« July 2008 | Main | September 2008 »
Going to Ronstock '08? Read these important tips! (Ron Paul, Rally for the Republic)
I have some very important tips for Ron Paul supporters who are going to "Ronstock '08" in Minneapolis, aka the Rally for the Republic. That's the competing event to the Republican National Convention (held in St. Paul) where RP's supporters will attempt to, in the words of the Associated Press, spread their message that's:
anti-war, anti-government regulation, anti-immigration, anti-taxes, anti-Federal Reserve, anti-outsourcing, pro-individual liberty, pro-civil liberties and pro-Paul
Here are my helpful tips:
1. Bring along a variety of clothing options; the weather might change rapidly this time of year. Make sure and bring your raingear!
2. Fly a blimp. That was a wonderful success that spawned the Ron Paul rEVOLution, and it's sure to captivate all onlookers! Rest assured: the MSM and the GOP won't make fun of you for that.
3. Be nice to the MSM and to GOP delegates. Don't get into arguments.
4. Consider dressing up in a Revolutionary War costume and even conducting a parade dressed in period costumes. Passersby will be enthralled and will wonder what's going on! Don't worry: no one will ridicule you at all.
And, here are things you should not do:
1. Do not under any circumstances do anything that would actually be effective such as trying to ask McCain or his surrogates tough questions about his policies or his associates (or this guy) on video tape and then uploading their answers to Youtube. DO NOT DO THAT! That would be mean. It would be the only thing that Ron Paul supporters have ever done that would be effective and that would strike back at the MSM and the Beltway establishment, but it wouldn't be nice to try to discredit McCain over his policies. His weakest point is immigration, so DO NOT try to take advantage of that to make him look bad.
Thankfully, based on their history, I'm absolutely certain that Ron Paul supporters will not do that.
Posted to Politics at 03:43 PM
Ask John McCain about the impacts of amnesty ("comprehensive immigration reform")
Here's a question you're urged to ask John McCain at one of his public events. Make sure and videotape the question and the answer, and then upload it to Youtube and other sites. If anyone asks this I can provide follow-ups, and of course feel free to adapt it to your speaking style or remove parts of the first paragraph as necessary:
Senator McCain: the immigration "reform" you support will give a great deal of political power to groups on the far-left (ACLU, SPLC), racial power groups (NCLR, LULAC, MALDEF), the Democrats, the Mexican government, and others. And, all those groups currently fight against almost all forms of immigration enforcement, whether through law suits, the media, or other means.
If "reform" passes, which of these do you think is more likely:
1. Those groups will support "reform"-mandated enforcement.
2. Those groups will use their greatly increased political power to even more effectively fight against immigration enforcement.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 03:39 PM
Erin Carlyle/OC Register's Issue Blog: why wasn't my comment approved?
The Orange County Register operates an "Issue Blog", and yesterday Erin Carlyle offered 'WSJ editorial writer attacks illegal immigration "myths"' (peekURL.com/z6xhh1s) all about the thoughts of open borders (literally) advocate Jason Riley. I left the comment that's in the extended entry; it hasn't appeared but four others have. I sent an email asking why it wasn't approved and I haven't heard back. I also tried to submit it again and Wordpress told me that a duplicate comment had been detected. Now, I know as well as anyone else that technical issues can arise, and due to the link in the comment (left without the http part however) it might have been put into their spam folder, but hopefully my follow-up email could have caused them to root around in that folder and approve it. I also don't think it's that groundbreaking a comment, but I'm just wondering.
UPDATE: It took a few days, but eventually they approved the comment.
Riley falsely analogizes between past conditions and the present. It's false because the current conditions are far different: immref.com/spin/immigration-of-yesteryear/
I'm also not aware of him discussing this from a political POV. The current situation gives a tremendous amount of power to the far-left, racial power groups, the Mexican government, and others. No one who isn't far-left should support giving more power to the first group. No one who believes in American ideals should support giving more power to the second group. And, no patriotic American should support giving more power inside the U.S. to a foreign government.
The bottom line for the WSJ is the bottom line: they're willing to sell out the U.S. if some very small segment of supposed Americans can make money on the deal.
Posted to Bloggage at 03:20 PM
Todd Palin, husband of Sarah Palin, and I share common, sacred bond
Todd Palin - the husband of John McCain's vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin - and I share a common bond.
Todd (as I call him) is part native Alaskan, that is, part Eskimo.
Distant relations of mine are also part Eskimo.
Todd understands the trials and tribulations of those distant relations of mine. I don't know what those trials and tribulations are because I've only seen those relations in photographs, but I'm sure they are several.
While I am not part Eskimo, they are. And, when I look at Todd, I see them. They are me, and I am they. Todd and I share a common bond. Todd is one of us, and I am one of Todd's.
Therefore, I shall vote for McCain, and thereby vote for Sarah, and thereby vote for my brother Todd.
If you don't share that common, sacred bond that I and Todd share, maybe this will work.
UPDATE: Why does Heather MacDonald hate my brother Todd? (link)
Posted to WackyHumor at 08:44 PM
Shipley Do-Nut president pleads guilty (hiring illegal aliens, light sentence)
From this:The sudden guilty plea to charges of hiring illegal immigrants by the president of Shipley Do-Nuts — one of Houston's most well-known institutions — is likely to send a strong message to employers about the pitfalls of hiring undocumented workers.Despite what the DOJ and the article says, six months probation and a relatively small fine aren't going to send a message to other employers. If the company is fined a large amount that might send a message, but they might also get off with something far less than half a million.
...On Thursday, prosecutors announced that Lawrence Shipley III — the grandson of Shipley Do-Nuts' founder — was placed on probation for six months and fined $6,000 after pleading to a misdemeanor charge of allowing illegal immigrants to be hired.
Three Shipley managers were also charged Thursday for employing undocumented workers.
Next week, the doughnut company itself is scheduled to enter a guilty plea to a felony conspiracy charge and could be fined up to $500,000.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 05:28 PM
Digg Katie Couric Digging the Conventions
Perky Katie Couric is going to be attending the Republican National Convention next week, and she's looking for questions she can ask. Now, I'm not expecting much of anything, but I did leave four suggestions for her, and so can you. Leave a comment here:
digg.com/2008_us_elections/Katie_Diggs_the_Conventions_Part_II
Please make your questions as specific as possible; asking general questions - or asking questions that are already answered on McCain's website - will simply generate a stock response. And, even if you don't have a question, please digg that up to try to get it on their front page.
5:41PM UPDATE: The four questions I posted have the following number of diggs: 0, -6, -6, and -3. As a consequence, the last three aren't immediately visible and Katie or her helpers will need to click "Show" to see them. If they even bother.
Meanwhile, the following question - from someone in Norway and thus presumably not even eligible to vote - has 22 diggs:
Was nominating Sarah Palin for the VP position a political move to try and gain more female voters by adding another historical factor to this falls election, or was it purely for her policies?
Anyone can guess within a 99% probability of being accurate McCain's answer to that question.
I posted about this to FreeRepublic and got the expected result: link.
Posted to Politics at 11:32 AM
Barack Obama acceptance speech: whines about things he supports; a descent
In his big acceptance speech in Denver, Barack Obama said among many, many other things:
Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers.
Family separation is one of the risks of illegal activity, whether selling illegal clothing or working illegally. The only two ways to have prevented and to prevent such separation is to either completely open the borders or try to reduce illegal immigration as much as possible. Needless to say, Barack Obama has taken every chance to support illegal immigration.
And, of course, employers benefit greatly from hiring illegal workers, something that, through his support for illegal immigration, BHO has supported.
As for this:
So let us agree that patriotism has no party.
Back in 2006, BHO marched in support of illegal immigration at an event organized by people linked to the Mexican government, including an official with Mexico's PRD Party. Instead of doing the patriotic thing and investigating such meddling, BHO assisted the meddlers. Pardon me if I don't fully believe his claims to be patriotic.
On a more Paul Waldman-esque point, consider:
They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values.
I suspect that Obama's speech writers are even more in tune with Beavis and Butthead than I am, so I have trouble thinking something like that was unintentional.
Posted to Politics at 07:57 PM
First Panderer: Michelle Obama says Hispanics shouldn't have to live in fear of immigration raids
From this:Hispanics should not have to live in fear of raids by immigration agents, Michelle Obama told a Hispanic caucus to the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday.Unfortunately, AP "reporter" Steven Paulson didn't provide MO's exact quote in regards to the first paragraph, making it a bit difficult to discuss exactly how she's wrong, and I've been unable to find a transcript of that part. Another part of the speech is here: my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/laurinmanning/gG5l8b
..."We would have an immigration policy that brings 12 million people out of the shadows," she told cheering caucus members who shouted "Yes we can" in Spanish.
Hispanics are often the first to suffer in an economic downturn and the last to benefit during a recovery, she said.
She told the caucus that blacks and Hispanics share an interest in providing access to affordable health care, education and economic opportunities for all Americans, not just a select few.
"We all know our country's journey toward equality isn't finished yet. We have more work to do," she said.
And, needless to say, Paulson didn't do any real reporting by pointing out to MO that she's either peddling a fantasy or she's supporting open borders. The "comprehensive immigration reform" plan that Barack Obama supports supposedly includes stepped-up enforcement. If that enforcement is performed, then those Hispanics who are here illegally would still "live in fear". If no or little enforcement is performed, then she's supporting something approaching open borders.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 10:33 AM
Loretta Sanchez: high on life or something else? (and: sex scandal?)
This site doesn't normally stoop so low as to link to a TMZ report where they conduct a sidewalk interview with U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez, and she responds in a way that's consistent with those who are high on something. But, I guess it's too late now.
Also, in comments at that link, someone claims that a sex scandal is brewing involving the Congresswoman and someone from the Pentagon, with the latter having left his wife. Since this hasn't been confirmed I won't repeat that information here and also please don't leave the details in the comments since it might not be true.
Posted to Politics at 04:16 PM
RNC draft platform includes sham anti-"amnesty" provision; English not official language
The Republican National Committee is working on the draft of their platform, and might have it done tonight in order to be ready to be put up for a vote on Monday. As of yesterday afternoon, it included a sham provision saying "We oppose amnesty". No one supports "amnesty", they just support "legalization", "comprehensive immigration reform", or a host of other euphemisms for amnesty.Delegates from North Carolina and Colorado tried to have a provision opposing CIR put in, but were shot down:
This sparked a heated discussion between members with a delegate from Washington DC who said that the Republican Party is a “not a xenophobic party, not an intolerant party. We are a compassionate party that follows the rule of law and endorses federal law,” said Bud McFarlane. Kendal Unruh from Colorado, who wanted to include “opposition to comprehensive immigration reform” to the draft, seemed to take offense to that statement citing her missionary work and saying that she would “never have the label” of xenophobic “slapped on me.” She continued to press that the committee add the tougher language to stop “behind the door tactics” to prevent “amnesty” of illegal aliens.What Unruh should have done is worked to discredit McFarlane by engaging him in a Socratic dialogue designed to show how he's wrong. Obviously, she didn't do that.
McFarlane was joined by several other members including from borders states such as New Mexico that said if the amendment was added it would give the impression that the Republican Party was not interested in fixing the immigration problems facing the country and the Republicans had “historically welcomed immigrants.”
Fox reporter Shushannah Walshe also incorrectly implies that McCain doesn't support CIR:
Unruh cited McCain’s departure from his original immigration legislation as a reason for adding the opposition to comprehensive immigration reform, “Our nominee has tried to use this language and he has now backed away, Unruh said. “If he has backed away from it then I think it is OK to put it in writing.” Unruh was referring to McCain’s original immigration legislation last year that called for reforming the immigration system by tightening the U.S. borders, while providing a path to citizenship for twelve million illegal immigratns. The legislation did not not pass and McCain now rejects that stance. After much debate the amendment was not adopted and the language will remain as, “We oppose amnesty” without a mention of comprehensive immigration reform.McCain has made it clear that he still supports CIR, he just has a slightly different tactic to achieve his objective.
Also, an attempt to specify English as the "official" language of the U.S. failed; supposedly there was compromise language included but that's not provided.
Posted to Politics at 10:24 AM
All Hail Obama! Invesco Field acceptance speech includes miniature Greek temple
On Thursday, Barack Obama will accept Athens' the Democratic Party's endorsement at Denver's Invesco Field on a set resembling a miniature Greek temple. A somewhat close-up is above (via CQ Politics' collection, link).
There really isn't much more to be said, except to point to ThinkProgress' lame attempt to downplay this by playing tu quoque. They point out that the 2008 Virginia Republican Convention was conducted with a backdrop featuring Greek columns (thinkprogress.org/2008/08/27/greek-columns-hypocrisy/). What they fail to note is that their setup resembles the Virginia State House (link).
UPDATE: If you go to 4:45 here there's a pan. There are two pair of large round columns on either end, with smaller square columns in the center portion, complete with bases and fillagres. I'll leave it up to architects to identify whether that's Greek, Roman, Romulan, Arugulan, Mordorian, or what.
Posted to Politics at 10:13 AM
Barack Obama lies about Census Bureau poverty statistics
You could have seen this coming from miles away. The Census Bureau today released their 2007 statistics on poverty and those without health insurance. Also today, Barack Obama lied when he said:
"Another 816,000 Americans fell into poverty in 2007 — including nearly 500,000 children — bringing the total increase in Americans in poverty under President Bush to 5.7 million... And on Bush’s watch, an additional 7.2 million Americans have fallen into the ranks of the uninsured. This is the failed record of George Bush’s economic policies that Sen. McCain has called ‘great progress."
I'll leave checking the other statistics to you the reader, but over 100,000 of those "816,000 Americans fell into poverty in 2007" are actually citizens of other countries, including those who are here illegally. They aren't "Americans" as BHO said, they're Mexicans, Brazilians, Norwegian, etc. Just not Americans, and BHO lied yet again.
Who needs accuracy when you've got hope?
Related:
The BHO campaign "creatively edited" a quote to make someone look bad. The DNC lied about a related statistic. Obama lied about the 2006 statistics. He followed the NYT's lead and lied about something else. Yet another healthcare lie. He lied about hate crimes doubling. He offered a stock false choice. He lied about Lou Dobbs. And, well, there are even more but I'll save them for a future post.
Posted to Politics at 08:38 PM
Howard Industries immigration raid: largest in history; tip from union member; legal workers applauded
The largest immigration raid in U.S. history occured yesterday at a Howard Industries plant in southern Mississippi where they make transformers (link). There were almost 600 arrests, with around 100 of those being released for humanitarian reasons.
And, according to Holbrook Mohr of the Associated Press (AP), one of those arresated said that fellow workers applauded as the raid was happening. Not only that, but the raid was apparently initiated by a tip from a union member.
Expect leftwing supporters of illegal immigration to tip-toe around the last two data points. As for the reporter, he spends most of his time trying to portray the illegal aliens as sympathetic victims of our laws rather than looking into the legal workers whose wages were impacted by the large presence of illegal labor.
UPDATE: There's more in "Factory had tension between union, immigrants":
Union members said they resented immigrants, who were often allowed to work as much as 40 hours of overtime a week when other workers were discouraged from doing so. All declined to give their names, saying they feared for their jobs... Robert Shaffer, head of the Mississippi AFL-CIO, said Wednesday that members have long complained that companies in southern Mississippi hire illegal immigrants... "Jackson, Hattiesburg, Laurel and all areas along the coast, it's a little Mexico," Shaffer said. "I'm not against people trying to make living. I have a compassion for those folks. But at the same time, the taxpayers of Mississippi shouldn't be subsidizing a plant that won't even hire their own workers." ...Shaffer said offering immigrant workers union membership would depend on the situation, but he doubted it could be done if immigrants were in the country illegally.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 08:35 PM
Nadir of Obamamania: Jason Alexander, other airheads pray for Barack Obama
I am declaring the nadir of Obamamania, as Dave Stewart (of the Eurythmics) offers a song called "American Prayer", which is along the same lines as previous Obama promotions from Will.I.Am. This one, however, features older nobodies rather than Will.I.Am's habit of featuring nobodies that cater to the teen market. And, it's as sad as it is hilarious.
The nobodies appearing include Jason Alexander, Joan Baez, Margaret Cho (!), Whoopi Goldberg (Gaitan!!), Perez Hilton (!!!), and Barry Manilow (!!!!!). Although she's not listed, I believe that Pamela Anderson also makes an appearance. And, they're all praying for Obama, including the beyond-absurd site of Alexander first clasping his hands together and then later speaking along with an MLK speech. Did I mention MLK? Yes, he makes an appearance too as they shamelessly seek to compare BHO to MLK.
But, wait, the kitchen sink makes an appearance also as Stewart lifts lines from the Emma Lazarus poem that was tacked onto the Statue of Liberty and includes a shot of a young girl holding a "We Are America" sign. Presumably he knew that was from an illegal immigration march. It even includes a shot of a wind farm: in addition to everything else, BHO will greenify the countryside. But, wait, there's more! In his video description, Stewart says:
As an Englishman, I'm not an expert in all the intricate details of American politics.
I'd suggest he butt out, except videos like this are going to do more harm than good to BHO's cause.
On the one hand, jumping on the BHO bandwagon is a good way for the washed-up to revive their careers. On the other hand, I think some of them actually believe this junk.
Posted to Politics at 04:48 PM
Census Bureau releases 2007 poverty/lack of health insurance numbers: watch out for liars
The Census Bureau has released their report with the numbers of those below the poverty line and without health insurance for 2007; see this PDF file. What you'll probably hear from the mainstream media and others is that 45.7 million "Americans" are without health insurance (down from 47 million in 2006), and that there are 37.3 million "Americans" below the poverty line (up from 36.4 million in 2006).
Both of those are subtle lies: not all of those people are Americans; millions of them are citizens of other countries. A small number of them might be short-term visitors with more being legal immigrants. However, a good percentage of both figures are illegal aliens: the Census Bureau counts them as well and doesn't break out their figures by someone's immigration status.
For a more in-depth discussion of that topic using 2006 numbers, see this Barack Obama lie, and see also this related DNC lie.
Those below the poverty line in 2007 are:
* 12.5% of all those counted (37.3 million)
* 32.5 million are citizens
* 4.7 million are not citizens
The poverty rate for various statuses in 2007:
* native born: 11.9%
* all foreign born: 16.5%
* naturalized citizens: 9.5%
* non-citizens: 21.3%
Those without healthcare in 2007 are:
* 15.3% of all those counted (45.7 million)
* 35.9 million are citizens
* 9.7 million are not citizens
The without health insurance rate for various statuses in 2007:
* native born: 12.7%
* all foreign born: 33.2%
* naturalized citizens: 17.6%
* non-citizens: 43.8%
Posted to Immigration2008a at 10:52 AM
Recreate '93
The Democratic National Convention is about as exciting as watching the 37th Plenary Soviet, and even more predictable. The MSM pretends they're doing real reporting, as do the "citizen journalists" whether of the Democratic partisan hack or low-hanging fruit variety. The only thing that would make it interesting is if there were some kind of teleprompter malfunction.
Accordingly, I invite PUMAs and all others to relive the glory days of '93 - the days before Dennis Miller became disfavored - while waiting for something - anything - to happen:
Posted to WackyHumor at 09:53 PM
RIOT IN DENVER! ZOMBIE UPDATE!!!
Dear non-Democrat, non-MSM "citizen journalists" in Denver attending the Democratic National Convention:
While I enjoy reading about riots by the far-far-far-left as much as the next Infonaut (link), I believe you're concentrating on the, well, to be frank, low-hanging fruit at the expense of much more important things. I mean, almost six years ago I went and took pictures of the ANSWER freaks and was the first reporter that I know of to do so. But, I stopped that a year later.
I moved on, and I urge you to move on immediately and do real reporting: go ask people who have actual power difficult questions. In the current case, that would be Dem officials and candidates. And, by "difficult questions" I mean those that concern policy matters or that involve lies or misleading statements. And, I don't mean rants or open-ended questions that will be answered with their stock talking points.
Get the answer to the question on videotape, and then upload that to Youtube. If you ask the right person the right question, you might become a lot more famous than just LGF.
If you need a question, just ask. Or do a search here for "Obama" or "McCain". You're sure to find lots of possibilities.
Posted to Politics at 09:08 PM
RightMarch immigration rally at DNC fizzles, and what they should have done (Kristen Wyatt/AP)
Kristen Wyatt of the Associated Press (AP) gleefully offers "Anti-immigrant rally fizzles as DNC opens" (link), about an event organized by RightMarch and conducted in a Denver park specifically to coincide with the DNC. According to her, only a few dozen people turned out to see Bob Barr and the others (Tom Tancredo, Chris Simcox from the MMCD, etc.) speak, which is even lower than I would have guessed.
However, my earlier predictions about the event appear to be coming true. This has so far gotten only minimal press coverage, and, while some protesters showed up I'm sure the vast majority of them didn't bother. In fact, the rally was counter-productive because it gave those who support illegal immigration - including the Democrats and the AP - more ammunition. Who'd want to support something if their proponents can only get a few dozen attendees?
Rather, as I discussed before, the thing that RightMarch should have done is trained all their energy on asking politicians tough questions about this issue. Holding politicians accountable for their lies on Youtube videos would be an extraordinarily effective way to reduce illegal immigration, but so far I'm about the only person who can figure that out.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 04:04 PM
Open Letter to The Nation about their Open Letter to Barack Obama (immigration)
Dear Comrade:
A few weeks back you at The Nation offered an Open Letter to Barack Obama (link) [1], listing some of the things he must stay true to in order to fulfill the progressive agenda. While much in the Letter is worthy of discussion and debate, I'd specifically like to know more about this desideratum:
An immigration system that treats humanely those attempting to enter the country and provides a path to citizenship for those already here.
Regarding the first part, I'm going to assume you mean "enter" in the broadest terms possible. Let's look at all the ways various groups can "enter" the U.S.:
1. Various people crossing the borders or flying or sailing in legally. I've heard about a few issues in this regard, such as a journalist being denied a visa or a dropoff in visitors. However, millions seem to do OK and the most I've heard about is some rude treatment, nothing that could be considered non-"humane". Do you have specific issues or proposals?
2. Legal immigrants. It's hard to be non-"humane" to those who are located in other countries, and the most I've heard about is some rude behavior. Again, any specific issues or proposals?
3. Students, visiting workers, etc. Ditto.
4. Mexicans and others crossing the borders illegally. Try as they might, the left has only been able to come up with a few isolated instances of abuse of detainees, and there's no pattern of widespread non-"humane" treatment. Unless, of course, one assumes that detaining people in the first place rather than just letting them enter the country at will is non-"humane" in your eyes. If so, please be honest enough to admit that you want open borders.
5. Longer-term illegal aliens, whether visa overstays or those who entered illegally over a border. I know how you think, and that's why I'm trying to define "enter" as broadly as possible. Try as Bob Menendez and others want, they can't show a widespread pattern of non-"humane" treatment of those caught up in immigration raids, fugitives captured by ICE, and so forth. About the only thing that might be slightly questionable is the practice of moving detainees to detention centers in other states. If you object to that, change the law. Since most of those detainees will end up being deported and since almost anyone who put themselves in that situation knew the consequences, there isn't anything fundamentally non-"humane" about that process. Unless, of course, you don't believe in enforcing our immigration laws, in which case you should be honest enough to admit that.
Regarding the rest, here's a discussion of some of the downsides of amnesty. There are more here, here, and here. If those aren't downsides to you, please present your argument for supporting them. If you don't think those are issues, please explain why. If you agree they're important downsides, explain exactly what you intend to do to mitigate your concerns.
Thank you,
The Editorial Board of 24Ahead.com
--------
[1] Famous signatories include such intellectual heavyweights as Mike Stark (shown here advocating digging up personal dirt on Ron Fournier of the AP: dailykos.com/story/2008/8/23/202557/371/831/573792), Phil Donahue, Robert Greenwald, Jane Hamsher, Tom Hayden, Katrina van den Heuvel, Gore Vidal, Howard Zinn, Bob Scheer, and many more.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 10:20 AM
Jacob Weisberg/Slate: only racism prevents Barack Obama from being elected
Jacob Weisberg of Slate offers If "Obama Loses/Racism is the only reason McCain might beat him" (link). I hopefully don't need to excerpt any of it to point out that it's not only wrong, it's also a roadmap for how the Democratic Party will operate for the next four years (or in perpetuity). Note that Weisburg isn't just some nobody; he's the "editor-in-chief of the Slate Group".
So, I'll just reprise the comment I left on the article:
---------------
I hope that most of us find this to be one of the most despicable columns Slate has ever printed. The question is, what to do about things like this?
Whether BHO wins or loses, the Dems are going to spend the next four years playing the race card every chance they get.
There's only one way out of that: for the good of the country, we need to show beyond any shadow of a doubt just how unqualified BHO is before the election.
The way to do that is to go to his public appearances and call him on his lies, misleading statements, and absurd polices. Then, upload his responses to Youtube and other sites.
Imagine this: Youtube's popular lists filled with videos featuring regular citizens showing just how unqualified BHO is. Millions of viewers will see those videos, and the Dems won't be able to play their divisive games.
Here are three questions for Obama, and if you search for his name here [note: this site] you'll find a large number of things you can ask him about.
But, you need to do this yourself. Find out when Obama is going to be in your area, print out the page above, and just go there and read one of those questions. If you can't do even that, then just print up a bunch of copies and hand them out to others.
If you don't, the MSM will continue to cover for BHO, and people like Jacob Weisberg will get to play their despicable games.
Posted to Politics at 01:41 PM
B. Hussein Obama/J. Robinette Biden
Move over B. Hussein Obama! Senator Joseph R. Biden's middle name is Robinette. Now, personally, I'm not going to stoop that low to trying to make jokes about a perfectly reasonable and probably family name, but I have no doubt that some others will. I'm also not going to wonder why someone who's a devout Catholic has such a name; there was never a Saint Robinette as far as I know.
So, I'm putting this here just in case: instead of concentrating on Joe Biden's middle name, or whether Barack Obama is secretly or formerly a Muslim, concentrate on BHO's policies. Especially those related to immigration; there's a wealth of things to ask him about.
Posted to Politics at 01:25 PM
Obama-Biden for president 2008 official site?
It looks like Barack Obama has selected Joe Biden as his 2008 presidential running mate, with Barak Obama as president and Joe Beiden as vice president. Will they have a new official site, or will they keep barackobama.com? I was considering buying bidenobama2008.com - the only major combination still available - but that order doesn't make much sense and anyway someone's already bought it. Unfortunately, there are only so many ways to spell Bidan, and I think most people are going to spell it as they've come to know: Senator Joseph Biden.
As for some reasons why you shouldn't vote for Obama-Biden, see the following for starters:
Barack Obama's close relationship with Bill Ayers (Chicago Annenberg Challenge; UIC coverup?)
Barack Obama lying about premature abortion births bill
Barack Obama admits to playing race card
Barack Obama's "scary globalist" speech (Berlin, Germany)
UPDATE: There's a chart here showing his various ratings. In 2006, he got a 100% from the American Immigration Lawyers Association, not a good sign. The previous year, he got 100% from the National Council of La Raza, not a good sign at all. He's also the second or third most liberal Senator according to the National Journal-Composite Liberal Score. His immigration votes are here and, while he hasn't been completely bad the overall picture isn't good.
Posted to Politics at 10:16 PM
ICE scraps self-deportation plan; will crackdown follow?
A few weeks ago, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) started a "Scheduled Departure" program where illegal aliens who'd received final deportation orders could turn themselves in to be deported. Only six people took advantage of the offer, and now ICE has shelved the plan (link). Despite what some have said, this appears to have been one of ICE's rare good ideas: it would have made it difficult for the far-left to complain about fugitive raids if those fugitives had had an out. Scrapping it after only a few weeks doesn't make as much sense.
The AP quotes an immigration lawyer as saying "My hope is it isn't going to empower them or fuel their enforcement even further", something that ICE seems to be promising:
[Jim Hayes, acting director of ICE's detention and removal operations] said lack of support from those activists shows they are unwilling to accept any enforcement... "They want amnesty, they want open borders, and they want a more vulnerable America," he said.
This could all be a game within a game, with ICE pretending to offer this program as a prelude to increased enforcement, or they might actually intend to increase enforcement. The bottom line, however, is that anything Bush's ICE does will be designed to promote "comprehensive immigration reform".
Posted to Immigration2008a at 11:17 AM
FactCheck presents real Barack Obama birth certificate. Or do they...
The twists and turns surrounding Barack Obama's birth certificate appear to have ended with FactCheck.org claiming that they've seen and handled the real certificate, complete with an official stamp and everything. They've even got pictures here. Well, that ends that!
Except, all they have is the "Certificate of Live Birth" (known in the trade as a "COLB"), and not the original birth certificate or a "long form" certificate containing things like parents' cities, etc. And, for some strange reason - as pointed out in a comment here - the EXIF information on their photos shows that at least the one I looked at was taken March 12 of this year at 10:42pm. That could be a battery-related problem, a setup problem, or it could be something else.
And, needless to say, "Texas Darlin'" has more questions, such as:
Why did Janice Okubo tell a reporter that the COLB was ordered "this month" (June 2008 ) if it was ordered in June 2007?
She also points out that FactCheck is part of the Annenberg Foundation; their primary funding is from that organization. Earlier in the day she claimed they, Obama, and ACORN were colluding in some way.
On a sidenote, I haven't found FactCheck completely credible.
Fact Check also has some fun with an announcement that appeared in a Honolulu newspaper a weak after BHO's birth, mocking the idea that it could have been part of a conspiracy. Another possibility is that it was planted, in case of divorce (link).
Posted to Politics at 08:28 PM
DailyKos discovers McCain $50 lettuce canard, that "jobs Americans won't do" is false
Remember almost two and half years ago when John McCain said how Americans wouldn't pick lettuce even if they were paid $50 an hour? Since then it's become part of his lore, at least from those who oppose illegal immigration. And, remember how endless hacks trotted out the "jobs Americans won't do" lie, which many of those same opponents said was false?Well, it took them a while, but the DailyKos kids have finally caught up to both. From a "diary" by "smintheus" called "McCain on working class wages" (dailykos.com/story/2008/8/21/162111/573/526/572063):
Since the nation is in the midst of John McCain's 'housing crisis', in which he tries to remember how many houses he owns, and we're all still trying to figure out why McCain thinks an income of $5,000,000/year is needed to be considered rich, it's worth revisiting McCain's opinion about the value of wages. In 2006 at an AFL-CIO convention, when asked about the effect of immigration in depressing wages, McCain declared that no Americans would be willing to do agricultural work for as little as $50/hour. At that rate, a worker would make as much in 6 months as the average annual household income in the US...I don't know if "smintheus" is playing a game or not, but the replies I scanned seemed to agree with him. Perhaps the DNC has taken Rahm Emanuel's advice rather that offered by Markos Moulitsas Zuniga (Subcommandante Kos) on this same topic.
...I'd love for voters to ask McCain at townhalls this summer and fall whether he still thinks nobody's willing to work for as little as $50/hour...
UPDATE: To blow some Democratic minds, guess what show this is from:
Well, Project USA has made it possible for to you apply for one of those $50 an hour McCain and company lettuce picking jobs. In response to the question, "Are you qualified?" You can check, "Yes, I am an American," "Yes, I am an illegal alien," or, "Yes, I'm a qualified engineer interested in automating lettuce picking, and thanks to the H1-B cheap human import program you support, I'm unemployed, too."
You can also fill out your application online at projectusa.org. Project USA will deliver those personally to Senator McCain, I'm told.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 07:26 PM
RI Bishop Thomas Tobin: give ICE agents conscientious objector option
From this:The bishop in the nation's most heavily Roman Catholic state [Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, head of the Diocese of Providence] called on U.S. immigration authorities to stop arresting illegal immigrants in mass sweeps in Rhode Island and allow federal agents not to participate if they feel the raids violate Christian teachings.The solution to problems like this is clear: publicly discredit those who support illegal immigration. If you don't want to discredit a Bishop, try a lay official or similar. See this post for some ideas.
..."If their discernment leads them to the conclusion that they cannot participate in such raids in good conscience, we urge them not to do so. If ICE agents refuse to participate in immigration raids in conformity with their faith and conscience, we urge the Federal Government to fully respect the well-founded principles of conscientious objection," the letter [to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Boston that was published on the diocese's Web site] said.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 07:21 PM
Agriprocessors supervisor pleads guilty
In May, the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa was raided by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Now, from this:A former supervisor at Agriprocessors, the Postville meatpacking plant that was the location of the nation’s largest single-site immigration raid, accepted a deal and pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday afternoon.Two other supervisors haven't been charged yet, and they want their trials moved (link). They also want a different judge, saying:
Juan Carlos Guerrero-Espinoza, 35, has been convicted of one count of conspiracy to hire illegal aliens and one count of aiding and abetting the hiring of illegal aliens. A date for sentencing has not yet been set.
Court documents filed Aug. 19 indicate that Guerrero-Espinoza “conspired with others, and aided and abetted his employer, in hiring more than 10 individuals” whom he knew to be undocumented and unable to legally work in the U.S. Guerrero-Espinoza was convicted, in part, due to a conversation he had with employees under his supervision on May 7. At that time Guerrero-Espinoza allegedly told workers he knew to be illegal immigrants that they were going to be terminated and then immediately rehired by Agriprocessors.
"this Court's involvement in preparing for the proceedings, coupled with the swift and carefully choreographed nature of the guilty plea hearings, created the appearance that the Court was acting closely in concert with the government."The ACLU previously tried to make a big deal out of those proceedings having a script. Whether these three or others will be used to somehow implicate higher-ups isn't known.
Previously:
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) calls DHS agents "Gestapo agents" (Gebe Martinez/Politico)
Luis Gutierrez demagogues Agriprocessors raid, accuses DOJ of lying (Joe Baca, Albio Sires, Jens Manuel Krogstad)
1000 protest in Postville in support of immigration-related abuses; a Rubashkin blames enemies
New York Times supports illegal activity, identity theft
Federal, state investigations of Agriprocessors (maybe the left will stop playing games)
Betsy Rubiner/Time offers pro-illegal immigration propaganda (Agriprocessors, Iowa)
Posted to Immigration2008a at 11:15 AM
McCain fans: ask Barack Obama this very simple question
For months I've been encouraging people to get off their couches and ask the candidates tough questions, without luck. But, here's a chance for John McCain fans to ask Obama something McCain wants to know, and it's a very straightforward question about Obama's involvement with William Ayers.
For a few years starting in 1995, BHO chaired the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which was founded by Bill Ayers. The University of Chicago has a large number of records on the CAC which they were going to show to Stanley Kurtz of National Review, until they backtracked at the last moment claiming they need a release from the unnamed donor of the records. Now, McCain is making this an issue:
"The question now is, will Barack Obama immediately call on the University of Illinois to release all of the records they are currently withholding to shed further light on Senator Obama's relationship with this unrepentant terrorist?" —McCain spokesman Brian Rogers
The campaign wants the answer to this question, but whether the mainstream media will ask BHO is a very open question.
That's where McCain fans can step in, by going to BHO's appearances and asking him during a Q&A session. Video of his response can then be uploaded to Youtube and similar sites. The question could be something as simple as this paraphrase of the above:
"Will you immediately call on the University of Illinois to release all of the records they are currently withholding to shed further light on your relationship with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge and William Ayers?"
All you need to do is write that down on a card and read it, making sure to get Obama's answer on videotape and then uploading that video to Youtube immediately and promoting it through blogs and the like.
Posted to Politics at 09:37 PM
Socialist VP candidate: common U.S.-Mexico currency, "North American Banking Authority"
Various persons, including those on the left and far-left, have scoffed at the idea that there's a push for a North American Union and a common NA currency (called the Amero). Now, from the fringes of their movement comes one of their own to call for essentially the same thing (link):During a decade when border issues between the U.S. and Mexico have intensified and the Democrats and Republicans have gone on the attack against immigrants, Vice Presidential Candidate Stewart A. Alexander is proposing a common U.S.-Mexican currency and establishing a Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) for working people on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
To accomplish his goal, Stewart Alexander says it will be necessary to restructure the entire banking industry; all banking and financial institutions would be socially owned, and operated by a North American Banking Authority that would be democratically controlled...
Posted to NAU at 09:33 PM
SPLC misleads about American Legion immigration report
The American Legion has released a booklet called "A Strategy to Address Illegal Immigration in the United States" [1]. I haven't read it, but Sonia Scherr of the Southern Poverty Law Center apparently has and offers "American Legion Immigration Report Replete With Falsehoods" [2]. Based only on what she says, it appears the the AL made a few mistakes and left themselves open to groups like the SPLC - which is indirectly linked to the Mexican government - raising issues. They should have foreseen that would happen and subjected it to stringent review; that might be happening now [1].That said, Scherr's "debunking" a) rests parts of its claims simply on how data is interpreted, and b) contains errors of its own. Consider this:
The Legion's Claim: Thousands of immigrants from countries with terrorist connections have been caught trying to enter the United States illegally. This claim is immediately followed by several paragraphs about illegal crossing of the Mexican border, suggesting that those "from countries with known terrorist connections" are entering the U.S. via Mexico.Scherr's "truth" doesn't rebut anything in the AL's claim, and AL's claim is indisputable: it's backed by dozens of news reports as well as government reports. See this category and this. And, the Nixon Center report apparently only dealt with a subset of known terrorists; it's a pay-only report so it's not clear whether it included those with terrorist links or those suspected of being terrorists (link). And, people with terrorist links have indeed crossed over the border or been involved in smuggling operations. And, of course, terrorists aren't exactly known for announcing their presence ahead of time. Overall, it's difficult to believe that there haven't been some terrorists crossing over either porous border, and it's also extremely foolish to base belief in the opposite on one study or to assume that terrorists don't want to cross over the porous borders. It's also indicative of the level the SPLC is willing to sink to in order to support massive illegal activity.
The Truth: A 2006 report by the Nixon Center, which appeared in the peer-reviewed Terrorism and Political Violence journal, found that the suggestion that terrorists were entering the U.S. through Mexico, while frightening, was entirely untrue: "Despite media alarms about terrorists concealed in the illegal traffic crossing the Mexican border, not a single subject entered from Mexico."
Regarding their "truth" about immigrants bringing exotic diseases into the U.S., see "The ADL's definition of "hate" and "anti-immigrant" can't be trusted. (ALIPAC, others)".
[1] The booklet was apparently available here, but that says it's being updated. Also, the AL needs to pay more attention to search engines; my first search for their booklet showed Alternet and related sites on the first page and nothing from their organization.
[2] alternet.org/immigration/95695 Note that I've been banned from Alternet or I'd leave a link to this post there.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 01:51 PM
Barack Obama's Reconquista 101: "they didn't cross the border, the border crossed them", Indians aren't immigrants
Speaking at a high school in New Mexico, Barack Obama was asked about immigration and, according to this liveblog of the event, said:"We are a nation of immigrants," Obama answers.Certainly, he's somewhat factually correct: there are old Spanish origin families who are recipients of land grants from hundreds of years ago; they were there before New Mexico was part of the U.S.
"The only people can say that they aren't immigrants are the people sitting right here," the Presidential candidate says and points to the tribal leaders.
"There are some families who have been here for 4 or 500 years. They didn't cross the border, the border crossed them."
However, he's coming at this from their side, which is in conflict with our - the U.S.'s - side. In fact, his quotes are straight out of Reconquista 101, and trying to find loopholes in and complaining about the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is a favorite pasttime of hundreds of minor extremists, with the TGH forming a major part of their lore. Sentiments like his are rarely expressed by those considered mainstream; the closest I'm aware of are Dolores Huerta and a LULAC official, and both of them aren't that mainstream at all.
As for the bit about Indians not being immigrants, one wonders at which point BHO would draw the line. Most of their ancestors came over thousands of years ago, but Mayflower descendents have ancestors who were here before 150 years before this was the U.S. and some European origin peoples' ancestors were here before then. Why is BHO differentiating between those who arrived from Europe and those who arrived from Asia? Why give so much weight to thousands versus hundreds of years? Assuming for the moment he wasn't just offering a dangerous pander, why not differentiate between those whose ancestors came here ten thousand years ago and those whose ancestors came here twenty thousand? Taken one step further, would Obama be like those who think that anyone with enough native blood - presumably more than one drop - can move anywhere within the Americas at will?
And, of course, the only people who are actually immigrants are those who are legal immigrants under our set of laws; those who were born here are not immigrants even if their ancestors were.
An open question is, other than pandering, what exactly BHO would have us do about all this? Should Mayflower descendents be considered among those who've had our borders cross over them? Is it good public policy to encourage U.S. citizens to think that our borders crossed over them? Would he give those who've been crossed over by our borders something? Would he support allowing anyone with the right amount of native blood to come here at will?
The rest of that section of his comments is his standard blather about this issue; the problems with that can be found here, here, and through a search. Discussing all the other reasons BHO's statements above are wrong is left as an exercise.
Note: I've confirmed BHO's statements with the author of the linked post.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 09:35 PM
Barack Obama's close relationship with Bill Ayers (Chicago Annenberg Challenge; UIC coverup?)
Barack Obama claims that former terrorist Bill Ayers is little more than a "guy who lives in my neighborhood", but in fact they both worked on education matters for the Chicago Annenberg Challenge in the 90s. Some details on this are here and here.
Stanley Kurtz tried to gain access to the voluminous records about the CAC, which are stored, ironically enough, at the Richard J. Daley Library at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He exchanged emails with various staffers there and arranged a flight to review the records, but at the last moment he was told he'd been denied access and generally given the run-around. Details here; contact information for the president of UIC here.
Posted to Politics at 01:27 PM
Barack Obama lying about premature abortion births bill
Barack Obama appears to be lying again, this time about a 2003 Illinois state bill that mirrored the federal Born-Alive Infants Protection Act. The latter passed the Senate unanimously and then was signed by George Bush. Obama's contention in a recent interview with David Brody of CBN (and now CNN) and, IIRC, in the recent Saddleback Forum, was that the bill would have impacted Roe v. Wade. However, contemporaneous documents show that not to be the case. Perhaps Rick Warren should have pressed him on that point at the Forum.
Posted to Politics at 01:20 PM
Libby Copeland/WaPo's incredibly stupid Bob Barr profile
Libby Copeland of the Washington Post offers "Bob Barr, the Master of a Curious Universe" (link), and it's both incredibly lightweight and incredibly stupid. First, a preface: while they have a few worthy ideas, libertarians and (especially) Libertarians are generally divorced from the reality that the rest of us share. Despite that, one might expect someone who's doing a profile on a candidate to have some passing acquaintance with their party and its issues. Instead, we're featured to a "libertarians in the mist"-style treatment, and she even misses Barr bringing up one of the things that some libertarians hold against him, his erstwhile opposition to Wiccans joining the military:"I have a question for you," [his wife Jeri Barr] says. "I have an opportunity to get reasonably priced tickets to 'Wicked.' "That's it: she doesn't realize that he left himself open to being asked about that topic.
"To what?" Bob asks.
" 'Wicked.' "
"Oh, I thought you said 'Wicca,' " Barr says, chuckling. Look! Bob Barr's dimples.
The rest of it is equally lightweight, as her attempts to discuss policy run aground on the shoals of inaccuracy:
And, because the United States is not a "charity," Bob Barr as president would attempt to stop the practices of hospitals offering medical care to illegal immigrants and schools educating illegal immigrants' children. Most of all, he'd shrink government and taxes.In fact, he only supports ending non-emergency medical care to illegal aliens. And, as has been seen before, the MSM just doesn't realize that that parents and children might have different statuses. Barr wants to end K-12 education for illegal aliens who are children, irrespective of the status(es) of their parents.
All five pages could have used Barr's immigration position to show that he's simply a fake, but doing real reporting is beyond the Washington Post's grasp.
Posted to Politics at 10:09 PM
"You aren't Lonewacko!"
"Yes, Guillaume, I am Lonewacko," I informed the key member of Team Lonewacko, now known as Team 24Ahead, who had rushed into my office in a tizzy. "I am simply in a new guise."
"Bbbbut... the sign on our building has been changed! I thought that you had 'flown the coop' as they say! What has happened? Why didn't you tell me?"
"It was a surprise. The 'lacrosse practice' I told you about does not exist. I knew you would drive past our building, see that the signage had changed, and do what you're doing now. I planned all this, as a surprise."
"But, '24ahead'? What does that mean, in English?"
"Yes, I imagine many people - not just speakers of foreign languages - will wonder about that. Then, they'll realize this is a news and politics site. Then - in a flash - they'll realize it means we're at least 24 hours ahead of other sites in reporting on things. And - due to that flash - this site will be seared in their memory forever. It is psychology, mon ami. Also, everyone thinks about time zones when traveling or contacting persons in other states, and they know that, for instance, the East Coast is three hours ahead. Every time they think of such things, the neurons in their brains will associate those thoughts with this site and they will come back to check on what's new!"
"You are clever... like a fiend! But, if I may, the name it is five syllables!"
"It's also only seven letters. Plus, it passes my Hillary Test."
"Oh, you and your Hillary Test. You will never..."
"Yes, I will. One day, I will get to ask Hillary Clinton a question. If I said I was from 'lonewacko.com', the best that would happen is I'd get laughs from the audience and a nervous twitter from Hillary. With this new name, Hillary would assuredly pretend she's been to the site. Her reaction matters to me."
"But, the Team! What will become of the Team?"
We're still Team!" I assured him, "Dale is still Research Director. Gwendolynne Fritz-Ruffalla is still our intern. The Team is still strong. It is just Team 24Ahead now."
"But, will there be changes?"
"Nothing major. Over time, certain things such as the tagline will change. But, we'll still be covering immigration and politics, plus occasional forays into sports, celebrities, and music."
"That's it?"
"Well, eventually there are going to be blocks."
"Blocks?"
"Yes, Guillaume, blocks! Sidebar blocks. Drupal blocks, made with PHP so they're dynamic!"
"Oh!!!"
"And, that's not all! Eventually," I painted the picture for him, "perhaps tomorrow but more likely months from now, there will be effects!"
"You mean, Javascript effects?" Guillaume was hooked.
"Yes, that's what I mean! In fact, I might make things fly across the screen at some point in time! Now," I joked, "get out of here and get back to work!"
Posted to Bloggage at 11:16 AM
Obama campaign creatively edits Jerome Corsi quote; his supposed "widely discredited beliefs"; calls him "Truther"
The Barack Obama campaign is promulgating to their followers and others a PDF about Jerome Corsi's latest book "Obama Nation"; you can download it here: my.barackobama.com/page/invite/corsi
Some of their debunking in parts of it may be accurate or not, etc. However, in one section they've "creatively edited" Corsi. From the section called "CONSIDER THE SOURCE: CORSI HOLDS WIDELY DISCREDITED BELIEFS":
CORSI IS A 9/11 TRUTH BELIEVER—THAT AIRPLANES WERE NOT TRULY TO BLAME FOR DESTRUCTION OF WORLD TRADE TOWERS Corsi is a 9/11 Truther. In a radio interview, Corsi said, “I’m gonna come out with a story, I think is gonna be earth-shaking, and that is from Steven Jones, the physicist from BYU who’s been dismissed. Well, he’s now gotten samples of the World Trade Center dust, and he’s demonstrated the dust has formed these spheres, these iron spheres, that can only be formed under extremely high temperatures. And I know enough about the science to know he’s right. The fire, from jet fuel, does not burn hot enough to produce the physical evidence that he’s produced. so when you’ve got science that the hypothesis doesn’t explain--evidence--then the hypothesis doesn’t stand anymore. It just means the government’s explanation of the jet fuel fire is not a sufficient explanation to explain the evidence of these spheres--these microcopic spheres--that Steven Jones has proved existed within the WTC dust...In attacking these things, first scientifically...for me, what tips the scales is when you’ve got science that the conventional hypothesis doesn’t explain.” [Alex Jones show, 1/29/08]
Oddly enough, the BHO campaign left out part of that quote without providing ellipses. In fact, they left out a whole sentence. Here's the relevant part, with the omitted sentence in bold (source: NYT):
So when you’ve got science that the hypothesis doesn’t explain–evidence–then the hypothesis doesn’t stand anymore. It doesn’t mean there’s a new hypothesis you’ve validated. It just means the government’s explanation of the jet fuel fire is not a sufficient explanation...
With that sentence, his statements take on a more balanced tone; he appears to be calling for real press coverage instead of simply accepting everything the government has said at face value. While some MSM sources have been in the former camp, most have been in the latter. In the NYT's words, "he was planning [on] exposing what he calls the government’s inadequate explanations about the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center". There's a huge difference between the wild-eyed truthers who claim for a fact that Bush/Cheney/etc. knew about or planned the attacks and those who rightly question some government explanations that don't add up.
Another entry in that section concerns the North American Union; see the post about Kenneth Vogel for an answer to that. Their entry also quotes Hawkins. They also discuss the NAFTA Superhighway. Apparently their followers are expected to think both are myths and they correctly assume that most of their followers won't know that Obama has come out for Bush's SPP.gov and appears to have confirmed the NAFTA Superhighway.
Posted to Politics at 09:13 PM
American Medical Association falsely states "47 million Americans are uninsured"
The American Medical Association operates "Voices for the Uninsured" (voicefortheuninsured.org), a website designed to promote their proposal of some form of universal healthcare coverage.
On their homepage and elsewhere, they falsely state "47 million Americans are uninsured". In fact, around 10 million of that number are citizens of other countries, and millions of that 10 million are probably here illegally. They don't appear to be making a related false claim similar to that made by the DNC, but that might be on one of their unindexed pages or in a graphic.
An email sent earlier today pointing this out has not been replied to at post time.
Posted to Politics at 02:29 PM
Truth Fights Back, just not too well (John Kerry on anti-Obama smears)
John Kerry's "Campaign for Our Country" has started a new website called Truth Fights Back (truthfightsback.com), and it's pretty bad. For instance, consider the post "Barack Obama is not aligned with Weather Underground", which combines 3rd-grade-level writing with 3rd-grade-level thinking. This is the "smear" (truthfightsback.com/site/smear/200):
Republicans have repeatedly pushed a bogus story about William Ayers, a member of the 60s-era Weather Underground. They make all sorts of bogus claims about his association with Barack Obama and repeatedly try to make the connection between the two stronger.
And, this is the supposed counterattack:
Barack Obama has very little connection to William Ayers. Barack Obama served on the board of a non-profit in Chicago. This non-profit also asked Ayers, now a professor at the University of Chicago, to serve on the board. Obama had nothing to do with his inclusion on the board. Very early in his career, Barack Obama attended one event at Ayer's house, organized for Obama. This was over a decade ago.
Needless to say, there's more to it: link, link.
They also discuss the recent Jerome Corsi book (truthfightsback.com/site/smear/236), linking to Media Matter's supposed debunking article (mediamatters.org/items/200808040005). While some of the points MMFA makes are worrisome, most are indeed rather trivial.
Their entry on Obama's Global Poverty Act combines some debunking with a lot of disingenuousness (truthfightsback.com/site/smear/230). The RNC sent out a fundraising letter which is apparently excerpted at crooksandliars.com/2008/08/07/the-lunatics-are-running-the-rncs-asylum:
A bill he has sponsored in the U.S. Senate, the so-called Global Poverty Act (S. 2433), would raise the amount of American tax dollars allocated to United Nations’ redistribution efforts to $845 billion.
FTS correctly points out that that's not accurate: the bill would only spend $1 million. But, they're disingenuous in pretending that that's all it would do:
Obama does sponsor the Global Poverty Act (S. 2433), an attempt to focus on one of the largest contributors to global instability. However, it simply asks for a refocusing of resources toward this goal, not new spending, essentially mandating more efficiency and focus in meeting this huge problem. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that "implementing S. 2433 would cost less than $1 million per year." It would, therefore, take 8,450 years for the Global Poverty Act to spend the money the RNC claims it would spend.
The DNC (draft) position is to support those MDGs, and Obama wants to meet those goals as well. That is going to require an outlay of billions of dollars, even if only $1 million is spent on the study and the like initially.
FTS also has a rather interesting commenting policy, straight outta Moscow:
TruthFightsBack.com has a strict commenting policy. This is a site for debunking false attacks and misleading smears against Democrats. If you are not interested in that goal, please feel free to comment elsewhere. And due to the emotional nature of the subject matter, we have a few rules that go farther than we would on a normal blog to try to keep the vitriol lower than otherwise possible. We have a goal of finding and spreading the truth, not in attacking others. To further that goal, these behaviors will not be tolerated in comments: * furthering and amplifying the smears against Democrats * attacking other posters * profanity directed at any other poster * smears against Republicans * off-topic remarks for their own sake
Posted to Politics at 01:54 PM
Los Angeles may "require" home improvement stores to have day laborer centers
Anna Gorman of the Los Angeles Times offers "L.A. adopts day laborer rules for home improvement stores" (link):The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved an ordinance Wednesday requiring certain home improvement stores to develop plans for dealing with day laborers who congregate nearby in search of jobs.Eric Garcetti - as well as day laborers who were in the Council that day - are happy.
The ordinance mandates that proposed big-box stores obtain conditional-use permits, which could then require them to build day-labor centers with shelter, drinking water, bathrooms and trash cans.
Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who first proposed the ordinance four years ago, said that this was just the first phase and that he planned to address existing home improvement stores next. He said the businesses needed to be held accountable for their role in attracting dayworkers.
Home Depot says they aren't happy, but that's probably only because the city (probably) won't be picking up the tab for building the day laborer centers. The City of Los Angeles is/was directly enabling illegal immigration by leasing a section of a Home Depot's parking lot to run a center. And, Home Depot was paying a lobbyist $10,000 a month to lobby the L.A. City Council on the wider issue.
See also an attempt to claim that opposition to a Home Depot store was racism - run by someone who previously had worked for one of their PR companies. Surely it was just a coincidence.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 01:15 PM
Kenneth Vogel/Politico smears Jerome Corsi ("Obama Nation" book)
Jerome Corsi has recently released a book highly critical of BHO called "Obama Nation". Needless to say, the usual suspects are up in arms. But, representing perhaps more the corrupt establishment in general than BHO fans in particular, Kenneth Vogel of The Politico offers the smear piece "Wild theories of 'Obama Nation' author" (politico.com/news/stories/0808/12526.html). Needless to say, many since-proved theories were derided as wild. And, some of the Corsi claims Vogel discusses aren't that wild. Investigating all the statements Vogel attributes to Corsi - some aren't so good but might be less bad in context - is left as an exercise, but here's a couple from his (per Vogel) "trail of wild theories" and "fringe theories":
[Those] include allegations that President Bush worked to eliminate the borders with Mexico and Canada
Pretty much everything Bush has done has worked towards that goal. That includes allowing 14% of Mexico's working age population to move to the U.S., pushing through Mexican trucks on U.S. roads, allowing the FDIC to give home loans to illegal aliens and collaborate with the Mexican government to do so, giving benefits to Mexican citizens, and making a pledge to the Mexican government to push to allow even more Mexicans to come to the U.S. Only hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens flooding Congress with their opposition to immigration "reform" prevented Bush from further weakening the border with Mexico.
The idea that there is a secretive plan for a North American Union is a favorite bogeyman for small-government conservatives but has been derided as baseless by mainstream thinkers and officials.
Many of those "mainstream thinkers and officials" are on record as supporting such a plan; see this category for some of them. For one example:
A powerful think tank chaired by former Sen. Sam Nunn and guided by trustees including Richard Armitage, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Harold Brown, William Cohen and Henry Kissinger, is in the final stages of preparing a report to the White House and U.S. Congress on the benefits of integrating the U.S., Mexico and Canada into one political, economic and security bloc.
The article ends with this:
In blasting Corsi and the theory, a columnist at the influential conservative blog Human Events wrote [humanevents.com/article.php?id=18859], "I don't think Corsi is any more worthy of being taken seriously than those who think Jews rule the world or the 'Truthers' who think President Bush is responsible for 9/11."
The "columnist" in question is actually John Hawkins, someone who's better known as a blogger (rightwingnews.com). Since its publication, Hawkins has taken a lot of heat for it from his commenters who've pointed out how he's wrong.
Do the same with Kenneth Vogel: politico.com/aboutus/feedback.html
Posted to Politics at 07:40 PM
Instapundit still confused over that whole "nature" thing
Perennial idiot Instapundit (aka "Glenn Reynolds", "Seasonal GOP Hack", "Insty") says (pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/archives2/022837.php):DAVID BARON, CALL YOUR OFFICE (CONT'D): Black bear attacks boy in Smokies; father also hurt. "A black bear repeatedly mauled an 8-year-old boy Monday evening near a popular motor trail on the outskirts of Gatlinburg, and an animal matching its description was later killed by park rangers."1. The incident is certainly unfortunate and it's good that those involved made it out without serious injuries.
Plus, this commentary: "Parks were designed so people could experience nature in a positive way. Not be eaten by it."
2. Just because Insty links to something doesn't mean he agrees with it, but I strongly suspect that Insty does in fact agree with that "commentary" (from lastcar.blogspot.com).
3. The incident occured in a National Park (specifically here: nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/roaringfork.htm), which is quite a bit different an environment from a "park" in the sense of a suburban park or similar. It's not like the victim was playing on a swing in Central Park. The victim was in the bear's habitat in a location that has a fair number of bears. If you go into such an environment, you have to be prepared for an encounter; there aren't packs of rangers whose job it is to clear them out of the way for your convenience.
4. The lesson to be learned here is that those who aren't prepared to enter bear country should be either kept out of bear country or should be made aware, not that people should just start blowing away bears.
5. There is no #5, because I think the foregoing is evident enough.
Posted to Bloggage at 10:51 PM
City of Tucson partners with Guadalajara; "Regional Economic Integration" with Mexican state (Sonora)
From this:Tucson has signed an agreement to promote regional economic development with the Mexican city of Guadalajara.See the comments for more, such as the suggestion that this arrangement is unconstitutional.
Global Advantage, a University of Arizona Office of Economic Development program signed the agreement with a sister-agency in Guadalajara...
The venture's partners are Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities, Inc., Tucson Chamber of Commerce, The Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Tucson Airport Authority, MatchMex, Arizona Department of Commerce, Tucson-Mexico Sister Cities and UA.
The comments also mention the "Arizona-Sonora Economic Region"; Guadalajara is in another Mexican state, but Sonora is contiguous with Arizona. It's governor Eduardo Bours has been mentioned here before. The ASER ties into the first agreement as a means of integrating the U.S. and Mexican economies. See also this. And, from oepa.arizona.edu/projects.aspx#Indicators:
The Arizona – Sonora Regional Economic Indicators project, initiated in 1997, monitors the region’s progress towards economic integration and global competitiveness... The indicators represent an original way of measuring the two neighboring states of Arizona and Sonora as a single economic region.
Posted to NAU at 05:11 PM
Ask Obama or McCain a tough question, make $1000!
For over a year, I've been urging people to go to campaign appearances and ask the candidates tough immigration-related questions, without much luck. In a desperate move to get people off their couches, I upped the ante last week: I'll give $100 to the first person who asks Barack Obama or John McCain one of my tough immigration questions. See this for the details, but bear in mind my offer expires on August 22. I'm looking for sponsorship to give away more.
A couple days later, World Net Daily (independent of my offer) upped the ante even more: they'll give you $1000 for exclusive video of you asking tough questions. Unlike my offer, they aren't just limiting it to the first person, but to anyone who asks one of their questions.
Whichever you choose, please get out there and ask some real questions. If the money's not enough of an incentive, think about how bad asking real questions is going to make the MSM look.
Posted to Politics at 10:37 PM
Housing bailout bill includes millions for ACORN, National Council of La Raza
From this:There's more to the housing bailout measure than meets the eye, says [Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota)]. She contends that members of Congress need to be called back to Washington to reverse the measure that, among other things, sends millions of taxpayer dollars to a radical illegal immigration advocacy group.There's more on this here and here.
The housing package signed into law by President Bush extends an unlimited line of credit to troubled mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and rescues homeowners near or in foreclosure. The measure also increases the federal debt limit by another $800 billion -- and sends millions of dollars in aid to [the National Council of La Raza] and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.
Posted to Politics at 11:53 AM
Olympics events (2008 Beijing)
Every two or four years, Americans cluster around their televisions and pretend to be interested in obscure sporting events like the pentathalon. Have you ever done a pentathalon? What exactly is it?
And, that time is again here as the 2008 Beijing Olympics kicked off over the weekend.
There are only two slightly interesting sports: archery and shooting. And, those are only interesting in the same way that their winter counterpart (the biathalon) and NASCAR are interesting: something might go wrong. With almost all the other "sports", it's hard to tell when something has gone right or wrong because only about 0.0001% of Americans have ever played them. They might as well add lacrosse for all the relevance most of the "sports" have to our daily lives.
By now you know the drill: after two weeks of soupy personal tales of the athletes' struggles, four or five stars will be selected to adorn our Cheerios boxes until such time as they've faded from public view and are forced to MC supermarket openings and such.
Here's a rundown of the events this year:
REAL TEAM SPORTS: These are Baseball, Basketball, and (perhaps) Soccer. None are, of course, Football. And, since no one knows anything about the non-U.S. teams, wagering is pointless.
FAKE TEAM SPORTS: Badminton? As for Beach Volleyball, there's only one reason for that. Ditto with its indoor cousin, albeit much less so. Field Hockey is included, and it's close enough to lacrosse to be completely irrelevant to most people. As for Softball, why?
CELEBRATIONS OF VIOLENCE: Boxing, Tae Kwon Do, and Judo. The last two are neither Greek nor American; why are they there?
ROADIE-CENTRICISM: Their idea of Cycling is roadies. While there will be some mountain biking and BMX, that won't be for another week and until that time we'll be forced to watch brightly spandex-clad roadies going around in circles.
MARK SPITZ: Diving and Swimming, who cares?
SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING: Enough said.
BARELY WATCHABLE: The problem with Gymnastics is that by the time they turn 18 they can barely walk.
WHY NOT SHUFFLEBOARD? Handball? The name alone should rule that out. Is Table Tennis even a real sport?
WHY NOT POLO? Seriously, unless you're a Harvard alum or you live in Alaska you've probably never been in either a Canoe or a Kayak. Equestrian? Raise your hand if you own a horse. Ditto with Sailing and Rowing. As for Fencing, why not just make it interesting and go for Dueling? While some from hoi polloi play Tennis, they're trying to keep them out.
TRACK MY BOREDOM: No one knows what the Modern Pentathalon or the Triathalon consist of, and no one cares. There's also a catchall "Track and Field" event for exciting things like watching people jump over hurdles, just like horses.
DO YOU LIKE GLADIATOR MOVIES TOO? I'll put Water Polo, Weight Lifting, and Wrestling in this category for no particular reason.
Posted to WackyHumor at 12:39 PM
Barack Obama is a dual citizen? Kenya? Indonesia? Sister's name on birth certificate?
Is Barack Obama a dual citizen of Kenya? The "Things you might not know about Barack Obama" post from "The Rocky" of the Rocky Mountain News (link) drops this bomb in the middle of their list:
Holds both American and Kenyan (since 1963) citizenship.
That's from four days ago and no correction is appended. But, the sources listed (biography.com, Internet Movie Database, Atlanta Journal Constitution) don't appear to have anything I can find that would confirm it. "Texas Darlin" (more on her below) says she's talked to the author and he thinks more corroboration is needed.
In early 2007, author and Obama opponent Andy Martin (link) held a press conference (link)
"to announce that U. S. Senator Barack Obama is a citizen of Kenya and became a citizen of Kenya under the Independence Constitution of Kenya in 1963. Obama has never renounced his Kenyan citizenship. He is also a U. S. Citizen."
However, a search didn't find any documentation or a followup to that press release. To add to our skepticism, this site believes it based on the foregoing cites. The comment from "Bud" here provides quotes from the alleged Kenya Constitution which would seem to rule out BHO being a dual citizen. However, the site containing that "Constitution" doesn't appear to be a government site and the various loopholes involved would have to be analyzed by someone familiar with both U.S. and Kenyan laws. Finding someone to do that is left as an exercise.
But, wait, there's more! BHO might actually instead be a citizen of Indonesia. At least, that's what "Texas Darlin" says in a comment:
The more important issue is Indonesian citizenship. In fact, the Kenyan thing could be a diversion.
On that post, Larry Johnson promises dire news to come:
I confirmed today that several teams/individuals visited Jakarta during the last six months to gather up critical documents regarding Barack. It is amazing what money can buy. The information includes details of how Barack made his way to Pakistan. Oh! Did I mention there have been similar efforts underway in Pakistan... Did I also mention how small Hawaii is? Republican operatives, with help from their own island backers, have unearthed critical information on Obama and are just biding their time until after the convention to drop it on him. Such as? Having a birth certificate that lists you as Barry Soetoro.
Meanwhile back in the U.S., an effort is underway regarding BHO's supposed birth certificate, with one Ted Moran saying:
"I am looking for 50 brave men or women from 49 states and the District of Columbia to join me in suing the secretaries of state in our respective states to prevent them from posting the name Barak H. Obama on the November 2008 ballot until he presents incontrovertible proof that he is a … U.S. citizen,"
Also meanwhile, "Sister Maya's Name Uncovered on Alleged Obama Birth Certificate" (link).
I'm not entirely dismissing their concerns, but they're going to need to actually produce something one of these days in order to avoid being completely dismissed.
And, in the meantime, if they want to actually have an impact using things that are indisputable, go to a BHO appearance and call him on one of his documented lies or misleading statements.
HIGHLY CONFUSED UPDATE: Thanks to Dave Weigel for pointing out over at reason.com that Soetero is the last name of BHO's step-father, and thus his name would not appear on a birth certificate. However, someone in comments there says a new certificate could have been issued when BHO was a child. Meanwhile, "Texas Darlin" assures us that "I am neither a Larry Sinclair operative nor a con-person working in collaboration with someone impersonating a forensics examiner." I'm going to leave reading the other posts at that site to you, the intrepid finder of fact.
Posted to Politics at 12:10 PM
DNC platform draft: a healthcare lie?, same old immigration line with a Bush echo, Katrina, service, firearms, U.N. MDG
A draft of the Democratic National Committee's platform is in this PDF: link. As one might expect, it's full of vague, empty promises.
1. They refer to "the tens of millions of Americans without health insurance", which is a slight step-down from Obama's false claim that there are 47 million Americans without healthcare. While they don't provide a total number of those to whom they'd give insurance, and they do only say they're going to give healthcare to "Americans", they do say there are "nine million children" without insurance. According to the Census Bureau, in 2006 there were 8,661,000 people under 18 without insurance. Yet, about a quarter of all those without insurance aren't citizens, and that percentage might be even higher for those under 18.
2. The immigration section contains pretty much everything you've come to expect if you've listened to a Barack Obama speech (or one from Hillary, McCain,...) As was recommended they use pseudo-tough language in order to try to fool people: instead of "offering" legalization, they'll "require" illegal aliens to "come out of the shadows and get right with the law" and "go to the back of the line". They support massive chain migration, referring to "family reunification" as the "cornerstone of our immigration policy for years". And, indeed it more or less has been since Teddy Kennedy changed the rules in the 60s.
They also appear to be supporting either H1-B visas or some form of "guest" worker scheme:
Given the importance of both keeping families together and supporting American businesses, we will increase the number of immigration visas for family members of people living here and for immigrants who meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill, as long as appropriate labor market protections and standards are in place.
I guess even they realize that "jobs Americans won't do" is a losing phrase. Compare the bolded section with this early 2004 George W. Bush quote:
Out of common sense and fairness, our laws should allow willing workers to enter our country and fill jobs that Americans are not filling.
Here's another Bush quote from that same time frame:
Reform must begin by confronting a basic fact of life and economics: Some of the jobs being generated in America's growing economy are jobs American citizens are not filling.
Maybe the Dems should find out who put that highly similar bit in their platform.
That section ends with this curious bit:
We will fight discrimination against Americans who have always played by our immigration rules but are sometimes treated as if they had not.
Presumably that refers to racial profiling, but considering the Democratic confusion over the words "American" and "immigrant" it really isn't clear what they're getting at.
3. They say "It is time to make the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, which aim to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015, America's goals as well." Those MDGs aim to do a lot more than just cut poverty (and perhaps cost the U.S. hundreds of billions). See the other goals in the post about BHO's Global Poverty Act.
4. They have a section on Katrina, which includes:
We will create jobs and training opportunities for returning and displaced workers and contracting opportunities for local businesses to help create stronger, safer, and more equitable communities.
What happened before is the Dems colluded with Bush to move the former residents out and warehouse them in other cities, while allowing connected contractors to bring in illegal aliens to take the jobs those former residents should have been doing. That scheme had tremendous costs, and the only people who came out ahead were the contractors and the Mexican government. In other words, the Democrats are full of it.
5. Someone who's more familiar with the code words used might want to weigh in on the "Firearms" section, but it sounds like the Dems are capitulating on this issue and supporting state's rights.
6. The "Service" section includes:
We will expand AmeriCorps; double the size of the Peace Corps; enable more to serve in the military, create new opportunities for international service, integrate service into primary education and create new opportunities for experienced and retired persons to serve.
Now, that's not like the Soviet Union or anything. It's just on the way there.
Posted to Politics at 03:40 PM
Exclusive: Secret Barack Obama training video
An escapee from Camp Obama is valiantly trying to get the word out about the Obama campaign, and has sent us the following super-secret Barack Obama campaign training video.
According to our unnamed source, all Level 2 and above BHO campaign volunteers - as well as all staffers and even members of the travelling press corps - are required to watch this video. Not only that, but they have to watch it several times per day.
And, yes, it just goes on and on and on like that.
Posted to WackyHumor at 12:31 PM
"Governor" Gavin Newsom defends San Francisco's sanctuary policy
"Governor" Gavin Newsom takes to the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle (link) to defend that city's sanctuary policy. It starts out with:
In 1985, San Francisco became one of the first cities in America to address a dangerous local consequence of America's failed immigration policy.
No less an authority than the Frisco "Immigrant Rights Commission" calls into question Newsom's timing (sfgov.org/site/immigrant_page.asp?id=4973):
In 1989, the Board of Supervisors adopted Ordinance No. 375-89, declaring San Francisco to be a City and County of Refuge
Both dates are around the 1986 amnesty; Newsom tries to use the fact that we haven't passed a new amnesty as justification for continuing the policy (from this: Newsom also said the ordinance's establishment was "directly connected with the failure of the federal government" to address immigration reform "in a thoughtful and comprehensive manner.") He hasn't explained why there appears to be a conflict; shouldn't the 1986 amnesty have made the 1989 policy unnecessary? If not, how would a new amnesty solve matters?
Hopefully San Francisco residents will come up with the moxie to start going to Newsom's public appearances (or calling into radio shows where he appears) and work to publicly embarrass him and drive him from office.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 03:30 PM
Judy Bachrach/Vanity Fair smears Lou Dobbs
Freelance writer and Vanity Fair contributor Judy Bachrach offers a smear of Lou Dobbs in "Lou Doubts" (poder360.com/article_detail.php?id_article=549). It's yet another example of the illegal activity-supporting establishment trying to reduce his influence in order to profit from illegal activity in one way or another.
It's not clear whether the article already appeared in VF, whether it will appear in VF, whether "Power 360" hired her to write it, or whether "Power 360" is the only group that wanted to buy it from her. It basically consists of the same warmed-over issues that were already discussed by David Leonhardt of the New York Times and in "Fear and Loathing in Prime Time" from Paul Waldman of Media Matters, combined with unattributed smear quotes from others.
1. She says that "CNN... occasionally signals that it considers Lou Dobbs Tonight the trailer park section of its nightly real estate package." That might be correct, but she fails to take into account that CNN's opinion has little validity.
2. She quotes Barack Obama lying about hate crimes doubling, simply to include his comments about Dobbs and Limbaugh. She doesn't do any real reporting in this case and point out that Obama lied. And, later in the article she quotes some hate crime statistics, so obviously she knows where to find them. Even the Washington Post's "Fact Checker" has called BHO on his lie (link), but apparently she's unable to do that.
3. She consistently gives far-left, illegal immigration-supporting groups anodyne descriptions. The National Immigration Forum is just "a center-left group"; the National Council of La Raza is just "the Hispanic advocacy group"; the Southern Poverty Law Center - a group indirectly linked to the Mexican government - is just "a civil rights organization"; and, Media Matters Action Network is just "a liberal media watchdog".
4. She consistently misspells "Frank Sherry".
5. She says "Broken Borders" was the title of Lou's initial salvo against illegal - Mexican - immigration. A search for site:cnn.com "Broken Borders" "special interest aliens" brings up 949 hits, implying that that segment doesn't just concentrate on Mexicans crossing illegally; a search for site:cnn.com "Broken Borders" "canadian border" brings up 86 hits, implying that that segment deals with the northern border as well.
6. She says [Chris Simcox of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps] organizes civilian patrols along the Arizona border— for excellent reason, apparently: he once complained he’d seen the Chinese army maneuvering on the Mexican border. The SPLC quotes him as saying (splcenter.org/intel/news/item.jsp?pid=168&site_area=1) "The Mexican army is driving American vehicles -- but carrying Chinese weapons. I have personally seen what I can only believe to be Chinese troops." I don't hold Simcox in the highest possible regard, but a real reporter would try to consider whether there could be a grain of truth in what he's saying, and might look into things like the questionable blurb from a Mexican newspaper printed here. We know that the Mexican Army has renegades or that criminals pretend to be them; it's highly likely that Chinese arms and American military vehicles are smuggled into Mexico; and, it's certainly possible that there could be Chinese people in uniform in Mexico, whether affiliated with similar fake Mexican groups or criminal Chinese groups. There have been rumors of something similar (link), but no corroboration I can find. And, of course, a Chinese company linked to the Chinese military controls the Panama Canal (link). A real reporter - and one not simply intent on writing a smear piece - would look into such allegations.
7. She says There have been dark references to "Aztlan," a supposed plan to recapture the U.S. Southwest on behalf of Mexico, and its imaginary sibling, the North American Union, a plot to merge the U.S., Mexico and Canada. President George W. Bush once described the mere thought of such a union as "quite comical," but Lou thinks otherwise. Last year he informed viewers, "that there really is such a thing and it's all part of a plan." It's extremely odd that about the only time leftists are willing to take Bush's word for anything is when he denies things like the NAU. In fact, many NAU apologists who wouldn't normally take anything the Bush administration says at face value are more than willing to regard them as the last word on this issue. She fails to point out that those who are on record as supporting something like the NAU are almost an entirely different set from those who are on record as supporting some form of self-determination or irredentism. A simple search would show examples of various thought leaders supporting both plans. For more on the NAU, see this category.
8. She refers to the mythical NAFTA Superhighway; even the MMFA report she references admits that it exists in a form.
9. She claims that Dobbs initially knuckled-under to pressure from the SPLC. Then, after allowing Mark Potok to mislead about their goals, she says that according to him Dobbs did an about face and his "polemics on illegal immigration actually appeared to harden". That section is entirely based on Potok's representations.
10. She takes Joe Baca's word for what went on when Dobbs met with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; she says the air was thick with implications that he was a know-nothing racist with limited gastronomical experience. "I was asked if I'd ever eaten a taco before, for God's sake," Lou said. "Pretty amazing stuff." She follows that with Amazing indeed, as it turned out. U.S. Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA), the caucus leader, wrote columnist Ruben Navarrette of the San Diego Union Tribune that to the best of his recollection taco-talk "did not reflect the true nature of the discussion at our meeting." In other words, she considers a vile racial demagogue like Baca a credible source, and not Dobbs. By the way: Baca is linked to someone who wrote a book about Aztlan.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 11:17 AM
Barack Obama supporters angered, saddened by John McCain blog commenting scheme
In yet another bone-headed move, the John McCain campaign is encouraging their supporters to leave McCain talking points in commenting sections on blogs (link). If they do that they'll get points which can be redeemed for prizes, including cases of beer. The much more honorable suggestion would be to correct misinformation, but that's not what they want.
Needless to say, reaction was swift and strong from Obama supporters.
Over at The Trail, "Stewie" condemned this plan, and then launched into the suggestion that McCain wears Depends. Three seconds later, "ObamaIsTheOne2008!!!" - oddly enough, using the same IP address as "Stewie" - called those who'd leave such comments names, and then launched into a tirade calling McCain "McSame". Then, five seconds later and also using the same IP address, "BeckyIowa" revealed that she's a 50-year-old white woman who - although previously a McCain supporter - is now voting for Obama. Five seconds later, "Bob Smith" - using an IP address resolving to a web company in Mumbai - claimed:
The tide is starting to swell.The coal is getting stoked. The blinders are being removed. The chant of a few is becoming a chorus of thousands.People all over this country are learning that there is still hope for our great country.Obama 2008.
Posted to WackyHumor at 04:32 PM
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) calls DHS agents "Gestapo agents" (Gebe Martinez/Politico)
Alleged U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez - Democrat from Illinois - is quoted in the article "Push needed for immigration reform" (link) by ethnocentric hack reporter Gebe Martinez as saying:
"You know who is in charge now? The Gestapo agents at [the Department of] Homeland Security. They are in charge... I think it is election season, and they have decided it did not work for us one way [with comprehensive reform], so let's try to exploit it politically another way” through harsh enforcement."
ICE is not happy:
A senior ICE official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Julie L. Myers, the assistant secretary of Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was "absolutely appalled and deeply angered" by the statement. The official said Myers would send a letter to senior members of Congress asking that disciplinary action be taken against Gutierrez' for his remarks... ..."It's not OK," [Jamie Zuieback, director of congressional affairs for ICE] said. "Aside from being demeaning to the law enforcement officers that uphold the very laws passed by Mr. Gutierrez's Congress, it's potentially dangerous. No member of Congress should be encouraging the public to defy or demean federal law enforcement officers. Words matter."
Gutierrez didn't respond to their request for comment. The last link notes that California Democratic Rep. Sam Farr said this to Myers in February:
"What happens is the public image of you becomes one of not this compassionate law enforcement agency but essentially a Gestapo-type agency that is knocking on doors."
Others who've said similar things include Peter Schey, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Stillmore GA mayor Marilyn Slater, NJ nursery owner Chris Ruske, immigration attorney Casey Wolff, Joe Mota of the United Farm Workers. Those who've come close include Nancy Pelosi, the New York Times editorial board, and NY grower Maureen Torrey.
As for the rest of the Politico "news report", I don't know why the Politico gives Gebe Martinez the time of day considering her extremely biased reporting, for instance:
In May, hundreds of federal agents stormed into the Agriprocessors Inc. plant, rounded up workers like cattle and chuted them through a pre-scripted legal process that cut off their legal rights to defend themselves against unusually harsh felony "aggravated identity theft" charges.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 12:02 PM
Luis Gutierrez, Joe Baca don't want federal enforcement in "their" communities
Putative U.S. Reps. Luis Gutierrez and Joe Baca offer an editorial called "Mr. President, stop your raids on our communities" (link). Discussing everything wrong with it would take too long, but:
1. What exactly does "our communities" mean? I'm pretty sure they aren't referring to the localities they represent, but have something more ethnic nationalistic in mind. And, what right do they have to order the federal government to stop enforcing our laws? Taken the next step, are they claiming there's a Latino Nation inside our nation, and they're it's representatives?
2. As with others, they pretend they'll support enforcement after an amnesty is granted ("We can all agree that we need Immigration reform that is tough on enforcement.") Yet, everything they complain about would apply after "reform" as it does now. Does anyone believe these two racial demagogues would do a 180 and support post-"reform" enforcement?
3. They compare the conditions in the Third World ("abject poverty, meager wages, poor working conditions, paltry access to legal counsel and a jarring lack of fairness in the courts") to that which illegal aliens undergo. Not only is that extreme hyperbole, illegal aliens put themselves in their positions and almost all can escape their current conditions simply by abiding by our laws.
4. If their only concern was alleged abuses, they'd probably get more support if it wasn't clear that their goal is to prevent enforcement in order to increase their political power.
5. Is it in the best interests of the U.S. to give Gutierrez and Baca more power than they have now? (The answer is a very loud 'no').
Posted to Immigration2008a at 09:29 PM
Kevin Drum/Washington Monthly deletes yet another comment (Obama's Global Poverty Act)
Kevin Drum obviously doesn't want his readers to know how much of a hack he is, since either he or someone else at Washington Monthly keep deleting comments from me and apparently from others as well.
The latest in this long line was left earlier today on a post about Barack Obama's Global Poverty Act. It was left on washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_08/014237.php, which links to blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/08/05/this-just-in-obama-is-a-secret-agent-from-the-u-n.aspx from Jonathan Cohn.
Here's the comment, as posted:
------
Let me get this straight: Jonathan Cohn admits he knows nothing about this, but he's basing his mockery on a "quick Google search" and he admits he might be missing something. And, since all the complaints about this are coming from rightwing sites, well, then it's not really necessary to look into the claims, right?
And, then Kevin Drum does an even more hacky job than usual by simply linking to someone else's hackwork.
If there are any intellectually honest BHO supporters, start here and then tell us why the figure quoted is wrong.
Remember: the key part of that is to be intellectually honest, that is unlike Kevin Drum and Jonathan Cohn.
[Note: WM and/or KD have a habit of deleting or editing comments without notice, so this comment may disappear or be different from what I posted. Search for "kevin drum" at my site for examples of comments that were deleted.]
------
UPDATE: I left another comment saying the following:
------
Here's the comment that was just deleted from this thread. Needless to say, this comment will probably be deleted too.
------
Guess what: I was right. At the WM link, out of 22 comments there are only two that have any value whatsoever: one links to the votegopher link (also left in comments here), and another that says "Just read the bill. It's typical Obama. All rhetoric and no substance. Probably unconstitutional as it violates the separation of powers." None of the others address the bill but are simply attempted "jokes", rants about how the GOP is evil, and so on.
The bottom line is that nothing Kevin Drum says can be trusted. By deleting comments from those who disagree, they're removing any fact-checking from their site. Kevin Drum could lie about something obscure and then simply delete all the comments that point out the lie. Anyone who took Drum at his word would have been misled.
Regarding the votegopher comment in comments here, I left this comment there (whew!):
------
It would be fair to state that this bill could start a process that would result in the U.S. spending the amount claimed; see for instance this estimate from the WorldBank: peekURL.com/z1doski
Note also this from the bill: "The year 2007 marks the mid-point to the Millennium Development Goals deadline of 2015." That implies that the bill wants us to continue on the path to meeting that deadline, and doing that is going to require us to spend a lot of money, in addition to doing a lot of other things covered by the MDG.
Maybe next time we can look forward to this site discussing those other MDGs and admitting that BHO obviously wants us to meet all of them.
------
Posted to Bloggage at 10:30 AM
Casa de Maryland gets $1.5 million from Citgo (Venezuela government)
Casa de Maryland - a far-left, illegal immigration-supporting group that runs day laborer centers in the Baltimore area and even advertises in competition with U.S. citizens on Craigslist - has received a $1.5 million donation from Citgo Petroleum, which basically translates into being a donation from the government of Venezuela. In November of last year, Casa's Gustavo Torres attended a "revolution in the U.S." conference in that country. And, Citgo has used ethnic solidarity to sell gasoline in the U.S.Casa is "protected" by the local Democratic machine, and they're set to receive a $1.9 million donation next year from Montgomery County. And:
In 2007, the Venezuelan government expressed interest in helping fund some county programs. But Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett declined to get involved, Mr. Lacefield said.The last is linked with the Kennedy family; see "Dial Joe-4-Chavez/Massachusetts Democrats love Venezuela's strongman" (link).
"I think he felt that we really didn't need assistance from the Venezuelan government to run Montgomery County," he said. "Our attitude was thanks, but no thanks."
Communities served by Casa have already benefited from Citgo programs. Since 2006, Casa has partnered with Citgo in a program that provides heating oil at a discounted rate to families in the area. Citgo began the national program in 2005 with the Venezuelan government and Boston-based Citizens Energy Corp.
UPDATE: While the report from the WaPo's Alejandro Lazo on this only makes it to page D8, at least it does say this:
The donation will be spread over three years to help fund the group's $4.4 million vocational training and economic development program. It will offer day laborers and other low-income workers skills courses in the construction trades, counseling to small business owners and access to social services. One of the programs encourages the formation of worker-owned cooperatives. Chavez has encouraged such cooperatives as part of his so-called Bolivarian Revolution.A former State Department official then puts some pro-Chavez spin on it.
...CASA accepted the money despite the strain [of Chavez' anti-Bush tirades, etc.], said Kim Propeack, advocacy director for the group, because few corporations have stepped up to make similar donations.
"Citgo is a large corporation, and it is all too rare in this world that large corporations have a responsibility to the community from which they garner their profits," Propeack said.
Others focused on Chávez's political goals. "He is committed to creating this constituency in the United States and also to embarrassing the United States," said Michael E. Shifter, vice president for policy at Inter-American Dialogue, a policy forum on Latin America-U.S. relations. "That here is this Third World country that is really taking care of social problems in the United States that the United States is not able to deal with -- I think that is politically what Chávez tries to do."
Posted to Immigration2008a at 06:29 PM
#dontgo momentum builds! Stumble friendly! Keep it going!
#dontgo (dontgo.us) is truly a "turning point for the right" (link). Others are no doubt raving about it as I write this.
However, I dare anyone who isn't part of the loop to figure out what all those words at the last link mean because I have absolutely no idea what's going on. Nor am I going to bother satirizing how insular one would have to be to expect that anyone who'd visit your site is already "part of the conversation" and thus explaining what you're doing isn't necessary.
Posted to WackyHumor at 06:24 PM
Presidential "debate" moderators: Jim Lehrer, Gwen Ifill, Bob Schieffer, Tom Brokaw
The four moderators for this year's only presidential "debates" have been selected and they're, of course, four mainstream media hacks. Jim Lehrer of PBS NewsHour will moderate the first presidential debate, Tom Brokaw of NBC News the second (in a townhall format), and Bob Schieffer of CBS News the third. Gwen Ifill of the NewsHour will moderate the only vice-presidential debate.
The audience at the townhall debate will be selected by Gallup and will come from the Nashville area. Some questions from the internet may also be included.
Don't, however, expect any tough questions - especially about immigration - to be asked. The only way questions like that are going to be asked is by citizens doing it themselves by going to public events, asking tough questions on videotape, and then uploading the responses to video sharing sites.
Posted to Politics at 11:09 AM
Gavin Newsom: fines unless Frisco residents meticulously sort their trash
From this:Garbage collectors would inspect San Francisco residents' trash to make sure pizza crusts aren't mixed in with chip bags or wine bottles under a proposal by Mayor Gavin Newsom.Read the whole thing for much more, such as this handy chart showing what would go where. And, below the chart is Newsom's new theme song.
And if residents or businesses don't separate the coffee grounds from the newspapers, they would face fines of up to $1,000 and eventually could have their garbage service stopped...
Posted to California at 10:38 PM
Bush admin agrees to two more years of Mexican trucks
From this:The Bush administration on Monday extended a test program allowing long-haul trucks from Mexico full access to U.S. highways for up to two years, despite pending legislation in Congress to shut it down.Previously:
"We intend this extension to reassure trucking companies that they will have sufficient time to realize a return on their investment, and we anticipate additional participation with this extra time," said John Hill, the Transportation Department's top trucking safety regulator...
Mary Peters, Carlos Gutierrez, Mexican official team up to promote Mexican trucks in U.S.
Sen. Byron Dorgan moves to block Mexican trucks (NAFTA)
"Mexican trucks approved for long-haul trips in U.S."
Mexican trucks to be allowed to carry cargo on U.S. highways (NAFTA)
UPDATE: There's more here, and here Democrats Rep. James Oberstar and Senator Byron Dorgan say they'll block the program as soon as they can.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 08:38 PM
England: kids urged to become "Climate Cops", monitor "Climate Crimes" of parents, neighbors
Back on April 6, 2008 I uploaded the video below called "Green Pioneers", satirizing the global warming hysteria by proposing a Soviet Union-style Pioneers program featuring kids monitoring and reporting the energy consumption of their parents and neighbors.
From my satire to others' realities, as in July, Barack Obama proposed his Clean Energy Corps.
But, even that wasn't as close as a new program from the British company NPower called "Climate Cops". They want children to monitor their parents' and neighbors' "Climate Crimes" and leave Post-It notes at the scene of the crime, building up a "Climate Crime Case File". Similar historical programs are discussed here and here. Someone else's satire of the new program is here. And, if you want to join up, visit climatecops.com
Posted to Miscellania at 10:48 AM
Business-linked GOP groups oppose Russell Pearce; ad calls him "embarrassment" (Tim Hill, Kevin Gibbons)
Back in 2006, the GOP more or less dropped support from Republican congressional candidate Randy Graf of Arizona due to his opposition to illegal immigration; they threw their support behind a "business-friendly" challenger instead. Now, something similar is playing out in the same state involving the reelection campaign of state Senator Russell Pearce.Two groups (The People of AZ and Protect Arizona's Future) are running an ad campaign featuring this video that calls Pearce an "embarrassment" for things he's apparently said about John McCain, Jeff Flake, and Jon Kyl.
...Tim Hill, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona and chairman of both independent committees, said the groups believe Pearce is "mean-spirited" when it comes to party members with whom he disagrees, especially on the highly divisive issue of illegal immigration... Hill added that the group would like to see someone elected who looks at issues of public safety "beyond the narrow confines of immigration."... "He needs to talk not about tax cuts but about truly balancing our state budget without hurting communities," Hill said... Hill strongly endorsed [Kevin Gibbons], a Republican immigration lawyer, calling him "well-rounded and level-headed."The party affiliation of Hill and the PFFA is unclear, but the first and third bolded phrases above are definitely part of the Democratic Party's lexicon. In 2006 the PFFA backed Randy Graf's opponent (giffordsforcongress.com/2006/04/12/arizona-fire-police-and-highway-patrol-back-giffords). And, according to this, a group called "Protect Arizona's Future" got $15,000 from "Progressive Majority" in 2006; whether both are the same group is unknown.
...Gibbons, who's related to Flake, has the backing of the business industry and key political players including Farrell Quinlan, former vice president of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Quinlan is the spokesman for another independent committee, Judgment Matters, which also is campaigning against Pearce.Pearce has a site against Gibbons here. As pointed out here, only about 15% of Gibbons' contributions are from those in the district, with a large percentage coming from growers and over 30% coming from Yuma.
Another independent committee, Mesa Deserves Better, while ambiguous about its plans, is led by those opposed to the employer sanctions law, which was sponsored by Pearce. Committee chairman Nathan Sproul, a GOP heavy hitter and former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party, consulted for the anti-sanctions-law group, Wake Up Arizona!
That law is one of the toughest in the nation on employers and, along with other anti-illegal immigration measures he's pushed, is a point of pride for Pearce. He has criticized Gibbons for taking money from those who support cheap labor at the expense of jobs for Americans.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 01:32 PM
Gavin Newsom's San Francisco violated federal law? Perks for illegal aliens, and much more
Apparently the thought of "Governor Gavin Newsom" is as scary to the San Francisco Chronicle as it is to the rest of us, because they've actually done some real reporting on Frisco's sanctuary policy and their habit of supporting illegal immigration.
First up is "Illegal immigrant arrested 5 times before feds told", about a 26-year-old crack dealer's trips through the revolving door (link).
Then there's "S.F. fund aids teen felons who are illegals" (link):
As San Francisco's juvenile justice system shielded young illegal immigrant felons from possible deportation, Mayor Gavin Newsom's office gave grants totaling more than $650,000 to nonprofit agencies to provide the underage offenders with free services - everything from immigration attorneys to housing assistance to "arts and cultural affirmation activities," city records show... Joseph Russoniello, the U.S. attorney for the northern district of California and a critic of San Francisco's past policy of not turning over undocumented juvenile immigrant felons for deportation, said the mayor's office was funding programs that might be violating federal law... "What it means to me," he said, "is they took the concept of sanctuary, and they applied it in a way that it is as close to harboring as I've ever seen."
In related news, Judicial Watch has filed a California Public Records Request for details on the recent triple murder allegedly performed by an illegal alien (link).
Posted to Immigration2008a at 12:23 PM
Barack Obama admits to playing race card
...and with a Clintonian twist. According to this, he said this earlier today:
"I don't think it's accurate to say my comments have nothing to do with race... here's what I was saying, and I think it should be undisputed: I don't come out of central casting when it comes to presidential races, for a whole range of reasons. I'm young, new to the national scene. My name is Barack Obama. I'm African American. I was born in Hawaii. I spent time in Indonesia. I do not have the typical biography of a presidential candidate... In no way do I think John McCain's campaign was being racist... They're cynical, and I think they want to distract people from the real issues."
I don't think it's accurate to say we want to put up with four years of someone playing the race card when things don't go his way.
Posted to Politics at 11:42 AM
"Chemical bomb" thrown at Jim Gilchrist at Minuteman protest against Gavin Newsom?
On Wednesday, the Minuteman Project protested San Francisco's sanctuary policy and their mayor Gavin Newsom. According to MMP leader Jim Gilchrist, one of the counterprotesters tried to throw a "chemical bomb" in a glass vial at him. It bounced off Gilchrist's assistant Tim Bueller, hit the ground, and made a loud noise as it detonated. Apparently no one was injured. The police arrested the person who threw the "bomb". There's a text blurb here, and audio where Gilchrist discusses this is here.
Posted to Immigration2008a at 12:35 PM
