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This is a very large file. For the full smaller digest version, click here.Bush admin scam: Social Security "no match" letters will have little effect ("tough" new DHS policy)
This has to be read in its entirety to be believed. The Bush administration can't even keep a scam going for a few days.
Days after unveiling a major crackdown on businesses that hire illegal immigrants, the Bush administration is now quietly admitting that its most heavily touted weapon in pursuing employers will be virtually useless.
...But Homeland Security officials acknowledged this week that because of a privacy provision in the IRS code, immigration officials will actually have no way of knowing which employers have received "no-match" letters, which have complied and which have not...
...Left untouched, however, was section 6103 of the IRS code - a privacy provision the government has long interpreted to mean that Social Security officials are forbidden from sharing tax information with other agencies...
..."I think this is viewed as more of a self-enforcing thing," said John Gay, top lobbyist for the National Restaurant Association, which represents about 1.4 million estimated employees in California. "This is another tool in their kit. It's easier to establish a violation with these rules."
Tom Nassif, president of the California Grower's Association, said any "no-match" letters a company receives will come out during a civil trial if that business is ever cited for immigration violations...
...[Steven Camarota, research director for the Center of Immigration Studies] said he suspects the Bush administration hopes the business community, whose division over the recent Senate immigration compromise bill helped lead to its failure, will be galvanized into action by the threat of economic upheaval.
"They don't really want to upset the apple cart, they just want to tip it back and forth and act like they're doing something," Camarota said of the administration's rules.
...Nassif agreed but called it a risky gamble with the country's economy...
Larry Craig on no-match: without "reform" it's the end of the American Dream
Yet another sign that the Bush administration's current pledge to enforce our immigration laws is a scam comes from the thoughts of Senator Larry Craig, who spoke to a Rotary Club to promote his AgJobs amnesty:
Pressure to pass immigration reform will intensify as millions of undocumented workers lose jobs as a result of a crackdown by the Social Security Administration, Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said Thursday... ...Craig said $3.5 billion worth of crops rotted for lack of workers last year. He predicted that figure will double because many crops are "highly dependent on the hands of working people."
But, wait, things could get even worse (according to him):
"What will happen over the course of the next two months is several million workers will be laid off or fired and there is no one to take their place... [No match letters are] the law. It's being enforced, and it should be enforced... If the borders are shut and we become a closed society, then the most we can grow is about 1.2 percent a year... Control it, legalize it, manage it, but recognize that if we want to continue to grow and that our grandchildren would wish to achieve the American Dream as we have, then growth is essential."
It'd certainly be interesting to know what he means by "shutting the borders", since we're likely to have large amounts of legal immigration for a long time. I suppose he means either a) preventing illegal entry, or b) reducing the flow of low-wage labor from Mexico. And, it'd be interesting to know who he actually reports to:
Craig said he's already had word from an ally in his fight for a guest worker program, a California agricultural company that laid off about 200 of its 500 employees as a result of "mismatch" letters.
DHS to improve border security and immigration within existing law
Don't just take my word for it, here's the fact sheet entitled "Improving Border Security and Immigration Within Existing Law" (link). And, they said it couldn't be done.
Certainly, most of the steps listed sound worthwhile, but I have a sneaking suspicion that some of them will not only be ineffectual but will infringe on our privacy. And, I suspect that some of the "streamlining" of existing guest worker programs will have a few flaws as well. I also suspect that the usual suspects will raise howls of protest about some of the features, such as changes to the citizenship exam. That will, of course, make the Bush administration look better in some peoples' eyes, who'll think that if the ACLU opposes it they must be doing something right.
UPDATE: The nitty-gritty legal details of the "no match" requirements are here:
blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/2007/08/my-faq-document.html
Judi Hasson/MSNBC: how to hire (most likely illegal) day labor
Judi Hasson of MSNBC Money offers "Dirt-cheap day labor". On the first page, she lists all the downsides of hiring day laborers, which she acknowledges are probably here illegally, even refering to the "underground economy". Then, on the second page, she gets down to business and tells people how to engage in illegal activity:What are the chances of a homeowner being caught?Unfortunately, we don't know whether Munoz knew this was going to be a "tips" article, so we can't say with certainty that she's advocating illegal activity.
"Virtually none at all," says San Diego attorney Jeff Isaac, who calls himself "a lawyer in bluejeans" for his practical approach to the law...
[don't do this if you expect to run for office!]
...Cecilia Munoz, the senior vice president for the National Council of La Raza, a national Hispanic civil-rights organization, also pointed out that employers are not expected to be able to spot whether these documents are valid, and for day labor, employers "tend not to check."
Though it is illegal to hire an undocumented worker, the law is seldom enforced...
Then, Hasson features a "If you decide to hire a day laborer" section with five helpful tips.
Coming next from MSNBC Money: "If you must cook meth, here's how to do it... safely and cheaply!"
Bush immigration policies get one right
Up until this happened, I had no idea who this was, and I dearly wish I had never found out. If we're lucky, she'll tell all her friends to just stay away. We can always clone.
UPDATE: Wow.
NYT editorial: supports illegal activity; acknowledges attrition; "pest control"
As soon as I hear the words "New York Times editorial" I, like no doubt most others, think "wrong". The latest is on display in "The Misery Strategy". Notably, the NYT has finally acknowledged attrition - enforcing our laws in order to encourage illegal aliens to go home - as a strategy. This contrasts with their prior attempts to present a false choice between mass deportations and a massive amnesty. I guess they knew about attrition all along, they were just being disingenuous.
But, of course, they disagree with this strategy, claiming that it won't work because the situations in the home countries of those illegal aliens are so dire they won't leave. Of note, they don't suggest encouraging those other countries to repatriate their citizens, nor do they suggest urging (in one way or another) those other countries to make situations there more amenable.
And, of course, there's the name-calling: they explicitly state that "ideologues" want to "unleash a flood of misery upon millions of illegal immigrants". And, this:
The American people cherish lawfulness but resist cruelty, and have supported reform that includes a reasonable path to earned citizenship. Their leaders have given them immigration reform as pest control.
And, their disingenuousness (or schizophrenia, or inability to think things through) is on full display. This:
The latest phase of the crackdown... would require employers to resolve discrepancies between their employee records and those of the Social Security Administration... There are millions of people in thousands of workplaces who could be caught in that net, and the government is promising to start dragging it zealously, with stepped-up raids around the country.
Is followed by this:
The Senate had struggled for years to erect the immense framework of bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform, coupling stricter enforcement with a citizenship path and an orderly future flow of workers.
That "reform" would have encouraged millions more illegal aliens to try to come here, and according to "reform" stepped-up enforcement - the kind promoted by the NYT - would be performed to keep them out or send them home. Yet, the NYT is currently trying to portray enforcement of our laws in the most negative light possible. Certainly, a defense for them would be to say that they would support enforcement if there were some sort of "pathway" and "guest" worker program, but does anyone really believe that? Post-"reform", wouldn't the NYT simply write similar editorials opposing the enforcement of the "reform" they supported?
The bottom line is the bottom line: the NYT - for one corrupt reason or another - supports massive immigration of any kind. And, they'll continue to do so, no matter whether "reform" eventually passes or not.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce sues Janet Napolitano over immigration law
I'm flipping back and forth deciding who not to root for, but eventually I'm going to have to side with Janet:The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday joined businesses suing Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano over the recent law she signed that will revoke business licenses for companies caught twice with undocumented workers.They say they're going to "aggressively defend" it, but I wouldn't entirely bet on that given Napolitano's history. The US CoC joined an earlier suit from the Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform and the Arizona Contractors Association, which also includes:
"Anyone who knowingly hires an undocumented worker is violating the law, but violating a federal law, subject to federal sanctions," said Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the National Chamber Litigation Center representing the U.S. Chamber. "Our members do not want to be subject to a patchwork of state and local requirements, particularly when they are in compliance with federal law."
Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Wake Up Arizona! Inc., which includes former Phoenix Suns CEO Jerry Colangelo; Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Arizona Farm Bureau Federation; Arizona Restaurant and Hospitality Association; Associated Minority Contractors of America, based in state; Arizona Roofing Contractors Association; National Roofing Contractors Association, based in Illinois; and the Arizona Landscape Contractors Association
Is Ruth Marcus lying about SCHIP?
Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post offers "Attack Ads You'll Be Seeing", predicting that the GOP is going to run ads claiming that the Democrats want to take funds from U.S. citizens and give them to illegal aliens. Certainly, the Dems have tried something like this with the DREAM Act, and they certainly appear to be trying to do something similar with the SCHIP program. She says otherwise, or at least she says something:The provision at issue would repeal a 2006 requirement that everyone applying for Medicaid provide proof of citizenship -- passports or original birth certificates. That might sound sensible, but it has been a cumbersome, expensive solution to a non-problem.Thankfully, this site has pointed out the problems in her argument, sparing me the effort.
In 2005, when he was overseeing the Medicaid program for the Bush administration, Mark McClellan noted that an inspector general's investigation did "not find particular problems regarding false allegations of citizenship, nor are we aware of any."
...The House provision makes the documentation requirement optional for states, which, after all, have an interest in seeing that their Medicaid dollars are spent properly. Adults on Medicaid would still have to prove citizenship, swear that their children are citizens and provide their children's Social Security numbers. And states would have to conduct annual audits to ensure that no illegal immigrants are being covered.
Christine Neumann-Ortiz' monument to low wages, illegal activity
From [1]:On August 8, a first anniversary commemoration of the raid at Star Packaging will unveil a mock Wisconsin Historical Marker at the site and formally declare the factory's empty shell "a monument to the nation's broken immigration system".It certainly looks like a tragedy, if you read between the lines of July 18's hugely sympathetic report "Whitewater factory struggles to stay open after worker raid" (by Pat Schneider, link). Since that's an older article, I can let the commenters speak for me:
Wednesday's 10am press conference, to be held outside the factory, will begin with the unveiling and be followed by brief addresses from speakers including Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera, Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Jorge Islas, Vice President of Sigma America, and workers affected by the raid.
[Newman-Ortiz says:] "One year later, Whitewater is still hurting. A good local business is all but closed, 90 local jobs have gone, families have been scarred by deportations, others continue to fight... The empty shell of the factory has come to represent everything that is wrong with our broken immigration system. We need the federal government to step up and deliver on comprehensive reform so there are no more tragedies like this."
[Tired of the hand wringing:] ...Why would any hispanic in Whitewater feel afraid? If they're here legally, they've got no worries. They should be even more outraged over this than anyone else - they're the ones getting scapegoated for the actions of the criminals here illegally (yes, they're all criminals the second they sneak over the border)...[1] fairimmigration.wordpress.com/2007/08/08/ unveiling-monument-to-nations-broken-immigration-system
[Toaster:] I would say this story belongs in the "Opinion" section. It reads like if you don't support illegal immigrants, you are heartless shit. Yeah, they throw in the token "other side of the argument" at the end. :roll:
[supportamericans:] I have no sympathy for this business owner or anyone else locally that hires ILLEGAL immigrants. The only fear this has cast in our community is a fear that other business owners that hire illegal immigrants and violate federal laws will get caught. They should be afraid.
Note that that's from the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, which has Voces as a member. One other member has a link to the Mexican government, another has an indirect link, and a third has an alleged direct link.
Democratic union debate: Barack Obama asked to state position on immigration!
Just recently I've complained about the presidential "debates" not featuring any questions or any real questions about immigration matters.Now, just as I revised my opinion of the MSM, I must revise that after reading the transcript of yesterday's Democratic debate put on by AFL-CIO. Yes, the debate featured only one question about immigration and the question and the answer were the only parts of the entire debate with any instance of "illegal alien", "undocumented", or "immigr*", but that's made up for by the sheer toughness of the question that the AFL-CIO moderators allowed to be asked (those of you who are prone to having Soviet Union flashbacks may want to look away):
JORGE MULASANO (hotel worker): I’m from Argentina, and six months ago I proudly became citizen of this great country. (Applause.)Now, that's a tough question; historians may remember that when a similarly tough question was asked during the 19th Plenary Soviet, Igor Blotchnik - acting in the same role as Keith Olbermann - was almost banished to the gulags for even acknowledging it.
My concern is for those undocumented workers that established roots here. And my question would be, in your future, if you’re going to create a path to the citizenship for those workers.
MR. OLBERMANN: Congratulations, Mr. Mulasano.
Senator?
Needless to say, Obama responded to this question by supporting enforcing our current laws in order to encourage many current illegal aliens to leave and many fewer to come here in the future. He said we needed to do that for the best of the U.S., as unpopular as it may be in certain quarters. He then went on to disclose that "path to citizenship" is just a euphemism for amnesty and that "back of the line" is a sham as well: illegal aliens will get to remain here and will at the very least disrupt the line if not cutting in front of others depending on the specifics of (what he called) a "scam".
Wait, who am I kidding? He simply responded to that question with his standard blather, and I'll bet if you did a search you'd find him saying something almost word-for-word identical with what he told the union audience.
More proof GOP is corrupt, lacks differentiation from Democrats (Giuliani, Minuteman flyer)
From this:Rudy Giuliani's southwest political director [Chris Gulugian-Taylor] left a top position [executive director] at the Nevada Republican Party last year after breaking rules by advertising a Minuteman border patrol rally in internal GOP e-mails.The email is a bit "hard-edged", but the response was disproportionate. From this October 2006 post:
The notices publicizing a "Stop the Illegal Invasion" rally in October 2006 outraged some Hispanic Republicans in the state, who said they feared it would alienate voters in the nation's fastest growing minority group just weeks before election day...
[The email had a] subject line: "Help stop the illegal invasion") to the GOP's e-mail list, complete with nasty little digs like this: "If you are tired of seeing illegals catered to, then join us to send these Un-American corporations a message. "We'll not allow these illegals destroy our country. We'll not permit corporations like Chicago Title, Wells Fargo Bank, and Miller Brewing promote [sic] and financially support the take over [sic] of America by the Illegal Invaders... "Your voice is needed to let these Un-American companies know we will not tolerate them supporting illegals over law abiding citizens."Once again, that's a bit rough around the edges. But, who could object to the underlying message of opposing massive illegal activity and the corrupt businesses that profit from it?
Why, "Hispanics", of course. See, all Hispanics are strong supporters of massive illegal activity and all of them fully support corrupt banks and others profiteering off massive illegal immigration. Or, at least according to those that the GOP listened to. Returning to the first report:
...[Luis Valera, chairman of Nevada's "Viva Bush Coalition" says] "The Republican Party had made a lot of effort to reach out to Hispanics. With a stroke of a keyboard, he (Gulugian-Taylor) almost dismantled the hard work of a lot of people... I don't think he's a bad person... [but] I don't know if he'll make the same mistake twice."To put this in an even sharper focus, try to spot all the sleaze in this October 2006 article from Timothy Pratt and J. Patrick Coolican:
...Jim Lopez, a Giuliani supporter who chairs the California Republican National Hispanic Assembly, said he had mixed feelings about the Minuteman group because "some of the people ... are doing it for racist reasons, not the security of the country."
He said he wouldn't pass judgment on Gulugian-Taylor because he didn't have all the details on what happened in Nevada.
"We all make mistakes," Lopez said. He added, "If I was Rudy's campaign, I would keep a close eye on this guy."
Asked about the appointment, Edward Lujan, a former New Mexico GOP chairman, said "it's never a failure unless you do it again.
A Nevada Republican Party official resigned Thursday amid a Hispanic Republican backlash on the heels of an embarrassing e-mail sent out by the party.Wells Fargo certainly profits from illegal immigration; if you ask them, they'll say they don't know that many of their customers are here illegally, but in actual fact I'm sure that pretty much everyone realizes that people using Matricula Consular cards to open bank accounts are doing so because they're here illegally.
The state party sent out a flier Wednesday advertising a rally by the local chapter of the Minutemen, a stridently anti-illegal immigrant group that patrols the border without sanction from the government.
...Party operatives feared the flier would alienate Hispanic voters and the business community that employs them in large numbers. The flier was titled, "Help Stop the Illegal Invasion," and accused companies such as Wells Fargo of being complicit with illegal immigration...
Returning to the main point, Gulugian-Taylor should either have not sent out the email, or should have made it less harder-edged. On the other hand, if the GOP would like to shed its corrupt image, perhaps it should start by standing up to ethnic advocates who support massive illegal activity and who smear everyone of that same ethnicity as supporters of illegal activity. (GOP leaders: look up "Sistah Souljah" in your local dictionary.)
And an even more difficult task: the GOP could stand up to those corrupt businesses that profit from the illegal activity.
I know it will never happen, but I just thought I'd point it out.
Bridge builder charged with hiring illegal aliens, some with invalid welding certification
This story helps show how much our entire political system has been affected by corruption:The owner of Tarrasco Steel, a company that supplied workers on the Biloxi Bay Bridge, was arrested and charged with hiring illegal immigrants on projects in three states. Some had improper welding certification.It's pretty ironic that Huey Long is involved, if only by name; recall the collapsing staircase from this.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Jose S. Gonzalez, 32, at his office in Greenville Thursday, according to a news release. Tarrasco Steel was hired as a subcontractor for rebar installation services to major bridge projects in Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee. The federal government considers those bridges as critical infrastructure, and they were part of routine inspections of facilities that if damaged could pose a threat to national security and public safety.
...On inspections of several construction sites March 29, representatives of several federal agencies confirmed the majority of Tarrasco Steel employees were using bogus Social Security numbers, and 77 immigrants were arrested. Twenty-six of them worked for Tarrasco Steel. Some of them worked on the Biloxi bridge, the Huey P. Long bridge in New Orleans, and a project on Interstate 40 in Memphis, among others, the news release said...
As for political corruption, both the GOP and the Democrats have consistently looked the other way on the hiring of illegal aliens, setting the stage for cases like this. There are probably many similar cases that will never be discovered or prosecuted, until it's too late.
Single brain cell theory: Arlen Specter's new apartheid/amnesty scheme
Senator Arlen Specter offers "A Less Ambitious Approach to Immigration". Consider this:
...[Letting the supposed 12 million illegal aliens] hold the status of those with green cards -- without the automatic path to citizenship that was the core component of critics' argument that reform efforts were really amnesty... [That scheme] may be attacked as creating an "underclass" inconsistent with American values, which have always been to give refuge to the "huddled masses." But such a compromise is clearly better than leaving these people a fugitive class. People with a lesser status are frequently referred to as second-class citizens. Congress has adamantly refused to make the 12 million people already here full citizens, but isn't it better for them to at least be secure aliens than hunted and exploited?
So, he's refering to ICE doing their job as "hunt[ing]". And, he's acknowledging that the illegal aliens that he's played a role in allowing to come here are exploited. And, he's refusing to acknowledge a third option of reducing the numbers of illegal aliens here by making sure that ICE does their job.
And, regarding the "second-class citizens" bit, don't be so hard on Specter: he's at least honest enough to admit that this is all a sham:
Or, after our borders are secured and tough employer sanctions have been put in place, Congress can revisit the issue and possibly find a more hospitable America.
In brief: amnesty.
"Tancredo Blasts Dems for Funding Illegal Alien Healthcare" (SCHIP)
I've been woefully remiss in discussing the attempts involving the "SCHIP"/"S-CHIP" plan, partly because I don't understand all the details. However:U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO) today criticized Congressional Democrats for eliminating a requirement that anyone applying for Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) services provide proof of U.S. citizenship. The new Democrat plan would raise taxes and make it easier for illegal aliens to obtain taxpayer-funded medical benefits.Also see "A new entitlement for illegals":
"Again, the Democrats have proven their loyalty to illegal aliens over American citizens," Tancredo said referring to the failed Senate Amnesty plan. "Rather than help middle class families as they promised, Congressional Democrats are squeezing tax dollars out of Americans in order to benefit those who have violated our laws."
Unsatisfied with thwarting a Republican effort to authorize $3 billion for a border fence, congressional Democrats are trying to enhance the incentive for illegal aliens to enter the United States by removing the citizenship requirement from the popular State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The Republican Congress in 1996 passed legislation blocking people who are in the country illegally from claiming benefits from the federal government, and when SCHIP was created in 1997, states were required to verify citizenship. But Democrats want to take that sensible requirement for Medicaid and SCHIP and leave it to the discretion of each state...8/3/07 UPDATE: Apparently the vote on SCHIP or something similar resulted in a parliamentary crisis on the House floor. From this:
...Recall that SCHIP was born out of a failed attempt at government-run universal health coverage. Indeed, the Democratic expansion of SCHIP will actually allow children who currently have private health insurance to switch to the federally subsidized program, saddling taxpayers with yet another entitlement burden. In the wake of the defeat of the immigration amnesty bill last month, open-borders advocates are attempting to implement their agenda using a piecemeal approach.
Details remain fuzzy, but numerous Republicans argued afterward that they had secured a 215-213 win on their motion to bar undocumented immigrants from receiving any federal funds apportioned in the agricultural spending bill for employment or rental assistance. Democrats, however, argued the measure was deadlocked at 214-214 and failed, members and aides on both sides of the aisle said afterward...
...When Democrats finally moved to consider the spending bill as the last vote of the night, furious Republicans left the chamber en masse to protest the maneuver. The House eventually recessed at 11:18 p.m. But Republicans quickly discovered that there was no longer any record of the controversial vote and immediately charged Democrats with erasing the bad result...
Hard a-flip-flop: McCain changes course on immigration "reform"
From this:Republican presidential hopeful John McCain on Thursday backed a scaled-down proposal that imposes strict rules to end illegal immigration but doesn't include a path to citizenship.Note thee well that McCain is still supporting amnesty, he just wants to do border security in order to get his real goal. It says that he's supporting a plan from Jon Kyl and Lindsey Graham, but I'm not entirely sure of the name or number of the plan, if it has one yet. Note that Graham's $3 billion amendment for border security apparently passed, and Arlen Specter has floated a plan. The last link describes a plan Kyl was preparing for this month.
The move away from a comprehensive measure is an about-face for the Arizona senator, who had been a leading GOP champion of a bill that included a guest worker program and would have legalized many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. It failed earlier this year.
"We can still show the American people that we are serious about securing our nation's border," McCain said in a statement, adding that the new bill would "provide an essential step toward achieving comprehensive reform in the future."
...Immigrants' rights advocates jumped to condemn their decision. "It is fairly stunning they have gone from leaders on comprehensive reform legislation to lemmings running over the cliff" with the Republican opponents of the bill, said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum.
UPDATE: Sens. Jeff Sessions and John Cornyn are also involved in the plan, which is outlined in a press release here:
...The bill would authorize significant increases in the number of personnel to patrol the border, staff the ports of entry, prevent smuggling, and investigate immigration violations. It would also increase the amount of fencing, vehicle barriers, physical infrastructure, and technology to observe and deter illegal crossings, and the amount of detention space to hold unlawful aliens.
The bill would also mandate that DHS detain unlawful aliens crossing the border until those aliens are removed. It would require that DHS capture biometric data on all foreign nationals legally entering and departing the United States, and identify, track, detain and remove those who overstay their visas.
The bill would authorize significant increases in personnel for DHS and the Department of Justice to enforce the immigration laws in the interior of the United States. It would add new legal authorities to prevent the entry and enable the removal of suspected terrorists, aggravated felons, gang members, human smugglers, and other criminals. The bill would add new legal authorities to deter and prosecute crimes against children, to combat smuggling, and to prevent fraud. It would also enhance the ability of state and local law enforcement officers to identify unlawful aliens, and increase funding to states adversely affected by illegal immigration...
Chortle: Bush admin beginning major crackdown on employers of illegal aliens
From the AP:Employers across the U.S. are preparing to fire workers with questionable Social Security government identification numbers to avoid getting snagged in a Bush administration crackdown on illegal immigrants.Yeah, we're pretty used to those excuses, six year's worth of them. In past statements, Chertoff has almost come right out and threatened to conduct raids in order to inflame the left, and Bush has warned about a labor shortage if the current laws are enforced. In that light, this might be seen as an attempt to make things worse in order to get "reform". If they actually intend to do anything of course.
The Department of Homeland Security is expected to make public soon new rules [involving "no match" letter] for employers notified when their worker's name or Social Security number was flagged by the Social Security Administration...
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of the Homeland Security Department, "is going to be tough and aggressive in the enforcement of the law," [reknowned spokeshole Russ Knocke] said. "You are going to see more work site cases. And no more excuses."
Mexico, environmentalists oppose border fence; Argentina insulted
From this:Mexico is calling on the United States to alter a plan to expand border fences designed to stem illegal immigration, saying the barriers would threaten migratory species accustomed to roaming freely across the frontier.Somehow I think the only thing "green" the Mexican government cares about is the color of our money. They also say they'll file a complaint with the United Nations' International Court of Justice if necessary; they've done that before on another matter.
Ways to minimize environmental damage from the fences could include the creation of cross-border bridge areas so that ecosystems remain connected and "green corridors" of wilderness without roads that would be less attractive to smugglers, according to a report released yesterday and prepared for the Mexican government by experts and activists from both nations [mentioned: Mexico's Environment Department, Environment Secretary Juan Rafael Elvira, Exequiel Ezcurra, director of research at the San Diego Natural History Museum].
The report also proposed "live" fences of cactuses, removable fencing, and more permeable barriers to allow water, insects and pollen to cross the border. Ecologists say species affected include Mexican jaguars and black bears, and the endangered, antelope-like Sonora Pronghorn...
Meanwhile:
A U.S. plan to expand fences along the Mexican border to stem illegal immigration is an insult to all Latin Americans, Argentine President Nestor Kirchner said Tuesday during a visit to Mexico.Related:
"It's not just an insult to our sister nation of Mexico, but to all the nations of Latin America and all the nations of the world," the leftist president said to the applause of Mexican lawmakers...
Houston Chronicle does part against border fence
NYT: Border fence to be built, jaguars hardest hit
Will far-left "environmentalists" block the border fence?
Marc Brenman/WSHRC goes round bend in support of illegal activity
Marc Brenman - executive director of the Washington State Human Rights Commission - offers "Reject messages of hate and fear". Ironically, the one offering the hate and fear is Brenman himself; getting out his Big Book of Bad Historical Things, he says:
Unfortunately, it seems like the Minutemen have made progress in some of our communities, including in Everett. The Minutemen rely on the use of hateful speech, the Big Lie, and fear of people who are different to corrupt and coarsen political dialogue, just as their Nazi forebears did. The so-called Minutemen, like their former fellow traveler Tim McVey, are precursors to domestic terrorism and vigilantism. The federal government is charged with enforcing the immigration laws of the United States. Let the federal government do its job, without "assistance" from gun-toting, self-appointed know-nothings.
I'll leave it to the Minutemen to decide whether he's crossed over the line into libel, but these are shocking words coming from the executive director of a state agency. As far as I know, that Minuteman chapter will only assist in enforcing our laws in a legal fashion, yet he's comparing them not just to the Nazis but to Timothy McVeigh (and he can't even get his name right to boot).
What if the rights of any of the Minuteman chapter members are violated by far-left illegal immigration supporters? Does anyone have any doubt about which side of the issue Brenman would be on? If someone made similar claims about groups that Brenman supports, wouldn't it consider it close to a hate crime?
Elsewhere in the article he switches between discussing immigrants in general and "undocumented immigrants" and promotes the economic benefits of the latter. He's thus trying to sell his readers on the benefits of illegal activity. At their site, they even have a prominent page listing what to do in the case of an immigration raid (hum.wa.gov/InCaseofRaids.html)
Washington governor Chris Gregoire appoints the members of the WSHRC council, so please send her your thoughts: governor.wa.gov/contact/default.asp
These state HRCs seem to be dumping grounds for far-left loons; for another example read up on Stephen Glassman of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.
Mexican Tourism Ad (illegal immigration satire)
One of the companies that sells parodies to radio stations has put together a quite funny Flash animation satirizing illegal immigration in the form of an ad for Mexican tourism.
Since satire has occasionally been an effective tool against powerful forces, please send the link to your favorite politicians: link, backup.
Help Gregory Clark (UC Davis) reduce illegal immigration
Gregory Clark - professor of economics at UC Davis - offers "Illegal immigration: our best foreign aid":About 160 million people with incomes a fifth or less than the average U.S. income now reside less than 1,500 miles from our southern border. Given this huge income gap, more border agents and more miles of fence cannot prevent substantial illegal migration. But such migration is actually the United States' most effective foreign aid program, helping some of the poorest people in the world. Some believe such migration should be tolerated, not fought to the death. [...globalism - sold by people like Clark - increased the wealth gap between countries...] ...Across such a long border, more agents and better technology can slow the inward march of migrants, but it cannot halt it... ...In such a situation, recognizing that there will be some flow of labor across this wealth divide, and periodically legalizing those who manage to find their way to the U.S. labor market, is not a bad option...Of course, Clark forgot to mention one of the other ways that, if we did it, would greatly reduce illegal immigration: conducting stings against crooked employers and imprisoning them.
And, he goes on to promote remittances, without mentioning their huge downsides. Is he unable to figure those out, or don't the costs of massive political corruption and propping up corrupt foreign governments figure into this "economist's" calculations?
There's yet another way to reduce illegal immigration: discredit hacks like Gregory Clark by pointing out the things they forgot to mention.
Mitt Romney opposes "special" pathway to citizenship, emphasis on "special"
Mitt Romney is a real slippery eel when it comes to immigration, and neither professional "journalists" nor the citizen kind have so far been willing to find out what he actually supports. For example, parse the following ad he's running in Iowa very closely:
He doesn't want to give illegal aliens a "special" pathway, but the ad doesn't rule out giving them some sort of pathway, and until he says "no pathway under any circumstances" he's still supporting amnesty, no matter what he tries to call it. He even says that "people who are here illegally are going to have to get in line with everyone else", strongly implying that he supports an amnesty.
Please go to his campaign appearances and ask him to clarify whether he supports any form of legalization, regularization, status adjustment, or any other procedure that would allow current, in-country illegal aliens to change their status to legal immigrant or worker. (I think that should cover all the bases, but the eel might yet be able to slip free).
Carlos Gutierrez, Larry Craig get plaques from American Nursery and Landscape Association
From this:Attendees at the 2007 [American Nursery and Landscape Association] Legislative Conference visited approximately 250 House and Senate offices representing 40 states. Attendees visited Capitol Hill to lobby Congress for a solution to the labor and immigration crisis and to support specialty crop provisions in the 2007 Farm Bill reauthorization. Research funding and water policy were also addressed.Instead of sending bricks or toilet brushes, perhaps we should send plaques with sarcastic messages.
United States Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez [shown right receiving a plaque "in thanks for his work to secure comprehensive immigration reform"] and Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) [also got his own plaque] both addressed the attendees, encouraging them to maintain their efforts to achieve a necessary solution for securing a viable workforce for our country's agricultural and seasonal industries...
...Confirming the importance of continued lobbying, the very evening the conference concluded Senators Larry Craig and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) engaged in a 40-minute debate on the Senate floor in an attempt to introduce AgJOBS provisions, agricultural worker immigration reform, in response to anti-immigrant language introduced into the Farm Bill...
...The partners include ANLA, OFA (An Association of Floriculture Professionals), the Irrigation Association (IA), the Perennial Plant Association (PPA), ANLA’s Lighthouse Partner state associations, the Horticultural Research Institute (HRI), The National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA), and the National Association of Plant Patent Owners (NAPPO)...
Tennessee: lawsuit over disabled vet tasered at anti-illegal immigration rally
From this:
A civil lawsuit has been filed against the city of Morristown, Hamblen County [Tennessee], numerous police and deputies and other officials in U.S. District Court in Greeneville by Teddy Ray Mitchell, a disabled vet who is claiming various violations of his civil rights and for injuries he claims he received when he attempted to carry an American flag and a lawn chair into the location of an anti-immigration rally held last June in Morristown.
The brief complaint is here.
Lindsey Graham border security-only amendment did pass
Sen. Lindsey Graham's border security-only amendment did eventually pass:The contentious debate last month on a failed immigration overhaul plan was key to the Senate's approval of $3 billion that will tighten security along the nation's borders, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday.
The money will be used to hire border patrol agents, build fences in urban areas and erect observation towers, Graham said.
"I think we're going to find more success that could not have been achieved without the prior debate," Graham said. "I took some political heat for being involved in that process, but here's where the political payoff is."
...Graham will continue to push for votes on other pieces of the overhaul including:
- A tougher visa law that cracks down on people who stay in the U.S. illegally.
- A system keeping illegal immigrants from getting jobs and allowing more legal immigration for highly skilled and unskilled labor.
- Some means of addressing the estimated 12 million people now in the nation illegally...
Should Harold Koh continue as Yale Law School Dean?
If a law school dean - especially the dean of the Yale Law School - supports widespread illegal activity and public corruption, should they continue in their present role? Consider the following statements [1] from Harold Koh regarding the ID cards that New Haven, Connecticut is distributing to their residents (including illegal aliens):
"If you look on the coin, it says 'E Pluribus Unum' - so they're right on the money!" said Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh... before snapping a photo for his city ID. The Yale Law School, through professors Bob Solomon and Mike Wishnie and the Yale law clinics, has pledged to represent the city in any legal battle over the ID... Of those who oppose the plan, Koh said: "I'm not sure how their life is diminished by people being able to prove they're part of the city."
If he can't figure out the many problems with this ID, is he in any way qualified to be Yale's Law School Dean? If he can figure out the many problems but he's simply lying, isn't he just as unqualified?
Please write presidents.office *at* yale.edu and suggest they find a law school dean who supports our laws rather than supporting attempts to subvert them.
[1] newhavenindependent.org/archives/2007/07/immigrants_line.php
Anthony Ramirez/NYT spins Morristown rally for illegal immigration supporters
You know the rule: if a politician commits a crime and his party affiliation isn't mentioned, that means he's a Democrat. Anthony Ramirez of the New York Times offers the corollary to that rule in "Unrest and Arrests at Immigration Rally", about an event that took place on Saturday in Morristown, New Jersey.All five of those arrested were counter-protesters who support illegal immigration. Despite having eight paragraphs to work with, Ramirez fails to explicitly note that. In fact, the only clue to the affiliations of some of those arrested comes from this:
In the most serious clash, a man threw two small metal cylinders at a pickup truck. When the driver of the truck and his female companion confronted the man, they were set upon by about 10 other men, said Lt. David Ackerman of the Morristown police.Most people will probably have tuned out by that point, and others who aren't paying attention won't realize that those who support illegal immigration were the ones arrested. And, there are still two more arrests that Ramirez doesn't cover, both from the illegal immigration-supporting side. And, even those paragraphs don't note that the ones who threw the cylinders were from the other side; some people might end up thinking it was a disagreement among those on the same side.
Three men were arrested and charged with assault, disorderly conduct and other charges. The rest fled, Lieutenant Ackerman said.
The woman was treated at Morristown Memorial Hospital, he said. The injured man had been one of the speakers at the rally, organized by the ProAmerica Society, which urges stricter enforcement of immigration laws...
Maybe the NYT could learn something about real reporting from their country cousins over at the Daily Record, who disclose the affiliations of those arrested in the third paragraph.
Please write Clark Hoyt with your thoughts: public *at* nytimes.com
Related:
Attacks on illegal immigration protesters
AP: Minuteman march turns violent
Los Angeles Times: Covering for Commies
Bill Richardson misleads on immigration (again, and again...)
Not content to simply lie about the border fence or to be a shill for the OAS, on June 12, 2007 Bill Richardson made two misleading statements about immigration:
1. He offered the now-standard "false choice" between a massive legalization plan (i.e., amnesty) and mass deportations. He forgot to mention a third choice: "attrition". Under that plan we'd enforce our current laws in order to encourage many illegal aliens to return home voluntarily.
2. He claimed that legalization was not amnesty, ignoring how any such plan will be perceived by millions and millions of people around the world. They will definitely see it as amnesty, and they'll come a-running to take part in either the current or a future amnesty.
Even Arlen Specter and the New York Times have admitted that it's amnesty; can't Bill Richardson reach even their low standards for telling the truth?
Rep. Luis Gutierrez still promoting immigration "reform" (and serf labor)
Rep. Luis Gutierrez ("El Payaso"; D-IL) offers "Congress should restart immigration reform process". Even his co-author of the STRIVE Act, Jeff Flake, says their bill is dead. But, whether he knows that and is just playing to his base or whether he actually thinks it has a chance, he's keeping on keeping on:As most people who are familiar with the legislative process understand, being against something is easy. Embracing heated political rhetoric is easy. Pandering to conservative radio hosts and playing into people's fears is easy.Talk radio sure got under their skin, didn't it? Note also that in this context, "immigrant" means "illegal alien", because that's who 'reform" is targetting. And, as he did before, Gutierrez is in effect supporting low-wage workers working in undesirable conditions.
You know what is not easy, and what was often overlooked during the debate, is the struggle and sacrifice of the immigrant who gets up at the crack of dawn each morning to go take care of someone else's kids, or the young father working the midnight shift on a cleaning crew, or the woman picking vegetables in oppressive heat for 12 hours a day. You know what is not easy is worrying each day that your husband will not come home from work or that you will be swept up in a raid and your U.S. citizen children will be left helpless and alone.
He goes on to mislead and display how he's not doing his job:
Let's start with Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). He is on record as saying "if it hurts the bill, I'm for it." Let's put aside the fact that he was trying to hurt our efforts to add thousands of additional border agents and create the most robust employment verification system in our nation's history, and that he was effectively advocating for the horrific status quo of porous borders, workplace discrimination and exploitation and the continued destruction of families.Obviously, the bill did much more than Gutierrez lists above, and those parts (the massive amnesty for instance) were what DeMint was opposed to. And, Gutierrez could do something about the negatives in the last sentence... by opposing illegal immigration. Instead, he supports illegal immigration, and I think we know why:
First, we must better organize and mobilize our immigrant community and our true allies. We need to redouble our efforts to naturalize immigrants, register them to vote and turn them out on Election Day. Immigrants will remember who stood with them for fairness and justice and will elect leaders and representatives who stand for border security, economic vitality and family unity.In brief, Democrat Luis Gutierrez is willing to put better working conditions and his oath to support our laws aside, just as long as he can get votes out of the deal.
WSJ: open the borders so hurling players can come here
No headline I can create would outdo the actual ones supplied by the Wall Street Journal and/or their crack writer Conor Dougherty:Hurling in America Has a Problem -- Too Few Irishmen/The Lure of the Old Sod And Immigration Issues Make for a Player ShortageIt goes on like that.
For five years straight, the Clan Na nGael sports club in Atlanta sent a team to the North American Hurling Championships. That ended a year ago: Try as it did, Clan Na nGael could muster only 12 players, and it takes at least 13 to make a team.
...Hurling -- a centuries-old sport that has elements of field hockey and lacrosse -- has an immigration problem. With the Irish economy booming and the U.S. tightening borders, Irish expatriates are returning home and fewer newcomers are taking their place...
Arlen Specter floats new amnesty plan (apartheid version) (Kyl)
From this:Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said he's floating a plan that would grant legal status to the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants, but offer no path to citizenship.And, here we thought it wasn't amnesty. What Specter proposes - even if it worked - would create a permanent group of "second-class citizens" akin to that in Germany. Even Lindsey Graham says "Europe has paid a heavy price for that stuff."
"It might be the equivalent of a green card," Specter said Thursday. "The main thrust is to bring the 12 million out of the shadows," and eliminate the fear of arrest or deportation.
Specter said conservatives who last month derailed a comprehensive immigration bill might accept his plan because it would not allow the 12 million to seek citizenship status.
"We litigated amnesty and that lost," Specter said...
But, it probably wouldn't work as planned, with new marches designed to give citizenship to those newly out of the "shadows". He also says he's been in touch with the Grand Bargainers including the White House.
UPDATE: Continuing the attempt to get amnesty after some initial window dressing, Senator Jon Kyl is also going to introduce a security-first bill in August.
UPDATE 2: From this:
"[Specter is] a fairly classic negotiator trying to figure out a way to square the circle," Kyl said. "He's good at that. He's come up with an idea. I'm just dubious he can pull it off right now."
National Guard border force to be halved; "private contractors" to augment Border Patrol?
From this:The number of National Guard troops posted near the southern border nationally and in Arizona will drop by half in September, but federal officials have assured Gov. Janet Napolitano that key personnel will remain... While those numbers will drop by half within the next couple of months, Napolitano said the drawdown will involve troops performing administrative duties, not those conducting surveillance and other security functions... "They're not moving Guard from actual observation posts," Napolitano said Wednesday. "What they're doing is removing people from back-office duties."Meanwhile, from July 7:
The U.S. Border Patrol could dramatically increase its presence on the nation's southern frontier by adding hundreds of private contractors [aka "mercenaries"] to its ranks, according to a proposal presented to Congress last month.
DynCorp International, a Virginia-based military security firm, said it could train and deploy 1,000 private agents to the U.S.-Mexico border within 13 months, offering a quick surge of law enforcement officers to a region struggling to clamp down on illegal immigration.
...So far, the idea has received a tepid response from officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, who say their hiring efforts are on schedule.
"That's not even something the Border Patrol would consider," said Ramon Rivera, a Washington-based spokesman for the agency. "We are on track (for hiring) and should be meeting our numbers for 2008."
But the proposal has gained early support from some Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., who introduced a bill last summer that would mandate the addition of 5,000 to 8,000 contract agents.
The bill died in committee, but Rogers may reintroduce it if the Border Patrol fails to meet its hiring goals, his staffers said...
Hazleton ordinance blocked by judge James Munley; ACLU wins for now
U.S. District judge James Munley (a Clinton appointee) has struck down Hazleton Pennsylvania's Illegal Immigration Relief Act, a big win for the ACLU, a group indirectly linked to the Mexican government.
You can download the 200 page ruling in a PDF linked from either of these:
lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2007/07/breaking-news-p.html
aclupa.blogspot.com/2007/07/we-won.html
I just scanned the beginning, but the judge's arguments regarding the harm that the plaintiffs endured seem rather weak. For instance, the Lechugas complained about a police car parked outside their restaurant and said that played a part in it being shut down because people said it was there to take away their customers:
Lechuga blamed his lack of business on the City's activities. A police car was often parked across the street from the restaurant, and after a police officer paid a visit, "people began to comment that the police [were] there to take the clients away when they came to eat."
Should Hazleton be held responsible for such myth-making? Regarding Lechuga's first claim, see: ACLU's anti-Hazleton star witness admits myth-making.
Regarding a landlord plaintiff the judge says:
We disagree with the defendant that these injuries cannot be recognized by the law because they constitute a complaint about an inability to rent to illegal immigrants. The plaintiffs testified that they were unaware of the immigration status of their renters. No evidence, therefore, indicates that the renters they lost were illegal immigrants. Such tenants may have been legal residents who did not desire to live in a town that appeared (to them) to seek to exclude Spanish-speaking residents. Such tenants may also have concluded that they did not want to register with the town and provide private information to the City as a condition of residing there. Perhaps they found the fees required for a permit onerous. In any case, we will not assume that the renters plaintiff lost were necessarily illegal immigrants.
Bolding added. Once again, if they have such unjustified feelings, should Hazleton be held responsible? Should the judge strike down all other cases where residents of a town have to provide personal information, such as when obtaining a building, dog, or bike license? Those involve fees as well.
Hopefully this will be appealed and a higher court will have more sense.
I've pointed out many times before how you - yes, you - can resolve this issue: discredit those who support illegal immigration. If that's done, judges like Munley will just be far-left voices in the wilderness.
New Haven: John DeStefano has financial interest in illegal immigration?
As previously discussed, New Haven Connecticut is passing out ID cards to their residents, including illegal aliens. The program was designed by a current city employee who used to head up a non-profit organization (Junta for Progressive Action) that's collaborating with the Mexican government.
Now, it turns out that Mayor John DeStefano or others may have a financial stake in the matter. It involves DeStefano possibly going to work for a bank that was started to give loans to serve the low income "immigrant" community, and the bank was started with part of a "contribution" from another bank that wanted to change their charter. This is all just speculation, but it does need to be investigated.
7/29/07 UPDATE: From newhavenindependent.org/archives/2007/07/immigrants_line.php
The [unnamed] group claims DeStefano will profit from the ID because he is on the board of directors at the First City Fund Corp, a $25 million fund formed as a benefit to the community when the New Haven Savings Bank got converted into NewAlliance Bank. The mayor said he would probably sit on the board of directors of the new community bank, which has agreed to let patrons open a new bank account using the Elm City ID... DeStefano dismissed the issue as a bogus argument veiling underlying bigotry. "There is no compensation whatsoever" to board members, he said. "[Protesters] are afraid to articulate their ignorance and their prejudice about this population, so what they do is they lie. They lie, and they cloak themselves in the American flag as they do it."
I'm sure we're all looking forward to one day seeing DeStefano doing the perp walk.
There's more on the bank here: newhavenindependent.org/archives/2007/02/a_banker_a_drea.php
Harry Reid blocks Lindsey Graham's border security-first bill
No, you read the title correct: Lindsey Graham tried to tack on an amendment to a Homeland Security funding bill that would have provided $3 billion just to be spent on border security. Yes, that Lindsay Graham, the one who said there were no votes for enforcement-only. A list of the provisions is at [1]. Now Graham says:"Border security is the gate that you must pass through to get overall comprehensive reform."Just part of the wranglings are further described:
Democratic leaders were scrambling after the Republican senators announced their proposal. The leadership did not want to put its members in the position of having to vote against border security. But there were parts of Graham's amendment that Democrats could not accept, such as mandatory jail time for people who crossed the border illegally after having once been deported.Further wranglings involved Sen. John Cornyn.
At one point, Majority Leader Harry Reid offered an amendment to Graham's amendment that would have tacked on the Ag Jobs guest worker and legalization plan and the DREAM Act.
But in the end, Reid used a procedural maneuver to sideline the Republican amendment as well as his addition to it. He objected to the amendment because its provisions, he said, would be making legislative policy on a spending bill, something the Senate does not do.
The Senate voted 52-44 on that procedural vote. It would have taken 60 votes to make it possible to vote on the Republicans' measure...
UPDATE: See Lindsey Graham border security-only amendment did pass
[1] lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2007/07/republicans-int.html
LULAC, National Council of La Raza, "liberals", and the Fairness Doctrine
When the left-wing support for free speech meets racial power groups like the League of United Latin American Citizens and the National Council of La Raza, watch out. Consider:The nation's largest Hispanic advocacy group says it must come up with a strategy to combat "a wave of hate" its leaders say came from talk radio's efforts to sink the Senate's immigration bill.While they don't appear to have specifically come out for the Fairness Doctrine, a couple weeks before that event, Laura Elizabeth Morales of the Young Conservatives of Texas said:
"That had an extraordinary impact in the Senate, and as a nation, I don't think we should be comfortable with the fact that the United States Senate responded to what was largely a wave of hate," Cecilia Munoz, the National Council of La Raza's senior vice president for research, advocacy and legislation, told The Washington Times after meeting with NCLR affiliates to talk about a new strategy.
I talked with a spokesperson from the National Council on La Raza. When discussing the right wing's alleged anti-immigrant rhetoric she said:And:
"[The Fairness Doctrine] is a partial solution."
Domingo Garcia, the national co-chairman of the civil rights commission of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), announced at the group's annual convention last week that he has asked U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to introduce legislation to re-regulate broadcasters through the "Fairness Doctrine."On a related note, from "Some in Congress pushing for reinstatement of Fairness Doctrine" (link):
"These are public airwaves and the public should be entitled to a fair presentation," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who is considering whether the Fairness Doctrine should be restored... in January, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), who is running for president, announced that with Democrats back in the House majority, he planned to hold hearings on reviving the policy because media consolidation has made it harder for some voices to be heard... "Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with the problem," said Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.). And Sens. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) said they favored restoring the Fairness Doctrine... Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey (D-N.Y.) said the rest of the media presented a balanced view of controversial issues, and the Fairness Doctrine would simply reimpose that requirement on talk radio... Hinchey is readying legislation to reinstitute the doctrine as part of a broad package of media ownership reforms.
Obama proud of "walking the walk" on supporting illegal immigration
Some senators just talk the talk on being supporters of massive illegal activity. Senator Barack Obama walks the walk and he's not afraid to point that out. Speaking at the convention of the extremist-funding National Council of La Raza yesterday, he said:
"Find out how many senators appeared before an immigration rally last year. Who was talking the talk, and who walked the walk — because I walked [in the May 1, 2006 rally]...I didn't run away from the issue, and I didn't just talk about it in front of Latino audiences... [the recent 'debate' over the Senate bill] was both ugly and racist in a way we haven't see since the struggle for civil rights."
Now, here's a minor problem for B. Hussein Obama: the rally he marched in was organized by people linked to the Mexican government and Mexican political parties. Extensive documentation at the link, and a question that I strongly urge everyone to try to publicly ask Obama here.
Should U.S. Senators really be marching in rallies organized by those linked to foreign governments? Is Obama confused about which country signs his paychecks?
He also promised that if he were elected president he'd make sure and pass immigration "reform" during his first term. He also reiterated his support for the anti-American DREAM Act.
Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama speak to extremist-funding National Council of La Raza
From this:Two top Democratic contenders in the presidential race are in South Florida to address the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights group.It does so much more: it also allows illegal aliens to take college discounts from U.S. citizens.
Sunday morning, New York Senator Hillary Clinton told the gathering at the Miami Beach Convention Center, she would prefer to pass a comprehensive immigration bill that would provide a path to legalization for immigrants in the United States.
But, she was quick to add, there were some aspects of the current immigration reform proposal that she believes have a chance of passing on their own. For example, she pointed to the so called "Deam Act" that would help students who are brought to the U.S. as young children go to college and eventually become citizens.
Barack Obama may have already appeared this afternoon; others who spoke to the extremist-funding group included Florida governor Charlie Crist, Lee Scott (president of WalMart) and the right reverend Al Sharpton. Mitt Romney, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani were invited but had scheduling conflicts, or something. The NCLR is also kicking off a voter registration drive for immigrants; of course, if someone is eligible to vote they are technically speaking no longer and "immigrant".
UPDATE: From this:
Mrs. Clinton said she has been trying "to understand where all of the venom and the incredible anxiety came from" in the immigration debate."I am very disappointed, and I was really quite offended by the tone of the debate and some of what was said by outside parties who were trying to influence the debate," she said... "Until recently, I did not hear the kind of insecurity and opposition to bringing immigrants into American society as I hear today," she said, adding that when her husband was in office, "people were too busy getting a better future for themselves... They didn't talk to me about what was or wasn't on their minds about immigration..."Of course, unlike Obama's outright promise to pass immigration "reform" during his first term, Hillary would only promise her "best efforts." And:
In response to two audience questions, Mrs. Clinton would not promise to end large-scale raids on illegal aliens in the workplace, which have led to families being separated. Instead, she said she would ask her Homeland Security Department to target employers as well... "It is time they start going after the employers who abuse and exploit undocumented workers instead of just going after the workers themselves," she said... Mrs. Clinton spoke in an informal setting designed more like a late-night TV-interview set. Sitting in a red armchair, she first fielded soft questions from Monica Lozano, publisher and CEO of La Opinion, and then answered five questions from the audience.
Agrigeddon! WSJ says fewer cukes being grown this year
The Wall Street Journal offers "Immigration Non-Harvest" (PDF), which is designed to promote the AgJOBS amnesty. The tale is not to be taken seriously and is presented here only because it's so funny:
...This spring, labor shortages forced Michigan growers to leave asparagus rotting in the fields, while farmers in North Carolina lost nearly a third of their cucumber crop last year. They're growing fewer cukes this summer... Growers who can't find enough workers to pick cantaloupe and eggplant are already substituting row crops such as wheat, corn or soybeans that are more highly mechanized. The irony is that specialty crops are also the fastest-growing segment of agribusiness and the least subsidized by taxpayers. So the farm labor shortage could push growers toward government-subsidized crops that distort the world trading system...
Because, as we all know, illegal labor is completely free to the rest of us and isn't subsidized in any way.
...But a more heavily fortified southern border and government immigration raids have busted up this efficient North American labor market...
I would hope that most non-hack economists wouldn't consider a market that relies on massive political corruption to be a real market at all.
The resulting labor shortage is leading some employers to desperate measures. In upstate New York, dairy farmers have formed informal networks, so that when one farm is raided and loses workers, surrounding farms spare some of their own labor to help minimize the economic damage.
*cough* conspiracy charges *cough*
According to Tim Chelling of the Western Growers Association, whose 3,000 members in California and Arizona generate half of the nation's fresh produce, "there's a quiet exodus going on already, tens of thousands of acres and millions of dollars in economic activity."
Can he be trusted? Even if he's telling the truth should we really care? Could the exodus be a bit louder so we could show up to say good-bye to them?
If the U.S. can't import foreign workers to help harvest American farm products, the U.S. will have to import more foreign farm products harvested by foreign workers. Either that, or Americans will pay a lot more for fruits and vegetables as their supply shrinks. Blame Mr. Dobbs and Tom Tancredo the next time you're appalled by prices at the grocery.
I'm sure many of the readers of the WSJ have someone else do the shopping for them, and in any case no one who's serious thinks that restricting illegal labor would raise prices by any great amount. And, while there are certainly risks involved in importing food from other countries, perhaps moving production to where the cheap labor is rather than the other way around is the more natural and better way to do things.
Jeff Flake: STRIVE Act (House amnesty) doesn't have a prayer. But...
Some comments from Rep. Jeff Flake ("Smiley"; R-AZ) on the Flake-Gutierrez STRIVE Act (House amnesty) are here. Asked whether it has a chance:
Not a prayer. No, I just don't see the Democrats wanting to take it up. I mean with the Senate bill dead I just don't think there's going to be any serious comprehensive legislation to move. There may be some political statement legislation or some single elements go through... maybe [agriculture] jobs [AgJOBS] or something, but I just don't see comprehensive reform moving at all.
In a way, this is actually a bad thing: it's harder to push through something "comprehensive" like the Senate bill or the STRIVE Act, but it's easier to push through bits and pieces like AgJOBS or the DREAM Act.
David Gonzalez/New York Times on white power obtained through anchor babies
David Gonzalez of the New York Times has a shocking report on plans by some Irish and other white illegal aliens to gain political power in NYC through the use of anchor babies:
Lucky enough to be born in New York, Daisy and Sean are citizens, for whom voting and civic participation are a birthright and duty. They grew up as pint-size bilingual guides helping their parents understand what was happening at school meetings and visits to the doctor's office. They are active in a youth group at Hope of the Neighborhood, a local advocacy group that started out helping street vendors. And while they have to wait to cast their first ballots — Daisy is 17 and Sean 15 — they already feel a special responsibility to help their neighbors.
Of course, by "neighbors", Gonzalez is refering to illegal aliens from Ireland and other European countries. He is specifically not refering to all those who live in their neighborhood, just whites.
Robert C. Smith, a professor of public affairs at Baruch College who has extensively studied New York's white populations, estimated that the city's half-million Irish, German, and Polish could have as many as 150,000 children born in the United States. Another big chunk of children came to New York in the early 1990s, when they were reunited with parents who benefited from a 1986 amnesty law that made them legal residents, allowed them to bring their children here and put them on the path to citizenship. And many more are on the way right here, thanks to a rising birthrate... Currently, they are seeking to keep alive the Dream Act, federal legislation that proposes to offer tuition help and a path to citizenship to immigrant high school graduates.
It does so much more, including letting illegal aliens take college discounts from U.S. citizens, but Gonzalez appears to have forgotten about that minor point. The article goes on in a like vein, including this charming quote from an ethnic advocate:
"I had been thinking about this for a long time... We were just waiting for the time when their children could be able to vote. And we have a lot of children."
If I wanted to continue the charade - which everyone has no doubt by now seen through - I'd give that advocate a German name, perhaps even following his quote with "jawohl!" Except, that wouldn't be fair to modern-day Germans.
Of course, the article isn't about white/European illegal aliens; if it were the New York Times wouldn't have printed it, and an ethno-booster like David Gonzalez wouldn't have written it. In fact, the article is just about Mexican illegal aliens, with the latter quote from Joel Magallan of the Asociacion Tepeyac de New York.
If you'd like to suggest that the NYT does its own racial switcheroo in order to decide whether what they're promoting is on the up-and-up, please write the New York Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt at public *at* nytimes.com
Emma Lozano, Walter "Slim" Coleman are married
Here's something I did not know. Emma Lozano (of Chicago's Pueblo Sin Fronteras/Centro Sin Fronteras) is married to the Reverend Walter "Slim" Coleman. The latter is the pastor of the church where Elvira Arellano has sought "refuge" rather than abiding by a deportation order. Arellano and Lozano have together called for a "campaign of resistance" to prevent deportations of other illegal aliens.
That kind of puts Lozano's complaint about "small white led leftist organizations" interfering in the "immigrants rights movement" into a bit more of a questionable focus.
Book: "Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista"
From the SPLC* Review of Books comes news of a book called "Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista":
Now, courtesy of former Navy SEAL Matthew Bracken, comes the American version [of Camp of the Saints] - a portrait of the apocalypse Bracken fears will overtake America thanks to undocumented immigration from the south. The book is a fictionalized version of the Aztlan conspiracy theory - the idea that Mexico is secretly planning a "reconquista" (reconquering) of the seven states of the Southwest - that now animates large swaths of the anti-immigration movement. It's being plugged on extremist websites, in gun magazines and similar electronic venues, and on immigrant-bashing radio shows like Peter Boyles' program on KHOW-AM in Denver...
And, for completeness' sake, I'll plug it here too, despite not having read it.
* Note: The Southern Poverty Law Center is indirectly linked to the Mexican government.
Sens. Feinstein, Cornyn criticize Border Patrol agents prosection (Ramos/Compean)
Neither Feinstein (AgJobs) nor Cornyn (curious NAU-related legislation) are on the pro-borders side, so I'm not about to give them a medal for this, but:
Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee criticized the 12- and 11-year prison sentences given to ex-agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos, respectively. And they strongly questioned federal prosecutors' decision to charge the pair with using a weapon during the commission of a crime — a 10-year penalty that most often is used against drug dealers and other criminals, not law enforcement officers obliged to carry guns as part of their jobs... "This really is a case of prosecutorial ... overreaction in charging," said Feinstein.
A statement from Cornyn is here.
Jean Pfaelzer is what's scary about the immigration debate
Jean Pfaelzer - professor of English and American Studies at the University of Delaware - offers "What's Scary About the Anti-Immigration Debate" [1]. It's so over-the-top and full of lies that I'm trying to debate whether it's a parody. It doesn't even deserve much of a discussion, since it reads like the rantings of a Hollywood street person, albeit one who's a pathological liar:
...Hazleton's mayor told Sixty Minutes about a 70% rise in violent crime since Latinos came to town in 2001 (the correct number is 20 of 8,500 crimes). Farmers Branch, Texas said that the code would prevent terrorist attacks by purging its Latinos. One third of towns that passed the code are in unemployed areas of Pennsylvania--railroad towns that once sold anthracite coal, steel tubes, and carpets. Now they export Latinos... These gentlemen prefer blondes. The mayor wants Hazleton to remain 94.7% white. Last week in front of a burning cross the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party, recently defunct, announced to ABC Evening News that since they began assaulting, torching, and "bleaching" Latinos, membership has risen 40%...
The "bleaching" part refers to one incident from May. Somehow I doubt that even those groups admitted on camera that they systematically engaged in those practices. And, I'm pretty sure she's mischaracterizing the comments of Hazleton's mayor, Lou Barletta, as well as the comments from those in Farmers Branch. Shouldn't George Mason University's History News Network consider its credibility and at least verify a few of the things they publish?
Please send them an email and suggest they print a retraction of the various lies and mischaracterizations in her article: editor *at* historynewsnetwork.org
[1] hnn.us/articles/40316.html
Mike Huckabee immigration commercial (border fence, from a supporter)
There are a lot of junky homemade videos out there (I know, I've made a few), and I wish I could say the following takes the cake but I'm sure there are things even worse than someone making their own video in support of Mike Huckabee and his position on the border fence... and using Barbie and Ken dolls to do it.
I think they're actually serious, making it kinda sad too. In our world, the Huckster has some sort of connection to LULAC and Tyson Foods, and on a trip to Mexico he suggested to Vicente Fox that Mexico should open their next consulate in Little Rock. Needless to say, Mexico uses its consulates to support illegal immigration to the U.S., specifically their illegal aliens sending money home. If (in an alternate universe) the Huckster were elected president, he might even be worse than Bush, and if he did build the border fence it would just be for show.
The above is the only video from "SuperMikeHuckabee", who joined that site just yesterday. Hopefully the videos to come will be even worse.
The Travis Loller Horror: Illegal aliens in some states not able to get married without SSN!
I was weeping my eyes out by the time I got to the end of "Some Immigrants Denied Marriage Licenses" (WaPo)/"Law puts illegal immigrants’ weddings on hold" (MSNBC) by Travis Loller of the Associated Press. To think: some illegal aliens have to go to other states to get married because their home states actually require applicants for a marriage license to have a Social Security number. What is this world coming to?!?!? Thankfully, there are some states that don't have such rules, or that "turn a blind eye", nod nod wink wink. Why, did you know that there are even edge cases involving legal immigrants and even citizens? Just think about them (for they could be you!), not about the fact that this report was designed to support illegal immigration. Thankfully, the Associated Press has even included a charming photo of one prospective husband of an illegal alien who would be affected (if he can't simply drive to another state). Why, it's almost like I'm looking at a catalog trying to sell me on illegal immigration.
Someone please call Jorge Bustamante of the United Nations, I feel a human rights complaint coming on.
Rudy Giuliani: NYC didn't give sanctuary to illegal aliens (!?)
In a move reminiscent of the debate over the word "amnesty", Rudy Giuliani now appears to be claiming that New York City wasn't a sanctuary for illegal aliens on his watch. That's despite him suing the federal government to try to prevent them from overturning an executive order Ed Koch signed making it such a sanctuary and his support for that order. Get out your Clintonian Parsing Handbook and follow along:At a town hall-style meeting with about 100 voters at a technical college in Concord on Tuesday, Giuliani encountered a voter who asked why the former mayor made "New York City a sanctuary for illegal aliens."
"You must be talking about another candidate," said Giuliani, who went on to argue that his administration urged the federal government to deport as many illegal immigrants as possible.
"Here are the three areas that you have distorted into this view that I gave sanctuary to illegal immigrants," said Giuliani, turning his back on the voter and addressing the other voters, seated on couches and loveseats around him.
He said that, as mayor he had to make sure that all kids went to school, that everyone needed access to hospitals and that illegal immigrants needed to be able to inform the police about crimes without fear of deportation.
"That's why you are wrong," said Giuliani.
"As mayor of New York City," he said. "If I was nothing else, I was rational and sensible."
WFMOJALI: Curt Thompson tells illegal aliens to stay in Georgia, get involved
The fourth installment of "Working for Mexico, or Just Acts like it?" continues with Georgia state senator Curt Thompson, who recently wrote an opinion piece for a Hispanic publication in which he told illegal aliens to remain in his state: they should "stay calm, stay put and get involved". Because he refers to voting and also to "immigrants" - without once using even a euphemism like "undocumented" - it's unclear to whom his remarks are directed exactly.
However, since his discussion revolves around recently-passed Georgia laws SB 529 and SB 38, both of which were designed to reduce illegal immigration and as far as I know have no impact on the legal variety, it's clear that he is in fact encouraging illegal aliens to remain in his state.
In the piece he engages in the usual name-calling and compares legalizing illegal aliens to the Civil Rights movement. He also encourages Latinos to vote; while in that case he could be speaking only of those who are eligible to vote, I tend to be a bit suspicious. Perhaps everyone would be better off if Thomson would make it clear whether he supports illegal aliens or non-citizen immigrants voting and whether he only wants legal immigrants to "stay calm, stay put and get involved".
Whether Thompson is far-left, an opportunist, or something else isn't known, but he has made at least three appearances with former Mexican consul general Teodoro Maus, someone who's been very active in supporting illegal immigration in that state. Thomson appeared at a news conference with him, at another event, and also appeared at an illegal immigration march with him (as well as with Pedro Marin.)
Chris Gregoire: down with border fence, up with serfs
Yesterday, Washington governor Chris Gregoire took a new direct flight from Seattle to Mexico City and:
criticized the construction of a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and lamented the U.S. Congress' failure to approve an immigration reform bill... She said her state's agricultural industry would greatly benefit from an immigration reform bill... "If we don't have immigration reform ... Washington state will suffer," Gregoire said, adding that a shortage of workers last year forced apple growers to leave part of their crop on their trees.
Mexico-linked Peter Schey advises new sanctuary movement, helps prosecute BP agent
Emily Bazar of USA Today offers "Illegal immigrants find refuge in holy places", all about the "new sanctuary movement" in which churches take in illegal aliens in an example of far-left false compassion. She writes:
But Peter Schey, the lawyer advising the sanctuary movement and president of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles, says the churches are within the law. He advises congregations that they're not guilty of harboring if the immigrants aren't in hiding and have active cases pending to legalize their status.
What she fails to note is that Schey has at least three links to the Mexican goverment.
Nicholas Riccardi of the Los Angeles Times - in addition to refering to illegal aliens as "immigrants" - does the same in "Border Patrol shooting underscores peril on both sides":
Peter Schey, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles, represents the three witnesses to the shooting [of an alleged illegal alien by Border Patrol agent Nicholas Corbett near Bisbee, Arizona], and said that a more restrained Border Patrol might be a good thing... "Violence along the border is an epidemic, and it's not just the smugglers," Schey said. "It's also the Border Patrol themselves. They're just extremely quick to use deadly force."
Other "reporters" who've failed to note Schey's links include: Randal Archibold, Teresa Watanabe, Peter Prengaman, and Martha Mendoza.
Returning to the "new sanctuary movement" article:
It is illegal to harbor illegal immigrants or shield them from detection, says Charles Kuck, president-elect of the [American Immigration Lawyers Association]. Penalties include stiff fines and prison sentences. Providing shelter to an illegal immigrant could be interpreted as breaking that law, he says. "If I were going to advise a church, I would tell them not to do this."
And, of course, Emily Bazar acts only as a transcriptionist and fails to question what she's told:
"We don't accept a broken law that causes separation of families," says Richard Estrada, an associate pastor at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Los Angeles. "We will protect families, those in danger of being separated... We're doing what we think is the right, moral thing to do."
The laws aren't "broken", and what's causing the "separation of families" is people coming here illegally and expecting it to work out OK. And, I'm sure lots of people have mistakenly thought they were doing the "right, moral thing" when in fact they were making the situation far worse.
Anti-"gringo" animosity on Piolin's illegal immigration bus tour
Radio host Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo recently traveled in a bus caravan across the U.S. in support of immigration "reform", aka a massive amnesty for illegal aliens. It culminated in he and Teddy Kennedy falsely claiming that boxes contained a million letters in support of their efforts, when in fact the boxes were empty. A few days later, Teddy Kennedy broke into song.Someone named Tim Paynter and claiming to be a lawyer from Wheat Ridge, Colorado apparently tried to join the caravan and was subjected to anti-"Gringo" animosity and was suspected of being an infiltrator. I don't know whether he's a completely sincere useful idiot or whether he was indeed there to make them look bad, but he did make them look bad in any case. A Hispanic newspaper wrote the following account:
The national Reporter had the opportunity to know Tim, "a man dedicated to his profession and mainly to serve the Latin community", expressed Doctor Antonio Flores, publisher of this newspaper. "many Hispanic people have come into our offices to complain about the abuse against them or their relatives because of the simple fact of being undocumented”. “We have sent these people to Tim so that he can help them in their immigration problems or offer direction to them”, indicated to doctor Flores.If you have a strong stomach and you'd like a disturbing tour inside the mind of a useful idiot - or if you're interested in hearing about his experiences with Piolin and his friends - read that and the other entries.
The national Reporter, roundly denies that Mr. Paynter has some type of relation with the organization of the "Minuteman".
In spite of his color, of his race, Paynter strongly supports immigration reform for all those who, with great sacrifice, manage to arrive in this "land of opportunities".
But, in spite of his activism with the Latin community, Tim also has felt discrimination in his hands. Recently, after joining the caravan organized by the radio personality Eduardo 'Piolin' Sotelo, the lawyer was accused and presumed a member of the "Minuteman", and was expelled from the march to Washington, with the allegation Tim had infiltrated the caravan to give integral details to anti immigrant groups...
Esther J. Cepeda: towns enforcing immigration laws could lead to "neighborhood lynchings"
The column here ("Beginning of the end?/Towns across America are taking illegal immigration control into their own hands — with frightening results. What's next? Neighborhood lynchings?") is pretty jaw-dropping even for Chicago Sun-Times ethno-booster and "reporter" Esther J. Cepeda:
...Towns across the country are so intent on controlling illegal immigration in their backyards, they're taking matters into their own hands... Take Panama City Beach, Fla., where the cops have taken to pulling up to construction sites with sirens blaring, chasing down and arresting those who run. I guess the regard for basic human dignity doesn't apply there... The sheriff has proven it's OK to terrorize certain community members, so how long until the first lynching? How long until it's commonplace for Hispanic immigrants to be murdered in the name of immigration law enforcement while neighbors cluck, "But they were illegal"?
Via this by Dave Gorak (ST contact info at the link), which describes how he appeared on a panel moderated by her and featuring the Mexico/Western Union/Blagojevich-linked Juan Salgado of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Alan Bjerga/Bloomberg propaganda: wheat farmers want cheap foreign labor
For years, newspapers have been printing outright propaganda pieces with growers complaining that unless they get cheap foreign labor crops will rot in the fields. However, Alan Bjerga of Bloomberg offers a new twist: this time it's wheat farmers doing the whining ("U.S. Wheat Farmers Face Grim Harvests as Immigration Bill Dies", link). In the article he takes everything those farmers say at face value, and, if he asked them why they don't simply raise their rates it's not noted:[Thomas Murphy, an Irishman who leads a crew of combine operators from the U.K.]'s crew and 2,500 other skilled, legal immigrants who come from places such as South Africa, Australia and New Zealand to cut grain are among the most productive workers in the U.S., gathering one-third of all the wheat in a $7.7 billion market.People say lots of things. A real reporter tries to find out whether they're telling the truth or not. Bjerga does not.
That's why farmers and the companies that hire the crews say Congress's failure last week to overhaul the immigration laws will heighten an already intense labor shortage by preventing them from importing more of the English-speaking workers, even as the need for them grows. That may lower crop yields, raise food prices and force some growers out of business, they say.
"You'll have labor that simply doesn't get done," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said in a June 28 interview after the Senate rejected the legislation. "We have a system that doesn't work very well, so they're really struggling."Obviously, if Alan Bjerga were a real reporter and not simply a paid propagandist he would have tried to find out the impact of those harvesters raising their rates in order to attract U.S. workers.
...Grain-cutters say they need more of the skilled workers: Their understaffed crews are falling behind in the harvest, leaving crops vulnerable to disease and weather. The wheat harvest was 40 percent complete as of July 1, compared with 62 percent at the same time in 2006, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says. That's mostly because of poor weather.
...U.S. wheat was worth more than the labor-intensive output of grapes, tomatoes and apples combined in 2006, according to the USDA.
...[The H2A visas they use] require employers to buy newspaper and radio advertisements to prove that efforts to hire domestic workers were unsuccessful. That slows hiring and increases costs. Once a foreign worker arrives, the employer must pay the government-set prevailing wage and provide free housing.
...[The AgJobs part of the Senate bill] would also have eased ad requirements, reduced paperwork that delays visas, and permitted employers to give workers housing allowances rather than housing, saving costs.
...Tight job markets in Plains states, where unemployment runs below the rest of the U.S., also make domestic recruitment difficult, as does the seasonal, itinerant nature of harvest work, Baker said.
...For that, a worker bunks with crewmates in a mobile trailer for free while seeing the U.S. heartland on net pay of about $1,800 per month. The high-quality, low-cost labor "keeps costs down and keeps the producer profitable, which keeps the U.S. competitive in the world market," said Kenneth Hobbie, who heads the U.S. Grains Council, a Washington-based group that represents Archer Daniels, Cargill and other companies.
"Any American who would be good at this can find something with better hours and holidays off," [a harvester] said...
Stop Racism CA: Unite (with Home Depot) Against Racism!
Who could be opposed to a fine, upstanding site like StopRacismCA.com?Thank you for visiting StopRacismCA.com. We are a state-wide organization that is looking to stop all forms of hate and racism. We are confronted daily with politicians, policies and individuals who are trying to take our state backwards not forward. It is our mission to promote peaceful solutions to stopping racist actions by our government and elected leaders. We are dedicated to reducing hate crimes and prejudice in our neighborhoods.Sounds great, think I'll sign up! Oh, wait, what's that link to a Daily News article [1] they've so helpfully provided? What? It details how residents of the Los Angeles neighborhood Sunland-Tujunga have been fighting against a Home Depot moving in to their area and:
...Organizers originally hired by a public relations firm working for Home Depot say they have independently launched a campaign