October 17, 2006
[
UPDATE in
Hispanic voter suppression letter: from a Republican???]
This is a follow-up to the story of
Hispanics in Orange County having received a supposed voter suppression letter.
In this post I'm going to:
- present evidence that the letter was sent by an illegal immigration supporter...
- discuss how Arnold Schwarzenegger has been politically emasculated and how his handlers don't have the U.S.'s best interests at heart...
- illustrate a PIIPP that the AP has fashioned from the story (no, really)...
- and, discuss those hacks who promulgated this story and who have shown that - even with what we know now - they have little journalistic integrity and that their future reports should not be trusted.
** EVIDENCE **
- The first possible evidence is to look at who profits from this letter. Clearly, there's very little chance that the sender thought that the letter would not be released to the news media. Because of that, one has to look at those who ultimately profit. This letter is a wonderful Get Out The Vote recruiting tool for the Democratic Party, and even though on its face the letter might be taken as a way of suppressing the Hispanic vote, it will probably increase it. In fact, here's a quote from John Trasvina, "interim president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund": "A lot of people will get angered by this and say, 'No you can't take away my right to vote'". [1] Neither the GOP nor those opposed to illegal immigration profit from this, only those on the other side.
- And, one looks at all the coverage that the story has received: the AP, LAT, OCRegister, and several blogs. Certainly, news stories can be written fairly quickly, but this one reads almost like it was written as a script.
- For evidence of greater weight, CCIR's Barbara Coe says she's gotten "dozens" of calls from supposed recipients of the letter. What percentage of recipients would feel the need to call? At the most, it would appear that one or two hundred letters were supposedly received. Yet, one of the recipients is one Nellie Diaz [2]. She's not only the wife of Garden Grove City Council candidate Benny Diaz, but she [3] and her husband [4] are both members of the illegal immigration-supporting racial power group LULAC. He also appears to be the California state treasurer of the organization. [5] What are the chances that one of the recipients of what appears to be a small mailing just happens to be a member of a national group that supports illegal immigration?
- Here's another excerpt from the letter [6]; see if you can spot a rather curious phrase:
"Be advised that the government of the United States is installing a new computer system to verify the names of all registered voters ... Anti-immigration organization can ask for information from this new computer system."
Which groups use the phrase "anti-immigration"? Almost all groups that are opposed to illegal immigration are very careful about making the distinction between legal and illegal immigration, and take offense at the use of such phrases. In fact, the ones who almost always try to use similar phrases are the MSM and those who support illegal immigration. Even if the writer did not have a full grasp of colloquial Spanish or did a machine translation, they would have had to exclude the "illegal" part of that phrase to begin with. While there's certainly the possibility that the letter came from someone who is opposed to all forms of immigration, the use of the same phrase that supporters of illegal immigration use is very strong evidence that the letter was a joe job.
** ARNOLD **
California's governor - almost certainly based on advice from either Maria or his
Rove-linked advisor - has gone overboard and
called the letters "racist" and "despicable," and argued the perpetrators should be tried for a hate crime. [7] In his statement, there was no consideration given to the possibility that the letter might be a hoax, yet obviously not only can that possibility not be denied, it seems more than likely. What he's done is not only helped portray those who oppose illegal immigration in a false light, he's also given ammunition to the far-left grievance industry by reflexively taking their side instead of considering all possibilities. This gives far-left, mostly anti-American groups like LULAC and MALDEF even more power and puts his own party even more at the mercy of such groups.
** REPURPOSING PROPAGANDA **
The AP's
Peter Prengaman has even taken this story and fashioned a
PIIPP out of it [8]:
They've been naturalized U.S. citizens for nearly 20 years, but Benny Diaz says he and his wife felt intimidated when they each received a letter over the weekend warning that some immigrants could be jailed or deported for voting next month.
The letter, written in Spanish and sent to an unknown number of Hispanics in Orange County, also says the government has developed a computer system to track down the names of immigrant voters.
"A lot of Latino families have called me to say they ripped up the letter because they felt so insulted," said Diaz, 49, who is originally from Peru. His wife, Nellie, is from Mexico...
** THE HACKS **
Even if the letter turns out to have been sent by an opponent of (illegal) immigration, the hacks who've promulgated this story have shown that they have little journalistic integrity because none but one of them have considered the possibility that it could have been a joe job, and that single person completely dismisses the possibility. Even with what little we know now about this matter, that is inexcusable, and I suggest that we keep this story in mind when encountering their other tales. These are the hacks:
- the AP has at least two stories, both of which were written by Peter Prengaman [1] [9]
- the Los Angeles Times' Jennifer Delson [2]
- the OC Register's Norberto Santana Jr. [10]
- Metroblogging OC's Michael Randall, who dismisses the joe job possibility as in the "whacked out conspiracy theory department".
- RawStory (links to AP report; had story at top of page for a while)
- "Avedon" posting at Atrios
- Ezra Klein at TAPPED
- "Alternate Brain"
- "On Topic" With Doug Krile"
- "Holy Coast"
- MoJo
- Bakersfield's KGET
** FOOTNOTES **
[1] AP/Peter Prengaman/"Intimidating letter to OC Hispanics being investigated"/
link
[2] LAT/Jennifer Delson/"State Investigating Intimidating Letter Sent to O.C. Latinos"/
link
[3] Nellie Diaz is listed as the contact for the Garden Grove Council of LULAC here: lulac.net/about/nsearchcouncillsstate.asp?TxtBuscado=CA
[4] According to his bio, Benny Diaz is the president of the Garden Grove Council of LULAC: bennydiaz.com/informed/about_benny_bio.php
[5] calulac.org
[6] ibid 1
[7] ibid 1
[8] ibid 1
[9] AP/Peter Prengaman/"Note warns Calif. Hispanics on voting"/
link
[10] OCRegister/Norberto Santana Jr./"Mailer targets immigrants"/link Note also that he says the letter was
"sent on letterhead from the California Coalition for Immigration Reform", yet according to the LAT's article in [2], the
"letterhead resembles that of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform".
UPDATE: As pointed out by 'eh' in comments, the Los Angeles Times'
Jennifer Delson is also the author of another recent pro-illegal immigration piece, the one that discussed "Food Stamps in Four Hours".
And, the TV station KGET has been added to the end of the "Hacks" list for their extremely biased report at the link, which includes this:
"The letters were printed on stationary from the strident anti-illegal-immigration organization, the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, whose website has a video that attributes disease in the U.S. to immigration." The video has a statement from CA Democratic Party chairman Art Torres; needless to say, they don't mention his comment from a decade or so ago that "Prop. 187 was the last gasp of white America in California".
There's a slightly-legible video of the letter at that link, and the questionable line discussed above is "Organaciones en contra de la emigracion..." As discussed above, the word "illegal" doesn't appear in that sentence.
There also appears to be a filename at the lower left of the letter, but only the last part of it is legible. It might be revealing to find the rest of that filename, and determine whether it's from the organization that sent it or from a print out from one of the websites of someone who received it or a state agency or similar.
Posted to Immigration at October 17, 2006 09:01 PM
Comments
Curious.
The California Coalition for Immigration Reform gets mentioned because the letterhead resembles theirs. Speaking of things curious:
Coe's group was investigated by the FBI in the late 1990s because members held signs near polls stating only citizens can vote.
I guess the FBI didn't have anything better to do than investigate people who were pointing out the 'letter' of the law.
California's governor...has gone overboard and called the letters "racist" and "despicable," and argued the perpetrators should be tried for a hate crime.
Personally, I think you should've counted Arnold among "The Hacks". Anyway, when I see or (especially) hear him I think FOREIGNER (yes, in caps). And nowadays more and more I'm beginning to think CRETIN.
These are the hacks:...
the Los Angeles Times' Jennifer Delson [2]
Yes, definitely, the weight of the evidence is compelling.
Posted by: eh at October 18, 2006 12:00 AM
This is the oldest trick in the book, and the level of deceit in this agitprop is very disappointing.
Posted by: Petit Bourgeois at October 18, 2006 12:22 AM
Yeah sure, guys like Benny Diaz feel "intimidated." People involved with groups such as LULAC and MALDEF are used to doing the bullying, not the other way around.
I am not buying for a second that this asswipe felt "intimidated" - that's not how people react to stuff like this in the real world. If I had received a letter telling me not to vote, I would have contacted the registrar of voters; the thought would never occur to me to contact a newspaper or other media outlet. And if I was asked for a quote, I think the words I would use would be more like "pissed" or "laughable and pathetic."
Posted by: Gary at October 18, 2006 06:37 AM
I heard that the postage on the letter was from a bulk mail postmark machine and they will be able to tell which machine sent it out. Oh, please, make it a LULAC machine!
And what is Arnold's strategy? He'll never be president--especially now that he has abandoned his base. What can he be thinking?
Posted by: Pat at October 18, 2006 09:03 AM
the laws of the land mean nothing to the enemies of our land of freedom and ideals and laws, this is just one more joke but some poor guy will pay with prison and death ( setup job for some guy ) for P.C. Evil.
and yes it is a political hate trick from the race council of la raza who sent the letter to start this bull becuase the rats from mexico city ( reds and bin laden ) need this to make enemies and do evil.
Posted by: Fred Dawes at October 18, 2006 11:09 PM
It looks like the attorney general disagrees with your analysis:
[Quote:]
State investigators have linked a Republican campaign to letters sent to thousands of Southern California Hispanics warning them they could go to jail or be deported if they vote next month, a spokesman for the attorney general said Wednesday.
The investigation appeared to be focused on the campaign of Tan D. Nguyen, a Republican challenger to Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Garden Grove, according to the Los Angeles Times and The Orange County Register.
Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer, declined to identify the campaign, citing the ongoing investigation.
"We believe it's linked to a particular Republican campaign," Barankin said in a telephone interview from Sacramento. "We have identified where we believe the mailing list was obtained."
Posted by: John at October 19, 2006 01:17 AM
It looks like the attorney general disagrees with your analysis:...
Well, going by the timestamps, an update was posted before your comment.
Posted by: eh at October 19, 2006 03:04 AM
John,
Even if the link to the Nguyen campaign is verified how does this incident validate the worldview of you and your friends? Is Nguyen's the face of the European Colonizer? Was there ever a Vietnamese branch of the Ku Klux Klan? OF course, you might just be a cyncial Dem party hack with no thoughts beyond the next election. In that case: never mind.
Posted by: perroazul del norte at October 19, 2006 09:47 AM
Perroazul,
When I posted it on my own weblog, I carefully left out any link to possible party affiliation, because at that point there was no indication. If it had turned out to be a democrat suspicion by the attorney general, I would have followed up with the same piece quoted, and I would have gladly mocked the idiot who sent the letters.
You see, I care more about exposing idiocy than partisan crap. I want the swindlers gone, the corruption exposed, politics cleansed from theses pests, regardless of party affiliation. I do the same with the European or Dutch parliament on my weblog.
There's plenty of problems with immigration, and immigration reform, both in Europe and in the USA, and these problems are not likely to get solved if we leave the crooks unexposed. I'm sure you and me could have a good discussion about how to solve the problems once we get beyond the name calling.
Is that a fair enough answer for you?
Posted by: John at October 19, 2006 09:53 AM
I love Lonewacko, the boys in La Raza sent the letters out, the fact is most of this bull will disappear if i am right, "but if a white guy can be found" he will get prison if the facts come out it was some hispanic boys doing a little job of disinformation and race hate setup will just go away, wait and see. its all a joke soon mexico will own your butt's, and may god help you all when that day comes, becuase most of you have know idea of what is happening outside this brain dead non nation, this letter and many other things point out how sad a nation this is if you can still call it a nation?
Posted by: Fred Dawes at October 19, 2006 06:08 PM
Truly a major scandal, someone sent out a letter asking potential voters to follow the law. Far worse even than sending sexually suggestive e-mails to persons above the age of consent.
For a futher glimpse into the Stalinist future the lefties have in store for us check out this recent incident in the UK.
Posted by: perroazul del norte at October 21, 2006 09:13 AM
