Temporary Archives
This is a very large file. For the full smaller digest version, click here.John McCain bumpersticker: "Fewer Jobs. More Wars."
While some might look on in dismay at the chance of John McCain being selected as the Republican nominee, my plan to soften the blow is to try to sell as many of the following bumperstickers and other products as possible, and then move to Australia. It reads "Fewer Jobs. More Wars", and other slogans shall be forthcoming.
Click here to purchase it from CafePress.
Live coverage, GOP presidential debate, June 5, 2007
11: I'm going to go practice my track-standing. Back later...
10: Three minutes with Larry King commence now...
9: Hunter mentioned pardoning Ramos-Compean, and even bringing back the Reagan Democrats.
8: John McCain warns that having 12 million illegal aliens - 2 million of them being criminals - is dangerous. His solution is his bill, which would give them a wave-of-the-wand legalization, with the government having only 24 hours to deny an application.
7: Ron Paul is pointing out that massive illegal immigration is subsidized... alert Reason Magazine!
6: Hunter is - thankfully - objecting to a "reporters" premise that there are "jobs Americans won't do". Booyah: "The Bush Kennedy McCain bill".
5: McCain says that amnesty is a matter of national security. Of course, he fails to note - and Wolfie fails to discuss - that the Z-visas Romney mentioned would almost certainly allow terrorists to become legal.
4: Once again, Wolf Blitzer is showing how much of a puffball he is by failing to ask tough questions that would reveal flaws in the arguments of those who promote massive and/or illegal immigration
3: Rudy Giuliani is now promoting his national ID card which would start just for foreigners but would expand to everyone in the U.S. (In a followup comment, Giuliani shows once again that he's obsessed with "knowing who's in the country").
2: Wolf is already wasting our time. It's good to know candidates can't go off-topic, no matter how marshmallow Wolf's questioning will no doubt be... Did McCain's pacemaker just short out or something?
The Huckster - a strong supporter of illegal immigration - starts it out with a joke...
Champion of the Constitution! Does he have a uniform? I kid...
1: The "I'd rather be riding my bike" coverage will commence shortly...
GOP 5/15 debate live coverage
Rudy playing terrorism card, discussing Fort Dix Six... imagine the fake terror alerts we'd have if he were president...America suddenly realizes: someone named "Tommy Thompson" is running for president...
Note to self: be sure to check gilmoreforpresident.com tomorrow...
HILLARY ALERT! Rudy plays "At least I'm not Hillary" card...
I have to say, the questions this time are better, although they haven't gotten around to immigration matters AFAIK...
John McCain just lied: he supports amnesty.
He may have lied again, saying that the Fort Dix Six "came here on visas that had expired". [UPDATE BELOW]
Chris Wallace calls Giuliani on his explicitly welcoming illegal aliens to NYC...
Overall, this was much better than the Chris Matthews embarrassment, but even so their questions about immigration didn't go much beyond the superficial talking points. Grilling Giuliani or McCain about their positions could have driven them out of the front range of candidates.
UPDATE: John McCain was wrong about the Duka brothers, unless he knows something that he's not telling us. However, I'm going to backpeddle a bit on calling him a liar on that issue, since they might indeed have had some form of visa at some time. According to this 5/12 article, three of the six Fort Dix suspects (the non-Dukas) were legal U.S. residents. However, the status of the three Duka brothers is unknown, other than that they were brought over the Mexican border as children:
What is known is that the brothers, from the town of Debar in what is now Macedonia, arrived as children with their parents in 1984. A lawyer representing one of the brothers said the family entered across the Mexican border. They spent time in Texas and Brooklyn, N.Y., before moving to Cherry Hill in 1996.UPDATE: Tell me more about this... Tommy Thompson person. He just took liberal fool Alan Colmes to task for his Democratic talking point that the immigration status of the Duka brothers doesn't matter because they came here when they were children, arguing with Colmes that they had been detained and even arrested several times. Unfortunately, Sean Hannity cut him off before he'd had a chance to reduce Colmes' already low credibility even further.
It is unclear whether they sneaked into the country, applied for asylum, or entered on a visa.
But some immigration experts say it would be unusual for the family to have sneaked into the United States more than 20 years ago without being legal - or at least trying to legitimize their status - at some point.
"My guess is they have had some kind of complicated immigration history," said Linda Bosniak, a professor at the Rutgers University School of Law at Camden, who teaches immigration and citizenship law.
The Politico/MSNBC/Chris Matthews lightweight GOP "debate"
The Politico and MSNBC are holding a GOP debate tonight, moderated by super lightweight Chris Matthews; subject to other factors, a live discussion of the "debate" follows.
Summary: Tonight's debate was extremely lightweight and a complete waste of time. The questions were extremely general, largely pointless, and Matthews rarely had follow-ups. A fifth grade class could have asked better questions and done a better job at getting to what the candidates really support and the flaws in their arguments. If you want to help do something about this, sign the petition.
Two puffball questions on immigration so far: asking John McCain whether he's like to see Tom Tancredo heading up the INS (an agency that hasn't existed for four years), and asking all of them whether they would change the Constitution to allow Arnold Schwarzenegger to become president.
When candidates keep answering other questions in their answers, that's a good sign you're asking dumb questions.
Bush has a "centrist" position on immigration per one of the questioners who is, quite simply, a liar. His name to follow. (Jim VandeHei?)
Stupid question asking for a letter grade on Bush's handling of Iraq. Grade schoolers could figure out how to wiggle out of that question, as Huckabee just did. Reporters who wanted a real answer would have made it more specific.
Finally, something's happening: Tom Tancredo is asking for an immigration debate free of the usual BS (he was probably looking at Matthews when he said that).
"Do you believe in evolution?" What an absolutely idiotic question to ask.
Apparently Giuliani was told to be prepared for the "what's the difference between a Shia and a Sunni? question. He flubbed it, but not that bad.
Now Giuliani is promoting a national ID card and a database, which, as I discussed earlier would end up being for everyone, not just "guest" workers. And, Romney is joining the promoting, as is McCain. At least Brownback is opposing it.
Later - after Ron Paul gave an eloquent opposition - Giuliani and Romney clarified that the ID would just be for "foreigners". Chris Matthews sounded relieved. In fact, I already knew that was their position, but obviously Matthews did not. Then, he acted suprised and dropped that line of questioning.
A real reporter would have instead asked a follow-up, like this: "Due to racial profiling concerns - and probable ACLU lawsuits - wouldn't the ID card eventually be required for everyone in the U.S.? Won't some recent naturalized citizens with accents - who don't have theforeigner-only ID card - be refused work because they're unable to present their foreigner-only ID card, and won't that lead to suits, and won't that lead to the ID card being for everyone?"
That's certainly a complex question, but it would have revealed that Giuliani and Romney have not thought this whole thing through.
I note also that none of the several tough immigration questions I submitted were asked and, in fact, none of the second round questions concerned immigration matters. Yet, that's where almost all of the candidates are weakest, and discussing that topic would have revealed that Giuliani, McCain, Brownback, Huckabee, and most likely Romney are not qualified to be president. Instead, all we got was fluff.
Politico and MSNBC should be ashamed of being involved in such a disgrace.
Sweatshop supporter Ted Kennedy will never support immigration enforcement
Our favorite Senator, Ted Kennedy, offers "Families pay the price for failed system" about the Michael Bianco Inc. raids. As with the "news" report from Maria Sacchetti and Yvonne Abraham of the Boston Globe, it features a sympathetic photo of a "victim" of the raids.All over New Bedford on Tuesday, hundreds of women and men woke up, kissed their children goodbye and left for another day of work at Michael Bianco Inc. They knew it would be a grueling day because there was no other kind of day in the sweatshop-like conditions of the factory. But they were willing to work hard and without complaint because they believed in the American Dream, in which hard work creates a hope for a better life - if not for them, then for their children.Note to "liberals": Teddy Kennedy is supporting working in a sweatshop. I bet if I looked hard enough I could find similar articles written about slaves working in the fields or child laborers working in the factories of Dickens-era London.
What happened next was a tragic example of the desperate state of our current immigration policy. Hundreds of armed police and immigration officers raided the factory, creating panic among the workers. They handcuffed unarmed men and women in the same factory where the workers had already known nothing but indignity at the hands of their employer.As already pointed out a few times, those who make this sort of argument are full of it. Teddy Kennedy will never support enforcement and will always find some sort of excuse. If "reform" passes, he'll say it wasn't the enforcement he had in mind originally and try to water it down (even further). Or, he'll do what he's doing now: say we shouldn't enforce our laws until the (next) "reform" passes.
...We must enforce our nation's immigration laws. But the raids in New Bedford and elsewhere are merely a stopgap solution that unfairly penalizes vulnerable workers in an already flawed system...
Maria Sacchetti, Yvonne Abraham, Boston Globe support sweatshops, illegal activity
Maria Sacchetti and Yvonne Abraham of the Boston Globe offer a massive slab of pro-illegal immigration propaganda in "Fear grips kin after immigration raid" about the Michael Bianco, Inc. raid. The article is designed to provoke an emotional response and encourage those who aren't familiar with this issue to support illegal aliens being allowed to continue working here rather than being deported. It glosses over illegal activity and the alleged Dickensian conditions at the plant.
It even features a highly saturated photo from a press conference with three children being used as a prop. At first glance I thought the photo was a painting, and I wonder whether it really came out of the camera looking like that or whether they've performed some color manipulations.
The article starts like this:
Karin Fernandez had problems in Honduras.Their hugely sympathetic rendering has just glossed over people in foreign countries looking to the U.S. as an escape valve rather than trying to solve their problems in their home countries. There are hundreds of millions or billions of people in situations worse than Fernandez', and they can't all come here. And, that escape valve is something the leaders of countries like Honduras know about and encourage. Isn't it better for us and for them to encourage those countries to solve their own problems rather than using us as an escape valve?
She was two months pregnant, and the baby's father was gone. She had only a ninth-grade education and no work.
But her aunt in New Bedford offered a solution: Come to Massachusetts. Have the baby here. Work in the leather goods factory where it's easy to find a job.
"I was in a really ugly crisis," said Fernandez, 19.
In late 2005 she paid a smuggler $4,500 to bring her over the border. She made it to New Bedford and to the factory where the managers were said not to care if their employees' documents were fake.
They also gloss over what was most likely an explicit attempt to have an anchor baby, as well as the network effect involved in illegal immigration. And, needless to say, human smuggling is illegal, as is entering the U.S. without permission, as is hiring someone knowing that they're an illegal alien.
Maria Sacchetti and Yvonne Abraham (with contributions from Brian R. Ballou) want you to forget about those unnecessary complications. Just look at the waving baby, concentrate on the waving baby, you're getting sleepy, you're ready to support massive illegal activity and sweatshops...
Please write ombud *at* globe.com with your thoughts.
UPDATE: As Jeebie points out in comments, $4500 is a lot of money in Honduras. In fact, according to this, the Honduras Per Capita Gross National Income was $2710 USD. This page say the Gross National Income per capita was $2590 USD in 2003. This page has it even lower: "per capita gross national income in 2003 was approximately $970", and this page agrees. Let's be generous and say it's $3000. Meaning that she was able to come up with at least one and a half times the per capita gross national income of her country, and we're supposed to believe she "had problems"? For those who'd like to do more research, $4500 is equivalent to about 85,000 Honduran Lempiras.
UPDATE 2: Various figures for the U.S. Per Capita Gross National Income are available from around $33,000 to $40,000. Let's lowball it at $30,000, meaning that roughly speaking her $4,500 is equivalent to a U.S. 19-year-old having $45,000.
Erika Hayasaki/Los Angeles Times tries to help sweatshop (er, workers, yeah that's it)
Erika Hayasaki of the Los Angeles Times returns with another slab of pro-illegal immigration propaganda, this time about the raids at Michael Bianco Inc., a company that pretty much everyone agrees treated its employees in a Dickensian fashion. The article is entitled "Mayor criticizes raid for disrupting families", and it's consistent with the "yes, but" thought process described in the last link: "liberals" want to complain about abused illegal aliens, but when you get right down to it they also either don't care or support them working in those conditions.
An example is the town's leader:
New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang called the factory a sweatshop, like "something out of a Dickens novel." He said that though the federal government was right to investigate the conditions and crack down on illegal immigrants, the workers should have been given a chance to take care of their children and put their affairs in order while awaiting legal hearings.
To paraphrase: "terrible, terrible conditions. So, how soon can you get back to work?"
And, outdoing herself, Hayasaki starts the article thusly:
Before heading off to jobs stitching safety vests for U.S. soldiers, the mothers kissed their babies goodbye, leaving them at nurseries or with sitters.
Now, seriously. Is this in any way a news report? If you cornered them, wouldn't the LAT's editors be forced to admit that this article might as well be an ad for Illegal Immigration, Inc.?
Please write readers.rep *at* latimes.com with your thoughts.
Tamar Jacoby now Los Angeles Times contributing editor
The lider of the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times, Andres Martinez, has announced changes to their lineup. Some, such as CFRer Max Boot are out; some, such as Gregory Rodriguez, remain; and there are some new contributing editors [1] including:
* Tamar Jacoby. What more needs to be said?
* Gustavo Arellano of the OC Weekly. He's a former MEChA member and an apologist for that group. See also NCLR acting in the same role and referencing him. From our side.
* Timothy Garton Ash. I have absolutely no idea who he is, but he has three names, so he must be important. He also won the "George Orwell Prize for political writing", so he should be quite rightfitting with the LATimes.
* Denise Dresser. A "Reforma" columnist from Mexico; I think I've seen her on TV but I don't know how virulent a supporter of massive immigration she is.
* Sergio Munoz. Executive editor of La Opinion, a pro-illegal immigration rag run by Monica Lozano.
* Lawrence Summers, formerly of Harvard.
* Arianna Huffington, reporting from Brentwood.
[1] laobserved.com/archive/2007/03/new_oped_lineup_at_lat.php
Related:
Tamar Jacoby: "Stop chasing that busboy"
Tamar Jacoby reiterates pro-busboy, pro-gardener stance
Citizenship Promotion Act of 2007 (Barack Obama)
On Wednesday, Sen. Barack Obama introduced the "Citizenship Promotion Act of 2007". This important story was overshadowed by the most likely unimportant story about his stock holdings [1]. The CPA could be described as a "New Democrats Initiative/Funding Source for Possibly Foreign-Linked Pro-Illegal Immigration Groups" bill, and perhaps some reporters should have asked Obama and his co-horts about that. While the main feature is freezing the proposed hike in the cost of citizenship applications, another provision would distribute perhaps millions of dollars to pro-illegal immigration groups, some of which might be linked to the Mexican government. The bill would need to pass and those funding sources would need to be designated, but I know of no "immigrants rights" groups that are not virulent supporters of illegal immigration.The original co-sponsors are: Senators Bob Menendez, Jeff Bingaman and Ken Salazar; Representatives Mike Honda, Neil Abercrombie, Hilda Solis, Ed Pastor and Raul Grijalva. Two other Reps involved are Luis Gutierrez and Jan Schakowsky. From the who-cares department comes this video of NYC Councilmen Hiram Monserrate and Miguel Martinez and NY Assemblyman Jose Peralta urging Hillary Clinton and others to co-sponsor it.
Those endorsing the bill include:
National Council of La Raza (funds extremists)
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (directly linked to Mexican government via Ohtli award)
Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) (indirectly linked to Mexican government)
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (president linked to Mexican government)
Immigrant Legal Resource Center [2]
National Immigration Forum
National Immigrant Justice Center
Asian American Justice Center
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
Legal Momentum
American Immigration Lawyers Association
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago
Massachusetts Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA)
[1] See The Hill for an example. Suzanne Gamboa of the AP offers her attempt at a pro-Obama press release at his site.
[2] lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2007/03/ilrc_statement_.html According to a press release from the Mexico-linked National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, it would also:
...make the test for U.S. citizenship fairer by providing for uniform administration of the exam throughout the nation. The legislation would require the USCIS, when administering the test, to take into account the special circumstances of applicants who face particular challenges because of their age, education, or other similar characteristics...
...[provide] for greater accountability in the system of conducting background checks on naturalization applicants. Many naturalization applicants have experienced lengthy waiting times during their application processing because these checks are not completed in a timely manner. The bill generally would require the FBI to complete those background checks within 90 days...
...the CPA would create a national New Americans Initiative ("NAI") to provide $80 million for U.S. citizenship promotion, education and assistance by the USCIS and non-profit community organizations. Through the NAI, the USCIS must develop outreach materials to encourage legal permanent residents to apply for naturalization, and must disseminate those materials through public service announcements and other media...
This sweatshop brought to you by... liberals (Michael Bianco Inc.)
All is not so well in the land of cheerful foreign workers just doing the jobs Americans won't do. As you read the following, keep in the front of your mind that these conditions were enabled by all the many "liberals" who support illegal immigration:Conditions at the Michael Bianco Inc. manufacturing plant harken back to the sweatshops of the early 1900s, according to the U.S. Attorney General's Office.As long as there are illegal aliens, there will be people like Insolia to exploit them. If all workers are legal, then these types of abuses are much less likely to occur.
...[Joseph Thomas, publisher of Spinner Publications in New Bedford] researched the SouthCoast garment industry in the 1970s and 1980s, interviewing and photographing work conditions, but he did not discover any conditions that came close to those at Michael Bianco Inc. "This sounds much worse. ... It might have been the norm in the 1880s or 1890s," he said.
Information in the federal indictment, based on an undercover federal agent who worked at the plant, stated employees were fined $20 if they were in the restroom for more than two minutes. If they went to the restroom twice, they were fired. One roll of toilet paper was placed in each stall and was gone within 40 minutes of startup time. It was not replaced...
The U.S. Attorney General's Office said employees worked in "deplorable conditions," and that workers actually made far less than $7 an hour because they were fined for so many violations.
Employees were forced to work double shifts stitching military gear, but Mr. Insolia did not pay overtime, they allege...
So, the "liberals" say, let's legalize everyone! The problem with that scheme is that if you do that, many millions more will try to come here; if they can't do it legally (because of "guest" worker caps), they'll do it illegally. That will result in more illegal aliens and more possibility for abuse.
So, when you think it through, you see that there are only two ways to prevent illegal immigration: either literally pass out worker permits at the border to anyone who asks, or enforce our immigration laws. Not just promise to "enforce" the laws, but actually do it. And, enforcing those laws means deporting people. Because if you don't, then everyone around the world will know that we don't deport illegal aliens, we just let them loose in the U.S. as either legal or illegal workers. As for passing out worker permits at the borders, something like that would only be supported by about 0.05% of the populace at most. It's not going to happen.
In summation, the only practical way to prevent sweatshops like this is to enforce our immigration laws across the board. Those who oppose that enforcement - such as corrupt politicians, corrupt businessmen, and useful idiot "liberals" - enable such sweatshops. Regarding the latter group, that brings us back to the usual formation: is it that they aren't able to think things through, or that they just don't care?
Zoe Lofgren trying to tie ICE's hands (deportations, Return to Sender)
Rep. Zoe Lofgren - chair of the Immigration Subcommittee and a former immigration lawyer - sent a letter to Julie Myers of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on March 1 demanding information on their recent sweeps called "Operation Return to Sender" [1]. That operation was designed to pick up around 1000 fugitive and criminal aliens - hundreds of them already in jails - and the far-lefties and some Democratic leaders won't even let ICE do something so limited it's almost meaningless. This show once again that those who support immigration "reform" are simply opposed to deportations. They might used enhanced enforcement to sell "reform" now, but after it passes there's almost no chance they would allow that enforcement to take place.
The letter makes clear that Lofgren has taken the hysterical word of far-lefties for the raids, as she rattles off twenty questions for Myers, which are followed by about a dozen more. Here's the money question:
What is the average cost per person of executing a warrant for arrest, detaining the individual, and pursuing the removal pursuant to Operation Return to Sender?
Her goal appears to be to try to use that information to say it's not worth it, perhaps even engaging in a Center for American Progress-style slight-of-hand. Lofgren also requests a Congressional hearing, as well as field hearings in "areas of enforcement open to interested NGOs and the general public so that you may individually address their questions and concerns." I'm sure the Mexican government could help Lofgren by encouraging their citizens to show up for the hearings and ask questions.
[1] The letter is at lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/files/lofgren_ice_raid_letter_307.pdf
Can Barack Obama answer this?
Please go to Barack Obama's campaign appearances and try to ask him the question on the video (reprinted below). The media isn't going to ask politicians any difficult questions, so it's up to us to do it.Note that the same question applies to others who spoke at the May 1 rally: U.S. Reps. Rahm Emanuel, Jan Schakowsky, and Luis Gutierrez. The last also spoke at the March 10 event, as did Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and Chicago mayor Richard Daley.
Here's the question:
You spoke at the May 1, 2006 illegal immigration march in Chicago.
Some of the key organizers of that march have links to the Mexican government and Mexican political parties.
Leaving aside your thoughts on immigration 'reform', is it proper for a U.S. Senator to support foreign citizens marching in our streets demanding that we change our laws, especially when foreign political parties helped organize the marches?
Posted at 12:28 PM | Comments (4)
Harry Potter & Ginny, Ron & Hermione, Beelzebub, Wiccanism, the Occult... and HELL!!!!!!!!
Gabriele Kuby is the woman who corresponded with Cardinal and now Pope Ratzinger about Harry Potter. She offers us "Ten Arguments Against Harry Potter". I'm afraid I'm forced to agree. If you read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince you are going to go to hell. Please, please, please do NOT read that book.
Posted at 08:36 PM | Comments (1)
