Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, the Illinois Democrat who has taken over leadership on the issue after the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, plans to introduce an immigration legalization bill Tuesday, and backers are planning a strategy to avoid repeats of the failed attempts of 2006 and 2007.
    In a letter to members of Congress last week seeking support for the bill, Mr. Gutierrez and Rep. Nydia M. Velazquez, New York Democrat and chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said their legislation will end the off-the-books economy of illegal immigrant workers and protect American workers by raising labor standards.
    "In these difficult economic times, we must ensure that everyone contributes toward the recovery and prosperity of our nation," they wrote. "To this end, it is imperative that all individuals and employers pay their fair share in taxes."
    A draft overview of the bill, circulated with the letter, ends some enforcement tools such as the 287(g) local police cooperation program, calls for an electronic verification system to replace the voluntary E-verify program, argues that there's no need for more U.S. Border Patrol agents or fencing, and establishes a long-term path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
    That path would require illegal immigrants to pay a $500 fine, pass a background check and learn English and civics to gain legal status. After six years, they could apply for legal permanent residence, or a green card, which is the interim step to citizenship. There is no "touchback" provision requiring them to return to their home countries at some point in the process. [...]
    "With 15 million Americans out of work, it's hard to believe that anyone would give amnesty to 12 million illegal immigrants," said Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee. "Even the open-borders crowd agrees that illegal immigrants take jobs from American workers, particularly poor and disadvantaged citizens and legal immigrants. This is exactly why we need to oppose amnesty."

More than half of the nationÕs unemployed workers have borrowed money from friends or relatives since losing their jobs. An equal number have cut back on doctor visits or medical treatments because they are out of work.
    Almost half have suffered from depression or anxiety. About 4 in 10 parents have noticed behavioral changes in their children that they attribute to their difficulties in finding work.
    Joblessness has wreaked financial and emotional havoc on the lives of many of those out of work, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll of unemployed adults, causing major life changes, mental health issues and trouble maintaining even basic necessities.

•   •   •  

La Posada at border fence   [12/15/09]
The Mexican pre-Christmas celebration of Las Posadas has often been hijacked in this country for anti-border propaganda. Raza types in southern California have gathered for years at the annual walk-and-whine procession to the border to equate illegal aliens with Joseph and Mary (an inaccurate comparison, when examined).

IMPERIAL BEACH - Faith groups from the United States and Mexico gathered yesterday afternoon at Border Field State Park in what was both a religious celebration and a political statement.
    The 16th annual La Posada Sin Fronteras was a re-enactment of the biblical story of Mary and Joseph, who were forced to seek shelter after the birth of Christ and were eventually welcomed into a stranger's home. Participants from both countries compared the biblical tale to the struggle migrants face trying to enter the United States.
    One of the messages of the story, the idea of welcoming strangers -- and immigrants -- is under attack in our times, making the binational celebration even more significant, organizers said. Today, families on both sides of the border are separated by immigration policy and can no longer meet, even at the border fence, organizers said.

Illegal alien supporters like to quote the Bible verse that says to "welcome the stranger" but the Good Book may have had a temporary visit in mind, not a permanent invasion of millions.

There's a better verse from scripture...

"Amen, amen I say to you: He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber." (John 10:1)

•   •   •  

L.A. Latinos celebrate a patron saint and a culture   [12/14/09]
The Catholic church has long encouraged Mexican immigrants and illegal aliens to keep their home culture rather than assimilate to American society. Even though the church is given tax-exempt status (which requires it keep its nose out of politics), it works purposefully to undermine the sovereignty of this country.
    Sadly, many of the Protestant churches are mindless anti-borders flunkies also, but since most Hispanics are Catholic, that church in particular sees open borders and increased Hispanic pew-fillers positively. The cassock brigades are the big dogs in the pack here, both as activists and beneficiaries.
    The story of the Virgin of Guadalupe is something of a foundation myth to Mexicans, so the festival celebration is a big deal.

The Dec. 12 feast day holds special significance for Catholics of Mexican heritage.
    Catholic tradition teaches that a peasant, Juan Diego, was walking over a hill called Tepeyac, a site linked to an ancient fertility goddess, when a brown-skinned woman appeared. She spoke in Nahuatl, language of the Aztecs, and asked that a church be built on the hill, which is near Mexico City.
    For the faithful, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe is more than symbol, Estrada said. "It's real," he said. "It is like a person that gives you strength and courage."

Furthermore, the church's efforts are not just cultural but political. Our Lady Queen of Angels Church uses the occasion to promote its anti-American, pro-amnesty agenda.

The church has also been known for political activism. A sign outside the complex reads Madre sin fronteras -- mother without borders -- an allusion to immigration policy in the U.S.
    The church uses each year's feast day theme to convey a message, its priests said.
    This year, they chose "Do not be afraid, I am with you." They wanted to use the message to persuade illegal Latino immigrants to participate in the 2010 Census, Estrada said. "It's important that everyone is counted," the pastor said.
    Estrada pointed to the plight of the poor and the undocumented in Los Angeles as reasons the story of the Virgin still resonates.
    "These are the Juan Diegos," Estrada said. "These are the poor and the people she really speaks to.
    "Here in this church, it's not purely religious. We don't just say Mass and give confessions. We help organize people to treat themselves with dignity and express their culture."

This church's mission sounds suspiciously like Alinsky-style community organizing with a big dollop of Mexican self-esteem on top. It certainly has little resemblance to spreading the gospel.

Dancers mark the Virgin's feast day at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church. "We celebrate as if it were in Mexico," said Father Paschal Amagba, an associate pastor of the church. "When the people come here, they feel at home."

•   •   •  

Pictured: Islamic militants stone man to death for adultery in Somalia as villagers are forced to watch   [12/14/09]
Tiger Woods should avoid the Mogadishu Open when he returns to golf from his time-out to repair his marriage (or so he says), since adultury is taken seriously in Somalia by Allah's gangsters.
    Seriously, the photos below show the gruesome reality of Islamic sharia law, which Muslim immigrants wish to install throughout the West, including our country.

This barbaric scene belongs in the Dark Ages, but pictures emerged today of a group of Islamic militants who forced villagers to watch as they stoned a man to death for adultery.
    Mohamed Abukar Ibrahim, a 48-year-old, was buried in a hole up to his chest and pelted with rocks until he died.
    The group responsible, Hizbul Islam, also shot dead a man they claimed was a murderer. [...]
    But when some Hizbul Islam fighters wanted to delay the executions, a bloody gun battle broke out between the two factions, shocked residents said.Ê
    'Three Hizbul Islam fighters died and five others were injured after they fought each other," Halima Osman, an Afgoye shopkeeper, told Reuters in Mogadishu by telephone.
    'Some wanted to delay the execution while the others insisted. They exchanged fire. The group that was against the execution was overpowered and chased away,' she said.

Isn't that nice... several Muslim fellows were killed by their pals for being insufficiently blood thirsty.

Al Shabaab, and to a lesser extent Hizbul Islam, are fighting the government to impose their harsh interpretation of Islamic Sharia law across the drought-ravaged country.
    'Al Shabaab clerics have banned movies, dancing at weddings and playing or watching soccer in the areas under their control, as well as carrying out executions and amputations.

Below, the offending adulterer is semi-buried in preparation for his execution as villagers look on in the background.

The stoning proceeds, with apparent enthusiasm on the part of the stoners, until the man dies. The face has been pixilated in the interest of taste.

Bear in mind that Somalis are welcomed to America like few other groups. The State Department has admitted over 80,000 Somalis as refugees in the last 25 years (as calculated by Refugee Resettlement Watch). Somalis are also included in the Diversity Visa lottery; 229 slots in 2010, although in 2002, Washington offered a generous 1,328 visas in that category. (In 2007, a GAO report found that the program had admitted nearly 10,000 from terrorist states.) The 2000 Census counted 35,760 Somali-born persons; however, a CBS news report from this year (FBI Watching Somali Muslims In Minneapolis) put the number in Minnapolis alone at 70,000.
    Furthermore, Somalis residing in this country have traveled back to their home country to pursue jihad to kill infidels and purify Islam. Perhaps some are included among the masked stoners.
    Is this the kind of diversity America wants?

•   •   •  

How Much Allah Can the Old Continent Bear?   [12/13/09]
Would Der Spiegel have presented an article so entitled before the Swiss vote to ban minarets? Doubtful. The voice of the Swiss people against Islam has opened up the debate in Europe about whether Muslim immigration was a dangerously dumb idea.

Switzerland's recent vote to ban the construction of new minarets has shocked and angered Muslims around the world. But the controversial move also reflects a growing sense of unease among other Europeans who have trouble coming to terms with Islam's increased visibility. [...]
    The Swiss decision has shocked Europe and the world because its ramifications go far beyond the building of minarets -- they also concern the identity of an entire continent. This was a referendum on Western society's perception of Islam as a threat. The issue is generating intense debate: Just how much of Islam is predominantly Christian Europe prepared to accept? The decision by the otherwise so tolerant Alpine country reveals the deep-seated fear of an Islam that is becoming increasingly visible.
    Are Muslim immigrants threatening European values? This is a concern shared by many Europeans across the continent. Surveys last week revealed that 44 percent of Germans oppose the construction of minarets, followed by 41 percent of the French. Fifty-five percent of all Europeans see Islam as an intolerant religion. [...]
    American author and journalist Christopher Caldwell recently published his latest tome, "Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West," a widely-read and skeptical book on Europe and its Muslim immigrants. What fascinates him about the result of the Swiss vote is the gap between the rejection of the ban in surveys and the considerable support that it received during the referendum. "It means there is an official discussion of Islam and that there is a subterranean discussion of it," he says. "That should worry Europeans."

•   •   •  

Staten Island octomom Mamie Manneh gets probation in monkey meat case   [12/12/09]
No jail time is a disappointing conclusion to a smuggling case that included diversity, species preservation and a threat to public health.
    In 2006, a Liberian with a long rap sheet, Mamie Manneh, was busted for illegaly importing 720 pounds of monkey meat for the delectation of her fellow Africans. (See backstory items on Monkey Meat Diversity.) But the judicial decision was weak...

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Green argued that Mamie Manneh was not entitled to leniency because she has 11 prior arrests - including one for running over her husband's suspected mistress with an SUV - and cooked up a bogus defense that she had a constitutional right to eat bushmeat.
    "Your daughter calls you 'supermom,' so the picture is not so clear," said Brooklyn Federal Judge Raymond Dearie.
    Mamie Manneh, 41, was busted in 2006 when Kennedy Airport agents found hacked-up animal heads and haunches stashed in a shipment of smoked fish.
    Brooklyn federal Judge Raymond Dearie cut Manneh a break, he said, because she suffers from mental illness and has 11 children at home.
    But he also gave her a stern warning not to violate her probationary terms. Her long rap sheet includes charges of selling stolen clothing and running down her husband's girlfriend with an SUV.

So a multiple offender with 11 priors was given probation only. Apparently the judge thought the charges were no biggie, despite the pleas of the world's top defender of primates: Jane Goodall urges judge to consider 'gravity' of woman's crime of importing illegal monkey meat.

Renowned primatologist Jane Goodall urged the judge who will sentence a Staten Island woman who imported illegal monkey meat from Africa to consider the "gravity" of the crime.
    Goodall's letter to Federal Judge Raymond Dearie was released on the eve of Mamie Manneh's sentencing Friday.
    "As a leader in the global community, the U.S. has a responsibility to uphold and strongly enforce" laws to curb the "devastating impact unregulated consumption of wildlife is having on species populations in Africa," Goodall, 75, wrote.
    She also stressed that bringing illegal wildlife into the U.S. could have "grave consequences on public health."
    A prosecution expert said monkey meat could cause outbreaks of Ebola, measles, tuberculosis and retroviruses similar to HIV.

The New York Times included the public health aspect in its November 17, 2007, report on the Maneh case: A Taste of Baboon and Monkey Meat, and Maybe of Prison, Too.

Epidemiologists have shown that ebola can be contracted by butchering chimpanzees, and the first human case of H.I.V. probably originated through similar exposure, said Nathan Wolfe, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California in Los Angeles. The growth in global demand for wild game, he said, increases the potential for spreading agents "that could represent serious threats to humanity," he said.

So the consumption of monkey meat is not a harmless custom of diverse immigrants, but a danger to public health.

•   •   •  

Mary and Joseph, as Illegal Immigrants   [12/11/09]
In the sanctuary city of San Francisco, illegal aliens feel especially free to compare their lawbreaking behavior to that of the holy family, which if not blasphemous is certainly arrogant. Specifically, Mexicans use their traditional posadas procession, which re-enacts Joseph and Mary unsuccessfully searching for an inn, as a way to whine childishly about law and borders. (See Mexicans' Merry Posadas! for more about hijacking a religious custom for a political agenda.)

La Posarela, a bilingual musical play, re-enacts the biblical journey of a young couple who traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem in search of a place to sleep with their first-born child Jesus.
    But as told in the 45-minute play, free at 7 p.m. on Dec. 11 and Dec. 12 at the Community Music Center, the themes of homelessness, undocumented immigration and health care come to the fore.
    "Ay, Jose. Maybe, after all, this city willÊcontinue to be a sanctuary city forÊillegal pilgrims like us," Ana Ortiz, who plays Mary, tellsÊJoseph.
    Rooted in the Mexican tradition of the bible narrative, La Posarela tells the story of Mary and Joseph going from inn to inn looking for shelter. Each time, they are turned away.

Note: Joseph and Mary were turned away because the lodging establishments were already full, because they were crowded with many people also traveling to be counted in the census. To that extent, the analogy holds up. As the late photographer Ansel Adams remarked, "When the theater's full, they don't sell lap-space."
    Another interesting point of logical dislocation is how some of today's illegals propose to boycott the census, unlike Joseph and Mary who scrupulously followed the law.

The search symbolizes today's social perils -- in the Mission District and across the country -- of trying to find shelter and undocumented immigrants trying to belong, said Chus Alonso, the play's music director.ÊIt can also symbolize a person's search for the truth, he added. [...]
    Luis De la Vega, who plays Joseph, said he enjoys sharing his heritage with others.
    "When I was asked by my teacher if I wanted to participate, I said yes, this is a great way to showcase our Latino culture."

Yes, Luis, tell everyone about your Hispanic pride in the disdain for law.

"Arriba, Mary, we have an anchor baby!" exclaimed Mexican Joseph.

•   •   •  

Survey says 25% of young Hispanics identify themselves as American first   [12/11/09]
Say, wasn't America the country that was the gold standard for assimilation of immigrants? Not so much any more.
    Anti-assimilation is taught in the nation's schools by the glorification of multiculturalism, which promotes separatism. Plus, there are the influences of Spanish media and racist interest groups like La Raza, plus the ease of communication with the home country.

What makes an American?
    The question is asked in a new study by the Pew Hispanic Center that looks at a population group of 7.7 million making a historical mark Ð Hispanics between the ages of 16 to 25.
    "Never before in the nation's history has a minority group made up so much of our young population," said Paul Taylor, director of the Washington-based Pew Hispanic Center and the executive vice president of the Pew Research Center.
    Yet when these young people were asked for a term to first describe themselves, only a quarter chose "American," according to a national survey of 2,012 people. If they were the U.S.-born children of immigrants, the American description rose to one-third. If they were the grandchildren of immigrants or even more removed from migration, half were likely to identify themselves as American.

Here's the original report (156 pages): Between Two Worlds - How Young Latinos Come of Age in America

For an explanation of how our schools once taught American values, see Victor Davis Hanson's remembrance of his early education in a California farm town, The Civic Education America Needs.

•   •   •  

School 'Too Diverse' for Christmas Tree   [12/11/09]
Multicultural immigration is not friendly to Christian traditions in Europe, as this item from the Netherlands indicates.

THE HAGUE, 09/12/09 - The Haagsche Hogeschool college will not put up a Christmas tree this year because it does not want to cause provocation to immigrant students. The tree is too closely linked with Christianity, according to the school management.
    Traditionally, a meters-high tree always stood in the school's atrium. Now there are only some streamers and fairy lights hanging there. Management wants to "stress the international character and the diversity within the school" by this move. The school is opting for "light and heat," which can be enjoyed by everyone in his or her own manner, according to the management.
    The college has 20,000 students. Thirty percent are of immigrant origin, as are 12 percent of the teachers. Many pupils expressed fury on the Internet about the decision not to put up a tree this year. "Because a handful of religious good-for-nothings take offence about a tree with some lights and coloured balls, the rest of the school community has to suffer," complained one pupil.

•   •   •  

Muslim men who force their wives to wear the burkha are not welcome in France, says justice minister   [12/10/09]
Nice to hear about some spinal formation happening in Europe after the Swiss vote to ban minarets passed; perhaps the edifice of political correctness has been taken down a peg or two by the voice of the Swiss people.

Muslim men who force their wives to wear a burkha are not welcome in France, the country's justice minister has said.
    Michelle Alliot-Marie said husbands making their wives wear a full body coverings did not 'share the nation's values'.
    They would have their citizenship requests rejected, she said.

The minister's remarks follow the French President's support of assimilation: Sarkozy defends Swiss vote to ban minarets

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Switzerland's vote to ban new minarets showed why it was vital for France to hold an extended debate on national identity despite criticism that it has only fuelled racist views.
    In a column in the daily Le Monde on Tuesday, Mr. Sarkozy defended the Swiss referendum against widespread criticism in France, saying it had laid bare fears of a loss of identity that should not be ignored.
    "Instead of condemning the Swiss out of hand, we should try to understand what they meant to express and what so many people in Europe feel, including people in France," he wrote. [...]
    Mr. Sarkozy said he would fight any form of discrimination against Muslims in France, but added that they had to adapt themselves to the values of France's secular Republic and its strict neutrality in religious matters.

To be fair, Sarkozy has long been openly pro-assimilation. He has called for the burqa to be banned from the streets and has promoted a discussion of French identity.

How much should France worry? See a recent YouTube showing Muslims taking over a French street for Friday prayers: Islamisation de Paris - Rue Polonceau (27 novembre 2009)

More on the subject: GaliaWatch: Barbes - An Update

•   •   •  

Taxpayers bear the burden as refugee resettlement soars   [12/10/09]
Here's a fine informational op-ed from someone who is expert on the subject.

Considering that the refugee influx causes increases in all legal and illegal immigration as family and social networks are established in the U.S., the U.N. is effectively dictating much of U.S. immigration policy.
    A nonprofit nation of hundreds of taxpayer-funded organizations has grown up around refugee resettlement in the U.S. A government-funded study finds "U.S. resettlement communities are awash with ECBOs that exist in name only but provide little meaningful assistance." ECBO stands for Ethnic Community Based Organization, a government-defined category of grant recipients.
    The expansion of the fraud-prone refugee program and the transformation of refugee resettlement into a federal contracting business have given birth to a global refugee industry well-adapted to the federal grant and contract environment.
    Catholic Charities with its parent the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB ) is the largest refugee agency both nationally and in Nashville. It is neither a charity nor Catholic, but more an extension of a state welfare agency.
    Sixty-five percent of Catholic Charities USA's $3.6 billion annual budget comes from government sources. Refugee resettlement, a relatively small portion of its services, is covered by the government at closer to 100 percent. For nonprofits, it is profitable to be in refugee resettlement, and the executive directors of some of the 10 major resettlement agencies make almost as much as the president of the United States.
    Nashville Catholic Charities devotes about 26 percent of its budget to "immigrants and refugees," an amazingly high percentage considering most of that aid is going to recent refugee arrivals Ñ a fraction of 1 percent of Nashville's population. Interestingly, Tennessee recently put Nashville Catholic Charities in charge of distributing and monitoring federal "refugee" grant money to other NGOs in the state.

•   •   •  

George Jonas: What jihadists hate most   [12/09/09]
This article reflects on the video below, which deserves wide distribution because of the psychological issues it includes. The "former terrorist" interviewed was Dr. Tawfik Hamid of Cairo, who joined a terror group at the university where he studied medicine. But when his Islamist pals wanted him to bury a policeman alive, he decided a life dedicated to terror was not for him.

Later in the interview, in answer to the question of who is the "enemy" -- is it the West, any non-Muslim, the Jews -- Dr. Tawfik is unequivocal:
    "The West, but in particular, women's rights. Women's rights was the first enemy for us."
    He adds that it's strange feminism should have been the biggest gripe of jihadists, but it was. He is emphatic that this is why, wherever a "radical [Islamist] group" acquires power, the first thing it does is suppress women.
    "First thing, before anything else, they tell women not to go out, to wear the hijab ..."

According to Islam, tyranny begins at home. Enslaving the women of the family serves to indoctrinate young males into the oppression inherent in the ideology.
    The basic approach to the outer world -- submit to Islam or die -- depends on thug aptitude, not persuasion. Islam was famously spread by the sword, and even today brute strength and ruthlessness are valued. And a boy who can kill his sister for violating the family's "honor" makes a perfect assassin.

It's not altogether surprising that feminism looms larger among the grievances of Islamist militancy than the historic loss of the Caliphate, the Ottoman Empire, or even the "catastrophe" of a Jewish state in the Middle East. Cultures, like people, often have a greater tolerance for injury than for insult. When the West added the perceived "insult" of women's rights in the second half of the 20th century to the injury of outpacing, outperforming and outflanking the House of Islam in the first half, feminism emerged as the straw that broke the camel's back.
    Muslim supremacists might have coped with modernity relegating their culture to second place behind the runaway success of Western civilization, but couldn't tolerate a challenge to their status as patriarchs in their homes. Their chauvinistic strings, wound tight by the territorial, technological, military, geographic and economic reduction of Islam over the last 400 years, snapped when plucked under their own roofs by their own wives and daughters.

There's a lot good in the analysis directly above, although I have some quibbles. The extreme sexual repression enforced upon Muslim males has to be understood as central in creating an irrational fury against women, particularly since the genders are very segregated and premarital sex is strictly forbidden in the Islamic world. The poor economies in many countries provide few job opportunities, which prevents many from marrying until later. The situation creates enormous social pathology which is cruel beyond what most westerners can imagine.
    The anger erupts in expressions of violent harassment against women. For example, nearly two-thirds of Egyptian men admit sexually harassing women. Even Islamically dressed women in Saudi Arabia are often bothered unmercifully when they try to get a little exercise by walking. In 2006, bloggers reported hundreds of marauding males attacked women in downtown Cairo during celebrations of the end of Ramadan. When Muslim men immigrate to the West, gang rape of infidel women becomes a problem.
    So Muslim males tend to become miffed when they see western women acting as free individuals rather than Allah's doormats, as the doctor observed.

•   •   •  

Migrant numbers double in 30 years: One in ten living in the UK is now foreign-born   [12/09/09]
The crazed desire of political elites to import huge numbers of foreigners is not limited to the United States; Britain has a bad case, as shown by recent statistics.

The number of immigrants living in Britain has almost doubled in less than three decades, official figures show.
    More than 10 per cent of the population - 6.7million - were born abroad, the Office for National Statistics has found.
    The analysis shows that the count of those born abroad - now agreed to be the best figure for measuring the rate of immigration - is two million higher than it was just eight years ago.Ê

A recent poll showed this policy to be opposed by the people whose country it is: Two in three Britons think UK has immigration problem (Guardian, Dec 3)

One in five Britons, twice the European average, thought immigration was the most important issue facing the country. Only the Italians came close to sharing that view. While scepticism towards the benefits of immigration grew in all European countries, two out of three Britons, more than in all the other countries surveyed, thought immigration was more of a problem than an opportunity.

It's not a bad time to review the findings of a 2007 Pew Research Center study, World Publics Welcome Global Trade -- But Not Immigration. The point is that people don't want their home society swamped with strangers from a foreign culture. It's human nature to prefer one's own tribe.
    Given the worsened worldwide economy, it's likely the pro-restriction numbers would be higher today.

•   •   •  

Grandpa killed 3 minutes from home   [12/08/09]
After spending a July evening dining at a restaurant with his family, Leonard Dykstra (pictured) was struck down and killed on the way home by a drunk driving illegal alien.
    Efrain Garcia-Miron, whose blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit, pleaded guilty on Dec. 7 and will be sentenced in January.
    (The following article clip is from July 27.)

A Wyoming man had a blood-alcohol level of 0.179 -- more than twice the legal limit -- when he drove across the centerline and killed an 80-year-old man, court records show.
    The victim, Leonard Dykstra, a grandfather of five, died Friday night on the road just three minutes from his home.
    Efrain Garcia-Miron, 32, was arraigned Monday in 59th District Court on a charge of operating while impaired causing death. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison.
    Dykstra, a retired U.S. Postal worker, had spent Friday evening doing what he loved most, said his son, Brian Dykstra.
    He joined his family at Russ's Restaurant in Holland, where his granddaughter works. He made sure she waited on the family, he said.
    Then, it was onto his son's home in Hudsonville for more family time.
    "He wouldn't miss that," said his cousin, Marilyn Dykstra.
    Just before 10 p.m., he was headed home on a road he had taken often -- Wilson Avenue SW, near Johnson Park in Walker.
    "He was just minding his own business," said his cousin, John Dykstra, who also lives next door to the victim. "He's just driving home and here comes a guy over the hill."
    Records show a motorist watched as Garcia-Miron swerved "continuously" on southbound Wilson Avenue SW, just before crossing into Dykstra's northbound lane.
    When police arrived, Garcia-Miron smelled strongly of alcohol and appeared off-balance, police wrote in an affidavit.
    His driving record lists five moving violations since 2004, including speeding and running a stop sign, according to the Secretary of State.

Why wasn't the obviously dangerous foreigner checked for his immigration status and deported? Sadly, this tragic death of a beloved grandfather could have been prevented by proper functioning of law enforcement.

•   •   •  

Foreign-Born Make Up One in Six Workers in U.S., Report Shows   [12/08/09]
This just in from the Census Bureau: in a time of record unemployment, America has a record number of foreign-born workers occupying jobs.

Almost one in six people in the U.S. workforce in 2007 was foreign-born, the highest portion in at least 80 years, an analysis from the Census Bureau showed.
    Immigration policies had cut the size of the foreign-born labor force from about 19 percent of workers in 1920 to 5.2 percent in 1970, the agency said in the report yesterday. Policy changes starting in the 1960s have led to a "new wave of immigration," pushing the current level to about 16 percent, according to the report.
    Economic opportunity is a primary attraction for many immigrants to the U.S., and there are a greater number of foreign-born workers in the country than ever, the agency said in the report. Every industry group in the economy employs such workers, the agency said.
    The foreign-born participated in the labor force at a higher rate than the native-born, the analysis showed.
    Foreign-born workers were more likely to be male than native-born workers, more often less educated, and included higher proportions of workers in their late twenties and early thirties, the report said.

The Census' report is available here: The Foreign-Born Labor Force in the United States: 2007.

The chart below is from the Census paper. See the original for footnotes.

•   •   •  

Struggles of the second generation   [12/08/09]
The Washington Post had a rather serious article about the demographic changes facing the country. It features a former gangster, son of illegals, who dropped out of high school and is trying to make something of his life. His prospects don't look promising -- like millions of others on a one-way trip to the permanent hispanic underclass.
    There are statistics included to make sense of the dire demography.

Largely because of the growth of this second generation, Latino immigrants and their U.S.-born children and grandchildren will represent almost a third of the nation's working-age adults by mid-century, according to projections from U.S. Census Bureau data by Jeffrey S. Passel, a demographer with the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center in Washington.
    Not since the last great wave of immigration to the United States around 1900 has the country's economic future been so closely entwined with the generational progress of an immigrant group. And so far, on nearly every measure, the news is troubling.
    Second-generation Latinos have the highest high school dropout rate -- one in seven -- of any U.S.-born racial or ethnic group and the highest teen pregnancy rate. These Latinos also receive far fewer college degrees and make significantly less money than non-Hispanic whites and other second-generation immigrants.
    Their struggles have fueled an outcry for stricter immigration laws, with advocates saying that the rapid increase in Latino immigrants and their children has strained the United States' resources and social fabric.
    "The last 30 years of immigration have made our country more unequal, poorer than we would have been otherwise, more fractious and less cohesive," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, which favors tighter restrictions on immigration.

The graphs are sobering, particularly this one that shows the cultural divide between hispanic underachievers and other immigrants (like Asians, who arrive and attend the same schools but are successful):

•   •   •  

Binghamton Student Says He Warned Officials   [12/07/09]
A 46-year-old Saudi graduate student, Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani, stabbed a retired professor to death on Friday, and there are many questions to be answered. One is whether university officials ignored warning signs about violence because of political correctness (as apparently happened in the Virginia Tech massacre of dozens, where the killer was cut endless slack even after arson and stalking young women).

VESTAL, N.Y. - In this small upstate college town, there were many who tried to comprehend how a popular 77-year-old professor who championed antiwar philosophies would have come to such a violent end: stabbed to death in his office on Friday, by, the police said, a graduate student whom he knew.
    Then there were those who said they had noticed signs of erratic behavior by the suspect, a graduate student at Binghamton University, who, they said, was becoming increasingly fearful - so much so that his roommate said he had warned university officials of his concerns.
    The suspect, Abdulsalam S. al-Zahrani, 46, remained held without bail on Sunday, charged with second-degree murder in the death of the professor, Richard T. Antoun.
    The two knew each other through Binghamton's graduate program, where the professor served on the dissertation committee for Mr. Zahrani, who is from Saudi Arabia.
    On Sunday, Mr. Zahrani's roommates - who had lived with him for about three weeks in a three-bedroom apartment in downtown Binghamton - recounted how the suspect, who spoke of financial problems, often mentioned death and said he was being persecuted because he was Muslim.
    "I said he was acting oddly, like a terrorist," said one of the roommates, Souleymane Sakho, a graduate student from Senegal. "When I informed them, it was for them to understand that the guy was violent or he may be violent."

DR. RICHARD T. ANTOUN: REMEMBERED BY FRIENDS

Also, you have to wonder whether the killer was one of George Bush's 20,000 Saudi students (I can't find a date for Zahrani's enrollment.) At the time, I warned that Bush's ill considered poicy would endanger Americans for a silly idea, that exposing Saudis to American culture would make them less hostile. BS.
    Remember that many of the 9/11 hijackers had plenty of exposure to the West, e.g. leader Mohamed Atta, who had studied architecture at a German university, and Ziad Jarrah, who attended a Catholic school in Lebanon. The power of the dark side is strong.

•   •   •  

U.S. sees homegrown Muslim extremism as rising threat   [12/07/09]
For years, the pro-immigration cheerleaders insisted that America did immigrant assimilation better than Europe, so there was no reason to fear Muslim immigrants turning into bombers. However, recent events have made that fable difficult to maintain, e.g. the Fort Hood Islam-inspired mass murder, the dozens of Somali residents returning home to wage jihad, and the arrests of Qaeda-connected terrorists (e.g. Najibullah Zazi).
    There has definitely been an uptick in the last year; do bad guys see the weak, Islam-friendly President as a sign to go ahead?

Europe had been the front line, the target of successive attacks and major plots, while the U.S. remained relatively calm. But the number, variety and scale of recent U.S. cases suggest 2009 has been the most dangerous year domestically since 2001, anti-terrorism experts said:
•   There were major arrests of Americans accused of plotting with Al Qaeda and its allies, including an Afghan American charged in a New York bomb plot described as the most serious threat in this country since the Sept. 11 attacks.
•   Authorities tracked other extremism suspects joining foreign networks, including Somali Americans going to the battlegrounds of their ancestral homeland and an Albanian American from Brooklyn who was arrested in Kosovo.
•   The FBI rounded up homegrown terrorism suspects in Dallas, Detroit and Raleigh, N.C., saying that it had broken up plots targeting a synagogue, government buildings and military facilities.
    Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano issued her strongest public comments yet on the homegrown threat.
    "We've seen an increased number of arrests here in the U.S. of individuals suspected of plotting terrorist attacks, or supporting terror groups abroad such as Al Qaeda," Napolitano said in a speech in New York. "Home-based terrorism is here. And, like violent extremism abroad, it will be part of the threat picture that we must now confront."

Other quotes are surprisingly truthful as well:

"You are seeing the full spectrum of the threats you face in terrorism," former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said.
    "Radicalization is clearly happening in the U.S.," said Mitchell Silber, director of analysis for the Intelligence Division of the New York Police Department. "In years past, you couldn't say that about the U.S. You could say it about Europe." [...]
    "People focused on the idea that we're different, we're better at integrating Muslims than Europe is," said Zeyno Baran, a scholar at the Hudson Institute, a think tank in Washington. "But there's radicalization -- especially among converts [and] newcomers, such as the Somali case shows. I think young U.S. Muslims today are as prone to radicalization as Muslims in Europe." [...] "You can be middle-class and have bright prospects but become a jihadist," [scholar Farhad Khosrokhavar] said. "We have to broaden the analysis. This idea of American exceptionalism, the comparison with Europe, should not blind us to the fact that we are going toward a broader participation in jihad."

However, the sensible idea of ending Muslim immigration does not appear.

•   •   •  

Zulu king wins South Africa bull-killing case   [12/06/09]
In South Africa, bull sacrifice is apparently highly valued, and a brutal-sounding custom was recently decided in court to be acceptable.

A bull-killing ritual can go ahead on Saturday after a court ruled against an animal rights group which tried to have the practice banned in South Africa.
    The bull is killed during the Ukushwama ritual, an annual thanksgiving event in Kwa-Zulu Natal, in which youngsters kill the animal using their hands.
    Animal Rights Africa took the Zulu king and the government to court over the manner in which the bull is killed. [...]
    ARA claimed that the killing took some 40 minutes and involved dozens of men trampling on the beast as they tried to break its neck.
    The organisation described the killing as "cruel and protracted".

"Animal sacrifice is a vital part of life for many South Africans"

In a possibly related item, the upcoming World Cup soccer tournament to be held in South Africa may have similar rituals: World Cup to be "blessed" with slaughtered cows.

This was the week in which FIFA chief Sepp Blatter laughed at poor old Ireland, Avram Grant was likened to Yoda, Manchester City were rebranded as Manchester United, Arsene Wenger spat the dummy and South Africa proposed to slaughter a cow at every World Cup venue.

How welcoming of the South Africans to share local customs with visitors. After all, soccer is arguably the most diverse sport -- it is played around the world with great passion, as shown by a recent ruckus in France: Angry Algerians Rumble in Marseille over Cairo Soccer Loss.

•   •   •  

Mixteco-speaking immigrants struggle to make a life near Othello   [12/06/09]
This article from Washington state may reveal more than the reporter intended about the cultural chasm between some "immigrants" and our own society. Also, they come to America for the money only.
    How diverse are Mixtecs? Many don't speak Spanish which indicates they were not assimilated to the majority culture of their home country. This group is another addition to the permanent immigrant underclass of Mexicans, whose rejection of education assimilation (even several generations along) assures their lack of success.
    Oh, and there's no mention in the article of the Mixtecs' immigration status. Are we supposed to assume lawfulness? It would make no sense given the history of this tribe and Mexicans generally.

OTHELLO, Wash. -- In a bleak housing project west of this small rural town, the Mexican farm workers living here murmur to each other in a dialect many of them don't want their children to learn.
    It's called Mixteco, one of the dozens of dialects spoken by Latin America's indigenous people.
    For these immigrants, Spanish is a second language. Many don't speak it.
    "I want my children to learn Spanish," said Isabel Reyes, a 31-year-old who speaks to them in broken Spanish. "And English. I want them to go to school and get good jobs so they don't have to work in the fields like we do."

Nice priorities -- Spanish, then English. For the money, not to join the American community.

Indigenous people like her are the Native Americans of Mexico and Central America.
    They have been coming to the United States for as long as Mexicans have been immigrating here -- although in dramatically higher numbers over the past three decades.
    Nationwide, the federal government estimates that 17 percent of farm workers are indigenous.
    They first arrived in California -- at least 500,000 indigenous Mexicans still live there -- and slowly migrated north into Oregon and Washington, following other Mexican immigrants to jobs in agriculture and restaurants.
    Now, their migration has brought them over the Cascades and into Eastern Washington, mostly to Othello, Quincy and Mattawa.
    Only a few dozen Mixteco-speaking immigrants live in the Yakima Valley. Ê
    Othello, with a population of about 5,800, is home to the state's highest concentration of Mixtecos.
    As many as 800 people from the highlands of southern Mexico live here -- often in cold, cramped duplexes and mobile homes outside of the city's quiet downtown.

Some of these Mexican tribal people are quite diveerse, as I learned when researching the case of the illegal alien father residing in central California who sold his 14-year-old daughter for a stash of beer and other beverages. He is a member of the Triqui tribe, which has other colorful marriage practices, including kidnapping and polygamy ("Grapes of Wrath' south of the border)...

Indians have brought with them a number of traditions that grated against life outside Oaxaca. One of them was courting. Indian courting can look a lot like kidnapping and statutory rape. Men take wives, literally. Sometimes they run off with them. Sometimes the wives are well under 18. Arranged marriages are common. Triquis are known to practice polygamy and sometimes to sell wives.

Now how is it we are supposed to benefit from this diversity???

•   •   •  

9/11 families rally against NYC terror trials   [12/05/09]
A spirited demonstration was held Saturday in New York City to protest the Attorney General's decision to hold a civil trial there rather than go with the military tribunals that Congress created for that purpose.

Several hundred people rallied in the rain near Manhattan's federal courthouse complex today to protest the plan to put major terrorism suspects on trial in New York City.
    Demonstrators at the Saturday event included the actor Brian Dennehy and a number of people who lost friends and relatives in the 9/11 attacks.
    Anger at the Obama administration ran hot in the crowd. One person held up a sign calling Attorney General Eric Holder "disgraceful and despicable." Another sign said "Obama/Holder ... Jihad from within."
    Opponents of the plan say that a New York trial could again make the city a terrorism target, and that the five suspects should instead face a military tribunal.

To see a great bunch of photos of the event, check out Urban Infidel. Below is a short video from the same source.

•   •   •  

Prison for driver who killed girl   [12/05/09]
The illegal alien whose reckless driving caused the death of four-year-old Josie Bluhm (pictured) was sentenced on Friday. The good news is that Eleazar Rangel-Ochoa got the maximum prison term; the bad news is that it's only six years.
    He crashed into the Bluhm vehicle after he ran a red light driving with no license on the way to the job he held unlawfully. He had been arrested three times for drunk driving but was not deported.

A solemn Douglas County District Judge J Russell Derr sentenced Rangel-Ochoa to 32 months to six years years in prison Ð the maximum sentence for misdemeanor motor-vehicle homicide and for felony driving while he was suspended.
    Rangel-Ochoa, 27, ran a red light about 7:30 a.m. May 12 Ð crashing a truck into a van driven by Jayme Bluhm and carrying the Bluhms' three children.
    Josie's father, Kyle, and mother, Jayme, tearfully talked about their bubbly daughter. With her blonde-hair and a button nose, their middle child had an infectious personality.
    Jayme Bluhm had been headed to day care to drop off her children, then ages 5, 4 and 1. The collision ejected Josie, 4, and caused her death.
    Josie's then-5-year-old brother and best friend, Cayden, suffered six broken bones in the crash.
    Rangel-Ochoa, an illegal immigrant, had lost his license for 15 years after his third drunken-driving conviction in 2003.
    He wasn't drunk on May 12 Ð hence the misdemeanor motor-vehicle homicide charge.
    The case sparked concern about why Rangel-Ochoa hadn't been deported after his 2003 conviction. His previous attorney has said that immigration officials now are more stringent and that Rangel-Ochoa wouldn't be treated with such leniency today. He likely will face deportation after he serves his sentence.

Josie's parents, Kyle and Jayme Bluhm (above), spoke about the heartache of losing their beloved little girl, like setting the table for four instead of five. Josie had thought she wanted to be a teacher like her dad, but all those plans for the future are gone now.

See my original report: Illegal Alien Causes Crash: Little Girl Dead in Omaha

•   •   •  

Secret Service: No more threats against Obama than Bush, Clinton   [12/04/09]
There's nothing like a nice Congressional hearing to help puncture convenient myths. Now we learn that Obie has been no more threatened than his predecessors.

President Barack Obama is not facing more threats to his life or security than the previous two presidents, according to the Secret Service.
    At a hearing Thursday, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan said "the threats right now in the inappropriate interest that we are seeing is the same level as it has been for the previous two presidents at this point."

•   •   •  

Helping Mexico Help Itself   [12/04/09]
This largely good article is a reminder that otherwise intelligent people can recognize the symptoms of a problem, but still don't understand how the size and stubborn intractability of culture means that easy solutions are not possible.

Mexico's problems have not changed much in 500 years. The country has never managed to organize itself into a liberal democracy founded on the habit of inquiry, an engaged citizenry, and the rule of law. Its people endured centuries of domination as a colony of Spain, decades of war and tyranny after independence, and a decade-long revolution, begun in 1910, that killed 2 million people and replaced one autocracy with another. For the rest of the century, power was concentrated in an immense political corporationÑthe Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)Ñand in a succession of presidents who ruled like kings. Even the PRI's defeat in 2000 by Vicente Fox and the conservative National Action Party (PAN) has not brought much democracy: its main effect has been to weaken the presidency and to set off a free-for-all among political parties, state governments, and the big unions, bureaucracies, and businesses that control them. Unchecked by executive power, these institutions are authoritarian, averse to change, and corrupt; Mexicans joke that theirs is the first country in history to move from monarchy backward to feudalism.

That's a pretty damning assessment of 500 years of Mexican history, and the writer continues at length in this vein about failing politics, the worst educated students, hopelessly overregulated business, growing drug addiction, continuing cartel violence, general fear of crime, etc.
    Yet author Shepard Barbash (a Houston Chronicle reporter) thinks that more partnership would be a swell thing for the Mexes, and would make them less troublesome for us. That's not much of a payoff for our investment, which has no assurance of success. (Calderon's war against the cartels is not going that well despite Washington's generosity in helping.)

More broadly, the best way to strengthen Mexico and ease the pressure of illegal immigration is to stimulate free trade and investment to promote the continent's competitiveness. The goal should be to create regional mechanisms like NAFTA that are accountable to each country's people but that strengthen Mexico's institutions in a range of areas, including economic regulation, competition, and monetary policy.
    America should also continue to help Mexico fight the drug cartels. Calderon has won support from the U.S. Congress, which last year approved $1.4 billion in security aid for Mexico, and from President Obama, who has stepped up efforts to interdict illegal weapons and cash flowing into Mexico from the U.S.
    We could increase support, too, for Calderon's effort to build a competent national police force. The U.S. Agency for International Development, which has given grants that are stimulating judicial reforms in Chihuahua and other states, might fund efforts to improve how states and municipalities screen, train, deploy, monitor, and reward their security forces. We might also consider funding border cities or states to work with their neighbors in the U.S. to prevent smuggling, illegal immigration, and crime.

Why do these brilliant solutions to Mexico's problems always involve large expenditures of American tax money? Mexico is rich (now ranking #13 in the world for GDP) and could easily invest in its own development, but has become accustomed to receiving the benificence of Uncle Sucker. Why should they change, particularly now with spendaholics installed in Washington?
    Despite many efforts to help a malajusted neighbor, America should realize its geography is unlucky, situated as it is next door to the new narco-hub of the Western Hemisphere. Any money expended concerning Mexico should be for a bigger wall and more border enforcement.

•   •   •  

Recovering stolen jobs is key to American recovery   [12/03/09]
This idea is taking way too long to filter out through the media.
    Rep. Lamar Smith lays down the simple numbers:

If President Barack Obama could snap his fingers and create 8 million new jobs, would you want him to do it? I would. And certainly the 15 million unemployed Americans would, as well.
    The good news is that the president can do just that - implement a policy that opens up 8 million jobs.ÊThe bad news is that he won't.
    Four weeks ago, after the administration announced that the unemployment rate had hit 10.2 percent and 190,000 jobs were lost in October alone, 21 of my colleagues and I wrote to the president to recommend enforcing current immigration laws to open up jobs for citizens and legal immigrants.ÊThe White House has yet to respond.
    And this week, notably absent from the president's jobs summit is any discussion of how to take back the 8 million jobs currently occupied by illegal immigrants and make them available to out-of-work U.S. citizens and legal immigrants.
    Instead, the Obama administration has taken the opposite approach to the stolen-jobs problem.ÊRather than ensuring that American jobs are reserved for legal workers, the administration continues to pursue amnesty.ÊBut legalizing 11 million illegal immigrants will only further harm American workers, making it harder for citizens and legal immigrants to get and keep long-term jobs.ÊÊ

Meanwhile, the President is holding a mega-PR stunt, er, job summit today, with no spokespersons for this viewpoint. In the interests of fair and balanced, there's no indication that the alternative Republican meeting will consider busting the millions of illegal alien job thieves either.

Rep. Steve King made a statement supporting enforcement at the recent "American Jobs in Peril" forum (transcript).

Steve Camarota is the research wizard at CIS and presented a large selection of statistics about employment.

There are other videos of statements from the November 26 hearing at CIS's YouTube channel -- lots of good stuff.

•   •   •  

Outrage on Swiss minaret vote, but how do Muslim states handle churches?   [12/02/09]
The big hint is don't plan on attending church during your next Saudi vacation.
    Yep, the Muslims are squawking big decibels about the Swiss vote banning minarets. One example beyond the usual noise: a Turkish minister has called for a boycott of Swiss banks.
    But in the vast reaches of Allahstan, churches are largely verboten or highly restricted.

1. Indonesia. In a state with large minority populations of Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and animists, the US State department reported in 2009 that at least 9 churches Ð and 12 mosques associated with the Ahmadiyya Islamic sect (which mainstream Muslim groups consider heretical) Ð were forced shut by violence or intimidation from community groups, and that a number of churches and Hindu temples have struggled to receive official permits in recent years. The Indonesian government has on a number of occasions stepped in to prevent church construction, largely over fears that it would stoke sectarian violence. But religious practice, by and large, is freer in Indonesia than most other Muslim majority states.

2. Egypt. The country has a sizeable minority of Eastern Orthodox Christians, or Copts. By law, their churches must receive the permission of local Muslim communities before new construction is allowed. The State Department's religious freedom report on Egypt in 2009 says in part: "Church and human rights leaders complain that many local officials intentionally delay the permit process. They charge that some local authorities refuse to process applications without 'supporting documents' that are virtually impossible to obtain."

Curiously, the lefty Huffpo blog has a thoughtful commentary on the vote: The Real Reasons Why the Swiss Voted to Ban Minarets.

A majority of Swiss voters obviously feels that there are problems with Muslim integration into civil society at the moment. This vague sentiment was fueled by a number of incidents over the last years: The former Imam of a mosque in Geneva, Hani Ramadan, a Swiss citizen by the way, publicly justified the stoning of adulterers or the punitive amputation of the hand of a thief. Muslim parents prevented their daughters from attending swimming classes, gymnastics or summer camps in public schools because they didn't want their girls to be together with boys. Media reports about forced marriages, female genital mutilations and "honor killings" of Muslim women - all confirmed by authorities or in court -- came as a shocking surprise. A university professor even went as far as to suggest in an official publication of a federal commission to introduce elements of the Sharia, the Muslim legal system, into Switzerland. [...]
    It would be utterly wrong -- and dangerous -- to think that this was primarily a racist vote. I'm convinced that the post-electoral analysis will show that a significant part of the (anti-racist) left and an overwhelming majority of the women supported the ban -- not because they are afraid of minarets, but because they are worried about the role (some would say: about the oppression) of women in Islamic societies and about the role of religion in public life. This is, in my opinion, an entirely legitimate discussion that we have to have and must not suppress.

It's a promising sign that European women are rejecting kumbaya propaganda about diversity and recognizing the danger that political Islam represents. Burqas are chains.

•   •   •  

Black Market Butchers Continue Killing Pet Horses   [12/01/09]
Several arrests have been made since September for the horribly brutal slaughter of horses in south Florida to feed the diverse tastes of immigrants. But the incarceration of a few won't stop this crime: there is too much money to be made for killing a family's pet horse and selling the meat.
    In fact, blackmarket horse meat is increasing in value, perhaps because of the crackdown. In July, the black-market price was reported to be $7-$20 per pound (Horse slaughters have Miami-area owners on edge), and now the street value is $40 for that amount, meaning an entire animal can bring $8000 for a night's cruelty.

[SPCA investigator Richard] Couto said it's a third world custom, where horse meat is not only a delicacy but a magic elixir.
    "They think that horse meat is a cure-all, that it's going to cure blood disorders," said Couto. "It's going to cure AIDS -- that it helps with the side effects from chemotherapy." [...]
    "My horse was tied to a palm tree," said Ivonne Rodriguez. "His throat was slit, OK? And he wasn't dead when they were taking meat off his body."
    Ivonne Rodriguez wants justice for Geronimo. Four people have been arrested so far.
    Santiago Cabrera and Luis Miguel Cordero admitted they sat on the horses and held their mouths closed while they butchered them alive.

Watch the accompanying video from the TV report: Horse Meat Black Market Delicacy.

One of the admirable facets of Western civilization that is little appreciated by its inhabitants is the abhorrence toward animal cruelty, a cultural value that is not shared in much of the world.
    In some places, gratuitous brutality is regarded as fun or sporting, as in parts of China and the Philippines where bloody horse-fighting is popular. Animals that are injured are often butchered and barbecued for the crowd.
    In Mexico, horse meat is commonly eaten, and Mexican slaughterhouses are known for their cruel methods of dispatching the animals.
    For more about diverse harm toward innocent creatures, see my 2006 article Diversity Is Strength! It's Also... Cruelty To Animals

•   •   •  

Obama aunt anguished by separation   [12/01/09]
The President's illegal alien aunt is back, complaining now about her distraught emotional state while she continues to live rather well on the backs of the taxpayers. Zeituni Onyango lives in comfortable subsidized housing in Boston and dresses quite nicely for a welfare case. She is also an alien absconder who was ordered deported but failed to leave.
    She grumbles about being cut off from her only American relatives -- the ones who reside in the White House -- although she has plenty of family back home in Kenya. (Polygamy does spawn lots of kinfolk.)

Onyango, the half sister of Obama's late father, said she has exiled herself from the family after attending Obama's inauguration because she didn't want to become fodder for his foes. Obama and his family have not reached out to her either, she said.
    "Before, we were family. But right now, there is a lot of politics, and me, I am not interested in any politics at all," said Onyango, whose appeal for asylum from her native Kenya is before an immigration judge in Boston.
    The Obamas are her only family in the United States, she said.
    "It is very sad when such a thing happens. There are people, outsiders, you know, they come in between, they divide a family," she said last week. "It's not easy."
    Onyango, 57, is protective of Obama and said she never asked him to intervene in her case and didn't tell him about her immigration difficulties.

She does't have to beg for more goodies from her nephew: the system is already abuser-friendly. The judge knows who she is and doesn't want any mysterious trouble. That's why he postponed her asylum hearing until February, probably hoping that something would turn up to rescue him.
    Plus, Auntie Mooch lives in Massachusetts, where one of the President's pals is governor. Deval Patrick is not about to cut the woman's benefits.

Onyango helped care for the president's half brothers and sister while living with Barack Obama Sr. in Kenya. She moved to the United States in 2000 and applied for asylum in 2002, but her request was rejected and she was ordered deported in 2004.
    However, she did not leave the country and continued to live in public housing in Boston. She had been a health care volunteer but not since her status became public. She refused to discuss how she affords to live now or who is paying for her attorney. [...]
    Her attorney, Margaret Wong, said Onyango first applied for asylum because of violence in Kenya, an East African nation fractured by cycles of electoral violence every five years. People who seek asylum must show that they face persecution in their homeland on the basis of religion, race, nationality, political opinion or membership in a social group.
    Immigration experts say Onyango's relationship to the president could strengthen her claim that she would be subjected to danger at home.

Ridiculous. None of the President's many African relatives have had any difficulties at all. In fact, their celebrity is rewarded; for instance Obie's grandmother was recently invited to celebrate the hajj in Mecca.

Aunt Zeituni put out some sniffles for her AP interview, below...

•   •   •  

 

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