October 2006
Mexico tourism takes hit [10/31/06]
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Hazleton's Hispanic exodus: Immigrants — illegal and otherwise — flee city before crackdown [10/30/06]
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California Republican Rep. Hunter launches '08 White House bid [10/30/06]
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Opponent of racial preferences takes quest to Michigan [10/30/06]
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Lou Dobbs Transcript Highlights - Oct 25 [10/29/06]
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As More Immigrants Go to New Orleans to Rebuild, They're Making Less [10/29/06]
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Detroit church to be reborn as a mosque [10/28/06]
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Fox orders federal forces to Mexico's Oaxaca crisis [10/27/06]
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Lou Dobbs Tonight Transcript Oct. 26 [10/27/06]
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Janitor's secret past: a death squad [10/26/06]
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Immigration Is No Joke [10/26/06]
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Plugging immigration's drain on black employment [10/25/06]
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Survey Conducted At 2006 ISNA Convention [10/25/06]
3. Is the American government at war with the religion of Islam?
5. Did Muslims hijack planes and fly them into buildings on 9/11?
6. Did the U.S. government have advance knowledge of the 9/11 attacks, and allow the attacks to occur?
7. Did the U.S. government organize the 9/11 attacks?
8. Are the tapes of Osama Bin Laden, claiming responsibility for the 9/11 attacks and threatening future attacks, real or fake?
9. Did Muslims commit the July 2005 train and bus bombings in London?
10. The Canadian government says it stopped a plot by Canadian Muslims in June 2006 to attack targets in Canada. Do you believe there was a real plot by Muslims?
11. The British government says it stopped a plot by British Muslims in August 2006 to bomb planes flying to America. Do you believe there was a real plot by Muslims?
12. Is Al Qaeda a real organization, operated by Muslims who are trying to attack America?
21. Should Iran develop nuclear weapons?
25. Was America justified in invading Afghanistan after 9/11?
27. Is violence by Muslims against the American military overseas acceptable, in retaliation for the American government's actions in the Muslim world?
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New fear rises in Tijuana [10/25/06]
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A New Strategy for Controlling Immigration [10/25/06]
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Youths in Paris torch bus as authorities fear civil unrest [10/24/06]
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Radical Islam finds US 'sterile ground' [10/24/06]
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Egyptians who enslaved girl, 10, get U.S. prison [10/23/06]
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'Prank' gets teen lesson in tolerance [10/23/06]
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Dad stands trial over daughter's mutilation [10/23/06]
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No force border enforcement [10/22/06]
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Why 112 cars are burning every day [10/21/06]
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From Rags to a Roof Over Your Head [10/20/06]
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Free face clowning classes for refugees [10/19/06]
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Lou Dobbs Transcript -- October 18 [10/19/06]
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Voters want immigration crackdown, poll shows [10/18/06]
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Court to hear arguments on criminal immigrant data [10/18/06]
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U.S. Population Hits 300 Million Mark [10/17/06]
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Border Patrol, lawmen outgunned by cartels [10/17/06]
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Fencing In Human Capital [10/16/06]
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Europe Raising Its Voice Over Radical Islam [10/16/06]
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The man who likes to poke the world in the eye [10/15/06]
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America's Population Set to Top 300 Million [10/12/06]
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Across Europe, Worries on Islam Spread to Center [10/11/06]
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Mexico May Take Fence Dispute to U.N. [10/10/06]
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Diverse communities trust less [10/9/06]
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Muslim Lawmaker Assimilated and Berated [10/8/06]
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Green Card lottery to open [10/8/06]
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Every Child Endangered by Open Borders [10/7/06]
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John Reid signals an end to immigration free-for-all [10/7/06]
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Children's bodies removed at Iroquois Homes [10/6/06]
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Angelides calls border fence wrong [10/6/06]
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Muslims are waging civil war against us, claims police union [10/5/06]
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A Countdown to 300 Million [10/4/06]
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© 2006 Brenda Walker All rights reserved.
It's hard to believe that with all the bad press about narco-wars and travel warnings from the State Department that tourism to Mexico is down only 4 percent.
For example, Acapulco has lost that glamour of old since the violence and narco beheadings spiked. When tourists go beachcoming, they don't want to find a human head.
"What we're witnessing in Mexico is a social breakdown that carries ramifications for all sectors of society," said Ana María Salazar, political commentator in Mexico City and former Pentagon official. "People just don't feel safe anymore." [...]
• Assassinations by drug-trafficking groups in and around Acapulco have become an almost daily occurrence, and severed heads have been left in tourist areas. Police have been attacked with grenades in Acapulco and another Guerrero state resort, Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo.
"With soldiers with machine guns patrolling the beaches, you can become a little nervous as a tourist," said political commentator Homero Aridjis.
If they persist, the violent images of Mexico can destroy local tourism economies, as they have in Oaxaca, Mr. Aridjis said.
• The central state of Michoacan, which will host touristy Day of the Dead celebrations this week, has become the latest narco killing field. Five severed heads were recently thrown on the dance floor of a popular disco in the town of Uruapan, part of the tourist corridor that includes Patzcuaro and Morelia.
Good news from America's favorite small town. Hazelton's illegal alien population is leaving in droves and the town's ordinance against harboring the unlawful hasn't even taken effect yet. Local legal enforcement works, just like fences.
It proves the point that massive deportations of millions would not be necessary if immigration laws were enforced and attrition were allowed to occur. Illegal aliens will self-deport to their real homes if the enticements of housing, jobs, education and welfare benefits are removed.
One of the deciding issues for residents of Hazelton was the increased crime since the influx of several thousand foreigners of unknown backgrounds.
"I've said from the beginning my goal was to make Hazleton one of the toughest cities in America for illegal aliens," [Mayor Barletta] said. "Today, if I was an illegal alien, I certainly wouldn't pick Hazleton as my home."
Of course, no good deed goes unpunished while the ACLU lives, and the border-hating Stalinists are hot to club Hazelton into submission with a lawsuit.
Crime statistics for the last few months are not yet available, but Chief Bob Ferdinand said he has heard from his officers that they are not responding to as many calls.
"Things appear to be quieter and appear to have calmed down somewhat," he said.
Somewhat, but not entirely.
On Oct. 20, police say, a legal immigrant from the Dominican Republic shot and killed two Hispanic men, one of whom was in the country illegally, at an intersection on the city's northwest side. The suspect, Miguel A. Abreu, told reporters at his arraignment: "Now I am at peace; I took my enemy down."
What an interesting development. Duncan Hunter has been a long-time defender of the American nation, and never succumbed to the globalist faction of his party and Washington generally.
In the early 1990s, he joined up with conservative Pat Buchanan and liberals like Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Ralph Nader to fight against NAFTA, the gateway document for so many trade-based troubles today, particularly the North American Union.
The Vietnam War veteran, a recipient of a Bronze Star, has made his mark in Congress by advocating for a strong military and border security. He played a leading role in the construction of a 14-mile double fence on the U.S.-Mexico border that is nearing completion in San Diego. He co-authored legislation signed by President Bush last week that would extend the border fence to 700 miles.
Rep Hunter has a career immigration voting grade of A+.
Hunter voted against the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Central American Free Trade Agreement and opposed most-favored-nation status for China. This year, he was a vocal critic of a deal that gave a Dubai company control of some operations at six American ports.
While Ward Connerly was a University of California regent, he worked to end race-based college admissions in the system. He is currently taking has message of old-fashioned fairness to Michigan.
"Affirmative action has perpetuated the notion that black people aren't as smart," he said.
Meanwhile, the social engineers at the University of California are still fighting academic attainment as a basis for admission [UC urged to rely less on tests for admissions]. Rather than relying on tried and true measurements of scholarship, a new report recommends that characteristics like "leadership" and "spark" count for more than boring grades and test scores.
After heading the campaign for Prop. 209, which passed with 54 percent of the vote in 1996, he pushed a similar initiative in Washington state that passed in 1998 with 58 percent.
Now, Michigan voters will decide Nov. 7 whether to end affirmative action in their state's renowned public colleges and its public schools and other state agencies, and Connerly is helping the campaign. Polls conducted earlier this month showed the initiative in a dead heat.
"If we can win a blue state like Michigan, it is a powerful message that preferences are not embraced; it will hasten the demise of treating people differently," said Connerly, who says he will persist until affirmative action is banned in every state.
The latest scheme sounds like the proposed lego exam of a few years back, in which students were judged on taking the initiative, problem solving and working well with others. Also known as the Bial-Dale College Adaptability Index, the test did not win acceptance even though its goal was to admit more minority students to college whether they were academically qualified or not.
After all, diversity is the highest value on today's campuses.
Lou Dobbs did a one-hour special on open borders last Wednesday, which you can watch here. The link at the top will bring up the whole transcript. The program had an abundance of experts with some important statistics and quotes, some of which have been assembled for this post.
CASEY WIAN: The tab is growing. California spends half a billion dollars a year on illegal alien healthcare, only 11 percent is reimbursed by the federal government. Forty-four of California hospitals have closed since 2000. Education for the children of illegal alien costs the state $6 billion a year, California's public school system ranked 29th nationally in 2002. It's now 47th. [...]
WIAN: In Texas, where the border is now ground zero in an all- out war among Mexican drug cartels, the governor is asking for an additional $100 million in state money for border security. [...]
WIAN: Even New York spends $5 billion a year on education, healthcare and incarceration of illegal aliens. There are also human costs. A growing number of groups are protesting the deaths of American citizens and law enforcement officers at the hands of criminal illegal aliens. The federal government is either unwilling or unable to deport. [...]
WIAN: Seventy-five people have been killed in the past decade on this one stretch of California highway near the border by illegal alien smugglers fleeing law enforcement. [...]
One Harvard study found illegal immigration lowered the wages of American high school dropouts by eight percent. Another released last month, now the link between the influx of low-scaled immigrants and low wages, high unemployment and high incarceration rates of African Americans. [...]
ROBERT RECTOR, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Well, assuming that we have about 11 million immigrants in the U.S., the net cost or the total cost of services and benefits provided to them, education, welfare, general social services would be about $90 billion a year, and they would pay very little in taxes. It's important to remember that at least half of illegal immigrants are high school dropouts. [Editor's note: Read Robert Rector's new study about immigration, Importing Poverty.]
The National Academy of Sciences told us 10 years ago that a dropout immigrant imposes net cost on the taxpayer, that's services given over the cost of taxes paid of about $100,000 over the course of his lifetime. In the last 20 years or so since through both legal and illegal immigration, we've imported about 11 million high school dropouts. The net cost of those individuals over their lifetimes to the taxpayers will be about $2 trillion. We simply cannot afford as a nation to bring in millions and millions of low-skill individuals who will eat up government services, but pay virtually nothing in taxes. [...]
LOU DOBBS: Last year 1.2 million illegal aliens were stopped at our southern border with Mexico. Most of those illegal aliens were from Mexico, and according to the border patrol, for every illegal alien apprehended three successfully enter the United States. That means perhaps as many as three million illegal aliens succeed in entering the country, but also an increasing number from countries known to sponsor terrorism are making it into this country.
They're called OTMs, other than Mexico. Last year U.S. border patrol agents apprehended 155,000 people from countries other than Mexico. The general estimate is that for every person apprehended at our borders, as I said, three get through. The math on that number is particularly disturbing. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, for example, has studied criminal illegal aliens and studied those aliens who have been deported after they had served time in the Los Angeles county jails.
That study revealed that 70 percent of those illegal aliens were re-arrested again -- arrested, in fact, four more times. The Drug Enforcement Administration says $25 billion in drug money crosses our border with Mexico each and every year. Some estimates put it as high as 40 billion. Eighty percent of the methamphetamines in this country, 70 to 90 percent of the cocaine, virtually all of the marijuana smuggled into the United States comes from across our southern border with Mexico.
Violent battles between Mexican drug cartels along our southern border are now spreading into the United States. A recent congressional report shows Mexican drug traffickers have achieved shocking levels of sophistication and effectiveness. The report, for the first time, reveals that Hezbollah terrorists have already crossed the Mexican border into the United States. [...]
DOBBS: The Mexican Central Bank estimates that Mexican citizens in this country, legally and illegally, are sending some $24 billion a year back to Mexico in the form of remittances. That's ahead of oil revenues for Mexico, some say just about the same for the revenue for Mexico as the trafficking of illegal drugs.
But as I said, Mexico is not the poorest nation in this hemisphere and certainly not the world. Mexico, in fact, is the richest Latin American country, yet almost half of its people live in desperate poverty. [...]
GEORGE GRAYSON, COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY: Lou, I think your comments earlier were on the mark. Mexico is an extremely wealthy country. It has everything, gold, silver, oil, natural gas. The problem is that the politicians don't pay attention to the poor.
Mexico devotes less than six percent of its budget to education, six percent to healthcare. Their tax collection level as a part of their national product is about the same level as Haiti and the corruption is ubiquitous. There is a saying in Mexico show me a politician who is poor and I will show you a poor politician. I think Mexico has ...
DOBBS: ... We've got a few in this country that work that. More than a few, actually.
GRAYSON: But let me just give you one more example. Mexico brings in 40,000 Guatemalan guest workers each year, and when you ask the big coffee growers in Chiapas why they don't hire local people because the unemployment rate is high, they say they won't work hard. They're irresponsible, you can't count on them, the same thing that growers say in this country about Americans. [...]
MAYOR OF HAZELTON, PA, LOU BARLETTA: Lou, I can tell you illegal immigration is destroying small-town America. We are buckling under the strain of the costs. Our small budget simply cannot absorb it. I am no longer able to provide the level of public service that I should be providing to the legal, hard-working taxpayers of my community.
This website has long criticized the Bush administration for allowing New Orleans to be rebuilt by illegal alien labor, cutting out American citizen workers, both black and white. (See also Occupied New Orleans Forecast and Jesse Tapdances to New Orleans.)
Today, more than a year after the terrible storm, "there's a glut of immigrant workers" and wages for illegal aliens are falling. Could supply and demand perhaps be having some effect?
NEW ORLEANS - Above the din of hammers, drills and mortar mixers, some immigrant construction workers are grumbling that wages have dropped and a lull in work has developed in the last few months.
A study from UC Berkeley and Tulane released in June found that one quarter of the workers in New Orleans reconstruction were illegal aliens who were exploited in all the usual ways, namely lower wages, difficulty in obtaining money earned and unsafe working conditions.
"It was better in the beginning," said Honduran Marcos Antonio Enamorado, who lived in Houston for six years before moving to New Orleans last year. [...]
But now Hispanic day laborers who wait on street corners and in front of hardware stores in hopes of getting hired say there's a glut of immigrant workers and not enough projects under way.
Immigrants complain that too many of their compatriots have migrated from Houston to New Orleans.
Just a month after the monster storm hit, an LA Times columnist was bragging that New Orleans would be rebuilt and resettled by Mexicans [La Nueva Orleans]. With help from el Presidente Bush, that project is full steam ahead, as evidenced by Mexican food becoming common [Taco trucks add new dimension to flavors of southern Louisiana].
Taco trucks are one of the hottest new businesses in the New Orleans area, fueled by the Hispanic population that relocated to rebuild homes, businesses and roads destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Oh nice. New Orleans needs more unregulated food vendors, selling disease-carrying chow.
Few taco trucks roamed the streets of the Crescent City before Katrina struck, and now 21 mobile vendors plying Hispanic foods are licensed by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.
Other food vendors are unlicensed, like Salvadoran immigrant Maria Machado, who cooks fried plantains, tamales and pupusas at home and sells food from the back of her car every day to workers who gather each morning on South Claiborne Avenue.
There has been quite a number of churches being sold to Muslims in Europe, but not so many instances here. It's a bitter end for long-time members of the church who grew up there.
Watching the mosque take down the crosses, Polish icons and other Catholic symbols is going to be difficult for Bart Nowak.
"They are going to destroy the place," said Nowak, who moved to the neighborhood from Poland with his parents in 1999.
Nowak is angry with the church for abandoning a community that many people characterized as an extended family.
"It's not a happy story," Nowak said.
Mexico continues to collapse into a failed state, as shown by el Presidente Fox's long overdue insertion of troops to Oaxaca, which has been in revolt for five months.
Mexico is turning into Colombia before our eyes, as more and more territory is being run by narco gangs, not Mexico City.
The unrest in Oaxaca began with a teachers' strike and has nothing to do with the encroaching narco-state, yet shows how locals can become emboldened when they see the central state unable to exert its authority.
Even though Fox's earlier attempt to restore order in Nuevo Laredo with the military failed miserably, the anarchy in Oaxaca apparently can no longer be ignored.
Mexican President Vicente Fox ordered federal forces to be sent to the conflict-torn city of Oaxaca on Saturday, after gunmen shot dead three people including a U.S. journalist.
Blogger Mark in Mexico reports that locals stole the clothes of the American journalist after he was shot and lay bleeding to death on the street. He was lucky they left him his underwear. Nice people, these Marxicans.
The president's office said in a statement the forces would arrive in the city during the course of the day. It did not specify whether federal police, soldiers or a mixture of the two would be involved in the operation.
On Friday, at least two prolonged shootouts against protesters killed three people, including U.S. independent journalist Brad Will.
Nine people, mostly protesters, have been killed in a conflict that began in Oaxaca five months ago, when striking teachers and leftist activists occupied much of the colonial city, storming Congress and blocking hundreds of streets in an effort to oust state Gov. Ulises Ruiz.
For a brief history of Mexico and why its culture is so hopeless, see more from Mark.
Why is Mexico such a mess? It's the culture. Don't scoff. I live here, remember? Mexicans do not understand the very basics of Rule of Law. They don't understand them and I don't believe they ever will. The single missing ingredient here is accountability. You can steal just about whatever you want to steal here, and if you share the spoils with the political powers that be as well as local, state and federal law enforcement, you can get along quite nicely. Kind of like Chicago.
Mexican politicians believe that it is their right to enrich themselves at the expense of their constituents. It comes with the territory, so to speak. Mexicans as a whole are not capable of viewing society as a whole. They do not understand that what is injurious to society is injurious to the individual. My father used to tell me that one's rights end at the beginning of the other fellow's nose. Mexicans don't see it that way. A Mexican believes that his rights extend as far as he can push or bully his way. That the extension of his rights might be deleterious to society as a whole is a thought which never crosses his mind. A basic lack of civility abounds.
Yesterday saw President Bush reluctantly sign the border fence bill. Here are some statistics about the effectiveness of the fourteen-mile fence which already exists south of San Diego.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, that 14-mile double stretch of fencing you can see behind me stretching all the way to the Pacific Ocean is perhaps the best argument that supporters of the fence idea have for expanding fencing along the southern border.
No wonder that Mexico is squawking up a storm! Fences work, and they know it.
Ten years ago, before this fence was built, it probably wouldn't have been safe for us to be standing here. This area was in the absolute control of drug and illegal alien smugglers. Robberies, rapes, murders even happened here on a regular basis.
But now, because of this double fencing, the Border Patrol is in firm control of this region. Some of the statistics are absolutely astounding.
Ninety percent of the illegal aliens who attempt to cross along this 14-mile stretch of border are caught. Now, if you compare that to the estimated 30 percent of illegal aliens who are caught, or even lower than that in other areas of the border, it's clear that this is working. The Border Patrol's apprehension rate, which is its best official measurement of how many illegal aliens are trying to cross the border, the number of Border Patrol apprehensions has dropped 95 percent since the mid '90s, when the fence project was started. [...]
WIAN: Lou, one other -- one other fact. It hasn't just impacted the border region here. Entire San Diego County, the crime rate is down 56 percent since this fence was built.
He's just your typical Los Angeles illegal alien, a hard-working janitor, nice guy to his girlfriend's children, weekly church-goer. Oh wait, he's also a convicted death squad participant.
Gonzalo Guevara Cerritos was arrested Wednesday for being an illegal alien and also a member of the Salvadoran military death squad that brutally murdered six Jesuits in 1989.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said Guevara Cerritos was one of nine Salvadoran officers and soldiers implicated in one of the most notorious massacres in El Salvador's history: the 1989 death squad murders of six Jesuit priests whom some in the army viewed as subversives.
So he resettled his illegal self last year in a city with more than 250,000 other Salvadoran nationals and immigrants, perhaps not the brightest move. He attempted to keep a low profile, but was apparently recognized by one of his countrymen and reported to the US government as a war criminal.
A sublieutenant with the Atlacatl Battalion during El Salvador's war against the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, a leftist guerrilla group, Guevara Cerritos was convicted for his role in the slayings.
John Fonte has a hopeful warning about the upcoming election. First he commends pro-sovereignty activists for prevailing against the ruling elites (which he helpfully lists).
One year ago elites had crafted a much different scenario. It was going to be amnesty for 12 million illegal immigrants, a massive increase in legal (and low-skilled) immigration accompanied by tepid and cosmetic "enforcement" measures.
That's a pretty thorough list of open-borders elites; however he left out environmentalist organizations and the entire educational establishment which is working to brainwash the young into multiculturalism.
It appeared to be a very uneven contest. On the "comprehensive" reform (i.e., amnesty) side were the mainstays of power, money, and polite society: Big Media (the major TV networks, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal), Big Business (Chamber of Commerce, leading corporations), Big Labor (AFL-CIO), Big Religion (the mainstream Protestant and Catholic hierarchies), and Big Politics (Bush administration, Senator McCain, the Senate leadership, Senator Kennedy, and the Democratic leaders in both houses).
So it's close to miraculous that citizens were able to use the few remaining shreds of democracy and communications to fight back and win.
On the other side of this strange, but real and inverted, class war were radio talk-show hosts; individual business people; most rank and file union workers; most average church parishioners (in high-church as well as low-church congregations); the majority of House Republicans (92 percent), and the majority of Senate Republicans (59 percent). But, most significantly, the anti-amnesty side also included the vast majority of the American people. According to Rasmussen, 67 percent preferred enforcing existing law and controlling the border "before new reforms are considered," and Zogby reported that 64 percent preferred the House bill over the Senate bill.
Fonte reminds voters that Congressional stalwarts who have advanced the cause of borders and sovereignty deserve our support.
Perhaps elites are right, and conservatives truly are, in John Stuart Mill's famous phrase, the "stupid party." But, I'm betting this is not true, and that come Tuesday, November 7, conservatives will go to the polls in large numbers and stand with those who stood with them — and more importantly, beyond partisan considerations, stand with those who stood for our national interests as Americans over the special interests of elites.
And this morning, an unwilling President Boosh signed the fence bill, flawed and underfunded though it is. Unsurprisingly, Mexico is miffed at its loyal pal, calling the fence "shameful."
Here's a rare instance where the LA Times admits that open borders have been devastating on black workers. Don Wilson, an activist in the Unite Here union, has been successful in urging businesses to hire black employees for hotel work.
The ethnic-specific requirement is believed to be a first among union contracts, and one that Wilson and his union hope will fuel a larger effort to bring blacks back into the hospitality business. Hotel managers "just stopped hiring us," said Wilson, 50, with characteristic bluntness. "We were locked out of the industry, especially the culinary arts. They went to an immigrant workforce that they figured had a docile mentality and that wouldn't put up any resistance. But now we're taking a stand."
Wilson has his work cut out for him though, since Unite Here promoted the illegal alien "Freedom Ride" in 2003.
Though historic, the contract doesn't go as far as setting hiring goals — say, 10% of the workforce, or about the same as the percentage of African Americans in the city's population. Instead, the contract sets up a committee made up of hotel, union and community representatives to monitor black outreach and recruitment efforts; it also calls for an ombudsman.
What's most significant about the clause, however, is that it's a confirmation of what even the most progressive people have long been loath to admit: Immigration is one of several factors that contribute to the ongoing crisis of black employment.
Incidentally, black Americans are not happy about their history of struggle for civil rights being misappropriated by illegal aliens, as noted yesterday on Lou Dobbs Tonight.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. now emblazoned on a banner reading, "We also have a dream." Holed up in a Methodist church, defying a deportation order, an illegal alien who compares herself with Rosa Parks.
Illegal aliens and their supporters increasingly invoking American's civil rights movement.
FRANK MORRIS, CHOOSE BLACK AMERICA: The inappropriate comparisons of the movements of illegal aliens with the civil rights movement really denigrates the civil rights movement.
ROMANS: Morris says it's offensive, especially since illegal immigration threatens any hard-won civil rights gains.
MORRIS: Those who originally hoped to benefit by the civil rights movement, especially African-American men and women, are in grave danger of once again slipping -- many slipping further behind.
ROMANS: This weekend outside this Methodist church in Chicago, charges that the legacy and symbols of the struggle of black Americans to achieve equal treatment under the law are under attack. Ted Hayes is an activist for the homeless.
TED HAYES, ACTIVIST FOR THE HOMELESS: It's just down right disrespectful what's going on.
ROMANS: He calls it disrespectful, but civil rights is not the only movement co-opted by the open borders lobby.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
ROMANS: "Yes, we can!" the rallying cry of Cesar Chavez. Yet Chavez famously opposed illegal immigration because he knew it meant a downward spiral of wages and working standards.
ISNA would be the Islamic Society of North America meeting last month in Chicago. "Muslims for a Safe America" polled attendees (307 citizens) with interesting, though not reassuring, results.
2. Do you consider yourself to be a Muslim first, an American first, or both equally?
The level of denial and paranoia is stunning, is it not? Remember the respondents are all US citizens and presumably have had plenty of exposure to American views. Keep in mind also that Muslim immigration to the US has increased in the last couple years, with no concern from Washington.
MUSLIM FIRST 214
AMERICAN FIRST 4
BOTH EQUALLY 86
UNDECIDED 3
YES 208
NO 79
UNDECIDED 20
YES 117
NO 139
UNDECIDED 51
YES 200
NO 70
UNDECIDED 37
YES 106
NO 151
UNDECIDED 50
REAL 126
FAKE 129
UNDECIDED 52
YES 140
NO 104
UNDECIDED 63
YES 61
NO 202
UNDECIDED 44
YES 66
NO 191
UNDECIDED 50
YES 149
NO 109
UNDECIDED 49
YES 161
NO 123
UNDECIDED 23
YES 51
NO 248
UNDECIDED 8
YES 134
NO 154
UNDECIDED 19
In Tijuana, kidnapping wealthy and middle class people is increasingly popular among criminals (also noted here.)
Tijuana may now have the most kidnappings in the world outside of the Middle East, said Thomas Clayton, chairman of Clayton Consultants Inc., a global private security firm. "Tijuana is going crazy," Clayton said.
Searching for "Tijuana kidnap" reveals a shocking normality attached to the crime. In 2001, seven area university students (including five law students) kidnapped a 13-year-old girl to ransom for graduation costs. In another case, a Chinese businessman was snatched by a group that included some of his own employees.
About two years ago, the tide of crime reached into the fashionable Zona Rio district and the nearby hillside streets lined with mini-mansions. Black-clad assailants toting AK-47s began snatching people from restaurants and bars. In one notorious case, assailants dragged a screaming man off the front staircase of the ritzy Club Campestre.
Now rarely a day passes without a brazen kidnapping or murder making headlines. On major thoroughfares, billboards show photos of kidnap victims and plead for help finding them. In a recent newspaper survey, nearly one-third of respondents said a friend or relative had been kidnapped. Tijuana Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon recently said 10 friends of his have been kidnapped. Residents keep track of the toll the way like Southern Californians watch wildfires burn toward their homes.
The deteriorating situation has prompted Tijuana Bishop Rafael Romo Muñoz and civic leaders to call for the Mexican military to patrol the streets.
Meanwhile, hundreds of families, some owners of landmark businesses and institutions, have fled across the border to live in upscale neighborhoods in San Diego County. Many of the exiles, who include some threatened policemen, return to Tijuana only under armed escort. Every day, their bodyguards wait for them at the border.
Somehow I missed this Tom Tancredo speech at the Heritage Foundation Sept. 21, but it's a winner and should be heard. I've linked to the mp3 file, but you can watch instead using this link and scrolling down. Or read the transcript at this link. He explains in clear language the policy options available and how they can be undermined by open-borders extremists in the White House.
Has a sort of permanent intifada come to France? Or has low-level insurgency simply become a lifestyle option for Muslim youths of French tough housing projects with nothing better to do? Police are now seeing planned attacks against them. As noted here a few days ago, 112 cars are burning every day in France.
A gang of youths forced passengers off a bus in a Paris suburb yesterday before setting it alight and then stoning fire fighters.
The recent attacks on police brought a rare response of officers demonstrating on the streets of Paris against the worsening anarchy they now face daily.
The attack - which happened in broad daylight on Sunday - is the latest in a string of similar disturbances in housing estates surrounding the French capital.
They come amid rising tensions as the anniversary approaches of widespread rioting and car torching that forced France to declare a state of emergency last October.
"Tension is rising very dramatically," said Patrice Ribeiro, the deputy head of the Synergie Officiers police union. "There is the will to kill."
The attitude of American exceptionalism is alive and well in many diversity-flummoxed minds regarding Islamic immigration to the United States. So different from the alarming situation in Europe because we are better at assimilation, they imagine.
It's true that we have had no homegrown suicide bombers, like the gang that killed 52 in the 2005 London bombings. But the multiculturalism-promoting media does not like to dwell on unhappy stories, like the hundreds of prosecutions and deportations since 9/11 in this country. And when true "moderate Muslims" call for a show of support for democratic institutions, no one shows up.
In addition, Islamic immigration to this country is increasing, which means additional Muslims in places like Hamtramck, which has already allowed the five-times-daily obnoxious prayer against the wishes of American residents. When these communities increase to critical mass with typical Islamic anger, it's likely that the myth of Muslim assimilation in America will be blown sky high. But until then, we must endure puff pieces like the one from the Christian Science Monitor.
We weren't isolated growing up. We were part of the culture," says Kotb, who grew up outside Washington in a family that inculcated a success ethic. "Religion was important, but not so much that you'd have to cover your head or if you don't pray five times a day, that's it - nothing like that. There were a lot more progressive attitudes" within her local Muslim community.
Au contraire, according to a 2005 study by the reputable Freedom House, which found many mosques located in the US to be promoting jihadist ideology.
In mosques in America, it's fairly common for imams to preach assimilation, says Mr. Zogby. That's not as true in Europe, particularly in poorer neighborhoods where sermons can be laced with extremism.
Of course, not all Muslims residing in the US are closet jihadists, but there is no good way to tell friend from enemy. (That's why America didn't have Japanese or German immigration during WWII.) And while moderate Muslim gatherings are sparsely attended, a 2004 anti-US rally in Dearborn with a pro-Khomeini contingent attracted numerous ethusiastic participants. Last July, 10,000 joined in Dearborn to protest American policies in the Middle East, and a portrait of the Secretary General of the terrorist group Hezbollah was warmly applauded.
It was just last summer that a Saudi couple residing in Colorado were convicted of keeping a slave there, and the husband got serious prison time.
Now another Muslim couple is facing the slammer for importing their vile customs to this country.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two Egyptian nationals who pleaded guilty to enslaving a 10-year-old Egyptian girl at their Southern California home, making her work long hours serving their family of seven, were sentenced on Monday to prison terms.
Abdel Nasser Youssef Ibrahim, 57, was sentenced to three years in federal prison and his former wife, Amal Ahmed Ewisabd Motelib, 43, was given 22 months behind bars by a federal judge. Prosecutors said the pair will be deported after serving their sentences.
U.S. District Judge James Selna also ordered the defendants to pay their victim more than $76,000 in restitution, which represents the money the girl should have been paid during the two years she worked for their family.
Muslim sensitivity training was the Stalinesque punishment for an 18-year-old American who "displaced" the headscarf of a Muslim woman residing in Chicago. It was a rude act, and not acceptable. However, neither was the discipline meted out, the left's answer to every problem, i.e. immersion in multiculturalism.
During the past three months, Huffman, 18, has spent 40 hours listening to and talking with Muslims across Chicagoland. He has completed required tasks that seemed ripped from reality television: watching Muslim youths play basketball, attending a 9/11 event and visiting area mosques, which Huffman called "synagogues" at the beginning of his training.
The female genital mutilation (FGM) attack allegedly by an Ethiopian immigrant father Khalid Adem against his daughter occurred in 2001 — why has it taken so long to bringe to trial? Americans need to know what kind of cultural criminals we are welcoming to this country under the gentle rubric of "diversity."
Monday, activists from all over the world will be focused on a Gwinnett County courtroom as Khalid Adem, accused of cruelty to a child and aggravated battery for allegedly circumcising his daughter, goes on trial.
Yes, FGM is very common in Ethiopia, where around 90 percent of little girls are so damaged.
Adem, 30, was charged with aggravated battery and cruelty to children more than three years ago and, if convicted, could face 40 years in prison. He was born in Ethiopia, where circumcision is a common procedure for young girls.
Female genital mutilation is a crime in this country. Why then do we welcome immigrants of societies where FGM is a cultural norm?
Update: In Great Britain, African immigrants fly in village elders to perform the brutal ritual, despite the fact that FGM is illegal in Britain and can bring 14 years in prison for those who practice it.
Debra Saunders notes the travesty being wrought by the Bush administration against two Border Patrol agents Jose Compean and Nacho Ramos (shown here with his wife Monica) who are trying to protect the rest of us from illegal immigration run amok.
SOMEONE OUGHT to tell the Bush administration that prisons are for criminals, not law-enforcement personnel trying to do their jobs. On Thursday, a federal judge in Texas sentenced two former Border Patrol agents to 11 and 12 years in prison because they shot at a drug smuggler who was evading arrest.
Lawmakers had still stronger remarks in Lou Dobbs Sept. 7 coverage of the case:
In February 2005, Border Patrol agent Jose Alonso Compean got in a scuffle with smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, who was driving a van that carried 743 pounds of marijuana. Compean and fellow agent Ignacio Ramos shot at Aldrete-Davila -- they say they thought he had a gun, which Aldrete-Davila denies. Ramos shot the smuggler in the butt, but because Aldrete-Davila kept running -- across the border -- they said they thought they did not hit him. The agents picked up their shells and failed to report the shooting. For that violation of agency policy, Ramos and Compean deserved an administrative review and some sort of job-related punishment.
Instead, due to a case of blind and bloodthirsty federal prosecutorial overkill, Ramos and Compean were sentenced to 11 years and 12 years respectively. Oh, and the smuggler was granted immunity for the 743 pounds of pot, and is suing the federal government for $5 million. Crime pays, while going after criminals can land you hard time in prison.
REP. TOM TANCREDO (R), COLORADO: You have to ask yourself, what is going on here? There's something that stinks to high heaven in this.
The agents remain free on bond until mid-January as their appeal is being considered.
REP. TED POE (R), TEXAS: It seems like the United States Justice Department's on the wrong side. It appears they're working for the government of Mexico instead of the government of the American people.
WIAN: Lawmakers are outraged the smuggler, who agents Ramos and Compean found carrying 743 pounds of marijuana, was also granted immunity for a separate half ton load.
REP. LOUIE GOHMERT (R), TEXAS: It's a black mark against the country. It's a black mark against the Department of Justice and all of us in this country who support the rule of law.
WIAN: North Carolina Congressman Walter Jones is leading the congressional effort to clear the agents.
REP. WALTER JONES (R), NORTH CAROLINA: When I first heard about this injustice, I will be honest with you, I knew nothing about it until I was watching Lou Dobbs during the August break. That night I was so upset that I called my staff. I said, find out what is happening. I cannot believe that these two border agents are been found guilty of doing their job for the American people and will be sentenced to jail.
It's been nearly a year since France's shocking 3 weeks of nightly rioting by Islamic youths, and not a great deal has changed in the angry Muslim milieu. If anything, conditions have become more brutal in an ordinary sort of way. During the riots, 20 to 40 cars were torched nightly; now the number is 112. Welcome to the new normal.
Before next week's anniversary of the Clichy riots, the violence and despair on the estates are again to the fore. Despite a promised renaissance, little has changed, and the lid could blow at any moment.
See also the related Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots.
The figures are stark. An average of 112 cars a day have been torched across France so far this year and there have been 15 attacks a day on police and emergency services. Nearly 3,000 police officers have been injured in clashes this year. Officers have been badly injured in four ambushes in the Paris outskirts since September. Some police talk of open war with youths who are bent on more than vandalism.
"The thing that has changed over the past month is that they now want to kill us," said Bruno Beschizza, the leader of Synergie, a union to which 40 per cent of officers belong. Action Police, a hardline union, said: "We are in a civil war, orchestrated by radical Islamists."
Car-burning has become so routine on the estates that it has been eclipsed in news coverage by the violence against police. Sebastian Roche, a sociologist who has published a book on the riots, said that torching a vehicle had become a standard amusement. "There is an apprenticeship of destruction. Kids learn where the petrol tank is, how to make a petrol bomb," he told The Times.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the Interior Minister who hopes to win the presidency next May, has once again taken the offensive, staging raids on the no-go areas and promising no mercy for the thugs who reign there.
Nice blog from Gates of Vienna about the Nobel Peace Prize going to Muhammed Yunus, the creator of microlending. It discusses Mr. Yunus' book Banker to the Poor, which I reviewed in The Social Contract as a better alternative to liberal rescue fantasies connected with immigration.
As anyone who has worked with the poor and marginalized knows, it does no good to play Dr. Bountiful. So there had to be rules about how much money could be borrowed, when it would be repaid, and who would supervise the program. Dr. Yunus would set up micro (and I do mean micro) loans to craftswomen in order to free them from the money lender schemes. Improvising as he went along, he had the women join small groups of other borrowers. They met to discuss business methods, repayment plans, and just to encourage one another. This took courage, both on the part of Dr. Yunus and his first borrowers; the moneylenders were not happy with this new arrangement. [...]
There is a strong moral foundation to Grameen. In addition to signing on to the repayment requirements, there are "The Sixteen Decisions of Grameen Bank." All of them are geared toward self-improvement, community responsibility, and family health.
In Britain, taxpayers are stuck for a program in which refugees are taught clown skills to "boost self-confidence." Really.
Is it any wonder the Qaedas think that a culturally adrift Britain is toast, and ready to be taken down? (See the recent Guardian story, Britain now No 1 al-Qaida target - anti-terror chiefs.)
Young asylum seekers and refugees are to be given free clowning lessons at taxpayers' expense to help them adapt to life in Britain, it emerged.
Elsewhere in Britain, a citizen was recently fined for un-PC free speech: Man convicted for anti Muslim banner.
The youngsters aged 12 to 25 will learn slapstick routines, how to tumble, silly walks and how to fall over during a course of nine theatre workshops estimated to cost up to a total of £2,000.
Organisers at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry say the classes, which will also teach clown face make-up and mime, are designed to boost the self-confidence of the youngsters.
But Bob Spink, Tory MP for Castle Point, branded the course a waste of public money and warned that such schemes risk triggering resentment.
"It seems the lunatics are in charge of the asylum," he said last night. "I think that the people behind this are responsible for a politically correct waste of money.
The words in bold red paint stated: "Kill all Muslims who threaten us and our way of life. Enoch Powell was right."
Father of two Gary John Mathewson, who was arrested for displaying the banner, told a court: "This won't stop until there is a Muslim president in the White House."
Rep. McCaul was interviewed about the disturbing Congressional report published by his office.
REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX) What we found was that the drug cartels have never been more powerful or more violent south of the border. They literally own these delivery routes, these vehicles that export drugs and crime into this country. Human trafficking, as you mentioned, the other than Mexican special alien concern has tripled since September 11.
It causes me grave concern, and I think the thing that keeps all of us up late at night in the Congress is -- god forbid -- these routes are used for weapons of mass destruction to come across our border.
PILGRIM: Yes, especially the terrorism element. We have some more statistics on that, which I would like to share with our viewers. In 2003, more than 30,000. In 2004, more than 44,000, five more than 185,000. So far in 2006, more than 108,000.
And the other fact that struck my eye was we believe we are catching only 10 to 30 percent of people coming across the border. So there may be many more slipping through. How concerned are you that we are not stopping terrorism properly?
MCCAUL: Well, as a former counterterrorism official at the Justice Department, I've always been concerned about this threat. The last week in the Congress, we did appropriate billions of dollars for border security to take care of this problem on our side of the border with more agents and fences and technology.
But we really need to -- Kitty, we need to look at the root cause of this problem, and it is the drug cartels. They are the head of the snake and the snake needs to be eradicated. We need far greater cooperation with the Mexican government.
We need to enhance our intelligence capabilities, not only in Mexico, but through Latin America in countries like Venezuela, which has been a safe haven for the Islamic jihad world. We all know Margarita Island has hosted Hezbollah operatives for quite some time. Maybe that's a little well-known secret in the intelligence community. But our report bears out the stark reality.
PILGRIM: You know, you bring up the issue of Venezuela and the report says this about Venezuela. The "U.S. military and intelligence officials believe that Venezuela is emerging as a potential hub of terrorism in the Western Hemisphere. The Venezuelan government is issuing identity documents that could subsequently be used to obtain a U.S. visa and enter the country."
We know that these cartels that are smuggling people in and out. There's often a name change, that people will come in under an assumed name and try to represent themselves as a different nationality. Venezuela has objected to this characterization, but what makes you convinced that it's true?
MCCAUL: Well, we know that five Pakistanis were apprehended at the U.S./Mexico border with fraudulent Venezuelan documents. FBI director Robert Mueller basically testified before our committee that Islamic individuals were changing their surnames and taking on Hispanic identities with false documents.
If this doesn't wake anybody up, I don't know what would. And all we need to do is look at Mr. Chavez's comments that he has made publicly as he has embraced the Islamic jihad world and called them the brotherhood. He has embraced Iran, he has embraced Syria, he has endorsed Tehran's nuclear weapons program. And when you look at the threat of proliferation, as Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons and nuclear material, it puts the threat now in our own hemisphere, indeed in our own backyard. I don't think we can turn a blind eye to this problem anymore.
Citizens want the anarchy to end, no news here. But we are approaching election time, when elected officials may listen more closely to voter concerns.
Along with health care, immigration is more important to voters than any issue except the war in Iraq and the economy, according to the survey released Monday by the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington group that advocates reducing immigration.
For more about the poll, see the Center for Immigration Studies report.
The poll says that most voters oppose laws, such as the one passed by the Senate in May, that would give illegal immigrants a chance at permanent residency and citizenship.
Steven Camarota, the center's director of research, said that political candidates should take heed.
"If you're a candidate who is in favor of enforcement and no legalization," he said, "you should advertise the heck out of that perspective."
The pollsters asked voters to choose among several concerns related to immigration. The largest percentage, 27 percent, cited the burden it places on taxpayers, including the cost of health care and schools. Next were concerns about immigrants' failure to assimilate (14 percent) and about compromised national security (13 percent).
This case could be important, since it has to do with transparency in law enforcement regarding which convicted criminal illegal aliens are actually deported after serving their sentences as required. More pressure needs to be brought on local law enforcement agencies, which are sometimes lazy about deporting convicted felons with tragic results for innocent citizens.
Cox Newspapers is asserting that the Justice Department should release the names, birth dates and identity numbers of illegal immigrants who have served prison time for serious crimes, including child molestation, manslaughter, drug dealing and drunken driving.
Cox, which publishes the Austin American-Statesman, hopes to use the data to show how many illegal immigrant convicts are slipping back into communities undetected rather than being deported to their native countries, as federal law requires. Cox revealed in a published report four years ago that hundreds of felons in Georgia were never picked up by immigration officials after serving their sentences.
The U.S. Justice Department says it has turned over some of the information requested by Cox under the Freedom of Information Act, which requires federal agencies to disclose government records to the public. The department gave Cox information about the convicts' native countries, dates they were taken into custody and dates of release, according to legal briefs filed in federal court.
But the release of personal information such as full names, dates of birth, immigrant registration numbers and FBI numbers would invade the privacy of convicted illegal immigrants and serve no public interest, Justice Department lawyers wrote in legal briefs.
The case is important because it raises the question of whether illegal immigrants should be granted the same privacy protections that citizens and legal residents have. Legal experts also say it illustrates how the federal government resists complying with disclosure requirements when it has embarrassing statistics to hide.
It's finally here, the official 300 million mark. At least Washington knows better than to try to celebrate domestic overpopulation.
When the U.S. population officially hit 200 million in 1967, President Johnson held a news conference at the Commerce Department to hail America's past and to talk about the challenges ahead. Life magazine dispatched a cadre of photographers to find a baby born at the exact moment, anointing a boy born in Atlanta as the 200 millionth American.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal was preparing people for the next shocking milestone of 400 million: The Coming Crunch .
This year, there's a good chance the 300 millionth American has already walked across the border from Mexico.
"It's a couple of weeks before an election when illegal immigration is a high-profile issue and they don't want to make a big deal out of it," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank
The U.S. population will hit 300 million at 7:46 on Tuesday morning, says the Census Bureau. But it's the 400 million milestone, which the U.S. will reach in about 35 years, that has demographers and economists really talking.
Actually, if the population grows as rapidly as it did during the 1990s, i.e. at a rate of 13.1 percent per decade, this nation will reach a population of 400 million by 2030, just 24 years from now.
A new report from the House Homeland Security subcommittee paints a scary picture of the worsening chaos on the border. Not only do the drug cartels have military grade weaponry (automatic assault weapons, bazookas, grenade launchers and IEDs), they also can break the encryptions on Border Patrol and sheriffs' deputies' radios.
Naturally, such an efficient smuggling infrastructure is very attractive to terrorists.
Hezbollah members already have entered the U.S. from Mexico, the report confirmed.
You can download the report, "A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border," in PDF here.
"As if narco-terrorist violence were not enough, extensions of Middle East terrorism have crept into the United States," the report stated. "Islamic radical groups that support Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamiya Al Gamat are all active in Latin America."
Investors Business Daily points out the problem of remittance dependency in Mexico, complete with a map.
As has been noted here, the easy money of remittances from Mexican expatriates enables Mexico to avoid investing in expensive infrastructure, protecting its small class of ultra-rich while pushing tens of millions of poor onto the backs of American taxpayers.
Among Mexican leaders, only Central Bank Gov. Guillermo Ortiz has supported American border security. "It would be best to keep its people in Mexico, and it would give incentives for Mexico to create jobs that are needed," he remarked recently.
Once again, the Central Bank of Mexico is on top of this, well ahead of the rest of the Mexican government.
In a 2005 study, that bank found a negative link between development and remittances — the more remittances, the less overall development. The bank even went so far as to suggest poverty was caused by the dependency, not the other way around.
Because most cash sent back is used for consumption, and not investment, it gives only a short-term boost to GDP.
"Evidence also suggests that members of recipient households have fewer incentives to search for alternative sources of income," the bank noted, describing a burgeoning private welfare culture. [...]
Those who do leave have higher expectations. If a wall were built, and the U.S. is no longer a social-pressure valve for Mexican labor, those workers just might revolt.
The picture darkens when one considers that the highest-remittance states border poorer states where there already is insurgency or recent unrest — like Oaxaca, Chiapas and Guerrero.
That's why the wall issue is such a tinderbox for Mexico's government. If the wall couldn't work, the government wouldn't worry. But it will. And the government knows if Mexico stops exporting people to the U.S., it will have to extensively reform the economy.
From America, the question of European cultural survival looks bleak at best given the demographic realities of Islamic immigration and birth rates. This article indicates that the urge for self-protection has not been entirely extinguished by failed doctrine of multiculturalism and other forms of thought control.
"It's a fear of brutality, and you submit to that brutality," said Henryk M. Broder, whose book "Hurray, We Capitulate" is a polemic on what he sees as Europe's submission to Islamists. "It's surrender to an enemy you're deathly afraid of.... Europe is like a little dog on his back begging for mercy from a big dog. The driving factor is angst."
See also Fjordman's latest essay of warning, Why Muslim Immigration is a Threat to Western Democracy.
Even intellectuals who don't share Broder's views agree that Europe must defend its principles. The change in mood comes as Europeans of all political persuasions are growing less tolerant of Muslim immigrants and questioning whether Islam can coexist with Western ideals.
Muslims can thus undermine Western democracy in two ways: By massive immigration and infiltration of established, especially Socialist, parties until they can be turned to serve the Islamic agenda, or by simply creating a climate of fear and distrust that gradually makes the democratic system unworkable. In Western Europe right now, they are making significant headway on both accounts.
That man would be columnist Mark Steyn, who has just published a new book America Alone. It is evidently not the most cheerful book, having as its subject the loss of cultural confidence in the West, particularly Europe, leaving us far too vulnerable for fanatical Islam which is incapable of any self-reflection whatsoever.
LF One of your best qualities is that you're so insensitive. For example, when writing about what you call the most important fact of our time -- the explosion of the Muslim global population -- you say: "Those self-detonating Islamists in London and Gaza are a literal baby boom." Making offensive jokes like that takes guts. Where do you get the courage?
MS Being offensive actually has its merits. An excessive deference to sensitivity is very harmful, particularly when you're dealing with people so ready to take offence. I didn't really think of it in an Islamist context until the fall of 2002, when I said in the National Post, something like: "Is it just me, or does Ramadan seem to come around quicker every year?" The point is Ramadan is every eleven and a half months. And of course I immediately got all these humourless letters from people saying, "Oh, you complete idiot! Are you not aware that under the Islamic calendar Ramadan comes..." Of course I'm aware! I'm making a cheap joke about it! It's my standard Ramadan joke, and I'm going to do it every 11-point-however-many-months for as long as I live. [...]
LF Your book is very gloomy. After I read it, I glanced over at my three-year-old daughter and was filled with fear for her future.
MS Well, I'm in this for the three year-olds. My youngest child is six now, but my little girl and your little girl, when they're our age, they will find a large number of places in what we think of as the free world, the developed world, far less congenial than we would. I mean, you and I would think nothing of hopping on a plane, going to London, Paris or Berlin. Those are going to be very uncomfortable places for a young, middle-aged Western woman circa 2020, 2030, and it's precisely because we've taken for granted this very unusual period in history. We take it for granted that it's a permanent state of affairs. It isn't. It requires incredible vigilance and incredible effort to preserve it.
The MSM is not particularly comfortable with covering this topic, as shown by a passel of dumb articles celebrating diversity and ignoring genuine environmental and societal problems created by domestic overpopulation. This one from the Washington Post at least names some difficulties.
"When we hit 100 million, it was a celebration of America's might in the world," said Dowell Myers, a professor of urban planning and demography at the University of Southern California. "When we hit 200 million, we were solidifying our position. But at 300 million, we are beginning to be crushed under the weight of our own quality-of-life degradation." [...]
Yes, that's right. The people want limited growth and they want immigration to be legal, controlled and reduced. It's only the greedy elites who want a borderless world, which they imagine will be more profitable for them.
In Los Angeles, the nation's most densely populated metropolitan region and its most heavily Latino area, 300 million will be yet another confirmation that congestion is out of control, Myers predicted.
"I don't think people view population growth as a plus anymore," he said, noting that Angelenos are punished by it "every single day" when they go out in freeway traffic.
The New York Times' 300 Million editorial yesterday was particularly lame, as it attempted to downplay the negatives with a flippant dismissal of real concerns and an out-of-the-blue personal attack on Pat Buchanan.
Whenever the population odometer hits a huge round number, it creates unease, but we usually get over it. Predictions of planetary famine made the 1968 book "The Population Bomb" a raging bestseller, but today you find it only at garage sales.
My copy of "The Population Bomb" is not going to any garage sale because its core issue is more relevant than ever.
The doomsayer's torch has lately been grabbed by cultural sentinels like Patrick Buchanan, whose new book warns that the United States is being reconquered by disease-carrying Latinos. Unless Americans of white European descent can Ziploc the borders and start churning out babies, he says, their age of civilizing domination is done for.
Multicultural Muslim immigration is being understood as threatening the survival of Europe. Indeed, why would any sane culture welcome sworn enemies into its communities?
For years those who raised their voices were mostly on the far right. Now those normally seen as moderates — ordinary people as well as politicians — are asking whether once unquestioned values of tolerance and multiculturalism should have limits.
Bucolic rural France is not happy with the changes either, judging by A French town fears the loss of its soul , about the Provence town of Chateaurenard.
Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw of Britain, a prominent Labor politician, seemed to sum up the moment when he wrote last week that he felt uncomfortable addressing women whose faces were covered with a veil. The veil, he wrote, is a "visible statement of separation and difference."
When Pope Benedict XVI made the speech last month that included a quotation calling aspects of Islam "evil and inhuman," it seemed to unleash such feelings. Muslims berated him for stigmatizing their culture, while non-Muslims applauded him for bravely speaking a hard truth. [...]
In Austria this month, right-wing parties also polled well, on a campaign promise that had rarely been made openly: that Austria should start to deport its immigrants. Vlaams Belang, too, has suggested "repatriation" for immigrants who do not made greater efforts to integrate.
The idea is unthinkable to mainstream leaders, but many Muslims still fear that the day — or at least a debate on the topic — may be a terror attack away.
A change that is spoken of less openly involves the newer inhabitants: As many as 20 percent of the people in this town are ethnic Arabs, many of them young, undereducated, unemployed and isolated. [...]
At night, the streets of the town belong to young ethnic Arab men, most of them of Moroccan origin, whose fathers came to France to farm decades ago. There is no new industry, and young men - whether ethnic French or ethnic Arab - are repelled by the idea of farm labor.
No surprise here that Mexico is acting as an enemy state, attacking America's right to protect its sovereignty.
PARIS -- Mexico's foreign secretary said Monday the country may take a dispute over U.S. plans to build a fence on the Mexican border to the United Nations.
Worse, the signing ceremony last week in Arizona was not about the fence bill, even though it was made out to be so, according to blogger Mickey Kaus and others.
Luis Ernesto Derbez told reporters in Paris, his first stop on a European tour, that a legal investigation was under way to determine whether Mexico has a case.
The Mexican government last week sent a diplomatic note to Washington criticizing the plan for 700 miles of new fencing along the border. President-elect Felipe Calderon also denounced the plan, but said it was a bilateral issue that should not be put before the international community.
Derbez said Monday after meeting with French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy that it was a "shame" U.S. immigration policy had been used for what he claimed was a short-term political gain in the lead-up to midterm elections in the U.S. in November.
Robert Putnam is a Harvard social scientist who has been saying for some time that diversity is not the totally swell value as believed by his fellow liberals. He remarked in 2001, "It is harder to build social capital in places that are multicultural and where there has been a lot of immigration."
His book Bowling Alone was a surprise best-seller that touched a nerve by analyzing the breakdown of community in America. Now he is in the news again, going a little further in criticizing the socially approved belief du jour.
"In the presence of diversity, we hunker down," Putnam said. "We act like turtles. The effect of diversity is worse than had been imagined. And it's not just that we don't trust people who are not like us. In diverse communities, we don't trust people who do look like us."
"Diversity" a negative? Here's more from the Financial Times article,
Research shows disturbing picture of modern life.
Putnam told the financial Times the loss of trust was more prominent in communities with greater ethnic diversity.
"They don't trust the local mayor, they don't trust the local paper, they don't trust other people and they don't trust institutions," Putnam said to the Financial Times. "The only thing there's more of is protest marches and TV watching."
Now, after several years of further research, Putnam has come up with a more disturbing picture of contemporary American life: the more people of diverse ethnic backgrounds live in a community, the lower the level of trust among the community's citizens.
The bad news here is that Putnam is a liberal who believes that social engineering can solve this "problem" -- namely the tribal nature of human psychology. The good news is that one of the world's best known and respected social scientists is again saying that diversity is bad for the health of communities.
This is, as he knows, an extremely contentious finding in a climate of growing concern about immigration in the US. It is potentially more controversial in Europe, which is struggling to cope with Islamic communities that can be actively hostile to Western democracy at their most extreme, and even in more moderate forms often prefer to live apart rather than integrate.
Putnam makes an important distinction between two different types of social capital: Bridging, in which an individual from one religious, ethnic, or class group, does something for someone in another group for an expected return, and bonding, when people who are "like us" -- white Irish Catholic police officers, say, or black Alabama Baptist labourers -- act in the expectation of a return.
The second kind, says Putnam, can "lead to Bosnia or Beirut" at most, and ever-wider social distance in wealthier societies. [...]
His diversity research reveals not just that bonding capital is strong and bridging capital weak in ethnically diverse communities, but also that both are weak in such societies: distrust permeates all relationships and people try to "minimise the hits on them from the society around them" by withdrawing into private space, often in front of a television.
Danish lawmaker Naser Khader is the sort of assimilated Muslim that we all would like to imagine as the norm. He drinks beer, is married to a European woman and respects free speech.
But to hard-core Islamists, he is an Uncle Tom, and his views are unwelcome.
"If you don't want to look at the cartoons, don't buy the paper," Khader, one of three Muslims in the Danish parliament, said in a recent interview at his office. "I understood why Muslims were upset. But you protest in the frame of democracy.
"Why this overreaction? I asked the Islamists why they didn't demonstrate when Abu Musab Zarqawi killed innocent hostages in Iraq. Why didn't they protest when Bin Laden sent planes into New York? This is against Islam too."
Such sentiments earned Khader, who travels with bodyguards and a wry sense of humor, at least one death threat from an extremist imam. A sturdily built man who perfected his Danish on neighborhood soccer fields, he is bemused by the discreet men who shadow him. "I think it's sad," he said, "that police have to protect those who speak for democracy. But the world has changed. This is my life." [...]
"Naser Khader is irrelevant to Muslims in this country," said Ahmed abu Laban, an outspoken Islamic leader in Copenhagen. "His role is to keep bombarding Muslims and Muslim values. He represents that strain of thought in Europe that's too cowardly to face legitimate Muslims. So they get people like Khader to act as a human shield and to spit in our face."
It's October, and that means the opening of Diversity Lottery season, which runs through Dec. 3 this year. There are 55,000 US citizenship slots up for grabs, so millions across the globe are rubbing their lucky rabbit's foot or engaging in fraud to win. (For example, Nigeria has had an 80 percent rejection rate of its applications in a recent year.) Last year, 5.5 million "qualified" entries were submitted.
Of course, it is an embarrassment for a great nation to run a lottery for its citizenship, but Washington has been unable to end even an unpopular program that has to do with immigration.
The lottery is open to people from nations with low migration rates to the United States. People who are already in the United States on valid visas may apply, but undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. won't qualify.
The excellent House bill (HR 4437) had a provision to end this travesty, but the Senate was more interested in amnesty than true immigration reform.
One of the most shocking crimes in the last few years occurred summer a year ago in which a 15-year -old girl was brutally attacked by an illegal alien as she walked to a friend's house.
That's the short version of what happened to Rebecca McDonald in August 2005. She was accosted in Spotsylvania County Virginia by Jose Ramirez while he was working on a townhouse as part of a construction crew. She ignored his rude catcalls and tried to walk on by, but he grabbed her and dragged her into the woods.
Rebecca's eye socket was crushed in the attack, and her eye still does not work properly even after three surguries.
Ramirez slammed a rock against her face several times and tried to drown her by holding her head under water in a stream. She fought back and was lucky that a local man, history teacher James Snyder, heard her screams and came to her aid. Ramirez ran off but was soon captured by police, despite his resisting arrest.
On Friday, Ramirez was sentenced to only 27 years in prison, even though he could have gotten life. In addition, Ramirez had been convicted of two burglaries in Prince William County that occurred a month before his attack on Rebecca -- he should have been in jail and then deported back to El Salvador rather than left to run free and brutalize an innocent girl.
From Britain, some common sense about immigration from the ruling labor party, spoken by Home Secretary John Reid.
Until now, the Government has based immigration policy on nothing more than whether the economy needs workers to fill skills shortages and provide cheap labour.
Not a moment too soon, considering the kind of social breakdown that's happening there. Recently a blind woman was refused a cab ride by a Muslim driver because she had a seeing-eye dog: 'Unclean' guide dog banned by Muslim cab driver.
But now the Government has abandoned its purely economic argument for immigration - and acknowledged its social costs.
In a clear break with the old controversial stance, Mr Reid said it "isn't fair or sensible" not to consider the impact on public services.
He is to tell a new panel assessing how many migrants to allow into Britain to consider if the country's already-stretched infrastructure can cope, and not just the wishes of the Treasury and employers.
Today Mrs Vernon, 39, from Hammersmith, said: "This experience was very upsetting.
"I was tired and cold and just wanted to get home but this driver made me feel like I was a second-class citizen, like I didn't count at all."
Mrs Vernon, who works as a legal officer for the Royal National Institute for the Blind, added: "The owner of the minicab firm, Niven Sinclair, was also very insensitive, telling me that what had happened to me wasn't really very important, and I should have more respect for other people's culture. They have shown very little respect for my rights as a disabled person and have never once offered me an apology."
Four little children, the oldest just eight years old, were murdered by their father Friday morning in Louisville, Kentucky. The family members were Somali refugees who had been resettled in a housing complex where other Somalis lived.
The father, Said Biyad, turned himself in at the police station, saying that he had murdered his family.
The family was known as "secondary refugees" because they originally settled in another city before coming to Louisville. Kentucky Refugee Ministries and Catholic Charities have helped settle hundreds of Bantu refugees directly to Louisville from foreign refugee camps in 2003.
Below is a photo of the local Somalis looking on to the crime scene.
Bantus and other Somalis have fled that nation's long-running civil war.
Dozens of neighbors, as well as Somalis from throughout the city, clustered near the crime scene during the morning and early afternoon as police continued to investigate.
A worker from Catholic Charities was on the crime scene of the killings to help interpret.
Somalis are among the most "diverse" people that America has ever tried to include in the national community. It hardly seems kind to import tribal persons who require instruction on the operation of doorknobs and electric lamps, but such neediness keeps many in the Refugee Industrial Complex gainfully employed. (See Cliff Notes Assimilation for Somalis.)
It's pathetic to think that the California Democrat party has a gubernatorial candidate whose views are so antithetical to the opinions of many voters. It's no surprise that Angelides is trailing in polls by 17 points.
Phil Angelides says he doesn't favor erecting "a Great Wall of China" to keep illegal immigrants out of California, adding that he would take a "compassionate and pragmatic" approach as governor to the politically volatile immigration issue.
Of course, "compassionate and pragmatic" on illegal immigration means following orders from Mexico City, as interpreted by the hispanic Democrats who have undue influence in Sacramento. Angelides doesn't try to hide his open-borders positions, even though even liberal California doesn't want Mexifornia.
In a meeting with The Bee editorial board Wednesday, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate said he favors granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants because doing so would make California's roads safer.
And he said he would have signed a recent bill -- vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- to allow illegal immigrants to receive financial assistance to attend California's universities.
If there is one thing the state's voters hate, it's driver's licenses for illegal aliens. Seventy percent opposed it, according to a CNN exit poll after the recall election which dumped Grey Davis and replaced him with Arnold Schwarzenegger. In fact, 30 percent of voters said that Davis' approval of the driver's license bill influenced them to support his recall. And there is no evidence of any sort showing that dispensing driver's licenses to illegal aliens has made roads safer anywhere.
A spring Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll indicated that Americans favored a 2000-mile border fence by 51 to 37 percent.
In France, the ongoing violence in Muslim neighborhoods has been reluctantly named by the authorities as what it is, namely an Islamic intifada against the French government and people.
Radical Muslims in France's housing estates are waging an undeclared "intifada" against the police, with violent clashes injuring an average of 14 officers each day.
Among the nations of Eurabia, France has been among the worst hit by Muslim immigration and is threatened with annihilation as a culture. It would be nice if elected officials honestly faced the future and took appropriate action.
As the interior ministry said that nearly 2,500 officers had been wounded this year, a police union declared that its members were "in a state of civil war" with Muslims in the most depressed "banlieue" estates which are heavily populated by unemployed youths of north African origin.
It said the situation was so grave that it had asked the government to provide police with armoured cars to protect officers in the estates, which are becoming no-go zones.
The number of attacks has risen by a third in two years. Police representatives told the newspaper Le Figaro that the "taboo" of attacking officers on patrol has been broken.
Meanwhile, across the channel, Muslim seething continues unabated at the slightest suggestion that they assimilate to British society. The latest shreiking began when Jack Straw expressed a normal sort of objection to the Islamic veil [Muslims outraged by Jack Straw's veil veto].
Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has been accused of discrimination after revealing that he asks Muslim women to remove their veils when they visit his constituency surgery. Mr Straw said he invites the women to take their veils off because he feels "uncomfortable" about talking with someone whose face he cannot see.
Mr. Straw was interested enough in his female Muslim constituents' opinions to want to see their faces, and the reactions they had to his remarks -- isn't that a good thing? It is in our culture.
But a Muslim group has said his actions are "selective discrimination".
Mr Straw revealed his actions in a regular column for a local newspaper in his Blackburn constituency. He wrote how he is concerned the veil is a "visible statement of separation and difference". He said wearing the full veil "was bound to make better, positive relations between the two communities more difficult."
The LA Times revisits the subject of the population milestone which will be officially crossed soon.
The article contains one of the most straightforward and honest statements you will find on the subject, from a professional demographer, no less.
In the nearly 30 years since the last milestone in 1967, when a beaming President Johnson heralded the 200 millionth American, there has been a sharp reversal in how Americans feel about growth.
This being la Times, truth cannot be long told without a refutation by the proper elite experts calling for continued high numbers of immigrants.
"It used to be that growth was considered good," said Dowell Myers, a demographer at USC. "Nowadays we look at population as being mostly a cost. Having a larger population serves no advantage. Instead, it just crowds our roadways and consumes our resources and degrades our quality of life. Americans are pretty much opposed to population growth."
Continued growth worries environmentalists in particular. Since Americans use a disproportionate share of the world's resources, more Americans mean more resource depletion.
[William] Frey agrees that the U.S. will continue to rely on immigration for its own good. "The broader view will be that to survive economically in the global economy we're going to have to bring in immigrants," he said.
That's the elite view, that an unfettered supply of exploitable illegal alien workers is required for the economy to function.
That argument is the same one made in the 1850s in defense of slavery: "Who will pick the cotton!?"
But the market will respond to policy changes. When a Georgia poultry plant's illegal alien workers were recently deported, the company raised wages $1/hour to attract citizen employees.
