, the number of adults working in United States actually increased.

What's interesting, however, is that all the net growth in jobs went to immigrant workers. In fact, while the number of unemployed adult native-born workers increased by 2.3 million over this time, the number of employed immigrants rose by 2.3 million...

I have a feeling there will be another Bainbridge-oriented post soon. See also "The morality of delousing pens" and "Jeb in '08? Jeb in '12? P. in '16? P. in '20? Wilbur [Bush] in '24? Wilbur in '28? Cletus [Bush] in '32? Cletus in '36? W. [first clone] in '40? W. [first clone] in '44?"

UPDATE: Scrolling down the page at the Prof's site, I see that the matter has already been taken care of.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 09:15 PM | Comments (0)

Non-"liberal" coverage of immigration, Iraq, terrorism, multiculturalism, Los Angeles, California, privacy, and occasionally celebrities and wacky humor...

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All Posts(links to each post by title)

• Jeb, Laura, Noelle, Rutger, Wilbur, Cletus, or their clones?
• The hidden risk of biodiesel
• Hiking or biking in Azusa considered unaesthetic
• Major UFO Breakthrough in Brazil!!!
• NYT goes to Idaho, discovers illegal immigration
• New South Federal Savings Bank... and RICO?
• Why there will never be a "President Condi"
• AVWatch: Mexico to play important role in Villaraigosa's policies
• SEIU to split from AFL-CIO?
• Rich Lowry on the McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill
• Sierra Club to rent Goodyear blimp
• Why I hate Seattle, Part 4519
• "Sens. Cornyn, Kyl Prepare Massive Guestworker Plan"
• Illegal immigration activist offended, media alerted
• Nigerian blog spams?
• Chinese illegal immigrants detained in Texas
• Richfield Minnesota gets infiltrated
• They take the jobs teens won't do. Or something.
• Tucson: free educations for all!
• Another Drudge classic

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

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

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

Humphreys Peak Arizona's highest point (May 19, 2001)

Go Heavy, Go Slow, Get Lost Bay Area highpoints (December 14, 2000)

Hubris in New England The highpoints of RI, CT, and MA (October 8, 2000)

Let's go to Utah Zion, Bryce, and Grand Canyon (August 14, 2000)

Your host, climbing Monkey Face (5.14d)

Your host's arm (circled)

Your host's hopelessly outdated conditioning progress

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