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What got into the DUmmies?

Earlier I noted the DUmmies being somewhat sane on immigration matters. Now comes the thread "How the Working Class Views Immigration". Aside from the bit about "working class" it could be a thread at... FreeRepublic. This similar thread is not quite as good but still of interest. Please, please, please: I assure you. Our operatives are not behind this. #3294 is concentrating on liberal blogs, and #83921 is on vacation. No, this is coming from inside DUmmyland itself.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 08:54 PM | Comments (9)

Huff my blog

Business 2.0 reports that Arianna Huffington is starting a megablog:

...Based in New York and staffed with a full complement of editors, the Huffington Report appears to be a culture and politics webzine in the classic mold of Salon or Slate. It will have breaking news, a media commentary section called "Eat the Press," and its most interesting innovation, a group blog manned by the cultural and media elite: Sen. Jon Corzine, Larry David, Barry Diller, Tom Freston, David Geffen, Vernon Jordan, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Harry Evans and his wife, Tina Brown. That's just to name a few, and Huffington is still recruiting...

Apropos of nothing, that caused me to visit ariannaonline.com, which links to resignation.com. In turn, resignation.com links back to ariannaonline.com. No doubt somewhere at ariannaonline it links to another of her "projects", thedetroitproject.com, which was designed to get us hoi polloi to drive smaller cars than Arianna and her friends. Needless to say, thedetroitproject.com links back to ariannaonline.com. And, here's the kicker: they're all on the same IP address. Let's turn to Craig from google:

Anonymous Coward:

Why in this day and age does google continue to penalize sites that are virtual hosted? With ip addresses becoming harder to get/justify every day why does google discount the relevance of links that don't come from a unique ip address. Please don't just deny it, I think the Internet community deserves an explanation.

Craig:

I can't just deny it? What are my other choices? [:)] Actually, Google handles virtually hosted domains and their links just the same as domains on unique IP addresses. If your ISP does virtual hosting correctly, you'll never see a difference between the two cases. We do see a small percentage of ISPs every month that misconfigure their virtual hosting, which might account for this persistent misperception--thanks for giving me the chance to dispel a myth!

Unfortunately, they didn't ask him the more important question: will google penalize me or my friend Arianna for interlinking our sites together while they're on the same IP? Would I and my close personal buddy Arianna get more hits if we hosted each separate domain on its own, distinct Class C IP? Frankly I don't know, but I've heard rumors. There's more on that here, here, here, and here.

Posted to Celebrities at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)

Maybe they aren't as DUmb as previously thought

The DUmmies discuss the Minuteman Project in "Immigration Opponents (Civilians!) To Patrol U.S. Border" and, while several posters give the expected responses, one poster with 1000+ posts (he's not one of ours, honest!) indicates support for the MMP. Not only that, but one of the stock-repliers somewhat agrees with him.

Then, they discuss 6 Iraqis detained on Mexican border (article here). The same 1000+ poster offers sensible comments, and is not immediately banished to the gulag.

However, the DUers return to form and don their tin foil hats with "The Coming War in Iran and Syria...and the Mexico/Arizona Border...?" which links to this Debka Meets Nancy Luft article.

But, things get a bit better and quite a bit surprising as well. The post in "Poll question: Do you support the deportation of all ILLEGAL aliens?" has 93 votes at post time. And, 69% of them said "Yes."

Posted to Immigration2005a at 12:22 AM | Comments (4)

The L.A. Times got something wrong?

"L.A. Times story shocks CSUC officials":

A Tuesday L.A. Times article that appears replete with errors, omissions and unnamed sources has left Chico State University officials cringing.

The 1,450-word, in-depth piece on Chico's Greek system was a huge disappointment, said university President Paul Zingg Tuesday afternoon...

The quotes from Zingg appear similar to those he made during a February speech to the Greek community following the death of Chico State student Matthew Carrington, but there is no attribution to the local newspapers that alone covered the event. Nor is there mention of the speech...

Rick Rees, associate director of student activities at Chico State, said he spent no more than five minutes speaking to its author. But when he read the article, like other university officials, Rees was surprised by its content. "At one point I thought, Are we sure we're talking about Chico?' " he said...

The L.A. Times article in question is "Hazing Death Highlights Chico's Greek Life". I don't know if it's been changed since publication or whether it will be changed. But, at post time there's no indication on that page that the facts are in dispute.

In further career limiting move news, the AP repeats the disputed facts about Zingg being interviewed by the L.A. Times reporter in the much more upbeat tale "Chico Suspends Fraternity Over Adult Film":

California State University in Chico suspended a fraternity after members admitted they participated in an adult film.

The national chapter of Phi Kappa Tau also suspended the school chapter and is investigating the taping several months ago by Shane's World, an adult film producer known for using college students in its videos. The company generally provides the female porn stars for the films...

University President Paul Zingg told the Los Angeles Times that Carrington's death was "the last straw" and that if the Chico fraternity system was found to be beyond repair, he would shut it down.

UPDATE: See "L.A. Times to fire scapegoat; leave everyone else in place".

Posted to Los_Angeles at 06:33 PM | Comments (0)

Britney Spears X-es X-Files star - out of Malibu!

Former X-Files star David Duchovny and wife Tea Leoni are moving out of Malibu - because of Britney Spears!

Party Girl

Says x-X-Files thespian Duchovny: "Britney moved in a couple of months ago, and since then it's been crazy."

Paparazzi

Former spooky TV star Duchovny continues: "The other day I was walking to a restaurant and there were photographers in front, and they took a picture of me... I asked, 'What's going on?' and they said, 'We're waiting for Britney.' I knew they weren't waiting for me."

Source? No, it's not the L.A. Times' Hot Properties column. It's from Contactmusic.com via Ananova.

Posted to Celebrities at 05:17 PM | Comments (1)

Bush, Fox, and "North America"

I posted an entry entitled Welcome to "North America" over at Michelle Malkin's new group blog The Immigration Blog. It concerns the recent meeting in Waco between Bush, Fox, and Martin to announce the "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America" and what Fox - and perhaps Bush - are getting at.

Posted to Bloggage at 11:04 PM | Comments (3)

I need a WordPress evangelist

I want to set up a blog at tolstoy.com. I currently have three MovableType blogs, all of which fit under MT's non-commercial banner: this one, BigMediaBlog.com, and BoreAmerica.com. Since the blog at tolstoy.com would be construed as commercial and it would put me over my three blogs/person limit anyway, I would probably end up having to pay MT $199, something which I'd rather avoid. I might end up doing that because, even though MT is written in the horrific language of Perl, I'm familiar with it and I know I can make it do what I want to do.

So, will WordPress allow me to do the following?

1. Here's the structure I want. This is mostly non-negotiable. I don't want files named *.php with or without any numerical identifiers on the end:
main page: tolstoy.com/blog/index.html
posts: tolstoy.com/blog/this-is-a-post.html
monthly: tolstoy.com/blog/archives-march-2005.html
category: tolstoy.com/blog/category-bloggage.html
(As implied by the next requirement, I very much don't want to use mod_rewrite to achieve the foregoing.)

2. I want as little dynamically-generated content as possible. WP apparently uses index.php to serve all content dynamically. mod_rewrite is used to simulate permalinks. MySQL is hit each time a page is loaded. That scheme has two problems: a) it's resource-intensive, and b) it's prone to errors. If MySQL or PHP crashes, there goes your pages. I want index.html to be an actual static HTML file which is served to the user with at most server-side includes. I've found two possible ways to create static pages with WP so far: Staticize (originally from here; at the end of that page there are currently some PHP errors printed out which is what I'd like to avoid) and the more recent WP-Cache 1.0. Both apparently just cache pages when they're first requested, they don't rebuild a la MT. Thus, index.html isn't a standalone page, it's served from the cache. I just want to rebuild and create static pages.

3. When a post is added, I want to output a snippet of HTML containing just links to the latest posts. I'd use server-side includes to include that in the non-blog-related static files at the site.

There are earlier discussions of MT v. WP here and here. There's even more links here.

(I can't use Roller because the server with tolstoy.com doesn't allow servlets. I have another server that allows servlets, but that would be even more complicated than caching. Plus, the roller .jar files are >600kb meaning that figuring out how to make modifications might take some time. Or, I could create a fake blogging system by hand-writing raw HTML but I'd rather avoid that. Or, I could write something like this myself, but then I'd need to add in comments. Then, I'd need to add trackback, XMLRPC, etc. etc. Then...)

UPDATE: I downloaded WP and, since it consists of several 100s of kb of PHP files, I don't think I'll be wading into that any time soon. However, a plugin looks easier to write. It looks like I might be able to create a plugin similar to the caching ones that would save WP's output at a series of static files like I want:

1. Create one or more db tables that would map whatever internal ID WP uses to differentiate posts to a file name:

create table filename_map_table( WPs_ID_number int, filename varchar(255) )

I might need different tables for categories and dates depending on how WP's IDs are set up.

2. When a post is created, the plugin would be called and would execute:

insert into filename_map_table( [post ID], dirify( [post title] ) );

I'd have to figure out how to get the post's ID and title from WP.

3. Whenever something happens (post created, comment added, trackback received, etc.) rebuild the affected files.

I'd imagine I'd be able to get the post ID of the affected post from WP. Then, I'd figure out what categories and date-based files that's in, and rebuild all those files.

4. Rebuilding a file would be similar to what's done by the caching plugins. I'd save to a buffer the output of index.php when hit with the post/category/date-based identifier. Then, I'd save that to the filename obtained from the filename_map_table tables.

5. index.php would still exist and the blog could be accessed that way, but I'd discourage that by renaming it to hidden-index.php or similar.

If there's something like that already out there, please leave a note.

Posted to Bloggage at 01:04 PM | Comments (4)

2002: "Mexico pushes for continental integration"

A flashback from just over three years ago:

OTTAWA - Mexico wants its North American neighbours to move more quickly towards integration on a continental scale, the country's [former] foreign secretary [Jorge Castaneda] said on Friday...

"We would like to continentalize as much as possible," he said.

...What Mexico wants, he said, goes beyond the continental perimeter idea that has been discussed at length in Canada in the wake of Sept. 11. Castaneda said it includes a more continental approach to social issues, immigration and energy.

"We have been pushing for this. And we have been encountering a receptive ear both in Canada and the United States at a certain level of intensity," he said. "We would like to move more quickly. We would like to move more deeply."

Mexican President Vicente Fox has spoken in the past about those deeper moves, such as adopting a common currency, a customs union, and the entire elimination of border controls.

See also this specific comment (#65). I tend to be a bit skeptical of that comment's conclusions, but you can start reading up on such subjects here or here.

Discussion of Bush's recent meeting with Fox and with Martin of Canada starts here.

Posted to NAU at 12:56 PM | Comments (1)

Air America in Dallas and Austin: join the discussion!

Over at BoreAmerica, a surprising number of comments (9!) have been left about Air America radio coming to Dallas and Austin. Feel free to join in.

Posted to Bloggage at 12:51 PM | Comments (0)

America's CEO is just maximizing shareholder value

As previously discussed, President Bush (of the U.S.), President Fox (of Mexico), and P.M. Martin met yesterday at Baylor University in Waco.

The WashTimes report is "Bush decries border project". The "border project" in question is the Minuteman Project. The AP report is in "Three-nation pact: Sore spots remain, but U.S. ties with Mexico, Canada thawing".

Both stories have little beyond the press conference which followed the meeting. Here are the sections of that conference dealing with immigration matters:

...PRESIDENT BUSH: And I have told [Vicente Fox] that we will -- I will continue to push for reasonable, common-sense immigration policy with the United States Congress. It is an issue with which I have got a lot of familiarity -- after all, I was the governor of this great state for six years and I dealt with this issue a lot, not only with President Fox's predecessors, but with governors of border states -- Mexican border states, Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon. And I know what -- I know the issue well. And I will continue to call upon Congress to be commonsensical about this issue.

And the basis of the policy is that if there is a job opening which an American won't do, in other words -- and there's a willing worker and a willing employer, that job ought to be filled on a legal basis, no matter where the person comes from. That makes sense. We need a compassionate policy. In other words, if this is in place, someone will be able to come and work from Mexico in the United States, and be able to go home -- back and forth across the border in a legal fashion. That seems to make sense to me. It's a commonsensical way of doing things.

I think we ought to have a policy that does not jeopardize those who've stood in line trying to become legal citizens. We want to reward those who have been patient in the process. There's plenty of Mexican citizens who have applied for citizenship, they should -- their position in line should not be preempted because of there's a worker program. But there's a better way to enforce our border. And one way is to be compassionate and decent about the workers who are coming here to the United States.

And, Mr. President, you've got my pledge, I'll continue working on it. You don't have my pledge that Congress will act, because I'm not a member of the legislative branch. But you will have my pledge that I will continue to push our Congress to come up with rational, common-sense immigration policy.

[...]

Q (As translated.) [...question about energy markets...] I also want to ask you in this security and prosperity partnership, when will you include the migratory, or immigration policy in this partnership?

And, President Bush, I wanted to ask you about your opinion about those people who are hunting migrant people along the border.

PRESIDENT BUSH: I'm against vigilantes in the United States of America. I'm for enforcing law in a rational way. That's why you got a Border Patrol, and they ought to be in charge of enforcing the border.

We talked about migration, of course -- we spent a lot of time talking about migration. We've got a big border with Canada, a big border with Mexico, and it's an important issue. But the issue on the borders is not just people, it's goods and services. And so the agreements we're talking about, the way to strengthen our relationships of course includes our border policy. And we'll continue to include border policy...

Posted to Immigration2005a at 02:07 PM | Comments (4)

My picture is in the KoolAid Central dictionary under "troll"

While searching for something else, I came across this year-old thread all about comments being deleted from KoolAid Central, a.k.a. BlogsForBush.com. Matt Margolis responds with this comment:

It's interesting how a few people have wasted a decent amount their time and energy accusing B4B of censoring opposing views. It comes as no shock to me that people who are extremely set upon using B4B as their personal soapbox are very willing to overlook their own repeated violations of the comment policy and ultimately express shock over comments being removed or repeat offenders being banned.The presence of these commenters on ReadMe shows the true nature of their adamancy to push their views without any regard for appropriateness.

We have a comment policy at B4B, and those found in violation of the policy are dealt with appropriately. Comments are moderated by the author of each blog entry and a "full time" moderator. When challenges to the policy, or accusations of unjust deleting or banning are made, I make inquiries to the moderator and I'm then provided with the comments made in complete context, and any history of the person in question. The people complaining above are telling their one sided (and incomplete) story of the circumstances for their banning or deletion of their comments.

Some of the people making a fuss are individuals who were determined by the moderator not only to have repeatedly violated the comment policy, but also to have made repeated attempts to circumvent their banning...

Previous abuse of KoolAid Central begins here, but be sure to check out the post screengrabbed here.

For an example of KoolAid Central's Stalinist commentary policies, the following comment I made was deleted from a thread about Hillary Clinton:

Hillary's on the right side of immigration matters, something that most other Democrats and many Republicans are not.

Yep, that's the whole comment. Another deleted comment included links to MattWelch, Sen. Schumer, and WND. I removed the Schumer link and tried again. The second try was deleted as well.

It's not like I'm complaining, overall I find such cult-like behavior entertaining in a way.

Posted to Bloggage at 05:22 PM | Comments (2)

Huell Howser v. Yahoo

If you don't believe the following graphic, go try it yourself. Apparently it's a highly-searched set of words:

Posted to WackyHumor at 05:19 PM | Comments (1)

"Adios, America"

Vox Day:

...In the spring of 1950, the foreign minister of France, Robert Schuman, proposed that France and Germany collectivize their coal and steel resources...

Fifty-one years later, the sale of national sovereignty was completed when most of the governments across Europe abandoned their national currencies in favor of the euro and accepted that the dictates of the unelected 17-man European Commission would thenceforth supersede national legislatures...

...This is why George Bush and the Republican leadership so freely – and otherwise inexplicably – ignore the will of the Republican Party membership, which is strongly in favor of enforcing the immigration laws, if not tightening them. There is no point in attempting to prevent Mexican citizens from entering the United States when citizens of Mexico, the USA and Canada will soon enjoy a shared national identity.

This is also why grass-roots efforts to change the status quo of de facto open borders are doomed to failure, as any attempt by state and local politicians to enforce the law in border states will be quickly shut down by federal organizations and the judiciary, and as President Fox helpfully points out, private attempts will be prosecuted in any court likely to find them illegal...

My related complaints start in "The New Hemispheric Order".

Posted to Politics at 09:31 PM | Comments (2)

The long blogdom nightmare is finally over!

If blogging has been light these past few days, it's because I've been obsessively working on a new site: food312.com. The regular blogging schedule shall resume later today.

Posted to Bloggage at 03:52 PM | Comments (0)

"Portland: Almost a Canadian city"

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Canadians love Portland, because Portland is the most Canadian city in the United States.

Outgoing Mayor Vera Katz calls the Oregon city "more than a place, it's a state of mind," and that's true. Portland has a highly educated, politically liberal, environmentally conscious population. It's a kinder, gentler America, and the city's million citizens, including young idealists from Portland State, the University of Portland, Reed College and Lewis and Clark College who are carving out a dynamic, creative, urban vision along the shores of the Willamette River...

[...a multitude of Canadian-friendly travel tips omitted...]

Posted to Politics at 08:48 PM | Comments (1)

The O.C. Register: too hot for FreeRepublic

I was glancing over the thread at FreeRepublic.com entitled "Border watcher draws protest" and I tried to post a reply when I got the notice above: the thread had been pulled as I was reading it. That post linked to the article by the same name in the O.C. Register.

Apparently the normally acceptable O.C. Register becomes unacceptable when they discuss the Minuteman project. None of the 36 comments in the copy of the thread still in my browser appeared to be outside the bounds of reasonable discourse. There were a couple comments suggesting that JimRob was allowing discussion of the MMP. Someone did post a link to the MMP website and provided an excerpt in order to counter the claims made in the OC Register article.

My comment was going to provide additional information on U.C. Riverside professor Armando Navarro, which could have been useful, for instance to send to the OC Register to suggest they provide more background information. Pulling threads like this only lends credence to the claims of some that FreeRepublic is caving in to pressure either of the PC or the GOP variety.

UPDATE: Now this is rich. Yet another thread on the MMP has been deleted. It appears to be a post about the article "Vigilantes Take Over When Government Doesn’t Act". That's from the five-year-old, small print/online newspaper The Lone Star Iconoclast. Their name might not ring a bell. Except, they're based in Crawford TX, and they were the newspaper that endorsed Kerry.

I doubt whether even DU would pull (or, in my case, move) threads so quick.

Posted to Politics at 05:52 PM | Comments (0)

Drat! I missed a "peace" protest?

There was an A.N.S.W.E.R.-organized "peace" protest in Hollywood on Saturday. I didn't cover it because a) I had more pressing matters, and b) I usually park several blocks away from such events and then bike in but my bike is in need of adjustments before I can ride it. Riding in works pretty well: no parking problems, and it's easy to get around to various parts of the event. It's not so good trying to get a bike through a dense crowd or locking it up and then worrying about it, but that's a relatively minor point.

If you need a fix, there are some poorly-taken pictures here. The ones here are slightly better-taken. Neither sets are captioned. A.N.S.W.E.R.-apologist Polizeros has a couple pictures and a Ron Kovic podcast interview here. He drove the lead truck! Comrade "activism" has a critique of the protest here. I find his comments negative, hateful, and bourgeoises. There's a roundup of media coverage of the Hollywood protest and those elsewhere here.

UPDATE: "No Blood for Oil"??? That's so 2003! But, then again, courtesty of our friends the DUmmies, it is San Diego. The pictures from the Boston protest include a sign with the message: "Wake Up Amerika". Hmmm... were the Protest Warriors in Boston?

Other DUmmies seem to be afflicted with a bit of an inflated opinion of their own influence: "we're making an impact on the MSM....as tired MSM reporters search around DU for Monday mornings News....KEEP kicking up the Pro-Peace stories and photos...thanks..."

And, in a completely-unaware-of-irony move, they post a picture of a peace sign in Budapest.

Posted to ThePeaceMovement at 12:05 PM | Comments (0)

Wal*Mart's 15 minutes of pain

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. escaped criminal charges but agreed Friday to pay $11 million, a record fine in a civil immigration case, to end a federal probe into its use of illegal immigrants to clean floors at stores in 21 states.

A dozen contractors who actually hired the laborers for work inside stores for the world's largest retailer agreed to plead guilty to criminal immigration charges and together pay an additional $4 million in fines.

"This case breaks new ground not only because this is a record dollar amount for a civil immigration settlement, but because this settlement requires Wal-Mart to create an internal program to ensure future compliance with immigration laws by Wal-Mart contractors and by Wal-Mart itself," said Michael J. Garcia, assistant secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement...

The subcontractors involved will pay $4 million, most likely a very large amount for them.

However, to Wal*Mart $10 million is about equivalent to their revenue in a 15-minute period. Whether the compliance program has loopholes is unknown.

Note also that Wal*Mart is facing a class action suit by former janitors. Backstory in The price of "cheap" labor is about to go up.

Forbes covers the current events here:

But the class-action lawsuit brought in November 2003 in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark seeks restitution for the workers. Though Wal-Mart filed a motion to dismiss the case in March 2004, the judge has already certified that the claimants can sue under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The judge is currently deciding whether to uphold the workers' racketeering claim against the company. Labor attorney James Linsey is confident that the racketeering claims will also stand.

"That leaves Wal-Mart in a bit of dilemma," Linsey says. "They'll be under some amount of pressure to do the right thing and settle with the people, because they don't like being called racketeers."

Linsey has also found help from foreign governments. The governments of Mexico and the Czech Republic have already filed briefs on the workers' behalf, and Linsey says that other government officials, angry that their citizens were mistreated at Wal-Mart locations, could be joining in...

Posted to Immigration2005a at 04:10 PM | Comments (0)

"Bill: Illegal immigrants' children would not be citizens"

From the Inland Valley Daily Bulletion:

A bill co-sponsored by Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, [HR 698] would deny citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants in the United States, but opponents say the bill uses immigrants as a scapegoat for poorly developed policies...

The state spends about $7.7 billion each year to educate 1 million children born to undocumented immigrants, according to [Ira Mehlman of FAIR].

Cracking down on employers who hire undocumented workers and deporting illegal immigrants is Miller’s solution to the problem, but opponents of the bill say it’s impossible to deport 10 million to 12 million people.

"It's another attempt to blame the immigrant community for the issues of the United States," said Ben Monterroso, western regional director for Service Employees International Union... [...Monterroso's implied logical fallacy of generalization deleted...]

See the last link for more on the SEIU.

On a side note, this same staff writer-written story appears in the Whittier Daily News as "Miller bill would deny citizenship", in the San Bernardino Sun as "Bill would deny citizenship to children of illegals", and in the Pasadena Star News as "Miller bill would deny citizenship". And, all of those papers are owned by the same company.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 03:56 PM | Comments (1)

Was Lonewacko taken in by Phil Hendrie?

Last month I blogged about Phil Hendrie's move from KFI 640AM Los Angeles to the less-powerful and less-popular XTRA 570AM: "More bad news for Phil Hendrie?"

It appears that either based on something Hendrie said, or the radio commercials his wife did, or just based on my own imaginings I might have promulgated some false information. Commentator "Mark" takes me to task in that post:

Hey there, I was just doing a google search for some things regarding Phil Hendrie and I came across your site. This blog (below) that you did is pretty inaccurate. Firstly, Phils wife is named Maria, I dont' think he's ever tried to hide her name? I don't know where you got that from.

Secondly, as far as I know, General Johnson Jameson AND Combover boy don't even exist. They're made up by Phil Hendrie. Combover boy is actually a mock of another radio personality I won't even mention his name.

Thirdly, on the move to the sports channel, it was PHIL HENDRIES CHOICE! Dude, do you even listen to his show? He's only said that like 10,000 times in the last month.

Anwyays, I hope this clears some things up for you, but from your blog, it appears you don't really even understand his show... take care.

Needless to say, that comment caused me to do some googling of my own. It turns out that Mark was right, and I was wrong. I apologize to each of my bloggees, and I pledge to do a better job of checking sources and verifying information in the future.

UPDATE: That was quick! "Mark" confirms that he is indeed monitoring my blog for inaccurate Phil Hendrie-related materials and that he's glad that I've issued this correction. He also informs me that he's the head of the new group entitled the "Citizen's Internet Patrol", which is dedicated to correcting misinformation - Hendrie-related or not - on the Internet. The "CIP" is apparently an offshoot of Jay Santos' "Citizen's Auxiliary Police" organization, and "Mark" is second in command to Major Elvis Newton in this new group. We wish them the best in this new venture!

UPDATE 2: This is certainly... awkward. I'm informed in the comments that "Jay Santos" is yet another Phil Hendrie character. I have confirmed this using google. I apologize for the confusion, and I once again reiterate my pledge to confirm sources and verify information.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 11:26 AM | Comments (2)

Most banks would sell the kidneys of Brazilian garbage men if they could get away with it

So, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to find them doing something not nearly as bad but still quite disturbing. Namely, giving home loans to illegal aliens.

The article "Banks Find Mortgage Clientele in Undocumented Immigrants" is the latest in a string of reports about banks funding loans using ITINs ("individual taxpayer identification numbers") rather than social security numbers. It does include a quote from Dan Stein of FAIR, but about 80% of the paragraphs present the programs in a good light.

Probably the most outrageous quote comes from Antonio Riley, executive director of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority. That's listed as a state agency, and here's what he has to say:

"We don't see what can be so controversial about helping people realize the dream of homeownership."

Let's see now. These are illegal immigrants, right? And, they (most likely) entered the country illegally, remain here illegally, and, if they're working here they're doing so illegally. Nope, I don't see anything controversial about that at all.

Several banks are mentioned in the report as making or guaranteeing these ITIN loans:

* Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank
* Mitchell Bank
* Neighborhood Housing Services of America (Oakland, CA)
* Banco Popular (Houston)
* Self-Help Credit Union (Durham, NC)
* Second Federal Savings (Chicago)
* First Bank of the Americas
* Texas Bank (Fort Worth)
* Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. (Milwaukee)

It also mentions that the FDIC and Freddie Mac are involved or are considering getting involved.

See also Bank of "America", Welcome to the wacky world of corruption (about the WHEDA), "Undocumented Immigrants Buying Homes With Fake IDs", and "Who is the FDIC? And, why are they working with a foreign government to subvert our laws?"

Posted to Immigration2005a at 11:58 PM | Comments (1)

The New Hemispheric Order

From "Task force urges ‘North American community'":

The United States, Canada and Mexico should form a "common security perimeter" as part of a broad security and economic plan aimed at boosting trade and bolstering the continent's borders, a tri-national task for report urged Monday.

"Our vision of North America is one of three sovereign states whose formal collaboration must reflect their mutual interdependence while respecting their differences," a joint statement issued by the task force's chairman said...

"The three countries should develop a secure North American border pass with biometric identifiers," the report said. "This document would allow its bearers expedited passage through customers, immigration and airport security throughout the region."

...The task force was jointly sponsored by the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations.

The post The "New Partnership in North America": double-plus NAFTA from a few days ago discussed this task force.

Posted to NAU at 11:46 PM | Comments (2)

FoxNews: "Illegal Alien Influx May Compromise Security"

FoxNews is running a five-part series on the possible terrorism-related implications of our lax border policy.

I haven't seen the video, but the report includes the following:

"These people that are coming up here, including the undocumented, are good people that are enriching our lives. We do need them," said Juan Hernandez, a dual national and Texas resident who formerly represented Mexicans north of the border in the Mexican cabinet.

And did he ever. Bearing in mind he's also an American citizen, here's another one of his quotes:

"By populating the United States with millions of Hispanics who are tied economically, politically and linguistically to Mexico, we are able to exert enormous influence and pressure on U.S. policy and its dealings with Mexico."

and this quote about Mexican immigrants to the U.S.:

"I want the third generation, the seventh generation, I want them all to think 'Mexico first'."

Part 2 of their series is here.

Posted to Immigration_terror at 11:05 PM | Comments (0)

Don't let ODub or Hatrios say I never gave them anything

Here, I just made them a nifty graphic they can proudly display on their web sites:

(In case you don't know what this is about, see "The George Soros/Media Matters/David Brock network discovered")

Posted to Bloggage at 08:27 PM | Comments (1)

"Illegals at power plant prompt call for legislation"

Via Drudge comes this WashTimes report:

Illegal aliens using false Social Security numbers were able to enter and work as contract painters at a power plant in Florida, including work near one nuclear reactor.

Officials at Progress Energy, which runs the Crystal River Energy Complex in Citrus County, say they followed federal regulations and that the contractor should have better vetted its employees...

[...Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, Florida Republican calls for law changes to prevent this happening again...]

...The individuals worked for Brock Specialty Services, a Texas-based company that was hired to do maintenance at the facility...

See similar reports starting in "Yet another arrest of illegal aliens at facilities building U.S. Navy ships".

Posted to Immigration_terror at 02:12 PM | Comments (2)

"Democrats Preparing Assault on Bush Border Security Lapses"

From Dan Stein of FAIR:

I attended a Capitol Hill hearing today [March 10] on "Interior Immigration Enforcement Resources." No one could have missed the fact that Democrats are preparing to pounce on the Bush administration's failure to fully fund authorized detention space and ICE enforcement agents. Time after time, Congresswoman Maxine Waters -- a newcomer to the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims -- underscored the hypocrisy in the administration's failure to live up its public commitments to improve overall immigration enforcement. Her comments were echoed by Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and California Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez. Strange coming from people with no real track record supporting immigration enforcement.

Committee witness Paul Martin, Deputy Inspector General, US Department of Justice, noted "the lack of complete and accurate data" in locating and apprehending alien absconders. It's clear that the Bush administration is leaving itself vulnerable to Democrat attacks should another terror incident occur involving an alien crossing the southern border...

Posted to Immigration2005a at 02:09 PM | Comments (1)

Starring John Cornyn as "Asa Hutchinson"

The AZ Republic reports on TX Sen. John Cornyn, the latest incarnation of the administration's designated front person for amnesty and open borders. From "Big role for Texas senator?"

...Cornyn, a former state attorney general, chairs the Senate Judiciary immigration subcommittee, which has major influence over immigration policies.

On Monday, Cornyn will open hearings to investigate the country's weak border security system and failed immigration laws.

[...quotes from FAIR and AILA...]

...If history is any indication, Cornyn won't shy away from a fight. As a rookie senator in 2003, he blasted colleagues and outside groups on the Senate floor for doing "too little to reform a system that cries out for change."

"Special interest groups dominate the discourse, employing the potent but morally repugnant rhetoric of fear," he said. "We can no longer afford to deny both the sheer number of undocumented immigrants in our country and the extent of our economy's dependence on the labor they provide."

In persuading other lawmakers to go along with the president's plan, Cornyn will have to deal with defiant Democrats and equally reluctant Republicans.

The "rhetoric of fear" is almost all originating on the AILA side. As in, "say something bad about massive illegal or legal immigration, and you'll have to fear being smeared."

Hopefully Cornyn will have as contentious and relatively brief a run as did Asa Hutchinson or Chris Cannon.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 02:01 PM | Comments (3)

"Watchdog [Clark Kent Erwin] details confrontations with Ridge"

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Homeland Security Department's former independent watchdog says he was twice summoned to then-Secretary Tom Ridge's office last year and asked why his reports criticizing the agency were being sent to Congress and whether they could be presented more favorably to the department...

During a June 9 meeting, "Ridge said a couple of times, 'Look, are you my IG?' and I said, 'No, I'm not your IG,'" Ervin recalled.

Ervin said that when he told Ridge that the inspector general served the public, the former Pennsylvania governor replied, "I had an IG in Pennsylvania and he didn't release things to the Legislature or to the press."

Ervin said he answered: "But I do here. I have a reporting obligation" to Congress.

Ervin said the meeting "was two hours of 'Why are you doing this? Why are you being negative to the department? Why are you releasing reports?' It was a long come-to-Jesus meeting, angry and confrontational. I just spent the whole time trying to educate him about the role of the inspector general."

Ridge had just endured an uncomfortable morning on Capitol Hill. Senators had used one of Ervin's reports to question Ridge about problems, including lost and stolen passports, in a program that allows citizens from certain foreign countries to enter the United States without a visa.

In a subsequent meeting five weeks before the Nov. 2 election, Ervin said, Ridge talked about presenting the inspector general's reports in a way that would make them seem less critical of the department...

Posted to Immigration2005a at 01:55 PM | Comments (0)

"As Border Tightens, Growers See Threat to 'Winter Salad Bowl'"

The Wall Street Journal continues their scare-mongering in the 3/11/05 front page story "As Border Tightens, Growers See Threat to 'Winter Salad Bowl'". It's subscriber only, but excerpts are here:

YUMA, Ariz. -- Shortly before Thanksgiving last year, Tom Nassif did something few law-abiding citizens would ever think to do: He called the U.S. Border Patrol here and suggested agents stop manning a highway checkpoint intended to keep illegal immigrants out of the country.

A former U.S. ambassador and currently the president of a powerful farming association, Mr. Nassif told officials that the agency couldn't have picked a worse time to beef up enforcement. Didn't they know it was lettuce season?

The checkpoint -- complete with drug-sniffing dogs -- was meant to stop the flow of illegal immigrants who might have slipped through the regular border controls. But it was also ensnaring busloads of undocumented workers who are critical to the task of picking lettuce and other vegetables during the winter growing season here. Border patrol Public Information Officer Joseph Brigman says he told Mr. Nassif that "we aren't targeting fieldworkers; we're conducting normal operations..."

Later in that thread, someone posts a link to "In Florida Groves, Cheap Labor Means Machines". See also "The Mirage of Mexican Guest Workers".

Posted to Immigration2005a at 01:51 PM | Comments (2)

"Behind the wheel: States should limit licenses to legal residents"

From a SDUT editorial:

...Utah's action [to give "driving privilege cards" to illegal aliens rather than real driver's licenses] points to a national wave of public concern about issuing to illegal immigrants a license to do far more than drive. It's a wave, too, that will become a veritable tsunami if federal legislation that just passed the House of Representatives makes it, as it should, through the Senate. In that event, states may continue to issue driver licenses to illegal immigrants, but driver licenses from those states will not be accepted for federal identification purposes – to board a plane, for example, or enter a federal building.

[...Why do this?] Start with the fact that neither the nation nor the states should make travel easy for illegal immigrants bent on doing harm here. Driver licenses have become de facto identification cards, "breeder documents" that can facilitate further illegal acts, from terrorism to lesser crimes, by illegal immigrants. Determining the legal status of license applicants adds another check against their abuse.

And move on to the overweening fact that making illegal immigrants legal drivers rewards their illegality, encourages other illegal immigrants and further blurs the already too-fuzzy line between legal and illegal residents. Limiting driver licenses to legal residents is only one clarifying dot along that line, but one Congress and the states should endorse...

Posted to Immigration_dls at 10:49 PM | Comments (1)

"Illegal Aliens and American Medicine"

Hey, want to be depressed? The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (published by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons) has an article about illegal immigration in their latest issue. It's only available in PDF format, and here's the beginning:

The influx of illegal aliens has serious hidden medical consequences.We judge reality primarily by what we see. But what we do not see can be more dangerous, more expensive, and more deadly than what is seen.

Illegal aliens' stealthy assaults on medicine now must rouse Americans to alert and alarm. Even President Bush describes illegal aliens only as they are seen: strong physical laborers who work hard in undesirable jobs with low wages, who care for their families, and who pursue the American dream.

What is unseen is their free medical care that has degraded and closed some of Americaís finest emergency medical facilities, and caused hospital bankruptcies: 84 California hospitals are closing their doors. "Anchor babies" born to illegal aliens instantly qualify as citizens for welfare benefits and have caused enormous rises in Medicaid costs and stipends under Supplemental Security Income and Disability Income.

...many illegal aliens harbor fatal diseases that American medicine fought and vanquished long ago, such as drug-resistant tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, plague, polio, dengue, and Chagas disease...

It gets much more depressing.

See this WND article for a summary if you don't want to read the whole PDF.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 10:41 PM | Comments (5)

PETA's Horrible Secret

From September 3, 2003:

We all know that PETA is quite possibly the most annoying and certainly the most arrogant of all the leftist groups currently attempting to alter our way of life. However, I doubt that outside of a few nosy people and former PETA employees anyone knows how they care for homeless pets in Hampton Roads, Virginia (their headquarters, right)...They kill them!

That's right, this warm fuzzy bastion of animal rights kills every once beloved family pet who has the misfortune of being carried through PETA's doors. People take animals to PETA instead of local shelters because they believe that they will be placed into a home and will not be put down. Unlike local animal shelters, PETA doesn't even bother trying to find homes for these pets. All of them are killed within a few hours. In fact, PETA has gone through several area vets, and they refused to euthanize healthy animals. Finally PETA constructed their own facilities for this practice...

PETA doesn't stop with animals who are dropped off at their facility. No, they actively seek out animals throughout the community to kill. PETA sets traps to catch roaming animals all over Hampton Roads. These traps are designed to catch cats, many of these are not just strays but people's pets. They have even ventured onto a local federal installation, where they captured dozens of cats and immediately killed them...

"Holy Moses!" you might be saying. Could this be true? Is this a satire, or an urban legend? How could sweet, sweet Lisa Franzetta be mixed up in something like this?

Well, would you believe the Associated Press (for the most part)? This page appears to have a rewrite of an AP article about PETA's policies. And, in fact, PETA has a page that discusses their euthanization policies.

Part 2 of the quoted article is here. It goes into alleged mind-control by PETA of their employees. And, Part 3 is here.

Posted to MultiCultiCult at 10:13 PM | Comments (1)

What is the "Akaka Bill"?

Frankly, I'd never heard of this before, but it involves setting up a Native Hawaiian-only governmental body.

Haunani-Kay Trask is or was opposed to it "Pro, con articles on Akaka bill fail to address land issues". So are these related blogs: link, link

On the other hand, many Senators support the bill. But McCain supports it too, so now I'm getting confused: does Trask's opposition outweigh McCain's support?

To add to the confusion, the WashTimes published a guest editorial opposing it: "The pineapple time bomb".

Posted to Miscellania at 02:52 PM | Comments (2)

"Saudis Funded Columbia Program At Institute That Trained Teachers"

NYSun:

Saudi Arabia has funneled tens of thousands of dollars into the "outreach" programs of Columbia University's Middle East Institute, which until last week was training some of the city's public-school teachers in how to teach students about Middle East politics.

Since 2002, the government-owned Saudi Aramco has given the institute annual grants of $15,000 for unspecified outreach activities. The institute's outreach activities have included a 15-week teacher-training course on Middle East politics led by Columbia faculty members and graduate students...

A Columbia spokeswoman, Susan Brown, denied the money from Saudi Aramco was used to finance the program that the institute coordinated for the city's Department of Education...

Mr. Khalidi, 56, [head of the Middle East Institute] refuses to speak to the Sun. A message was left last night with an individual who answered the phone at his residence. Mr. Khalidi did not return the message.

The institute at the Morningside Heights campus has won annual certification as one of the country's 19 Middle East National Resource Centers, which each receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in subsidies from the federal Department of Education...

Posted to TheSaudis at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)

MNDaily: "Bill would get Minnesota immigrants in-state tuition"

As you might imagine, the "immigrants" in question are, in fact, "undocumented immigrants". Of course, that fact is not disclosed until the fourth paragraph of their "news" story.

The co-author of the bill is Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul.

The "reporter" includes the thoughts of Ann Schuetz, "an education coordinator for the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota" and, needless to say, takes everything she says at face value.

Please contact this "newspaper" and suggest they stop trying to hide the truth: errors *at* mndaily.com

See also "Is the Onion based in Minneapolis?" for discussion of a similar article. That includes the news that Mexico has its sights set on Minnesota and will be building a consulate there.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 10:51 AM | Comments (1)

When cat ladies attack

The post "Wisconsin hunter wants open season on free-roaming domestic cats" described the valiant efforts of a La Crossian firefighter to get vital legislation passed.

A Michigan feline - who apparently had seen that report on the Internet - joined the war by shooting its owner.

Now the owners are getting in on it in "Man Who Wants To Hunt Domestic Cats Gets Death Threats":

...Mark Smith told La Crosse police he's gotten angry phone calls and messages at work and at home.

Police reports said one call made while Smith was working at the La Crosse Fire Department suggested it should be "open season on firefighters." Another woman told Smith that if the state Legislature approved his request Smith would be hunted down and killed...

That report has a poll and a discussion, and it directs us to a feline-friendly web site about this issue: DontShootTheCat.com.

At post time there are over 60,000 votes in the poll, with 72% opposing the measure.

Posted to Miscellania at 09:49 AM | Comments (0)

"Border plan risks estuary"

The OC Register discusses the border fence near Tijuana that Reps. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine want to finally complete: "Border plan risks estuary":

[...Greg Abbott, "an ecologist with the California Department of Parks and Recreation", leads the OC Register on a tour, pointing out the problems with the plan...]

Backed by two House Republicans, the project includes a controversial plan to remove hundreds of tons of soil from the top of nearby mesas and fill in a canyon appropriately named Smugglers Gulch.

Ecologists worry that erosion will carry the soil from the enormous mound of earth in the canyon into the estuary and disrupt the delicate balance that supports the wildlife.

The California Coastal Commission, which regulates coastal land and water use, is one of numerous agencies and interest groups fighting the proposed project and the legislation to make it possible...

"This is as much earth as would be used to build Hoover Dam," said Carl Zichella, western regional staff director for the Sierra Club, trying to explain how enormous a volume of soil would be moved.

Zichella said that what is being planned in the name of national security is unnecessary to protect the border...

The possibility that Abbott was sent out by his supervisors to throw cold water on the plan seems highly likely. Maybe there are alternatives that would work, however based on the Sierra Club being in opposition I'd imagine their version of a border fence might include a door. The post "Who's behind the smears?" described how the Sierra Club got millions of dollars from a pro-open borders philanthropist, and "DHS to build fences anywhere at any time, even committing mass murder to do so?" described the last loony leftie attempt at fear-mongering on this issue.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 09:29 AM | Comments (0)

The "New Partnership in North America": double-plus NAFTA

On March 23 the leaders of the U.S., Mexico, and Canada will meet at Baylor University and at Bush's ranch:

The meeting is to discuss the New Partnership in North America plan which aims to increase security, prosperity and quality of life for the people of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico...

[Vicente] Fox is expected to make an aggressive pitch at the meeting for a so-called NAFTA-plus - a large-scale integration of North America far beyond what exists in the current free-trade agreement. Canada and the U.S. are both cool to the idea...

See also "Quebec Premier Charest calls for stronger NAFTA modelled on EU":

Quebec Premier Jean Charest called Thursday for closer economic and trade ties among Canada, Mexico and the United States, saying the three North American countries should take the European Union as an example of closer integration...

Now, make sure you're sitting down before reading November 15, 2004's "Meet NAFTA on steroids":

North American national borders would be virtually eliminated under plans being considered by senior business and political leaders from Canada, the United States and Mexico for a "NAFTA-plus," continent-wide, customs-free zone with a common approach to trade, energy, immigration, law enforcement and security.

A tri-national task force, chaired by former Liberal Party deputy prime minister John Manley, with the full backing of all three governments, is plotting the roadmap for this new, bolder alliance meant to compete with the European Union. William Weld, former governor of Massachusetts and Pedro Aspe, former Mexican finance minister, join Manley on the panel that reports directly to the Council on Foreign Relations...

The "NAFTA-plus" plan has also been referred to as "deep integration." Skeptics see it as a plan to eliminate national sovereignty and erode the American concept of representative government accountable to the people under the framework of the Constitution...

Other names mentioned: Tom Ridge, "Canadian Finance Minister Michael Wilson and Nelson Cunningham of Henry Kissinger's consulting firm, Kissinger McLarty Associates."

For further reading, see all the links in "Citizens United for Bush and... for American sovereignty?"

Posted to NAU at 12:02 AM | Comments (3)

"Alton attorney accidentally sues himself"

Those wacky lawyers:

Alton attorney Emert Wyss thought he could make money in a Madison County class action lawsuit, but he accidentally sued himself instead. Now he has four law firms after his money - and he hired all four...

Posted to WackyHumor at 11:32 PM | Comments (0)

"Ex-PM: Hezbollah rally numbers manipulated"

WND has a scoop:

The giant Hezbollah rally that drew nearly half a million purported supporters of Syria's occupation of Lebanon included non-Lebanese citizens, Syrian workers, students and municipal employees coerced into joining the protest, former Lebanese Prime Minister Michel Aoun told WorldNetDaily in an exclusive interview this morning...

[Aoun said] "This was not a Lebanese showing, and many of those who actually were Lebanese were not there because they support Syria. We know that at least three Palestinian camps were present. And there are 700,000 Syrian workers inside Lebanon, many of whom are not even supposed to be there. They were urged by Syria to attend so it looks like many Lebanese are protesting. Plus Syria bused in their own citizens from Syria through the border into Lebanon to join the rally."

The former prime minister also accused Hezbollah and pro-Syrian Lebanese intelligence forces of coercing students and municipal workers to attend.

"They shut down the schools and all the government and public buildings and pressured students and workers to get to the rally," he said...

See also "How many of the 500,000 pro-Syrian demonstrators are Syrian guest workers?"

Posted to Terrorism at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)

Endorsement: Jim Hahn for Mayor of Los Angeles

Barring a challenge by Bob Hertzberg, it looks like May's run-off election will be a repeat of that from four years ago, with Antonio Villaraigosa vs. the incumbent Jim Hahn.

I strongly endorse Jim Hahn and I urge you to support him. While Hahn has his faults, they are insignificant in comparison to the effect that Villaraigosa would have on Los Angeles, California, and the U.S.

For an example of what might happen, consider this bit from August 1999:

...Two weeks ago, Antonio Villaraigosa, Speaker of the California Assembly and a leading candidate to be L.A.'s first modern Latino mayor, publicly thanked Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo for having "great impact in defeating Proposition 187" (the anti-illegal-immigration measure that passed in 1994 with almost 60 percent of the vote but has since been killed in the courts). The Los Angeles Times's story quoted Mexico's Deputy Foreign Minister, Juan Rebolledo, to the effect that Villaraigosa "gave [Zedillo] thanks on behalf of Mexican Americans." The Times then waxed enthusiastic about how Villaraigosa's comments heralded the "rise of a new phenomenon: cross-border politics," and what one expert called the "silent integration" of California and Mexico.

But there were at least four things conspicuously wrong with what Villaraigosa said: 1) It wasn't true; Zedillo didn't have a "great impact." Prop. 187 was struck down by a federal judge and then abandoned by the newly-elected Democratic Governor, Gray Davis -- a 187 opponent -- who "settled" the lawsuit by basically letting the judge's ruling stand; 2) Zedillo is head of a foreign power -- do we want American politicians encouraging him to meddle in California's affairs, especially to overturn the will of California voters? 3) Why thank Zedillo "on behalf of Mexican Americans?" Villaraigosa is Speaker of the state assembly -- doesn't he represent all Californians (many of whom were non-Mexican-Americans who opposed 187)? Villaraigosa's bald appeal to cross-border ethnic solidarity would be troubling even if it hadn't had a triumphalist "we beat the gringos" undertone. Mexican diplomat Robelledo said "I was surprised he was so explicit;" and 4) Zedillo's government is not exactly a model deserving of fawning flattery...

Is there really much more to add?

But, in case you need more, see MEChA, Villaraigosa And The LA Mayoral Campaign. (Villaraigosa is the former president of the UCLA chapter of MEChA.) For more on the general movement of which Villaraigosa is a part, see this, this, or this.

Expect the L.A. Times, L.A. Daily News, and other papers to continue to ignore Villaraigosa's past. You can help by writing them and suggesting they tell their readers the whole truth for a change.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 12:02 PM | Comments (3)

"Wisconsin hunter wants open season on free-roaming domestic cats"

Presented without (voiced) comment:

MADISON, Wis. Hunter Mark Smith welcomes wild birds onto his property, but if he sees a cat, he thinks the "invasive" animal should be considered fair game.

The 48-year-old firefighter from La Crosse has proposed that hunters in Wisconsin make free-roaming domestic cats an "unprotected species" that could be shot at will by anyone with a small-game license...

UPDATE: The war has begun: "Michigan man shot when cat knocks gun onto floor".

Posted to Miscellania at 12:21 AM | Comments (0)

Florida poll: 2/3 oppose amnesty, 3/4 oppose driver's licenses for illegal aliens

That's the result of a poll from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

...The poll, conducted last week by Maryland-based Research 2000, surveyed 600 likely voters in Florida. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. The poll found that fewer than four in 10 likely voters in the state think immigration helps the United States...

...Hispanics, who made up 15 percent of the respondents, were no more supportive of pro-immigration changes than other groups polled. Only two in 10 Hispanics favored a law allowing undocumented immigrants to work legally in the country. Only two in 10 favored issuing driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. And only 38 percent of Florida's Hispanics who are likely voters said they thought immigration helped the United States...

See also Field Poll: 62% of Californians oppose driver's licenses for illegal aliens.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 12:04 AM | Comments (1)

Shaaban (naturalized U.S. citizen accused of being an Iraq agent): trained by USSR in the 70's?

The article "U.S.: Russia trained Greenfield man to spy" has a great deal of info on his background:

A Greenfield truck driver accused of offering to sell the names of U.S. intelligence agents to the Iraqi government received espionage training in Russia about 30 years ago, authorities say.

Court documents released Friday in the case of Shaaban Hafiz Ahmad Ali Shaaban also reveal that the Jordanian native had five passports and used several Social Security numbers...

In 1972, he lived in Moscow and married his first wife, Svetlana Anatolevna Shaban. It's unclear whether they were divorced.

During his stay in Moscow, the federal government says, Shaaban received training from Russian intelligence agents. The documents do not detail what kind of training. Authorities refused to elaborate...

In 2003 and 2004, he worked for Greenfield-based Novelty Inc., which manufactures and distributes toys and trinkets. For some of the time that Shaaban drove for Novelty, the firm's "Iraq's 52 Most Wanted Playing Cards" were a hot seller, company attorney Jeanne Hamilton said...

Previous report here.

Posted to Immigration_terror at 11:57 PM | Comments (0)

UK: "Few failed asylum seekers removed"

Beeb:

Of 62,700 people refused asylum last year, 4,100 had so far been removed, Home Office minister Des Browne said in a Commons reply.

Others could have left without informing the authorities, he added...

[Tory MP Sir Teddy Taylor] estimated there were "probably 250,000" people living in Britain who had been refused the right to remain in the country...

Posted to Immigration_euro at 11:48 PM | Comments (2)

Alleged voting fraud is back in the news

Remember Clint Curtis, the Florida computer programmer who claimed to have created a demo of a fraudulent electronic voting system? "Brad Blog" has an update:

The case of the mysterious suicide of Raymond Lemme of the Florida Inspector General's office was reopened by Valdosta, Georgia police last December shortly after we broke the story of computer programmer Clint Curtis' sworn affidavit charging that he had built a "vote-rigging software prototype" at the request of Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)!

Furthermore, graphic and disturbing photos from the crime scene -- said in the original police report to have not existed due to a failure in the camera's "flash memory cards" -- have recently been published on the web!

Their "summary" of the case is here. A timeline is here. The double-wrap o' tin foil version is here. Gold bars and the Rockefellers are mentioned. That said, if the police are willing to reopen the case perhaps they'll find something. Or, perhaps they're part of the conspiracy...

Posted to Politics at 06:10 PM | Comments (1)

Appeasing our cheap labor supplier

Mexican Nationals to Get New U.S. Trials

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is asking Texas to conduct new hearings for 51 Mexicans on death row who say they were denied legal help from their consulates in violation of international law.

The International Court of Justice (search) in The Hague last year ruled that the convictions violated the 1963 Vienna Convention (search) by not providing the Mexicans with consular access. In 1969, the Senate ratified the treaty, which requires such access for Americans detained abroad and foreigners arrested in the United States.

The Supreme Court filing is an attempt by the administration to quell international criticism...

Maybe giving him a new trial is the right and not just the expedient thing to do, maybe it isn't.

However, the worrisome side effect in this matter is that this follows months of anti-U.S. activity by our "friends" to the south, all of which they've admitted are attempts to get a "migration accord" passed. See "Mexico may ask international courts to block Proposition 200" from earlier this year and "We're being sued by Mexico" from last year. The second post has more about Mexico's larger strategy. Are we sure that "cheap" labor isn't costing us more than we thought?

Posted to Immigration2005a at 05:53 PM | Comments (1)

"FBI warns of 'special interest' aliens"

FBI Director Robert Mueller confirmed before Congress today what has long been known: that aliens from terrorist-sponsoring countries have come over the Mexican border. Story: "FBI warns of 'special interest' aliens"

Note that he drew the distinction between terrorists and those just from countries that sponsor terrorism; he said he wasn't aware of any terrorists infiltrating the U.S. via our border. He also discussed terrorists trying to pose as Mexicans in order to blend in. That was also discussed here months ago.

He made these statements under questioning from U.S. Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas).

UPDATE: On their evening broadcasts, ABC/NBC/CBS all had a segment on Mueller's testimony. However, all three highlighted his testimony about those on the terrorism watchlist being able to buy guns. And, all three had similar short interviews from Wayne LaPierre. Only CBS mentioned the contents of this post. I guess ABC and NBC have different priorities.

Posted to Immigration_terror at 05:42 PM | Comments (1)

How many of the 500,000 pro-Syrian demonstrators are Syrian guest workers?

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Nearly 500,000 pro-Syrian protesters waved flags and chanted anti-American slogans in a central Beirut square Tuesday, answering a nationwide call by the militant Shiite Muslim Hezbollah group for a demonstration to counter weeks of rallies demanding Syrian forces leave Lebanon...

Oddly enough, there are hundreds of thousands of Syrian guest workers in Lebanon. How many of those protesters are in fact Syrians? Is there a shibboleth-style way or similar to tell a Syrian from a Lebanese? Could we trust the MSM to report on the national origin of the pro-Syrian protesters?

Syrian guest workers are mentioned here, here, and here. The Reuters report reads similar to all those other stories about illegal immigrants in the U.S., even including a bit at the end about Syrians doing jobs the Lebanese won't do.

If many or most of the protesters are guest workers, perhaps we could take this as yet another lesson that guest worker programs have massive downsides.

UPDATE: A little birdie says: "I don't think Syrian guest workers were a large part of the demonstration. Most are Sunni, not Shia like Hezbollah." I'll wait for a more authoritative source to report on the breakdown of the demonstrators.

UPDATE 2: See "Ex-PM: Hezbollah rally numbers manipulated".

Posted to Immigration2005a at 01:34 PM | Comments (2)

OK, that's it, I've been converted to the Raelian Revolution

Everyone's favorite wacky New Age religious cult/group the Raelians held a photo-op/parade in Miami on Sunday:

Decked in goddess garb -- butterfly wings, pasties and sparkly purple wraps -- the seven women marched from Washington Avenue to Alton Road, carrying signs and passing out fliers to bring others to the cause. They were joined by three men -- one a buff, blonde massage therapist from Switzerland who wore only a Speedo.

''The body is beautiful and we should be free,'' said Donna Newman, a Miami Raelian who handles the group's public relations...

You can see Donna and her friends on this page.

I'm having trouble choosing between Norma ("It's in the action that you see the manifestation of your consciousness"), the aforementioned Donna, Nadine (a High school French teacher), or the above-pictured Lisa ("Spread our wings to the harmony of Infinity... to celebrate our dreams!") What's that? I don't have to choose?

Posted to Celebrities at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)

Ward Churchill: "Facts don't support attacks"

Ward Churchill has an editorial in his defense here. He says, among other things, that Denver drive-time talk jocks Caplis and Silverman took a speech he made out of context. See their site for the clips Churchill is complaining about.

Posted to Miscellania at 11:27 AM | Comments (0)

Our cheap labor supplier to tour Arizona, make trouble

MEXICO CITY - A group of Mexican senators is heading to Arizona to investigate the effects of Proposition 200 amid growing fears in Mexico that other states will copy the measure.

The senators plan to meet with Mexican diplomats and migrants, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and state Attorney General Terry Goddard, said Domingo Clavel, technical secretary for the Senate's Human Rights Committee...

Clavel said the senators also plan to meet with groups that campaigned against Proposition 200, as well as Daniel Ortega, the Phoenix lawyer helping to challenge the measure in court...

[...cheap labor pimping from Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights...]

"They should be subject to the social protection and benefits that the state confers, and in all cases, receive a dignified and respectful recognition of their fundamental rights," [the Commission] said.

Ortega was involved in MALDEF's attempts to block Prop. 200, as discussed in MALDEF getting "moral support" from Mexico.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 11:16 AM | Comments (0)

What is a food blog?

Insty directs our attention to the an article in the Tennessean entitled "World-wide recipe swap". In the following excerpt, see if you can notice the slight change I've made to their text in order to elevate this blog above the rest:

...Blog is a shortened version of "Web log," which is an online personal journal. There are thousands out there, some personal, some professional, focused on everything from sports to politics to . . . well, food.

What elevates a blog is that it usually contains hyperlinks (for example, a link to a Web site selling the whisk a cook is raving about). And most blogs allow you to leave comments and read comments left by others, a particularly helpful feature when you want to know how others have fared in trying a recipe...

I'm just trying to help.

Now, if you have an abundance of spare time, you might wonder, why did I spend the time to read through this article to that point? Because I'm considering starting something similar. It will probably use MT, and it'll have recipes but it'll also have other things as well. Stay tuned.

Posted to Bloggage at 09:51 PM | Comments (0)

"Al-Qaeda's Illegal Immigration Threat"

FPM has a roundup. It mentions Adm. James Loy's testimony, Rep. Solomon Ortiz' efforts, loose nukes, possible ties between gangs and terrorists, the Minuteman project, Rep. James Sensenbrenner's efforts, and these bits I wasn't familiar with:

...A bill has been introduced in Texas legislature to allow fingerprinting at hospitals in an effort to stop terrorism. The legislation’s intent is to prevent terrorists from entering the United States untracked, said State Rep. Armando "Mando" Martinez, D-Weslaco, the bill's author. Not surprisingly, self-declared "civil rights groups" opposed the bill on the grounds it violates the illegals' "freedoms" and may discourage people from seeking medical care.

Martinez argues, however, that a recent explosion in Mexico illustrated how terrorists might fake injury as a guise to enter the U.S, because customs officers don’t ask questions of someone crossing the border to seek medical care. Martinez asked, "What is to prevent a terrorist from staging a possible bombing or explosion, acting like they’re injured...and once they’re in a room and everybody walks out, and they can just get up and walk out AMA (against medical advice)?"

Homeland Security officials have warned that bankrolled terrorists can traverse the border by paying professional smugglers. A Juarez television station recently reported a suspected terrorist paid a taxi driver $400 to take him to Juarez, and that the driver left the man at the Santa Fe, New Mexico, bridge...

Posted to Immigration_terror at 12:58 PM | Comments (2)

Today in propaganda watch

What, one might ask, could be wrong with a clearly upstanding organization like Empower Peace? Look at the bright splashy graphics, the happy smiling schoolchildren and teachers, and read the scrolling news ticker. Watch the news ticker, read the news ticker, just stare at the news ticker, let your mind wander as you read the news ticker...

Snap out of it!

Don't you know Empower Peace is a Pentagon front? From this:

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking records under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), 5 U.S.C. ' 552, from the Department of Defense concerning Pentagon funded programs engaged in "strategic influence, perception management, strategic information warfare and/or strategic psychological operations" through media consultants, "think tanks," foreign expatriate political organizations and Internet sites...

Judicial Watch is seeking, among other matters; information on a "peace movement" Internet site that reportedly was funded and established by the Pentagon called "Empower Peace." The site was developed by The Rendon Group, a media consultancy firm the Pentagon has paid more than $40 million dollars to since 2001, and targets participation of American school age children, teachers and schools in what appears to be a "grassroots" peace movement. The Rendon Group's relationship with the Pentagon has been reported in the New York Times and public relations trade magazines. "Empower Peace" offers "cultural awareness," interactive web broadcasts between New York and Jordan, as well as Boston and Bahrain, and interaction with school age children of Islamic countries. There is no indication on the site that it is a project of the U.S. Defense Department.

(Via this)

In loony leftie paranoia news, the Captain alerts us that Garance Franke-Ruta is tying all the loose ends together: Blogged Down. In Part 2, I fully expect coverage of the ties between RedState.org, the Grays, and Majestic-12.

Posted to Privacy at 12:31 PM | Comments (1)

Ah, the tolerant left

Just as long as they aren't "spiritual" polygamists or from Utah, that is.

Posted to Bloggage at 10:49 AM | Comments (0)

Psychologolizing the DUmmies

Today's low hanging fruit watch discusses a thread that tries to call FreeRepublic a hate group and, in the process, reveals a bit more about DU than they might have expected.

Read all about it in today's DU thread at BigMediaBlog.com.

By the way, each day BigMediaBlog.com posts threads where you can comment on the posts from over a dozen big bloggers and MSM outfits. The site is for your comments, so if you see one of those big bloggers posting something you disagree with, post a comment over there. If you've blogged about it, post a link.

Posted to Bloggage at 10:33 AM | Comments (0)

No, I'm pretty sure Salem, Oregon is in the U.S. Why do you ask?

After reading the Statesman Journal article "Waiting for documentation" I'm not so sure. Could Salem, Oregon have changed hands and is it now under the jurisdiction of Mexico? Let's find out:

Nearly 2,000 people converged on McKay High School on Saturday to obtain services from the Mexican government...

[...poetic bit deleted...]

Partnering with Oregon state agencies, the Mexican government's daylong event was an attempt to reach out to its rapidly growing community in the Mid-Willamette Valley.

Estevan Garcia Neri, 62, and four nephews were there for matricular consular cards, necessary to cash payroll checks and obtain driver's licenses...

Let's see if we can use the above to determine whether Salem, Oregon is still part of the U.S. or not. A foreign government set up a booth at a U.S. school in order to hand out ID cards specifically intended to allow Mexican citizens who are in the U.S. illegally to get U.S. driver's licenses. And, they partnered with Oregon state agencies to do it.

If you can locate any clues in the article that Salem, Oregon is still under the control of the U.S., please leave them in the comments.

I note also that almost exactly two years ago the same rag published a long AP lie entitled 'Hispanics get affordable car loans'. You ignore them for two years and they've only gotten worse.

Also, in case you think this was just an isolated event, read "Their money or your safety". That has several examples of a Mexican consul coming to small towns to hand out Mickey Mouse ID cards. Corrupt or just extremely ignorant local officials and papers lend them a hand in their efforts.

Posted to Immigration_consul at 08:59 PM | Comments (3)

Perhaps Fort Huachuca could be converted into the George W. Bush Guest Worker Transit Hub or something

The Sierra Vista Herald discusses illegal aliens using Fort Huachuca in far southern Arizona as a transit hub in "Lawmakers say they see immigration as an issue for fort, too":

State Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said Friday that illegal immigrants being detained on Fort Huachuca is a problem for the Army...

Farnsworth said garrison commander Col. Jonathan Hunter said that last year 3,000 illegal immigrants were detained on the post...

Farnsworth said the fort's high-technology missions are critical to the nation's defense. But, he said, having illegal immigrants going through the federal installation puts fort officials between a rock and hard place.

Having expressed concerns about the illegal immigrant traffic going through the fort, Farnsworth said he does not believe the post will be on the upcoming Department of Defense's Base Closure and Realignment list...

Saying he knew the fort is a key player in the military's intelligence arena, Yarbrough said he was unaware of the fort's other high-tech functions that make the installation missions more critical to the nation.

Besides the Intelligence Center, the fort is home to the Army Network Enterprise Technology Command, 11th Signal Brigade, Army Electronic Proving Ground, Department of Defense Joint Interoperability Test Command and a number of other units involved in developing, testing or fielding command, control, communications, compute and intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance systems...

In Bush's America, even the functions described in the last paragraph take a back seat to cheap labor.

Posted to Immigration_terror at 08:52 PM | Comments (1)

What are John & Ken thinking?

L.A. political activist Hal Netkin wants to know. Why are KFI's John & Ken supporting Bob Hertzberg for mayor of Los Angeles? Isn't he on the board of MALDEF, the Ford Foundation-funded, pro-Mexico organization that has continuously supported illegal immigration?

MALDEF helped block California's Prop. 187 and they tried to block Arizona's Prop. 200. They claim to have received "moral support" from Mexico in the latter effort. Recall that Mexico has publicly stated that they were going to be paying U.S. lobbyists and work with think tanks to support Mexico's emigration policies.

Perhaps what John & Ken have in mind is the same thing I do: the most important issue is to beat Villaraigosa. Perhaps they think Hertzberg is the only one that can do that. I certainly don't think Walter Moore could do it, and if he were in the run-off with Villaraigosa he (and Los Angeles) would lose big. And, perhaps John & Ken think that someone who's on the board of a pro-illegal immigration group is better than the alternative.

As for me, I support Hahn. But, if someone can make the convincing case that only Hertzberg could beat Villaraigosa (the former chairman of the UCLA chapter of MEChA), I'd be willing to change my mind.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 08:41 PM | Comments (1)

Who can beat Villaraigosa?

That's the key question voters should ask themselves regarding the L.A. Mayoral race.

If there is indeed currently a three-way race, there will be a run-off. Assuming Parks and Alarcon are out of the running, and making the somewhat dubious assumption that Walter Moore is in the running, here are the six possibilities:

AV - BH: AV might lose
AV - JH: AV might lose
AV - WM: AV would probably win

BH - JH: BH would probably win
BH - WM: BH would probably win

JH - WM: JH would probably win

Legend:
AV = Villaraigosa
BH = Hertzberg
JH = Hahn
WM = Moore

If Parks withdraws and throws his support to AV, that would create a major problem.

If Alarcon takes votes away from AV, that would be a good thing.

Posted to Los_Angeles at 03:15 PM | Comments (1)

Instapundit and DailyKos are always right

What's that you say? You disagree? Well, then have I got a site for you: BigMediaBlog.

Every day, BigMediaBlog posts threads where you can comment on mistakes made by Big Media bloggers like Instapundit and DailyKos. Even if you just disagree with something they said, post a comment. Or, leave a link to a post at your blog.

In addition to Instapundit and DailyKos, there are daily threads for these sites:

* DemocraticUnderground
* BlogsForBush
* Andrew Sullivan
* TalkLeft
* Kausfiles
* Talking Points Memo
* Professor Bainbridge
* National Review
* NYT
* WaPo
* LAT
* TV/cable
* Other MSM
* Other media

And, BigMediaBlog has a comments feed that you can subscribe to. (It uses MT-Blacklist and comments are semi-moderated so spam shouldn't be that much of a problem.)

Posted to Bloggage at 11:02 PM | Comments (0)

The George Soros/Media Matters/David Brock network discovered

If you want the backstory, read this: "Horowitz Exposes David Brock as Paid Hatchet Man for Soros".

If you're familiar with the backstory and you want to cut to the chase, read "David Brock Group Backpedals on Soros Funding":

Media Matters for America, the group headed by conservative turned liberal writer David Brock, has changed course on its stated association with billionaire liberal financier George Soros.

After initially claiming on Dec. 1, 2004 that "neither Media Matters nor its president and CEO David Brock has received any money from Soros or from any organization with which he is affiliated," the group is no longer disavowing any connection with groups "affiliated" with Soros.

The Media Matters shift came after Cybercast News Service questioned the group's financial ties and demonstrated that there were numerous and extensive links between Media Matters and several Soros "affiliates" like MoveOn.org, the Center for American Progress and Soros ally Peter Lewis.

Media Matters for America (MMA) spokeswoman Sally Aman responded to Cybercast News Service's questions with an e-mail. "In response to your query regarding donor funding Media Matters for America has never received funding directly from George Soros," Aman stated, no longer denying any relationship with organizations affiliated with Soros.

She went on to reference the "early support from Moveon.org, and the New Democrat Network," that Media Matters had received...

At post time, there's nothing about this new admission on the sites of their paid bloggers such as Duncan B. Black or ODub.

UPDATE: A "liberal" spins it the wrong way, encouraging Soros to donate to his own effort.

And, in somewhat related news from last month, see "Soros Funded Stewart Defense":

Millionaire financier George Soros, whose opposition to President Bush's conduct of the war on terror caused him to pour millions of dollars into the effort to defeat the president, made a substantial donation [$20,000 --LW] to the defense fund for radical lawyer Lynne Stewart, who last week was found guilty of giving aid to Islamic terrorists...

Before the verdict, officials of the Open Society Institute characterized Stewart's work as that of a "human rights defender." In an October 2004 speech in Norway, Gara LaMarche, head of OSI programs in the United States, said, "The right to counsel, and its erosion in the United States since September 11, strikes with particular force at the role of human rights defenders. One troubling trend has been the arrest and prosecution of lawyers and other defenders as 'material witnesses' to terrorism. These include Lynne Stewart, attorney for Sheik Abdel Rahman..."

At one point, Stewart's Defense Committee website, lynnestewart.org, bore the notation, "This website is made possible by the generous support of the Open Society Institute."

Amy Weil told National Review that while the Institute initially underwrote Stewart's defense, the foundation's commitment was not open-ended. "More recently, OSI was asked for additional funding and we turned down that request," she said.

Posted to Politics at 07:23 PM | Comments (0)

Arizona tries to stop public funding of illegal alien day laborer centers

This is from Elvia Diaz in the Arizona Republic, so be prepared. From "Panel backs ban on labor centers":

Advancing a strategy to discourage illegal immigration, a legislative panel has recommended banning government-sponsored day-labor centers in Arizona.

The measure is considered a blow to cities and towns struggling with undocumented immigrants crowding major thoroughfares, seeking work on jobs ranging from construction to roofing to landscaping.

The legislation, House Bill 2592, prohibits cities, towns and counties from building or maintaining a work center that facilitates the hiring of undocumented immigrants...

Eleanor Eisenberg, "executive director of the Arizona Civil Liberties Union", acts as one of the article's cheap labor pimps.

If those cities and towns don't like illegal aliens crowding their streets, might I suggest they attempt to make coming here illegally less attractive? That would solve the underlying problem instead of papering it over with a hiring hall.

Note that this bill only covers public funding; private funders like Home Depot would still be able to help subvert our laws.

Posted to Immigration2005a at 02:24 PM | Comments (2)

Naturalized U.S. citizen from Jordan accused of acting as an Iraqi agent

"Hoosier jailed in Iraq conspiracy" has the details and a timeline. In brief, here's what Shaaban Hafiz Ahmad Ali Shaaban did or is accused of doing:

- went to Iraq and struck a deal with the Iraqi government to get $3 million dollars in exchange for the names of U.S. intelligence agents.
- fraudulently obtained an Indiana driver's license, complete with authority to transport hazardous materials
- fraudulently obtaining his U.S. citizenship
- trying to create an Iraq-friendly TV station in the U.S.
- trying to organize human shields for Iraq

Posted to Immigration_terror at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)

Field Poll: 62% of Californians oppose driver's licenses for illegal aliens

SACRAMENTO - By a wide margin, Californians oppose granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, according to a poll released Friday.

A Field Poll showed that 62 percent of state residents oppose granting the licenses, while 35 percent favor the idea. The poll also found that 49 percent support issuing a different kind of license to illegal immigrants, with 48 percent opposed.

The survey found a large ethnic divide on the question. Three out of four white, non-Hispanics said they are opposed to issuing regular driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, while Hispanics favor the idea by a two-to-one margin. Of all other races, 77 percent are opposed.

Almost nine out of 10 Republicans - 86 percent_ reject the idea. Fifty-six percent of Democrats also are opposed...

FAIR comments in "Driver’s Licenses for Illegal Aliens: Wrong, Da