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Schwarzenegger health plan: might be open to illegal aliens

Arnold Schwarzenegger - California's Bush-resembling, Mexico-pandering, Rove/Kennedy/Mexico-linked governor - wants some sort of universal health care for California. He hasn't released the details yet, but the plan might include illegal aliens and some pro-American California Republicans are objecting:

"California is not responsible for paying for the medical care of the undocumented -- people who are here illegally, period," said Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks (Sacramento County). "We are not the health maintenance organization for Mexico."

...But the governor said Sunday on a national TV news program that his goal was to extend coverage to all 6.7 million Californians who are without health insurance -- a figure that includes an estimated 1.6 million undocumented immigrants, according to figures from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

A spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger would not comment Wednesday directly on the warnings from GOP lawmakers. But Kim Belshe, the governor's secretary of Health and Human Services, said in a statement that debate over health care reform needs to include undocumented immigrants.

"Uncompensated costs imposed by the medically indigent, including undocumented residents, place significant burdens on the state's health care system, particularly emergency rooms," she said. "Any debate about California's health care system demands examination of the impact of this population."

..."I don't believe there would be any support for [illegal aliens getting the benefits]," said Assemblyman Mike Villines, R-Clovis (Fresno County), the newly elected minority leader. "The health care debate -- and it will be a debate -- will be about what should be done for the legal citizens of California."

Posted to at 11:10 PM | Comments (5)

Heroic Michael Dukakis wins three year battle for justice

Stalwart former presidential contender Michael Dukakis has finally won a historic, three year battle for justice. Due to his heroic actions, meter maids in Los Angeles' Westwood Village (home to UCLA) will soon begin ticketing cars that engage in "apron parking", i.e., parking on sidewalks, driveways, and the like. There are 857 street-side parking spaces in his section of the neighborhood, but 5,700 cars. "Duke"'s argument is that these parking practices make it difficult for the disabled and are otherwise dangerous.

This site offers its congratulations, and - while it generally dislikes Westwood and other parts of the "Westside" - hopes that Dukakis will spread his wise public policy decisions to other cities, toute de suite-like.

Posted to Politics at 04:28 PM | Comments (1)

Miami: Third World Country, Capital of the Americas

As discussed, Rep. Tom Tancredo called Miami a "third world country", setting off a firestorm of (largely manufactured) outrage, including a missive from Our Leader's brother, Jeb Bush.

"What a nut," Bush told reporters [Wednesday]. "I'm just disappointed. He's from my own my party. He's a Republican. He doesn't represent my views."

...In his letter to Bush, Tancredo states that Miami-Dade School District's graduation rate is 45 percent, that the English language is falling out of usage in the city, and that "fewer and fewer Miamians think of themselves as Americans." He cites a November Time Magazine story that describes Miami as "a corrupt, exorbitant mess." ["There's Trouble--Lots Of It--in Paradise", link]

Bush on Tuesday called Tancredo's statement about Miami "naive." Tancredo swung back today.

"It is neither naïve nor insulting to call attention to a real problem that cannot be easily dismissed through politically correct happy talk," Tancredo wrote to Bush...

Once again, I've thankfully never been there, but in addition to the Time link above, apparently the county used to have to clean santeria-related dead chickens off the courthouse steps, which were sacrifices for those who were going through the justice system (also here and here).

More Tancredo-related info on Miami here. At least two people - who, frankly, might be travel agents or similar - call Miami third world here.

In 1998, Joan Didion wrote a book called "Miami"; from the description: "As Didion follows Miami's drift into a Third World capital..."

In 1993, Time offered "Miami: the Capital of Latin America". From even earlier back comes this scary flashback.

And, in 1998, the Washington Times' Insight Magazine offered "A Miami vision of our future?"

Miami, a microcosm of cultural diversity, is plagued by corruption, racism, poverty and drugs. The city's problems may be a precursor of tumult in a multicultural America.

According to Travel and Leisure magazine it is "the most unfriendly city in America." Fodor's International says it's the country's "most unsafe" destination. And George dubbed it the "most corrupt city in America." Judging from these and other "Wish you weren't here!" postcards, America's long honeymoon with Miami seems to be over, a casualty of the city's serial political scandals, a history of corruption in high places, rampant crime and a chilling climate of alienation and violence...

Posted to Politics at 05:10 AM | Comments (7)

Pakistani illegal alien accused of trying to help Taliban

Via this comes this:

One of two Houston men accused of training to fight with the Taliban pleaded guilty this afternoon in federal court.

Kobie Diallo Williams, 33, a U.S. citizen who was a student at the University of Houston Downtown, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist a terrorist group. His help included withdrawing cash from an ATM to send to the Middle East.

Another man, Adnan Babar Mirza, 29, a Pakistani national who was in the country on an expired student visa, faces similar conspiracy charges as well as three federal weapons violations. Mirza appeared today before a U.S. magistrate judge.

Mirza became illegal when his visa expired. Someone holding a student visa or in the country illegally is not allowed to have firearms...

Posted to Immigration_terror at 11:38 PM | Comments (1)

Arizona Sen. Karen Johnson opposes NAU

Arizona Sen. Karen Johnson (R-Mesa) has come out against the NAU, Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services reports.

She seems to have a good understanding of the issues involved:

Johnson, who will head the Senate Education Committee this coming session, said the signs already are there, from an "inland port" in Kansas City and construction of a superhighway corridor through Texas to the lack of any real action in building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico... "It's all because it's going to be open," Johnson told Capitol Media Services. "It's all going to be a 'North American community,' just like the European Union," complete with the creation of a single currency just like the Euro... ...Johnson said she wants congressional hearings on the process. And she said if federal lawmakers determine that Bush is undermining national sovereignty that would be an impeachable offense...

Unfortunately, Fischer attempts to verify her claims with this:

White House press aide Alex Conant said Johnson has no reason for concern... "This cooperative effort aims to make the U.S., Canada and Mexico more open to fair trade and less open to terrorism and crime," he said...

While Fischer does mention Schlafly's articles (without providing a link), he then closes with this:

In 2000 Johnson introduced a resolution calling for abolition of the federal government and allowing individual states to reassume their sovereign rights if the president, Congress or any other federal agent were to declare martial law and suspend the Constitution. These states then would be free to form a new nation.

That doesn't sound too outrageous to me, but I can understand how some might attempt to weave that into general attempts to portray those opposed to the NAU as tinfoil hatters or Birchers; see the comments attached to the article for examples of such attempts.

Posted to NAU at 08:32 PM | Comments (2)

Nancy Pelosi unions/vineyards smear debunked!

How do you know when ABC's San Francisco affiliate does an "investigative report"? When Nancy Pelosi is being attacked, of course. That station offers a report "debunking" claims that the workers at her vineyards and at a resort that she co-owns are not members of unions.

However, since that report is being crowed about by Think Progress, you know there's got to be something wrong with it. Namely, the claim that the workforce is non-union has not been debunked. All the report says is that her workers are supposedly paid a higher wage than those who are union. And, the only evidence for that comes from a local pastor. And, supposedly Pelosi is prohibited by law from asking her workers to join a union.

The "investigative report" doesn't attempt to ask whether Nanci is employing illegal aliens on her vineyards, or whether they're employed at the resort.

And, there's also the slight possibility that Nancy Pelosi is receiving an inflated price for her grapes (for one reason or another). She's only required to file a range of income for the vineyards, and that leads a lot of room for her to get a really premium price. Maybe ABC should look into that. Oops, that's not the kind of "investigative reports" they do.

Posted to Politics at 04:24 PM | Comments (2)

Pro-Farmers Branch editorial

Farmers Branch, Texas is one of those cities that passed Hazleton-style ordinances to try to reduce illegal aliens moving to the town. Now, in a rare move of sanity, the Dallas Morning News has published a column from radio host Mark Davis support that city and City Council member Tim O'Hare:

...[Passing the ordinance] had two effects. Among those who are passionate about strong laws and effective borders, Mr. O'Hare became an instant hero. To those opposed, he became a gringo devil, a ripe target for some of the most reckless slander in recent North Texas political history.

...But the most prevalent and baseless scorn was heaped by officials and individuals acting in accord with the League of United Latin American Citizens and other Hispanic advocacy groups. From Domingo Garcia to Jesse Diaz and beyond, Mr. O'Hare and his supporters were demonized as racist, an absurd claim that overlooks the fact that this is a matter of behavior and not ethnicity.

They were branded as un-American, the first time I can recall a devotion to law being characterized as unpatriotic.

Most comically, they were called un-Christian, as if we are called on by Jesus to practice a bizarre brand of compassion that involves blindness to just laws.

Mr. O'Hare would deserve praise for his actions alone. But throw in the bitter, racist hatred he and his family have tasted since standing up for U.S. law, and it becomes the stuff of outright heroism...

Posted to Immigration at 03:40 PM | Comments (1)

Mexican political parties involved in Chicago illegal immigration marches

The article "Irked Mexicans open alternate consulate" about supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ("AMLO") from Mexico's PRD Party opening a symbolic alternate consulate in Chicago buries the news that Mexican political parties were involved in the Chicago marches in support of illegal immigration.

The article mentions that one of those involved in opening the alternate consulate is Martin Unzueta, president of the Illinois chapter of the PRD party. On the other side is Salvador Pedroza, president of the Illinois chapter the PAN party. He's also president of the Little Village Chamber of Commerce. Then:

Both were key organizers of the massive immigrant marches in Chicago earlier this year. The march's executive committee included members of Mexico's three main political parties.

In other words, representatives of foreign political parties helped encourage foreign citizens to march in our streets, making a show of force and demanding rights to which they are not entitled. More on this foreign meddling here.

Anyone who supported those marches also supports foreign forces attempting to meddle in internal U.S. politics.

Posted to Immigration at 01:08 PM | Comments (3)

James Poniewozik: Ugly Americans want to deport Ugly Betty!

James Poniewozik is Time's TV critic, and he offers a ludicrous slab of pro-illegal immigration propaganda in "Ugly, the American". It's about the 'Ugly Betty' TV show:

...Smart and sweet-hearted, she embodies the Puritan-Shaker-Quaker principle of valuing inner good over outer appearance. She's as Norman Rockwell as a chestnut-stuffed turkey. The actress who plays her is even named America Ferrera.

Well, that cinches it. Anyone who's named "America" must be an "American", even if the name is meant to represent the hemisphere and not the U.S.

And yet--if you listen to some politicians and pundits--she should have been booted out of the country years ago. Betty's father is an illegal immigrant from Mexico. To hear Lou Dobbs and Pat Buchanan tell it, our fellow citizens are boiling with resentment against people like Betty. Taking our kids' spots in college! Helping themselves to our orthodontia! Stealing low-paid magazine jobs that rightfully belong to American trust-fund babies!

Does such elitist condescension play among those who read TV reviews? I don't know her character's immigration status, but there's the possibility that she's a citizen, and thus his complaints about Dobbs and Buchanan are simply smears. And, of course, he appears to be unaware of the issues of anchor babies, as well as the problems with the anti-American DREAM Act, as well as problems with illegal aliens driving down wages for low-wage U.S. citizens. These are all issues that a lightweight propagandist such as Poniewozik is unable to understand and analyze.

And, he doesn't discuss the meta of the show, such as the involvement of Selma Hayek, someone who's previously expressed pro-illegal immigration views. While the show is almost certainly for the most part an attempt to make money, it's also certainly at least partly a propaganda vehicle, much like Poniewozik's column.

Posted to Immigration_piipps at 12:38 PM | Comments (5)

Jeb Bush writes letter re: Tancredo's Miami remark

Our Leader's brother Jeb Bush has written a letter (PDF) to Rep. Tom Tancredo regarding the latter's recent comments that Miami is like a third-world city.

First, I've (thankfully) never been to Miami, but I have heard others portray it as a "capital of the Americas", as in South America. A little research would probably reveal many sources saying similar things without complaint from the PC Police.

While Tancredo's statements could have been much more precise, I have little doubt that parts of Miami are reminiscent of San Marcos. And, I can attest that large swaths of Los Angeles are similar to foreign countries, with some of them being run like it. And, I vaguely recall a 60 Minutes segment that portrayed Miami - or at least their mayor or city council - as being ripped out of the third world (that's not the more recent Hiassen piece, and if anyone knows the episode I'm thinking of, please leave the details).

Second, the Letter From Jeb is a real letter, and not just another "late-night e-mail exchange".

Third, you know those direct mail solicitations that have a long letter with the pitch, and then they also have a "hand-written" note on a separate, smaller piece of paper for those who didn't buy the letter? Well, if you look at the PDF file, you'll see that Jeb - perhaps intentionally - used that same trick, adding a hand-written note at the end of the letter.

Fourth, El Lider's brother's letter could have been written by a Democrat who doesn't like Republicans, and it gives power to the Democrats rather than helping the Republicans. And, Jeb tries to "Hispanicize" the issue, whereas as far as I know Tancredo did not specifically mention one specific group. Jeb's only tangible evidence in opposition to the apparent Tancredo claim of "ethnic enclaves devoid of English" is to provide three irrelevant examples:

Miami Coral Park Senior High School has the largest number of Hispanic students in the nation scoring a 3 or higher in the AP Calculus AB and AP Psychology. Miami Palmetto Senior High School has the most Hispanic students across the country scoring a 3 or higher in AP Chemistry and Miami Sunset Senior High School sets the national record for Hispanic students scoring a 3 or higher in AP Macroeconomics.

You can certainly tell a lot of fibs using statistics, and those aren't even plausible fibs. Do those figures remain the same when translated into percentages rather than numbers of students? How do those students stack up against non-Hispanics in the same school? How do all the Hispanic students in Miami stack up against all the non-Hispanics? How do they stack up when compared to non-Hispanics in other cities? And so on and on.

He finishes his letter with this:

If there is a lesson to be learned from this, perhaps your naive comments serve as a good reminder for everyone to lessen the anger, frustration and emotion surrounding the issue of immigration. Overheated rhetoric won't solve this issue. We need a comprehensive solution that will require cooler heads to prevail.

This technique is similar to that discussed here, as those who use lies and emotionalism to push massive immigration accuse those on the right side of engaging in those practices. In this inversion, those who support our laws are hotheads; those corrupt anti-American politicians who try to work around our laws are the only ones who are rational. And, of course, "comprehensive" is a codeword for a massive amnesty for illegal aliens.

Tancredo has responded:

''America, because of the many places, cultures, races, and religious origins of our citizenry, depends on a few things to hold us together. One is the English language,'' Tancredo said in an e-mail addressed to Bush. ``That is something that fewer and fewer Miamians share. Unfortunately fewer and fewer Miamians think of themselves as Americans.''

Bush's eight years in office come to a close in January, and he has said little about his future, but has not masked a desire to move back to the Miami area from Tallahassee. His Mexican-born wife, Columba, is said to favor Miami and Bush himself took heat when he first went to Tallahassee in 1999 and complained about the lack of Starbucks coffee shops there.

Bush launched a real estate venture in Miami and co-founded the first charter school in the state in Miami's Liberty City...

...But Tancredo suggested he had ``simply said something most people (even in Florida if our calls and e-mails are a measurement of sentiment) believe is true.

''We, as elected officials, should encourage the discussion of this issue rather than castigate those who attempt to bring it to light,'' Tancredo wrote.

Posted to Politics at 05:30 AM | Comments (5)

Tookie Williams... the stage play!

On December 12, a group of actors and activists will be reenacting the events leading up to the execution of gang co-founder Tookie Williams. The stage play will be performed in Berkeley, California, and a troupe of actors will reenact the fateful 1979 evening during which he shotgunned four innocent victims to death, terrorizing South Central L.A. and later resulting in his lengthy imprisonment.

Just kidding.

Actually:

The Black Repertory Group will re-enact the execution of Crips co-founder and murderer Stanley Tookie Williams to mark the one-year anniversary of the former gang leader's death by lethal injection.

Williams' longtime friend and co-author Barbara Becnel and Shirley Neal, a vice president at The Africa Channel, are co-producing the Dec. 12 event to show what they witnessed as "dramatic and horrific."

"This is what the state of California is doing in the name of its people," Becnel told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "We were there. We saw it. Now we want the public to see what we saw."

Posted to MultiCultiCult at 07:45 PM | Comments (2)

"Hispanic vote" voted for something for some reason (or other)

Elizabeth Aguilera of the Denver Post offers "Dems won over Latino voters, study says":

Latino voters leaned heavily Democratic in the recent midterm elections, indicating the heated debate over immigration reform may have cost Republicans support in some key races, an analysis released Monday indicates...

...Some, however, questioned whether the study exaggerated the impact of immigration on the Democrats' wins Nov. 7...

Michelle Mittelstadt of the Houston Chronicle offers the similar "Immigration alone didn't sway Hispanics from GOP":

Exit polls suggest Latino voters deserted the Republican candidates at nearly twice the rate of non-Hispanic whites during this month's congressional elections, the Pew Hispanic Center said on Monday.

But the conventional wisdom that Hispanics were turned off by the party's hard line on illegal immigration — and would deliver on the "Today we march, tomorrow we vote" cry from the spring's protest marches — was not the decisive factor, some experts said...

The bottom line is that no one knows for certain, and it boils down to which illegal immigration-supporting hack you choose to believe.

Posted to Immigration at 01:57 PM | Comments (1)

NAU openly promoted on CNBC

While Steve Previs of Jefferies International - where he's apparently a senior vice president - has been quoted in a few articles, he doesn't appear to be someone with much influence. So, this report is only interesting for the fact that this topic - which NAU apologists still try to deny - can be discussed so openly and as if it's a foregone conclusion:

In an interview with CNBC, a vice president for a prominent London investment firm yesterday urged a move away from the dollar to the "amero," a coming North American currency, he said, that "will have a big impact on everybody's life, in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico."

Steve Previs, a vice president at Jefferies International Ltd., explained the Amero "is the proposed new currency for the North American Community which is being developed right now between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico."

The aim, he said, according to a transcript provided by CNBC to WND, is to make a "borderless community, much like the European Union, with the U.S. dollar, the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso being replaced by the amero."

Previs told the television audience many Canadians are "upset" about the amero. Most Americans outside of Texas largely are unaware of the amero or the plans to integrate North America, Previs observed, claiming many are just "putting their head in the sand" over the plans.

Posted to NAU at 10:48 AM | Comments (2)

Joe Biden speaks mostly truth about Mexico, immigration

For forgotten reasons, this site isn't exactly a cheerleader for Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), but his latest statements seem to go a bit beyond the usual "pretend to talk kinda tough but actually promise nothing" blather:

"Mexico is a country that is an erstwhile democracy where they have the greatest disparity of wealth," Biden said. "It is one of the wealthiest countries in the hemisphere and because of a corrupt system that exists in Mexico, there is the 1 percent of the population at the top, a very small middle class and the rest is abject poverty."

Unless the political dynamics change in Mexico and U.S. employers who hire illegal immigrants are punished, illegal immigration won't stop. "All the rest is window dressing," he said.

An even bigger problem are illegal drugs "coming up through corrupt Mexico," he said. "People are driving across that border with tons, tons — hear me — tons of everything from byproducts for methamphetamines, to cocaine, to heroine [sic]."

Whatever Biden's other issues, at the very least, you will never, ever, ever, hear such truthful statements come from the Mund of California's Rove/Kennedy/Mexico-linked governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Of course, the bigger test for Biden will come after Mexico partisans such as MALDEF and the NCLR have had the chance to write their press releases. Will he fold, or will he give them the (rhetorical) finger? Let's wait and find out. UPDATE: Video here.

Posted to Immigration at 05:03 AM | Comments (2)

Paul Campos/University of Colorado: law professor, hack

Paul Campos is a University of Colorado law professor who offers "The workers often press '2'". A prolific hack, he's been writing a weekly column for the RMN since 1999. He's also the author of - hold on to your Oprah - "The Obesity Myth: Why America's Obsession with Weight is Hazardous to Your Health".

He says that "anxiety about creeping bilingualism is quite reasonable", but then says, "resentment toward the increasing prominence of Spanish is a product of the kind of ugly nativist sentiment exploited by Tancredo and his ilk" and then engages in the Appeal to Tradition logical fallacy.

Then, he goes even further off the deep bend:

Yet the most significant fact to keep in mind about people who speak Spanish in the United States is this: such people are invariably performing useful labor. In fact, it isn't too much of an exaggeration to say that the odds a person does the kind of work that simply has to get done in order to keep civilization afloat go up in direct proportion to the probability that this person speaks Spanish.

Part of this has already been answered here, and I'll offer a bit more.

While having a third world peasant class does do wonders for the ol' lifestyle, there are huge downsides. Those include the strong possibility of making said peasantry angry and susceptible to demagogues, perhaps resulting in revolts and the like. (Campos should ask someone in the History department to explain that to him.)

It also leads to decadence, as an out-of-touch elite class becomes separated from day-to-day concerns. And, it leads to cheap labor supplanting innovation. Why invent, engineer, build, and market a chicken-plucking machine when you can just hire a bunch of serfs to do the same thing? We need a balance, and the current situation is quite a bit too reminiscent of past societies that relied on some form of forced labor. (Once again, consult someone in the History department.)

Posted to Immigration at 03:37 AM | Comments (3)

Sleazy Glenn Reynolds, John Podhoretz smear Pat Buchanan

Pat Buchanan offers "Is Putin Being Set Up?" about the recent apparent murder-by-plutonium of the former KGB spy, Alexander Litvinenko. He offers an explanation other than the most obvious: that the case was an attempt to discredit Putin, rather than attempts by Putin to silence his critics. Considering the trail of dead bodies, I tend to favor the most popular explanation, but anyway Buchanan names billionaire Boris Berezovsky and Litvinenko associate Alex Goldfarb as possible suspects.

Somehow - something perhaps related to the phase of the moon - John Podhoretz of National Review ("JPod") is smearing Buchanan as an anti-Semite because of his article, despite said article not having any conceivable evidence to support the charge:

...Putin, the former KGB strongman who appears to be re-totalitarianizing Russia, is being set up, you see. By Jews.

Minor league thinker (but fast typer) Glenn Reynolds ("Instapundit") joins in with the smear, offering just this link to JPod and someone else:

PUTIN: Set up by the Jews? Claudia Rosett has a different view.

Is there any reason why anyone takes Reynolds or Podhoretz seriously?

UPDATE: The claims made in "Polonium detected at Berezovsky's office" can be taken in many ways: they did it and were sloppy, it was planted by whoever did it, etc. Note also that it can be ordered over the internet, and one of those selling it is Bob Lazar of UFO/Area 51/Art Bell semi-fame.

Posted to Bloggage at 08:09 PM | Comments (2)

Boston Globe: Bush, Kennedy, Specter uniting on a massive illegal alien amnesty

That's what the article "Bush seeks unity on immigration" by Rick Klein says, but it offers little that isn't already known:

The White House is reaching out to leading congressional Democrats on the issue of overhauling immigration, hoping to build a bipartisan coalition to support a "guest worker" program and provide a path to legalized status for many undocumented immigrants, lawmakers and administration officials said.

President Bush has expressed an eagerness to work with Democrats on the issue in private meetings with lawmakers and in public statements, as he seeks to strike a new tone with Democrats who will be in control of Congress for the final two years of his presidency.

The president's interest in the issue is getting a warm reception from members of both parties in Congress, particularly in the Senate...

...Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat who is set to take the chairmanship of the subcommittee that oversees immigration issues, has already met with leading Republicans -- including Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the Judiciary Committee's top Republican -- to begin crafting a new bill early next year...

...Kennedy and the other lawmakers are planning a broader meeting this week of about 12 leading senators from both parties. They are hoping to have Congress vote on a final immigration bill by mid-2007, according to congressional aides.

Though no specific proposals have been floated, the bill passed this year by the Senate is a likely starting point, aides said...

After discussing the "12 million undocumented immigrants" here as well as "anti-immigration voices", Klein throws it over to Michele Waslin of the National Council of La Raza ("Latino civil-rights group") as well as Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition ("MIRA").

Then, it's off to canardville:

The election results also assuaged fears among both Democrats and Republicans that voters would punish lawmakers who support a bill giving undocumented immigrants a way to achieve legalized status... Exit polls indicated that the GOP appeared to pay a price in the elections for its emphasis on cracking down on illegal immigration.

And, one wonders if such support exists, then why do "[p]roponents of a comprehensive overhaul feel a sense of urgency"? Perhaps they know something Klein doesn't: no one except for hacks supports "reform". And, we're also informed that Harry Reid is holding Bush signing the border fence against him, something that he only did so in order to get the "reform" they both want.

Posted to Immigration at 02:01 PM | Comments (2)

Budget for George W. Bush's $500 million presidential library

Our Leader wants to raise $500 million to build his presidential library at Southern Methodist University:

The legacy-polishing centerpiece is an institute, which several Bush insiders called the Institute for Democracy. Patterned after Stanford University's Hoover Institution, Bush's institute will hire conservative scholars and "give them money to write papers and books favorable to the President's policies," one Bush insider said.

Here's the breakdown:

* $10 million: 10 million Mexican flags (made in China).

* $30 million: Grant to fund the Institute.

* $20 million: "Keep Them On The Reservation" fund to pay off those who staff the Institute and who suddenly realize that they can't endorse Bush's policies anymore to continue to endorse his policies.

* $20 million: Emergency "Keep Them On The Reservation" fund to do whatever - whatever - is necessary to make sure that those who staff the Institute and who suddenly realize that they can't endorse Bush's policies anymore to continue to endorse his policies.

* $10 million: One million copies of "The Mexicano Political Experience in Occupied Aztlan" by Armando Navarro.

* $5 million (per year): Salary for the President of the Institute, Vicente Fox.

* $150 million: No bid contract for Halliburton.

* $15 million: 5 million copies of "My Pet Goat".

* $100 million: Various kickbacks.

In case that doesn't add up to $500 million, the remainder will be reserved for kickbacks.

Posted to WackyHumor at 12:13 PM | Comments (5)

Stillmore: Crider Poultry employing homeless, felons instead of illegal aliens

In September, ICE raided the Crider Poultry plant in Stillmore, Georgia, which resulted in hundreds of illegal aliens leaving the city. That resulted in pro-illegal immigration propaganda from Russ Bynum of the AP, Reason Magazine, and Patrik Jonsson of the CSM, as well as a lawsuit from the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group indirectly linked to the Mexican government.

Now comes the news that Crider is hiring the homeless as well as felons on probation from the Macon Diversion Center; the homeless are provided by a local mission which is trying to recruit more workers for the plant. And, both Crider and the AP are still trying to buck the (legal) market for labor:

...To fill the gap, Crider also has been outsourcing jobs in its raw deboning plant to Alabama, has raised wages to attract new workers and has turned to an outside company to hire about 100 cleaning workers. The plant has seen its processing slow down because of the smaller workforce, officials said.

Purtle said the company is also spending more on hiring _ paying to bus in the probationers, for example _ and on training, because many of the new hires have poor attendance and quit quickly...

Desperate third world illegal serf laborers do indeed tend to work hard and without complaint, don't they? However, if Crider wants to abide by our laws, they'll have to learn about the legal employment market. At some wage or benefit level, they will find that attendance and retention improves dramatically. (That makes the somewhat questionable assumption that they're telling the truth.) If they have to rely on desperate third worlders to pluck their chickens, then perhaps that's a sign that they should go into another line of business or automate. The article also contains this bit:

Pastor Ariel Rodriguez said some people have gone back to Mexico, while the majority went to Kentucky, following a priest who used to live near Stillmore.

I wasn't able to find out who he's refering to, but hopefully the ICE will be hot on his heels.

Posted to Immigration at 05:33 AM | Comments (2)

John Quinones/ABC News: brazen illegal immigration-supporting hack

John Quinones of ABC Nightly News offers "Pear Crop Rots as Field Hands Kept from Crossing Border", a brazen pro-cheap labor slab of propaganda that reports on what growers say without offering even the slightest bit of contradictory information. It is so biased it could have been - and might have been - written by the growers themselves. It even includes a grower being emotional:

If the migrants don't show up for the next harvest, Ivicevich said he'll have to destroy entire orchards that were planted more than a century ago. ..."That makes them 120 years old," he said, in tears. "So, I mean, how could I take that tree out?"

What's worse is that the grower's statements seem to be to a good extent related to factors other than the lack of illegal and/or cheap labor. See Pearanoia - Latest Scam From The Cheap Labor Lobby, which links to this SacBee article that - unlike virtually all other articles discussing this topic - at least tried to fact-check grower statements.

If John Quinones wants to do some real reporting, perhaps he can start by looking into the forces that pushed and approved his "report".

Posted to Immigration at 06:58 PM | Comments (6)

Bob Darcy/Oklahoma State: voting rights for all OK residents

Dr. Bob Darcy is a political science professor at Oklahoma State University, and he wants to give voting rights to all residents of that state, regardless of their citizenship status. The article consists mostly of his "thoughts" which you've probably heard before:

..."From the late 1800s to the early 1900s the nation was ran by prosperous white, non-Catholic men. They were called WASPs -- white, Anglo Saxon Protestants," he said. "And the WASPs didn't want anyone new upsetting their operation..." [etc. etc., rips a page from Michael Ignatieff, etc. etc.]

Many more links on this general issue in "Voting: the next demand illegal aliens will make".

Posted to Immigration at 04:15 PM | Comments (3)

NAU apologists

[List below updated 12/11/07]

Recently, Rep. Tom Tancredo was quoted as saying this:

"People have to understand what we're talking about here. The president of the United States is an internationalist... He is going to do what he can to create a place where the idea of America is just that – it's an idea. It's not an actual place defined by borders. I mean this is where this guy is really going... I know this is dramatic – or maybe somebody would say overly dramatic – but I'm telling you, that everything I see leads me to believe that this whole idea of the North American Union, it's not something that just is written about by right-wing fringe kooks. It is something in the head of the president of the United States, the president of Mexico, I think the prime minister of Canada buys into it... And they would just tell you, 'Well, sure, it's a natural thing. It's part of the great globalization ... of the economy.' They assume it's a natural, evolutionary event that's going to occur here. I hope they're wrong and I'm going to try my best to make sure they're wrong. But I'm telling you the tide is great. The tide is moving in their direction. We have to say that."

This has resulted in various people calling Tancredo names or disputing that such a plan is underway. And, some of them dispute that such a plan exists, but then say that such an idea isn't so bad after all. While it's certainly possible to disagree with Tancredo's assessment, all of the comments I've seen involve some form of name-calling and none of them discuss the issue on its merits. In some cases this might be actual pro-NAU propaganda, in others it might be due to opposition to Tancredo's support for our immigration laws, in others it might be a knee-jerk defense of Bush, and in some it might be due to the fact that many bloggers aren't, shall we say, that good at research and analysis.

* Judd Legum of Think Progress says: "You might think the right would immediately repudiate this kind of conspiracy theory. You'd be wrong." As could be expected from that site, most of the comments are name-calling. Some however support the NAU concept.

* Steve Benen of The Carpetbagger says: "Now, far be it for me to defend the president against an unhinged attack from a far-right lawmaker, but does anyone seriously believe that the Bush White House wants to dissolve U.S. borders altogether?" At least two out of five comments, while calling names, provide facts on the SPP.

* "AllahPundit" says: "Oh Lord... We get e-mails from those people all the time. We... do not publish them... Update: Hot Air commenters (most of them) agree: Tancredo’s a prophet whose only crime is seeing too clearly the nefarious machinations towards one-world government that are happening under our very noses!" (HotAir is run by Michelle Malkin; the first post I made to her immigration blog concerned the SPP. Her position on this matter isn't known.)

* "Captain Ed" (who isn't a real captain) says: "Tom Tancredo reminds people today why he will forever remain a fringe element in American politics... This is absurd. George Bush may not have responded very well to immigration concerns from his base, but he's done more than his father, Bill Clinton, and even Ronald Reagan in bolstering border security. Tancredo is engaging in mindless demagoguery with these doomsday descriptions, and moving closer to the realms of paranoia." Most of those commenting disagree.

* John Podhoretz says: "I speculate in my book, Can She Be Stopped?, that Tancredo will run as a third-party candidate in 2008. Sounds like he'd be perfect to top Lyndon LaRouche's ticket. If you are serious about the importance of immigration restriction, you'd best be looking for a leader who hasn't chosen to place himself beyond the political fringe."

* Mark Steyn says: "Chances of an EU-style sovereignty pooling arrangement in North America? Zero per cent – whatever Tom Tancredo and the CFR say."

* SeeDubya from Junkyard Blog mockingly refers to "internationalist conspiracy", "sweet, sweet New World Order", "Illuminati endgame", and pretends that the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board supports U.S. sovereignty.

* MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy calls Tancredo various names such as "barking moonbat".

* Alexander McClure at Wizbang Politics says: "...I hope the White House throws all of its resources into this race to make sure that Tancredo also goes into retirement. He is an embarrasment to the party."

* John Hawkins at Right Wing News had a debate with Jerome Corsi on the topic. While Hawkins is not a Bush apologist in the Captain Ed/RedState/BlogsForBush mold, he is on the wrong side of this issue.

* "Appalacian Scribe" John Norris Brown says: "Why anyone gives this nutcase credibility is beyond me."

* Ragnar Danneskjold at the Jawa Report says: One would think that a U.S. Congressman would realize that any statement that starts with "I know this is dramatic" and proceeds to defend the ideas of "right-wing fringe kooks" is pretty unlikely to go anywhere good.

3/22/07 UPDATE:
* Ezra of People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch says, among other things (rightwingwatch.org/2007/03/phyllis_schlafl_2.html):

...the Eagle Forum published a list of questions for its supporters to ask candidates on the trail, ranging from Schlafly's theory of "supremacist judges" to the John Birch-esque "North American Union." She says her plan is working, according to "Swift Vet" co-author and fellow "North American Union" enthusiast Jerome Corsi...

A few links are included in that excerpt, including one linking the first "North American Union" to Wikipedia's entry on "black helicopters".

6/27/07 UPDATE:
* Joshua Holland, staff writer for Alternet, joins the list with "Debunking the North American Union Conspiracy Theory" (alternet.org/audits/54184). He can't even get past the second paragraph without violating Godwin's Rule:

The North American Union story is an offspring of the John Birch Society right, with its attendant xenophobia and paranoia. It comes complete with a shadowy international cabal intent on stabbing decent, hard-working Americans in the back -- Dolchstoss!

He mentions the Council of Canadians, without mentioning that they're a leftwing group and thus tend to disprove his contention that the NAU "story" is just a rightwing issue. And, he mentions some of the "dots" making up the NAU "story", but he just can't connect them.

8/13/07 UPDATE:
* Christopher Hayes of The Nation offers "The NAFTA Superhighway" and says that highway is fictional. Some of the letters say he's full of it, with one claiming that Katrina vanden Heuvel is a member of the CFR.

* Matthew Yglesias links approvingly to his article in the post "The Highway That Wasn't There".

* Both join Vice President Dick Cheney in claiming there's no such highway.

* In early August 2007, Stephen Colbert had a little bit of "fun": youtube.com/watch?v=Ookak1IQJ3U

8/24/07 UPDATE:
* Seattle Times columnist Bruce Ramsey offers "Bet your bottom amero that U.S. sovereignty is safe". He bases his conclusion that there's no plan to create a NAU by asking... "the government's chief negotiator on trade, Susan Schwab". She tells him it's just an "urban legend". And, he believes what she says. The JBS - mentioned in his piece - responds here.

* The Fox News "all stars" (Fred Barnes, Juan Williams, and Charles Krauthammer with host Brit Hume) play the Bush quote and then have a bit of fun here: youtube.com/watch?v=TT4tBvRDy38 Krauthammer whitewashes the Bilderberg conferences, saying that he went to one. He compares those who think the NAU is possible to those who believe that Elvis is still alive. Barnes and Williams join in with the "fun". Just because these three idiots say people aren't pushing for it shouldn't be taken as proof that it is being pushed, but...

9/15/07 UPDATE:
* Richard Reeb at the Claremont Institute offers the post "We've Got Our Nut Jobs Too/Right Wing Conspiracy Theory".

11/27/07 UPDATE: Drake Bennett of the Boston Globe offers "The amero conspiracy": ...The NAU may be the quintessential conspiracy theory for our time, according to scholars studying what the historian Richard Hofstadter famously called the "paranoid style" in American politics. The theory elegantly weaves old fears and new realities into one coherent and all-encompassing plan... [etc. etc.]...

12/03/07 UPDATE: Gretel Kovach of Newsweek offers a very weak debunking attempt of the NAFTA Superhighway and the NAU in "Highway To Hell?" (newsweek.com/id/73372). That's linked to by the Washington Post's "Fact Checker", Michael Dobbs (blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/12/a_superhighway_to_nowhere.html), who offers his own weak attempt. And, on 11/30/07, Stephen Braun of the Los Angeles Times offered "Paul believes in threat of North American superhighway" (link). It's similar to the WaPo's "Fact Checker" article, including a Stephen Colbert "joke". And:

Federal and state highway and trade officials and transportation consultants reacted Thursday with befuddlement and amusement. The fearsome secret international highway project Paul described does not exist, they said... ...the Trilateral Commission [is] an enduring bugaboo of conspiracy theorists... As alarms about NAFTA's illusory highway have spread across the Web, the issue's whiff of paranoia has ignited sparks of humor... [Colbert "joke"]

12/09/07 UPDATE: Matt Stearns of McClatchy Newspapers offers his own "debunking".

12/11/07 UPDATE: The SPLC has also tried to cast doubts on these schemes.

Posted to NAU at 11:44 AM | Comments (3)

Randal Archibold/NYT: illegal immigration-supporting groups are right, "vigilantes" are wrong

Randal Archibold of the New York Times offers "A Border Watcher Finds Himself Under Scrutiny", about Arizona rancher Roger Barnett:

...But now, after boasting of having captured 12,000 illegal crossers on land he owns or leases from the state and emerging as one of the earliest and most prominent of the self-appointed border watchers, Mr. Barnett finds himself the prey.

Immigrant rights groups have filed lawsuits, accusing him of harassing and unlawfully imprisoning people he has confronted on his ranch near Douglas. One suit pending in federal court accuses him, his wife and his brother of pointing guns at 16 illegal immigrants they intercepted, threatening them with dogs and kicking one woman in the group...

I'm not going to defend Barnett since I'm not familiar with what he does. While he might have done what he's accused of, there's also the strong possibility that this and the other suits are simply set-ups by illegal immigration supporters. In the past local officials haven't pursued him apparently due to lack of evidence.

What I will do, however, is note that we're only receiving one side of the story: that presented by those "immigrant rights groups". They are presented as the gold standard of truth; Archibold doesn't question their statements and doesn't look into whether they have questionable links. So, to help Randal Archibold be a real reporter and not just an illegal immigration-supporting hack, let's do that.

Jesus Romo Vejar, is identified only as "the lawyer for the hunting party". He reportedly is or was a member of Derechos Humanos, a group that's working with the Mexican government. Whether he's still a member of that group isn't known.

The article also quotes "Jennifer Allen of the Border Action Network, an immigrant rights group". The BAN is part of the Border Human Rights Working Group, a coalition consisting of Derechos Humanos and two other groups that are also collaborating with the Mexican government.

The article mentions that the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund is involved in the suit against Barnett, and also quotes the Southern Poverty Law Center. Both of those organizations are also in the BHRWG, and both thus have at least one indirect link to the Mexican government.

Please write public *at* nytimes.com and suggest they hire real reporters and not just illegal immigration-supporting hacks.

Related:
Randal Archibold/NYT: Democratic win could lead to amnesty

Posted to Immigration at 10:49 AM | Comments (3)

New site agreement for Thanksgiving

By accessing this page, site, site feed, or other in any way, shape, form, instance, case, or other, you have automatically agreed to be bound by the following:

Turkeys are sensitive animals who don't deserve to be tortured and violently killed. By signing this pledge, I refuse to support companies like Butterball that ignore animal abuse. I choose to enjoy a vegetarian Thanksgiving instead of a meal with a corpse as the centerpiece. I pledge to be compassionate by leaving turkeys off my plate.

Posted to WackyHumor at 06:45 AM | Comments (9)

Gustavo Torres/Case de Maryland refuses to say Pledge of Allegiance

Casa de Maryland is a government-funded organization that strongly supports illegal immigration and that's been involved in organizing immigration marches. Earlier this year, Gustavo Torres, their executive director, threatened to picket not just the residences of Minuteman Project members, but the schools of their children. So, while there's certainly no requirement to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, this is not a surprise:

...at the Gaithersburg City Council meeting last night, one citizen refused to recite the Pledge. Casa De Maryland Executive Director Gustavo Torres, an immigrant from Colombia, stood in definace while substantially everyone else present recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

Even the day laborers at the meeting, many of whom have previously admitted that they are in the USA illegally, stood up in respect for the US flag and recited the Pledge as best as they could.

Related:
Gramscians demand ouster of Maryland comptroller
DC Metro bilingual signs and illegal alien advocates

Posted to Immigration at 06:25 PM | Comments (9)

AVWatch: Villaraigosa lied, exaggerated about his past?

Tony Castro of the L.A. Daily News (who seems to have a few skeletons in his closet) offers a long look at Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's psychological makeup and his mythogizing of his past. While it doesn't mention Tony Villar's radical past - including being a leader of the racial separatist group MEChA - it is full of quite-possibly-true nuggets:

...In June, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles reported that retired Sherman Oaks teacher Herman Katz had grown "weary" of the yarn Villaraigosa has often told of how Katz dramatically turned his life around while the teenage Villar was struggling at Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights - almost making it seem as if Katz had become his surrogate father, paving his course to eventual political stardom.

...In fairness to the mayor, experts say, everyone is subject to what W. Keith Campbell, associate professor of psychology at the University of Georgia and a "narcissism expert," calls "memory distortion."

...For Villaraigosa, the name change was only part of the reinvention. A low-rider image cultivated from the time he led student protests in high school and later at UCLA was discarded, down to having "Born to raise hell" tattoos removed from his arms. He replaced it with a look out of Gentlemen's Quarterly, including a personal tailor and professionally bleached teeth...

..."He walked in and reminded me of Zorro," Pulido recalled. "His hair was slicked back, and he had a little thin mustache, and he reminded me of Tyrone Power in ('The Mark of Zorro') movie."

...In fact, Villaraigosa's organized athletic career was limited to playing on the Cathedral High School team in ninth grade...

Much, much more at the link.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 01:20 PM | Comments (1)

Arnold Schwarzenegger: plum jobs, patronage for cronies

This AP article is a bit biased and might be missing key information, but in this case I'll give them a pass.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed or assigned dozens of staff members this year to high-paying jobs elsewhere in state government -- some of them to six-figure posts he once said were a waste of taxpayer money and should be eliminated.

An Associated Press investigation of Schwarzenegger's staff turnover after last year's disastrous special election revealed that he moved 40 people to other state positions, and at least half of them saw their salaries increase, some by more than $30,000 a year.

Schwarzenegger also gave six former staffers jobs with state boards and commissions he previously tried to dismantle...

In other Arnie news, Arnold Schwarzenegger's Latino outreach director serves on an advisory panel for the Mexican president.

Posted to California at 11:55 AM | Comments (2)

"The struggle for Indigenous sovereignty and immigrant rights"

Just for fun, let's check in with those who are just slightly to the left of the New York Times:

A multinational crowd packed the Boston Workers World office on Nov. 18 for a meeting on the struggle for Indigenous sovereignty and human rights. This important meeting was held at a crucial time, less than a week before the 37th National Day of Mourning in Plymouth [Thanksgiving] and only two weeks before the Boston Rosa Parks Human Rights Day rally and march on Dec. 1.

The featured speaker was Mahtowin Munro, co-leader of United American Indians of New England (UAINE). Denouncing the racist vigilante Minutemen as well as the proposed wall of death along the border with Mexico, Mahtowin gave a detailed overview of the history of immigration in North America, starting with the first and only truly illegal immigrants—the Europeans who started their invasion in 1492...

Posted to Immigration at 08:48 AM | Comments (2)

Maricopa County sued over anti-smuggling law; Mexico links

A potential class action lawsuit has been filed by various groups against Maricopa County, Arizona (home of Phoenix) concerning a state law designed to stop human smuggling. Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas have been using that law to arrest and charge illegal aliens with smuggling themselves into the country. Since starting that earlier this year, they've managed 180 convictions (two by jury) out of 360 arrests.

What's interesting here is those on the other side; for instance, one of the lawyers involved has at least three links to the Mexican government. In addition to six Mexican citizens, the plaintiffs include (descriptions from the first link, notes in brackets):

* We Are America/Somos America Coalition of Arizona [has some sort of link to the AZ Democratic Party; whether they're part of the We Are America Alliance is not known.]

* the community organization Friendly House

* state representatives Kyrsten Sinema, Steve Gallardo (1,2) and David Lujan [slightly positive note here; he wanted immigration marchers to carry American flags to supposedly show pride in the U.S.]

* Arizona State University sociology professors Cecilia Menjivar [co-editor of "When States Kill: Latin America, the U.S., and Technologies of Terror"] and LaDawn Haglund [author of "You Can Jail the Resistors, But You Can't Jail the Resistance"]

The lawyers are:

* Phoenix attorneys Dan Ballecer, Antonio Bustamante, and H. Michael Clyde

* Ray Velarde of LULAC in Texas

* Peter A. Schey of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. As discussed at the links, he has at least three links to the Mexican government.

Related:
Maricopa County Attorney: Mexico trying to block Arizona law
Peter Schey working with Mexican government (Arpaio posse)

Posted to Immigration at 06:05 AM | Comments (1)

New York Times on Russian "invasion" of Latvia (Duranty Lives!)

Two New York Times flavors blend into one horrific mess in "Latvia Fears New 'Occupation' by Russians but Needs the Labor". One of those flavors is one frequently discussed here: the NYT's lack of regard for national sovereignty and support for massive immigration. The other is a decades-long habit of supporting Soviet - now putatively Russian - misbehavior. Given the historical record (you know, that whole Communism thing), one might think that Latvia is fully justified in avoiding massive immigration from Russia. While that side of the issue is certainly explored, it's not explored in the depth that one might expect given that historical record. On the other hand, the article isn't as bad as NYT articles on the similar situation in the U.S., in which such fears would be treated with complete disdain.

[A long-time Russian resident of Latvia] inhabits a parallel universe that has little to do with Latvia. She watches a Kremlin-financed television station and eats Russian food. And she has no intention of learning Latvian ("Why the hell would I want to do that?"), though she says her grandchildren are being forced to do so...

...She has not [taken a new citizenship test], instead pinning her hopes on a new "Russian occupation" of Latvia. This, she says, is gaining force with the arrival of illegal workers from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. They have streamed in by the hundreds, if not thousands, to help fill the gap left by the nearly 100,000 Latvians who have left in search of a better life since their country joined the European Union in May 2004...

...But there was a price [to leaving the Soviet sphere and becoming part of the EU and NATO]: while economic growth shot up to 10 percent this year, the large westward migration of Latvians has left a gaping hole in the job market. Now the country must choose either to accept the economic necessity of immigration or to hold on to deep and abiding historical resentments...

Posted to Immigration_euro at 02:51 AM | Comments (3)

Actor beats U.S. Education Secretary on Celebrity Jeopardy

The Bush administration can't even play the television game Jeopardy right, as actor Michael McKean (Spinal Tap) handily trounced U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings on tonight's episode.

McKean ended with $38,400, with Spellings a distant second place with $11,100. The latter amount was augmented with a "gimme" that would have not been given to a non-celebrity player. (The question was how many strings a harp has, 7, 47, or 147. Spellings initially answered 747, before changing it to 47.) Another actor ended with $6800.

The proceeds were donated to charity, with McKeon's amount being increased to $50,000. To abide by federal law, Jeopardy chose Spelling's charity for her.

Margaret Spellings is a former Bush assistant who can be seen in the barely-known video described here. In the video, she describes the original Bush "guest" worker plan, an extremely anti-American and un-American scheme that "would be open to any type of employee and any type of employer, such as nurses, teachers, high-tech workers, low-skilled workers". That scheme would have driven wages for previously well-paying jobs down near the minimum wage.

Michael McKean starred as Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski on Laverne & Shirley and as David St. Hubbins in This Is Spinal Tap. He also appeared as "Clown" in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, as "Porterfield 'Porty' Pendleton" in the Teddy Bears' Picnic, and as Jerry Palter in A Mighty Wind. Whether he has ever been employed to direct U.S. government policy is not known, but he did play "INS Deputy Comissioner Gorman Seedling" in the Coneheads movie and MIB "Morris Fletcher" in four episodes of the X-Files television program.

UPDATE: The cool kids have video and even a link from Insty. Spellings offers a list of excuses here:

"I didn't want to be the Education Secretary who didn't know how to spell potato," Spellings joked, describing how she read books and sought advice from a former show contender and her daughters... ...She said she didn't realize how much skill went into hitting the buzzer at just the right moment after host Alex Trebek read a clue. She said she often hit it too early and as a result didn't get picked to tackle a category...

From the previous link, BushBots provide their own set of excuses:

From the excerpts shown, she seemed to do fine, and finished above $10K, which is not bad at all on Jeopardy... ...Politicians usually do really lousy. I still remember how dumb former Rep. Pat Schroeder was. And lets not talk about most pro athletes... ...In her defense, Lenny was rocking and rolling. He had his brain set to 11... You know, Michael McKean was just on such a streak last night, I think Ken Jennings would have had a problem with him. He simply didn’t get very many questions wrong - and apparently was very quick on the buzzer. Sec. Spellings didn't lose as much as Michael McKean very obviously won - although a couple blown answers by her didn’t help her at all. In the end it was both entertaining and $100,000 to some worthy organizations.

More excuses here:

What's wrong with this picture? I mean, we decide how smart someone is based on trivia? ...Memorizing facts does not make one intelligent... it's what you do with the facts you know. I've known plenty of "book-smart" people who can't accomplish much of anything in reality... ...I don't think the Education Secretary's job description includes being a walking encyclopedia. It was done for charity. She did her best. Nothing embarassing about losing to another person on Jeopardy... ...I think Secretary Spellings did well,but Mr Mckean did exceptionally well. As a matter of fact, all three players were winners... ...Why would an education secretary be a whiz at all topics great and small? Just because that evenings topics were more in line with what Lenny knew, doesn't mean that she doesn't know anything... ...Since when is quick recall of trivial information a good indicator of brain power? There's a huge difference between knowing trivia and applying useful information to better oneself and the community...

Posted to Celebrities at 07:24 PM | Comments (0)

Do polls show support for "comprehensive immigration reform"?

Yes, misleading and/or incomplete polls do show support for "comprehensive immigration reform". The latest such poll is crowed about by Reuters, which is your first clue that there's something wrong:

Most Americans believe illegal immigrants should be allowed to become guest workers and eventually U.S. citizens, but Congress should do more to close the border to stop more illegals entering the country, according to a new poll published on Tuesday.

The nationwide poll, conducted by Quinnipiac University, found that by a margin of 69 percent to 27 percent, American voters say illegal immigrants should be allowed into a guest worker program with the ability to work toward citizenship over a period of several years. Such a guest worker program had wide support among voters of all political stripes.

Our next clue that there's something wrong is when we look at one of the questions that was asked:

15. Currently illegal immigrants cannot apply for citizenship. If the law were changed to allow illegal immigrants to register into a guest worker program, should that program offer them the ability to work toward citizenship over a period of several years?

The results: 69% yes, 27% no.

However, if Quinnipiac University wanted to conduct a poll based on reality, they would have then asked other questions:

16. Do you still say "yes" to #15 knowing that it would result in endless chain migration, as new "guests" can invite in family members, who will then invite in other family members, and so on?

17. Do you still say "yes" to #15 knowing that it would encourage more illegal aliens to come here in expectation of receiving the next amnesty, or even in expectation of using fake documents to take part in the current amnesty?

18. Do you still say "yes" to #15 knowing that it would give political power to groups (growers, far-left organizations, racial power organizations, etc.) that have supported illegal immigration in the past and will no doubt continue to support it?

19. Do you still say "yes" to #15 knowing that it would give even more political power inside the U.S. to Mexico?

Around about question #25, only the most cheap labor-besotted would still support "comprehensive immigration reform".

Please write pollinginstitute *at* quinnipiac.edu with your thoughts.

Posted to Immigration at 05:13 PM | Comments (1)

What CBS Evening News didn't tell you about immigration

On 11/15/06, CBS Evening News broadcast "Will New Congress Pass Immigration Reform?" by Bill Whitaker. The script and video of the report are here, and my response is here.

Posted to Immigration at 01:33 PM | Comments (2)

Breaking: President George H. W. Bush!

Our sources deep inside the White House have revealed to this blogger a shocking scheme: President George W. Bush will step down... only to be replaced with his father, the former president whose only distinction is being slightly less horrific and having an additional middle initial.

Under this scheme, Dick Cheney will step down in order to pursue his lifelong dream of being the CEO of a major government contractor. Then, "W." will appoint "H.W." to be the new vice president. Then, "W." himself will step down. "H.W." will become the new president, and will appoint Michael Chertoff as the new vice-president. In case the latter is not allowed (White House/RNC experts are still checking the Constitution for loopholes), they are prepared for the eventuality of Nancy Pelosi as vice-president in the spirit of bi-partisanship.

Breaking...

UPDATE: Our sources now report a fierce internecine battle, with Bush Faction 1 supporting Poppy, and Bush Faction 2 suggesting that it's now Jeb's turn to be president. A preliminary coin flip was held, but was invalidated due to (the elder) Barbara's intervention. Noelle shockingly suggested a competition to see which Bush could be the worst Bush ever, and nominated Zeke Bush/George P. Bush combo to run our country, with (the younger) Barbara going to Education and Jenna going to Defense. Developing...

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

Arnoldo Torres, Arnold Schwarzenegger's Latino outreach director

The largely wrong and illogical article "Schwarzenegger gains among Latinos" by Aurelio Rojas will be featured here later, but for now consider this interesting snippet:

Arnoldo Torres, the Schwarzenegger campaign's Latino outreach director who briefed him before the July 24 meeting [with La Opinion], praised the governor for acknowledging he was wrong about the Minutemen and Proposition 187.

"The governor had the (guts) to say, 'You know what? I said things that I shouldn't say (and) I don't support racism,' " said Torres, a former political analyst for Univision and past executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Obviously, Arnie is little more than political tofu or a programmable talking doll. And, just as obviously, supporting the Minuteman Project or Proposition 187 is not "racist". In fact, a majority of Hispanics supported the latter two months before the election. Supporting those is indeed "racist" if you redefine the term to mean "opposition to illegal immigration and/or the far-left."

LULAC was at one time apparently a patriotic organization that supported assimilation. In recent years they've morphed into a far-left group, and they have a recent history of supporting illegal immigration.

In addition to what Rojas discloses, Torres spoke at a session called "Mexico and Aztlan: La Fundacion Solidaridad Mexicano Americana" together with noteworthies such as Richard Griswold del Castillo from San Diego State. And, he supposedly got a bill passed allowing Mexican doctors to practice at clinics in California without being licensed here.

And, from 2003 to 2005 he was also a member of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad ("Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior", "IME"), an advisory panel for the Mexican president. In fact, he's got his own entry at their site (cache of ime.gob.mx/ccime/comisiones/asuntos_politicos.htm) (partial machine translation):

From Sacramento, California. Consultant in political subjects. He is Executive Director of [California Hispanic Health Care Association] (CHHCA); of United Latin American Citizens has been executive National Director of the League (LULAC). He is partner of "Torres & Torres", Policy Consultants, in Sacramento; member of the Coalition of Fairness for Minority Groups. That represents non-profit organizations who provide services of health and indigenous community education in California.

UPDATE: Torres is apparently no longer on the CCIME, and whether he has current links is unknown. Here's the list of current IME advisors, which doesn't include him: www.ime.gob.mx/ccime/directorios/dir_ccime_06_09.htm . In February 2007 he was described as a "former advisor" and was chiding Arnie over comments he made on the previously-secret audio tapes.

Posted to California at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)

Judd Legum/Think Progress: propaganda is OK if for a good cause

Judd Legum of Think Progress (run by the Clinton-linked joke known as the Center for American Progress) discusses a recent segment of the Neil Cavuto show here. Cavuto claims that the movie "Happy Feet" is "far-left" propaganda:

Cavuto saw the movie with his sons and found it "offensive." Cavuto objected to the fact that penguins in the movie have trouble finding food because of overfishing and oil drilling. Cavuto called the film "an animated 'Inconvenient Truth.' I half expected to see an animated version of Al Gore pop-up."

The only response Legum provides is to support their propaganda:

Cavuto is objecting to introducing children to a real problem. A recent study in Science found "There will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continue."

Needless to say, the study in Science is not a fact, it's a theory. No doubt the study had caveats and has detractors, yet, oddly enough, those didn't make the cut.

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

AVWatch: Villaraigosa to veto firefighter $2.7 million settlement

Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa plans to veto the $2.7 million settlement that was to go to black firefighter Tennie Pierce, who claimed racial discrimination after other firemen played a prank on him that resulted in him eating two spoonfuls of dog food. Pierce's nickname was "the Big Dog", and he had taken part in several other pranks against others.

The settlement offer was "negotiated" by L.A. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, and subsequently approved by the L.A. City Council. A large part of Tony Villar's decision is no doubt due to the campaign waged by KFI's John & Ken, which caused a great deal of negative publicity. And, millions of dollars in other claims may be still out there. And, of course, Villar probably feels that all that money can be put to a better use, such as subsidizing illegal immigration.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 04:58 PM | Comments (1)

Darryl Fears: the Democratic line on immigration

Darryl Fears of the Washington Post offers "Republicans Lost Ground With Latinos In Midterms". As might be expected, it's so full of misleading statements, superficial analysis, hidden agendas, and hidden assumptions that a full treatment would be novel-length:

...Latinos [gave] the GOP only 30 percent of their vote as strident House immigration legislation inspired by Republicans and tough-talking campaign ads by conservative candidates roiled the community. It was a 10-point drop from the lowest estimated Latino vote percentage two years ago, and a 14-point drop from the highest...

Of course, GOP votes from other groups were down as well. The percentage drop may be have been greater among Latinos, but that doesn't mean that it had anything to do with immigration or related ads. And, the idea that there could be a "community" is identity politics at its finest, but is untrue since, for instance, there are obvious differences between Cuban-Americans in Miami and Mexican-Americans in Texas colonias. And, not all of those "tough-talking" ads were from "conservatives"; perhaps that's why he used that word and not "Republicans". And, while a few of the ads may have gone overboard, if "the community" objects to enforcement of our laws, perhaps we have a deeper problem that needs to be addressed. And, needless to say, HR4437 wasn't "strident".

Then, he quotes "Simon Rosenberg, president of NDN, formerly the New Democrat Network" as saying that the "Republican Party is hostile to Hispanics". Obviously, he's biased. And, just as obviously, that's false. Not even those GOP leaders that support our immigration laws are hostile to one ethnic group. They just oppose, for instance, those like Rosenberg who support massive illegal activity as an "ethnic thing".

Then:

Latinos by and large supported the millions of marchers who protested House immigration proposals in the spring, and there are recent signs that Republicans are working to bring them back to the party [via rightwing Cuban - and thus non-Chicano - Mel Martinez].

Those marches might have indeed had widespread support, and most Americans should consider that alarming. Those marching were doing so in support of illegal activity, and many were in fact foreign citizens making a show of force in our streets. Many of those marching seem to think that they have a right to move here at will, and some of those even called the U.S. their "homeland". And, some of the organizers of those marches have links to foreign governments and Mexico's PRD party.

Then:

[HR4437] would make it a felony to assist any illegal immigrant, frightening the Roman Catholic Church. It worried rights groups because it would step up enforcement that could cost illegal immigrants their jobs, homes and lives.

As far as I know, the Pope didn't weigh in on 4437. However, Cardinal Roger Mahony did pretend to be "frightened", but then later admitted he was full of it. As for those "rights" groups, perhaps they shouldn't be supporting illegal aliens working illegally. And, perhaps we shouldn't encourage banks to give loans to illegal aliens, since that ends up encouraging political corruption. As for the last, stepped-up enforcement would reduce such issues, since many fewer would try to come here. Those "rights" groups actually encourage people to try to cross, resulting in more tragedies than their would be if they discouraged them from trying to cross the desert in summer.

Don't expect Darryl Fears to do a deeper analysis of this issue, since he's simply an illegal immigration supporting hack.

Posted to Immigration at 08:10 AM | Comments (3)

Signs of Delusion in New York Times Immigration Editorial

The New York Times offers the unsigned editorial "Signs of Hope on Immigration". Not only is it wrong, it's in parts so wrong it's funny. It's of the now-standard "Democrats and Bush can work to pass 'comprehensive immigration reform', but they need to tread lightly" variety.

While not explicitly engaging in the other now-standard canard that J. D. Hayworth, Randy Graf, John Hostettler, and Rick Santorum lost because of their immigration stances, it does mention them by name and refer to them as "[s]ome of the debate's loudest shouters, liars and dead-horse beaters". Then:

All those shrill Republican ads about Mexicans stealing your Social Security failed as an electoral strategy, but that doesn't mean politicians always lose by being immigration hawks... [Arizona's anti-illegal immigration propositions won...]

The NYT appears to be playing CYA for the cases of those Democrats who pretended to be "immigration hawks". And, of course, a serious newspaper would consider the ramifications of millions of former illegal aliens receiving billions of dollars in social security and other benefits, not to mention the separate issue of totalization. The NYT does not appear to have covered the first, and a search of their site for the latter term only returns two non-relevant hits.

Then, the NYT refers to the "the losers on the border-fixated fringe". In contrast, the NYT is much more "laid-back", almost comatose. For instance, they don't appear to have covered this news (PDF file):

Members of Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terrorist organization, have already entered to the United States across our Southwest border. On March 1, 2005, Mahmoud Youssef Kourani pleaded guilty to providing material support to Hezbollah. Kourani is an illegal alien who had been smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border after bribing a Mexican consular official in Beirut for a visa to travel to Mexico. Kourani and a Middle Eastern traveling partner then paid coyotes in Mexico to guide them into the United States. Kourani established residence among the Lebanese expatriate community in Dearborn, Michigan and began soliciting funds for Hezbollah terrorists back home in Lebanon. He is the brother of the Hezbollah chief of military operations in southern Lebanon... In December 2002, Salim Boughader Mucharrafille, a cafe owner in Tijuana, Mexico, was arrested for illegally smuggling more than two hundred Lebanese illegally into the United States, including several believed to have terrorist ties to Hezbollah...

The NYT's policies would allow cases like that to repeat themselves; the policies of those who are "border-fixated" want to prevent them. Who should America trust?

They end up by promoting the Senate amnesty bill, but only after it's stripped of "tough-posing amendments that made it fundamentally unworkable and unjust". They say that (post-reform) the "laws should be enforced at the border and workplace". If the New York Times has ever supported enforcement of our current laws, I haven't seen it. What I've seen is an endless stream of pro-illegal immigration propaganda, and I have little doubt that that would continue no matter which "reform" scheme was passed.

And, they don't mention that the USCIS would almost certainly be even more overwhelmed by any form of amnesty, nor the massive legal and continuing illegal immigration that McCain-Kennedy would lead to, nor any of the other serious issues. As with terrorist infiltration, details like that are apparently for losers.

Posted to Immigration at 05:18 AM | Comments (1)

"Open-Borders Advocates Distort Election Results"

As previously discussed, massive immigration supporting hacks like Fred Barnes, Linda Chavez, Tamar Jacoby, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, Arlen Specter, and Michael Barone among others have tried to claim that some GOP losses were due to opposition to an illegal alien amnesty. How this is wrong was discussed in NRO on Graf/Hayworth election results myth among other entries.

And, Mark Krikorian of CIS offers this:

...The open-borders crowd scavenged for results they hoped would confirm their pre-packaged conclusions. A favorite was the defeat of two Republican immigration hawks running for the House in Arizona, incumbent Rep. J.D. Hayworth and Randy Graf, who was seeking liberal Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe’s seat. The problem with pointing to these results as proof of the public’s support for the Bush-McCain-Kennedy “comprehensive” amnesty plan is that the very same voters overwhelmingly approved four good ballot measures related to immigration: denying bail to illegals, barring illegals from winning punitive damages in civil suits, prohibiting illegals from receiving certain state subsidies for education and day care, and declaring English the state’s official language. Clearly, the actual policy issue of immigration control remained hugely popular and, while Hayworth’s opponent endorsed a guest-worker program, he explicitly said on his campaign website, “Secure Our Border and Stop Illegal Immigration,” “Hold employers accountable for whom they hire,” and, “I oppose amnesty and will not support it.” Hardly a Bush echo...

This is a wonderful opportunity to discredit hacks like Barnes, Jacoby, Barone, and the others, as well as those bloggers and other pundits who support them. Whenever they spread this line, come back with articles like this.

Posted to Immigration at 03:38 AM | Comments (0)

Bush's "Million Mexicans a Month" Plan

I believe this is a satire, but one can never tell:

President Bush and Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon pledged to work closely on border security and migration, which Bush said remains a top priority for his administration. Bush told reporters, "I assured the president-elect that comprehensive immigration reform is something I believe needs to happen."

Under the Bush plan, the U.S. will move its security perimeter to Mexico's southern border. "Mexico's southern border is much shorter than the northern one," Bush pointed out. "It will be easier to patrol to prevent unauthorized entry into both countries."

Mexico's southern border would be jointly patrolled by armed forces from the two nations. As compensation for allowing the U.S. to move its security perimeter south from the Rio Grande, Mexico will receive funds from the U.S. sufficient to support one million Mexicans. The payments will be made monthly based on a random drawing of names on the unemployment rolls. Mexicans must appear in person to collect.

Posted to WackyHumor at 10:23 PM | Comments (0)

What Steve Kroft/60 Minutes forgot to ask (Hazleton immigration ordinance)

Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes offered a slightly fair report on Hazleton, Pennsylvania's new ordinance concerning illegal aliens renting and being employed in the city.

Here's a partial list of some of the things he forgot to do:

1. At the end, when Kroft said that some people had called mayor Lou Barletta a racist, and Kroft lingered over the word "racist", he forgot to mention the far-left, anti-American loonies who've said such things. If 60 Minutes opposed illegal immigration, they would have given people like Anna Arias, Agapito Lopez, or Stephen Glassman enough rope to have hung themselves.

2. Kroft interviewed a disguised illegal alien and her daughter. The former had been working 60 to 72 hours per week, and had only ended up near the poverty line. Kroft asked her if it was better than Mexico, and she responded affirmatively. If 60 Minutes opposed illegal immigration, they would have pointed out that such working conditions are Dickensian, and they would have wondered why Mexico is unable to take care of their own people. And, he would have tried to compute all the social services that the duo received, pointing out that that was a huge subsidy to her former employer.

3. Kroft gave more than a minute to Lucas Gutentag of the ACLU's Immigrant Rights Project, without asking about their indirect link to the Mexican government, and without asking why all of their immigration-related lawsuits and activities will enable Mexico to keep sending us people. (See also this and this).

4. Kroft offered a brief interview with a local shopowner, Isabel Rubio. Despite being here legally, Croft implied that some people don't want Hispanics in general in the town. And, in the the brief shot of her shop's sign, one can see that one of her lines of business is wiring money out of the country. Perhaps Croft could have discussed issues relating to remittances if he wants to "follow the money".

Posted to Immigration at 08:17 PM | Comments (1)

Cynthia Tucker/AJC supports illegal immigration

Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal Constitution opposes a Hazleton-style ordinance considered for Cherokee County in Georgia in "In bullying illegals, county picks easy fight".

First of all, the idea that illegal aliens as a group could be bullied is completely false. They have very powerful allies: corrupt employers, corrupt politicians, the corrupt media, racial power groups, and so forth. Those powerful forces will work overtime to make sure that those they profit from are not "bullied". In fact, Tucker's column is an example of one of their protectors fighting back.

She does, however, get one thing right:

If the nation is serious about curbing illegal immigration, there is a rather simple way to do it: Crack down on employers who hire illegally. Don't just fine them; give them prison time. Once a few business executives were frog-marched in front of news cameras in handcuffs — convicted of illegal hiring — others would get the message. And once Mexicans and Guatemalans and Hondurans without documents figured out that they couldn't get jobs here, they'd stop coming. It's really as simple as that.

Unfortunately, the rest of the column is based on the "take away" sales technique: she then proceeds to tell us all the horrific disasters that would happen without all that illegal labor. That includes the recent pears canard:

...There would be consequences to our economy, by the way. Fruit and vegetables would die in the fields. (Over the summer and early fall, a splendid pear crop withered and died in California orchards because the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services cracked down on undocumented workers, and farmers had no laborers to pick their crops. Many of them lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.) The price of many foodstuffs — including chicken — could be expected to increase as labor costs shot up. Prices for services such as child care, janitorial work and lawn care — occupations now heavily serviced by foreign-born workers — would spiral upward. Ditto construction costs. Some jobs would simply go undone. America has a burgeoning population of elderly who need tending and not enough young workers to take care of them. Perhaps more of them would simply be neglected...

In brief, she's giving her readers all the reasons why they should continue to allow massive illegal activity, and she's a strong supporter of illegal immigration.

Previously:
Cynthia Tucker still illegal immigration-supporting idiot
Cynthia Tucker still idiot on immigration
Cynthia Tucker to uncover corruption!

Posted to Immigration at 02:45 PM | Comments (2)

Get a Playstation 3, the easy way

If, like me, you don't make a habit of visiting malls, and if like me you've watched with some concern the PS3 riots you might be wondering how you could get your hands on what is quite possibly the latest and greatest game console. The easy way to get a Sony Playstation 3 is to buy one on eBay. The average sale price is around $1000, but if you really want one now, that might be your only option.

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

Has the Weekly Standard backtracked on Graf/Hayworth myth?

Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard - as well as other cheap-labor supporters - have tried mightily to spread the myth that one of the reasons some GOP candidates lost is because of their stance against illegal immigration.

Now comes Weekly Standard reporter Duncan Currie with what some Kreml' watchers might consider to be a bit of a correction:

...Fans of the Bush-Martinez strategy point to losing Republicans J.D. Hayworth, Randy Graf, and John Hostettler. Here were three of the toughest border hawks of the campaign. Hayworth and Graf were running in Arizona, one of the states most affected by illegal border crossings. Yet they both lost, as did Hostettler in Indiana. Meanwhile, a national exit poll found that voters--when given two options for dealing with illegal immigrants--preferred giving them "a chance to apply for legal status" over mass deportation by a margin of 57 percent to 38 percent. All these data, say the Bush-Martinez Republicans, suggest public support for the sort of "comprehensive" reform that passed the Senate.

Other Republicans, not surprisingly, draw a different lesson. They claim the exit poll question ("Should most illegal immigrants working in the United States be: Offered a chance to apply for legal status; Deported to the country they came from?") was hopelessly skewed in favor of the "amnesty" side. They note that Hostettler's opponent, Democrat Brad Ellsworth, was also a security-first, anti-amnesty border hawk. And while Arizona voters rejected Hayworth and Graf, they overwhelmingly approved a series of ballot initiatives that will, among other things, restrict illegal immigrants' access to social services, ban them from winning punitive damages in civil lawsuits, and make English the official state language...

Posted to Immigration at 07:02 PM | Comments (2)

Gerardo Sandoval (S.F. Supervisor) pushes illegal alien amnesty

Gerardo Sandoval is a San Francisco Supervisor, and he offers "Democrats must push immigration reform". Everything about it is wrong or just plain loony, so a full treatment isn't possible. He starts with supporting a caste system:

For the 44 million Latinos living in the United States, and for those Americans who appreciate them cleaning our offices, picking our fruit and caring for our children, the measure of success is very clear: immigration reform.

He might support increased Border Patrol funding, but only because it "may be unavoidable". Passing an "amnesty law" is the only "benchmark of success". And, he doesn't even seem to have followed the news these past six years:

At the other end, the Republican Party just selected a Latino, Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., as its new national chairman. Republicans will try to stoke Latino conservatism while ignoring amnesty, essentially a divide-and-conquer strategy.

Earth to Sandoval: Mel Martinez is the co-sponsor of the Senate amnesty bill.

Amongst other race-based opposition to our laws comes this:

Second, Democrats need to be clear that the $6 billion border fence now under construction is not just a wasteful boondoggle, but an affront to all Latinos.

Then, there's support for illegal immigration and the importation of a foreign serf class:

Finally, we need to educate middle America about the contributions of undocumented workers. Their hard work at low wages makes America more productive.

Does anyone doubt that "middle America" isn't a codeword for "Anglos"? His disdain for "middle America" and the ethnic boosterism continues:

Their commitment to family values is not a cliche, but a wake-up call for America to care for its elderly, its sick and to spend quality time with its children instead of forgetting them at the door of some fancy private school.

Despite what I wrote above, I strongly urge the Democrats to take his advice.

Posted to Immigration at 03:27 PM | Comments (5)

Scott Stroud/San Antonio Express-News, illegal immigration supporter

Scott Stroud is the politics/government editor for the San Antonio Express-News, and he offers "Latino backlash against GOP immigration policy a gift to Demos".

Discussing Texas House Bills 28 and 29, he says:

So if we make it harder to live and work in America and to send cash back to impoverished family members, maybe people will stop coming. Of course, we also could stop hiring them to run our farms and ranches, build our buildings and roads, and keep our economy humming for minimal compensation.

Instead of asking why the federal government isn't enforcing our laws, Stroud supports the importation of desperate foreign citizens in order to keep the "economy humming".

He also lies about HR4437:

...the measure passed in the U.S. House last year that would have made it illegal to offer a drink of water to a thirsty man who just walked across the desert...

His thoughts appear to be in line with his editor, Robert Rivard.

Posted to Immigration at 09:36 AM | Comments (2)

Are you a "Bush Conservative"?

"Bush Conservative" is the new, not-nearly-as-pejorative name for what is refered to in the literature as "Bushbotism". One of the chief symptoms of this affliction is a very strong ability to believe strongly in an idea despite massive contradictory evidence: Bush is a down-home Texas cowboy despite being a part of the Northeast liberal elite, Bush has secured or will secure the border despite millions of illegal aliens flooding over that same border, Bush is protecting us from terrorists while making it easier for them to infiltrate the U.S., Bush is a strong defender of the Constitution despite showing little regard for it, and on and on.

The Anchoress (who I still think is Ken Mehlman in drag) directs our attention to the Stratasphere's definition of the term, including this:

Bush Conservatives respect the immigrant worker in the sense we understand people need to make a life (not just a living). We do not want the broken current system to stay hostage to the "Fence Only" crowd. The illegal immigrant worker will pay a penalty in back taxes and lost time towards citizenship. That level of penalty is sufficient for the crime of missing paperwork. We respect those who are trying to do nothing more than raise a family. The Republicans can now have the mantle of harshness towards otherwise good people. They can focus on their vision of the few bad apples representing the entire immigrant population. They can ignore the more realistic, broader images that include aliens fighting for our country - the other immigrant worker. The only people who get my support will embrace Bush's comprehensive vision of workers who are registered, background checked, working in the open economy, and who must avoid criminal activities if they stay here. They will not become citizens immediately, and in fact will not be able to apply any time here as illegal aliens towards citizenship. They will become our neighbors working by our side, raising their children with ours. And like the good neighbors we are, we will reach out and help them assimiliate to our society. The Reps can be the party of rounding up aliens for deportation...

How heart-warming. And, if we were dealing with just a few thousand or even a few tens of thousands of people I might agree. Unfortunately, we're dealing with a massive movement of people from one country to ours. That quote trivializes everything involved in this issue, not taking into account things such as political power for the Mexican government, far-left groups, and racial demagogues to name just a few issues. Bush's "comprehensive vision" will be even more of a disaster than his other failed schemes, irreparably damaging the U.S. and encouraging millions more illegal aliens to come here.

Whether "Bush Conservatives" believe bunk like this or are just using it as a cover for making money or pushing other agendas is unclear. What is clear is that Bush and his supporters are on the other side, and the sooner a split, the better.

Posted to Politics at 12:16 PM | Comments (9)

Arlen Specter wants "comprehensive immigration reform" this year

Yesterday Roll Call offered the subscriber-only "Specter to Take Another Stab at Immigration Bill Before Year Ends", which is excerpted here:

After meeting privately with Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) earlier this week, Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said Thursday he is moving forward with plans to resurrect the languishing immigration reform measure before the end of this year.

Specter said the three Senators, at the core of negotiations over the legislation, "decided to make an effort" to spend the next month working to bridge the divide between the House and Senate over the issue. He said the Nov. 7 elections, in which Republicans lost control of both chambers, sent a signal to Congress that voters want immigration reform now, and it is incumbent upon lawmakers to heed that call before the end of the 109th Congress.

"I'd like to do it," Specter said. "We have time."

Specter said he already has talked to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) about his intentions, adding that he expects Frist will discuss the matter with Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) when the two leaders meet later this week. The Judiciary chairman said he is also engaging the White House on the issue...

Sen. Mel Martinez is also on board.

Please contact as many Senators as you can with your thoughts.

Posted to Immigration at 10:57 AM | Comments (6)

NRO on Graf/Hayworth election results myth

National Review offers "The Legend of Arizona", a response to the mythmakers who've tried to claim that the recent losses of Randy Graf, J.D. Hayworth, and others were because of their pro-enforcement positions. They list our favorites such as: Fred Barnes, Linda Chavez (first link), Tamar Jacoby, and the Wall Street Journal editorial page. Plus, they inform us that the myth has also been spread by Arlen Specter (link) and Michael Barone (link). Then:

...Time for a reality check. This year’s anti-Republican wave was indiscriminate, washing away such immigration hawks as John Hostettler and Charles Taylor, but also such amnesty supporters as Mike DeWine and Lincoln Chafee. In other places, Republicans were able to withstand the wave in part because they opposed amnesty: Chris Shays was the only Republican congressman to survive in Connecticut, and Pete King kept his seat in New York...

...Even in Arizona, Sen. Jon Kyl, who voted against the open-borders bill, beat a Democratic candidate who supported it. Arizona voters also approved, by wide margins, three ballot measures cracking down on illegal immigration, plus one declaring English the state’s official language...

...A final piece of mythology concerns the Hispanic vote. Exit polling found that 30 percent of Hispanics voted for Republican House candidates, down from 38 percent in the 2002 midterms. To see the significance of this drop, it has to be put in context. The percentage of white voters who picked Republicans fell from 58 to 51 percent over the same period. Hispanics just followed the national trend...

Posted to Immigration at 05:39 AM | Comments (1)

Francine Busby concedes to Brian Bilbray (CA 50)

In California's 50th district, Democrat Francine Busby has finally conceded to Republican Brian Bilbray. The former famously said "you don't need papers for voting". The latter supports our immigration laws. Fred Barnes couldn't be reached for comment.

Posted to Politics at 04:12 AM | Comments (1)

Boston Herald wants to "resolve immigration reform"

The Boston Herald offers a canard-laden editorial called "Time to resolve immigration reform". Like others, they cautiously think this is a good opportunity for the Democrats and Bush to find common ground:

But many Democratic leaders do share with the Bush administration a vision for a temporary guest worker program for the people who keep the wheels of our shadow economy moving - while at the same time toughening enforcement at our borders. They should take advantage of that common ground.

Those "guests" wouldn't be "temporary". Under the Senate bill, they'd be here for three years, followed by a possible three year extension. At four years, they could apply for legal permanent resident status. And, under anything other than a very tightly controlled short-term program, our "guests" would have U.S. citizen children, and people like Bill Richardson would oppose deporting those who didn't want to leave. As for that "shadow economy", it'll still be around, as new illegal aliens come here to take advantage of future amnesties. And, needless to say, it is based on illegal activity such as identity theft and it leads to government corruption.

A meaningful compromise would be a lesson to those Republicans who preferred to hold sham hearings rather than tackle this tough issue before the election. Heck, Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.), a fan of that oh-so-practical idea of sealing the borders and deporting all 12 million illegal immigrants, is already watching from the sidelines, having lost his bid for re-election.

And, here we thought the "sham hearings" talking point had been retired. And, Hayworth supported attrition, not the mass deportations implied. And, as has been pointed out a few times already, other factors played a large role in Hayworth not being reelected.

This people just don't give up, do they?

Posted to Immigration at 02:02 AM | Comments (1)

Bill Richardson supports Elvira Arellano (illegal alien holed up in Chicago church)

New Mexico governor Bill Richardson seems to have misread the political mood a bit. He's throwing his weight behind Elvira Arellano, the illegal alien who twice entered the U.S. illegally, who was caught using a fake SSN in a job at an airport, and who's holed up in a Chicago church in defiance of an order to show up to be deported. This week he sent a letter to Bush urging that he parole her and let her stay in the U.S.:

The governor said in his letter that the case of the Arellano family illustrates the problems of the federal government not acting on a comprehensive immigration plan.

The governor told the president that permitting the family to remain in the United States, will allow the boy to "continue to be raised as the great American he has already proven to be."

I don't want to call a seven-year-old un-American, but I guess that's part of the problem, isn't it? Arellano and her activist friends are shamelessly using him as a prop and a poster boy. So, let's just say that going to Mexico and asking them to support an attempt to stay in the U.S. is not a "great American" thing to do. In fact, it's about as contrary to the best interests of the U.S. as one could do in this case.

Arellano has shown that she has no respect for our immigration laws, and, in a certain way it would be a good thing if Richardson does try to run for president. He's shown that he's willing to put his race and his support for illegal immigration ahead of what's in the U.S.'s best interests. A campaign can be started to irreparably tie him to support for criminality and a complete lack of respect for our laws and sovereignty.

Previously:
Bill Richardson and racial solidarity
Bill Richardson profile
Bill Richardson, Manny Aragon, Wackenhut, and anti-white discrimination
Schwarzenegger, Perry, Napolitano, Richardson urge "comprehensive" immigration reform

Posted to Immigration at 08:40 PM | Comments (2)

Happy International Day for Tolerance!

Today is the United Nation's "International Day for Tolerance". Obviously, anyone who's against such a day is - by definition - intolerant. And, intolerance has no place here or elsewhere, and will be extirpated as soon as it is spotted. As Our Leader Kofi Annan is fond of saying, "in our globalizing world, tolerance is more essential than ever."

This site would like to stress that our Mission Statement - as approved by a plenary of our member states - has issued its complete support for this Day, and that the only thing we're intolerant of... is intolerance! And, mean people.

This site is also working with NGO (non-governmental organizations), political officials, cultural leaders, and other interested parties to ensure that all persons celebrate this day fully. We are currently working to ensure that school curricula throughout the World teach the principles of Tolerance, observe this day as the landmark in Human History that it is, and require all schoolchildren to recite the Pledge of Tolerance every day.

We encourage every Person to print out and keep in their wallet, purse, satchel, kilt bag, fanny pack, or similar ethno-cultural-specific container the thoughts of St. Maarten Cultural Affairs Commissioner Louie Laveist:

"I am very concerned with global trends in the rise of intolerance, extremism and racism... Our island nation is a multicultural society which makes us rich due to this diversity. Each and everyone who has made St. Maarten their home must strive to uphold the principles of tolerance, pluralism and mutual respect for a peaceful coexistence. Those who are not able to abide by the aforementioned have no place in our homeland."

Now, let us sing.

Posted to MultiCultiCult at 12:35 PM | Comments (4)

How to fight Minimum Wage hikes

Republicans! Want to fight the Minimum Wage increases that both Nancy Pelosi and Teddy Kennedy favor? Point out to Democrats that their quasi-open borders policies have driven down wages for low-wage workers, and that the best way to naturally raise the minimum wage is to reduce illegal immigration by low-wage workers. With fewer low-wage workers, there will be less competition for minimum wage jobs, and employers will have to offer more. Point out that a raise in the minimum wage would increase the numbers of illegal aliens working in the "cash economy", thereby driving large numbers of low-wage American workers out of work.

They'll probably respond with a tu quoque argument, at which point you admit that, yes, the GOP leadership is part of the problem and you're trying to do something about that. But, you then stress that it takes "two to tango", and that if the Democrats strongly opposed illegal immigration instead of supported it, the GOP would be forced to stop their support.

At the very least you'll create a log jam where the Dems are forced to choose between raising the minimum wage and reducing illegal immigration.

Posted to Immigration at 12:29 PM | Comments (1)

City Council won't reconsider $2.7 million firefighter settlement despite prank photos

Tennie Pierce is a black Los Angeles firefighter who claimed that he was the victim of a race-related prank in which he was given a plate of spaghetti containing dog food. He ate two bites before he figured out what was going on. The Los Angeles City Council recently voted 11-1 to give him a $2.7 million settlement rather than take it to trial.

Since that time, KFI's John & Ken have waged a campaign to get the council to reconsider their decision, but they recently voted that down six to six. It's not known who was on the side of sanity, but it would be at least Dennis Zine and Bill Rosendahl.

This was after photos surfaced that appear to show Pierce himself taking part in other pranks against other firefighters. In fact, his lawyer says that was figured into the settlement.

Maybe there's a way for L.A. residents to sue the City Council, or perhaps his expert witness, sociologist David Wellman. According to this, he previously opined:

"[Blacks] have a gyroscope that picks up hostile stuff that somebody else would not see as hostile."

Posted to Los_Angeles at 04:27 PM | Comments (3)

Juan Jose Gutierrez, ANSWER, Party for Socialism and Liberation, and NBC News

Juan Jose Gutierrez is the director of Latino Movement USA, and NBC News featured him as a spokesman for the Hispanic community last month. A week before then, he was a featured speaker at a public forum sponsored by the "Party for Socialism and Liberation". The flyer for that is to the right, and a description of the event is here. Note that the other featured speaker was Karina Garcia, the Political Chair of the Chicano Caucus at Columbia University (columbia.edu/cu/chicanocaucus).

Did NBC News know about this? Perhaps they did, but they were convinced to run the segment without identifying his underlying beliefs because of his links to the SEIU and Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Maybe after airing that report they also found out about the Los Angeles branch of that party holding their 3rd annual "Socialism Conference" on November 11:

...The day will begin with a focus on fighting the capitalist offensive, including the meaning of the capitalist mid-term elections; immigrant rights and the case for amnesty; fighting the Minutemen and right-wing attacks; Black liberation and socialist struggle; and the struggle against racism, sexism and homophobia, and for working class unity...

...Featured speakers include Brian Becker, Party for Socialism and Liberation and National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism); Karina Garcia, Political Chair of the Chicano Caucus at Columbia University in New York; Muna Coobtee, Free Palestine Alliance; Eugene Puryear, Howard University student leader; Gloria La Riva, Coordinator of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five; Ian Thompson, Editor of PSLweb.org; Juan Jose Gutierrez, Director of Latino Movement USA; Carlos Alvarez, Youth & Student ANSWER; Angelina Corona, Executive Director of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional; and Preston Wood, Coordinator of ANSWER Coalition-LA...

Surely, the crack researchers at NBC News discovered this.

And, just as surely, they've read the article "Latinos Threaten to Take to the Streets":

Tuesday US Latino organizations threatened to carry out mass demonstrations on the streets of the United States if Congress refuses to take actions favoring immigrants.

[The executive director of the DC chapter of the Central American Resources Center (CARECEN-DC) Saul Solorzano]* urged for an all-embracing migratory reform to authenticate 11.2 million people with no identity papers.

We'll wait 110 days [for the new Democratic Congress], if in that time the legislative body does not act, "we will," he warned.

...USA Latino Movement director Juan Jose Gutierrez expressed his opposition to Congress and White House propaganda for their interests to the detriment of immigrants.

One of the points on the Democrats agenda will be modification of the US migration laws, which House Democratic leader Harry Reid called a failed system.

Nancy Pelosi, who will be first female House speaker, hopes to reach a bipartisan accord on this topic.

*In the article, he's refered to as "Central American Resources Center executive director Raul Solorzano", but his first name is actually Saul.

You can reach NBC Nightly News at nightly *at* nbc.com

Posted to Immigration at 11:40 AM | Comments (2)

Mel Martinez stabs base in back, will promote massive immigration

One of the leading MSM themes is to falsely accuse those who support our immigration laws of being bad people, mean-spirited, meanies, and the like. Unfortunately, some corrupt Republicans join in that bashing. In effect, those GOP members are crossing over to the other side and they're doing the MSM's (and the Democrats') work for them. Such moves undercut the GOP base and give power to the MSM, the Democrats, and far-left groups. And, those lies are then regurgitated over and over by the MSM and become enshrined as facts. A perfect example is the anti-Proposition 187 meme that's been propagated by people like Allan Hoffenblum. Other examples are the various Chris Cannon attacks on Tom Tancredo.

The latest example comes from the RNC chair-elect, Senator Mel Martinez:

...[He] said his goal will be to undo the election damage done by the border-enforcement-first message of most Republicans -- which he called "harshness only."

...Speaking to reporters after the Oval Office announcement, Mr. Martinez said he was "not going to do a post-mortem on the election here today." Moments later, though, he did a post-mortem on immigration, saying he saw a clear message on that issue.

..."I think we have to understand that the election did speak to one issue, and that was that -- it's not about bashing people, it's about presenting a hopeful face," said Mr. Martinez, who won his seat in 2004...

..."Border security only, enforcement only, harshness only is not the message that I believe America wants to convey," Mr. Martinez said...

Instead of, for instance, condemning the many Democrats who lied about their immigration positions or condemning Democrats for supporting illegal immigration and opposing border security, he's falsely accusing those in his own party of "bashing people". The far-left, the Democrats, and the MSM will probably use his own words against any other GOP candidate who supports our immigration laws.

Martinez' candidacy for head of the RNC will be decided in January. This would be a good opportunity for every GOP member to think for themselves and turn their backs on Bush, Rove, Martinez, and all the other GOP leaders who do not have the best interests of the U.S. at heart.

RNC member Randy Pullen - former chairman of a committee in favor of Arizona's Proposition 200 - says it's "another Harriet Miers moment". Hopefully it will be that, and hopefully the GOP base will tire of the frequency of such "moments" and decide that turning their backs on Bush is the best course of action for the GOP and for the country.

Posted to Immigration at 05:45 AM | Comments (3)

J.D. Hayworth concedes defeat

Rep. J.D. Hayworth had been holding out for all absentee votes to be counted in his race against Harry Mitchell, but has now conceded defeat. Tamar Jacoby, Fred Barnes, David Brooks, and Vicente Fox could not be reached for comment.

Posted to Politics at 04:42 AM | Comments (1)

Academic McCarthyism from the SPLC?

Say it ain't so! However, consider the case of Kevin MacDonald, a Professor of Psychology at California State University–Long Beach. If he didn't have tenure he'd probably be looking for another job, because the Southern Poverty Law Center has mounted a vigorous campaign against him which appears to be all or almost all based on smears. (The SPLC is also indirectly linked to the Mexican government and is also involved in a Georgia lawsuit which would have the effect of helping Mexico send us more of their citizens.)

For the shortest possible summary of this case, take a look at the section concerning MacDonald from the "Thirteen Scariest People in America" (alternet.org/story/43586); that section was written by two people from the SPLC. Then, take a look at Kevin MacDonald's rebuttal. Then, for the longer version, see "Heidi Does Long Beach: The SPLC vs. Academic Freedom".

If you see any MSM sources presenting the SPLC as a trustworthy source, please at least send them the first link and suggest they do a bit more research.

Posted to MultiCultiCult at 03:29 AM | Comments (3)

Comments too hot for the Sacramento Bee

Like some other newspapers, the Sacramento Bee allows readers to leave comments on their stories, and on Saturday I left two comments on the story "Dash of salesmanship: In Mexico, governor blasts border fence plan" (discussed here; article here).

Neither comment has shown up, and I'm going to assume neither was approved. Certainly this might have been a technical problem, but it might also be due to the (just slightly) hostile nature of my comments. Nevertheless, neither comment was abusive, used foul language, or anything similar. So, I've written to ombud *at* sacbee.com for an answer.

-- COMMENT 1 --
First, various people are working to make sure that "joestalin" gets his wish. There are already plans underway to join the U.S., Mexico, and Canada into a greater union. Bye bye U.S.A., hello NAU: eagleforum.org/topics/NAU

As for the article, perhaps the SacBee should consider asking a few tough questions here or there. For instance, why is a U.S. governor going to a foreign country to try to reach out to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent? Shouldn't those U.S. citizens be encouraged to think of themselves as completely American? Isn't this an example of that assimilation difficulty Arnie spoke about recently?

And, since Gloria Romero was there, perhaps the SacBee could ask her about the resolution passed by the CA Senate that supported foreign citizens marching in our streets. Isn't foreign citizens making a show of force inside a country generally considered a very bad thing, and aren't those who promote such marches generally considered, well, Quislings?

-- COMMENT 2 --
Which business leaders/groups were along for the ride, and what other links do they have to Arnold and how much money have they contributed to him? Why hasn't that been covered? (I'm going to guess that one of them is Luanna Hallstrom, can that be confirmed? Will the SacBee cover any other links she has, assuming she went along?)
-- END COMMENTS --

Note that her actual name is Luawanna Hallstrom. Since the SacBee - as well as all the other sources along for the ride - won't do their jobs, we don't know whether she or others from the Western Growers Association were there.

Posted to Immigration at 01:13 AM | Comments (1)

Shakeup: Washington Post restructures, will use "journalaros"

Washington Post executive editor Len Downie has announced a major shake-up at his paper. Many reportarial positions are being eliminated and many changes are planned:

"We are moving reporters and editors within and among staffs to accomplish this. In particular, we are moving a number of reporters from general assignment positions to more specific assignments and beats. We also are centralizing reporting and editing of some core subjects across staff lines....

He further announced that the WaPo will begin employing "journaleros", the Spanish word for "day laborer journalists". Each day, recruiting teams from the Washington Post will fan out to journalero hangouts in front of 7-11s throughout the NoVa "boom 'burbs", recruiting immigrant workers to write stories for the paper. They'll be paid in cash, and in 2007 the WaPo plans to build dormitories for the more prolific writers. "No one will notice the difference in the slightest" Downie says.

Posted to WackyHumor at 11:48 PM | Comments (0)

Charlie Gibson promotes illegal immigration on ABC Nightly News

On tonight's ABC Nightly News, anchor Charlie Gibson turned a few minutes of the broadcast into little more than an advertisement in support of illegal immigration. He first discussed the recent Hazleton-style ordinance that was passed in Farmers Branch, Texas. Then, in a peppy contrast, he informed his viewer that Houston had a different way of dealing with the issue. The ensuing report featured Gibson as the "reporter" and an illegal alien housekeeper/high school student as the sympathetic subject. She's attending a high school specifically opened for working students, and we were soon treated to an "interview" Gibson conducated with the school's principal. The latter could charitably be refered to as a "liberal" useful idiot, and during the "interview" Gibson asked a series of puffball questions and they appeared to take much humor in the fact that many of the students there were illegal aliens. Gibson even used the phrase "American dream" at least twice to refer to illegal aliens, and it was clear that Gibson saw no problem at all with people illegally crossing our borders.

This report was simply pro-illegal immigration propaganda, and it wasn't in any way journalism. If Gibson wants to redeem what ever journalistic standing he had before, perhaps he could do a little investigative journalism of himself. Maybe he could find out who exactly caused this report to be made, and why. Is it because they or their associates make money from illegal immigration? Is it to help the Democratic Party? Is it just because they're useful idiots?

While I didn't have a particularly negative opinion of Charlie Gibson before this report, I have one now, and I hope that he lost a large number of other viewers.

Unlike newspapers, television networks are generally impervious to criticism, but if enough people send them an email it might do some small amount of good. However, if you ever see Gibson in another setting - such as at a journalist confab of some kind - see if there's a way to sneak his report into the conversation in some way.

Posted to Immigration at 06:49 PM | Comments (1)

Citizen Saul Arellano gets anti-deportation resolution from Mexico

Saul Arellano is the seven-year-old son of Elvira Arellano, who's currently holed up in a hole-in-the-wall Chicago church in defiance of a court order to appear to be deported. Saul was recently taken to Mexico and appeared before their Chamber of Deputies (House) asking them to lend their support to his effort.

To the surprise of none, they complied and have passed a resolution asking the U.S. Congress to avoid deporting not only Elvira Arellano, but all other illegal aliens who have U.S. citizen children:

...If the U.S. agrees, it would "create a precedent that will benefit more than 4.9 million children who have been born in the United States and whose parents live under the threat of deportation," said Mexican congressman Jose Jacques, who lived in the United States for 33 years and has an American daughter and granddaughter...

...[Vicente Fox's] spokesman Ruben Aguilar acknowledges that Arellano broke U.S. law, but "we think there exist certain elements of a humanitarian nature that should be taken into account to avoid splitting up the family."

Needless to say, this illustrates the problems not only with illegal immigration, but with guest worker schemes as well: those guests would have U.S. citizen children, and the same techniques would be used to keep "guests" from having to go home.

Contrary to what the linked article by Julie Watson of the AP implies, it's not just "conservative columnists and anti-illegal immigration activists" who think Arellano should be deported, but both major Chicago newspapers. They realize how much damage this case could do to their support for illegal immigration. I'd say we rub as much salt as possible into their wounds by continually discussing that this case illustrates how much we need to enforce our immigration laws and avoid (at the least) long-term "guest" worker schemes.

Posted to Immigration at 05:20 PM | Comments (4)

Nancy Pelosi's culture of corruption

Speculation continues to mount as the mainstream media digs ever deeper into Nancy Pelosi's questionable business dealings and asks repeatedly whether Pelosi is part of the "Culture of Corruption".

Well, OK, so the media hasn't done that, prefering instead to offer puff pieces like "Nancy Pelosi Is Ready to Be Voice of the Majority".

While we're waiting for the MSM to do some slight version of investigative journalism:

"Nancy Pelosi's Sour Grapes" was a Halloween editorial from IBD discussing the possibility that Nanci employs illegal alien workers at her vineyards in California's Napa Valley. They don't discuss the possibility that someone is buying her grapes for an inflated price in order to mask donations, because she only lists a range of income from her properties and not an exact figure. I first linked to an article discussing this very topic over three and a half years ago, and as far as I know not a single MSM source has done any investigative journalism into this matter.

"Doug From Upland" has apparently discovered that at the least her vineyards and a property of which she's a co-owner don't employ union workers, despite her being a strong union supporter. See the video here and the thread here. There's video of KSFO's Melanie Morgan claiming that Nancy employs illegal aliens here, although as far as I know no one has stepped forward.

Stone Phillips, are you listening? I'm thinking a backlit interview with a former Nancy employee.

Then, there's "The real Nancy Pelosi — multi-millionaire, resort, dining and winery baroness who profits from non-union labor". And, there's "Pelosi's Land Deals May Put Reid's To Shame". And, earmarks!

And, the MSM should get out their owl masks, because Nancy's husband Paul Pelosi appears to be a member of the super-secretive Bohemian Club, the group that leads fun camp-outs at Bohemian Grove.

Posted to Politics at 11:14 AM | Comments (2)

Illegal immigration supporter Rudy Giuliani for president?

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani hasn't declared himself to be a candidate for president, but has started a pro-Rudy non-profit that will probably start spreading pro-Rudy propaganda. He'll present himself as uniquely qualified to fight terrorism, but some on the far-left and perhaps others will no doubt disagree. And:

On Sunday, after a speech in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Mr. Giuliani said he did not view the election as a rebuke to Republicans, but urged the party to commit itself to fiscal discipline and immigration reform.

As discussed here, Rudy is a true softie when it comes to illegal immigration. NYC was a sanctuary city, and in the referenced interview he offered not just the standard "pass the buck to the Feds" argument, but also arguments similar to those used by opponents of California's Proposition 187. In brief, he's a strong supporter of illegal immigration.

And, from an unofficial Rudy for President blog:

...The first question from the crowd was regarding (no surprise) Illegal Immigration. Rudy essentially gave three steps that need to be enacted in any immigration reform legislation. The first step is to seal the borders. Secondly, there needs to be a mechanism for those who are here illegally to come forward so that we can identify who they are and screen them for criminals and potential terrorists. Thirdly, any immigration reform measure would have to include an English language requirement to foster assimilation into American Culture... Seems to me that this is exactly what the vast majority of Americans want: Seal the borders first!, Screen out the criminals, the drug dealers, and potential terrorists; and require anyone who stays to learn our language and assimilate...

Most Americans don't want illegal immigration, and Rudy's plan - which is just about the same as Bush's plan - would increase illegal immigration as well as increasing the risk of terrorist infiltration.

Posted to Politics at 05:23 AM | Comments (5)

Barnes, Kristol pass canard baton to Tamar Jacoby

She's back! Our favorite amnestibot, Tamar Jacoby, offers "A Wedge Too Far: The immigration issue didn't work." It's a continuation of the long line of articles previously discussed here. A sample:

...Immigration was the dog that didn't bark. It did not prove an effective wedge issue. And as far as could be determined, it decided few if any contests. No congressional or gubernatorial candidate otherwise poised to win was defeated primarily because of his or her views on immigration. No more than one or two, if that many, struggling to catch up managed to ride it to victory. And the most stridently restrictionist candidate in the country, Arizona congressional hopeful Randy Graf, who ran a campaign based almost entirely on immigrant-bashing, went down in flaming defeat... [...much deleted...] ...The Republican party has maneuvered itself onto the wrong side of the immigration issue. What it--and the country--needs is for reformers like President Bush and Sen. McCain to take up the issue again and rescue the GOP from the restrictionist corner it has backed itself into.

Even the BushBots at PowerLine partially disagree with her:

...But did it hurt to be a hard-liner? I don't think so. One certainly can make the case that it may have hurt Randy Graf and J.D. Hayworth in Arizona. But, as Jacoby says, Graf came off not just as tough on illegal immigration but as fanatical, and neither his party nor the incumbent Republican he defeated in the primary supported him...

Of course, neither Jacoby nor PL are correct that Graf was an extremist, although certainly the far-left or those who have a profit motive might say otherwise. And, the exact reasons why the national GOP in effect supported Giffords remain to be disclosed, but it probably has something to do with the fact that Graf would have cost their contributors money.

Posted to Immigration at 10:18 PM | Comments (2)

Amnesty supporter Mel Martinez to head Republican National Committee

Florida Senator Mel Martinez will be the new head of the Republican National Committee ("RNC"), sources say. He'll be continuing as a Senator, with the day-to-day operations handled by someone else.

Martinez is the co-sponsor of the Senate amnesty bill (2611), also called the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006" or simply "Hagel-Martinez". In 2004, he opposed amnesty, now he's a strong supporter.

He's perfect for the Bush vision of the GOP, but abysmal for the U.S. Hopefully a third party will form that will offer an alternative, because this move makes the GOP even less attractive than they were before.

Of course, this move will probably come as a blow to another one of Bush's (presumed) top picks, and someone who - unlike Mel - will soon retire from his current position: Vicente Fox.

Posted to Immigration at 02:00 PM | Comments (3)

Jesse McKinley/NYT's hidden assumptions

Jesse McKinley of the New York Times offers "Immigrant Protection Rules Draw Fire" about sanctuary cities. It's certainly not as bad as it could be, but it labels those opposed to those policies as "hard-liners", "conservatives", and the like. The supporters - who McKinley and/or his editor presumably consider to be "normal" - are not identified with corresponding labels.

* It states that "[c]ritics argue that sanctuary policies discourage the police from enforcing laws". It doesn't mention the impact that those policies have on encouraging additional illegal immigration.

* Here are the phrases used to describe opponents:
"conservative legal groups and politicians"
"immigration hard-liners"
"Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group"
"Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which lobbies for stronger immigration enforcement"

In contrast, the supporters are not described as "liberals" or "far-left". Those listed as "[s]anctuary supporters" are: S.F. Supervisor Gerardo C. Sandoval; Lt. Paul Vernon, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department; and the Major Cities Chiefs Association. Other unlabeld supporters are: "Kamala D. Harris, the San Francisco district attorney", "Joan Friedland, an immigration lawyer for the National Immigration Law Center", and the caption to the lead photo:

In San Francisco, Kavitha Sreeharsha, left, a lawyer, with a translator and a client at Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, a group that has been active in fighting human trafficking and other abuses in the Bay Area.

The only slightly negative label is "[a]dvocates for illegal immigrants", of which only one is named: "Lucas Guttentag, the director of the Immigrants’ Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union".

Posted to Immigration at 09:01 AM | Comments (0)

Citizen Journalist Assignment Desk: compare Arnold coverage

Here's something citizen journalists, media critics, or bloggers could look into:

How did the media's coverage of Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2006 reelection campaign differ from the coverage he received in his two previous campaigns (the recall and the campaign for his propositions)?

Posted to Bloggage at 07:05 AM | Comments (0)

Michael Chertoff admits he isn't doing his job (guest worker program)

DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff spoke to the editorial board of the Dallas Morning News, and admitted that he isn't doing his job:

"We are going to go after systematic, willful violators with heavy criminal cases, where people face real jail time, losing businesses, paying millions and millions of dollars in fines. Because that is the only way you will start to change the behavior that has driven a lot of this activity in. Now, we're going to get a lot of squawking from business, whose basic argument will be that "our business rests upon the ability to hire people who are not Americans [and] therefore, if you punish us you're going to drive us out of business." So we've got to find a way to satisfy that labor need without compromising our border control or security..."

Aren't our "border control or security" a much higher priority than avoiding "squawking from business"? Isn't it Chertoff's job to secure the U.S.? As indicated by his use of the future tense, why hasn't he already been doing that?

To see this more clearly, pretend that he said this while being under consideration for the job. In that case, those who truly cared about the security of the U.S. would not take him seriously. If he said this right after being appointed for the job, those who truly cared about security would not confirm him. But, he's saying this after having been in the job for almost two years.

This would be a perfect opportunity for the Democrats to point out how regard that the Bush administration has for U.S. security. And, in addition to any political benefits, they could also help this country by replacing him with someone who'd put the security of the U.S. ahead of less important issues. Unfortunately, I don't think the Democrats will take up this cause.

And, not only does he admit that he's not doing his job, he comes perilously close to blackmailing the U.S.:

"And that means you've got to create a program that registers people who want to work, taxes them, makes sure that they are within the system so that when they're mistreated they have recourse..."

As previously noted, he's ultimately saying that until the Bush administration gets its guest worker program, they aren't going to take border security seriously. Then, he accurately describes the current situation:

"But what we're not going to do is have a GWP [guest worker program] by failing to enforce the law."

Needless to say, the DMN's editorial board didn't call him on that megawhopper: the Bush administration has been largely failing to enforce the law for six years, resulting in a de facto "guest worker program".

Asking him a follow-up question pointing out that obvious huge lie is grade-school level journalism.

Related:
Mike Pence "compromise" amnesty pimped by Chertoff, White House

Chertoff promotes "Guest" Worker Program at House meeting

Chertoff promotes "Temporary Worker Program" at Senate meeting

And, Chertoff is similar to the previous incompetent Asa Hutchinson:

Rounding up all illegals 'not realistic'

Starring John Cornyn as "Asa Hutchinson"

"The Truth About Asa Hutchinson"

Posted to Immigration at 05:43 AM | Comments (1)

"Immigration-Reduction did NOT lose at the polls"

An email here from Roy Beck of Numbers USA discusses the pro-amnesty forces incorrectly trying to spin the election results as a victory for their side. For instance:

Loss of Election by Republicans Based on Their Immigration-Reduction Grade of This Congress

* 9.6% with an A grade lost

* 25.0% with an F grade lost

* 9.2% with a B grade lost

* 6.4% with a C grade lost

* 9.5% with a D grade lost

Posted to Immigration at 01:54 AM | Comments (1)

Fred "Shifty Eyes" Barnes on comprehensive immigration reform

Over the weekend, Fred Barnes and Morton Kondracke - hosts of Fox News' Beltway Boys show - gave the video version of their claim that the election results mean that voters want "comprehensive immigration reform". Here's a summary, and here's another one:

Barnes just touted himself while grasping his chest ("manly style") that he "is a Conservative" (he's not) and that Ronald Reagan "wasn't opposed to illegal immigration" -- that "the rejectionists" (as both Kondracke and Barnes call those who oppose illegal immigration and seek border security) "were defeated" and that "even the Weekly Standard supports" open borders.

When he said the bit about Reagan his eyes oscillated wildly back and forth and he gave the tiniest glimpse of a smile. This time that strange activity was even more pronounced than the earlier instance I pointed out. Now, maybe he's got some kind of a nervous tic or something. But, the explanation I find much more likely is that he knows he's full of it.

Posted to Immigration at 09:42 PM | Comments (0)

Barack Obama middle name: Hussein

Senator Barack Obama's middle name is Hussein. I strongly urge everyone not to take advantage of this fact. No, really, don't call him something like "Barack Hussein" or something.

Posted to Politics at 11:28 AM | Comments (3)

Infiltrator watch: DailyKos meets demographic hegemony

"Duke1676" blogs about immigration matters at his own site and other places including DailyKos. He's on the other side, and he recently offered a standard smear piece on Tom Tancredo. However, while his "suggestions on the upcoming immigration debate" does include his own misguided views, it does have some advice that others at DK and on other sites should consider following. Namely, doing research, not entirely trusting sources with their own axe to grind, etc.

But, that's not why we're here.

One of the comments on that entry is from a user called "cador", who's only written one diary entry and six comments, the first on 11/03/06 (click his name to find those). His views seem a little... extreme. While some of the Kossacks disagree with him, none of them call him on his extremist views. Perhaps that's because of his use of words like "AmeriKKKa", a true marker of a Kossack Kid. I suspect that he's really far out there, or he's playing some kind of serious or not-so-serious game. And, his comments appear to have originally been written in Cambodian, Chinese, Russian, or German. Assuming the latter, I've taken the liberty of (automatically) translating them back:

Das RepubliKKKlans und das fromme REICH haben weg für weit zu langes mit Bigotry und Homophobie erhalten, ist es Zeit für Progressisten, irgendeinen ernsten tretenden Kolben zu bilden und diese fundies zu den reeducation Lagern zu schicken, damit sie die amerikanische Weise beachten und respektieren können.

(He wants to send religious fundamentalists to "reeducation camps" so they can learn the American way).

From the first thread, here's a re-translation of parts of his comments:

Und indem wir zugelassene Immigration erhöhten, könnten wir eine dauerhafte demokratische Majorität verordnen und das Rethuglicans wird auf einem Hinterteil Caucus im Rassisten verringert, landwirtschaftlich, Gewehr-toting Enklaven im tiefen Süden...

Die Sierra Club hat kein Problem mit Immigration und ich nicht auch nicht.

Es gibt zu viele Arbeiten, die Amerikaner nicht erledigen möchten. George Bush, Rethuglican bastard, daß er ist, wird schließlich führt einen vernünftigen Gastarbeiter Programmdank des eben gewählten demokratischen Kongresses (neugierig, den es seine eigene xenophobic Partei im Haus war, das ihn auf diesem jedem Schritt der Weise blockierte).

Sobald Amerika kleiner als das 50% Weiß ist, hat der Rassist RepubliKKKlans keine Wahrscheinlichkeit in der Hölle von überhaupt wieder gewählt überhaupt erhalten.

(As soon as America is less than 50% white, the "racist RepubliKKKans" won't stand a chance in hell of getting elected.)

My apologies to Germans and German speakers everywhere. UPDATE below. UPDATE: Unfortunately, "cador" has been designated a troll by the Kos Kommunity because of this latest diary, which includes this:

Let us heed the words of Art Torres, Democratic State Senator from California:

"Power is not given to you. You have to take it. Remember, 187 is the last gasp of white America in California. Understand that."

Live it, breathe it, Kossacks. As more and more people of Color come to America we are making it more impossible for the RethugliKKKlans to ever becoming elected again, except perhaps as a rump caucus representing racist, rural gun-toting districts.

The quote in that excerpt is true, and Art Torres is now the Chairman of the CA Democratic Party. Apparently unaware that such comments came from one of their own, one says, "Reminds me of rhetoric out of the Black Panthers. Bigotry is bigotry. One would think people would know that by now" and another saying, "this diary is divisive hyperbolic racist joke...." And, someone else points out this previous comment from "cador":

Only paranoid Rethuglican idiots believe in firearms ownership. As far as I'm concerned (and most progressives would agree), all guns should be banned. If we get a Supreme Court majority to agree that the 2nd amendment is unconstitutional and uncivilized, then America's standing in the world, especially in Europe would improve tenfold.

To all the other "cadors" out there, I'd suggest having a bit longer history, then start slipping in the questionable suggestions. And, to all of those who are currently following that more effective strategy, keep up the good work.

Posted to Bloggage at 08:37 AM | Comments (3)

Kweisi Mfume: "right people" needed for Maryland

It wasn't too many decades ago when "the right kind of people" was a racist code word. Guess what? It still is. In Maryland, Democrat Rep. Ben Cardin (white) won his Senate seat against Michael Steele (black). In the primary, Cardin beat former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume.

Now:

Saying Maryland Democratic leaders must do more to encourage black candidates so "we do not have another Michael Steele problem," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean on Thursday criticized the state party's lack of diversity on its recent winning tickets...

Mfume doesn't think he got as much support as he could have, and says:

"I agree with [Chairman Gov. Dr. Howard Dean M.D.], and we're all Democrats who believe more than anything else that the Democratic Party really holds the best hope for that kind of racial and gender diversity... At the same time it's not enough to just get people in the process. They really do have to be the right people who really do care about the communities in this state."

Translating that into Alabama-in-the-50s-speak is left as an exercise.

Posted to MultiCultiCult at 05:09 AM | Comments (1)

Borderland mayors oppose border fence

From this:

Mayors from Mexican and U.S. border cities signed a document Friday denouncing U.S. plans to build new border fences.

In the document, the mayors of Eagle Pass, Texas, and Ciudad Acuna and Piedras Negras, both in the Mexican state of Coahuila, declare the U.S.-Mexico border an area for union and solidarity — not division.

"From El Paso to Brownsville, Texas, we're against building the wall. ... That's why we're here today to support our neighbors," Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster said...

Posted to Immigration at 10:39 PM | Comments (4)

Amnesty proponents can't be trusted (Democrats waver on border fence)

One of the clearest arguments against "comprehensive immigration reform" (aka a massive amnesty) is that the new laws would be enforced in the same manner as the current laws: only when necessary and unwillingly so. This amnesty will fail in the same ways as the 1986 amnesty, and the same forces that oppose enforcement now will continue to oppose enforcement, and they'll have even more power as a result of the amnesty.

And, they're tipping their hand even before beginning to push for the amnesty. From "Democrats to 'revisit' law creating border fence":

Democrats will look again at the legislation mandating 698 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border and might seek to scrap the plan altogether when they take control of Congress next year.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi Democrat, told reporters this week that he expected to "revisit" the issue when he becomes chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee in the 110th Congress.

Mr. Thompson said the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) new border enforcement program, known as the Secure Border Initiative or SBI Net -- which includes monitors, cameras and other integrated surveillance systems -- is a viable alternative to fencing.

"We might do away with it, or look at [integrating it into] SBI Net," he said. "A virtual fence rather than a real one."

President Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff have voiced similar concerns about building the fence...

Thompson's immigration-related votes get an F-, and some of his votes are listed here.

However, from a May 4 article:

"Most blacks don't think migrant workers hurt their chances to get work, with the exception of a few industries -- most notably construction -- and they want to show solidarity with the immigrants," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi Democrat.

But, he said, people are put off by the rhetoric used to support a guest-worker program for illegal aliens already in the U.S.

"The most insulting thing you hear is that [immigrants] are doing jobs that we won't do ... as if the idea is that if we won't do a back-breaking job for $5.15 an hour without protections -- health care, workers' compensation -- [it] means we are shiftless and lazy. That is simply an insult," Mr. Thompson said...

Posted to Immigration at 03:22 PM | Comments (2)

Nancy Pelosi "hopeful" about a "comprehensive immigration overhaul"

From this:

U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, who is in line to become Speaker of the House, is hopeful a bipartisan agreement on comprehensive immigration overhaul will be reached by the new Democratic-controlled Congress, said her spokeswoman Jennifer Crider.

"She raised the issue with the president when she met with him as one of the issues she hopes they can work together on," Crider said...

Posted to Immigration at 11:14 AM | Comments (3)

Arnold Schwarznegger: no immigration "reform" is "crazy", "insane"

The possibility that California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is simply a Bush/Big Business puppet asked to go to Mexico to try to drum up support for a massive illegal alien amnesty increases with his latest outbursts. He had a "private" meeting with Mexican president-elect Felipe Calderon. Then, his helpers played a portion of the video tape recording of the "private" meeting to reporters.

Arnie says of the fence:

"It is crazy for the federal government not to simultaneously ... also create a law where we can bring more people into the country legally."

Some other quotes from that meeting or from before:

"The good thing is that new blood comes to Washington, new Democrats, new Republicans... I think there is a better chance to move immigration reform forward much quicker... ...It is insane ... not to have been able to accomplish ['comprehensive' 'reform'] this year..."

Oddly enough, I'm reminded of George P. Bush's big trip to Mexico during which he dissed the Border Patrol.

UPDATE: There's a longer Arnie quote from the "private" meeting in this article from Kevin Yamamura:

"We can't get enough workers into our country, so it has a direct effect on our economy... You have to literally simultaneously go and also create a law where we can lift the cap and bring more people into the country legally so they can hire people legally. ... It's, like, insane not to go and not to have been able to accomplish that."

The last also contains this passage in which Arnold gets a cookie from Calderon, and racial demagogues then try to sell him on passing Mexico-friendly proposals:

...The governor also boasted to Calderon that he received 40 percent of the Latino vote in Tuesday's election. Told that Republican governors historically have received less than that, the president-elect replied, "That's amazing. The Latino people really, really like you." Three exit polls showed the governor receiving between 33 percent and 41.5 percent of the Latino vote in Tuesday's election, though at least one political strategist said those numbers seemed high.

State Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Montebello, said those numbers show that Schwarzenegger is doing "very well" for a Republican governor, but she suggested he has room to improve. Escutia was one of three Democratic Latino state legislators joining Schwarzenegger on the trip.

"Frankly, if I were them, I wouldn't settle for 40 percent," she said.

"I would want to get more. However, on key issues of concern to the Latino community, I think the governor needs to improve. We have outstanding the issue of the driver's license. We have outstanding the issue of tuition assistance for undocumented immigrant kids. And what are we going to do about English-language learners?"

In his meeting with Calderón, the governor reiterated his opposition to issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants until the federal government approves regulations under a national identification card act. The governor vetoed a bill this year to allow licenses once the federal regulations are approved. Schwarzenegger told Calderón that the driver's license issue had depressed his support among Latinos.

"I could have gotten way over 40 percent of the Latino votes but the sticking point is the driver's licenses," Schwarzenegger said.

Another traveling legislator, Sen. Gloria Romero, said that driver's licenses were taken away in 2003 because of "some anti-immigrant hysteria." She said the issue is not the most important for Latinos, who are concerned about jobs and education, but that it is a symbolic one.

"Now is the opportunity, as the governor has demonstrated on so many issues before, is the time to lead," Romero said...

Posted to Immigration at 09:00 PM | Comments (2)

Randal Archibold/NYT: Democratic win could lead to amnesty

Randal Archibold - frequent co-conspirator with Rachel Swarns on New York Times articles about immigration - offers "Democratic Victory Raises Spirits of Those Favoring Citizenship for Illegal Aliens". If their search function works correctly, this is the only NYT article this year using "illegal aliens" in the title; in 2005 there were two; one in 2004; 2003 was a banner year, with at least five. Nevertheless, such baby steps towards the truth should be encouraged.

The article points out that those "spirits" are dampened somewhat because some of the new Democratic winners campaigned with a "tough approach to illegal immigration", which is one way of saying they want to enforce our laws. We're also informed that Randy Graf is a "self-described Minuteman border vigilante"; I tend to doubt that, since "vigilante" is a smear started by our very own "American" president.

And:

Still, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington group favoring tighter limits on immigration, said six state ballot initiatives making life harder on illegal immigrants were approved by voters on Tuesday, four of them in Arizona, where immigration is intensely discussed, and two in Colorado.

I doubt whether they said it in the same way that Archibold says they said it.

And:

The election "shows what we have been saying all along, that the anti-immigrant, enforcement-only rhetoric to motivate conservative voters was not reflecting where the majority of Americans are on this issue," said Angela Sembrano, director of the Central American Resource Center in Los Angeles, one of the groups that helped organize large pro-immigrant marches in the spring.

The marches were, obviously, pro-illegal immigration, not simply "pro-immigrant". And, Chung-Wha Hong, executive director the New York Immigration Coalition, is quoted as saying that their goal would remain "legalization for as many people as possible."

Posted to Immigration at 04:52 PM | Comments (2)

An immigration challenge for Andrew Sullivan

In addition to various other things, Sully is wrong on immigration, saying this:

And we may get a sensible compromise on immigration.

That "compromise" - otherwise known as "comprehensive" "reform" - would vastly increase legal immigration and would lead to millions of new illegal aliens coming here in expectation of receiving the next amnesty. It would have many other negative consequences, but let's concentrate on just two:

1. Since the 1986 amnesty was never really enforced, and since the same types of forces (growers, the far-left, etc.) that pushed that through are now encouraging the new amnesty, what specific assurances can Sully offer that the new amnesty would be enforced?

2. Hopefully we can agree that Mexico has been able to obtain a good deal of political power inside the U.S. due to all of the legal and illegal immigrants that they've sent us. And, the new amnesty would increase that power. Does Sully have any plans that would counteract their political power, or is he not concerned about Mexico obtaining even more political power inside the U.S.?

Posted to Immigration at 04:43 PM | Comments (2)

AVWatch: Villaraigosa first former MEChA leader to make big leagues

Duke Helfand of the Los Angeles Times offers a hagiography of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in "Mayor to reap spoils of election victories".

He has a vision "of an eco-friendly metropolis with less traffic, more affordable housing, new trees and perhaps a subway to the sea." And, Aztlan! Except, that's not mentioned.

It acknowledges one of the reasons AV might have avoided endorsing Phil Angelides until late:

Meanwhile, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's victory on the same ballot means that California's top job will be vacant in four years, clearing a path for Villaraigosa if he elects to go that route.

We're informed that he's a "comer", in the sense of being a "Latino version of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, an African American." And, while no details are provided on what they discussed, it mentions Tony's dinner in Washington DC with Felipe Calderon.

Then, after his various other miraculous activities are described, he says - "with a grin" that he's "very, very close to both [Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid]". Then, it looks like someone is looking for a job:

"He's like one of the star minor league players that you're expecting to be an all-star," said Chris Lehane, a Democratic consultant who served as former Vice President Al Gore's press secretary. "Once you make that jump, you have to hit major league pitching, but the expectation is that he will."

Once Tony hits the big leagues - if he ever does - he's going to be outside the sphere of influence of the Los Angeles Times and "reporters" like Duke Helfand. One of the 110MPH sliders Tony's going to get is the fact that he's a former campus radical and former leader of the racial separatist group MEChA. And, while he has somewhat renounced that group, that renunciation is belied by his continual radical statements and actions.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 11:27 AM | Comments (2)

Sen. Bob Menendez "a person of interest"; subpoenas

From this:

Three days after the election of New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), FBI agents are preparing to serve another round of subpoenas in a case involving Menendez's financial relationship with a community organization that received federal funding with Menendez's help.

The new subpoenas, from the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey, will be served on a circle of people "associated with the senator and his office," a senior government source told ABC News. Sen. Menendez is not considered a formal "target" of the investigation at this point, according to investigators who describe him only as "a person of interest" in the federal investigation.

The case, according to investigators, centers on $329,000 in rent payments made to then-Congressman Menendez from the community group at the same time he helped the group obtain federal funding...

Posted to Politics at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)

"House GOP's immigration strategy no 'magic bullet'"

This is an entrant for the Meme: Graf, Hayworth losses = support for "comprehensive immigration reform" post, but, because it contains some more in-depth analysis in addition to the meme it's in its own post.

...Republicans were unable to turn the immigration issue into a winner on Tuesday thanks in large part to their opponents' abilities to support comprehensive reform and yet still cast themselves as "me-too border hawks" who agreed on most aspects of enforcement, said John Fonte, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.

Fonte said the tough border approach did help certain Republicans, including Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl and Peter Roskam, who held retiring Rep. Henry Hyde's Illinois seat for the party. But it did little to help Republicans as a whole save their 15-seat majority.

"It wasn't a silver bullet," Fonte said. "For someone like Hayworth who was bogged down with Abramoff stuff, it couldn’t turn it around for them. And Graf, with no money, it couldn’t turn it around for him.”

Fonte said Republicans found it difficult to differentiate their positions when their opponents came out tough on the border.

Giffords drew attention several months ago for an ad in which she drew a line in the sand near the border. Mitchell hammered Hayworth for being a part of a Republican majority that saw illegal immigration skyrocket over the last decade.

Margaret Kenski, a GOP pollster in Arizona who polls for Kyl, echoed Fonte’s sentiments. She said Arizona Democrats, led by Gov. Janet Napolitano and her move to declare a state of emergency on the border last year, moved to the center on the issue to make themselves accessible to voters.

Kenski credited Democrats’ recruitment of the non-ideological and beloved high school teacher and former Tempe Mayor Harry Mitchell with Hayworth’s demise, but suggested neither Hayworth nor Graf were successful enough with other issues besides illegal immigration, such as healthcare.

“It’s necessary but not sufficient,” Kenski said. “You can’t run on just that.”

Voters clearly favor a comprehensive approach, but when further questioned, want to see the enforcement piece come first, Kenski said...

If they were given the full details on what the "comprehensive approach" would involve, most likely many more people would oppose it.

Posted to Immigration at 09:39 AM | Comments (1)

Arnold Schwarzenegger goes to Mexico after Mexican-American vote, cheap labor

The day after the (U.S.) midterm election, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger flew to Mexico to discuss topics such as immigration. The article by Kate Folmar of the MediaNews Sacramento Bureau is a strange beast, at times mocking the governator, using inappropriate language (Arnold's "post-election high"; his trip to China was a "tonic for his special election hangover", etc.), spouting talking points, and offering innuendo. The impression I'm left with is that we're living inside a corporatist nightmare and that Arnold is just a tool of business interests. He works for them and not for the bulk of California citizens. Whether intentional or not, it's probably well-deserved. A related AP report by Laura Kurtzman ("Schwarzenegger says Washington 'stuck'") has some additional details on the jaunt.

Arnie will meet with both Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon. First lady/real governor Maria Shriver will - "[a]s is her wont" - be delivering humanitarian aid to Chiapas. (No meeting with Subcomandante Marcos is apparently planned; outreach only goes so far). The AP report has Arnold sounding very Bush-like:

"I think this is good that we have new blood coming to Washington, that we have new people with new ideas coming to Washington... because Washington was stuck."

He lauds bipartisanship, and also speaks out against the border fence (the AP lies and calls it a "wall") [UPDATE: See below]. And, he supported again Bush's "guest" worker scheme. He also presents himself as a model of how Republicans could govern by reaching across the aisle. Of course, in his case he's reaching across the aisle to people like Antonio Villaraigosa and Fabian Nunez, two people who have questionable allegiance to this country. As an example of how bad this meme is, Insty promoted it here, and Pajamas Media promoted it at the page that links to. Returning to the MediaNews report:

The governor is traveling with more than 60 business delegates, representing agriculture, entertainment, banking and tourism concerns -- several of which have made generous donations to the governor and his political causes.

Needless to say, the ag interests are strongly interested in cheap labor, and the banking interests are probably interested in helping illegal aliens send money home. In fact, the AP article says, he was "traveling with California farmers who were unable to harvest their crops because of a lack of workers". (Whether one of those is Luawanna Hallstrom is not known.)

Meanwhile, here in what is still apparently our country, frequent quote source Jack Pitney of Claremont McKenna says:

"I think Schwarzenegger is thinking long-term... The Republican Party can't survive forever without a substantial share of the Latino vote."

While most Latinos in California are Mexican-American, one wonders whether going to Mexico is the best way to reach out to Puerto Ricans or Argentinians. And one wonders whether it's good to reach out to a specific ethnic group by going to the country from which they or their ancestors came. Doesn't that discourage assimilation? Doesn't that encourage them to maintain ties to the "old country" rather than becoming 100% Americans? Why, Arnold even recognized the proximity of Mexico as an impediment to assimilation, and that's stated in the article. Maybe one side of Arnold knows something that the other side doesn't.

We're also informed that, according to the William C. Velasquez Institute, Arnie got 41.5% of the Latino vote, and this was apparently a high for a Republican.

Then, we get some interesting innuendo I wasn't aware of:

Schwarzenegger trade missions tend to be elaborate spectacles that rack up serious expenses. Unseen donors underwrite travel for the governor and his staff through the tax-exempt California Protocol Foundation, run under the auspices of the California Chamber of Commerce. Delegates pay their own way. And the state covers some minor costs.

The protocol foundation arrangement aggravates campaign finance watchdogs who see it as a covert way for donors to court favor.

Chamber of Commerce head Allan Zaremberg says the governor is not influenced. And he doesn't know who is giving. Donors "have an expectation of confidentiality when they contribute," he said.

The protocol foundation's 2005 tax returns show that it spent more than $1.2 million to "lessen the burden of government" in promoting "California as a place to do business." That number probably reflects costs of last year's mission to China, plus some expenses from a similar mission to Japan in late 2004.

UPDATE: Arnold himself called it a wall, and he's not opposed to it, he just thinks it's incomplete:

"Approving a law to build a wall between the United States and Mexico is an incomplete way to solve the problem... That´s why a guest-worker program must be functioning at the same time."

Posted to California at 05:59 AM | Comments (1)

Firefighter eats dog food, gets $2.7 million

From this:

A black firefighter who was served dog food in his spaghetti by fellow firefighters will be paid more than $2.7 million to settle a lawsuit alleging racial harassment within the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The award, approved on an 11-1 vote Wednesday by the Los Angeles City Council, is the latest in a recent string of settlements of lawsuits by firefighters claiming discrimination and harassment and retaliation against those who complain.

...Firefighter Tennie Pierce, 51, alleged in his lawsuit that Firefighter Jorge Arevalo mixed canned dog food into Pierce's dinner at their Westchester station two years ago; that Capt. John Tohill purchased the dog food; and that Capt. Chris Burton knew about the prank but didn't warn Pierce. All three men were present when Pierce ate the dog food.

Pierce "took a large bite, at which time he noticed the other firefighters were laughing and making noises," the lawsuit says. He took a second bite, then demanded to know what was in his food, "but no one would tell him." Pierce then left the kitchen "with his co-workers laughing at him."

A Fire Department investigation suggested the incident was intended to "humble" Pierce — who stands 6 feet 5 — after his team won a fire station volleyball game. A lawyer for one of the defendants initially called the incident "a good-natured prank ... [not] in any way motivated by race."

But a UC Santa Cruz professor who was hired by Pierce's attorney to review department records of discrimination complaints said the prank was clearly intended to "humiliate and dehumanize" Pierce.

"The association of a black man and dog food resonates with the deep historical roots of slavery and the corresponding dehumanization," said sociologist David Wellman [bio], co-author of "Whitewashing Race: Colorblind Policies in a Color Conscious America."

One would think if there were any specific association between African-Americans and dog food you'd be able to find it within the first 100 searches. The "expert witness'" stated speciality is finding "hidden" (white) racism, which is reminiscent of witch hunters using various clues to find witches.

The only Councilpersonage voting against the award was Dennis Zine. John and Ken of KFI will be leading a campaign to send cans of dog food to the other 11 Councilbeings who voted for the award.

Posted to MultiCultiCult at 04:13 AM | Comments (5)

About half of Arizona Hispanics voted for official English proposition

From this:

About half the Hispanics who voted Tuesday in Arizona supported a successful ballot proposal that makes English the state's official language, according to an exit poll by The Associated Press.

While whites and blacks favored it overwhelmingly, Hispanics and other racial groups were divided over Proposition 103, which also requires that government functions be conducted in English.

Like three other immigration measures on the Arizona ballot, Proposition 103 drew in support in the 70 percent range. People on both side of the immigration debate said they weren't surprised by Hispanic support for the proposal.

..."I think our sense that the Hispanic community is monolithic is just shattered when these issues come before us," [Fred Solop, a political science professor and pollster at Northern Arizona University] said.

The poll of 2,523 voters was conducted for AP and television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.

The survey included 600 absentee voters interviewed by telephone during the past week and their responses were weighted to represent 20 percent of the total sample — their estimated proportion of the state's electorate. Results were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, higher for subgroups...

Posted to Immigration at 11:06 PM | Comments (1)

J.D. Hayworth hasn't lost yet...

Arizona Rep. J.D. Hayworth has not yet conceded in his apparent loss to Democrat Harry Mitchell. In fact, there are about 250,000 ballots still to be counted in Maricopa County; only part of that number would be in the 5th District.

This is the current total:

Mitchell: 73,762/51%
Hayworth: 67,830/46%
Severin:4,754/3%

One analyst says that Hayworth would need 80% of the remaining votes (which are less than those above), but commenters on the first link think he'd only need 53%.

Posted to Immigration at 09:05 PM | Comments (1)

Nancy Pelosi, with flowers in her hair

From cartoonist Linda Eddy.

Posted to WackyHumor at 05:33 PM | Comments (1)

Bush, Calderon promote "comprehensive" immigration "reform"

Our allegedly American president welcome Mexican president-elect Felipe Calderon to the White House just two days after the midterm election, and promoted "comprehensive" reform:

PRESIDENT BUSH: ...I have made it very clear to the President-elect that Mexico is a priority of this administration... I know a fair amount about Mexico; after all, I was the governor of Texas. I assured him that we will work very closely together. We talked about trade. We talked about mutual interests, fighting drugs, and we talked, of course, about migration. And I assured the President-elect that the words I said in the very Oval Office that we sit about a comprehensive immigration vision are words I still believe strongly.

...PRESIDENT-ELECT CALDERON: (As translated.) President Bush and I had a very good conversation today. And we reaffirmed the purpose that we both had, which is to strengthen the bilateral relationship between Mexico and the United States even more.

I expressed to President Bush my concern regarding the issue of migration. President Bush was very open to all the arguments that I have presented to him. And we both stressed the need to have a comprehensive vision with which we can move forward. This is, of course, an extremely important issue. It is not the only issue in our bilateral relationship... We want to foster our trade relationship, our economic relationship even more. We both understand that the only solution to many of the problems that we have is to create well-paid jobs in Mexico. And for that, we need even more investment. We will continue to show the importance of democracy, the importance of free trade, the importance of all of these issues that will make us an even stronger nation, which will also strengthen the bilateral relationship... [etc...]

Thankfully, Greg Flakus has jogged my memory that I meant to mention Bush's choice of words:

The president's use of the word migration is sure to ruffle the feathers of many critics of his immigration policy because that word is often used by groups who see the influx of Mexicans across the border as part of the natural flow of labor. The word is also used by groups who believe Mexicans have a special right to come to the United States since much of the land in the American southwest was part of Mexico and was taken by the United States after the war with Mexico that ended in 1848.

Posted to Immigration at 03:39 PM | Comments (1)

"Mexico's Calderon Heartened By Outcome of U.S. Elections"

Mexico president-elect Felipe Calderon met with reporters and editors from the Washington Post yesterday. No word is given on whether he gave them talking points, and the article contents don't entirely live up to the headline. The only thing that comes close is the first paragraph:

Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon said yesterday that Democratic gains in Congress could lead to "room for improvement" in U.S.-Mexican relations, a suggestion that headway may be made on immigration and other bilateral issues.

Related:

Vicente Fox welcomes Democratic control of Congress

Terrorists, Enemies of America Applaud Election

Posted to Immigration at 03:31 PM | Comments (1)

Chris Cannon, Howard Berman promote immigration "reform" compromise

From "Bush eyes Democrats for help on amnesty":

"With alignment now in Congress and the White House, this is a unique opportunity [to pass 'comprehensive immigration reform']," said Rep. Howard L. Berman, California Democrat, a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and a leader on the issue.

Berman also signed on to the Graf/Hayworth meme. Then, they quote Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT/AILA/MALDEF):

"Over the last two years, people who have been in my position on immigration have done well, and people who have been more extreme have done badly"...

He said Republicans goofed by not passing a bill, because they will now be forced to accept Democratic legislation far closer to amnesty.

"If we'd done this as Republicans, we wouldn't even have the argument of pathway to citizenship," he said.

Mr. Cannon said Democrats will now get credit for solving the problem, and said Mr. Tancredo will be left with "a soapbox to pound the living daylights out of people who are scared of America changing."

Obviously, whether the "pathway to citizenship" is in the bill or not, it's going to be there in any form of amnesty or long-term "guest" worker plan: we aren't, for instance, going to have much luck deporting "guests" who've had U.S. citizen children. And, of course, one of the reasons why people like Cannon are able to win is because they're supported by the establishment: the Democratic Party, the GOP, and the media.

Cannon also thinks the Democrats will back Tancredo's potential presidential bid as a way of splitting the GOP vote. Unfortunately for people like Cannon, there's also the possibility that a less polarizing figure will decide to run on a pro-American platform and will rhetorically indict the GOP, the Democrats, and the media for their support for illegal activity.

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

Tom Vilsack for President?

Democratic Iowa governor Tom Vilsack has announced that he's running for president. For the short, punchy version, see the "Traveling Tom" website from the IA GOP.

From this:

Vilsack supporters seemed to have forgotten about the CIETC scandal unfolded while he was campaigning in New Hampshire. The Vilsack team will not be able to bury the scandals and failures in Iowa on the national level. Just as Dukakis had Willie Horton, look for Ramona Cunningham to become to become a national household word for the Vilsack campaign.

That also points out that, according to the AP, Iowa had 5000 illegal aliens in 1990 and 65,000 in 2004. Vilsack only became governor in 1998, but he no doubt played a large role in whatever gains occured over the past six years:

Iowans get exotic treat: Central American gangs

Illegal immigration-supporting governors complain about minor costs

New Americans welcomed to Iowa, Arkansas

Posted to Politics at 11:54 AM | Comments (3)

Tim Gaynor/Reuters: "Democrats' win spurs hope of immigration revamp"

Tim Gaynor of Reuters offers this:

Sweeping wins for Democrats in U.S. midterm elections have rekindled hopes among Latino activists of achieving a comprehensive overhaul of immigration policy that was blocked by Republicans in Congress.

Democrats swept Republicans from power in the U.S. House of Representatives in Tuesday's elections, and appeared to have taken control of the Senate, in a clear repudiation of President George W. Bush's handling of Iraq.

..."I would say our chances in the next Congress are better than they have ever been," said Frank Sharry, the executive director of the Washington-based National Immigration Forum...

[...says that public opinion is "divided" about what to do about the illegal aliens here now, and implies that the House/Senate represent that divide...]

..."It's early days, but there are real grounds for optimism," said Elias Bermudez, the founder and executive director of Phoenix-based advocacy group Immigrants Without Borders. [described as an "immigrant-rights advocate" --LW]

[...points to AZ propositions winning, and also Dem winners pretending to support enforcement... says that both Bush and Pelosi support "reform"...]

..."If President Bush is smart and is interested in getting something accomplished in his final two years as president, this is a natural issue for him," said Michael Shifter, vice president for policy at the Inter-American Dialogue...

..."A more humane immigration measure might begin to repair the damage in U.S.-Latin American relations," Shifter said.

Posted to Immigration at 11:52 AM | Comments (0)

Meme: Graf, Hayworth losses = support for "comprehensive immigration reform"

As regular readers know, illegal immigration supporters will go to any depth to promote amnesty and similar schemes. One meme you can expect to hear over the coming months is that the recent losses by Randy Graf and J.D. Hayworth in Arizona mean that voters want "comprehensive immigration reform".

The quickest example of how that's wrong is presented by the fact that no less than four anti-illegal immigration propositions in Arizona passed by wide margins. And, in Graf's case he got shafted by the national GOP (whose contributors would have lost money if he'd won). He was also probably a bit too socially conservative for Tucson. In Hayworth's case, it may have been because he was seen as a rubberstamp for the Bush administration or similar factors. And, in both cases their opponents co-opted their positions to a certain extent.

This list will be updated:

1. Unsigned blog post from USA Today:

Tuesday's results suggest that any legislation seen more as anti-immigrant rather than anti-illegal immigration can easily backfire. This point was made in some individual races, even in border states. Randy Graf, a candidate for a seat held by a retiring House Republican in Arizona, was soundly defeated after running almost exclusively on a hard-line anti-immigrant platform... [... Bush can now get his amnesty...] ...Simply building a fence and threatening to deport illegal immigrants looks to be a political loser.

2. Linda Chavez ("Immigration Bust",link):

In several high-profile races where illegal immigration was a key issue, the anti-immigrant candidate lost big. In Arizona, the front line in the immigration wars, Republicans J.D. Hayworth and Randy Graf lost handily to more moderate voices. Hayworth, a six-term congressman, once favored a guest worker program but flip-flopped when he sensed bashing immigrants was a surer ticket to re-election... Apparently voters in Arizona's 5th Congressional District wanted no part of Hayworth's proposed ban [a three-year moratorium on immigration from Mexico]... Graf, a former state representative and member of the extremist Minuteman Project, was even more off base. Graf supported calls to reinstate "Operation Wetback," a 1950s federal deportation program that not only rounded up thousands of illegal aliens but also ensnared some U.S. citizens of Mexican descent...

She can't even get her lies straight; it was Russell Pearce and not Graf who mentioned OW as a historical example of mass deportations. Obviously, those whose brains aren't clogged with cheap lettuce realize that any similar plan Pearce would come up with would try to avoid deporting U.S. citizens and would not be called by the same name as the previous program.

3. "Voters weren't on the fence about illegal immigration" by Michelle Mittelstadt lists Graf and Hayworth as supposed examples.

4. Los Angeles Times unsigned editorial "'No' to immigration hard-liners" hits the standard points without, of course, looking into other factors involved in the Graf/Hayworth losses:

...Critics of this approach ["comprehensive immigration reform"], including Republican candidates for governor, attorney general and two of Arizona's eight House seats, argued instead for sealing the borders and enforcing current immigration laws. They all were defeated, despite the frustration and anger expressed by many Arizonans about the torrent of border jumpers... Those emotions were evident in the overwhelming support Tuesday for ballot initiatives to deny bail, curtail subsidies for education and childcare, limit civil damage awards for illegal immigrants and make English the state's official language. Voters backed all these proposals, reflecting a widespread belief that illegal immigrants impose a variety of burdens on taxpayers... Nevertheless, voters in the state demanded a more nuanced and pragmatic solution than that being offered by the most virulently anti-illegal immigration candidates... The voters of Arizona have pushed a comprehensive solution one step closer to reality.

5. Morton Kondracke offers "Moderates Fed Up With Polarization":

...The clearest repudiation of the loud right came on the issue of immigration. By a margin of 57 percent to 38 percent [in unnamed exit polls], voters said they wanted illegal immigrants who work in the U.S. to be allowed a chance to apply for legal status and not be deported... Voters in Arizona rejected two of the nation's most vociferous immigration restrictionists, Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R) and Minuteman founder Randy Graf (R)... House Republicans massively bought into the talk-show claque's agenda by rejecting Bush's Latino-friendly proposal for comprehensive immigration reform, and they’ve suffered important damage as a result... Bush managed to capture 44 percent of the Latino vote in 2004, according to disputed exit polls, but this year Hispanics went Democratic by a margin of 72 percent to 27 percent, 10 points higher than in 2002... If Republicans and Democrats are looking for an issue around which to demonstrate they can unify and accomplish something, they could use the lame-duck session of Congress to pass the comprehensive Senate immigration bill...

6. Fred Barnes offers this:

Already the wails of the immigration restrictionists are rising, insisting Republicans lost because they weren't tough on keeping illegal border-crossers out. Not true. The test was in Arizona, where two of the noisiest border hawks, Representatives J.D. Hayworth and Randy Graf, lost House seats. Graf lost in a seat along the Mexican border, where illegal immigrants flock... What Americans want is a full-blown solution to the immigration crisis. And that will come only when Republicans come together on a "comprehensive" measure that not only secures the border but also provides a way for illegals in the United States to work their way to citizenship and establishes a temporary worker program. If Republicans don't grab this issue, Democrats will.

7. David Brooks only has so many words to work with, and some of them are misleading and at least one is a lie ("The Middle Muscles In"):

...It was a terrible day for anti-immigration restrictionists on the right of the G.O.P., like J.D. Hayworth and Randy Graf in Arizona...

Neither are "anti-immigration", and like the others he doesn't go into the other possible reasons. And, he also says that Arnold Schwarzenegger is "independent".

8. From this:

...[Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA)] said there are a number of House Republicans who thought their enforcement approach was bad policy but good politics. He said that belief was shattered by Tuesday's elections with the loss of two Republicans in Arizona -- Randy Graf, a candidate for a seat near Tucson, and Rep. J.D. Hayworth, an incumbent from Scottsdale -- who both ran heavily on opposition to a guest-worker program...

9. Frank Sharry of the National Immigration Forum offers "Immigration Reform Surprise: Hard-Liners Lost, Pragmatists Won". While he does present a fairly long list of "hard-liners" who lost, he gives it all away with this statement:

So much for the conventional wisdom that supporting comprehensive reform would turn out to be a loser and that being a hard-line hawk would be a winner.

No one really ran explicitly on "comprehensive reform". They ran on tightening the border, with the "comprehensive" in fine print. And, no one who ran a "comprehensive" campaign revealed to the voters what their plans would actually end up doing.

Posted to Immigration at 08:48 AM | Comments (4)

Vicente Fox welcomes Democratic control of Congress

America's best friends have spoken:

Gains by Democrats in the US congressional elections may help promote more liberal immigration policies sought by Mexico, President Vicente Fox's spokesman has said.

...[The border fence] angered Mexico, which has more faith in the Democrats on immigration. In midterm elections on Tuesday, Democrats won control of the House and were near taking control of the Senate as vote counts continued in an outstanding race.

"We hope this new make-up of the US Congress can be a catalyst for the US government working toward a migration reform with the characteristics proposed by Mexico," Fox's spokesman Ruben Aguilar said...

..."I hope this also obliges the refocus toward our region, toward our nation," [Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez] said.

Calderon will be meeting with Bush later today, and will probably say something similar.

Posted to Immigration at 06:04 AM | Comments (0)

WSJ: "Vote Is a Blow to Republican Pursuit of Hispanics"

As could be expected, the Wall Street Journal keeps on pushing for open borders (full article for subscribers only):

The Republican Party's dream of attracting the nation's growing number of Hispanic voters as part of its effort to dominate U.S. politics suffered a serious setback this week.

The election results reflected damage done to the Republican Hispanic strategy by some Republicans' harsh words on illegal immigration, much of it crafted -- apparently unsuccessfully -- to bring immigration foes to the polls. Exit polls, which found that 69% of Hispanic voters cast ballots for Democratic congressional candidates while 29% voted for Republicans, suggested that Hispanics are more critical of the Iraq war and of President Bush's performance in office than...

Posted to Immigration at 04:01 AM | Comments (0)

Michelle Mittelstadt: "Voters weren't on the fence about illegal immigration"

Michelle Mittelstadt of the Houston Chronicle offers a slice of wishful thinking that the new Democratic Congress will lead to "sweeping immigration changes":

..."I do see a light at the end of the tunnel," Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, of Houston, the top Democrat on the House immigration subcommittee, said Wednesday.

Still, few were rushing to predict that Congress will quickly — or successfully — tackle a major immigration overhaul in the legislative session that begins in January.

"Some of the worst (political) barriers have been washed away," said Tamar Jacoby, an immigration expert with the conservative Manhattan Institute. "(But) it's still going to be extremely hard to accomplish it in Congress."

Immigration's huge impact on economic, national security, cultural and foreign policy arenas makes it among the most controversial of policy issues in the best of times.

At least the article isn't completely biased.

"It's a difficult issue," said newly re-elected Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. But, she added, "We need to make every positive effort to work with the Democrats and have solutions. That's what the people want."

Then, after discussing Bush's press conference and how some Dem winners told voters they weren't for open borders:

..."Neither party can deliver immigration reform on its own," said Cecilia Munoz, vice president of the National Council of La Raza, which is pressing for legal status for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

But she and her allies had a bounce in their step with the defeat of several ardently anti-immigration incumbents and exit polls suggesting Latino voters deserted the GOP in droves.

Gosh, and just a few months ago Karl Rove reached out to her group, yet that paragraph makes it sound like they more or less hate the GOP. Maybe we could add that to the long list of things about which Rove is wrong. And, of course, that's also one of the groups losing California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson genuflected before.

"Miami pollster Sergio Bendixen" doesn't like the tone of the issue. Then:

Still, "I think we've learned a lot during the debate," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. "My hope is we'll roll up our sleeves and sit down and work out a bipartisan bill that the president can sign."

The article closes on a hopeful note:

Some Republicans, however, made clear they won't budge from their opposition to a legalization plan.

"I just think it will be very difficult for the Democrats to pass legislation granting amnesty to illegal aliens," said Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston.

Posted to Immigration at 12:14 AM | Comments (4)

Rush Limbaugh turns back on Bush

On his program today, Rush Limbaugh announced that he "feels a little liberated" and he supposedly said that he won't have to "carry the water for people who don't deserve it" There's an audio clip of another part here, and this is the transcript of that:

"At some point you have to say, 'I'm not them...', and I can't assume the responsibility for their success... it isn't my job to make them succeed... it isn't my job to make elected Republicans look good if they can't do it themselves... it's not my job to make them understandable and understood if they can't do it themselves... not in perpetuity... not ad infinitum... so all I can tell you is I feel a little liberated... and I think this is all going to result in a lot of cleansing in a number of areas... areas I will explain as they pop up and happen..."

UPDATE: Limbaugh's full remarks are here. While I agree with him that Bush's press conference remarks on immigration "reform" were "passionate", I also wonder why Bush had to be reminded to speak about it rather than bringing it up himself.

Posted to Politics at 01:10 PM | Comments (2)

Bush reluctantly promotes immigration "reform" at Rumsfeld press conference

Perhaps the overnights from Tony Snow's statement that the Democrats' win would enable "comprehensive immigration reform" came in and weren't favorable. Announcing Donald Rumsfeld's resignation/"resignation" earlier today, this is what our lame duck president had to say (whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/11/20061108-2.html):

Q Thank you, Mr. President. On immigration, many Democrats had more positive things to say about your comprehensive proposal than many Republicans did. Do you think a Democratic Congress gives you a better shot at comprehensive immigration reform?

THE PRESIDENT: You know, I should have brought this up. I do. I think we have a good chance. Thank you. It's an important issue and I hope we can get something done on it. I meant to put that in my list of things that we need to get done.

I would hope Republicans have recognized that we've taken very strong security measures to address one aspect of comprehensive immigration reform. And I was talking to Secretary Chertoff today; he thinks that these measures we're taking are beginning to have measurable effects, and that catch and release has virtually been ended over the past couple of months. And that's positive.

And that's what some members were concerned about prior to advancing a comprehensive bill. In other words, they said, show me progress on the border, and then we'd be interested in talking about other aspects. Well, there's progress being made on the border in terms of security, and I would hope we can get something done. It's a vital issue. It's an issue that -- there's an issue where I believe we can find some common ground with the Democrats.

Q What are the odds for a guest worker provision?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, that's got to be an integral part of a comprehensive plan. When you're talking comprehensive immigration reform, one part of it is a guest worker program, where people can come on a temporary basis to do jobs Americans are not doing. I've always felt like that would be an important aspect of securing the border. In other words, if somebody is not trying to sneak in in the first place, it makes -- decreases the work load on our Border Patrol, and lets the Border Patrol focused on drugs and guns and terrorists. But that's a -- I appreciate you bringing that up. I should have remembered it.

Listen, thank you all very much for your time. I appreciate your interest.

Posted to Immigration at 01:02 PM | Comments (4)

Charlie Rangel, John Conyers, RCP, Ramsey Clark, Lynne Stewart...

Under the new regime, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) might become the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) might become the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

If you go to this page, you can see that John Conyers signed on to the "Call" from the World Can't Wait. That organization freely admits that it was "initiated" in part by members of the Revolutionary Communist Party. Other usual suspects signing on include among many others: Harry Belafonte, Ward Churchill, Jane Fonda, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Jr., Mumia Abu-Jamal, Brig. Gen. (Ret) Janis Karpinski, Rabbi Michael Lerner, US Rep. Cynthia McKinney, US Rep. Major Owens, Sean Penn, Michael Ratner, US Rep. Bobby Rush, Rev. Al Sharpton, Cindy Sheehan, Martin Sheen, Gloria Steinem, Lynne Stewart, Gore Vidal, US Rep. Maxine Waters, Cornel West, and Howard Zinn.

And, if you go here, you can see Charlie Rangel speaking at a March 19, 2005 rally by the TroopsOutNow.org coalition. That same page has pictures of Lynne Stewart and Ramsey Clark. The latter is affiliated with that Coalition, as are, among many others: Charles Barron (NYC councilmember), Mumia Abu Jamal, and the NY Committee to Free the Five. For those who haven't been following the far-far-left, the "Five" they want to free are Cuban spies.

UPDATE: From "John Conyers And The Muslim Caucus":

The likely new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee says he's just fighting bigotry in leading a Democrat jihad to deny law enforcement key terror-fighting tools. But he is in the pocket of Islamists...

Posted to Politics at 09:44 AM | Comments (0)

Bill Clinton jokes about concerns over terrorism, illegal immigration

Via this comes this MSNBC clip of a Bubba sighting:

Andrea Mitchell: [Bill Clinton] headlined a party last night for Ben Cardin... and he ridiculed what Republicans have been saying about Democrats...

Bill Clinton: ...you have to vote for us because our opponents are no good... and because they'll tax you into the poor house... and on the way to the poor house you'll meet a terrorist on every street corner... and when you try to run away from the terrorist you'll trip over an illegal immigrant... isn't that their thing? That's what they're saying...

Yes, but only some of them are truly concerned about the vital issues of terrorism and illegal immigration. Some, like Bush, Clinton, and the Dems are more concerned with other issues.

Clinton made this same joke at a recent ASU appearance.

Posted to Immigration at 09:08 AM | Comments (0)

I for one welcome our new Democratic overlords

Going forward, our putatively American president will be pushing for "comprehensive immigration reform". Will the Dems go along? Not too many Dems came right out and said they were for amnesty. Some basically lied and played word games. Despite the siren calls from TV pundits like Fareed Zakaria and others, most Dems probably realize that most Americans do not want amnesty. And, the Dems will want to maintain their power past 2008. The Republicans who remain will want to take that power away.

Could those competing forces be used to make sure that no amnesty passes? Yes, as long as one of those groups - either the GOP or Dems - is made to realize that the benefits (money and power) they'd receive from passing a massive amnesty are less than the costs they'd incur.

The way to do that is to make sure that they understand that "comprehensive immigration reform" would be seen as an amnesty, and that the party - or the individual politicians - who pushed it through would lose their next election.

So, I would suggest concentrating on reinforcing the concept that millions of prospective illegal aliens around the world would see "comprehensive immigration reform" as an amnesty and would try to come here and would end up making our illegal immigration problem even worse. Only very few politicians would think that would be an acceptable situation for voters.

And, I would suggest continuing to attempt to discredit those news sources, pundits, bloggers, etc. who promote "comprehensive immigration reform". Without their support it would be much more difficult for amnesty proponents to push anything through.

Posted to Politics at 05:17 AM | Comments (3)

"The virus that ate DHS"

Via this comes this Wired story about a computer virus that shut down the US-VISIT computer system used by the Customs and Border Protection agency of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). There was apparently some form of cover-up involved, and it took Wired a year's worth of FOIA requests and court orders to get the full documentation of the incident.

Posted to Immigration at 03:13 AM | Comments (0)

Tony Snow looks on bright side of House loss: it will lead to immigration "reform"

KLo offers this reader account:

"FoxNews reporting from the White House: White House spokesman Tony Snow reacted to the change in House control by allowing they're disappointed, but that it presents some intriguing opportunities, such as passing comprehensive immigration reform which failed in the previous Republican House."

Posted to Immigration at 09:11 PM | Comments (0)

Fred Barnes: paid to promote immigration "reform"?

FoxNews just had a segment with Fred Barnes discussing Randy Graf's loss to Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona, and he discussed how Graf was a member of the Minuteman Project and how (of course) this loss indicates voter support for "comprehensive immigration reform".

The only problem was he looked like he knew he was lying. In fact, he looked like a paid shill who had been given a certain line to read. He had the lines down pat, but it was the furtive movements of his eyes that, had I been speaking to him about a used car, would have caused me to run the other way.

I have no proof of this, but if anyone can post that specific segment to Youtube it might be a bit instructive.

Posted to Immigration at 08:11 PM | Comments (4)

Exit poll top issues: corruption, terrorism, economy, Iraq, "values", illegal immigration

According to this these were the top issues that were "extremely important to their vote":

42%: corruption and ethics
40%: terrorism
39%: the economy
37%: Iraq
36%: values
29%: illegal immigration

Those who are familiar with this site will note that corruption, terrorism, and the economy are deeply linked to the issue of illegal immigration.

Posted to Politics at 04:55 PM | Comments (2)

CNN BlogParty, Blog Party, BlogStock

The latest example of the mainstream reaching out to bloggers is CNN's "BlogStock", aka a "blog party" (1). They've invited a couple dozen mainstream bloggers to blog live from an internet cafe in Washington DC. Apparently this is supposed to be cutting edge, but most of those involved are partisan hacks. And, some of them qualify more as party operatives, with three of the "bloggers" working for magazines and one of those being the publisher editor-in-chief of the mag.

This is certainly a fun night out for the bloggers, and many people will celebrate this as a breakthrough for the medium. But, it's hardly leading edge, and all I expect out of at least those in the first two categories below is the same level of partisanship I've come to expect from their blogs.

Here's my breakdown of the participants.

The "Instapundit/GOP hack contigent":
* Instapundit
* Ann Althouse
* Ed Morrissey ("Captain Ed")
* Mike Krempasky
* James Joyner (OutsideTheBeltway.com)
* Scott Johnson (Powerline)
* Mary Katherine Ham (Townhall)
* Lorie Byrd (Wizbang)

The "Left wing of the Democratic Party contingent":
* John Aravosis (AmericaBlog.com)
* John Amato (Crooks and Liars)
* Duncan Black (employed by the Soros-funded MediaMatters for America)
* Christy Hardin Smith (FireDogLake)
* Bob Cesca (HuffPost contributor)
* Jerome Armstrong (MyDD.com; paid campaign consultant)
* Jeralyn Merritt (not as much a hack as naive)
* Judd Legum (ThinkProgress, run by the Clinton-affiliated Center for American Progress)

Magazine workers:
* Robert Bluey (Human Events)
* Nick Gillespie (lunatic libertarian publisher editor-in-chief of Reason Magazine)
* Jim Geraghty (NRO)

Not categorized:
Steve Clemons
Alex Pareene
Patrick Hynes
La Shawn Barber
Betsy Newmark
Patrick Gavin
Stephen Warley
Marc Lamont Hill
Pam Spaulding

Also, please don't miss my voting guide.

Posted to Bloggage at 02:24 PM | Comments (0)

Did you vote yet?

Because if you didn't, there are more photos where this came from. Please read my voting guide.

Posted to WackyHumor at 11:01 AM | Comments (4)

Please read this before voting

If terrorists are able to infiltrate the U.S. and carry out attacks, few other issues on the table in this election will matter. Every proposal that groups of voters support - from lower taxes to universal healthcare - is predicated on the internal security of the U.S. Protecting the U.S. from attacks at home should be the first priority of all of our political leaders, but unfortunately it is not.

The Bush administration, the GOP leadership, and almost all Democratic leaders have been negligent in this regard, placing other interests ahead of the security of the U.S. The Bush administration has allowed millions of illegal aliens to enter the U.S., including hundreds, perhaps thousands from 'special interest countries'.

Two Hezbollah terrorists have even entered illegally from Mexico, as detailed in this recent House report (PDF file). I urge you to read that file and send it to everyone you know.

Many Democrats have responded by pretending to support border enforcement and homeland security, but if you analyze their policies as I have, you will see that they simply aren't serious about these issues. What they propose will only make the situation worse and encourage more illegal immigration.

I have been sharply critical of the Bush administration for their negligence in this matter and for their other failures, but at the same time almost all Democrats have not offered a viable alternative.

Many House Republicans have, however, realized the importance of this issue and have fought against the Bush administration, the GOP leadership, and the Democratic Party.

I urge you to support those House Republicans who support real immigration enforcement, as well as select other Republicans who are in races where their opponents are markedly worse. If a Republican has ever promoted Bush's "comprehensive immigration reform" plan, make sure the Democrat is much worse before voting.

Sending a message is fine, but please bear in mind that some things are more important.

I've included below my suggestions. Some of these are not full endorsements, and in many cases these are votes against their opponents. This is a slightly expanded list of the one that was presented before (I added Mountjoy, McClintock, Bilbray, and Munsil):

*** Governor ***
- Art Olivier (L,CA) (against Arnold Schwarzenegger/Maria Shriver/Karl Rove)
- Lynn Swann (R,PA) (against America's most anti-American governor, Ed Rendell)
- Jim Barnett (R,KS) (against Kathleen Sebelius; also 1,2)
- John Faso (R,NY) (against the odious Eliot Spitzer)
- Tim Pawlenty (R,MN) (against Mike Hatch; provisional: 1,2)
- Len Munsil (against Janet Napolitano)

*** Senate ***
=== Dick Mountjoy (against Dianne Feinstein; a very long shot)
- Michael Steele (R,MD) (against Ben Cardin)
- Rick Santorum (R,PA) (against Bob Casey; video at the link; see also a video I made)
- Mike Bouchard (R,MI) (against Debbie Stabenow)
- George Allen R/James Webb D (VA): toss-up (while the anti-Allen smears are disgusting, if Webb is opposed to illegal immigration that might be interesting)

*** House ***
- Tom Tancredo (R,CO) (against Bill Winter)
- Tan Nguyen (R,CA) (against Loretta Sanchez)
- Randy Graf (R,AZ)
- Russell Pearce (R,AZ)
- J.D. Hayworth (R,AZ)
- Peter King (R,NY) (against Dave Mejias)
- John Hostettler (R,IN) (against Brad Ellsworth)
- Tom Davis R/Andrew Hurst D (VA): provisional toss-up, see this
- Brian Bilbray (R,CA)

*** CA Assembly ***
- Tony Dolz 41st (against Julia Brownley: 1,2,3)

*** Misc ***
=== Tom McClintock for CA Lt. Governor
- Debra Bowen (CA Secretary of State) (against Bruce "MALDEF" McPherson)

For the immigration-related votes or viewpoints of other candidates, see this site.

Posted to Politics at 04:12 AM | Comments (1)

Count every vote! (2006 edition)

Bob Fertik of Democrats.com is already preparing for a "Blue Revolution" of people chanting "Count Every Vote!" and assorted other slogans at county election offices throughout the nation: democrats.com/bluerevolution

When the polls close, we urge Democrats across the country to gather outside their County Election Office for a candlelight vigil to Count Every Vote, all wearing the same color: Blue.

Imagine a Blue Revolution, every bit as joyous and historic as the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the Cedar Revolution Lebanon, the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, and the other democratic revolutions of recent years - right here in the United States of America...

...Yet despite this overwhelming polling evidence, George Bush - along with Dick Cheney and Karl Rove - adamantly insist that Republicans are going to win on November 7.

What do they know that we don't know?

As time runs out for an October Surprise, there's only one possibility: that they have rigged the election process to guarantee Republicans win.

At least in his mind, the election won't be over on November 8. It will keep going on as long as the election results don't match the current polls.

Posted to Politics at 01:34 PM | Comments (3)

Fareed Zakaria still wrong about immigration

When we last discussed Fareed Zakaria, he was wrong about immigration, and he's wrong again. It's a standard "deep inside the Beltway and willing to buy misleading polls from interested parties" screed:

...Despite the efforts of populist and nativist politicians and pundits to whip up hysteria about a looming catastrophe, Americans didn't bite. In a news-week poll taken last week, voters listed immigration a distant fifth on their list of concerns—after Iraq, terrorism, the economy and health care...

Obvious to those in the know, immigration is linked to "terrorism, the economy and health care". Also obvious is that having millions of foreign citizens in your country is indeed a "looming catastrophe".

...Consistent two-thirds majorities favor a comprehensive overhaul that would include tighter enforcement, but also guest-worker visas and a path to citizenship for illegal workers already in the country...

As discussed here in the past, if you phrase questions in just the right way (or lie to people), you can get the poll results you want. Calling those who would be here for between three and six years and who could apply for legal permanent resident status at four years "guests" is obviously a lie.

...The great obstacle to immigration reform has been a noisy minority. Only about 20 percent of voters, mostly but not exclusively Republican, are dead set against a guest-worker program as well as any path to citizenship for illegals...

As indicated above, calling them "guests" is a lie. And, any form of legalization would be perceived as an amnesty, and would lead to increased illegal immigration. If voters were presented with the truth and if they were informed of the actual impact of any sort of amnesty, the great majority would be opposed to what Zakaria supports.

Shouldn't we expect more of TV pundits than to simply take biased polls that don't reveal what proposals would actually do and then try to base policy on that?

Posted to Immigration at 11:44 AM | Comments (1)

Loretta Sanchez, American icon

There was an anti-Loretta Sanchez/pro-Tan Nguyen rally in Orange County yesterday, and the pictures are here. I don't necessarily agree with the racism charge, but she certainly is an ethnic demagogue.

What you'll notice in one of those pictures is the very large portrait of Sanchez-Brixey on the wall of her campaign office. For your convenience, I've brightened the image above. And, for fun, I added another poster to their wall to the extent that my Gimp abilities allow.

But, seriously, what is that doing on the wall of her office? Is there any other (U.S.) candidate who likewise feels the need to raise themselves to the Kim Jong Il/Saddam/Stalin level?

Posted to California at 10:32 PM | Comments (6)

PBS NewsHour: pro-illegal immigration, pro-amnesty bias

In the past, on a few of the occasions when the PBS NewsHour has covered immigration matters they've invited on those who were legitimately on different sides of the issue. In the past several months, however, their idea of "debate" has switched to featuring people who are on the same side. For instance, David Brooks and Mark Shields arguing over which form of a massive amnesty they prefer.

The latest example of PBS NewsHour degrading into a propaganda source is illustrated by a "likely voters" panel they conducted. Most such panels should perhaps consist of average voters, rather than wonks. However, PBS seems to have snuck a "plant" onto the panel, in the person of Eduardo Romero of the Nonprofit Roundtable (nonprofitroundtable.org), who had this to say:

EDUARDO ROMERO: ... really quickly, as well. I think we heard this is an economic challenge, but it's also a moral challenge. And I think we've heard some -- you asked about amnesty. I remember when amnesty was not a dirty word.

GWEN IFILL: Yes, when did that happen?

EDUARDO ROMERO: But somehow, it's switched, and "illegal" for me is a dirty word. One can say one breaks the laws, but tell that to that pre-school kid who now is determined to be an illegal alien...

He goes on to play the race card and various other pro-illegal immigration talking points. Not only was no one around to respond to his inflammatory comments, but another panelist - a Republican - supported amnesty. If they're going to have someone like him on the panel, they should also have invited someone who could have shown just how he's wrong.

PBS NewsHour has truly degenerated into Washington Post-level hackery.

Please send them a polite message via this form informing them that debates usually involve at least two sides.

Posted to Immigration at 03:29 PM | Comments (2)

Democrats to announce "Three Point Pledge With America"

During a live TV broadcast Monday evening, Hillary Clinton, Cindy Sheehan, Michael Moore, and Harry Reid will be announcing the Democratic Party's new "Three Point Pledge With America":

Point 1: Every week, a new gay congressman or pastor will be out'ed! Working closely with all the major supermarket tabloids, the Democrats will make sure that America gets the truth, the whole truth, and all the juicy details!

Point 2: To save money, the Democrats will outsource legislative decisions to Mexican lawmakers. There are still some laws that Americans won't write, and the Democrats are going to fix that.

Point 3: Nancy Pelosi for President.

Posted to WackyHumor at 12:30 PM | Comments (1)

What Senator Bob Menendez is saying behind your back (illegal immigration, ethnic solidarity)

Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey delivered the Democratic Hispanic Radio Address today, and here's part of what he said:

Good morning. This is Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey. This coming Tuesday, November 7, Latinos can make the difference in elections across the country. We have the ability to make our voices heard and vote for those who respect our rights and will look out for our best interests. We can vote for leaders that will set a new direction for America or we can stay the course with Republican leaders who have done nothing but protect their political power and attack our community. While Republicans have controlled the White House and the Congress, they have chosen to take America down the wrong path, and putting their party's interests above the best interests of our country and the interests of our children.

Needless to say, not all of those who speak Spanish are Latinos, and if you find his exclusionary rhetoric disturbing, just wait.

...While Democrats fought for comprehensive immigration reform, the Republicans in the majority didn't allow it, instead they chose public relations stunts. And let us not forget that it was the overwhelming majority of Republicans in Congress who voted to make felons out of hard working undocumented immigrants and the clergy, nurses and others who help them.

Menendez is clearly not just a supporter of illegal immigration, he's also lying: HR4437 wouldn't have the dire effects he describes.

...My Latino sisters and brothers. This coming Tuesday, November 7, our people have an extraordinary opportunity that we cannot allow to pass. We have the chance to make America what it should be.

Should America really be the home of ethnic nationalism?

Posted to Immigration at 03:41 PM | Comments (3)

President Pelosi?

If the Democrats win the House, Nancy Pelosi could be third in line for the presidency. If both Bush and Cheney are impeached, that would make Nancy Pelosi president.

President Pelosi?

Here's the video version:

Posted to Politics at 12:27 PM | Comments (3)

MALDEF, ACLU, PFAW sue Escondido over illegal immigration ordinance

Escondido, California (near San Diego) is one of the cities that have passed "Hazleton-style" ordinances, and that's resulted in a predictable legal challenge from various far-left, illegal immigration-supporting non-profit organizations. In this case it's a "coalition" including:

...the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Fair Housing Council of San Diego, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), and People For the American Way (PFAW), is challenging the anti-immigration ordinance passed by the Escondido City Council on October 18 which bans renting an apartment to undocumented residents. The coalition also includes the private law firms of Rosner & Mansfield LLP and Cooley Godward Kronish LLP.

According to this, it's only the ACLU's San Diego chapter. But, the above implies that it's the national ACLU, and note that an earlier warning letter was signed by Omar Jadwat and Jenny Chang of the ACLU Foundation's "Immigrants' Rights Project". There are questions and biased answers about the ordinance here.

While you won't read it in any of the papers, the ACLU's San Diego chapter, MALDEF, and other groups are in a coalition with three groups that are openly collaborating with the Mexican government.

Related:

Hazleton sued by far-left illegal immigration supporters (Part 2)

"ACLU, PFAW, businesses sue Riverside NJ over immigration law"

Posted to Immigration at 02:00 PM | Comments (5)

Rights for All People, the patriotic "immigrant" rights group

From this:

A coalition of immigrant-rights groups gathered on the steps of the [Denver] state Capitol on Thursday to protest negative immigration messages in the campaign season.

"The elections have been demonizing illegal immigrants. We need a change in the way we handle the immigration issues in the state," said Lisa Duran of Rights for All People.

The group, joined by about a dozen supporters, also criticized as "unjust and inhumane" bills passed during the state legislature's special session.

..."The country can't win across the pond, so they have to stay here and try to win a war against defenseless people," [supporter Richard Moreno] said.

It also quotes local restauranteur Mike Miller, who's quoted as saying that "his business would not survive without immigrant labor". He appears to be the owner of Basil Doc's Pizza (basildocspizzeria.com). Rather than, for instance, ordering a delivery under the name "I.P. Freely", I'd suggest just finding another pizzeria.

Posted to Immigration at 10:44 AM | Comments (1)

Did President Bush undermine our troops and our war effort? (Kerry Iraq comment)

Returning to the subject of John Kerry's Iraq comment, have President Bush and various GOP partisans undermined our troops and our war effort?

One of the arguments against the negative interpretation of Kerry's comment is that that comment gives comfort to al Qaeda, the Iraqi insurgents, and others. Those enemy forces can say something like, "even the U.S. Democrats don't support their troops and think they're dumb."

Haven't president George Bush and his proxies increased the likelihood that enemy forces will use such a formulation in their propaganda?

On the other hand, let's say that - even if they didn't buy Kerry's explanation - George Bush and his proxies had not commented at all or had played along with Kerry's explanation.

Wouldn't that greatly reduce the chances of Kerry's comment being used in enemy propaganda? In that case, it would be only the other side that would have tried to put Kerry's remarks in the worst light possible, and that would be counteracted by everyone else who put them in the best light possible.

Instead, of course, Bush and his proxies have tried to milk Kerry's comment for the most political gain possible, and in so doing have handed the other side yet another instance of propaganda they can use.

Posted to Politics at 05:35 AM | Comments (2)

Why pro-borders candidates must win

There are several pro-borders candidates - all that I know of Republicans - up for election on Tuesday, and I encourage everyone to do everything they can to see that they win.

Those candidates include Randy Graf, J.D. Hayworth, and Russell Pearce in Arizona, John Hostettler in Indiana, Peter King in New York, and Tom Tancredo in Colorado.

If they lose, not only will there be a legislative impact and an increased chance of Bush and the Democrats passing amnesty, but - perhaps even worse - it will hand the other side a massive propaganda victory.

There have already been several articles from pro-illegal immigration sources claiming that running on "enforcement only" is a losing issue, and if those candidates lose expect that to increase.

One recent example is from Carolyn Lochhead entitled "In Arizona, GOP finds the issue of immigration no help at polls":

...Getting tough on illegal immigration is a winner in Arizona. Yet the issue is not playing out as House Republican leaders planned six months ago, when they bet their majority that a hard-line, no-compromise stance would rescue them in a brutal election climate dominated by the Iraq war and corruption.

With Tuesday's election days away, in districts where illegal immigration is Topic A, Republican hardliners are the candidates in trouble here. As many as three GOP House seats are in jeopardy, including that of six-term incumbent J.D. Hayworth, whose race has slid from shoo-in to toss-up...

Posted to Immigration at 02:19 AM | Comments (2)

Chris Cannon: few endorsements; SLT for Burridge, his "comprehensive" opponent

Illegal immigration supporting Representative Chris Cannon (R-UT) - as detailed here dozens of times - is a real piece of work. And, while it's seemed that way in the past, he might finally be on the way out. As described here, the only endorsements he's gotten are from George Bush, his wife, and (unfortunately) Rep. James Sensenbrenner. Utah governor Jon Huntsman and Senator Orrin Hatch (also pieces of work) have refused to endorse him, and he was forced to remove a link to the Minuteman Project from his website because it looked too much like an endorsement. And, the Salt Lake Tribune has endorsed his opponent.

Unfortunately, his Democratic opponent Christian Burridge has this to say:

We need comprehensive immigration reform. This means strict enforcement of illegal hiring practices. Also, employers should have access to Internet-based technology to verify the identity of those they hire. When we get unlawful activity out in the open it is easier to regulate and enforce our borders.

"Comprehensive" reform means a bit more than that: it's simply a code word for a massive illegal alien amnesty.

Nevertheless, it might be better if a Democrat pushes the same thing that Cannon would push, and it would certainly be a good thing if Cannon is no longer in Congress.

Posted to Immigration at 11:30 PM | Comments (1)

Gabrielle Giffords won't reveal which guest worker plan she supports (AZ,Randy Graf)

Democrat Gabrielle Giffords is running for Congress against Randy Graf in Arizona, and I called her office a few times trying to find out exactly which of the various immigration plans she supports or where her support differs from those plans. All I managed to get out of one of her staff members is that she supports the Kennedy-McCain plan, which includes a "guest" worker plan. [1] However, that plan did not pass.

I asked about the plan that did pass the Senate, the "Hagel-Martinez compromise", which also contains a "guest" worker plan similar to that from Kennedy-McCain. [2]

I was told that they couldn't comment on that because it hadn't passed the House as well. I was told that she might support parts of that, but since it was up in the air she can't comment on which parts she might support or oppose. An interview [3] she did gave the impression - perhaps false - that she only supported a "seasonal" "guest" worker plan, but they would not comment on whether she only supported that or one with a longer term.

We already have seasonal programs, but one of the problems with longer term programs is that both Kennedy-McCain and Hagel-Martinez allow "guests" to apply to become legal permanent residents, and also most of our "guests" would have U.S. citizen children while they were here, thus making it very difficult to deport "guests" who didn't want to go home.

In any case, it appears to me that Giffords has no real clue about these issues, and is not willing to tell people where she really stands on these issues.

[1] Kennedy-McCain:
tedkennedy.com/journal/75/mccain-kennedy-kolbe-flake-gutierrez-bill-at-a-glance
vdare.com/collins/050521_enthusiasts.htm
visalaw.com/05may4/3may405.html
thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:S.1033:/

[2] Hagel-Martinez:
heritage.org/Research/Immigration/wm1076.cfm
frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=22672

[3] KUAT interview:
http://kuat.org/misenplace.cfm?ID=240

Posted to Immigration at 09:29 PM | Comments (1)

Don't do business with Wells Fargo

As detailed here many times, Wells Fargo bank has been a strong supporter of illegal immigration by letting illegal aliens open accounts. The site Embargo Wells Fargo has a handy round up of links about their activities.

Posted to Immigration at 02:42 PM | Comments (4)

ACLU claims U.S. violating human rights obligations (OAS)

The American Civil Liberties Association - which has at least one indirect link to the Mexican government - together with the National Employment Law Project and the Transnational Legal Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law [1] (run by Sarah Paoletti [2]) have filed [3] a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (part of the Organization of American States):

...to find the United States in violation of its universal human rights obligations by failing to protect millions of undocumented workers from exploitation and discrimination in the workplace.

The petition [4] was submitted to the commission on behalf of the United Mine Workers of America, AFL-CIO, Interfaith Justice Network and six immigrant workers who are representative of the six million undocumented workers in the United States labor force...

...The petitioners are requesting that the Inter-American Commission find the United States government in violation of its obligations under the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man [5], which was adopted by the United States in 1948, as well as universal human rights principles...

They're complaining about not just the U.S. itself, but these individual states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Kansas, New York, and New Jersey.

Some of the legal background is described here:

The petition, filed by the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the other groups, is an unusual appeal to an international body to push American courts and lawmakers away from a 2002 Supreme Court ruling known as Hoffman v. National Labor Relations Board. The petitioners say the ruling has had a snowball effect, limiting or denying the basic protection of labor laws to millions of illegal immigrant workers in violation of principles like equal protection before the law and freedom of association under the nation's international treaty obligations.

Now, let's take a look at some of the other Articles of the "American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man":

Article XXXIII. It is the duty of every person to obey the law and other legitimate commands of the authorities of his country and those of the country in which he may be.

Obviously, all of the illegal aliens named in the complaint did not abide by that Article. And, this one:

Article XXXVIII. It is the duty of every person to refrain from taking part in political activities that, according to law, are reserved exclusively to the citizens of the state in which he is an alien.

Obviously, all those Mexican consuls that consistently try to meddle in our internal politics have repeatedly broken that Article, and that might also apply to those illegal aliens who marched through our streets demanding rights to which they aren't entitled. It might also apply to unions that accept dues from illegal aliens and then lobby on their behalf.

UPDATE: There's more on the ACLU's efforts here.

-------------------
[1] law.upenn.edu/clinic/transnational.html Run by Sarah Paoletti, whose name is on the complaint.

[2] From December 20, 2004 (link): The American Friends Service Committee, an internationally recognized social justice organization [which also has indirect links to the Mexican government --LW], joined more than 20 labor, civil rights and immigrants’ rights organizations in filing a formal request for a hearing before the Organization of American State’s (OAS) Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The request, co-signed by students in the International Human Rights Law Clinic at American University Washington College of Law (WCL), highlights the United States’ discriminatory treatment of millions of undocumented workers within its borders... "Undocumented workers are the hidden and highly exploitable staple of the American economy who provide us with food, clothing, manicured golf courses and lawns while at the same time contributing billions of dollars to the U.S. economy through the payment of Social Security, taxes and other expenditures," said Sarah Paoletti, an immigrants rights expert and a practitioner in residence in the International Human Rights Clinic at WCL. "Without these workers, many areas of our economy would be in trouble."

And, from March 1, 2005 (link): Students in the International Human Rights Law Clinic at American University Washington College of Law and workers will testify before the Organization of American States Inter-American Commission on Human Rights about U.S. human rights abuses against undocumented workers. The hearing will be held on Thursday, March 3... "Undocumented immigrant workers not only provide the backbone of our service industry, they have helped build the Nation’s Capital," said Sarah Paoletti, an immigrant rights expert and practitioner-in-residence in the International Human Rights Law Clinic at WCL. "The Inter-American Commission plays a vital role in educating Congress and the American public, employers and employees alike, about human rights law and its role in protecting vulnerable immigrant workers. We are asking that the Commission exercise its oversight and educational role to help extend fundamental human rights protections to all those who work in the United States, regardless of when or how they came to this country."

[3] aclu.org/immigrants/discrim/27235prs20061101.html Others mentioned in the press release are Claudia Flores (ACLU Women's Rights Project) and Chandra Bhatnagar, (ACLU Human Rights Program), both attorneys.

[4] aclu.org/images/asset_upload_file946_27232.pdf

[5] cidh.org/Basicos/basic2.htm

Posted to Immigration at 12:17 PM | Comments (1)

Democratic Party giveaways to voters, inducements for voting

In past years, the Democratic Party and their supporters have engaged in unique "GOTV" efforts, including:

* "Cigarettes Distributed For Gore Vote" (November 6, 2000) (link) ("Milwaukee's WISN 12 News caught workers for Vice President Al Gore's campaign giving packs of cigarettes to homeless voters that they had transported to cast absentee ballots...")

* "Democrat Vote Buying filmed by TV Camera Crew" (October 26, 2002) (link) ("The NBC affiliate in Milwaukee has just filmed Democratic campaign workers handing out small amounts of money and free food to residents at a home for the mentally ill in Kenosha after which the patients were shepherded into a separate room and given absentee ballots. One of the Democratic Party workers fled when she saw the NBC camera...")

* "The Voter Turnout Will Swing Election" (October 30, 2000) (link) ("In Wisconsin, the Voter Empowerment Project of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill is working to get as many mentally ill people as possible to the polls to vote Democratic...")

Past is prologue, so this thread will be updated with new examples of the Democratic Party's GOTV efforts, like:

* "Houston mayor cancels free flu shots at polling places" (November 1, 2006) (link) ("Mayor Bill White today ordered a halt to a privately funded drive to offer flu vaccinations at early voting sites in Hispanic and black neighborhoods, amid conservative criticism that the effort would boost Democratic votes... White defended the program at a news conference today, saying public health was the city's only motive in launching the initiative. Still, he said he decided this morning to abandon the plan after today to avoid perception that it could be viewed as an effort to draw certain voters to the polls. White is a former chairman of the state Democratic Party...)

Posted to Politics at 11:44 AM | Comments (1)

Mexico's U.N. ambassador promotes North American Union

From this:

U.S.-Mexico relations could remain paralyzed unless leaders of the two nations and Canada formalize a North American partnership — akin to the European Union — before the U.S. baby boomer retirement wave hits in the next eight years, a ranking Mexican diplomat said here Tuesday.

Enrique Berruga, Mexico's ambassador to the United Nations, shared his perspectives on the current and future U.S.-Mexico relationship at a panel discussion at the University of Texas at San Antonio Downtown Campus.

It was organized by the UTSA Mexico Center and the San Antonio campus of Mexico's National Autonomous University.

Noting that both countries depend on each other economically, Berruga urged leaders to see the big picture and put petty politics aside for the region's benefit.

[...don't build a fence, send Mexico money...]

"We will be together forever and we need to make the best out of it," Berruga said.

...Economist Mauricio Gonzalez chipped away at what he called the myth of the negative impact of illegal immigration on the United States...

...He works for the San Antonio-based North American Development Bank — created as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement, signed in the Alamo City in 1992.

..."NAFTA was a very important first step, but we need to start thinking outside the NAFTA box," González said.

Panelist Robert Rivard, editor of the [San Antonio] Express-News and a former Newsweek correspondent in Latin America, spoke of the lingering impact of 9-6 — that is, Sept. 6, 2001, five days before the terrorist attacks, when the U.S. and Mexican governments were on the brink of a far-reaching immigration deal that has since become a pile of dusty paper...

...[...holds out hope that Calderon will get an "accord"...] "People of peace can't build walls between each other," Rivard said...

Posted to NAU at 11:41 PM | Comments (3)

2006 Endorsements, Part 1

The following are more suggestions than endorsements, and in many cases these are votes against their opponents. And, this list will be augmented with other candidates later:

*** Governor ***
- Art Olivier (L,CA) (against Arnold Schwarzenegger/Maria Shriver/Karl Rove)
- Lynn Swann (R,PA) (against America's most anti-American governor, Ed Rendell)
- Tim Pawlenty (R,MN) (against Mike Hatch; provisional: 1,2)
- Jim Barnett (R,KS) (against Kathleen Sebelius; also 1,2)
- John Faso (R,NY) (against the odious Eliot Spitzer)

*** Senate ***
- Michael Steele (R,MD) (against Ben Cardin)
- Rick Santorum (R,PA) (against Bob Casey; video at the link; see also a video I made)
- Mike Bouchard (R,MI) (against Debbie Stabenow)
- George Allen R/James Webb D (VA): toss-up (while the anti-Allen smears are disgusting, if Webb is opposed to illegal immigration that might be interesting)

*** House ***
- Tom Tancredo (R,CO) (against Bill Winter)
- Tan Nguyen (R,CA) (against Loretta Sanchez)
- Randy Graf (R,AZ)
- Russell Pearce (R,AZ)
- J.D. Hayworth (R,AZ)
- Peter King (R,NY) (against Dave Mejias)
- John Hostettler (R,IN) (against Brad Ellsworth)
- Tom Davis R/Andrew Hurst D (VA): provisional toss-up, see this

*** CA Assembly ***
- Tony Dolz 41st (against Julia Brownley: 1,2,3)

*** Misc ***
- Debra Bowen (CA Secretary of State) (against Bruce "MALDEF" McPherson)

For the immigration-related votes or viewpoints of other candidates, see this site.

Posted to Politics at 10:15 PM | Comments (3)

England: Town council bans use of phrase "political correctness"

Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire (somewhere in England) has or had a 44-page booklet for their employees containing various far-left Gramscian suggestions, including a section banning the use of the phrase "political correctness". I couldn't find it on their site, and the new head of the council says they're no longer using it, but it does help illustrate Britain's slow Orwellian slide:

It states:'Political correctness is often used to describe what some of us think are unnecessary changes which don't really bother anyone.

'The term political correctness was coined in 1988 by John O'Sullivan III, who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. He was making an after dinner speech complaining about how Black Americans were being allowed to take the jobs traditionally reserved for the white majority because of a wave of political correctness.

'Since then the phrase political correctness has almost universally been used to decry changes which aim to prevent offensive behaviour.'

It goes on to say because this takes the form of 'blaming the victim, denying peoples experience or expressing the view of a popular majority,' using the phrase can represent a 'physical attack.'

Other suggestions from the booklet at the link, such as their opposition to -man words like "policeman."

Note that a customer service satisfaction survey of a sort contains several complaints about political correctness:
kirklees.gov.uk/community/yoursay/talkback/October05Talkbackreport.pdf

Posted to MultiCultiCult at 09:50 PM | Comments (0)

Southern Poverty Law Center sues ICE over Stillmore immigration raids

In September, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents began sweeps in Stillmore, Georgia relating to illegal hiring at the Crider poultry plant in that town. Now, the SPLC is suing over those raids. On a perhaps related note, the Southern Poverty Law Center has at least one indirect link to the Mexican government. From the AP:

A civil rights group sued the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency Wednesday, claiming its agents had harassed five U.S. citizens of Mexican descent during raids targeting illegal immigrants in southeast Georgia... The Southern Poverty Law Center said the agents were engaging in a "Gestapo-like" campaign to drive Latinos out of the area. It claimed the agents entered houses without warrants, stopped cars on the street, terrified Latinos and vandalized their property.

The second link below has the town's mayor saying something similar, and has links to other instances of illegal immigration supporters also invoking Godwin's law.

"They trampled on the constitutional rights of every person of Hispanic descent who was unfortunate to be in their way," said Mary Bauer, an attorney with the center who is representing the plaintiffs. "You don't get to stop all who look brown." ...The center, based in Montgomery, Ala., wants an injunction preventing ICE from conducting similar raids, as well as unspecified compensation for the plaintiffs.

ICE says the SPLC's characterization is "patently false", and elsewhere the article says, "agents converged on workers' homes after getting the addresses of suspected illegal immigrants from Crider's files." And, even if SPLC's characterization is partially correct, it's pretty obvious that their ultimate goal is preventing immigration raids in general.

Another plaintiff is the landlord of a trailer park who was apparently renting to the plant's workers and who claims ICE agents broke into his trailers. I didn't quote him in the previous posts on this issue, but I believe it was in either the AP or CSM report.

And, here's yet another clue to what the SPLC is really after:

The center is seeking class-action status for the lawsuit to cover everyone of Hispanic origin or appearance who lives within the area covered by immigration agents headquartered in Atlanta...

Previously:

Patrik Jonsson promotes illegal immigration in Stillmore, Georgia

Russ Bynum/AP promotes illegal immigration (Stillmore, Georgia)

Posted to Immigration at 12:01 PM | Comments (0)

Curt Weldon: politically-motivated raid over Able Danger?

On October 16, the FBI raided various locations associted with Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA). They claimed that his daughter received lobbying and consulting contracts due to influence that he exerted. While crooked politicians aren't unheard of, there might be much more to the story:

...The pre-election timing of the raids seems particularly suspicious to those who have followed Weldon's activist "Able Danger" crusade. Weldon says that a secret military unit called Able Danger had linked four of the 9/11 hijackers to al-Qaida more than a year prior to the terrorist attacks.

The allegations suggest malfeasance at the highest levels of the U.S. government. The Defense Department has ferociously denied Weldon's claims.

Weldon, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has told friends privately he believes his current predicament and the "official" investigations are related to his Able Danger probe.

Paul Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation, suggests that Weldon is the target of the political establishment of both parties, whom he alienated by arguing that the Defense Department could have averted the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but failed to do so...

Posted to Politics at 05:59 AM | Comments (1)

John Faso, not Eliot Spitzer, for governor of New York

I know absolutely zero about Republican John Faso except that he's running against Eliot Spitzer for governor of New York. As the last link shows, Spitzer - despite being Attorney General of that state - doesn't appear to understand our laws when it comes to immigration matters. And, he's just picked up an endorsement from El Diario/La Prensa to drive that point home:

...Immigration. We need a Governor who will recognize the vital role of immigrants –with and without documents-- to the New York economy and society, and who will find a way to help them legalize their status and come in from the shadows... We are at our best when we work together to help our all communities – large and small, longstanding and newly arrived -- prosper and grow. We cast our vote for Eliot Spitzer on the Working Families Party line in expectation of a return of fairness and equity to Albany...

Posted to Politics at 03:22 AM | Comments (2)

Non-"liberal" coverage of immigration, Iraq, terrorism, multiculturalism, Los Angeles, California, privacy, and occasionally celebrities and wacky humor...

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All Posts(links to each post by title)

• Schwarzenegger health plan: might be open to illegal aliens
• Heroic Michael Dukakis wins three year battle for justice
• Miami: Third World Country, Capital of the Americas
• Pakistani illegal alien accused of trying to help Taliban
• Arizona Sen. Karen Johnson opposes NAU
• Nancy Pelosi unions/vineyards smear debunked!
• Pro-Farmers Branch editorial
• Mexican political parties involved in Chicago illegal immigration marches
• James Poniewozik: Ugly Americans want to deport Ugly Betty!
• Jeb Bush writes letter re: Tancredo's Miami remark
• Tookie Williams... the stage play!
• "Hispanic vote" voted for something for some reason (or other)
• NAU openly promoted on CNBC
• Joe Biden speaks mostly truth about Mexico, immigration
• Paul Campos/University of Colorado: law professor, hack
• Sleazy Glenn Reynolds, John Podhoretz smear Pat Buchanan
• Boston Globe: Bush, Kennedy, Specter uniting on a massive illegal alien amnesty
• Budget for George W. Bush's $500 million presidential library
• Stillmore: Crider Poultry employing homeless, felons instead of illegal aliens
• John Quinones/ABC News: brazen illegal immigration-supporting hack

My trip to Alpine County What not to do, again (September 1-2, 2002)

Boston Market Cornbread Temperatures Please help contribute to this important study (August 28, 2002)

Did The Gap Put Celebrities at Risk? An Open Web Letter to The Gap (May 20, 2002)

Humphreys Peak Arizona's highest point (May 19, 2001)

Go Heavy, Go Slow, Get Lost Bay Area highpoints (December 14, 2000)

Hubris in New England The highpoints of RI, CT, and MA (October 8, 2000)

Let's go to Utah Zion, Bryce, and Grand Canyon (August 14, 2000)

Your host, climbing Monkey Face (5.14d)

Your host's arm (circled)

Your host's hopelessly outdated conditioning progress

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