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Eric Garcetti now President of Los Angeles City Council
Da, koneshno, comrades! Eric Garcetti now president soyuza Los Angeles-a!
Byvshe: Eric Garcetti has blog.
Posted to Los_Angeles at 10:45 PM | Comments (0)
"Boob Bait for Bubba"
Rich Lowry:The late Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan called it "boob bait for bubba" — tough-sounding rhetoric designed to placate conservative voters. Moynihan applied the phrase to Bill Clinton's 1992 pledge to "end welfare as we know it," which it later became clear that he had no intention of following through on when he became president (eventually, Republicans pressured him into it). President Bush is offering his own "boob bait" in the form of speechifying at the border about a crackdown on illegal immigration.
It's not that Bush doesn't intend to use better technology to police the border and end the "catch and release" policy that waves illegals into the country, as he is now saying. But these steps are primarily meant to diminish opposition to a new guest-worker program and what would effectively be an amnesty for illegal aliens. It's a crackdown as prelude to a letup; in other words, Rove bait for red-staters.
A Republican close to the White House has told Time how Bush wants to lull his conservative supporters into swallowing some sort of amnesty and a guest-worker program, i.e., a "comprehensive" approach: "Bush decided to give these guys their rhetorical pound of flesh. In return, he wants a comprehensive bill, which is what he has always wanted. He's just going to lead with a lot of noise about border security..."
Posted to Immigration2005b at 09:48 PM | Comments (3)
Bush promotes "temporary" worker scheme, tries to pull wool even further over citizens' eyes
For the past four years, president Bush has managed to fool millions of Americans into thinking that he's the "homeland security" president. Figuring "once a sucker, always a sucker", he's now reiterated his push for a "temporary" worker scheme and pledging to get tough on border security.
Speaking today, he said in part:
"Together with Congress we are going to create a temporary worker program that is going to take pressure off the borders, bring workers out of the shadows... People in this debate must recognize that we will not be able to effectively enforce our immigration laws until we create a temporary worker program..."
The full WH fact sheet is at whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/11/20051128-3.html
Anyone who even pretends that these "guest" workers wouldn't stay here and end up bringing even their most distant cousins to join them is simply lying to you.
UPDATE: Video of the big speech here.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 02:37 PM | Comments (10)
Bush plans crackdown on word "illegal immigration"
Sometime today, president Bush will pledge a crackdown on the words "illegal immigration" and "illegal alien", Pravda reports. This move - codenamed "No Lie Like a Big Lie, Part #39212" - will attempt to convince as many Americans as possible that Bush is looking out for the best interests of this country.President George W. Bush is trying to build support for a comprehensive immigration strategy _ and mollify conservatives wary of his guest worker plan for foreigners _ even though Congress has largely shelved the issue for now.
...The president left his Crawford, Texas, ranch after spending nearly a week there for Thanksgiving, to pitch his plan in Tucson, Arizona, on Monday, and El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday. The border states are home to Republican senators who have been vocal on the need to change immigration laws but who aren't entirely sold on Bush's vision.
The president's plan pairs a guest worker program for foreigners with border security enforcement, an attempt to satisfy both his business supporters, who believe foreign workers help the economy, and his conservative backers, who take a hard line on illegal immigration.
In Tucson, the president planned to aim his remarks at those conservatives, emphasizing his proposals to secure the border, remove people who enter the country illegally and strengthen enforcement of immigration laws. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid asked Bush in a letter Monday to encourage bipartisan and realistic reforms to immigration laws...
Posted to at 12:50 PM | Comments (4)
"Sanctuary Cities: A New Civil War"
From this:What is most remarkable about sanctuary cities is that they are illegal. In 1996 Congress passed two laws dealing with the subject: the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. Under both statutes state and local governments could no longer prohibit employees from inquiring about immigration status or tipping off immigration authorities. The Court of Appeals upheld both provisions in New York v. U.S. (1999).
The Appeals Court remarked that "the City's sovereignty argument asks us to turn the Tenth Amendment's shield against the federal government's using state and local governments to enact and administer federal programs into a sword allowing states and localities to engage in passive resistance that frustrates federal programs." The court concluded that where the federal government has undoubted power to act, as in the case of immigration, the Supremacy Clause "bars states from taking actions that frustrate federal laws and regulatory schemes. We therefore hold that states do not retain under the Tenth Amendment an untrammeled right to forbid all voluntary cooperation by state or local officials with particular programs."
Posted to Immigration2005b at 08:55 AM | Comments (4)
"Guest-worker concept doomed to fail"
J.D. Hayworth writes another letter about an AZ Republic article.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 06:54 AM | Comments (1)
"College Grads Who Are Illegal Immigrants Face Barren Job Market"
The NY Sun offers today's "well, duh" article.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 03:53 AM | Comments (4)
Fred Barnes supports "comprehensive immigration reform"
From the Tamar Jacoby file comes Fred Barnes with El Grande Old Party?. Summary: Bush should capitulate to corruption and embrace a massive illegal alien amnesty.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 10:52 PM | Comments (3)
Open border advocate Rep. Jim Kolbe won't run again
That Arizona representative made the decision a few days ago, and here's a fitting tribute:
When someone retires or passes away, we try to say something nice about that person, we downplay his negatives and point out his positives. I would like to do the same for Congressman Jim Kolbe, but I really don't have the time to do that much research, other then to say, I wholeheartedly approve of his decision to leave Congress.
A possible replacement is Randy Graf, who, unlike Kolbe, is opposed to illegal immigration. Kos thinks that district is a potential opening for the Dems. The WSJ-wing of the GOP would probably be willing to let a Dem win rather than help elect someone who wants to stop the illegal labor. Hopefully Graf will be able to show that they're both wrong.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 07:50 PM | Comments (2)
Lawyers, machine guns, and money
The only thing worse than a lawyer is an armed lawyer, and the NYT reports that the latest fashionable craze among wealthy Manhattan professionals is to hit the gun range.
Michael Kim, a partner of the law firm Kobre & Kim LLP says:
"We do very aggressive litigation and trial work... So we prefer an activity that dovetails nicely with that aggressive culture, and hitting a little white ball on the greens doesn't do much for us."
Chip Brian, president of Comtex News Network Inc., says:
"At the end of the day, it's all about getting to know your clients better... and a shooting trip is one of the most unique ways to do that... There's a huge difference in taking clients out to dinner, with nice music playing in the background, as opposed to taking them to a sporting event, which is much more exciting... A shooting trip takes that to the next level - it really makes a lasting impression."
Posted to WackyHumor at 03:09 PM | Comments (2)
Poll: Most believe Bush administration misleads public
According to a Harris telephone poll of 1011 U.S. adults, the following percentages agree with this statement: "Do you think that the Bush administration generally provides accurate information regarding current issues or do you think they generally mislead the public on current issues to achieve its own end?".
Republicans: 28% agree, 68% disagree
Democrats: 91% agree, 7% disagree
Independents: 73% agree, 25% disagree
overall: 32% agree, 64% disagree
Posted to Politics at 03:37 PM | Comments (3)
"Al-Qaida Operative Nabbed Near Mexican Border"
From 11/20/05:An al-Qaida operative who was on the FBI's terrorist watch list was recently captured near the Mexican border, housed in a Texas jail and turned over to federal agents, Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, said on Friday.
"A confirmed al-Qaida terrorist, an Iraqi national, was held in the Brewster County jail," Rep. Culberson told ABC Radio host Sean Hannity. "He was captured in Mexico. This was within the last six weeks. He was turned over to the FBI."
The Texas Republican said he obtained the stunning information about the terrorist's capture "from the sheriffs who were directly involved.
"In fact, one was the sheriff who incarcerated him in the Brewster County jail [and who] confirmed this as well," he explained. The same sheriff also confirmed "that this guy is on the FBI's al-Qaida list," he added...
Posted to Immigration_terror at 06:43 AM | Comments (6)
Gullible US News reports on illegal immigration
US News has a four-screener called "Border Wars". Despite all the words, they don't delve too deep into the issue, such as the seamy corruption underlying the efforts to keep the cheap labor flowing. And, they take Tamar Jacoby, the AILA, and DHS head Michael Chertoff seriously.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 03:36 AM | Comments (0)
"First 5 California": Yet another illegal immigration magnet
The Meathead, aka Rob Reiner, wants to give preschool to every child in California. Needless to say, illegal aliens won't be excluded from this program, making this yet another flashing neon sign encouraging people to immigrate here illegally.
And, he claims he's got 1,000,000 signatures on a petition to get it on the June 2006 ballot.
Their homepage is here and more info here.
Here are the downsides of Rob Reiner and his plan.
They have some relationship with this, which has a SF chapter. From that chapter's site comes a .doc file cached here or here, which contains this from early 2004:
EXTERNAL FACTORS/TRENDS THAT WILL/MIGHT HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON PRUSUING PRESCHOO FOR ALL IN SAN FRANCISCOBrainstormed List:
* Geographic location
* Current fiscal crisis
* CTA/Reiner Initiative is already finalized without input from
anybody else
* Preschool for All vs. the school district
* Investing more in families that already have instead of focusing on
the disadvantaged
* Head Start ? difficulty dealing and planning with them
* Preschool is being defined outside of us
* Could be stuck with funding and policies (e.g. half day only,
whether it starts out universal or phases in) that have been
predetermined for us
* Confusing where Reiner and State Prop 10 are together
* Problem with sustainability
* Focus on assessment and testing of 4 year olds
* Availability of facilities
* Structure, time-wise, of the program ? could have negative
consequences e.g. family vacations
* Difficulty leveraging the money
* Declining family and child population in the city
* High cost of housing
* Difficulty with transportation
Posted to California at 12:13 AM | Comments (1)
Will Julie Myers get a recess appointment?
The cronyism of the Bush administration would be comic if it weren't so bad for the country. As previously discussed, Bush nominated Julie Myers to head the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau. She's the niece of Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, she worked for Michael Chertoff when he was at the Justice Department, and she's now married to his current chief of staff. Oh, and she has no experience in immigration or with heading up such a large agency.
And, according to Debbie Schlussel, Bush might give her a recess appointment (nofollowpolicy) while no one is looking.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 07:39 PM | Comments (1)
This site has a strict nofollow policy
Dear blogger:
If trackbacks at your site have the nofollow tag on them, and I send you a trackback, I will put a nofollow tag on my link. Otherwise, I'd be giving you a good link, and you'd be giving me nothing in return. This is just an attempt to even out the situation.
Likewise with sites that use that tag in their comments. If I link to one of your posts, and it's full of nofollowed links in the comments, I'm not about give you a good link. Let me put it this way: if you're doing that intentionally, perhaps you should reconsider using people to build content for you and giving them nothing in return.
You might want to consider what would happen if everyone had this same policy. Then, look up how to remove the plugin or whatever that puts on those nofollow tags. Here's the instructions for MT, and for WP I use Follow URL.
This site's strong objection to the nofollow tag is described here, here, and here.
And, there's more on it here, here, here, here, here, and here. And, here's a joke.
UPDATE: Here's a sample site that uses these tags: The Only Republican in San Francisco. But, that's not all. Not only does he use the tags, he requires commentors to be signed in using TypeKey. But, wait, there's more! After signing in, they still need to enter a captcha. You really have to wonder what's going on here.
And, here's another one. After admitting in 11/04 that he gets "almost zero comment spam", Dave Taylor announces in 1/05 that he's adding the tag:
There are some definite problems with this strategy, not the least of which is that it means that if my friends and colleagues pop by and post an erudite comment - or write their own article that trackbacks to mine - I would like to give them some of my PageRank goodness, but now I can't. You're all thrown into the 'spammer scum' box, like it or not.
Screw your friends, I say. It's your readers that you should be thinking of, since they're the ones who visit your site and keep you in business. Why treat your readers like "scum"? Especially since he admitted that this probably wouldn't work:
Nonetheless it's clear that something has to be done about blogspam, and I applaud the search engines and weblog teams for working together to at least make some progress in this direction, however suboptimal it may be.
The solution to blogspam is to delete the comments and use a blacklist of some kind. I get a ton of spam, but very little if any makes it through because of the filters. And, if some does make it through, I delete it ASAP. That's how you handle these matters, not with same half-assed, anti-web tag.
Posted to Bloggage at 07:34 PM | Comments (1)
"Word war muddles immigrant debate"
This article goes in to the use of loaded language to obscure the immigration "debate", something that you are probably familiar with, but if you aren't check it out. I note, however, the following:
George Lakoff, a Democratic political consultant and linguist at UC Berkeley, said anti-immigration groups so far appear to be winning the language war, and the word "amnesty" is their most powerful rhetorical weapon.
I hope that "linguist" is the one who used the term "anti-immigration".
Posted to Immigration2005b at 02:35 PM | Comments (2)
Mexico to US: take our potential rioters, please
The column "Could riots such as in Paris occur elsewhere?" from Mexico's Ana Maria Salazar says that Mexico could have similar riots to those that occurred in France. But:
One important factor, however, has greatly helped reduce the risk of riots and violence in Mexico. There is an "escape valve" that the poor and discriminated in Europe do not have: the possibility of crossing illegally into the United States and getting a job. Authorities have calculated this "escape valve" has permitted more then 400,000 Mexicans to cross into the United States each year. Perhaps it is this factor alone that has stopped major uprisings in Mexico during the last couple of decades...
And, all America thanks the Mexican government for sending its people to us, thereby avoiding necessary reforms. But, what about all those potential rioters that Mexico has gifted us with?
As Paris burns, U.S. legislators will probably push for a bill that systematically seeks to close the "escape valve" by closing the U.S.-Mexico border. Ironically, they would be shutting down the very thing that could be preventing the riots that they fear.
Of course, if that were coming from a government official it would be a threat. As it is, it's just a warning.
We need to slowly back away from this issue by working to disincentivize illegal immigration and encouraging as many potential rioters as possible to go home.
Better the riots occur there than here. After all, our elected politicians are paid to prevent things like rioting, and perhaps they should do their jobs.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 12:26 PM | Comments (1)
Home loans for illegal aliens: Fresno TV station tries real reporting
KFSN ABC-30 out of Fresno tries a little real reporting on the issue of banks giving mortgages to illegal aliens. It's not an in-depth report, but it's more than other sources have done.They report on the experiences of an illegal alien known only as "David". It includes this:
But getting a loan from the bank almost didn't happen. An employee from the bank called and said it seemed they had a problem.I thought that was a crime? And, why would a bank give a home loan to someone who lied on their application by providing a fake SSN?
The problem was David's social security number ... it's a fake.
Who's involved?
The Valley non-profit group Acorn is helping people like David. They set him up with Citibank in Fresno, where a social security number is not required.Who's on the American side?
But [Diana Hull from Californians For Population Stabilization] says the [potential $60 billion market from this practice] is not just a bad idea ... she insists it's also against the law. "There is a law against aiding and abetting illegal aliens to continue to live in the United States. Issuing a mortgage to an illegal alien is helping him establish himself and remain the United States, which is clearly illegal. It's a felony," she says.Is "David" confused about his status? Let's find out:
Hall says the problem goes all the way to the top, and she pins much of the blame on the largest of government institutions, like the FDIC, the IRS and the Social Security Administration.
"I work hard like any other citizen and I try to live just like a normal citizen. And I have everything, I think I still have my rights."The problem, of course, is that "David" is not a citizen. He does have certain rights, but not the same rights as a citizen or a legal immigrant. Pretending otherwise simply devalues American citizenship, something that our leaders are probably also in favor of.
Then, comes a little bit of real reporting:
Despite the accusations that what they're doing is illegal, Citigroup and Acorn stand by the program.That last bit is certainly interesting, and simply reinforces what Hull says above.
Acorn issued a statement saying everything about their program is legal. They say in the United States, it is perfectly legal for non-citizens to own property.
When asked about its opinion on whether the program is indeed legal, or unlawfully entices illegal immigrants to stay, the U.S. Attorney's office refused an answer.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 04:38 PM | Comments (3)
"Uniformed Mexicans with guns, bulldozer seize drug-bust truck from Border Patrol"
From this:U.S. Border Patrol agents were backed down this week by armed men, dressed in what appeared to be Mexican military uniforms and carrying military weapons, who seized a captured dump truck filled with marijuana from the U.S. agents and dragged it across the border into Mexico with a bulldozer.The BP agents called for backup and began removing marijuana bales from the truck. Then, the uniformed Mexicans showed up. No shots were fired.
The border incident occurred Thursday evening when Border Patrol agents attempted to pull over a dump truck on Interstate 10 in Hudspeth County, Texas. The driver fled from the agents, exiting the freeway and driving toward the Rio Grande which runs within 2 miles of the interstate in this portion of West Texas.
The driver abandoned the truck after it became stuck in the river bed, escaping into Mexico...
Posted to Immigration2005b at 01:13 PM | Comments (2)
Greeley, CO: proposed ICE office meets illogical resistance
From this:...Since October, when [Weld County CO] District Attorney Ken Buck started seeking support for bringing a federal office to Greeley to expedite and increase deportations of illegal immigrants who've committed crimes in the county, proponents of the move have squared off against detractors.Speaking of which, let's fast forward a bit:
Big-name supporters of a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Greeley include Republicans such as Buck, the Weld County commissioners, U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave and U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard.
Removing illegal aliens who’ve committed crimes, joined gangs and added to an overburdened criminal justice system, they say, is a no-brainer...
[Genie Canales, a professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of Northern Colorado] and many of the 600 demonstrators who packed city hall Nov. 15, she said, already worry about the public's ability to distinguish between people of Hispanic heritage, documented foreign-born residents and undocumented workers — referred to as "illegals." An ICE office would add fuel to the fire for the ignorant and intolerant, she said.If there were no illegals there, there would be no chance of confusion. It's the demonstrators who are making that confusion worse, trying to conflate the terms "Hispanic" and "undocumented" and leading people to believe that all "Hispanics" are either illegal aliens or supporters of same.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 07:21 AM | Comments (0)
"U.S. Spends Hundred Times More on Illegal Aliens Than on Assisting American Homeless Veterans"
From this press release:America is spending hundreds of times more money on benefits for illegal aliens than it is helping homeless veterans, charged a national veterans' leader.
U. S. taxpayers are footing a bill of over $70 Billion annually in benefits for illegal aliens, in education, health care, housing and prison costs, charged MAJ Brian A. Hampton USAR (ret), President of the Circle of Friends for American Veterans. Meanwhile, Hampton said the federal government is investing less than 1% of that amount helping 300,000 homeless veterans on our streets tonight.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 03:12 AM | Comments (1)
Illegal aliens arrested at WalMart construction site in Allentown PA
This one has an interesting union angle:...Wal-Mart spokesman Marty Heires said the company would cooperate fully with federal authorities.Last we looked, unions like the far-left SEIU and the AFL-CIO are strong supporters of illegal immigration. Perhaps this is just a local exception. Needless to say, if unions got on the right side of this issue they might be able to bring all but the most racist Dems around.
"We have written contracts with these subcontractors requiring that they follow all applicable local, state and federal employment laws," he said in a statement.
At least 120 illegal immigrants, most of them from Mexico, were detained, Schuylkill County Sheriff Frank McAndrew said. He said he began investigating the site and contacted federal officials after getting complaints from local tradespeople.
"You've got a situation here where illegal immigrants are coming into Schuylkill County and taking (local union workers') jobs for eight bucks an hour. They are working for poverty wages, and creating unemployment because our skilled tradesmen are out of work," McAndrew said...
Previously: A 2003 affidavit said WalMart knew subcontractors were hiring illegal aliens in the case for which they were fined. And, WM says they won't hire illegal aliens.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 03:24 PM | Comments (2)
Massachusetts: discounts for illegal aliens stalled; Boston Globe bias
The MA bill that would let illegal aliens take discounted college educations away from U.S. citizens has been delayed until 2006: "House delays tuition bill vote".
In other news, the Boston Globe isn't telling their readers the whole truth about this matter.
First, they don't use "illegal aliens", prefering instead "undocumented immigrants."
Second, let's consider their summary of the bill:
Under the proposed law, they would qualify for in-state tuition if they graduate from a Massachusetts high school after attending it for at least three years and if they sign an affidavit affirming that they intend to seek citizenship.
The truth of the bill is a "bit" more broad. As discussed here, they don't have to actually have graduated: they just need the "equivalent" of it. And, they don't even have to sign the affadavit: they can do that at a more convenient time. In other words, practically any illegal alien who lived in MA for three years would be eligible, and they wouldn't have to really do anything to take a discounted college education away from a citizen.
Previously: "Boston Globe does hit piece on Kerry Healey" and "Boston Globe's Yvonne Abraham makes fun of Minuteman Project".
Posted to Immigration2005b at 03:47 AM | Comments (2)
Nifty online church sign generator
TalkLeft posts this picture (nofollowpolicy in effect), apparently not reading the small print on the top of the sign, which says churchsigngenerator.com. That leads me to believe that that's not a real church sign, but was in fact created using that online program.
To help TL out, I created my own sign:
HTH.
Posted to WackyHumor at 12:06 AM | Comments (4)
The EPA and... pesticide testing on orphans and mentally handicapped children?
I realize that as time goes on the Bush administration is looking more and more like a secret attempt to discredit the Republican Party, but even they wouldn't come out with a scheme to do pesticide testing on orphans and mentally handicapped children. Right?
So, I am absolutely positive that there must be a convenient explanation for this proposed EPA rule:
"The IRB (Independent Review Board) shall determine that adequate provisions are made for soliciting the assent of the children, when in the judgment of the IRB the children are capable of providing assent...If the IRB determines that the capability of some or all of the children is so limited that they cannot reasonably be consulted, the assent of the children is not a necessary condition for proceeding with the research. Even where the IRB determines that the subjects are capable of assenting, the IRB may still waive the assent requirement..."
More details and what you can do here. Now, obviously, I don't usually link to such sites.
But, on the other hand, I see that Snopes has raised issues with a previous alert from the same organization. And, since I have recent experience with Snopes obscuring what could be a major scandal I'm not going to trust what they wrote. And, frankly, I don't trust the Bush administration not to try something like this.
I don't know who's right, but, unless you don't want them to know that you know, sending a letter to the EPA opposing this seems like the best bet.
Posted to Miscellania at 10:49 PM | Comments (1)
Could Paris happen here?
Mark Krikorian offers "L'Intifada en Los Estados Unidos", which discusses a few points previously made here:
1. The guest/temporary worker schemes will result in millions of people coming here to stay.
2. Those millions - mostly from Mexico - will give that country even more power over us than they already have.
3. If we tried to kick them out, it would result in civil unrest similar to that in Paris.
...a Mexican immigrant population of 20 or 25 million is qualitatively different from today’s already-huge 11 million. It would create more of a constituency for the Aztlan irredentism that is already a normal part of political debate on the Left in California; more immediately, it would facilitate the Mexican government’s anti-assimilation initiatives (described in detail here by Heather Mac Donald) designed to create a regime of shared Mexican-U.S. sovereignty over much of our population, with Mexico City serving, in effect, as a second federal government that local and state officials would be answerable to. And when we rouse ourselves to reassert our exclusive sovereignty, as the French state tried to do in the no-go zones of its immigrant suburbs, the pushback might well be as intense...
Then, he provides information on other countries we could get serf labor from (see my Bangladesh example):
if you want huge amounts of really cheap labor, go to Indonesia (242 million people, 88 percent Muslim, per capita GDP $3,500) or Pakistan (162 million, 97 percent Muslim, GDP $2,200) or Bangladesh (144 million, 83 percent Muslim, GDP $2,000) or Egypt (77 million, 94 percent Muslim, GDP $4,200).
Someone from the Cato Institute actually suggested that we bring tsunami victims here as guest workers. No, I'm not joking.
Neither George Bush nor John McCain - nor even Ted Kennedy - want immigrant uprisings in America's cities. But their immigration proposals would move us in that direction. We need to choose a different path.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 03:58 PM | Comments (2)
Face America: MoveOn's latest stunt
Received via email:Dear MoveOn member,
Top Republicans in the House of Representatives are now vowing to vote on their reverse Robin Hood budget proposal within 48 hours. Your work has helped erode their support, and the vote is too close to call. That's why today we're launching our "Face America" photo petition—calling on Congress to literally look us in the eye and do the right thing.
We're aiming to collect thousands of photos of ordinary Americans with homemade signs, asking Congress to oppose the Republican plan to cut services for poor while handing tax breaks to the rich. To make sure you're heard, we'll deliver every photo to every member of Congress before the final vote and run some as online ads in the newspapers Congress reads...
To help out, upload your picture to flickr, and give it the faceamerica tag. Here's an example featuring a typical MoveOn member.
Unfortunately, my flickr status still appears to be "pending", so my contribution (shown left) isn't showing up. But, if you aren't in that status, I encourage you to get involved. Together, we can save the world.
Posted to ThePeaceMovement at 01:28 PM | Comments (0)
Suspected al Qaeda operative arrested in Mexico? Terrorist camps south of the border?
Maybe Rep. Sue Myrick was partly right: "Lawmaker: Terror war spilling across border".
Posted to Immigration_terror at 08:52 AM | Comments (1)
"The Myth Of No-Cost Immigrants"
From this:The University of Florida finds that immigrant families have been costing that state a net $1,800 per household per year, a financial burden much larger than previously thought. [by David Denslow; article here, snippet here]
...In fact, a recent study by the Center for Immigration Studies found that the average welfare payout to immigrant households, both legal and illegal, has changed little and remains about $2,000 a year, which is 50% higher than the payout for natives.
In 1996, 22% of immigrant households were on the dole (compared with 15% for natives), according to CIS. By 2001, the share rose to 23%. Over that period, average Medicaid payments to immigrants jumped to $1,495 from $1,203.
Immigrant households account for a growing share of the welfare caseload.
The number of immigrants using at least one major welfare program has steadily increased, with the exception of a small drop in 1997.
Between 1996 and 2001, the number of immigrant households using the welfare system grew by 750,000 to more than 3 million — accounting for almost 18% of all U.S. households on welfare. That share is expected to rise with continued high rates of immigration.
And if you think immigrants, most of whom are poor Mexicans, will stop depending on U.S. welfare as they settle into jobs and even careers here, think again...
Posted to Immigration2005b at 06:34 AM | Comments (0)
"Gulf rebuilders concede hiring illegals"
From 11/12:
Contractors working in the Gulf Coast region say they are actively looking for local workers, but some acknowledge they are turning to day-laborer programs, which often include illegal aliens. "We are primarily working through a large number of subcontractors and being proactive in achieving local hiring. And, yes, they do access day-laborer type of forces whenever possible," said Chris Sammons, spokesman for the Shaw Group Inc. The Baton Rouge, La., engineering and construction firm, a prime contractor for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has worked with 150 subcontractors to provide a range of services, including roof repairs, temporary housing and rebuilding assessments in hurricane-ravaged parts of Louisiana. "I think you'll see more of that," Mr. Sammons said of the day laborers. He did not give any details about the employment practices used by Shaw's subcontractors...
Posted to Immigration2005b at 03:33 AM | Comments (9)
NBC's Law & Order and their anti-Minuteman Project propaganda
Wednesday's Law & Order from NBC featured an episode about a member of the "Countryman Project" murdering a trucker who smuggled illegal aliens in to the U.S. Details in "'Minuteman'-like murderers convicted on 'Law & Order'".
However, as you see in the screengrab from their site, they refer to it there as the "Minutemen", a name which I believe is a trademark. Now, NBC certainly has a lot of lawyers, but hopefully the MMP can find some of their own for what might just be a slamdunk case. Their promo, which I've cached just in case, also uses that trademark and not NBC's similar name.
While controversies sell, and some times the media creates a controversy simply to make money, I believe this goes a bit deeper. I believe this episode qualifies as propaganda. The writers and producers of the show are members of a certain class, what we might call the Nanny Employing Class: those who can afford a nanny and a housekeeper and other domestic servants. And, the last thing those people want to do is have their domestics be deported. The next to last thing those people want is for their domestics to think they're racists. And, since they aren't capable of understanding all the complexities inherent in illegal immigration - they're artists not thinkers - they come up with things like this.
The fact that propaganda such as this benefits those major corporations that profit off illegal labor may also play a part. After all, why bite the hands that might have advertising money in them.
And, apparently it was topsy-turvy land all over NBC: "NBC's E Ring: Christian Terroists Take Over Mosque!"
Please send a short, polite email to the president of NBC Entertainment letting him know what you think: Jeff.zucker *at* nbc.com
Posted to Immigration2005b at 10:54 PM | Comments (3)
Sean Hannity doesn't read this site
Sean Hannity interviewed DHS head Michael Chertoff and (perhaps he was being disingenuous) got a little confused:HANNITY: Because you had made a controversial statement, and you seem to be backing off of it now, and it was that people that are here illegally, that they all ought to be sent back... And it seems like now you've sort of backed off that position a little bit, because there are million that we estimate that are in this country illegally...Now, of course, I was about the only person who didn't simply take Drudge's and AFP's word for it, and actually read what he said at the time: Chertoff promotes "Temporary Worker Program" at Senate meeting. Needless to say, the interview goes on, sounding very similar to what's in his prepared remarks discussed at that link:
CHERTOFF: Well, what I said, Sean, was this. I said everybody that we apprehend, that we catch at the border, who's coming in illegally, we ought to send back...
Well, Sean, you know, it's really an issue of practicality [why we can't just tell all the illegal aliens in the U.S. to go home].See the last link. Their scheme is clearly not temporary. Then, Hannity realizes the awful truth:
I mean, as a practical matter, we've got to identify these people and pull them out of the shadows.
Now, this is not an amnesty. This is not — the president's proposal is not a path to citizenship. It's clearly temporary, and it clearly envisions people who would have to commit to go back...
The only thing I would respectfully question you on or disagree with you slightly on is those that are here illegally, those that didn't respect the laws of the United States or our sovereignty, I want to go back to that question again, because basically you're saying they can stay.Then, Chertoff lets Hannity in on the awful truth:
And we also want to punish employers who don't use the legally available channel for getting workers across to do temporary work.Those are about the only places where they do it. And, I wonder what would happen if the DHS decided to crack down on employers. Would those employers stop donating money to the GOP?
And that's tough. I mean, a lot of people are not going to like the fact that we're cracking down on employers who — we're doing it now in nuclear plants, we're doing it now in critical infrastructure.
In other words, the choice to the GOP is as follows:
- Look the other way and get donations
- Enforce the law and don't get donations
Question: isn't one of the major differences between successful and unsuccessful countries the level of corruption in the country?
Posted to Immigration2005b at 11:31 AM | Comments (2)
Danbury newspaper threatened, called "traitors"
A Brazilian-oriented newspaper in Danbury, Connecticut took part in a WTNH-TV investigative report about illegal housing and documentation. Now, other Brazilian-oriented newspapers in that town have turned on them, including one calling them "Traitors". And, there have even been death threats. Details and pictures here:Breno da Mata is the publisher of the newspaper Community News.Of course, none of this would be an issue if those "immigrants" weren't here illegally. Waving a magic wand and making them legal won't solve the problem: more illegal aliens will just move in.
"They point out some stuff that's not their job," says da Mata. "Like what?" asks Alan Cohn. "They point out the bad stuff, bad things about the Brazilian community," says da Mata.
In an editorial, da Mata's newspaper says Tribuna should be punished, although it doesn't say how.
Another Brazilian newspaper The Immigrant calls for a revolt against Tribuna...
See also "New Haven CT to issue IDs for illegals".
UPDATE: See also "Boughton says immigration issue will remain at the top of his agenda":
Mayor Mark Boughton said he will keep illegal immigration at the top of his agenda as he starts his third term in City Hall... In fact, the Republican said his controversial stance on the issue helped win him re-election by a wide margin Tuesday... "People are very much concerned about illegal immigration in Danbury. That is evident. I think it was one of the top two or three issues in the election," Boughton said. "The public is genuinely frustrated."
Posted to Immigration2005b at 07:07 AM | Comments (3)
Myrick retracts al Qaeda claim
Last week, North Carolina Rep. Sue Myrick made a shocking aside when speaking about a bill she sponsored: "Al-Qaida ops busted at Mexican border?" Needless to say, none of the reporters there at the time followed up.Now, comes this:
Trouble is, Myrick's claim -- that three al-Qaida members were recently arrested near the Mexican border -- isn't true.It's things like this that just give ammo to those on the other side.
"An honest mistake," Myrick spokesman Andy Polk said later.
And the accuracy of what [Rep. Patrick McHenry] said -- that some of the 9-11 terrorists had N.C. driver's licenses -- is questionable. There's no proof that any of the hijackers did; the man who masterminded the attacks might have -- 20 years ago...
Posted to Immigration_terror at 03:51 AM | Comments (1)
Mayor Mike Bloomberg goes country
Posted to WackyHumor at 09:27 PM | Comments (1)
Maryland to be sued over driver's licenses; AP not telling whole truth
Michael J. Feeney of the AP offers "Immigrants Denied Licenses to File Suit Against Md. MVA". It starts out with this bit designed to soften you up:
All she wants to do is drive to school, but Margaret Mengly Peredo Echalar says she can't get a driver's license, despite having provided proper identification to the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration.
Awww. Except, it's not really just about one person's wish to get to school, now is it? It's also about all those other people who want licenses, and what they'll do with it: for instance, boarding airplanes. And, of course, driver's licenses are breeder documents: they're used to obtain other documentation. And, if, for instance, someone is an illegal alien, having a driver's license makes it seem like they're here legally.
Speaking of which, the AP "journalist" does not provide any details on the status of their poster child or that of the "13 immigrants" who will be filing a suit today against Maryland's Motor Vehicle Administration, accusing them of "violating state laws and procedures." At no time are we told whether their legal status is involved in this issue
Two of the groups behind this appear to be Casa de Maryland (quotes from their spokeswoman Kim Propeack and their Executive Director Gustavo Torres are provided) and the Association for the Advancement and Equality of Women.
Please send an email to feedback *at* ap.org
Posted to Immigration_dls at 04:18 PM | Comments (4)
Did Michael Steele get pelted with Oreos in 2002?
From the 11/13/05 Baltimore Sun report "Ehrlich bristles at Oreo skeptics":Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said yesterday that he is angry at "revisionism" from political opponents who question a much-repeated story about Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele being pelted with Oreos during a 2002 campaign debate in Baltimore.Now, see the 2/16/05 Baltimore Sun column reprinted here.
"You know who the members of the Oreo Cookie Gang are: Maryland's Democrats, the same ones who either:I guess the "liberal" reaction to this is to claim that they only brandished Oreos, and did not actually violently throw them. Or something.
a.) Brandished Oreo cookies at a gubernatorial debate at Morgan State University between then-candidates Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in 2002 or:
b.) Haven't uttered so much as a syllable condemning the despicable act.
Well, when it comes to apologies, let's take care of first things first, shall we?
If Democrats are really serious about apologies, then each and every single one of them should line up to apologize to Lt. Gov. Michael Steele for that Oreo cookie business."
See also this 11/04/02 article:
At a September debate in Maryland between the candidates for lieutenant governor, supporters of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Kennedy Townsend passed out Oreo cookies to mock black Republican hopeful Michael Steele. At another debate that month, between Townsend and Republican Bob Ehrlich, Democrats also passed out Oreos--and then led the crowd in raucous booing of Ehrlich's wife and elderly parents. Afterwards, Democrats keyed the cars of several Ehrlich supporters.And, from 4/05, with no incident date
Activists brandished Oreo cookies in an orchestrated stunt at a campaign debate.That also mentions the feud between the Sun and Ehrlich/Steele.
Posted to Politics at 03:10 PM | Comments (0)
Illegal aliens working at U.S. Customs warehouse
Imagine the fun that "good-hearted people" could get up to in such a job:U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 105 foreign nationals who officials say were working in the United States without authorization at warehouses in Fife, Washington.
The arrested individuals were working at Regal Logistics, which provides storage space for customs "in-bond" merchandise entering the United States from abroad...
Posted to Immigration2005b at 02:50 PM | Comments (2)
Left-handed iPods now all the rage
From the WaPo:
Apple Computer Inc. took 20 days to reach 1 million downloads of video files from its online store; the Web site SuicideGirls, offering free videos of unclothed models, hit the mark in about a week.
Sadly, I see that not only has Forbes and thousands of others come up with the obvious pun, so has Steve Jobs. Even iPr0n has been used many times before.
Posted to WackyHumor at 12:53 PM | Comments (0)
Collins, Lieberman to Chertoff: improve or we'll take action
From this:Concerned that the nation's borders are not properly protected against terrorists, illegal aliens and drug smugglers, a Senate committee warned Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that if he fails to correct the situation promptly, they will.
Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, the panel's ranking Democrat, want to know whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) should be merged to "enable them to operate more effectively..."
Posted to Immigration2005b at 08:08 AM | Comments (2)
Reading Massachusetts' bill to give discounted college educations to illegal aliens
This guy actually read the bill text. (As previously discussed, various legislators - including those who would appear to be racially-inclined - want to take in-state tuition away from U.S. citizens and give them to illegal aliens. Candidate for governor Tom Reilly supports that scheme.)
According to the bill's text, eligible students would only have to have lived in MA for three years and have the "equivalent" of "graduation from a high school" in the state. That's a massive loophole and, according to the first link, it's very much intentional...
And, consider this bit from the bill:
..the individual shall provide the University of Massachusetts, or the state or community college with an affidavit stating that the individual has filed an application to become a citizen or permanent resident of the United States or shall file an application at the earliest opportunity the individual is eligible to do so.
Can't you just hear the future conversations in high schools throughout MA? "Oh, and one final thing. You need to fill out this form before we can give you your discount."
Alternatively: "Don't worry about that now. You can file later. If you know what I mean..."
This bill would be more appropriately called the "Officials Screwing Citizens Act". Even the "liberals" in MA need to strongly oppose this, and no one in that state should ever vote for any of its supporters.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 05:39 AM | Comments (3)
"Mexico uses U.S. to avoid change"
From the editorial by Patrick Osio, editor of HispanicVista.com:...And, while supposedly guarding the border, it was miraculous how, after the cancellation of the Bracero program, during agricultural high seasons border guards seemed to evaporate, allowing a steady flow of workers in the country. And this, too, spoiled Mexico because that flow of workers acted as the steam-valve on a pressure-cooker holding social unrest at a minimum. This also allowed Mexico to ignore investing on needed economic development infrastructure to create more jobs that in turn would have kept more people home. With each succeeding administration the situation grew worse, and more and more Mexicans sought economic opportunity in the U.S.
While our government was indifferent to the plight of the Mexican people, the Mexican worker spoiled many U.S. industries. Do you want someone to work 60 minutes an hour and not complain - to the contrary, be grateful for the job at half the rate paid domestic workers? Hire Mexicans. Do you want someone to pick vegetables in temperatures over 100 degrees? Hire Mexicans. Do you want someone to pour hot tar on roofs in the heat of summer? Hire Mexicans. Do you want someone to clean better than 20 hotel rooms a day? Hire Mexicans. Do you want someone to clean over 30,000 square feet of office space in a shift? Hire Mexicans.
Fox's administration is well aware of the U.S. dependence on low-wage, hard-working Mexicans and feels he has a strong hand insisting that Mexicans already here be granted residency, and create a guest-worker program allowing several hundred thousand more workers to legally enter the U.S.
This again lets the Mexican government off the hook from investing on job creation infrastructure, while gaining close to $20 billion annually on remittances sent home by Mexicans in the U.S.
So let's hear from Mexico. What are you going to do to better the life of your own people so they won't have to leave?
Posted to Immigration2005b at 12:37 AM | Comments (2)
Just how horrific is the Kennedy-McCain amnesty scheme?
That question is answered at this page (or this PDF file) from FAIR's staff attorney Michael Hethmon.Back in June, FAIR offered to debate Sen. John McCain, and the PDF discloses that they're still waiting for him to set a date.
And, here's the bottom line on their amnesty scheme:
A conservative rough-magnitude tally of the additional amnestied or legal immigrants authorized by S.1033 [Kennedy-McCain] is 36.5 million new permanent residents after eight yearsSome other snippets from the first link:
...S.1033 incorporates the worst features of every failed amnesty program since 1986, but in numbers greater than all the illegal and legal aliens who entered the U.S. in the past fifteen years combined...It goes on. And on. And on.
...S.1033 would both massively increase the numbers of aliens immediately eligible for permanent immigrant status, and significantly reduce the existing waiting time between applying for a visa in the home country and becoming a U.S. citizen, able to sponsor the widest range of derivative relatives.
...The initial phase of the S.1033 amnesty program, the "H-5B visa program," would work essentially like the 1986 amnesty for farm workers, the notorious Special Agricultural Worker (SAW) program. SAW is considered by experts to be perhaps the most fraud-ridden program enacted by Congress in the 20th century... As a rough estimate, about 10 million illegal aliens would be immediately eligible to apply for an H-5B visa,
...it would be conservative to estimate that a half million other criminal aliens would be ineligible for a H-5B visa because of crimes they have committed. However, the rigid confidentiality provisions and weak documentation standards carried over from the SAW program would, as in the 1986 amnesty, make it difficult to detect ineligible criminal applicants...
...With their new green cards, adjustment-phase beneficiaries would be able to begin sponsoring members of their extended families for immigrant visas. S.1033 Title VI provides for a very large increase in the numbers and kinds of derivative relatives of illegal aliens eligible to enter the U.S. as immigrants... the definition of immediate relatives, who are exempt from any visa limits, is expanded to include the children of children (i.e. grandchildren), children of spouses (i.e., step-children), and children of parents (i.e., siblings) of U.S. citizens.
...It is important to remember that these shockingly large numbers of amnestied aliens and additional immigrants do not include the additional 400,000 H-5A "Essential Worker" visas in a new guest worker program that would be authorized by S.1033 Title III.
What would be helpful here is a list of all the endorsers of Kennedy-McCain, the better to discredit them with.
UPDATE: I added the HTML link to the report.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 12:48 PM | Comments (8)
Sen. John Cornyn linked to Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed?
In 2001, Lobbyist Jack Abramoff was working for Louisiana's Coushatta Tribe in an apparent attempt to shut down the competition in Texas, which were costing that tribe customers. Ralph Reed worked as a consultant and allegedly tried to shut down two Texas casinos (including that of the Tigua Indians, which has a Hueco Tanks connection).And:
Former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed claimed in a 2001 e-mail to a lobbyist that he choreographed John Cornyn's efforts as Texas attorney general to shut down an East Texas Indian tribe's casino.It certainly has a he said-she said flavor to it, but see also The David Safavian, Grover Norquist, Chris Cannon connection and Chris Cannon, Grover Norquist, WSJ, Fox News all linked together?
...In the Nov. 30, 2001, e-mail, Reed told Abramoff that 50 pastors led by Ed Young, of Second Baptist Church in Houston, would meet with Cornyn to urge him to shut down the Alabama-Coushatta tribe's casino near Livingston. He said Young would back up the request in writing.
"We have also choreographed Cornyn's response. The AG will state that the law is clear, talk about how much he wants to avoid repetition of El Paso (where the Tigua casino was) and pledge to take swift action to enforce the law," Reed wrote. "He will also personally hand Ed Young a letter that commits him to take action in Livingston."
Cornyn, now a Republican U.S. senator, had filed a lawsuit in 1999 to shut down the casino operated by the Tigua tribe in El Paso, saying it violated the state's limited gambling laws. In 2002, federal courts shuttered the Tiguas' casino and Cornyn used that ruling to shut down the Alabama-Coushattas' casino.
Cornyn, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, has denied knowing Abramoff. He also has said he was unaware of Reed's work with Abramoff.
He said he did not remember receiving a letter from Young or Reed, or providing a letter to Young; he acknowledged meeting with the minister...
More on Cornyn and by using the search box above.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 06:20 AM | Comments (1)
Has the Washington Post finally lost it?
Have they "gone around the bend?" Will we soon spot former WaPo editorial writers muttering to themselves as they wander around suburban Virginia collecting bits of string from the sidewalk? Let's see if their latest editorial "Minutemen, Go Home" gives us a clue. Well, first of all, there's the title, and that tone is carried throughout their tantrum:
"the Minuteman Project, a national organization bitterly opposed to illegal immigrants"
"Anti-immigrant crusaders"
"hassling undocumented day laborers"
"anti-immigration cranks such as the Minutemen"
"so what they are really up to is simple harassment" (Isn't that actionable? Maybe someone should find out.)
"Reveling in self-importance"
"In Vermont one such group got lost in the woods while hunting for undocumented infiltrators and had to ask for directions, the Boston Globe reported." (Now, see Washington Post repeats Boston Globe smear on Minuteman Project.)
What, you might ask, has got the WaPo so... "excited"? Should a major newspaper like the WaPo really take this tone and attempt to mislead their readers about what groups like the MMP want (example: "anti-immigrant" and "anti-immigration")? What happens when, for instance, their readers decide to take a look at what the MMP really wants, won't they realize that the WaPo tried to deceive them?
And, why isn't the WaPo able to understand things from a Big Picture standpoint? This editorial reads more like the rantings of a Chamber of Commerce hack who wants to keep the boom times rolling in those "boom-'burbs" outside Washington, or like the rantings of various race groups.
The WaPo should look outside its parochial boom-'burbs bubble and take a look at all of the side-effects of that "cheap" labor: corruption, corporate subsidies, lowered wages for American workers, massively increased social welfare costs, and on and on. All the things that California currently enjoys and that Virginia will enjoy in short order. In fact, both California and Virginia driver's licenses played a role in 9/11. There's so many issues involved in illegal immigration, but the WaPo doesn't seem capable of understanding them.
By failing to understand everything involved in this issue, and by misleading their readers about the MMP, the WaPo is running the risk of lowering their credibility even further.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 10:19 PM | Comments (4)
Does Howard Dean support U.S. Citizen Students of Color?
Howard Dean appeared on Meet the Press earlier today, and explained that the Democratic Party has no plan, as this highly redacted yet accurate snippet shows:
...We have plenty of time to show Americans what our agenda is and we will long before the '06 elections... Right now it's not our job to give out specifics... When the time comes, we will [tell the Dem position on Iraq]... The time [to tell what their plan is] is fast-approaching. And I outlined the broad outlines of our agenda. We're going to have specific plans in all of these areas...
And, he said:
we played a big role in Tim Kaine's campaign
But, since Tim Kaine wants to give in-state tuition to illegal aliens, I'm having trouble reconciling this with something else the good Doctor said:
I saw a show last night which showed a young African-American man in California at the UC of Davis who hoped to go to law school. The Republicans want to cut $14 billion out of higher education so this kid can't go to law school. We're going to do better than that, and together, America can do better than that.
Let's call him "Mike", as in my fictional story about "Mike Jackson". Why does Howard Dean want to hurt all the Mike Jacksons in the U.S.? Why do Howard Dean and countless other Democrats want to take discounted college educations away from U.S. citizens - many of them Of Color - and give them to illegal aliens?
Posted to Immigration2005b at 09:18 PM | Comments (3)
Is "undocumented immigrant" a euphemism?
Yes, it's just a politically-correct way of saying the legally correct term: "illegal alien". They're "aliens" - people who are citizens of some other country - and they're here illegally.From this:
The politically correct term undocumented immigrant started with former INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) Commissioner Leonel J. Castillo during the Carter Administration (1977-81). The word undocumented wormed its way from the widely discredited and now defunct INS to politically-correct media, cheap labor corporations, ethnic vote pandering politicians, and pro-illegal alien 'rights' organizations, many of which are race biased. Even the highest officials including President Bush and former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt pander to the extent they even call illegal aliens citizens.A caller to Rush Limbaugh says:
An alien is a person who comes from a foreign country. The term illegal alien is broader and more accurate because it includes undocumented aliens and nonimmigrant visa overstayers. An undocumented alien is an individual who has entered the U.S. illegally, without entry documentation. Any alien who violates the terms of his or her admission may be deemed to be out of status. Becoming out of status occurs when a nonimmigrant remains in the United States beyond the expiration date of their visa or when a nonimmigrant engages in employment in the United States for which she is not authorized. Roughly 60% of the illegal alien population are undocumented aliens and about 40% are nonimmigrant visa overstayers. Thus, the term illegal alien, being broader in scope, is the accurate term to use...
...you'll be glad to know that the term "undocumented immigrant" goes back to the peanut presidency when Jimmy Carter (Watch the Malaise Speech) pointed to a guy named Lionel Castillo as the commissioner of immigration he bragged that his father was an illegal alien, sent out directives that it be called illegal immigrants or illegal worker. Or not illegal, "undocumented workers" or "undocumented immigrants."More on the distinctions here, and here. See also Euphemisms for "illegal" abound in media coverage of the Minuteman Project. Note that the USCIS doesn't define "undocumented", but they do use "illegal aliens" ( uscis.gov/graphics/glossary3.htm#permanent ). At least, they do that in their glossary. In the article entitled "Illegal Alien Resident Population" (uscis.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/illegalalien/), they use "undocumented" in place of the titular phrase.
And, here's a quote from Alberto Gonzalez: Personally I would worry about a policy that permits someone, a local law enforcement official, to use this authority somehow as a club to harass uhh they might be unlawful aliens but otherwise lawful citizens. That would be troubling. That would be troubling to the President.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 02:23 PM | Comments (1)
24 tonnes of illegal cheese seized
Twenty-four tonnes of contraband cheese smuggled from Nicaragua into El Salvador has been seized by police, according to reports.
Posted to WackyHumor at 07:41 AM | Comments (3)
Cynthia McKinney won't discuss own bill about possible government involvement in Tupac murder
Whew! That title is so good, you almost don't need to read the report.Rep. Cynthia McKinney, (D-GA, representin' da K Street Rollin' Legislators) has apparently authored a bill:
McKinney's bill would have the National Archives collect "all government records on the life and death" of Shakur, which her bill says "should be preserved for historical and governmental purposes."But, why?
Approached outside her congressional office on Wednesday, McKinney refused to comment to a reporter about her own bill _ a Washington rarity.OK.
She appeared surprised by the question and asked a reporter if it was his "modus operandi" to catch lawmakers in the halls of their office buildings _ it's a common practice on Capitol Hill.
Before walking away she referred questions about the bill to her staff.
More wild theories suggest links to the John F. Kennedy assassination _ or that Shakur is still alive.
And several have pointed to possible government links.
Does McKinney suspect the feds were in on it?
Reached by the Sun, McKinney aide John Judge said he could not say if his boss believes the government played a role in the slaying.
But Judge said there was extensive government surveillance of Shakur. Judge mused that if there was not direct government involvement, perhaps indirect involvement could have triggered the murder _ or perhaps the surveillance officers could be guilty of not acting to thwart the killing...
Posted to Miscellania at 04:40 AM | Comments (1)
Today's scary Sean Hannity picture
Sure, Kim Kommando is a real kutie, but what's she doing with Bill Handel (KFI-AM), Sean Hannity (RNC-FM), and Matt Drudge (cyberspace)?
Posted to WackyHumor at 03:11 PM | Comments (1)
Illegal immigration supporters, all: WaPo embarrasses self
The Washington Post has an editorial about birthright citizenship entitled "Citizens, All". Let's see if we can spot errors in their "thinking":
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) has a bold idea to stop illegal immigration: Deny automatic citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants. "There is general agreement about the fact that citizenship in this country should not be bestowed on people who are children of folks who come into this country illegally," he told the Washington Times. General agreement? Perhaps among Mr. Tancredo's friends in the House but not among the framers of the 14th Amendment. Indeed, any such modern consensus would have a small problem in the text of the Constitution, which is, inconveniently for anti-immigrant demagogues, not subtle on the point.
Obviously, the WaPo has a bit of a problem with their choice of words: it should be clear by now that anyone using the word "undocumented" is a politically correct fool. And, opposing illegal immigration does not equal being opposed to immigration; calling someone "anti-immigrant" is even worse, implying that they're trying to victimize immigrants.
And, it's not just the language they use. As pointed out many times in the past:
At the time the amendment was approved, the author of the clause, Sen. Jacob M. Howard, said the phrase relating to jurisdiction meant, "This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners...." ...In subsequent years, the courts invalidated the assurances of Howard; at this stage, an amendment to the Constitution seems the only means available to change the law...
More on that here.
Previously:
Sleazy pro-Kaine, pro-illegal immigration editorial from Washington Post
Kilgore, Kaine, the VA governor's race, and the WaPo's bias
Washington Post repeats Boston Globe smear on Minuteman Project
WaPo gives free ad to Colorado's ProgressNow outfit
Crime, illegal immigration, and media bias
Marcela Sanchez: historical facts, analysis are extremist
WaPo opposes the REAL ID Act, supports illegal immigration
The WaPo has finally overloaded my circuits
Posted to Immigration2005b at 10:48 AM | Comments (9)
"How the liars won"
KFI host John Ziegler had an editorial in yesterday's L.A. Times:The results of the special election, while largely expected, are truly remarkable for what they reveal about who we are as a state and the current nature of our political landscape. They are not just important because they may end up being Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Waterloo, but also because they show so clearly that our political discourse is terribly broken, perhaps far beyond repair.He also mentions the KNBC forum that was hijacked by Democratic activists.
For instance, how in the world did Proposition 77 get so badly clobbered? The initiative — which would have taken legislative and congressional redistricting out of the hands of politicians and given it to a nonpartisan panel of judges — had the backing of our until-recently-popular governor, numerous Democrats and the majority of Republicans, as well as Common Cause and even the admittedly liberal editorial board of the L.A. Times (and every other major paper in the state)...
Not that many officials were willing to speak out publicly against trying to fix a clearly busted system of redistricting that nearly everyone agrees is corrupt and anti-democratic. Instead, the plan was apparently shot down because of 30-second TV ads that alternately featured a long-forgotten "People's Court" judge and three nameless (but clearly evil) old white male actors in robes who were seen carving up the state to look like Texas.
[...examples of the lying commercials...]
Unfortunately, in a country with a 1st Amendment, it is both impossible and inadvisable to ban or even restrict lying in a political campaign. However, that does not mean that there should be absolutely no repercussions for those who bend or break the truth in the pursuit of electoral victory. This is where the news media in California, as well as the public, failed in their democratic duties.
The newspapers (including this one, the paper of record for the region) made only a feeble effort to separate fact from fiction when it came to these absurd ads, and even then they made it seem as if both sides of the "debate" were lying equally.
...At least newspapers made some sort of an effort. Local TV news outlets (the very same ones that were making by far the most money from this election) gave almost a complete pass to the ads that were airing during their newscasts, focusing instead almost exclusively on the "horse race" aspect of the election...
Posted to California at 03:27 PM | Comments (1)
Bob Sheer disfavored, sent to Novosibirsk
The Los Angeles Times has dropped Bob Sheer, and three guesses to who's picked him up...
No, not the LA Weekly...
No, it's not People's Weekly World either...
Yes, that's right, HuffPost.
In related news, the numbers of political cartoonists at papers appears to be about equal to the number of pantomime ponies at banks as they've also fired cartoonist Michael Ramirez. This is apparently the Times' idea of balance:
In a major shake-up of its editorial pages, the Los Angeles Times announced Thursday that it was discontinuing one of its most liberal columnists as well as its conservative editorial cartoonist.
UPDATE: The icon weighs in for the first time at his new digs:
The publisher, Jeff Johnson, who has offered not a word of explanation to me, has privately told people that he hated every word that I wrote. I assume that mostly refers to my exposing the lies used by President Bush to justify the invasion of Iraq... Fortunately sixty percent of Americans now get the point, but only after tens of thousand of Americans and Iraqis have been killed and maimed as the carnage spirals out of control. My only regret is that my pen was not sharper and my words tougher.
In the comments, someone says:
I just cancelled my subscription, and it felt great. To do likewise, call 1-800-LA TIMES.
I agree. All thinking persons should immediately cancel their subscriptions.
Posted to Los_Angeles at 11:16 AM | Comments (1)
"Al-Qaida ops busted at Mexican border?"
The Charlotte Observer recently published the following quote from U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC) concerning a bill to prevent illegal aliens from getting driver's licenses in her state:
"This isn't aimed at any one race," said Sue Myrick, who is being mentioned as a potential candidate for governor of the state. "Our main concern is: Who's in our state? This is a critical issue today. They just arrested, down on the border, a couple of weeks ago, three al-Qaida members who came across from Mexico into the United States."
Needless to say, the race-baiting was the more important issue to the local reporters: none of them had a follow-up on the much more important bombshell she dropped in the second part of her quote.
WND was unable to get more information, but eventually someone will find out whether Myrick was mistaken or whether she let slip something that hasn't yet been announced and probably wouldn't have been announced otherwise lest those five people who still think Bush cares about homeland security changed their minds.
Posted to Immigration_terror at 07:00 AM | Comments (3)
Dick Morris offers thoughts on Bush and immigration
Dick Morris to president Bush: "Get serious about immigration reform". Unfortunately, the reform he has in mind is the kind with quotes around it.
In the hawk category, he supports the idea of a fence, an idea that does have its downside. Perhaps big fences in some areas and DMZ zones in others would be the better approach.
However, in the "reform" category, he supports Bush's Temporary Worker Plan, with one minor refinement: he wants to turn it into the Kennedy McCain massive amnesty by offering a "path the citizenship". The result?
A guest-worker program will end the leper colony within our borders of disenfranchised, invisible illegals who have no rights and no responsibilities.
Well, they aren't really that though. First, illegal aliens count towards determining congressional districts.
And, there are plenty of far-left organizations working night and day to get them more and more benefits. Are those organizations going to just disband if we get a wonderful new guest worker scheme? No, they're going to keep plugging away trying to get more and more for anyone who doesn't have everything that U.S. citizens have. Nothing in Bush's or Morris' scheme does anything about that. Some of those organizations even have links to the Mexican government.
And, there are plently of far-left racial demagogues who currently basically represent illegal aliens. The name Gil Cedillo springs to mind. And, people like him would get even more power in the case of a guest worker scheme, enabling them to bring in more people of their same race, thereby getting even more power. Once again, neither Bush nor Morris have a solution to that.
Morris also confuses OTMs with visa overstays. The reason we can't do anything about the latter is because there are hundreds of thousands of them, and just a few dozen agents who go out and pick them up. Meaning they only concentrate on the really bad ones. And, even when they do that the far-lefties whine.
Continuing with our tour of bad ideas:
A vital form of foreign aid for Mexico and the impoverished countries of Central America is the remittances sent each week by illegal immigrants to their families back home.
The "foreign aid" line is straight out of the Cato Institute playbook. When even the Bush administration says they're bad, you know they must be really, really bad: U.S. Amb. Tony Garza: "Reliance on remittances from the U.S. is not a viable economic policy."
It's not "foreign aid", it's an unhealthy crutch. And, it's also a huge incentive for those countries to keep sending us more people and to make sure that those people keep sending money home. How do they do that? One way is sending consuls to pitch city councils to accept Mexican ID cards.
Then, Morris uses the word "Anglo". And:
But it is also in our interest to allow immigrants to come and settle here legally.
Generally speaking, it is. However, we also can't allow Mexico to worm their way into our political system, something that massive immigration from that country - legal or illegal - will allow. All those people sending billions back to Mexico provides a huge incentive for them to keep the money flowing, and that threatens the U.S. Morris should think about this whole issue in a bit more depth.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 04:21 AM | Comments (2)
Mexico to US: the illegal aliens we sent aren't hurting your healthcare system
Rarely does the WashTimes bury the lede, but they've done so with "Illegals require health services".A study sponsored by the University of California and by the National Population Council of the Government of Mexico purports to show that illegal aliens don't use emergency room services more than others, and thus are not dragging down our healthcare system. In other words, what's actually happening in California and elsewhere is not happening at all.
According to the study:
fewer than 10 percent of Mexicans living in the U.S. legally or illegally for less than a decade visited an emergency room in the past yearHowever:
Among those living in the U.S. for more than a decade legally or illegally, nearly 14 percent visited an emergency room during the past year
Dr. Todd Taylor, an emergency physician at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix, said he thinks the study was conducted improperly because it excludes people younger than 18, a large segment of the legal and illegal populations that use emergency rooms.The article also has the thoughts of an apologist:
"Of the 3.9 million Mexican-headed households, almost 70 percent include immigrants under 18," he said. "If a proper analysis were done, I think what you're going to find is the Mexican immigrant population [emergency-room use] is fairly close [to that of U.S. citizens and Mexican-Americans as] other studies have shown."
"I think [illegal aliens burdening the healthcare system is] a myth," said Michael Freedman, outreach medical director at Anne Arundel Medical Center's Annapolis Outreach Center. "For the most part, people that are coming over here, particularly illegally, have a pretty arduous trip to get into this country, and by nature of that trip have to be a pretty healthy person."Now, what does that remind you of? It vaguely reminds me of this. While hardly an exact match, there are enough parallels that Dr. Freedman might want to think about this whole subject in a bit more depth.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 01:34 AM | Comments (1)
Immigrant: Gullible idiot or al Qaeda operative?
From this:
[Legal immigrant Sam] Malkandi has said that he was approached at Northgate Mall [in Seattle] by an Arabic-speaking stranger named Ahmed Bawarth soon after arriving in Western Washington. The two became friends, Malkandi said, and about a year after they met, Bawarth asked Malkandi to assist him in helping a friend from Yemen into the country. The friend, according to the government, was [Tawfiq] bin Attash, planner of the bombing of the Navy ship USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 and the bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
They want to deport him for those reasons and he's admitted to lying to obtain his green card. But, he claims he's not an AQ operative. Darrick Smalley, U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement senior special agent, disagrees:
"Somebody picked Sam Malkandi out of all the millions of people in the country to entrust with the safety of one of the highest-ranking al-Qaida operatives? They don't operate that way."
Posted to Immigration_terror at 09:26 PM | Comments (3)
Home loans for illegal aliens facing resistance in Wisconsin
The Wisconsin Assembly recently passed a bill requiring the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) to only give home loans to people with Social Security Numbers. As discussed here in the past, WHEDA has been giving home loans to illegal aliens, and the head of that organization, Antonio Riley, fully supports that practice: "Wisconsin Program Helps Illegal Aliens Get Mortgages". For more, see this and this.
One can expect that the linked article would provide the other side's best points, and the only one that's not just a specious far-left talking point is this:
The fact that immigrants have taxpayer IDs does not mean that they are here illegally, said Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee. "The process of becoming a citizen takes time."
Unfortunately, I believe she's either wrong or just supporting illegal immigration. See socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10107.html Legal immigrants can get SSNs. So, either she's wrong about the law, or she's referring to illegal aliens who are trying to become legal.
With that out of the way, let's see if Anita Weier isn't telling her readers the truth about this matter. First of all, the title of the article is "Assembly passes bill that would curtail immigrants' mortgages". That's false: they aren't "immigrants", they're illegal aliens. Likewise with this:
In a move targeting immigrants, the state Assembly voted 58-38 to bar the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority from making, buying or assuming home mortgage loans for a person who does not have a Social Security number.
"Targeting" has such negative connotations, does it not? I guess that's why she used that word. And, once again, they're illegal aliens and not "immigrants".
The proposal, yet to be considered by the state Senate, could stop a program begun in 2004 that backs mortgage loans that banks make to immigrants who have individual taxpayer identification numbers. It is a program that has helped Latinos obtain mortgages...
Once again, her language isn't precise, resulting in her readers not being told the truth. And, there's that little race-baiting at the end: if you oppose giving mortgages to illegal aliens, you're opposed to helping "Latinos" get mortgages.
If it says "madison.com" in the address bar, don't believe it. Write their editor with your thoughts: dzweifel *at* madison.com
Posted to Immigration2005b at 02:45 PM | Comments (2)
Phil Angelides for Governor, Part 3 (Arnold bad man edition)
California Treasurer Phil Angelides has issued a statement on the 2005 Special Election.
Most of it is one long series of anti-Arnold smears: he's turned his back on people, he considers almost everyone his enemy, etc. etc.
He doesn't say exactly what he'd do differently, only offering a borderline-frothing set of vague promises to lift California to hitherto unseen heights. However, we can figure it out: tax, tax, spend, spend, give the unions even more power, tax, spend, give the unions even more power, tax, spend, repeat until bankruptcy.
At the end he says "And may the great debate begin." What does this guy think he is, in a stage play? The only problem is that given what proceeded that, no debate is planned: he intends to promise everyone everything while continuing the smears that the unions used to strike down Arnold's propositions.
But, despite the pathetic campaign Schwarzenegger ran for those props, I have trouble believing that even the most incompetent political strategist could not clean the floor with Angelides.
Previously in this series:
Part 2 (intellectual dishonesty)
Posted to California at 12:19 PM | Comments (2)
AVWatch: Villaraigosa rides on Ameriquest jet, pays 10% of cost
"Mayor Reconquista", aka Antonio Villaraigosa, was recently given short notice that he could appear at Rosa Parks' funeral. Now, if he were an average citizen, about the only thing he could do is try to get a last-minute flight from LAX or BUR. Needless to say, the former MEChA member is not an ordinary citizen:Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is under fire from some ethics watchdogs for using a private jet owned by a company that has a lobbyist assigned to City Hall.AV is paying them back out of a "political account" and not city money. But, he's only paying them $438 each for him and an aide. In the article, the owner of a private jet company says he would have charged $3900 per person for the same flight.
Villaraigosa used the plane owned by Orange-based Ameriquest last week to fly to Detroit with an aide, his two-member security detail and another person after he received a last-minute invitation to speak at the funeral of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.
Villaraigosa was paid $20,000 for doing consulting work for Ameriquest in 2001 and 2002, and the company has contributed nearly $200,000 to his two mayoral campaigns, his inaugural gala and a political committee he controlled while he was speaker of the Assembly.
"It's very troubling. It doesn't set a good standard for the new administration," said Robert Stern, president of the nonpartisan Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles. "It's one of those perks the mayor should do without."
Previously: he got involved in the L.A. Zoo's elephant controversy and, by the way, the Los Angeles Times is still covering up Villaraigosa's past.
Posted to Los_Angeles at 05:49 AM | Comments (2)
Poll: half oppose birthright citizenship, 60 percent favor border fence
From this:About half of Americans say children of illegal aliens should not receive automatic citizenship, and three in five support a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a poll that will boost Republicans looking to make those proposals part of immigration bills.
Independent pollster Scott Rasmussen said Americans favored a barrier 60 percent to 29 percent, with even higher support -- 75 percent -- among self-identified conservatives.
His poll of 1,500 adults, taken over the weekend, also found that 49 percent favored ending birthright citizenship and 41 percent opposed such a change. That proposal scored 58 percent support among conservatives, was opposed by 54 percent of liberals and split moderates evenly at 46 percent...
Posted to Immigration2005b at 03:00 PM | Comments (4)
Pro-illegal immigration propaganda from "The World According to Jim"?
That's the Jim Belushi TV show, and according to this somewhat confusing report it featured some pro-illegal immigration propaganda on a recent episode.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 01:58 PM | Comments (3)
Carolina Panthers cheerleader: I did not have sex with that woman
The tale of the two Carolina Panthers cheerleaders who were allegedly having sex in a Tampa bar bathroom takes a turn for the weird as Renee Thomas' lawyer Peter Anderson says that his client wants to apologize "to everyone affected by the incident." And:
"This was an unfortunate incident which has generated numerous rumors and inaccurate facts... Miss Thomas denies all allegations of any sexual conduct."However, "Cheerleaders arrested after toilet sex" tells another tale:
Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said: "Alcohol, sex and cheerleaders are apparently the ingredients for a hot story, because I am getting flooded with calls."Please: sign the petition to keep these TopCats giving their all for the team.
She said it was "clearly visible" to some of the women in line that Thomas and Keathley were "engaged in a sexual act" in a cubicle.
"They started to make a commotion," McElroy said. "They were saying, "Hey, that's not appropriate here. We need to use the bathroom. Come on out."'
Thomas and Keathley finally emerged several minutes later and started arguing with the other women, McElroy said.
Posted to Celebrities at 11:26 AM | Comments (3)
Bush administration promoting benefits to "Mexicans"
The USDA is promoting social welfare benefits to "Mexicans". Some of those are new U.S. citizens, some are legal immigrants from that country, and some are illegal aliens. And, the U.S. government is working with the Mexican government to get U.S. benefits to those people, thereby including Mexico's citizens who are in the U.S. illegally.And, the Bush administration claims it's cracking down on illegal immigration. Obviously, the Bush administration is lying.
From the AP's "U.S., Mexican officials launch outreach campaigns" (identical article here):
Estimating not even 50 percent of Mexicans in the United States who are eligible for Department of Agriculture programs take advantage of them, U.S. and Mexican officials pledged Tuesday to make Hispanics more aware of programs available to them.This isn't necessarily as Orwellian as it might appear. One way to explain this shifting back and forth between "Mexican" and "Hispanic" is that this Bush administration scheme is race-based and not specifically country-based: they're focusing their efforts on "Hispanics", but since most of those are "Mexicans" that's why they're working with the Mexican consuls instead of, say, consuls from Honduras.
The purpose of their meeting, which included Mexican consuls from Salt Lake City to Orlando, was to find ways to implement recent agreements between Mexico's Foreign Ministry and USDA officials on Hispanic access to nutrition programs as well as housing and business loans...
The article then goes in to how some of these benefits the USDA is promoting are available to illegal aliens. And:
...the best way to reach the Spanish-speaking community is through the consulates with whom they have already built a rapport, officials agreed.So, the Bush administration is reaching out to U.S. citizens who were originally from Mexico using... Mexican consuls?
...[USDA's Rural Development office in Georgia] launched a program to promote home ownership and business loans for Hispanics in rural U.S. areas. Loans require U.S. citizenship, Workman said.
If someone is an American citizen, haven't they renounced any ties to their former country? Aren't those new citizens "ours" now? Isn't it an extremely dangerous slap to American sovereignty to give a foreign government influence over those new citizens? Aren't we basically giving a foreign government control over some of our citizens?
Isn't this an extremely dangerous slippery slope, perhaps leading to giving the Mexican government control over territory in the U.S.? The Bush administration would appear to already be living in the North American Community.
Also see: "Who is the FDIC? And, why are they working with a foreign government to subvert our laws?"
Posted to NAU at 07:32 AM | Comments (3)
Internal DHS memo on the "Secure Border Initiative"
There's a copy of an internal Michael Chertoff memo on their latest scheme here. There's nothing really of note in the memo; in fact, their fact sheet contains more details. But, the link has a couple comments from those on the front lines. They, like almost everyone else, can see right through this.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 04:25 AM | Comments (2)
DailyKos makes alleged White House "Enemies List"
Uh oh:Spurred by paranoia and aided by the USA Patriot Act, the Bush Administration has compiled dossiers on more than 10,000 Americans it considers political enemies and uses those files to wage war on those who disagree with its policies.Now, of course, it's very easy to cheer about the last one. In fact, that almost overrides the very negative implications of this matter, but I'll try to stay focused.
The "enemies list" dates back to Bush's days as governor of Texas and can be accessed by senior administration officials in an instant for use in campaigns to discredit those who speak out against administration policies or acts of the President...
...Those on the list include former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife, former covert CIA operative Valarie Plame, along with filmmaker and administration critic Michael Moore, Senators like California's Barbara Boxer, media figures like liberal writer Joe Conason and left-wing bloggers like Markos Moulitsas Zuniga (the Daily Kos)...
Of course, this report might not be true in whole or in part. It might be an anti-Bush smear. Or, it might have been intentionally leaked: either they have this information and this is a threat, or they want to make their enemies think they have this information.
But, why are we discussing whether this is true or not in the first place? Back on November 1, 2004 I posted "Should conservatives support Kerry?", and if Kerry were president now the conservatives who controlled Congress would come out strongly against this and make sure that it was stopped. Instead, let's see what happens.
VERY ODD UPDATE: They've appended "and Ana Marie Cox (Wonkette)" to the quote above, right after Kos. I'm absolutely positive that she was not there in the version that I linked to. And, note that she linked to this story. That would tend to support the argument that this is partly or completely fiction.
Posted to Privacy at 01:54 PM | Comments (2)
The Bush administration de facto "Temporary Worker Program"
Wrap your mind around this AP report:Officials with the U.S. Department of Labor and Mexico's Foreign Ministry pledged Monday to protect the rights - especially fair pay and safe working conditions - of immigrant workers, whether they are in the United States legally or not.But, I thought the Bush administration was getting tough on illegal immigration? Why, here's a DHS quote from just a few days ago:
Since the events of 9/11, President Bush has placed ever-increasing importance on immigration control, including border security, and has devoted significant resources to the stark challenge of illegal migration.So, which is it? The DOL is going to look the other way and in effect treat illegal aliens as legal workers, and at the same time the Bush administration is about to vanquish illegal immigration? Do they really expect anyone to believe what they say?
Then, we get word of two agreements between this country and Mexico:
One, signed in 2004, sought to increase safety for Hispanic workers in the U.S. The other, signed in May, aims at extending housing and rural development programs to immigrant agricultural workers...Employers of illegal aliens must comply with our wage laws? Could the Bush administration be a practical joke?
One of the major problems facing immigrant workers is that they don't know their rights under U.S. labor laws and suffer many violations for fear that exposure will mean deportation, [Bosco Marti, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department's point man on North American affairs] said...
...The Department of Labor and the Mexican government are collaborating on an outreach campaign to distribute publications that inform immigrants on workplace safety, minimal wages and other rights they have while working in the United States...
Even the AP notices this cognitive dissonance, pointing to the press release linked above. Even the AP realizes there's a problem...
Then, comes this creepy bit:
"The ultimate goal is an immigration agreement that benefits the U.S. economy and ... that ensures respect for the human and labor rights of the Mexican population that is planting roots in the United States," Marti said.When a foreign population "plants roots" in another country, isn't that normally termed an invasion? And, what do we call people who allow another country to invade their country?
Posted to Immigration2005b at 05:20 AM | Comments (7)
The ultimate Special Election voting guide
The unions and the far-lefties in the California legislature have conducted what has to be one of the dirtiest, sleaziest, most dishonest campaigns ever. In case you're still undecided, here are a few links:
- Xrlq has a voting guide here (List of other guides here).
_ BFT has his own here; the only difference is he says "no" on 78 (with 79, they form opposing propositions).
- (UPDATE) Here's another roundup.
- Indepundit has an ANSWER mailing with their voting guide and he suggests voting the exact opposite from what they suggest. Makes (mostly) good sense to me.
Here's what I suggest:
73 - YES! (Parental notification before abortion)
Kids have to get parental approval to get body piercings, but not to get an abortion? And, they can still get the abortion, this proposition would only require that the parents were notified. Don't worry about the scare tactics that children would need to navigate the judicial system, I'm sure plenty of "advocates" will spring up. Note, however, that this might have a bit of a poison pill as described here, so I'm not 100% on supporting this.
74 - YES! (Public school teacher tenure)
Strongly support.
75 - YES! (Public employee union dues)
Strongly support. Unions supporting far-left policies is what got us into the mess we're in.
76 - YES! (State spending & school funding limits)
Strongly support.
77 - YES! (Redistricting)
Strongly support.
78 - NO! (Prescription drugs, drug companies' version)
79 - NO! (Prescription drugs, socialists version)
80 - NO! (Regulation of electric service providers)
See this argument.
Posted to California at 07:03 PM | Comments (2)
Carolina Panthers cheerleaders arrested for having sex in Tampa bathroom
[Important updates below]
Yes, you might have seen that in one of "those" movies, but Carolina Panthers cheerleaders Renee Thomas and Angela Kaethley appear to have actually put those silver-screen lessons to the test. In fact, those waiting in line noticed the reason for the holdup was that the two girls were going at it in a stall. They were also reportedly very drunk. And, Thomas gave the name and ID of another member of the squad, so she might face charges for that.
Sexy-albeit-large-honkered Angela Keathley is a sexy, sexy registered nurse. Her favorite quote? "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away."
And, when not getting down in bar bathrooms, Renee is trying to - believe it or don't - obtain a doctorate degree in dental surgery. She also likes dancing, motocross, and NASCAR. And, the "Most Important Thing In Life" is: "Live every moment to the fullest and love like you'll never be hurt."
(Those are from their official bios, but the Panthers appear to have taken that whole section down.)
UPDATE: The Panthers have put the page back up - and thrown Renee and Angela down the Memory Hole! It's like they never existed. Except, TSG had the foresight to save off their bios from which I got the above quotes.
UPDATE 2: Sign the petition asking the Panthers to keep Renee and Angela on the team, and tell your friends to sign it too!
UPDATE 3: Unfortunately, the petition isn't getting the support these fine ladies deserve. Please tell your friends and ask them to sign. Support Cheerleader Rights! And, the PantherFanz weigh in with an editorial. Penthouse is, as could be expected, trying to cash in.
Posted to WackyHumor at 10:21 PM | Comments (5)
NYT's David Rieff very confused about immigration
The New York Times offers "Migrant Worry" from contributor David Rieff. It reports that the concerns of those... people in those far-off border states have finally spread to the little people in those other states out there beyond Manhattan.
It also appears to have been written a couple weeks ago, because it includes the following into which I've inserted some helpful links:
...the undeniable fact that the new wave of immigration was bringing the best and the brightest of the poor world to Western Europe, Australia and the United States...
And, Reiff doesn't seem to know that we admit almost a million legal immigrants each year. Instead, he tries to paint opponents of illegal immigration as against all immigration, setting up a false choice between open borders and closed borders.
While it's a mostly worthless waste of words, it does provide yet more evidence (as if it were needed) that the leaders of this country have absolutely no clue about this issue.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 03:55 PM | Comments (3)
The only way liberals can win the debate (new Huffington Post tactic)
The Huffington Post is trying out a new tactic in order to stifle political debate and silence the other side. Unlike other similar leftie attempts, it doesn't involve violence or coersion. In fact, those who choose to remain silent will do so voluntarily.
For the preview of this tactic, see this HuffPo post. Note that that author is just 14 years old. What sort of a-hole is going to tell a 14-year-old that he's completely wrong? Just how bad would someone look if they did that?
There is no other conclusion I can come to other than that the HuffPost is doing this intentionally in order to stifle debate.
Yes, you are correct: this is about the relatively non-controversial topic of Dodgers baseball. However, expect them to broaden this technique to other, more controversial fields.
And, note that the poster's last name is "Reiner". Does anyone know any washed-up actors with that same name?
Gosh, do you think he could be related to someone? Further, note that one of the contributors there is Stephen Kaus, who happens to be the brother of another Kaus.
Visiting the HuffPost is giving me an uncomfortable feeling that I've just barged into someone's living room. In Brentwood, of course.
Posted to Bloggage at 02:50 AM | Comments (1)
L.A. Times buries news about anti-Arnold forum
The Los Angeles Times offers "Gov.'s Effort to Engage Voters Stalls", which, buried down in the sixth paragraph, has this:
A forum Thursday in Los Angeles at times resembled an anti-Schwarzenegger campaign rally. Democratic activists made their way into the audience that questioned the governor, contributing to the angry tone. KNBC-TV later apologized for unwittingly admitting the activists.
It's quite a bit more than that, as you can read about in "Arnold Schwarzenegger TV questioners included three Democratic activists".
Here's your takeaway: you just can't trust the Los Angeles Times.
Posted to California at 02:12 PM | Comments (1)
Yes on Proposition 76
The SDUT lays it on the line in "Beyond shameless. Ad attacks on Prop. 76 are utterly dishonest":...This goes beyond semantic gymnastics to rancid deceit – suggesting that it's Schwarzenegger who's eager to hammer taxpayers, not the Democratic legislators who have proposed dozens of tax hikes over the past two years to pay for their spending binge, and who constantly look for ways around two-thirds requirements to raise taxes. The governor says if Proposition 76 fails, then tax hikes will have to be considered – and this is fired back at him as if his real goal is higher taxes, not constrained spending. Huh?
As this should make plain, so long as it might win votes, there is virtually no argument too deranged or dishonest for the desperate defenders of California's failing status quo. Up is down, black is white, right is wrong. Come Tuesday, don't let the unions get away with this perverse crusade.
Posted to California at 10:48 AM | Comments (1)
Yes on Proposition 77
If you've seen the commercials against Proposition 77, you've been lied to. Don't believe the lies: vote yes, it's the only way to reform Sacramento.See this:
In the ocean of distortions that has become the campaign against Proposition 77, Senate leader Don Perata last week briefly became an island of truth. The Alameda County Democrat admitted that politicians prefer to control the drawing of their own district lines to make it easier to keep themselves in office.
"We are politicians, and we do have the interests of incumbents at heart," he said.
But Perata's foray into frankness, alas, was short-lived...
...The real insult is that the warning about "power-hungry politicians" was paid for by - you guessed it - power-hungry politicians, and mailed by the California Democratic Party. While Proposition 77 has been endorsed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, against the advice of many of his Republican Party colleagues, it is also backed by Common Cause, TheRestOfUs.org and CalPIRG, three very independent, grass-roots groups that have been fighting for years to put the job of redistricting in the hands of an independent commission. Some power grab...
...When people ask why we are having a special election, why can't the governor and the Legislature just work things out, Proposition 77 provides the best explanation. There is no other way to make this change. It requires a constitutional amendment, and while the Legislature in theory could place one on the ballot, politicians have never shown any tendency to give up even a sliver of the power they cherish. An independent ballot initiative is the only way.
Posted to California at 07:41 AM | Comments (0)
2003 Warrant says Wal-Mart aware of cleaners' status
Bentonville: Warrant says Wal-Mart aware of cleaners' statusWal-Mart management knew people who cleaned dozens of their stores in 2003 were illegal aliens, some of whom lived in poor conditions and, in one case, slept in the back of a store, a federal affidavit released Wednesday said.Previously: Janitors' lawsuit against WalMart still on
The affidavit was used to secure two search warrants in October 2003 to raid Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s home office in Bentonville as part of Operation Rollback — an investigation that led to the arrests of 245 illegal aliens working at 61 Wal-Mart stores, including five stores in Arkansas.
U. S. District Magistrate Judge Beverly Stites Jones in Fayetteville unsealed the two search warrants Wednesday at the request of a New York attorney representing more than 200 of the former employees in civil lawsuit against the Bentonvillebased nation's largest retailer.
"The corporation's fingerprints are on this from the highest levels," said attorney James Linsey, whose firm represents former workers worldwide. "They wanted to keep their stores clean and not pay a lot of money."
Linsey said the information from the search warrants — which had been sealed since they were obtained — will be used to refile the lawsuit in New Jersey district court. The lawsuit alleges that Wal-Mart knew the cleaning companies they worked with employed illegal aliens and did nothing to end the work.
Earlier this month, a federal judge in New Jersey dismissed part of the lawsuit that said alleged Wal-Mart conspired with the cleaning contractors by allowing the illegal aliens to work in their stores.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 04:34 AM | Comments (1)
"GOP mulls ending birthright citizenship"
From this:House Republicans are looking closely at ending birthright citizenship and building a barrier along the entire U.S.-Mexico border as they search for solutions to illegal immigration.In fact:
...Most lawmakers had avoided the issue, fearing that change would require a constitutional amendment -- the 14th Amendment reads in part: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
But several Republicans said recent studies suggest otherwise.
"There's been recent scholarship that says we can do it by statute, and we ought to try," said Rep. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican, who usually finds himself on the opposite side of immigration issues from Mr. Tancredo...
At the time the amendment was approved, the author of the clause, Sen. Jacob M. Howard, said the phrase relating to jurisdiction meant, "This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners...." ...In subsequent years, the courts invalidated the assurances of Howard; at this stage, an amendment to the Constitution seems the only means available to change the law...
Posted to Immigration2005b at 12:39 AM | Comments (6)
Does Jason Zengerle support American workers?
The titular person contributes to a New Republic page called "The Plank", and he offers "If Ray Nagin bashes immigrants, does he make a sound?"
That post links to the NYT article "In Louisiana, Worker Influx Causes Ill Will".
And, the post and the NYT article discuss the Nagin remark which was featured in NCLR, NUL, NAACP, AAJC, and LCCR confused over words "Mexican" and "American". In fact, that link applies to Zengerle as well, since he doesn't seem to understand the difference between those two words.
In fact, while the NYT clearly indicates that most of the workers it's discussing are illegal aliens, Zegerle refers to them as "out-of-state workers", "Hispanic immigrant workers", and "Latino workers".
And, he discusses how they're subjected to "resentment", "animus", "hostility", and "anti-immigrant animus".
Obviously, no one wants to be tarred with such inflammatory rhetoric. So, let me suggest that we just ignore the fact that illegal aliens from Mexico are coming to New Orleans to take jobs that American citizens - many of them African-Americans - could and should be doing.
And, let's ignore the fact that those illegal aliens will send their paychecks - perhaps including money indirectly from the federal government - back to Mexico, further enriching the corrupt oligarchy of that country.
And, let's ignore the fact that corrupt contractors are making out like bandits, paying illegal aliens low wages under the table while getting federal contracts.
And, let's ignore the fact that - unlike American workers - those illegal aliens will be living and working in unsafe conditions.
Everyone in American should ignore that, because the last thing we want is Jason Zengerle to call us haters.
Let's contact TNR and congratulate them on supporting American workers: theplank@tnr.com
Posted to Immigration2005b at 08:51 PM | Comments (3)
Arnold Schwarzenegger TV questioners included three Democratic activists
Last night Arnold Schwarzenegger was grilled in a televised appearance by a supposedly "demographically and politically balanced audience".However, the questioning was biased strongly against him, and this appearance is the latest in a long line of dirty tricks: at least three of those who questioned him were Democratic Party activists.
The L.A. Times does not mention this in their report Governor Stays Cool as Voters Fire Questions:
Appearing live on a KNBC-TV Channel 4 forum at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, the Republican governor was peppered with hostile questions from a crowd of about 75 voters screened by the station. One told Schwarzenegger that his proposal to change the law on union campaign donations was fraudulent. Another got into a shouting match with the governor over his proposal to scale back teacher tenure. Still another suggested, in a question directed to one of Schwarzenegger's rivals, that the governor hoped to establish dictatorial power over the state budget.Now, read County activists grill the governor:
Two Camarillo Democratic activists peppered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday with the toughest questions he's faced during a special-election campaign in which the governor has mostly appeared before only hand-selected audiences.Please send this post to everyone you know who lives in California. Let's get the word out and try to counteract the damage that KNBC and their "research firm" have done.
During a televised town hall forum at the Skirball Cultural Center, however, Schwarzenegger faced hostile questions from a panel selected by a market research firm hired by KNBC. Among those chosen to ask questions were Larry Miller, a member of the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee; Chris Robson, a member of the state Democratic Party Central Committee representing the 37th Assembly District; and Mary Pallant of Oak Park, an announced candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 24th Congressional District.
Alejandro Puesan of the station's research department said the selections were made randomly by the research firm charged with selecting questioners who represented the demographics of Southern California, by gender, age, race, ethnicity, county of residence and political affiliation.
Miller, an elected trustee of the Ventura County Community College District, engaged in such a fierce exchange with Schwarzenegger that at one point, when the governor sought to complete his response, Miller blurted out, "No, I'm not going to let you finish because you're wrong."
And, contact popular bloggers as well. Details here.
And, send an email to knbc.news@nbc.com (politely) letting them know what you think.
UPDATE: From LA TV station apologizes to Schwarzenegger after audience mix-up:
KNBC-TV apologized to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign Friday after the station found that the audience it organized for a voter forum this week apparently included several Democratic activists.Keep sending emails to KNBC: an apology isn't enough.
The Republican governor was peppered with questions with a partisan slant at the televised event Thursday, and at one point a man in the audience tried to shout him down...
...the station was unaware that several of those picked were actively involved in local Democratic politics, and that was never made clear in the broadcast.
The company recruited the Ventura County voters from a list of "politically aware" citizens it had compiled, [news director Robert Long] said. But survey forms submitted by prospective audience members gave no hint that some had partisan ties - because they weren't asked...
During the forum, the abundance of politically charged questions didn't appear to unsettle the governor.
Schwarzenegger "did exactly what he should have done, which was politely listen to their not-so-polite questions and set the record straight," said Todd Harris, a spokesman for the governor's campaign.
UPDATE 2: The "research firm" is Cultural Access Group (accesscag.com). They're also now doing some work for... Fabian Nunez. If you see their name on something in the future, contact the news media with this post. If you hear about a TV station or newspaper selecting a public panel discussion of some kind, try to find out whether the CAG is involved.
Posted to California at 06:17 PM | Comments (0)
Sleazy pro-Kaine, pro-illegal immigration editorial from Washington Post
The WaPo offers a sleazy pro-Kaine editorial in "Scare Tactics in Virginia". PostWatch has already covered what I would have written, so check that out.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 03:09 PM | Comments (0)
NCLR, NUL, NAACP, AAJC, and LCCR confused over words "Mexican" and "American"
On 10/18, the National Council of La Raza ("National Council of The Race"), the National Urban League, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Asian American Justice Center, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights issued a joint press release concerning remarks made by NO Mayor Ray Nagin.
Let's see if we can help those putatively American organizations with their understanding of common words:
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's unfortunate comment at a public forum on October 6, "How do I ensure that New Orleans is not overrun by Mexican workers?" is an example of remarks that can divide Americans at a time when we need to be united.
Obviously, these organizations are putting their respective races ahead of their country and their abilities to think. The words "Mexican" and "American" represent disjoint sets: unless one has dual citizenship, one can't be both at the same time.
Nagin wasn't referring to "Hispanics", "Americans of Mexican descent", or "Mexican-Americans". He was referring to illegal aliens from Mexico who are coming to take jobs from American hurrican victims. Those illegal aliens are not "Americans", and no Americans should support them in their efforts to take jobs that Americans should be doing.
Those who gave Nagin a standing ovation after his remarks should explain to these groups just how "unfortunate" their press release really is.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)
FTAA information
America's bestest friend, Vicente Fox, wants to revive the FTAA discussions. Just because Hugo Chavez (D-Venezuela) is opposed to the FTAA doesn't make it a good thing. In fact, it's a horrid idea and a step down the road to a "North American Community". For his part, our Lider Jorge Arbusto will avoid discussing immigration matters when he goes to Argentina for the Summit of the Americas. He plans to stay away from the lasagna too!At least 70 federal police officers guarding the beach resort hotel where U.S. President George W. Bush and others will meet were overcome by diarrhea and vomiting after dining on lasagna at a nearby hotel late on Tuesday, police commissioner Daniel Rodriguez told local radio.Maybe he should eat big in order to do his own bushuru 41.
And, Chavez is pulling a train containing such celebrities as hated and disgraced former Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona and Evo Morales, leader of the Bolivian presidential race and an Indian to boot. Chavez will be arriving via air.
Cuba's Fidel Castro, the only leader not invited to the summit, sent a delegation of Cuban athletes to the Peoples' Summit to support his friend Chavez.Another expected attendee is Cindy Sheehan.
Moving on:
Thomas Shannon, the new assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said aboard Air Force One on the flight to Argentina that the U.S. is still promoting the FTAA even though it has been "slowed down," but also is pursuing regional and bilateral agreements to move the president's free trade agenda.And:
...Bush and an outspoken critic, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, also were likely to meet Friday, shortly after Chavez's speech to a demonstration of mostly anti-Bush protesters. Chavez has joked about whether Bush is afraid of him and said he might sneak up and scare Bush at the summit.
Chavez has said he would use the meeting as a stage to denounce the U.S. as a "capitalist, imperialist model" of democracy that exploits the economies of developing nations.
Retired athlete Diego Maradona, who had vowed to lead the demonstration to "repudiate" the presence of U.S. President George W. Bush, was in town but did not join the vanguard of the marchers.AN ABSOLUTELY UNEXPECTED UPDATE: From this:
The explanation provided was that the former captain of the national soccer team was too besieged by admirers to be able to walk unmolested with the throng.
The main personalities at the procession's head were Evo Morales, the Socialist, and Indian, front-runner in the Bolivian presidential election set for next month, and Argentina's Adolfo Perez Esquivel, a human rights activist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980. Also in the forefront of the demonstration were Argentine and other Latin American labor leaders, as well as representatives of leftist grassroots organizations from throughout the hemisphere.
Many wore t-shirts with a stop sign reading "Stop Bush," or one displaying portraits of Che Guevara or Fidel Castro. A few sporting the portrait of Osama bin Laden were also in evidence.
Most of the marchers were also taking part in the "Summit of the People," which describes itself as a grassroots, parallel event to the celebration here of the Summit of the Americas...
More than 1,000 demonstrators angry about President Bush's policies clashed with police, shattered storefronts and torched businesses Friday...
Posted to NAU at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)
Virginia: you can't trust Tim Kaine
If you want a clear example, take a close look at this small PDF file. It looks like a GOP mailing, no? It's got the GOP elephant, it says it's "An important message for Virginia Republicans", and down there at the end it's got this:
For more information on the Virginia Club for Growth and the Virginia Club for Growth PAC, you can check out the website at www.virginiaclubforgrowth.org. Written requests for information may be mailed to Virginia Club for Growth, Inc., 12350 Jefferson Ave., #130, Newport News, VA 23602. To join the Virginia Club for Growth, you may log on the Internet at www.virginiaclubforgrowth.org/join_vcg_form.htm.The text on this page of this mailing was originally approved and distributed as a press relaease by the Virginia Club for Growth on October 10, 2005.
Just one problem: scroll up to the picture of Jerry Kilgore and to its right you'll see this:
This mailing was authorized and paid for by Kaine for Governor.
From this:
"This sleazy and misleading mailing is a prime example of what we can expect under a Kaine administration." [Phil Rodokanakis, the President of the VA Club for Growth] said. "It goes to show that Tim Kaine cannot be trusted to run an honest campaign and he certainly cannot be trusted on the issue of taxes."
Now, the Kaine campaign has been sanctioned by the VA State Board of Elections over this deceptive flyer. They've only been fined the maximum allowed, just $100. But, the matter has been referred for possible prosecution as a crime.
Posted to Politics at 11:16 AM | Comments (1)
Boston Globe does hit piece on Kerry Healey
The Globe continues their sleaze with "Healey tuition remarks draw outrage". See "Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly supports illegal immigration (Massachusetts)" for the backstory. As the last link says, Reilly wants to take discounted college educations away from citizens and give them to illegal aliens. And, he called in to a WRKO radio show on which Healey was appearing. Reports indicate that it made Reilly look like a fool, and now the Globe has stepped in to try to save his bacon.
On the radio, she said "Let them go to private schools if they want to". Why should citizens and legal immigrants support illegal aliens, and give them more than they get?
What is the Globe's malfunction? Why would they subtitle the report "She takes a swipe at undocumented"? Why would they concentrate on this angle of the story and quote far-left, pro-illegal immigration groups, rather than concentrating on the fact that the AG of their state wants to ignore laws he doesn't like? Why don't they concentrate on the citizens and legal immigrants who would be harmed by this bill?
Please write to ombud *at* globe.com and let them know what you think.
Previously: "Boston Globe's Yvonne Abraham makes fun of Minuteman Project"
Posted to Immigration2005b at 09:40 AM | Comments (0)
Michael Moore owned Halliburton stock
Ah, "liberal" hypocrisy.
A new book reports on the extensive stock holdings of "liberal" favorite Michael Moore. Here are just some of the companies a trust he controls has owned stock in:
Pfizer, Merck, Genzyme, Elan PLC, Eli Lilly, Becton Dickinson, Boston Scientific, Sunoco, Noble Energy, Schlumberger, Williams Companies, Transocean Sedco Forex, Anadarko, Ford, General Electric, AOL Time Warner, Honeywell, Boeing Loral
He also owned stock in McDonald's. No surprise there.
And, of course, he also owned part of Halliburton, and he even made a 15% profit on that holding.
All these facts and much more are revealed in the Amazon best-seller "Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy" from Hoover Fellow Peter Schweizer.
It has more on Moore, Al Franken, Barbra Streisand, and other limo libs, so buy your copy today for the complete story on our favorite entertainers and politicians.
Posted to ThePeaceMovement at 07:05 AM | Comments (23)
CSM: "Deep roots of Paris riots"
The CSM promises to get to the root of the matter, but instead let's look at the only people they interviewed:..."Frankly I am not surprised by what is happening," says Dounia Bouzar, an expert on French-born Muslims who has worked in the mostly black and North African districts on the outskirts of Paris. "Given the way these kids live, I wonder why it doesn't happen more often."I think it's safe to say all those people are "liberals". And, the article doesn't go into the real root of the problem: massive immigration.
..."Working class suburbs have become ethnic ghettos," says Marc Cheb Sun, who edits "Respect," a magazine aimed mostly at young black and North African readers. "That is the origin of the problem."
...Jean-Francois Amadieu, a university professor who founded the "Discrimination Observatory" [conducted a study showing discrimination against suburb-dwellers/North Africans]
...Michele Lereste, who runs the "Green Light" social-work agency in Villetaneuse, just North of Paris, where the projects are almost entirely inhabited by immigrant-descended families, [complains that] government funding cuts have closed a number of job-training institutes, "and we are finding it harder and harder to get employers to take apprentices from our district."
...Taïb Ben Thabet, who has been a social worker in the projects north of Paris for 35 years...
If France had not imported these immigrants they wouldn't have this problem now. If there were fewer, there would be less of a problem. If there were more, there would be more of a problem. Obviously, they need to stop the flow and perhaps even quietly, safely try to get as many as possible to go home. I'm sure that a fair percentage of those who live in the suburbs are illegal immigrants, so they may not have a right to be there in the first place.
They need to make sure that those who remain assimilate, and they also need to change their system to accomodate them. But, when doing that they need to fight against the "liberal" impulses of people like the social workers above.
And, once again, none of this would be necessary if they hadn't embarked on this foolish course in the first place. Don't invite people to live in your country unless you're absolutely sure that they're going to play by your country's rules.
Posted to Immigration_euro at 03:32 AM | Comments (3)
Worksite arrest of illegal aliens plummeted under Bush
This article contains a chart of the number of worksite arrests of illegal aliens per year:
1997: 17,554 1999: 2,849 2000: 953 2001: 735 2003: 445 2004: 159
And, here's the letters sent out warning of a fine over violations for hiring illegal aliens:
1997: 865 1999: 417 2000: 178 2001: 100 2003: 162 2004: 3
Now, president Bush says we need to reform our immigration laws? Should anyone trust anything they say?
Posted to Immigration2005b at 07:59 PM | Comments (3)
Virginia Postrel: "Yes, Immigration May Lift Wages"
The former editor of the lunatic libertarian magazine Reason is positively frothing at the mouth as she announces a new study by two economists.
The study is "Rethinking the Gains From Immigration: Theory and Evidence From the U.S.", and it's available here. Since it soon gets into mathematical formulas and the like, I'm going to leave it to other academics to dispute its findings. However, I couldn't find anything in there making any kind of a distinction between legal and illegal immigration, or indicating what exactly they meant by immigration. The fact that they would not do that leads me to question the study.
From the article:
Immigrant engineers, for instance, may create demand for native-born patent lawyers and marketing executives.
It might also throw native-born engineers out of work. Or, they might start new companies and hire more native-born engineers. Or, those new hires might be immigrants from the same country. And, all of that might have an impact on the desirability of engineering as a career. And, if engineering is not as desirable, schooling for engineers will be cut back, leading to us having to import more foreign engineers, leading to us becoming dependent on them, leading to us losing our competitive edge. Oops! I guess we can't just look at things as a matter of dollars and cents, but instead we need to look at the whole, big picture.
And, of course, increased immigration increases the influence in our internal politics of the sending countries. But, oddly enough, you never hear lunatic libertarians discussing vital issues like that.
The lesson there is simple: libertarians really have no qualifications making policy because they just don't know what they're doing.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 11:47 AM | Comments (9)
"Secure Border Initiative": Should anyone trust what Bush or Chertoff say?
From this DHS press release on the new "Secure Border Initiative":
Since the events of 9/11, President Bush has placed ever-increasing importance on immigration control, including border security, and has devoted significant resources to the stark challenge of illegal migration.
Obviously, that's only even slightly true in some strange, KoolAid-besotten alternative universe. Isn't the Bush administration simply lying? What next will they tell us, that shoelace production was up 34% last quarter and that Eurasia is on the ropes?
It goes on:
DHS will strengthen interior enforcement efforts to target those who enter illegally by unequivocally enforcing our laws and making sure that removal is achieved. Strong worksite enforcement is key to effective interior enforcement. DHS must be able to ensure that employees are in our country legally and are properly authorized to work.
The fact sheet for this initiative (dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=4922) gives us the not-entirely-unexpected details:
DHS will implement an employer self-compliance program that will link government and business in a united effort to reduce the employment of unauthorized aliens in specific industries. The partnership will assemble a "best practices" methodology that employers will use to minimize certain known vulnerabilities in the legally required employment eligibility verification process. The employers will assist DHS by using their corporate and industry leadership to influence competitors, vendors, and contractors to adopt the best practices methods to ensure all businesses dealing with participating corporations are in compliance with legal hiring requirements.
Perhaps we should try that same "self-compliance" approach with, say, dumping dioxins into the Mississippi River. After all, if you can't trust corporations who stand to make millions off illegal immigration, who can you trust?
Most politicians shade the truth and spin like whirling dervishes. But, it takes a group like the Bush administration to look you straight in the eye and tell you the sky is green.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 08:45 AM | Comments (3)
"Wapner ads give Arnie a whupping"
The New York Daily News continues to show just how special a newspaper they are with this. While there's certainly the possibility that it was those specific lies that are (supposedly) causing support for Arnold's propositions to drop, there's also the possibility that it's all the other lies combined, together with Arnie's campaign's incompetence in not pointing out that those ads were lying. (I'd say "post hoc ergo propter hoc" here, but the NYDN wouldn't understand it.)
Arnold's campaign needs to come out swinging and counteract the lies. But, they've only got a couple days left to - finally - set the record straight. Whoever's running his campaign should have been sent to Juneau to run dog catchers' races by now.
Posted to California at 05:09 AM | Comments (0)
Xinhua: "Protests against Bush held across US"
The (mainland) China newssource Xinhua reports on protests held by an organization called "World Can't Wait". In Los Angeles alone, they say that more than 800 high school students walked out of classes. If you've been following along with the "peace" movement, but you've never heard of WCW before, you're probably thinking, "what's their story? Which extremist group are they affiliated with". Your answer in a moment. First the play-by-play:...They used the anniversary of Bush's re-election to express their discontent with his policies including the war in Iraq and response to Hurricane Katrina and call for his resignation...Choosing Xinhua as the source of this news was intentional, as the group behind WCW is the... Revolutionary Communist Party. Not just the regular, cuddly variety of Commies, but the revolutionary kind. Details here: redstate.org/story/2005/11/2/213446/725.
Hundreds of high school students in New York City on Wednesday staged a walkout in Union Square, midtown Manhattan, as part of a national day of resistance against the policy of the Bush administration...
Protests were also held in other major US cities. In Chicago, some 500 people attended a downtown rally as a few protesters waved Iraqi flags and vandalized American flags...
Posted to ThePeaceMovement at 01:02 AM | Comments (1)
Florida to mandate bilingualism
From Bill Mandates Youngsters Learn Spanish: From The Tampa Tribune:All Florida students in kindergarten through second grade would get mandatory Spanish lessons starting in 2007 under a new bill filed by state Sen. Les Miller, D-Tampa.The article does not provide a quote from anyone expressing doubts about the concept. Let's put the Tampa Tribune on the list of papers with little credibility.
"More and more of our young people need to learn a second language," said Miller, the Senate minority leader. "We just thought that this was a good start for these young people."
Some people like the idea but wonder about its practicality...
Posted to Immigration_piipps at 07:15 PM | Comments (4)
Les banlieux brule depuis six jours
Mon dieu! La France a decouvert les "wonders" de l'immigracion massive:Unrest spread across troubled suburbs around Paris in a sixth night of violence Tuesday as police clashed with angry youths and scores of vehicles were torched in at least nine towns, local officials said.Aussi voir: "Almost 2m living in France's angry ghettos". Attendez ici si il vous plait: un apologist vient bientot.
Police in riot gear fired rubber bullets at advancing gangs of youths in Aulnay-sous-Bois _ one of the worst-hit suburbs _ where 15 cars were burned, said the prefecture that runs the Seine-Saint-Denis region. Youths lobbed Molotov cocktails at an annex to the town hall and threw stones at the firehouse...
...The area, home mainly to families of immigrant origin, often from Muslim North Africa, is marked by soaring unemployment and delinquency. Anger and despair thrive in the tall cinder-block towers and long "bars" that typically make up housing projects in France...
Posted to Immigration_euro at 03:16 PM | Comments (5)
Janet Napolitano still coming around
Slowly and haltingly, Arizona governor Janet Napolitano is slightly somewhat partially to a certain extent opposing massive illegal immigration into her state. The latest: "Governor orders state contractors to ensure hirings are legal".The governor recently ordered state contractors to guarantee their employees aren't illegal immigrants and to let state agencies inspect employment eligibility records for those workers to see whether the rule is being followed...Previously: "Rich Lowry, illegal immigration, and president Bush", "U.S. AG disagrees with AZ Gov. Napolitano on Voter I.D. at Polls", "Feds try to stiff Arizona; Arizona sends Feds bill", and "[AZ Gov. Janet Napolitano] critical of Mexican manual".
While the governor's order laid out requirements for state contractors, [spokeswoman Jeanine L'Ecuyer] said Napolitano has taken no position on whether the state should follow the federal government in establishing punishments for employers who hire illegal workers...
Employer sanction proposals have failed at the Legislature over the last two years after they faced opposition from the business lobby...
...Republican state Sen. Dean Martin of Phoenix said the Democratic governor is trying to make her immigration record look stronger. "This is her weak area," Martin said.
Even though she signed a law creating the state crime of migrant smuggling, Napolitano vetoed a few immigration proposals earlier this year, saying they wouldn't lessen Arizona's immigration problems. Napolitano also has declared a state of emergency in the state's four border counties, freeing up money to help authorities confront illegal crossings...
Posted to Immigration2005b at 01:07 PM | Comments (1)
Perky Little Katie Kommunist too conservative for MediaMatters
MediaMatters for America has set its "always"-accurate eye on perky Katie:
On the October 31 edition of NBC's Today, co-host Katie Couric baselessly suggested that newly named Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. is "a strict constructionist" who "will interpret the Constitution literally." Couric's comment marked at least the second time that she has parroted rhetoric conservatives use to promote President Bush's judicial nominees...
Just for yucks, let's try to figure out what's going on here:
1. MMFA thinks Katie is a conservative or displays disturbing conservative traits...
2. MMFA is working to keep Katie on the reservation...
3. MMFA is trying to portray Alito as a "judicial activist" and is willing to use Perky Katie as their vehicle...
4. This is a diversionary tactic designed to deflect things like this.
Also see "What You Need to Know About Tenacious Katie" and "Perky Katie "hopeful" for Saddam's safety?"
Posted to Bloggage at 09:02 PM | Comments (0)
"In-State Tuition Benefits for Illegals Stir Controversy"
From this:Brigette Brennan feels pretty well educated after more than four years at the University of Kansas - but there's something she can't understand.The article goes on with more information on the legal aspects, including the Washington Legal Foundation's attempts to get the DHS to follow the law.
She doesn't understand why Kansas won't grant her the same in-state tuition status that it happily bestows on illegal immigrants.
In other words, why is she - a U.S. citizen, a Kansas high school graduate and a four-year resident of Kansas - paying more for her college education than those who aren't legally supposed to be in the U.S. in the first place?
Surprisingly, Brennan's experience is fairly common. Indeed, state colleges and universities in nine states openly provide in-state college tuition benefits to illegals that they do not offer to U.S. residents. Defenders of U.S. students' rights to receive equal tuition rates in their own country say such policies are flatly illegal...
See also: "Kobach gets support in fight for Citizens Rights".
Posted to Immigration2005b at 04:09 PM | Comments (3)
Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly supports illegal immigration (Massachusetts)
The AG of Massachusetts, Thomas Reilly, supports illegal aliens taking discounted college educations away from citizens and legal immigrants. Details in "Reilly backs immigrant tuition bill".His argument for this - and his candidacy - appear to be based solely around emotionalism. He intends to sell himself as a Blue Collar Hero and the Son of Immigrants, contrasting that with the more silver-spooned upbringing of Governor Mitt Romney.
However, things might not be going as planned:
- The Lt. Governor, Kerry Healey, excoriated AG Reilly during an impromptu debate on Boston's talk station WRKO. Reilly was reduced to calling her "mean-spirited."
- Was that the strangest interview you have ever heard? What was his reason for supporting this unlawfull activity? So not to be unfair to kids? He made no sense at all. I hope he runs for Gov. on this platform. I think Kerry did a nice job. I think she should have asked for his resignation.
- She was exceptional. The voice of logic and reason in the face of idiocy. Did you notice that Reilly wouldn't even respond to anything Healey or the host said? He better hone his listening skills because the legal voters in this state are going to show him the door during the 2006 election.
- It really was odd. He's catering to a constituency who can't even vote for him. What about the rest of us? The legal taxpaying residents of this state? He couldn't offer one substantial point beyond our "lack of compassion." I'm for the rule of LAW, not the rule of emotion...and here Reilly is, threatening to ignore it.
Posted to Immigration2005b at 01:14 PM | Comments (1)
Could Vermont secede from the United States?
The Boston Globe reports on the Vermont Independence Convention, which was attended by 100 Vermonters, most of them intent on seceding from this very country. From one of the supporters:
"Vermont still provides a communitarian alternative to the dehumanized mass production, mass consumption, narcissistic lifestyle which pervades most of the United States."
Etc. etc. Needless to say, the DUmmies support this plan.
Obviously, there's little popular support for this. That contrasts with the situation in the Southwest U.S. where demographics, foreign meddling, and "multiculturalism" will make some form of secession highly likely decades from now.
Those in Vermont are just wacky loons. Those who hasten the situation in the Southwest should be considered something else entirely.
Posted to Politics at 05:40 AM | Comments (0)
The girl at Carl's Jr. really, really, really likes me
Once, after a looong hike - from 7am or so until 7pm or so and involving a little postholing near the top of Condor Peak, a fair portion of the trip being due to team members even slower than me and resulting in waiting around in the gloom - I swear I gave the gal at Der Wienerschnitzel in La Crescenta a ten or so and I got back fifteen in change or something like that. I didn't notice it at the time, but I ended up coming back with more money than when I left. Honest Abe that I am, I went back there or something but they didn't know anything about it and I wasn't about to shove money on someone who wasn't docked for it.
And, would you know it, I hit the jackpot... again! I recently went to a Carl's Jr. and ordered six 50 cent tacos and a 99 cent burger. In other words, lots and lots of possibly BSE- and/or offal-stuffed ground beef for just over $4.
I was given a large, heavy bag back, but I didn't bother looking in it. I assumed they put the tacos in a big styrofoam box. I was a bit curious about the french fries smell emanating from the mystery bag, but I thought it might be the tacos.
Boy was I surprised when I found out I'd scored the following:
- two large boxes of chicken strips
- a double-decker burger
- no less than three orders of extra-large fries
I guess that's at least $12 worth of fat-soaked junk, if not a few dollars more. I called and the lady who'd given me the giant mystery bag had left for the day and the one I spoke to didn't know anything about this. I would have thought it would have been the talk of the joint.
Of course, none of this makes up for the mistakes other fast food outfits have made, and yes I'm keeping score.
Posted to WackyHumor at 03:30 AM | Comments (0)
