LTG: Archive June 2007

LimitsToGrowth Archive

June 2007

Sharp Reaction to Immigration Bill's Defeat [6/30/07]
Unsurprisingly, our parasitic southern neighbors are miffed that the Senate bill failed and therefore borders were not opened wider for their convenience.

MEXICO CITY, June 29 -- Latin America reacted with sharp disappointment Friday to the U.S. Senate's defeat of an immigration bill, a decision that Mexican President Felipe Calderon called "a grave error" and Salvadoran President Elas Antonio Saca said was "a pity." [...]
In an editorial published Friday, the Mexico City newspaper El Universal said it is "highly hypocritical that the United States admits migrants as peasants, but does not accept them as citizens. A state that sends troops to the Middle East to try to implant democracy and respect for human rights does not practice such supreme values in its own territory."

As usual, the professional Mexican whiners are full of it. The United States has the most generous system of legal immigration on earth, and much of it is based on family ties, so millions of "peasants" have in fact become citizens.
Latin politicians care only about the remittances sent by their nation's escapees that keep their corrupt states afloat. El Salvador received $3.3 billion in remittances in 2006, nearly all from Salvadorans living in the U.S. PBS has said that remittance money there "dwarfs every other industry."
Mexico is the biggest remittance junky, however, with $23 billion received in 2006. Millions of Mexican families depend on money sent from relatives in the United States, a situation that does not foster pressure on Mexico's government for economic reform. It's so much easier for pundits and pols to complain about America!
See the VDARE.com version, Spanish Whiner Chorus Pipes Up

• • •

Best Amnesty Loser Pic? [6/30/07]
What's with all the brown??

Republican amnesty losers

• • •

Hopes dashed for many immigrant workers [6/29/07]
Let the Boo Hooey begin! Hopes dashed - no amnesty
Now that the treasonous Senate amnesty bill has been put down at least until 2009, the usual media suspects are outraged that their favorite victim class won't be getting a trough of goodies, at least not right away.
The cruelty! No rights for the poor downtrodden "immigrants" in search of a better life. Tears of unhappiness are being shed because selfish Americans refuse to share the wealth with the billions of less fortunate who would like to come here.
At least that's the script from much of the press.
Reuters was less than subtle in showing its liberal indignation against Americans for insisting upon laws and borders.

PHOENIX - For day laborers seeking work in a sun-baked parking lot on Thursday, defeat of President Bush's plans for an immigration overhaul has set back their dreams of a normal life. [...]
Back in the parking lot, where the temperature hit 107 degrees in the shade, day laborer Bonifacio Sosa said the Senate's move would keep him on the margins of society and on the run from police.
"We are illegals, we are just trash to them, and we'll just have to carry on here in the shadows hiding from everyone," said Sosa, 58, who has raised four children since arriving in the United States 14 years ago.

The guy has gotten free educations for four kids and has probably not spent a cent in taxes beyond sales tax, yet all he can do is complain. If life in the shadows is so terrible, then he can easily go home. Boo hooey indeed!

• • •

Feds warn of new slavery [6/29/07]
Here's another ugly aspect to open borders, the increased opportunity for criminals to oppress foreigners in the most basic way.

The U.S. government estimates that 600,000 to 800,000 of the roughly 10 million people who cross international borders every year become trafficking victims. In the United States, "between 14,500 to 17,500 people are enslaved or forced into unthinkable situations each year," Lorentzen said. "Victims are held in psychological or physical bondage, terrorized and dehumanized."
Americans who come into contact with immigrants may stumble across this modern-day version of slavery, said T. March Bell, the U.S. Department of Justice's senior prosecutor for trafficking cases.
"A cable installer in Los Angeles found a maid living in a closet," Bell said. The maid -- a Filipina immigrant -- was forced to work for an electronics executive and his doctor wife "for 10 years without pay," Bell said.

However, mistreatment is no reason to allow victims to remain permanently in the United States. See my letter against victim visas in the Chronicle.

• • •

Cloture Voted Down; Senate Amnesty Bill Shelved [6/28/07]
It's VICTORY! A big one. Roy Beck sent around an email that said "This is one of the biggest victories I've ever seen for grassroots activism."
Absolutely. The whole thing switched overnight. As noted in the post immediately below, the vote was too close to call just yesterday. Bush and other ruling elites were twisting arms and handing out pork to Senators who would comply. It could only have been the impassioned voice of the American people who insist that immigration be legal and the borders must be secured. Sen Sessions said this morning just before the vote that the Senate phone system had closed down because of the huge number of calls.
Senator DeMint was a core leader against the amnesty bill and issued a statement, "The American People Won Today"

"When the U.S. Senate brought the Amnesty bill back up this week, they declared war on the American people. This act created a crisis of confidence in their government. Thankfully, the American people won today," said Senator DeMint. "This is remarkable because it shows that Americans are engaged and they care deeply about their country. They care enough for their country to get mad and to fight for it, and that's the most important thing of all. Americans made phone calls and sent letters, and convinced the Senate to stop this bill."
"The Senate rejected this bill and the heavy-handed tactics used to ram it through. Americans do not want more of the same — amnesty and broken promises on the border. Americans want legislation to be written in public — not in secret — and they want Congress to engage in an open and fair debate."
"There is a better way forward without this bill. The President has said that the border security measures can be implemented over the next 18 months, and they can be done under current law. Now the Administration needs to prove it and stop holding border security hostage for amnesty."
"Once we have secured the border and restored trust with the American people, we can begin to take additional steps."

Below, Senate anti-amnesty point man Jeff Sessions and Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) enjoy a victory handshake. Jeff Sessions with John Shadegg

See more detailed VDARE.com version We Love the Smell of Victory.

• • •

Doubts Emerge About Passage of Immigration Bill [6/27/07]
The Senate amnesty bill is turning into a nail-biter. It's open-borders proponents no longer count it as a slam-dunk, but there are a lot of integrity challenged Senators teetering on the fence, so it could go either way. Sen. Reid's heavy-handed-shenanigans in running the unprecedented "clay pigeon" strategy may backfire.

The bill is in more danger "than I thought a few hours ago," Senator Christopher Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, told Bloomberg News. His comments came after the Senate voted down several attempts to make the immigration bill stricter, including one that would have barred illegal immigrants from a chance for eventual citizenship.
But the bill's very fate was in doubt as senators who voted Tuesday to allow the bill to go forward said today that they were either now against allowing a vote on final passage or were inclined that way.
The wavering senators were Richard Burr of North Carolina, Christopher Bond of Missouri, John Ensign of Nevada and Pete Domenici of New Mexico, all Republicans, and Jim Webb and Ben Nelson of Nebraska, according to Bloomberg News.
The stances of those six are crucial, since all voted Tuesday to allow the debate to proceed. That cloture motion got 64 "yes" votes, or four more than necessary under Senate rules.

See also Robert Rector's explanation about how the dangers to taxpayers are discounted: Spinning the Real Costs of Illegals

• • •

'Amnesty' fake papers pledged in wiretap [6/27/07]
The amnesty bill is still being debated in the Senate, while crafty Mexicans are already working on fake papers to sell to ineligible foreigners. Who says Mexicans aren't entrepreneurial?

The head of a Mexican forgery ring was convinced he could make phony documents that illegal aliens could use to indicate fraudulently that they were eligible for a new amnesty, says a government affidavit recounting wiretapped phone calls the man made.
Julio Leija-Sanchez, who ran a $3 million-a-year forgery operation before he was arrested in April, was expecting Congress to pass a legalization program, which he called "amnesty," and said he could forge documents to fool the U.S. government into believing illegal aliens were in the country in time to qualify for amnesty, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent said in the affidavit.

• • •

Bowling with Our Own [6/26/07]
No-nonsense columnist John Leo observes the fascinating investigations done by Harvard Prof Robert Putnam which have shown that diversity reduces trust. But being a liberal, Putnam has sought to difuse and obscure the meaning of his research because he didn't like the anti-multicultural outcome.

In the 41 sites Putnam studied in the U.S., he found that the more diverse the neighborhood, the less residents trust neighbors. This proved true in communities large and small, from big cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Boston to tiny Yakima, Washington, rural South Dakota, and the mountains of West Virginia. In diverse San Francisco and Los Angeles, about 30 percent of people say that they trust neighbors a lot. In ethnically homogeneous communities in the Dakotas, the figure is 70 percent to 80 percent. [...]
Putnam has long been aware that his findings could have a big effect on the immigration debate. Last October, he told the Financial Times that "he had delayed publishing his research until he could develop proposals to compensate for the negative effects of diversity." He said it "would have been irresponsible to publish without that," a quote that should raise eyebrows. Academics aren't supposed to withhold negative data until they can suggest antidotes to their findings.

This result should be no surprise. All people like to be around others who share their values, speak their language and understand their jokes. That's human nature. Community is based upon similarities, not differences.
See also my blog, Social Engineering in Green Bay and Beyond

• • •

First big wave of Iraqi refugees heads for the US [6/25/07]
This is such an obnoxious policy decision. American soldiers are fighting in Iraq, but thousands of Iraqis get to escape to the safety of Detroit and beyond.

On Tuesday, the Abbas family will take their five small suitcases, close the door on the small flat they've rented for the past year in Amman, Jordan, and start a journey that will eventually taken them to Lansing, Mich. They are in the vanguard of what's likely to become — if the history of American wars is anything to go by — the latest wave of immigrants to have an impact on the demographics of the US.
In February, the US agreed to accept 7,000 Iraqi refugees this year, a large jump over the fewer than 700 Iraqis accepted by the US in the first three years of the war but a drop in the ocean when measured against the estimated 2 million Iraqis who have fled the country since the war began. About 2,000 of those Iraqis coming this year, say refugee officials, will start their lives anew in Michigan.

We all know that the 7,000 Iraq refugees will be the proverbial camel's nose under the tent for a massive and dangerous influx of Muslims into America that will not ferret out extremists

• • •

U.S. fight back to beat Mexico 2-1 in final [6/24/07]
Landon Donovan after soccer win over Mexico in Chicago Sweet that the American soccer team smacked down Mexico today, after being behind by a point in the Chicago match-up..

The United States came from a goal down to win the Gold Cup for the fourth time with a 2-1 victory over Mexico in an entertaining final on Sunday.
Mexico took the lead a minute before the break through Andres Guardado but the U.S. drew level with a Landon Donovan penalty in the 62nd minute and 10 minutes later Benny Feilhaber grabbed the winner with a superb volley.

The rivalry between the teams goes beyond normal sports competition. The state of near warfare that exists on the border and in places of intense Mexican invasion is mirrored on the field. American star Landon Donovan (shown) has had to put up with a lot of BS, including death threats. But he gives back as good as he gets.
The soccer situation reveals that Presidente Bush is full of beans when he characterizes Mexicans as our friendly neighbors. In fact, they hate us, as shown in polling and behavior.
Another measure of Mexicans obsession with beating the US at soccer was the low turnout at an invader rights rally in Hollywood, attributed to Mexicans staying home to watch the match. The local commies of ANSWER-LA expected 15,000 Marxicans but fewer than 1,000 showed up.
As a result of American disinterest in soccer and the Mexican invasion, the US team doesn't get a lot of encouragement from the crowd. "Against Mexico, it's always an away game," according to midfielder DaMarcus Beasley.
Beasley also reports that "Landon is the most hated U.S. guy in Mexico."
More than Tom Tancredo? Excellent!
VDARE.com version: US Creams Mexico in Soccer

• • •

Changing the Color of Green Bay [6/24/07]
The diversity do-gooders of Green Bay Wisconsin have decided that the community is too white and something must be done.

A group of Green Bay community leaders says the city lacks diversity, and they're on a mission to change that. A new committee's goal is to create more culture in Green Bay.
According to the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asians combined make up 20 percent of Green Bay's population. This new group, the Diversity Committee, wants to increase that number and is determined to make it happen.

Note the curious belief that America has no culture, and we must import it from elsewhere.
A recent study found that while diversity is widely considered as a positive aspect in society, its boosters are a little vague on what the idea actually means: U of M study finds that Americans couch feelings about race in the 'happy talk' of diversity-speak

"The public debates and talk-show lamentations about immigration and political correctness leave many Americans to assume there's a big divide in the country between those who value diversity and those who reject it," said Doug Hartmann, associate sociology professor, who coauthored the study with graduate student Joyce Bell. "The fact is, most Americans value diversity - but they see it as a benefit with the potential cost of cultural disunity and social instability." See the longer VDARE version Social Engineering in Green Bay and Beyond

• • •

Talk Shows Influence Immigration Debate [6/23/07]
We would be deep in Mexification if not for conservative talk radio and the internet. However, some of the radio personalities named in this article are comparatively new to the issue. Even icon Rush Limbaugh has been slow on the uptake, preferring to defend the Mexichurian President years after it was clear that Bush was an open-borders globalist.
For kick-ass border defenders, southern Californians Terry Anderson, Doug McIntire, Roger Hedgecock and John and Ken were out in front.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., the key conservative negotiator behind the compromise bill, told reporters Friday that California-based radio host Hugh Hewitt "had several ideas" that "we are trying to include" in amendments to be offered in an upcoming series of crucial votes.
Hewitt, a conservative who has criticized many aspects of the bill, had Kyl as a guest on Thursday and asked: "Does the bill provide for any separate treatment of aliens, illegal aliens from countries of special concern?"
Kyl replied: "It's going to, as a result of your lobbying efforts to me."

Another loophole discovered! Pathetic that a supposed conservative like Kyl couldn't be bothered to consider a vital aspect of national security while holding hands with Ted Kennedy in their "grand compromise." The "countries of special concern" mentioned by Hewitt are those deemed to support terrorism, according to the State Department. Have these Senators forgotten about 9/11? You would think that it had never happened.
See also the Washington Times article on the effect of non-MSM on the immigration debate, Bloggers, radio reshaping bill on immigration.

NumbersUSA, a grass-roots organization that opposes the bill, is running television ads in South Carolina attacking Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who the ad says "joined with Ted Kennedy in strong-arming senators to support amnesty." A similar ad is scheduled for Kentucky, tying Republican senator and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to Mr. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat.

• • •

Border Justice [6/22/07]
Investors Business Daily notes that when the jury in the retrial of Border Patrol Agent David Sipes had all the facts presented, it took less than an hour to acquit. Yet Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean still languish in jail. (Shown at right, Agent Ramos and wife Monica.) Agent NAcho Ramos and wife

Former Border Patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos are serving 12 and 11 years, respectively, for the nonfatal 2005 shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila. The agents shot Davila in the buttocks as he was transporting more than 700 pounds of marijuana into the U.S. through Fabens, Texas. Davila was given immunity to testify against the two agents.
Davila was caught smuggling more drugs into the U.S. in October 2005 while under immunity for the first offense.
As Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R.-Calif., has pointed out, "The prime witness against these two Border Patrol agents was involved in another major load of drugs, and the prosecution (U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton) made a conscious decision to keep these facts from the jury."
At the request of Rohrabacher, Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., who chairs the House foreign affairs subcommittee, is organizing hearings into whether the prosecution and incarceration of Compean and Ramos were the result of interference and pressure from the Mexican government.
On the Senate side, Sen. Diane Feinstein, the California Democrat who chairs the Senate subcommittee on the judiciary, terrorism, technology and homeland security, is also looking into how and why Compean and Ramos were prosecuted.

We can hope that justice is on the way for wrongly jailed agents and political prisoners Ramos and Compean.

• • •

The Terrorist Facilitation Act of 2007 [6/22/07]
You can't make this stuff up. The Senate's amnesty bill will of course make the activities of terrorists easier.

The situation is surreal: While terrorists are trying to come up with ways to commit mass murder that will make September 11 pale by comparison, the Senate is looking to find new ways to grant mass amnesty to between 12 and 20 million illegals. We already know that there are alien terrorists seeking to enter the United States. The cell that allegedly tried to bomb JFK International Airport in New York included two Guyanan nationals, one from Trinidad and a former Guyanan who was a U.S. citizen. The six persons arrested and charged in the plot to blow up Fort Dix, N.J. included a resident of Turkey who obtained U.S. citizenship and five aliens from Jordan and the former Yugoslavia. The three Yugoslav aliens were illegals who snuck across the border near Brownsville, Tex. with their families in 1984.

• • •

A college education for illegal aliens [6/22/07]
Remember the terrible DREAM Act that has been hanging around for years, the one that would grant taxpayer-subsidized in-state tuition to illegals? It's hidden deep in the Senate Amnesty bill (S 1639). Kris Kobach spells out the ugly details.

The DREAM Act is a nightmare. It repeals a 1996 federal law that prohibits any state from offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens, unless the state also offers in-state tuition rates to all U.S. citizens. On top of that, the DREAM Act offers a fast track to U.S. citizenship for illegal aliens who attend college.
On its own, the DREAM Act never stood a chance of passing — even in the Senate. Every scientific opinion poll on the subject has shown over 70 percent opposition to giving in-state tuition benefits to illegal aliens.
Not surprisingly, the DREAM Act languished in committee for five years — until the opportunity arose to hitch it to the Senate's "comprehensive" immigration bill of 2006. Now, Sen. Edward Kennedy and his allies have added it to this year's amnesty bill, too. They know that the only way to slip such bad legislation past the American people is to bury it in a comprehensive bill. [...]
On top of this, DREAM Act beneficiaries would enjoy a special fast track to green-card status and citizenship. Illegal aliens younger than 30 who entered the country before age 16 and subsequently enrolled in college would be eligible for green cards in only three years — even if they haven't completed their degrees. No such fast track exists for law-abiding foreign students.
The illegal aliens would also be eligible for federal student loans and federal work-study programs — another benefit that law-abiding foreign students cannot receive. And all of it comes at taxpayer expense.
A consistent theme emerges: Illegal aliens are treated much more favorably than aliens who follow the law. There is no penalty for illegal behavior.

• • •

The Preferences Are Coming [6/21/07]
Yet another problem in the Senate amnesty bill is that lawbreaking Mexicans and others would eventually become covered by the Diversity Industrial Complex.

The 12 million or more who entered the United States illegally, and would gain United States citizenship under the current immigration proposal, Senate Bill 1348, will qualify for race preferences and privileges for which the majority of Americans are not eligible. This is not fair.
That is the view of Ward Connerly of the Sacramento-based American Civil Rights Institute, a veteran of battles against racial preferences in California, Washington and Michigan, and who believes that "race and ethnic preferences ought to be wrong under any circumstances." The current immigration measure, Connerly believes, would constitute a massive endowment of such preferences.
"This is huge," Connerly told Frontpage. "All this talk of going to the back of the line is B.S.. They would go to the front of the line. The minute they are Americans, they move in front of white males and in some cases white women." Legalized Hispanic immigrants, Connerly says, would also gain privileges over immigrants from nations such as Russia because they would be part of an officially sanctioned "underrepresented minority."

Keep in mind that affirmative action was originally created to help black citizens by rebalancing the inequalities left over from slavery. It quickly became rejiggered into a means to increase "diversity" in schools and the workplace.

• • •

Five men charged with kidnap for ransom [6/21/07]
Open borders are bringing the Mexican way of crime to this country. Forget the sentimental blather about hard-working foreigners breaking in to feed their families: America's full refrigerator of riches is an irresistible attraction to criminals looking to upgrade their lifestyle via bigger and better thievery, drug smuggling, what have you. (See Beyond Willie Sutton for an examination of foreign criminals in search of a better life.)
Kidnapping can be a low-rent crime, since it requires little in the way of infrastructure. It has grown in popularity in Mexico, which is #2 in kidnapping per capita in the world, right behind Colombia.
In February, 13-year-old Clay Moore of Parrish, Florida, was grabbed by Mexican Vicente Beltran-Moreno at a school bus stop in a kidnap-for-ransom plot (Mexico's Kidnap Culture Appears in Florida). Fortunately Clay was resourceful enough to escape his captivity, but the crime was an indicator of Mexicans' third-world criminal preferences appearing in America.
Another devolutionary marker is the current kidnapping case in San Diego. Five non-citizens snatched a man for ransom in the Mexican style.

Five men pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of kidnapping and torture in what prosecutors said was a sophisticated kidnap-for-ransom ring.
The five were involved in the kidnapping of Eduardo Gonzalez Tostado, 32, whose family paid $200,000 in ransom, said San Diego Deputy District Attorney Mark Amador.

We knew this one was coming because of the earlier reports of Mexicans moving to southern California to escape the escalating crime wave in Mexico. Of course, they just brought it with them, along with the enchiladas.
For the VDARE.com version, see Mexican Kidnapping Diversity Arrives in San Diego.

• • •

UPI/Zogby Poll: Government Mishandling Immigration [6/20/07]
This mid-June poll shows the failure of Bush and his cronies in the House of Lords to shove more lies down the throat of the American people.

Americans give both President Bush and the Congress failing marks on their handling of immigration, according to a new UPI/Zogby poll on the topic.
The Zogby Interactive poll of 8,300 adults nationwide finds just 3% of Americans viewing Congress's handling of the immigration issue in favorable terms, while 9% say the same of the President-even as respondents in the survey rated it the second most important issue facing the country, after the war in Iraq.
As the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on an immigration reform bill tomorrow in Washington, Americans said they take a dim view of that bill, with just 38% holding a favorable view of the legislation. The poll also suggests that those most favorably-disposed toward the bill are those who view guest worker programs and a pathway to citizenship for those now in the country illegally as the most important aspects of the immigration debate.

• • •

Millions of Missing Birds, Vanishing in Plain Sight [6/20/07]
This is another depressing environmental report about species being decimated, yet no mention of the human overpopulation cause, domestic and worldwide. The New York Times is concerned about environmental degradation, but is too tied to its liberal agenda of open borders to be honest about the big picture.

Last week, the Audubon Society released a new report describing the sharp and startling population decline of some of the most familiar and common birds in America: several kinds of sparrows, the Northern bobwhite, the Eastern meadowlark, the common grackle and the common tern. The average decline of the 20 species in the Audubon Society's report is 68 percent.
Forty years ago, there were an estimated 31 million bobwhites. Now there are 5.5 million. Compared to the hundred-some condors presently in the wild, 5.5 million bobwhites sounds like a lot of birds. But what matters is the 25.5 million missing and the troubles that brought them down — and are all too likely to bring down the rest of them, too. So this is not extinction, but it is how things look before extinction happens.

• • •

Dem poll finds tepid support for immigration bill [6/20/07]
This being a Democrat-sponsored poll, you can be sure that the wording encouraged the elite view that amnesty is reform, open borders are good and balkanization (aka "diversity") is a fine thing for our national community. Even so, there is little support for the Senate bill among Democrats.

A Democracy Corps poll by Stan Greenberg and James Carville, former advisors to Democratic President Bill Clinton, showed intense voter concern about immigration in battleground congressional districts. Voters were far more likely to support proposals that would tighten the border and stop illegal immigrants from getting government benefits than efforts to legalize the estimated 12 million people living in the country illegally, the poll found. [...]
"We do not find very much voter support for the comprehensive Senate bill," the pollsters wrote. Even Democratic voters split -- with 47 percent for and 47 percent against -- after hearing a description of the Senate bill, while most independents and Republicans opposed it.

To see the actual poll, here's a PDF version.

Below, a pro-amnesty rally of invaders in Washington's Lafayette Park. Mexicans in Washingtons Lafayette Park

• • •

Mexico's hand in illegal immigration [6/20/07]
The Christian Science Monitor understands that Mexico is not a passive player in the immigration issue and has serious domestic problems that must be addressed. It correctly lauds Presidente Calderon for working to re-establish the rule of law which has been severely eroded by the increasing power of the drug cartels. Some parts of the country are no longer run by the elected officials, but by organized crime. Losing control of territory is one symptom of a failed state.

For the past seven months, Mexico has been at war with itself, literally. A new president, Felipe Caldern, has dispatched 24,000 troops into battle with the most corrosive influence in Mexico's economy: powerful drug cartels.
These violent syndicates, which mainly transport drugs into the US, have exploded in the past decade. They've escalated crime and political corruption, hindering creation of well-paying jobs for would-be migrants. At election time, they provide cash for many campaigns.
This domestic war, which resembles the Iraq war in tactics and killing rates, was Mr. Calderon's opening gambit for wholesale reform. It is widely popular but faces an uncertain future. The cartels are fighting back with gruesome murders. And the Army, one of the few respected institutions in Mexico, is not good at policing, a task it must do to root out local drug networks. Some of its elite soldiers have joined the cartels.
Still, the war gives Caldern enough public support to conduct a quiet and pragmatic battle with the ruling opposition in the legislature. In March, he was able to win reform of state pensions. This week, he will propose tax hikes to reduce the government's risky reliance on oil-export revenues. And he was helped this month by a Supreme Court ruling that struck a blow at the broadcasting giant Televisa, one of many monopolies controlled by powerful, vested interests.

According to many economists, including conservatives, Mexico is undertaxed. Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics, agrees that public coffers need more money for the country to improve its infrastructure.

Mexican pols press for immigration, neglect home front, critics say

• • •

Home Alone [6/20/07]
The New York Times Magazine takes on the research of Bowling Alone author Robert Putnam which has found that "Diversity decreases trust." Sadly, Putnam has made it clear that he is a liberal who believes in multiculturalism despite his own investigations which reveal it to be a failed ideology because it does not take deep-seated human tribalism into account.

In highly diverse cities and towns like Los Angeles, Houston and Yakima, Wash., the survey found, the residents were about half as likely to trust people of other races as in homogenous places like Fremont, Mich., or rural South Dakota, where, Putnam noted, "diversity means inviting a few Norwegians to the annual Swedish picnic."
More significant, they were also half as likely to trust people of their own race. They claimed fewer close friends. They were more apt to agree that "television is my most important form of entertainment." They had less confidence in local government and less confidence in their own ability to exert political influence. They were more likely to join protest marches but less likely to register to vote. They rated their happiness as generally lower. And this diversity effect continued to show up even when a community's population density, average income, crime levels, rates of home ownership and a host of other factors were taken into account.

We humans are tribal creatures, and the sooner we face that fact, the better. No amount of cross-cultural outreach or kumbaya hand-holding is going to change human nature.
We all prefer to be around others who speak our language, share our values and understand our jokes. Human community is based upon similarities, not differences.
There's a reason why the Bible characterized the Tower of Babel as a curse. Yet today's multiculturalists urge us to celebrate linguistic differences, as if not understanding one other were a good thing.
Diversity is a cultural fad among elites that will eventually go into the dustbin of history along with a lot of other failed ideas.

• • •

Police say TSU senior athlete killed by illegal immigrant driving drunk [6/19/07]
Joycelyn Gardiner college student killed by drunk illegal alien We must add the name of Joycelyn Gardiner to the tragic list of Americans killed by drunk-driving illegal aliens. She died in Nashville when her car was struck early Saturday morning by an SUV driven by Victor Javier Benitez, who had two previous arrests resulting in four criminal charges. He should have been deported for these earlier crimes, but was allowed to stay and kill.

He was arrested in February 2006 on three counts of car burglary and two counts of attempted theft. Two months later he was convicted of one count of car burglary and sentenced by General Sessions Judge Casey Moreland to one year of supervised probation.
On Nov. 5, 2006, Benitez was rearrested on charges of public intoxication, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The following day he was convicted of all three charges and sentenced by General Sessions Judge William Higgins to seven days in jail.

A native of Port Arthur, Texas, Joycelyn was only 22 when her life was taken. She was about to graduate from Tennessee State University at the end of summer with a degree in criminal justice and planned on attending law school. She had been a competitive runner since the ninth grade and was a member of the TSU women's track team. She was remembered as a track star back in Port Arthur:

PA woman killed in Tenn car wreck

In small town America, a ninth-grade girl with a lot of grit is still noticed and remembered years later.
For the VDARE.com version see Another DUI Death in Nashville.

• • •

Let the Segregation Commence [6/18/07]
Cruz Bustamante graduate college 1999 It's June, and that means time for increasing balkanization on campus via ethnic graduation ceremonies. Columnist John Leo celebrates Babel in his own unique way.
(The photo is of former California Lt. Governor [and former MEChA member] Cruz Bustamante during his belated college graduation at Fresno State in 1999.)

Commencement weekend is hard to plan at the University of California, Los Angeles. The university now has so many separate identity-group graduations that scheduling them not to conflict with one another is a challenge. The women's studies graduation and the Chicana/Chicano studies graduation are both set for 10 AM Saturday. The broader Hispanic graduation, "Raza," is in near-conflict with the black graduation, which starts just an hour later.
Planning was easier before a new crop of ethnic groups pushed for inclusion. Students of Asian heritage were once content with the AsianÐPacific Islanders ceremony. But now there are separate Filipino and Vietnamese commencements, and some talk of a Cambodian one in the future. Years ago, UCLA sponsored an Iranian graduation, but the school's commencement office couldn't tell me if the event was still around. The entire Middle East may yet be a fertile source for UCLA commencements. [...]
But the core reason for separatist graduations is the obvious one: on campus, assimilation is a hostile force, the domestic version of American imperialism. On many campuses, identity-group training begins with separate freshman orientation programs for nonwhites, who arrive earlier and are encouraged to bond before the first Caucasian freshmen arrive. Some schools have separate orientations for gays as well. Administrations tend to foster separatism by arguing that bias is everywhere, justifying double standards that favor identity groups.

Speaking of balkanization, Chinese living in British Columbia have formed a political party based on their ethnicity. Apparently their "interests" are not represented well enough by the current political structure:

"It's not only about jobs but many other supports that immigrants need that they're not getting from the government," Chen said in Mandarin.

• • •

Bill would tax illegals' wire transfers [6/17/07]
money in hand I have long thought that the tax system should be used against illegal immigrants, as noted in my opinion piece published in the Washington Times Dec. 2, 2002, "Should immigrants be taxed?" Taxation worked fine against gangster Al Capone when the feds couldn't nail him on anything else.
Taxing remittances would put a serious hole in what foreigners come here unlawfully to get — money. The only problem with the bill proposed in North Carolina is that it charges only a 5 percent tax on wired money transfers. Twenty percent would be a better place to start.

"We have been illegal-alien friendly within the last 10 to 15 years," Cleveland said. "It's killing us ... We have to get the message out that this is not the state to come to and hopefully encourage those that are here to go elsewhere, preferably back home."
Cleveland's bill would require a tax to be collected from anyone transferring money by wire who cannot provide adequate evidence that he or she is not an "unauthorized alien." Any person transferring money on behalf of an illegal immigrant in order to avoid the tax could be charged with a misdemeanor. Banks, credit unions and government would be exempt from the proposed law. [...]
Cleveland said that illegal immigrants are costing North Carolina taxpayers $450 million a year for health care and schools. If approved, Cleveland's bill would bring in between $49 million and $65 million a year to state coffers, according to legislative fiscal analysts.

• • •

Hispanic brothels move in on Nashville [6/16/07]
Another item for the Unintended Consequences file: sex for sale in suburban neighborhoods of heartland America, as a result of open borders.

The businesses are housed in nondescript homes and apartments from Madison to south Nashville. The employees and customers come from Mexico and other Latin American countries and the local Hispanic community.
And law enforcement officers tasked with combating the illicit, highly organized businesses say Hispanic brothels are a growing problem in the Nashville area, where single, male immigrant laborers are creating a burgeoning demand for the services of female immigrant prostitutes. [...]
Unlike brothels operated from massage parlors or adult entertainment businesses, many Hispanic brothels are set up in regular homes or apartments, right in the middle of Nashville neighborhoods. That can pose a problem for adults and children who live in those areas and are exposed the business of prostitution, authorities said.

See the more colorful VDARE.com version, Whorehouse Diversity Invades Nashville.

• • •

Alabama's Sessions on Bush, Immigration [6/15/07]
NPR interviewed Sen Jeff Sessions a couple days ago.

This point system — that's what you're talking about here — you like Canada's system a little better?
Well, it pretends to go in that direction, but does not get there, does not come close to getting there. That was a disappointment ... And I think I'm disappointed that the bill appears not to reduce illegality any more than it apparently does. I thought it might do better than that. It certainly purported to, but it just does not, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Meaning that you think there will still be illegal immigrants coming across the border?
Oh, absolutely ... They predicted that we'd have a 25 percent reduction in illegality at the border. But we would have a substantial increase in visa over-stays, because we have a lot more people coming to the country on temporary visas.

As Terry Graham noted, the government promised in 1996 that the border would be closed by 2001 [California Border Patrols Busier Than Ever San Francisco Chronicle 1/31/1996].

• • •

Who's Winning the Immigration Battle? [6/15/07]
Columnist William Rusher describes in the strongest terms the post-American future that awaits if the President's treasonous amnesty bill goes through.

And bear in mind that when the "reform" bill is finally passed (as it very probably will be), its enforcement will be in the hands of the Democratic party, which seems likely to sweep the 2008 elections to spank George Bush for Iraq. How much of that "fence," do you suppose, will actually be built on the Democrats' watch? How long will it take Nancy Pelosi to reinstate the current preference for admitting the distant relatives of Hispanics already here, as she has already called for doing in the high name of "family values"? How hard will the immigration enforcers be told to look for, and deport, the new workers brought in for two years, if they don't go home for a year (as required by the "reform" bill) after that?
Above all, who -- if anybody -- is looking out for the long-range future of this country? In a column published in April 2006, I warned those who wanted true immigration reform that "We are at least 20 years too late." We have put up a mighty fight this year, but if the current "reform" bill is ultimately passed, that gloomy assessment will be vindicated. We are in the grip of a coalition of businessmen without foresight and politicians without scruples. And anyone who lives through the next fifty years will see the United States transformed from a proud English-speaking nation in the West European tradition into a polyglot multicultural mess.

• • •

Schwarzenegger: Turn Off Spanish TV [6/14/07]
Uh oh, Arnold is getting in trouble again. Now he is telling Mexican immigrants that if they want to learn to speak English, they should ... expose themselves to a lot of English.

"You've got to turn off the Spanish television set" and avoid Spanish-language television, books and newspapers, the Republican governor said Wednesday night at the annual convention of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
"You're just forced to speak English, and that just makes you learn the language faster," Schwarzenegger said.

Naturally, such commonsensical advice on how to learn a foreign language was condemned by those who benefit by keeping immigrants dependent on Spanish media.

"I'm sitting shaking my head not believing that someone would be so naive and out of it that he would say something like that," said Alex Nogales, president and chief executive of the National Hispanic Media Coalition. Check out the video of the Arnold interview on the NAHJ website.

• • •

No drug smuggler left behind! [6/13/07]
Ann Coulter savages the President and his obsession with amnesty for millions of Mexicans and others.

President Bush was so buoyed by the warm reception he was given in Albania that he immediately gave all 3 million Albanians American citizenship, provided they learn Spanish. The offer was withdrawn when Bush found out most Albanians haven't broken any U.S. laws.

She discusses the terrible miscarriage of justice in the jailing of Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean.

See also A Green Card in Every Pot, more sarcasm from Coulter.

• • •

Immigration fantasy land [6/13/07]
No kidding. The Washington Times editorial mentions a few troubling aspects of the Senate's amnesty bill.

In effect, Mr. Reid is demanding that Mr. Bush (whose job-approval rating yesterday was just 36 percent, according to Rasmussen Reports) pressure 15 additional Senate Republicans into committing political suicide by voting to cut off debate on amendments to a bill that would grant amnesty to between 12 and 20 million illegals. The bill also would grant illegal aliens who belong to gangs legal status if they sign a statement renouncing gang activity, and it would give legal status to suspected terrorists and illegal aliens who abscond from the law following deportation orders. Also, aliens who fail to register as sex offenders, aliens convicted of domestic violence, stalking or crimes against children and aliens convicted of at least three DUIs would be given a stay-out-of-jail free card. And this is only a partial listing of what is wrong with the bill.

• • •

Fool Me Once Shame on You; Fool Me Twice Shame on Me [6/12/07]
Newt Gingrich has constructed a helpful chart that shows how little has changed since 1986: the current amnesty is proposed with the same lies as the old one.

Then as now, the bill promises to provide secure borders:
1986: "I believe we should vote to approve this conference report and get a bill to the President. Our country desperately needs to regain control over its borders. This bill will help us start that process and will provide the immediate relief on the border that we need." (Rep Moorhead)
2007: "First and foremost among our priorities was to ensure this bill included strong border security and enforcement provisions. We need to ensure that the Department of Homeland Security has the resources it needs to secure our borders to the greatest extent possible." (Senator McCain)

• • •

FBI director predicts terrorists will acquire nukes [6/12/07]
How craven has Washington become? It is off the charts. The FBI believes nuclear terrorism is an inevitability yet the borders remain wide open and Muslim immigration continues as if 9/11 had never happened.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III yesterday said that it was only a matter of time and economics before terrorists will be able to purchase nuclear weapons and that the world's law-enforcement community must unite to prevent it.

Lou Dobbs reported on June 8 that it will be many years until the border sieve is closed.

the border won't be secured before 2013

We have no one in Washington looking out for the safety of the citizens. The government is in the thrall of business interests and Mexico, with little input from the people, despite the recent victory against the Senate amnesty bill.

• • •

Immigration Supporters to Blitz Hill [6/11/07]
Yep, the monster bill from hell refuses to die. And it's the left-wing special interest groups who are lobbying for the legislation because the thing has nothing for pro-borders Americans.

Hopes of passing legislation suffered a major setback June 7 when most Republicans and nearly a dozen Democrats blocked three procedural votes that would have cleared the way for a final vote on a carefully negotiated deal.
Three failed cloture votes — two in which not a single Republican voted in favor — would normally kill a bill, and that could still happen.
But business lobbyists, labor unions, religious organizations and Hispanic advocacy groups are making the case that if Congress misses this opportunity, another might not come for a while.

See also Newt Gingrich's The Immigration Conflagration Is Not Yet Extinguished -- a fine list of reasons why one might oppose the Senate's treachery.

• • •

Illegal immigrants raising concerns in Latin America [6/11/07]
Is there any better justice than when the shoe is on the other foot? Sweet.

LIMA -- Efforts to stem illegal immigrants from neighboring countries are increasing in parts of Latin America because of concerns, similar to those in the United States, that they drive down salaries and bring crime and violence with them.
Ecuador, Chile and Venezuela are discussing whether to restrict illegal migrants while Costa Rica recently tightened barriers. Peru is studying whether to tighten its southern border with Bolivia.
Driving the changes are concerns echoed in the current U.S. immigration debate: that undocumented workers take jobs from locals, raise the crime rate and drain tax dollars through their use of public school and health systems.
In the same vein, business groups in the region have been opposing new laws that might limit uneducated, low-cost laborers from migrating to countries that need them -- just as in the United States.

• • •

Whats in a name? Madison Hmong community wonders, hopes [6/10/07]
In April, the Madison Wisconsin school board voted to name an elementary school after controversial Hmong warlord and political boss Vang Pao. Though worshipped as a god by the Hmong community in exile in America, General Pao was indicted recently with several others for plotting to overthrow the Laos government. (It violates the Neutrality Act for "Americans" to work for the overthrow of a recognized state.) Naturally the Hmong are very miffed about what they consider a betrayal from the US government that the rule of law could be used against their special leader. Vang Pao in Fresno
Also, it's news to me Hmong consider themselves to be "exiles." Why then are we spending millions of taxpayer dollars to resettle them as refugees? Oh, and they are apparently a "diaspora" too.
The photo shows Vang Pao at the Hmong war memorial in Fresno. Who knew?
Back to the school fracas...

The decision to name the school after Vang Pao was controversial from the beginning because of stories linking the leader to the CIA's secret campaign in Laos, the heroin trade and summary executions.

To clarify, the decision was controversial among Americans. No Hmong objected. They all want a school named after Vang Pao because "It would give a sense of pride to these young Hmong students," according to ethnic consultant Peng Her.
It's another nail in the coffin of assimilation of course to allow these tribal people to set up their own separate cultures within America on the taxpayers' tab.
Furthermore, Vang Pao was up to his eyeballs in drug trafficking and other money-making schemes. He scammed money from old Hmong women so he could continue his millionaire warlord lifestyle here in the United States.

Vang Pao, drugs and the CIA

The Madison School Board is scheduled to meet on June 18 to debate the removal of Vang Pao name from the elementary school which continues to be under construction.
See VDARE.com version Hmadison School Named for Hmong Warlord and Drug Trafficker.

• • •

Untapped tourism gems? [6/9/07]
The LA Times is the energizer bunny of relentless propagandizing for the ideology of multiculturalism: "Celebrate diversity" is job #1.
Today's suggestion from la Times is that local Angelenos and others avail themselves of LA's unique ethnic neighborhoods for cultural enrichment. Why spend hundreds of dollars to vacation in Acapulco (now appropriately nicknamed "Narcapulco" because of the drug cartel murders there) when there are plenty of Mexican gangsters here at home?

In Highland Park, an explosion of art galleries in the last few years has made the neighborhood a leading light of contemporary Latino art in Los Angeles.
East Hollywood, meanwhile, features a profusion of Thai restaurants and spas, along with Armenian bakeries, shops and a boat-shaped library, which reflects the legend that Noah's Ark came to rest on an Armenian mountain.
And in Leimert Park, hip-hop artists, drummers and jazz and blues musicians have turned the tree-lined pedestrian space into a vibrant center of African American performance art.
But the three Los Angeles County neighborhoods, which are often overlooked by tourists, also have struggled because of a challenging business environment and physical deterioration. According to the 2000 Census, the three neighborhoods have lower median household incomes and higher poverty rates than the county average.

Translation: the neighborhoods described are slums with lots of crime. But they are diverse, so let's celebrate!

Below, some mural diversity in Los Angeles' Highland Park neighborhood. Los Angeles Latino mural

• • •

Enforcement before amnesty [6/9/07]
Sometimes I can't keep my Washington neocons straight... isn't David Frum a more establishment type neoconservative who has been not so friendly to ideas of borders and sovereignty? At any rate, his LA Times opinion piece today makes the simple point that enforcement must come first.

THE SHELVING of the Senate's Kyl-Kennedy immigration bill opens a chance for real reform — reform that respects the wishes and protects the interests of a large majority of the American people.
The next effort to fix the broken system must accomplish four things: Stop new illegal immigrants from entering the country. Induce existing illegals to return home. Reorient immigration policy to favor those who make a net economic contribution to the U.S. over those who do not. And bow to the will of the 70% of Americans who feel that current immigration levels are too high.
Illegal immigration is not some sort of uncontrollable natural phenomenon. It can and should be regulated.
Illegal immigrants come to the United States because the United States doesn't do much to stop them. Yes, there's a Border Patrol, but the patrol can't be on every inch of the border. That's why most Americans want a border wall. Elude the patrol — or overstay your visa, as one-quarter of illegals do — and it's ollee-ollee-oxen free.

• • •

Bush hopes to revive immigration bill [6/8/07]
Like a vile creature in a horror movie that won't stay killed, the monster amnesty may yet arise again. It shows how arrogant the elites who run this country are, that they cannot accept defeat on their slave labor bill.

President Bush, trying to recover from a stinging setback on immigration, will personally try in a visit to the Capitol next week to revive the embattled plan for legalizing millions of unlawful immigrants.
He began his hands-on approach Friday, placing phone calls to three key Republican senators from Air Force One during a European trip.
The calls and Bush's scheduled lunch on Tuesday with GOP senators are part of a campaign by the White House and allies in both parties to placate or outmaneuver conservative Republicans who blocked the broad immigration measure this week. They said Friday they would try again to reach accord on the number of amendments the dissidents could offer.

• • •

Sen. Reid and Senate Democrats withdraw immigration bill, after losing a key vote. [6/7/07]
Success! The Senate just voted 45 to 50 against invoking cloture on S. 1348.
Woo woo! Doing the Happy Dance here!
Here's an MSM report from CNN Immigration bill fails key test, is withdrawn .

Still, Reid said he believed the bill would eventually pass and that he would keep working toward a "grand bargain" between liberals and conservatives on immigration.
Thursday evening's 45-50 vote followed 33-63 vote earlier in the day. Sixty votes were needed to limit debate on the immigration measure and put it on a path to passage.
Republicans -- even those who helped craft the measure and are expected to support it -- banded together to oppose that move, while a majority of Democrats backed it.
Republicans were seeking assurances they would get chances to add several conservative-backed changes that would toughen the measure.

Also, see Sen. Byron Dorgan's excellent defense of the American worker earlier in the debate.

• • •

Amnesty Plus [6/7/07]
Robert Rector is the Heritage Foundation analyst who figured out what the Senate amnesty would cost the American taxpayer, $2.5 trillion in retirement benefits alone.
Say, why didn't the Senators get the CBO and other government number crunchers to determine this rather important aspect of the legislation? Inquiring voters want to know. Robert Rector

With the exception of convicted criminals and deportees, the bill grants amnesty to nearly everyone who was illegally inside the U.S. on Jan. 1, 2007. These individuals are given a new "Z visa" which confers the legal right to remain in the U.S., and can be renewed automatically for the rest of the illegal immigrant's life. Eight years after enactment, the government will begin bestowing green cards (or legal permanent residence status) on all Z visa holders who want them; five years later, amnesty recipients are free to become citizens through the normal naturalization process.
Although proponents of this amnesty suggest that illegal immigrants will be required to return home, in reality, Z visa holders are merely required to go abroad for a single afternoon when they apply for legal permanent residence, and they are permitted to return automatically and immediately to the U.S. Proponents claim that illegal immigrants must go to the back of the line before getting citizenship. In fact, Sections 501 and 503 of Title V of the bill create a privileged admission queue reserved for former illegal immigrants alone. This select queue leads directly to legal permanent residence and citizenship. Amnesty recipients will proceed smoothly down this reserved path to citizenship without ever competing with others who seek to enter and live in the U.S. lawfully.
Three months after passage of the bill, illegal aliens can apply for probationary Z status. With that status they will be given a Social Security number and will begin to earn credit for future Social Security and Medicare benefits. Access to welfare is delayed, but within 10 to 12 years after passage, formal illegal immigrants will become eligible for nearly all 60 federal means-tested welfare programs.

Robert Rector appeared on Lou Dobbs Tonight yesterday.

100 million people

They have no idea of how much this bill will cost, although common sense is going to tell you, it costs a lot.

17 million

Fifty to 60 percent of them are high school dropouts.

But when they hit retirement, these individuals, which will be about 25, 30 years from now, these individuals are going to be drawing down a net benefits minus any taxes paid of at least $17,000 a year per person. When you add all of that up, the net costs comes to about $2.5 trillion.

• • •

Senate OKs amnesty for deportees [6/7/07]
In case there is any doubt that the Senate is an evil cult, run by corporations for the ruination of the American people, consider that the Senators voted to give citizenship to absconders, the group of criminals who are actively on the run from deportation.

The Senate voted yesterday to grant amnesty to hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens who have already been caught and ordered deported but are defying a court order, preserving their path to citizenship as part of the immigration bill. [...]
Sen John Cornyn offered an amendment to prevent those aliens from gaining legal status, arguing they have already shown disrespect for the law and should be sent home.
"We are going to continue to be viewed as non-serious about workability, about enforcement, about restoring respect for the rule of law, unless we vote to exclude those who show nothing but defiance for our laws," the Texas Republican said. [...]
Mr. Cornyn's amendment was defeated 51-46, with 10 Republicans joining most Democrats and the chamber's two independents in voting to preserve the path to citizenship for absconders.
The Senate did pass another amendment sponsored by Mr. Kennedy that tightened rules on excluding gang members and terrorist supporters, but Mr. Cornyn said it would still allow sex offenders and repeat drunken drivers to remain in the country and get legal status.

Listen to Senator Cornyn's remarks in favor of his amendment (1184) about why it's a terrible idea to give amnesty to violent gang members, drunk drivers, identity thieves and other foreigners of dubious character. He calls the bill's criminal-friendly provisions "No Felon Left Behind."

• • •

Britain's Big Mo' [6/7/07]
Demographic change has a way of being gradual for a long while, and then suddenly becoming overwhelming. So it has been in Britain, where "Muhammad is now second only to Jack as the most popular name for baby boys in Britain and is likely to rise to No 1 by next year," according to the Times of London.

The stark reality is this: Europe's birth rate has fallen dangerously below the 2.1 births per woman required to keep population stable. Western Europe will lose as many as 100 million people by 2100.
Not to sound melodramatic, but this could spell the end of Western Europe's civilization. As we've noted, recent terror plots show a shocking depth of hostility to the West, especially among unassimilated Muslims born here. Just last year, a poll showed 40% of U.K. Muslims want Sharia law imposed. It might be coming soon.
Given all this, can tolerant, liberal Western culture survive?
"Such a trend," wrote Philip Longman in "The Empty Cradle," "could drive human culture off its current market-driven, individualistic, modernist course, gradually creating an anti-market culture dominated by fundamentalism — a new Dark Ages."

This is what happens when a country lets its immigration run out of control. Like in this country, where Jose was the most popular name in Texas (as of 2003).

• • •

Remember D-Day [6/6/07]
What a difference 63 years makes. In 1944 the country was galvanized to fight the fascist menace, while today the United States Senate is determined to destroy the borders and sovereignty that are the birthright of all citizens. WWII monument in Washington

• • •

Tyler Evans' Killer Sentenced [6/6/07]
Keep the name Tyler Evans in mind as you watch the Senate amnesty extravaganza this week. He was a four-year-old boy killed by a drunk-driving illegal alien last August. The driver, Christian Javier Sanchez-Rubio, was a Mexican too inebriated to keep in the right lane and as a result, an innocent little boy is dead and a loving family is devastated. Tyler Evans
Sanchez-Rubio was recently sentenced to just 10 years in the West Virginia state penitentiary, with parole allowed. That sentence hardly seems adequate punishment for such a terrible crime.

Police said after his arrest that Sanchez-Rubio had provided a fake immigration document and a Mexican driver's license, both of which identified him as Jose Carlos Madrigal. He had worked at coal mines throughout Boone County, police said. [Illegal immigrant pleads guilty in wreck that killed 4-year-old boy, (Charleston) Daily Mail 5/30/07]

Sanchez-Rubio was apparently racing with another man, Marvin Navarro, when his Dodge Dakota truck plowed head-on into the car driven by Terry Evans, the father of Tyler. A younger son in the back seat, Micah, was injured but survived.
The family has posted a heart-breaking website in remembrance of the boy they lost -- Tyler Lee Evans -- with many pictures showing happy family life -- Tyler on his pony Dorito, Tyler opening his Christmas presents, Tyler with his friends and little brother. It is tragic to see the pain caused to one family because the government refuses to enforce our borders. Every member of Congress should be required to look at it and all the other evidence of innocent citizens killed by illegal aliens.
In addition to the family tragedy caused by a drunk-driving illegal alien, the case also awakened local concern about foreigners taking mining jobs in Appalachia, a subject I covered last year ("American Miners Now Targeted"). As usual, business owners want slave-cheap labor and lie that the American work ethic is diminished.

• • •

Univision proposes presidential debate for Spanish-speaking audience [6/6/07]
What else do you need to know about Mexicans' agenda for a bilingual (aka Spanish-speaking) America? They want a special Spanish debate just for their special selves.
Tom Tancredo won't be campaigning in Spanish, as he made clear in tonight's Republican debate on CNN. No problema for John McCain though.

Univision, the country's highest-rated Spanish-language television network and a leading draw for young adult viewers, has invited the White House hopefuls from both parties to participate in the first-ever presidential candidate debates to be conducted entirely in Spanish.
The network has proposed two debates, one for each party, to be held on back-to-back Sundays in September -- giving the candidates unprecedented exposure to a mass audience of increasingly important Latino voters.
The debates, to be held in immigrant-rich Miami, would likely focus heavily on the battle over legalizing millions of undocumented workers.

This isn't the country I was born in. Not even close. Minutemen in Rancho Cucamonga

• • •

Wealthy donors fund immigration movement [6/5/07]
Rich elites want open borders. This is the basic fact changing our society from the United States to Mexifornia. Elites want the destruction of American sovereignty while the people do not. These are the people who are funding the destruction of the country for their own ideological agendas, mostly leftist.

Wealthy philanthropic foundations are helping bankroll the pro-immigration movement, while groups advocating for tighter control of U.S. borders say they take a more grassroots approach to raising money.
The Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation and Democratic activist George Soros, among other liberal funders, have donated millions of dollars to pro-immigration groups, as the Senate continues its debate on a contentious bill that would overhaul the nation's immigration policy.
Three of the nation's biggest and most influential pro-immigration groups -- the National Immigration Forum, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, and the National Council of La Raza, or NCLR -- collectively received more than $3.25 million from Ford Foundation since 2005.
The three advocacy groups generally support the proposed Senate bill -- with some modifications -- that would give the estimated 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the U.S. a path to citizenship. The bill also would allow aliens here to be bring close family members into the county.
But groups supporting stronger immigration policy and tighter border control say they rely more on small donations from individuals than large foundations.
Numbers USA, which says it has 366,000 members, saw its membership grow 50 percent since Jan. 1, and 18 percent in May, spokeswoman Caroline Espinosa said. Two-thirds of the group's financial support comes from private individuals, with the average donation being $40.

• • •

Immigration -- Bush's domestic Iraq [6/4/07]
Hey, lists rock! Here's Mickey Kaus (the Kausfiles.com blogger) on the 10 similarities between Bush's Iraq policy and immigration. Insightful stuff.

5. Both depend crucially on pulling off difficult administrative feats. In Iraq, we had to build a nation in the chaotic vacuum of sectarian post-Hussein Iraq — which meant training a national army and police force from scratch with recruits who were often sectarian loyalists. "Comprehensive" immigration reform requires the government to set up an enforcement mechanism that can prevent millions of impoverished foreigners from sneaking across thousands of miles of unprotected borders — and prevent America's millions of self-interested employers from hiring them. Meanwhile, the overworked, incompetent federal immigration bureaucracy is going to efficiently sort out the 12 million illegals already here — "Non-Immigrants Previously in Unlawful Status," to use the official Prince-like euphemism — running background checks by the next business day and issuing each of them a new, "probationary Z-visa."
6. In both cases, the solution has failed before. The British failed to "stand up" democracy in Iraq. We failed to do the same in Vietnam and also failed to establish stable, trans-factional governing structures in Lebanon and Somalia. Likewise, the grand, bipartisan Simpson-Mazzoli immigration reform of 1986 had promised, and failed, to establish an effective immigration enforcement mechanism.
7. In both cases, some Bush plan enthusiasts may not really mind a chaotic end result. Iraq war foes argue that some important neocon supporters of the Iraq war weren't really bothered by the prospect of Sunni-versus-Shiite warfare — even seeing divide-and-conquer advantages. Similarly, there's the suspicion that many supporters of Bush's immigration plan won't really be bothered if the enforcement parts of the law fail to stop the flow of new illegals. Employers, for one, would get additional inexpensive, willing workers.

Seven other fascinating observations about how America is being destroyed — read them all!

• • •

CBO: Bill would only reduce illegals by 25% [6/4/07]
This just in about the worst legislation in the history of the world: not only will it cost the taxpayers $2.4 trillion just for illegal alien retirement benefits, the Congressional Budget Office says that it will not accomplish its stated purpose of reducing illegal immigration.

The Senate's immigration bill will only reduce illegal immigration by about 25 percent a year, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report, Stephen Dinan will report Tuesday in The Washington Times.
The bill's new guest-worker program could lead to at least 500,000 more illegal immigrants within a decade, said the report from the CBO, which said in its official cost estimate that it assumes some future temporary workers will overstay their time in the plan, adding up to a half-million by 2017 and 1 million by 2027.
"We anticipate that many of those would remain in the United States illegally after their visas expire," CBO said of the guest-worker program, which would allow 200,000 new workers a year to rotate into the country.

Here is the follow-up article with more details: Illegals bill stems traffic only 25%

• • •

Sen. Sessions Releases List of 20 Loopholes in the Senate Immigration Bill [6/4/07]
The hard-working Senator from Alabama has posted a list of 20 things wrong with the wretched S1348. As he remarks... Sen Sessions

"I am deeply concerned about the numerous loopholes we have found in this legislation. They are more than technical errors, but rather symptoms of a fundamentally flawed piece of legislation that stands no chance of actually fixing our broken immigration system... Many of the loopholes are indicative of a desire not to have the system work."

Here are a few of the more egregious loopholes, but they are all terrible. Read the whole thing, if you can stand it.

Loophole 5 - Completion of Background Checks Not Required For Probationary Legal Status:

Loophole 6 - Some Child Molesters Are Still Eligible:

Loophole 7 - Terrorism Connections Allowed, Good Moral Character Not Required:

Loophole 8 - Gang Members Are Eligible:

• • •

Democrats Must Fight Illegal Immigration [6/4/07]
In my cartoonish confabulations of how certain illogical political stances are decided, I have imagined a kind of musical chairs as the reason why the party positions on illegal immigration have been determined. Butts plunk down and stay put for no better reason than gravity. Surely there is just as much reason for liberal Democrats to resist the negative effects of open borders as much as conservative Republicans, yet in the mind of the mass media, at least, those supporting immigration law enforcement are always characterized as conservative hard-liners.

For Democrats, fighting illegal immigration would not only be good policy, but would have the welcome effect of being good politics, too. Democrats' major political obstacle is the increasingly intractable opposition of the non-union working and middle class, exactly the groups who most fervently oppose illegal immigration. While the opponents of immigration no doubt include nativists and xenophobes, the vast majority of those who oppose illegal immigration do so on sound public policy grounds. Illegal immigration is seen rightly as a threat to their economic livelihood. So when the Republican Party offers a platform that not only comports with their social and religious beliefs, but also addresses the one economic threat that is open to government solution, is there any wonder that the working and middle classes find solace in the GOP? Democrats should find a way to bust up this alliance between economic populists and social conservatives, and make many current Republican voters choose which of these movements matters most.

Given the terrible stresses on the middle class and working poor as reported daily by Lou Dobbs, certainly that block of voters would welcome a program of American economic nationalism that put US worker needs at the top of the list rather than at the bottom. But neither party supports the well being of citizens: both follow the globalization scheme favored by elites.

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Political Debacle Looming [6/4/07]
The Washington Times has a strong editorial about the Senate amnesty bill.

With the Senate returning today to take up the immigration amnesty bill, there is no sugar-coating the ugly reality: The bill before the Senate contains massive loopholes that will make it easier for terrorists and criminals to enter and remain in the United States. It will facilitate the migration of much of Mexico's illegal-alien underclass to the United States, resulting in trillions of dollars in additional federal, state and local spending on welfare programs and other public services along with considerable tax increases over the next three decades or so to pay for it all -- tax increases that will largely take effect after most of the current membership of the Senate is dead.
'While Senate Democrats thus far have remained largely united in favor of amnesty and open borders, Republicans are sending a muddled, confused message of their own. The fact that Republican senators on May 24 voted 25-20 against a commonsense amendment introduced by Sens. David Vitter, Louisiana Republican, and Jim DeMint, South Carolina Republican, stripping amnesty from the immigration bill (the Senate as a whole voted 66-29 against the amendment) sends a message of disdain to core conservative Republican voters -- members of the Republican "base" who were an essential component of the coalition that that won seven of the last 10 presidential elections. President Bush added fuel to the fire last week by accusing critics of the Senate immigration bill of trying to "frighten people" into opposing it.
'The president has sent his message, and in response the Republican grass-roots are sending one of their own to the president and Republican supporters of the "reform" bill currently before the Senate: If the GOP leadership continues down the road of supporting open borders and amnesty, it can kiss their support good-bye. This newspaper reported on Friday that the Republican National Committee, hit by a 40 percent falloff in small-donor contributions resulting from anger over the Senate immigration bill, fired all 65 of its telephone solicitors. In recent weeks, two Republican lawmakers who support the Senate bill, Sens. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, were booed by activists in their home states. (Mr. DeMint, by contrast, has constituents coming up to him in line at the grocery store to thank him for opposing Mr. Bush on the issue.) Rep. Tom Tancredo tells us that any Republican senator who votes for the bill deserves a primary challenge and has offered to come into any state to campaign against these incumbents. This kind of scenario is anything but desirable -- but bad votes have real-world political consequences, and any senator who votes for this bill needs to take these realities into account.

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Immigration hurts blacks [6/3/07]
It's always good to see some truth told in the mainstream press about the damage that open borders have done to black Americans. The question is, why isn't there more reporting of it?

And worse, according to a revised report released last month by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Using data from the 1960-2000 U.S. Census reports, researchers discovered ''a strong correlation between immigration, black wages, black employment rates, and black incarceration rates.''
"This is basic supply and demand," Jeffrey Grogger told me. Increase the number of low-skilled workers, and wages fall and unemployment increases for black workers. The employment rate of black high school dropouts fell 30 percentage points, to 42.1 percent from 72.1 percent between 1980 and 2000, the study reported. In that same period, an alarming number of unskilled black men were being put behind bars. Although immigration isn't the only factor, said Grogger, a University of Chicago professor who helped write the report, it "accounts for 10 percent of the incarceration rate."

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Four Muslims charged in JFK airport terror plot [6/2/07]
You gotta love how the AP tapdances around to avoid the "I" word (immigrant) in the latest terror arrests.

Four Muslim men were foiled from carrying out a plot to destroy John F. Kennedy International Airport, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet fuel artery that runs through populous residential neighborhoods, authorities said Saturday.
Three men were arrested and one was being sought in Trinidad on Saturday. In an indictment charging the four men, one of them is quoted as saying the plot would "cause greater destruction than in the Sept. 11 attacks."
One of the suspects, Russell Defreitas, a U.S. citizen native to Guyana and retired JFK employee, said the airport was a symbol that would put "the whole country in mourning."

Nice people they are letting in these days!
Seriously, is there one good reason to allow Muslim immigration? Not all Muslims are terrorists, but nearly all terrorists are Muslims. What else do you need to know? The government is supposed to be protecting our lives, not engaging in a sociology experiment.
Franklin Roosevelt did not engage in touchy-feely "reaching out" to Nazis in WWII and this administration is crazy to think dopey programs like sticking thousands of Saudis in American colleges will turn back the jihadist tide. The 9/11 hijackers had plenty of exposure to western culture and were not dissuaded from their murderous plot.
But instead of taking the sensible precaution of ending Muslim immigration from terror-supporting nations at least, Washington has thrown open the door to more sons of Allah relocating to this country.
Not only is plain vanilla Muslim immigration on the increase, but the Iraqi refugees are about to arrive in the thousands. It hardly seems fair that Americans in uniform are dying in Iraq, while Iraqi citizens are escaping to the comforts of Detroit.

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10 Questions for Tom Tancredo [6/2/07]
The Congressman from Colorado and Presidential candidate answers questions from concerned citizens and others.

What evidence would convince you that global warming is a serious threat to the planet? — Jeff Young, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
I have no doubt that global warming exists. I just question the cause and what we can do to ameliorate it. But I wonder why the Sierra Club isn't going crazy about the environmental aspects of massive immigration into the U.S. The fact is, Americans consume more energy than anyone else, so if a person moves here from another country, they automatically become bigger polluters. [...]
How would you change the Senate's current comprehensive immigration bill? — (SGT) Matthew Anderson, BAGHDAD
I'd take out the amnesty and guest-workers parts. And come to think of it, even the security issues are bogus. There's no part of this bill that I want.
I have a master's degree in economics and want to work in the U.S. What is your stance on aspiring legal immigrants like me? — Tarun Kumar, BIELEFELD, GERMANY
I believe we should have a moratorium on all immigration--legal or not--for at least three years. We have to have an immigration time-out, I think, in order to assimilate the people who have come here already.

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Get in Line, Einstein [6/1/07]
Columnist Charles Krauthammer analyzes some of the worst aspects of Senate amnesty bill (SB1348), as well as explain some of the terrible MSM reporting on the issue, in particular the bogus polling that the New York Times has been touting.

But the campaign for legalization does not stop at stupidity and farce. It adds mendacity as well. Such as the front-page story in last Friday's New York Times claiming that "a large majority of Americans want to change the immigration laws to allow illegal immigrants to gain legal status."
Sounds unbelievable. And it is. A Rasmussen poll had shown that 72 percent of Americans thought border enforcement and reducing illegal immigration to be very important. Only 29 percent thought legalization to be very important. Indeed, when a different question in the Times poll -- one that did not make the front page -- asked respondents if they wanted to see illegal immigrants prosecuted and deported, 69 percent said yes.
I looked for the poll question that justified the pro-legalization claim. It was Question 61. Just as I suspected, it was perfectly tendentious. It gave the respondent two options: (a) allow illegal immigrants to apply for legalization (itself a misleading characterization because the current bill grants instant legal status to all non-criminals), or (b) deport them.
Surprise. Sixty-two percent said (a). That's like asking about abortion: Do you favor (a) legalization or (b) capital punishment for doctor and mother? There is, of course, a third alternative: what we've been living with for the past 20 years -- a certain tolerance of illegal immigrants that allows 12 million to stay and work but that denies them most of the privileges and government payouts reserved for legal citizens and thus acts as at least a mild disincentive to even more massive illegal immigration.

Krauthammer is pointing out what happens when pollsters create a straw man about what's to be done with the 12-30 million illegal aliens in this country. Candidates are happy to continue the fantasy that the choices are limited to massive deportation or shoveling out citizenship and other goodies to lawbreakers of all stripes. John McCain just appeared live on C-SPAN at a Des Moines campaign event, making the same bonehead argument.
The third and more reasonable choice is workplace attrition, a strategy explained in a CIS paper Attrition Through Enforcement. The idea is that if the primary attraction of jobs is removed, illegal aliens will gradually go home. There is also the advantage of being cheaper, since the taxpayer's dollar is not being spent on free tickets home for Juan and the millions like him. They got themselves here; they can find their own way home.

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The global immigration problem [6/1/07]
Victor Davis Hanson reflects on the global nature of illegal immigration, that as more people flee corrupt, failing states, they are attracted to nations that appear successful.

Stable democracies and free markets ensure economic growth, rising standards of living and, thus, lots of jobs, while these countries' birth rates and native populations fall. In contrast, immigrants usually flee mostly failed states that cannot offer their people any real hope of prosperity and security.
As people in the West live longer and enjoy longer retirements, service and health care industries strive to meet their ever-increasing needs. Meanwhile, younger adults often rely on others to clean their homes, change their infants' diapers and take care of their elderly parents.

Meanwhile, the dissatisfaction is global also, as noted in recent international polling: Majorities of British, Germans and Italians Believe There Are Too Many Legal Immigrants in Their Country.

ROCHESTER, N.Y., May 29 /PRNewswire/ -- In the United States, the battle on immigration has intensified as the White House and Congressional leaders debate over compromise legislation on this issue. But concerns over immigration and what to do about it are not limited to the U.S. Two-thirds (67%) of British adults, 55 percent of adults in both Germany and Italy and 45 percent of adults in Spain believe there are too many immigrants in their country. While a little less, one-third of adults in both France (32%) and the U.S. (35%) believe that their country has too many legal immigrants. One thing to note is that France is the only country where a majority (52%) believes the number of legal immigrants is about right.

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Day-laborer kidnapping report a hoax:
Man who claimed he was taken in handcuffs to Mexico admits that he lied [6/1/07]
Open-borders Mexicans were thrilled a couple weeks ago with the report that Rancho Cucamonga day laborer Jose Felix Gutierrez had been kidnapped "by a white man" and forcibly removed to Tijuana with his hands cuffed. The Mexicans wanted to blame the "crime" on the Minutemen who have been protesting the illegal laborers in Rancho Cucamonga. Minutemen in Rancho Cucamonga
Come to find out there was no crime at all. Mr. Gutierrez had a little psychological problem, we are told, resulting in his completely fabricating the story of his victimhood.

When San Bernardino County sheriff's investigators talked to Jose Feliz Gutierrez by phone, he said the kidnapping story he told to his sister was a lie.
"Jose stated he had left on his own accord," said Detective Jesse Venegas in a statement released Wednesday. "The entire event was a fabrication.
"Jose stated that he was scared to stand at the corner and look for work because of recent events such as the tragic accident that took the life of a fellow day laborer." [...]
Minuteman national rally spokesman Raymond Herrera said the group had serious doubts about the kidnapping claim from the start.
He said the group believed the story was a lie.
"The Minuteman group knew that from the start," he said. "It just didn't add up."
The news that the kidnapping story was a lie is regrettable, said Jose Calderon, professor of sociology and Chicano studies at Pitzer College.

In fact, fake hate crimes and such are not that unusual when members of some self-designated victim class wants to create sympathy for themselves or their cause. However, in some cases the fraudsters are tried and convicted, like Claremont Professor Kerri Dunn who was sentenced to a year in state prison for concocting a fake hate crime.

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