March 2008
Lawmakers Push For National Cesar Chavez Holiday [3/31/08]
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Dutch: Mass Immigration Our Biggest Mistake Ever [3/31/08]
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DEARBORN: Halal food lands on menus [3/31/08]
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Travelers in Search of Mexico’s Magic Find Town of Witches and Warlocks [3/31/08]
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"What's to Be Done?" [3/30/08]
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Gangs thriving in Modesto [3/30/08]
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Drug cartels operate training camps near Texas border just inside Mexico [3/29/08]
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One Missed Call [3/29/08]
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Hispanic Voters Echo Others' Views Except on Immigration [3/29/08]
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Indian 'witch' tied to tree, beaten by mob [3/29/08]
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LiveLeak.com pulls Fitna due to death threats [3/28/08]
Muslims denounce Dutch lawmaker's film
Below: Muslim immigrants to Britain express their gratitude and appreciation of Western values in an earlier encounter.
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France: The Cost of Immigration [3/28/08]
- France has 6,868,000 immigrants, or 11% of the population.
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Sierra snowpack won't fill reservoirs [3/28/08]
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Calderón sends Mexican troops, federal police into Ciudád Juarez [3/27/08]
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Police say illegal immigrant stabbed man while on bail [3/27/08]
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Stand by Your Ham (click to listen) [3/27/08]
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Where hunger once prevailed, diabetes is leading cause of death [3/27/08]
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Schwarzenegger: Illegal immigrants not to blame for budget mess [3/26/08]
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Hijabs at a Harvard Gym [3/26/08]
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Outsourced passports netting govt. profits, risking national security [3/26/08]
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Justices Rule Against Bush on Death Penalty Case [3/25/08]
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Anti-illegal immigration bills proposed [3/25/08]
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Illegal immigrant is guilty in fatal crash [3/25/08]
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New Limits to Growth Revive Malthusian Fears [3/25/08]
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Engineer sentenced to 24 years in China conspiracy case [3/24/08]
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Catholics Want to Reclaim St. Paul's Birthplace [3/23/08]
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6 months, deportation in slaughterhouse abuse [3/23/08]
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Christianophobia comes to the East End [3/23/08]
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Migrant laws protested with crucifixion march [3/22/08]
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U.S. students brave Mexico despite drug-war threat [3/22/08]
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Palomas police chief flees border town; asks for political asylum [3/22/08]
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Man charged in e-mail threat to O'Malley [3/21/08]
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Signs of panic over 'Chinglish' in Beijing [3/21/08]
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Mexican American Integration Slow, Education Stalled, Study Finds [3/20/08]
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Antonovich Releases January Illegal Immigrant Numbers [3/19/08]
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Border Patrol Agents Arrest Illegal Immigrants With Criminal Records [3/19/08]
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The New Dhimmi Times? [3/19/08]
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Weak immigrant sent home after free treatment in Ariz. [3/18/08]
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Irish lobby pushes Ahern to offer Bush 'viable' visa plan [3/17/08]
"In return for keeping thousands of illegal Irish, I'll trade you this lovely bowl of shamrocks" -- Ireland Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.
For other traditional activities, see the Pogues' Streams of Whiskey:
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Muslims Nations: Defame Islam, Get Sued? [3/17/08]
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Spain’s Many Muslims Face Dearth of Mosques [3/16/08]
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California Blueprint to help schools: Tough budget year overshadows panel's report [3/15/08]
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Businesses Face Cut in Immigrant Work Force [3/14/08]
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A Child's-Eye View of Immigration Woe [3/14/08]
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Adrienne Shelly's husband slams killer before he's sentenced to 25 yrs. [3/14/08]
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Sheriffs urge federal action on immigration [3/14/08]
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Minutemen Lead "Boycott Mexico" Campaign [3/13/08]
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Bill Gates to Congress: Let us hire more foreigners [3/12/08]
Gates: That's right, and what I've said here is that when we bring in these world-class engineers, we create jobs around them. ... The B and C students are the ones who get those jobs around these top engineers. And if these top engineers are forced to work, say, in India, we will hire the B and C students from India to work around them.
Rohrabacher: But according to BusinessWeek, almost 150,000 computer programmers have lost their job in this country since the year 2000. Now, my reading of all of this is that there are plenty of people out there to hire but people want to have the top quality people from India and China and elsewhere, and they're willing to have these 150,000 American computer programmers just go unemployed.
Below, the world's third-richest man goes native in his new favorite country.
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Truckers' language rules unclear: Mexican drivers also can answer in Spanish
[3/12/08]
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"Comp Time with Dave Gorak" [3/12/08]
How has media distorted the issue?
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Alleged gang member arrested in Mid-City football star's death [3/11/08]
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Acquittal for Man with Loot in his Pocket [3/10/08]
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Indian women isolated in Silicon Valley [3/10/08]
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For refugees, rules to live by [3/09/08]
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For politicians, it's all-pander all the time.
WASHINGTON (AP) ― Congressional Democrats are renewing their call for a federal holiday honoring the late farmworkers' rights activist Cesar Chavez.
Unfortunately the real man has been made over entirely to suit today's open-borders traitors. Chavez understood that he could never organize farmworkers when hundreds of new Mexican scabs entered daily. He supported tough immigration enforcement as a consequence.
Chavez was born March 31, 1927, and in 2000 California became the first state to create an official state holiday in his honor. Other states including Texas and Arizona also observe the day.
In Washington, D.C., members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and others have pushed for a federal holiday since Chavez's death in 1993.
For the best account, see Cesar Chavez, Minuteman.
See also ProtestShooter.com's photo journalism of today's inclusive Oakland march honoring Cesar Chavez in support of "immigrant" rights, affirmative action, totally open borders, etc. ad nauseum.
This just in from the Netherlands...
AMSTERDAM, 27/03/08 - The majority of the Dutch are negative on Islam and immigration. Additionally, their knowledge of Dutch history is meagre, according to a survey by three history professors.
According to 56 percent of the Dutch, Islam is a threat to the Dutch identity. As well, 57 percent named admitting large groups of immigrants as "the biggest mistake in Dutch history".
Dearborn, Michigan, is now home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the United States. About 30 percent of the city's residents are followers of Islam and some areas are almost universally Muslim, according to a 2002 report.
They don't call it Dearbornistan for nothing.
Halal food is prepared or slaughtered according to Islamic dictates. In 1993, the Dearborn school system banned pork to protect its students from typical American food.
Underneath the colonel's bearded face, the store's sign reads "Now serving halal original & crispy." The juxtaposition of an American icon with Islamic tradition is a striking display of the changing landscape of southeast Michigan. Halal meat is not new to Dearborn's butcher shops and Arab restaurants, but a growing number of national chains have been accommodating the local demand for Muslim food in recent years.
"A lot has changed just in the past decade," said Bilal Dabaja, 22, a Dearborn resident who eats halal. "More people want these products." [...]
In Dearborn, two McDonald's restaurants are the only ones selling halal Chicken McNuggets and sandwiches among about 13,700 McDonald's in the country. Ram's Horn, a local chain of diners, and Big Boy restaurants also serve halal meat in the city. And a manager at a Subway restaurant in Dearborn hopes it soon will become halal, but it is facing difficulties because of the chain's insistence on using uniform meat suppliers.
Many in the Muslim community welcome the restaurants' changes, but some are still reluctant to eat there because they haven't been vetted by Islamic scholars.
Halal is an Arabic word that generally refers to "what is permitted." Its opposite, haram, refers to what is forbidden.
In a country where the average level of education is five years spent in school, it's not surprising that superstition runs rampant.
CATEMACO, Mexico — To kill a man, Alejandro Gallegos García explains, all you need is a black cloth doll, some thread, a human bone and a toad. Oh, and you must ask the devil permission, in person, at a cave in the hills where he is said to appear.
Here's another recent mention of the black arts in Mexico: Scoping Out Pepe.
Assuming you have these things, plus the green light from the prince of darkness, you simply lash the doll to the bone, shove it down the unfortunate toad’s throat, sew up its lips and take the whole mess to a graveyard, reciting the proper words.
"The person will die within 30 days," Mr. Gallegos said matter of factly, as if he were talking of fixing a broken carburetor. (The toad dies too, by the by.) [...]
Mr. Gallegos, 48, is a traditional warlock, one of dozens who work in this idyllic town, nestled near the Gulf of Mexico by Lake Catemaco in the state of Veracruz. Like most witches here, he melds European and native traditions in his work, a special brew of occultism he learned from his uncle.
Inequality can be seen in the streets here. In Guadalajara, una ciudad muy guera, a very white city, you have highly sophisticated people who talk of the arts on the radio as intelligently as any in America. They go to the opera, buy in good bookstores, and serve competently as doctors and technicians. In the villages you find people with far more Indian blood and almost no academic achievement or interest. Out in the hills there is, dead serious, a lot of witchcraft.
Hugh Fitzgerald confronts one of the most stupid and dangerous public policies in existence: the continued welcome of millions of potentially hostile Muslim immigrants, both here and in Europe. There is no right to immigrate, yet liberal elites and the foreigners who gain from remittances and infiltration act as if total globalization (i.e. open borders) were a done deal. It is not.
Immigration is the new way of war. It's high time we realized that reality and talked about it.
Is it somewhere written that the countries of the advanced West are required to admit Muslims into their lands, or to continue to endure their large-scale presence, no matter what new information may come to light, and greater understanding as a result, of the meaning and menace of Islam? It is by now quite clear, to all who are paying attention, that there is something deeply worrisome about that ever-increasing presence of Muslims in the Bilad al-kufr (Lands of the Infidels). And it is clear to those who are a bit swifter of apprehension than others that this has led to a situation that is far more unpleasant, expensive, and physically dangerous for the indigenous Infidels (and for other, non-Muslim, immigrants) than would be the case were there no such large-scale Muslim presence.
Is it impossible to halt all Muslim immigration to the West? To return Muslim non-citizens promptly to their countries of origin? To impose restrictions on money coming from Saudi Arabia and elsewhere to fund those mosques and madrasas all over the Western world? To do nothing that would openly demonstrate an unwillingness to change our legal and political institutions in response to Muslim demands or a Muslim presence?
It's sad to see California rot away from gangs and other forms of diverse crime, particularly Mexican. Gangs are now a big problem all over. There was a gang murder a couple weeks ago in beautiful seaside Jenner, population 121.
The task force has documented about 4,000 gang members, which is less than 1 percent of the population. And its members believe the true number is 7,000 to 10,000.
The vast majority of documented gang members, 87 percent, are Latino, though Asian, black and white gangs exist, too.
And 24 of 74 people awaiting trial on murder charges in Stanislaus County Superior Court are charged with gang "enhancements," an indication that officials believe a killing is gang- related and deserves extra punishment.
Gang markings can be found in alleyways and fences and street signs throughout Modesto, though they are most concentrated in neighborhoods in the southern and western areas of the city.
On a recent morning, Delgado explained the rivalry by pointing to graffiti on a fence near Rock Pine Court and Marlow Street, home of the Rock Pine Gangsters.
Why doesn't the fact of terror training camps in Mexico merit more attention in the MSM? Aren't Mexico's militarized cartel personnel a security threat to the United States? They would be the ideal people as partners for Qaeda types, since the Mexicans break into America for criminal enterprises daily.
Mexican drug cartels have conducted military-style training camps in at least six such locations in northern Tamaulipas and Nuevo León states, some within a few miles of the Texas border, according to U.S. and Mexican authorities and the printed testimony of five protected witnesses who were trained in the camps. [...]
Rep John Culberson spoke about the existence of several
narcoterrorist training camps in 2005.
"Traffickers go to great lengths to prepare themselves for battle," said a senior U.S. anti-narcotics official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Part of that preparation is live firing ranges and combat training courses. ... And that's not something that we have seen before." [...]
"As a Texan I find it offensive that they train in military-style camps just across the Texas border," said a senior law enforcement official and expert in weapons trafficking, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It's not good for Mexico and certainly not good for the United States. It's unsettling." [...]
In Texas, Webb County Sheriff Rick Flores said he and other law enforcement officials are "doing everything we can to secure our borders with limited resources."
"We know through intelligence sources that narco-traffickers invest money in Mexican nationals and U.S. citizens in training camps to instruct them in the black art of assassination and terror," he said. "It's even more shocking to hear that they even have mobile training sites because they take loads of money to set up."
It's all part of a strategy by drug cartels to intimidate their enemies and assert control over besieged communities along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, the officials said. The result has is unprecedented violence – at least 5,000 people killed in Mexico in drug-related violence in two years – and ongoing brutal confrontations with local, state and federal forces, plus military units.
See also Cartel training camps copy pattern set by international terrorists.
The new Attorney General Michael Mukasey spoke at San Francisco's Commonwealth Club recently and had some serious remarks about the danger facing the country.
In Michael Mukasey, President Bush finally seems to have an Attorney General worthy of the current moment. In Nancy Pelosi's hometown this week, the former judge who once tried terror cases told the Commonwealth Club audience that even he had no idea of the extent of the threat.
For another chilling warning about the terrorist threat, see the 5-minute clip of former Speaker Newt Gingrich answering a question: Newt Gingrich on Islamic Terrorism. He is "deeply worried" that his young grandchildren face a more dangerous future than boomers did during the Cold War. He believes it is quite likely that America will lose a city to nuclear terrorism if the war against jihad is not won. Here's a quote from that clip:
Speaking of what he hears in his national security briefings, Mr. Mukasey said, "It is way beyond – way beyond anything that I knew or believed. So, if I was picked for the level of my knowledge . . . that was a massive piece of false advertising." [...]
The AG also addressed why immunity from lawsuits is vital for the telecom companies that cooperated with the surveillance after 9/11. "Forget the liability" the phone companies face, Mr. Mukasey said. "We face the prospect of disclosure in open court of what they did, which is to say the means and the methods by which we collect foreign intelligence against foreign targets." Al Qaeda would love that. The cynics will call this "fear-mongering," but most Americans will want to make sure we don't miss the next terror call.
"Tony Blair said it very well. The people who did the London subway bombings spoke English, were British citizens, lived in British housing and had jobs. And had decided because of their relationships they were engaged in a war against the very country that had given them freedom, prosperity and safety."
The bombers were the children of immigrants, who grew up in British communities and did not assimilate at all, but instead became enemies of their neighbors.
Some cultures are simply incompatible. The West and Islam can never live together because Muslims despise the freedoms we treasure: speech, representative government, individual rights, gender equality.
So-called Hipanic-Americans are not friends of US sovereignty, at least according to a recent poll. Like other members of their tribe located south of the Rio Grande, they view the American border as more like a suggestion.
On most issues except immigration, Hispanic voters largely echo the views of whites, black, and Asians in a new poll from Synovate Research.
On immigration issues, Hispanics are more forgiving than the other voting blocs, according to the poll. For example, when asked if U.S. borders should be more or less open, a significant majority of whites and blacks said less open, while 47 percent of Hispanics chose more open. Asians were in the middle, with 49 percent saying less open compared with 23 percent who want the borders more open. On the issue of whether "illegal immigrants should be able to get a driver's license," 80 percent or more of white, black, and Asian participants in the online poll said no, compared with just 16 percent of Hispanics who said no. Instead, 84 percent of Hispanics polled said illegal immigrants should be able to get a license.
Backward India is certainly not ready for prime time, yet it sees itself as a leader of the civilized world, going so far as to imagine the future as the Indian Century. Unclear on the concept, shall we say.
The latest evidence is the film of a woman being beaten up by an enthusiastic gaggle of villages for being a witch, which you can view at the link above.
Nishant Tiwari, a police official in northeastern India, said a journalist who filmed the beating called him Thursday to report the incident, which took place in the village of Dumaria in central eastern Bihar state.
The Weird India blog reports that a woman was recently killed in a similar incident: Indian villagers 'killed witch'.
He arrived to find the woman tied to a tree, her hair partially cut and her complexion ruddy from being slapped. She had no serious injuries.
"I was appalled at what I saw because people should be more socially responsible than to do this," Tiwari said.
Authorities arrested six people, including the man who admitted to hiring her services as a witch. They were due to appear before a magistrate on Friday.
The 40-year-old woman, Phool Kunwar, was dragged from her home on Monday night, beaten and burned with a hot iron, police say. [...]
More than 2.3 million Indians reside in the United States.
Social activists say such cases are common in India.
The long awaited short film -- Fitna ("strife" in Arabic) -- made by Dutch member of Parliament Geert Wilders only remained on a major internet site for a day until it was taken down. Wilders had hoped to have the film shown on Dutch television station, but none had the sand to show it, because of fear.
You can still watch it, for now, at Jawa. But if Rusty Shackleford's ISP gets worried, the film could be pulled from there also.
Free speech is in a very weakened state today. For example, the honcho of the United Nations has condemned the documentary: NO JUSTIFICATION FOR HATE SPEECH OR INCITEMENT, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN STRONG CONDEMNATION OF ‘ANTI-ISLAMIC’ FILM. Liberal elites believe we should sacrifice a basic principle of democracy in order to appease Muslims.
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Hundreds of angry Muslims marched today in
Pakistan and denounced a Dutch legislator's film that portrays Islam as
a ticking time bomb aimed at the West. Dutch Muslims were more
restrained, saying they had expected worse.
It reminds me of Harry Truman when he said, "I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell."
The 15-minute film -- titled Fitna, or Strife in Arabic -- was made by anti-immigrant lawmaker Geert Wilders and was posted on a Web site
Thursday.
Employing elements and symbols calculated to offend Muslims, it draws on recycled footage of terrorist attacks and anti-Western, anti-Jewish
rhetoric meant to alarm the native Dutch.
The film begins with the Danish cartoon image of Muhammad with a fuse in his turban -- an image that provoked violent protests in Islamic
countries when it was published by European newspapers two years ago.
In France, the numbers look bad for any "benefit" to the French people from continuing to welcome mostly hostile immigrants. Even putting aside the dangers from Muslims who want to blow the place up, it costs big taxpayer money to provide social services for millions of immigrants who aren't paying into the system.
The French organization Contribuables Associés (Associated Taxpayers) has published a study on the real cost of immigration. The website Le Salon Beige has a link to the complete study, in pdf format. The study shows that for a 30-year period after the Second World War immigration was a benefit to the State. But when the immigration laws changed to allow family reunification, and political or economic asylum, employment as the primary motive was replaced by the notion of population substitution, i.e. the bringing in of massive numbers of immigrants to change the ethnic make-up of a country. The needs of the immigrant population have thus surpassed the revenue from payroll contributions and taxes. The key points of the study are as follows:
- Immigration reduces by two thirds the growth of the GNP.
- The cost of immigration in France is 71.76 billion euros.
- The revenue from immigration in France is 45.57 billion euros.
- The deficit from immigration shouldered by the taxpayers is 26.19 billion euros.
- When an immigrant does not return home at the expiration of his work contract, it is the State (the taxpayer) who bears the cost of welfare and social benefits.
- Non-European immigrants and their descendants receive 22% of all social benefits.
As the rainy season winds down here in California, the water supply problem is something of a wash. We had more-or-less normal rainfall around the state and the snowpack is looking decent.
However, the previous year (2006-07) was so dry that this year's average rainfall couldn't fill the reservoirs. The problem is the increased demand from having nearly 40 million people. In previous dry periods (like the late 1970s), we could go 2-3 years before household water restriction was required. But at that time, the state's population was less than 24 million. Now the increased use of water resources means much less wiggle room. Just one sub-normal year of rainfall puts the state close to having a dangerous water shortage.
The water content of the Sierra Nevada snowpack, which holds more H20 than the biggest man-made reservoir, is about equal to the long-term average, despite an extremely dry March, state hydrologists said Wednesday.
Measurements at historic Phillips Station, next to the Sierra-at-Tahoe resort, on Wednesday found 98 percent of the normal amount of water in the snow for this time of year, said Ted Thomas, the spokesman for the state Department of Water Resources.
That's almost twice as much water as last year, but Thomas said it isn't enough to fill the reservoirs when the snow melts in the spring and summer.
"Our reservoir levels are down because of last year," Thomas said. "And March has been very dry both rain-wise and snow-wise. It would take a significant rise in the snowpack to fill the reservoirs. We don't see it on the horizon."
Presidente Calderon's battle to take back Mexico from the drug cartels doesn't appear to be going well, but he is hanging tough.
The level of violence occurring next door to the United States should be getting a lot more attention. This is disturbing stuff.
CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico – The government of Mexican President Felipe Calderón on Thursday announced a military surge of more than 2,000 soldiers in this besieged border community – caught in the crossfire between two warring drug cartels.
See the slide show Mexican soldiers stream into Juárez.
"Operation Chihuahua," named after Mexico's biggest state, nestled against New Mexico and Texas, is aimed at restoring law and order in a region that many say has grown lawless. Since Jan. 1, nearly 200 people have been killed in this city of 1.2 million. [...]
The crackdown comes as a senior U.S. law enforcement official across the border in El Paso cautioned that Juarez, much like Nuevo Laredo in the past, faces a prolonged drug war where the worst is yet to come, a war that's gradually spilling over into the Texas side of the border.
The brutality unfolding in this region also is generating debate on Mr. Calderón's strategy to take on the cartels using more than 30,000 troops and federal police.
More than 3,800 people have been killed in drug-related violence since Mr. Calderón took office Dec. 1, 2006, according to the Mexico City newspaper Reforma. Among the dead have been 334 police officers and 39 soldiers. This year, drug killings are up 30 percent compared with last year, the newspaper said.
Another 40 people have been killed about 100 miles to the west of Ciudad Juarez, in and around the town of Palomas, just across the border from Columbus, N.M.
This case is a clear demonstration of what's wrong with sanctuary laws that protect illegal alien criminals. If I were a professional criminal, I would certainly center my crime activities in a sanctuary community.
In Virginia, Montgomery County is a crime-friendly sanctuary zone, while next-door Prince Williom County is not.
WASHINGTON (Map, News) - A Montgomery County-based MS-13 gang member and illegal immigrant who allegedly stabbed a man almost to death after being released on bond following an earlier attack is now in custody in Prince William County, where his immigration status may complicate his extradition.
More in Stabbing reveals disparities in illegals laws.
Milton Calderon-Melendez, 25, of El Salvador, is awaiting extradition from Prince William to Montgomery to face charges of assault and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder. Meanwhile, as Prince William’s policy dictates, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have already been informed of his illegal presence in the U.S.
It is a shame that an illegal immigrant charged with stabbing a man in the sternum in Montgomery County last August, one month after he was charged with assaulting a teen there, was released on $2,500 bail until his trial.
Not surprisingly, Milton Calderon-Melendez, a member of the MS-13 street gang, did not appear at his trial because illegal immigrants do not have to follow the law. At least that is the message many of our lawmakers send to illegals.
Infidel friends of the noble pork chop have banded together in support of pigs by redoing the Tammy Wynette classic with new, hammy lyrics.
Well, not quite. British farmers are facing hard times with rising costs to produce pork, and hope a musical appeal ina country-western style will alert the public to their troubles. (Watch the video here.)
See also Swine Song: U.K. Pig Farmers Stuck in Crisis.
THRANDESTON, England -- Britain's pig farmers want you to Stand by Your Ham.
Will Britain's Muslims be insulted at pigs being sung about in territory they are trying to overwhelm and demand the farmers stop? We'll see whether a fatwa is declared.
The Tammy Wynette classic, altered in praise of bacon and sung by a crew of pig raisers, is part of an effort to pressure the United Kingdom's dominant supermarket chains into paying struggling farmers more for their meat.
Here's more proof that Mexico is a rich country, not wracked by poverty as we are led to believe by the open-borders hacks. When Mexicans were poor, they ate beans and tortillas, a healthy combination that creates a complete protein.
Now they have excess money to spend on obesity-causing junk food, just like Americans. When you live on Coke and potato chips, you are headed toward blimpdom. The fattest person on earth is a Mexican.
MEXICO CITY – Fueled by the rising popularity of soft drinks and fast food restaurants, Mexico has become the second-fattest nation in the world. Mexican health officials say it could surpass the United States as the most obese country within 10 years if trends continue.
More than 71 percent of Mexican women and 66 percent of Mexican men are overweight, according to the latest national surveys.
With diabetes now Mexico's leading cause of death, activists and leaders hope to renew efforts to crack down on fatty-food consumption and encourage citizens to exercise more. But it will be a tough battle, as industry groups are expected to put up a fight.
I have to remind myself that the California Governator is not a Democrat. He goes to extreme lengths to protect illegal aliens and keep his Mexicrat pals happy.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, responding to the mother of a Republican state legislator, said Wednesday it would be a "big mistake" to blame illegal immigrants for the state's looming $8 billion budget problem.
What a liar. There's no question that social services and imprisonment of illegal aliens cost this state billions of dollars every year.
The Republican governor was in San Luis Obispo to pitch his budget proposal to local officials and business leaders when he was asked by Diane Blakeslee, mother of Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, how the state should handle fiscal burdens created by illegal immigrants.
"There is, you know, always a time like this where you start pointing the finger at various different elements of what creates the budget mess, and, you know, some may point the finger at illegal immigrants," Schwarzenegger said. "I can guarantee you, I have been now four years in office in Sacramento, I don't think that illegal immigration has created the mess that we are in."
The governor's comments came a day after Assembly Republicans announced a package of 20 bills they said would help California reduce the "negative impact" that illegal immigrants have on the state budget. Included are proposals to repeal a law enabling undocumented students to pay in-state college tuition and to demand more money from the federal government for housing illegal immigrants in state prisons.
You can listen to a recording of the actual question a few minutes into this segment of the John and Ken Show.
Elite women in the MSM really are some of the worst Islam appeasers. They are so cut off from reality by their protected positions that they think all that anti-woman stuff doesn't apply to them. I'm not saying they should organize marches to support women's right to drive in Saudi Arabia, but they should not be lying that creeping immigration-fueled Islamification isn't dangerous. Look at Europe.
The incremental surrender of our freedoms in order to make foreigners feel comfortable is not acceptable. Free speech includes the right to hurt someone's feelings. Women's rights as understood in the West are upsetting to piggymen in cultural backwaters from Saudi Arabia to Mexico. If they don't like it, then tough. Go home. Flights are departing daily.
Here's Ruth Marcus jabbering in a friendly fashion about Harvard barring male students from a gym for six hours weekly so that touchy Muslim females could use it exclusively.
But the Constitution goes only so far to help American society navigate the familiar issues raised by this unfamiliar religion. Muslim women who enroll at Harvard and turn up in hijabs at its gyms reflect a strand of Islam that society ought to encourage, the better to compete with its more odious cousins.
How ridiculous. The hijab wearers are often the most radical Muslims on campus. They are the enemies of American freedoms.
Furthermore, hijabs are an insult to every American woman who honors Susan B. Anthony and other suffragists who worked for many decades to achieve equal rights in this country. Muslim veiling is an indicator of women's lesser status in Islam and is inappropriate for any nation which espouses gender equality.
We have irreconcilable differences. The freedoms of the West can never fit with the totalitarian and anti-woman ideology of Islam.
For the "You can't make this stuff up" file. From investigative reporter Bill Gertz.
The United States has outsourced the manufacturing of its electronic passports to overseas companies — including one in Thailand that was victimized by Chinese espionage — raising concerns that cost savings are being put ahead of national security, an investigation by The Washington Times has found.
The Government Printing Office's decision to export the work has proved lucrative, allowing the agency to book more than $100 million in recent profits by charging the State Department more money for blank passports than it actually costs to make them, according to interviews with federal officials and documents obtained by The Times.
The profits have raised questions both inside the agency and in Congress because the law that created GPO as the federal government's official printer explicitly requires the agency to break even by charging only enough to recover its costs.
Lawmakers said they were alarmed by The Times' findings and plan to investigate why U.S. companies weren't used to produce the state-of-the-art passports, one of the crown jewels of American border security.
Thank you, Supreme Court, for upholding the Texas court decision to execute the illegal alien Mexican who brutally raped and murdered two girls, Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16. This must be a great relief for the families, since Jose Medellin was sentenced to death in 1994.
WASHINGTON — In a death-penalty case that has become an international issue, the Supreme Court declared on Tuesday that President Bush had no power to tell the State of Texas to reopen the case of a Mexican who has been condemned for murder and rape.
See my blog on the crime from last October: Bush Crushes Justice for Victim Families.
By 6 to 3, the court ruled that the president went too far in 2005, when he decreed that the states had to abide by a 2004 decision by the World Court. That decision found that several dozen Mexican citizens who had been sentenced to death in the United States had not been given the assistance from Mexican diplomats that they were entitled to receive under an international treaty.
The center of the dispute is Jose E. Medellin, now 33, a onetime gang member in Houston who took part in the rape and slaying of two teenaged girls on June 24, 1993. The victims were abused for an hour, then killed to prevent them from identifying their tormentors. Mr. Medellin strangled one girl with her shoelaces, the trial revealed.
This decision is also a tremendous statement of support for American sovereignty. The World Court can go piss up a tree, frankly, about America's internal affairs. Foreigners who commit crimes in this country must face the punishment Americans choose, including Old Sparky.
Doing the happy dance here. Woo hoo!
Lou Dobbs (3/25) had an excellent discussion with Texas Congressmen Ted Poe and Mike McCaul.
DOBBS: It is also, in my opinion, a great day for the United States. Because, does it not, Congressman Poe, also mean that the United States has, at least one case, establishing its sovereignty independent of an international court?
POE: No question about it. This was a tremendously important case and how the Supreme Court ruled down. Was the Supreme Court let the world court tell courts in the United States what to do or not? And the Supreme Court said, no, the world court doesn't have jurisdiction over Texas courts.
As you know, as a former judge, this -- when this case was tried, we took that position, and now the Supreme Court has ruled with us. I think it's a great day, first of all, and most importantly, that the Constitution rules the law in this country, not the world court and really not the president of the United States. [...]
MCCAUL: Well, I think there was great anger about the case being brought in the first case that the Bush administration didn't side with the state of Texas. But, I think there's great relief that the Supreme Court has ruled that a world court cannot impose federal or state law in the United States or have any jurisdiction over that.
The Republicans in Sacramexico are at least trying to show what should be done. They have no chance of getting any decent illegal enforcement measures passed into law, since the Democrats listen more to Mexico City than to their constituents. But it's good to see them doing their jobs.
Included in the package is Assembly Bill 1882, sponsored by Assemblyman Martin Garrick, R-Carlsbad. His bill would require police to contact immigration authorities when a person suspected of being an illegal immigrant is arrested for driving under the influence.
Garrick said he believes the package offers "common sense" ideas to address illegal immigration.
"I am encouraged that reason will prevail," he said.
Assemblywoman Mimi Walters, R-Oceanside, sponsored Assembly Bill 2102, which would require state agencies to check all new employees' work eligibility through a federal electronic database called E-Verify.
Walters said the news conference that is scheduled to take place in Sacramento today is designed in part to put pressure on Democrats to take illegal immigration more seriously. She said the state's illegal immigrants cost taxpayers an estimated $9 billion each year.
A drunk-driving illegal alien caused the death of a young American last August. High school senior Paul Watry, just 17, was killed in a crash in Lima, Wisconsin (near Sheboygan). He was a passenger in a car smashed by a stop-sign-running foreigner and died after two days in the hospital.
Paul Watry was an honors student at Port Washington High School, where he participated in the jazz band and theater productions. He also played guitar in a band he organized and planned to major in business at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater.
The killer, Mexican Eddie Carbajal-Lile had reportedly consumed 5-6 beers before driving and had numerous aliases. He looked rather cheerful in his booking photo, despite being charged with felony counts of homicide by negligent operation of a motor vehicle among other offenses.
However, the plea to which the killer agreed may result in only 10 years in prison. That's not enough time for snuffing out the life of an innocent teenager with his whole life ahead.
Eddie Carbajal-Lile, 27, accepted a plea deal that could put him behind bars for more than 20 years, though the prosecution will recommend 10 years in prison under the terms of the agreement.
What's with the District Attorney, taking the side of the killer? The plea agreement is far too soft for the terrible crime. (Contact information here.)
According to a criminal complaint, Carbajal-Lile ran a stop sign at county Highway V and state Highway 32 and struck a car with three teenagers inside Aug. 14, injuring two and killing Paul B. Watry, 17. Carbajal-Lile fled the scene on foot and was captured two weeks later in Ohio, authorities said.
"We could get more or even less from the judge, but I think the 10 years is fairly consistent with (fatal hit-and-run crashes) we've had in the past," said Sheboygan County District Attorney Joe DeCecco. "It's not intentional, it's negligent."
A friend testified that Carbajal-Lile had been drinking at a nearby bar before the crash, but he was not charged with drunken driving since no blood could be drawn to prove intoxication.
It is an interesting change that the Wall Street Journal is giving serious consideration to worldwide overpopulation and the resulting struggle for natural resources. The paper usually condemns worry about population-fueled demand as Malthusian -- the ultimate eyeball-rolling putdown.
But this article is thorough and full of information about resource use from both the environmental and economic viewpoints. And with the world population creeping up on 7 billion in about 4 years, attention is overdue.
Although a Malthusian catastrophe is not at hand, the resource constraints foreseen by the Club of Rome are more evident today than at any time since the 1972 publication of the think tank's famous book, "The Limits of Growth." Steady increases in the prices for oil, wheat, copper and other commodities -- some of which have set record highs this month -- are signs of a lasting shift in demand as yet unmatched by rising supply.
In fact, improved technology has spawned a level of environmental destruction unimaginable just a few decades ago. For example, factory fishing has caused the collapse of the Grand Banks on Canada's east coast, once the richest fishing grounds on earth. Now the cod have been wiped out with no sign of when, if ever, they will return.
As the world grows more populous -- the United Nations projects eight billion people by 2025, up from 6.6 billion today -- it also is growing more prosperous. The average person is consuming more food, water, metal and power. Growing numbers of China's 1.3 billion people and India's 1.1 billion are stepping up to the middle class, adopting the high-protein diets, gasoline-fueled transport and electric gadgets that developed nations enjoy.
The cause of the fishery collapse was the greater efficiency of trawler ships that dredged the ocean bottom with a brutal thoroughness that has been likened to clear-cutting forests.
We like to think the human species has become more enlightened about environmental protection, but the destruction of the Grand Banks within the last few decades ranks with stripping bare Easter Island centuries earlier in terms of wanton stupidity.
With any luck, 67-year-old Chinese-born spy Chi Mak will die in federal prison.
A Chinese-born engineer convicted of conspiracy to export U.S. defense technology to China was sentenced this morning in Santa Ana to 24 years and five months in federal prison.
See my earlier blogs about Chi Mak and other spies for Red China.
In sentencing Chi Mak, 67, of Downey, U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney said Mak had betrayed the United States by his actions. Mak was also convicted last year of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, attempting to violate export control laws and making false statements to the FBI.
In Europe, there are plenty of mosques, growing numbers in fact, to reflect the invasive influx of Islamic immigrants. (See the map of France showing the number of mosques locally.) The only objection to mosque construction has been recent and when mega-mosques have been proposed as a strategy of Muslims' marking territory, such as in Cologne and London (a 17 acres Islamic complex built by terror-friendly Tablighi Jamaat). Normal-sized mosques are built or churches are taken over by Islam with little controversy.
But in Turkey there is no corresponding tolerance toward the few Christians in residence. Pope Benedict has a different idea, namely that Turkey should be more accommodating to Christianity, particularly since Turkey wants to be admitted to the European Union. He is not a Koran kisser like his predecessor.
Every year, thousands of visitors travel to Tarsus, which is near the Turkish-Syrian border. But Christians who wish to worship in the Church of St. Paul, built several centuries ago, must overcome bizarre hurdles to do so. A permit is required from the local authorities to celebrate mass in the church. In addition, worshippers are charged an entry fee and required to bring along the essentials -- from the altar crucifix to candles -- and then promptly remove them after the service. The church was used as a military depot for several decades, before the Turkish government suddenly declared it a museum in the 1990s.
In other Pope news, the converting Muslim who was baptized by Benedict as a new Christian on Easter has some harsh words for his former religion: Islam intrinsically violent - convert.
Rome has never come to terms with the fact that Christians have such a difficult time of it in the birthplace of the apostle. But this year, which Pope Benedict XVI has declared the "Year of St. Paul," it will become a topic of public debate. In June, Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, will celebrate a mass in Tarsus. A number of German bishops also plan to travel to Turkey.
The Catholics are pursuing a politically explosive plan. Roughly 2,000 years after the birth of St. Paul, they want to get a Christian meeting center constructed in Tarsus.
"Beyond ... the phenomenon of extremists and Islamist terrorism at the global level, the root of evil is inherent to a physiologically violent and historically conflictual Islam," wrote the Egyptian-born journalist, who says he has received death threats and is under police protection.
One of seven adults baptised during an Easter vigil yesterday evening, [Magdi] Allam, 55, is an editorial writer and deputy editor at Corriere.
By baptising Allam in the public ceremony, the Pope "sent an explicit and revolutionary message to a church that until now has been too cautious in the conversion of Muslims ... because of the fear of being unable to protect the converted who are condemned to death for apostasy," Allam said.
A better headline might be "Illegal alien caused largest beef recall in US history."
The identity of at least one of the men involved in using a forklift on living cattle is not surprising in more ways than one. The scene of the crime was a slaughterhouse, where many foreigners are illegally employed; animal cruelty was the aspect that got attention (more than public health) and Mexicans are known for their cultural acceptance of inhumane practices.
After the undercover video was shown widely on television, the company recalled 143 million pounds of beef and the USDA closed the plant.
CHINO, Calif. – A man caught on video dragging sick cows and shocking them at a Southern California slaughterhouse has been sentenced to six months in jail.
Another report, Herrera pleads guilty, reveals the perp had an arrest for meth possession with intent to sell it, as well as two US-born children.
Rafael Sanchez Herrera, 34, pleaded guilty Friday in San Bernardino Superior Court to three misdemeanor counts of illegal movement of a non-ambulatory animal.
The undercover video shot by the Humane Society of the United States led to a federal investigation that spurred the largest beef recall in U.S. history on Feb. 17.
The video shows workers at the Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. dragging sick cows with metal chains and forklifts, shocking them with electric prods and shooting streams of water in their noses and faces.
Downer cattle have been largely barred from the food supply since a mad cow disease scare in 2003. The cows pose a higher risk of disease, partly because they often wallow in feces.
Under the plea deal, Herrera will be deported to his native Mexico after serving jail time. Prosecutors had said a conviction could have put him in jail for three years.
Video here includes status issue and slaughterhouse videos.
In Britain, there is news of a priest being beaten up by Muslims as a part of jihad in the country.
According to one Asian member of the parish, local youths have been heard shouting: “This should not be a church, this should be a mosque. You should not be here.” Perhaps we should not attach too much weight to that remark; but the fact remains that Tower Hamlets houses Muslim ghettos whose fundamentalist leaders are offended by the mere presence of a Christian place of worship in their community.
Why make it so easy for those who despise the rights and privileges of western civilization?
Immigration from Islamic nations should end immediately, and particularly in the United States while the numbers are still manageable. Even so, there are plenty of troublemakers already, as shown by polling and the number of terrorist arrests and convictions.
There is truly no limit to the arrogance of anarchist Mexicans who believe that American immigration laws don't apply to them. The latest is dressing up like Jesus for a little Via Dolorosa stroll in Phoenix for some Good Friday whining.
Comparing their criminal invasion and theft of American jobs and benefits to the Passion of Christ sounds a lot like blasphemy, if one were to phrase theologically.
My favorite Bible verse and Jesus quote has long been "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God’s." (Luke 20:25) If that isn't an admonition to obey civil law, what is?
Alejandro Miguel, a 32 -year-old Phoenix resident, played the part of Jesus.
"We represent an exploited and untolerated minority," Miguel said in Spanish through a translator. "Our eyes have seen death, misery, and hunger, and we've seen enough."
Miguel said the mistreatment of his fellow man inspired him to play such an important role in the demonstration.
To reenact the Via Crucis, Miguel adorned a robe, mask, and crown of thorns while he carried a wooden cross over three miles through the streets of Phoenix.
Courageous (or stupid) college students are venturing into Mexico for Spring Break, though not perhaps not in the numbers of previous years.
Many students didn't want to give their full names in order not to alarm their parents. I'm guessing they got sa very generous vacation package for choosing Acapulco.
ACAPULCO, Mexico – Fearless students from the University of Texas in Austin, Texas State and colleges across the country are injecting badly needed cash into fading resorts like Acapulco this spring break season. But analysts warn that even they cannot save a stagnant tourism industry as long as Mexico is awash in drug violence, police corruption and drugs openly sold on the streets.
As expected, the Mexican spokeholes are tapdancing like mad, lying about the danger.
Unless President Felipe Calderón's 15-month frontal attack on the cartels begins to reduce violence, his drug war may kill off parts of the very tourism industry he promoted as an engine of economic development and part of a strategy to keep would-be immigrants home, some analysts said. [...]
In January, a shootout between rival drug gangs in downtown Cancún, where few U.S. tourists wander, left two people dead.
"Violence is not a problem exclusive to Mexico; it occurs in all nations," said Manuel Torroco, president of the National Tourism Federation, an industry group. "There have been no incidents involving foreign tourists besides isolated ones that happen everywhere in the world. We welcome this year's spring-breakers with open arms."
In fact, American tourists have been attacked, like the nurse from San Diego who was raped in front of her boyfriend, along with being robbed. (Listen to a Jan 7 radio interview with the victims on the John and Ken Show. The details of how they were set up by local people and the violence of the attack are chilling.)
The Houston Chronicle reported, "Assaults on American tourists have brought hard times to hotels and restaurants that dot Mexican beaches just south of the border from San Diego." For details, see Mexico Meltdown: First Update of 2008.
For more on tourism to Mexico, see Americans Avoiding Mexico Like the Plague.
How close to chaos is Mexico getting? It's worse every day. When police officers are fleeing for their lives and begging for asylum in the hated USA, it's another marker pointing toward anarchy.
The embattled city of Palomas, Mexico, is now literally lawless.
The Luna County Sheriff's Office and U.S. Border Patrol reported Thursday that the Palomas Chief of Police came to the Columbus Port of Entry late Tuesday night, requesting political asylum
The chief, identified by the LCSO as Emilio Perez, reportedly told Immigration and Customs Enforcement his department's only two officers had fled and he had no idea where they are.
Recent violence in Palomas includes the armed robbery last Sunday of a dentist's office while Columbus Mayor Eddie Espinoza was undergoing a root canal, and several shootings and deaths. The LCSO said a source in Palomas identified two more victims of shootings last weekend as Sergio Perez Gonzales, 55, and Rigoberto Munoz Acosta, 21. Those would be the third and fourth deaths in recent weeks attributed to what U.S. authorities say is a battle between drug cartels for control of the area's drug trade.
I hope this man can get some support; he was clearly at the end of his rope and wrote something he shouldn't have -- a threat to an elected official. Apparently his many pleas to enforce the border (and thereby protect his and other American jobs) went unanswered.
It is a basic job of the government to protect our nation's perimeter from invasion (U.S. Constitution: Article IV, Section 4).
Walter C. Abbott Jr. has sent e-mails from time to time to the governor and state legislators complaining about losing construction work to illegal immigrants.
In 2006 I wrote about a depressed worker in a similar situation who took a different route:
Media Prescription for a Carefree Future.
He never received anything but a form-letter type response.
This week, the 44-year-old Parkville man added something extra to his e-mail: a threat to strangle Gov. Martin O'Malley.
Within five hours, three Maryland state troopers responded to the e-mail. Abbott was arrested Tuesday and charged with threatening a public official.
He was being held last night at the Baltimore County Detention Center on $2 million bail.
After a breakdown triggered by getting off his meds, Shafer got back on Zoloft and embraced diversity by learning Spanish. Problem solved, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Is that the media’s prescription for coping with invasion? Drugs and politically correct attitude adjustment?
The Chinese are trying to get their signage and menus comprehensible for English speakers for the upcoming summer Olympics. Hilarity ensues.
For years, badly translated signs have had the Englishman abroad in stitches. But for tourism officials in Beijing, a city preparing for the arrival of millions of visitors for the Olympic Games in August, the problem is far from funny. [...]
Somewhere in the house I have a Chinese wooden shipping crate with the directions on the side: Do Not Fragile.
Restaurateurs have been given a list of the proper English names for the most commonly mistranslated items, including "virgin chicken" for a young chicken dish, "steamed crap" instead of crab, and "burnt lion's head" describing Chinese pork meatballs.
"These translations either scare or embarrass foreign customers and may cause misunderstanding on China's diet habits," the state news agency said.
Some of the signs have been celebrated on websites and books, including one sign that greets Western visitors to a café with the words: "Welcome big nose friends" and another for the Tibetan "Reception Centre for the Unorganised Tourists".
English speakers in Beijing have been invited to visit "Racist Park" - more accurately translated as the Park of Ethnic Minorities - and warned to take care on wet roads as "the slippery are very crafty".
For a whole website dedicated to mostly Japanese wreckage of the English language, see Engrish.com.
The findings are disturbing, but they are not new.
Second-, third- and fourth-generation Mexican Americans speak English fluently, and most prefer American music. They are increasingly Protestant, and some may even vote for a Republican candidate.
In 2004, Prof Sam Huntington cited evidence in The Hispanic Challenge (in the journal Foreign Policy) showing that the Mexican dislike of education lasts several generations at least. One of the worst stats is that only 9.6 percent of fourth-generation Mexican-Americans have a post-high school degree, versus 45.1 percent of Americans as a whole.
However, many Mexican Americans in these later generations do not graduate from college, and they continue to live in majority Hispanic neighborhoods. Most marry other Hispanics and think of themselves as "Mexican" or "Mexican American."
Such are the findings from the most comprehensive sociological report ever produced on the integration of Mexican Americans. The UCLA study, released today in a Russell Sage Foundation book titled "Generations of Exclusion: Mexican Americans, Assimilation, and Race," concludes that, unlike the descendants of European immigrants to the United States, Mexican Americans have not fully integrated by the third and fourth generation. The research spans a period of nearly 40 years.
The study's authors, UCLA sociologists Edward E. Telles and Vilma Ortiz, examined various markers of integration among Mexican Americans in Los Angeles and San Antonio, Texas, including educational attainment, economic advancement, English and Spanish proficiency, residential integration, intermarriage, ethnic identity and political involvement.
It's a good thing to have still more proof that Mexican immigration is a total train wreck. However, the scholars believe that the failure to assimilate is America's fault (not Mexican culture) and we taxpayers should contribute piles of cash for new programs.
Telles and Ortiz believe that a "Marshall Plan" that invests heavily in public school education will address the issues that disadvantage many Mexican American students.
"For Mexican Americans, the payoff can only come by giving them the same quality and quantity of education as whites receive," they said. "The problem is not the unwillingness of Mexican Americans to adopt Americans values and culture but the failure of societal institutions, particularly public schools, to successfully integrate them as they did the descendants of European immigrants."
Who says foreigners don't come for the free benefits? The billions of taxpayer dollars received by illegal aliens show they are not shy about getting non-paycheck rewards.
Here is a heads-up from Lost Angeles, the Mexican city, about what "cheap labor" costs the taxpayers:
New statistics from the Department of Public Social Services reveal that illegal aliens and their families in Los Angeles County collected over $36 million in welfare and food stamp allocations in January 2008, announced Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.
Twenty five percent of the all welfare and food stamps benefits are going directly to the children of illegal aliens. Illegals collected over $19 million in welfare assistance for January 2008 and over $16 million in monthly food stamp allocations, for a projected annual cost of $420 million.
"Illegal immigration continues to have a devastating impact Los Angeles County taxpayers," said Antonovich. "With $220 million for public safety, $400 million for healthcare, and $420 million in welfare allocations, the total cost for illegal immigrants to County taxpayers far exceeds $1 billion a year – not including the millions of dollars for education."
How you gonna keep 'em down on the pueblo, after they've seen the mall?
Dangerous foreigners keep coming. Apparently they haven't read the press releases from the Department of Homeland Security about increased enforcement.
They are busted by the Border Patrol. Illegal immigrants caught with a criminal past include crimes against children. In the past five days border agents arrested seven illegal immigrants they call sexual predators. The arrests happened near Douglas, Naco, Nogales, Tucson and Sonoita.
How odd that a Border Patrol officer would consider DUI to be a minor infraction when so many Americans have been killed by drunk-driving illegal aliens.
For thousands of illegal immigrants caught crossing the border, it's not their first run in with the law. Border patrol agents say up to 15% of immigrants arrested have a criminal past.
"That can be anything from as minor as a DUI to as major as a homicide even sexual predators as well," explains Chuy Rodriguez, with Tucson Sector Border Patrol.
Another statistic to keep in mind is that twelve serial sex offenders cross the U.S. border illegally every day according to a 2006 DHS report.
Frank Gaffney rips the New York Times for its undeniable subversion against the American nation. Just when you think the Times cannot possibly sink any lower in its disdain for American and western values, it does.
In this case, Gaffney takes on the sickening apology for sharia law in Sunday's magazine (see Jihad-Friendly in New York City).
Totalitarians have an uncanny appreciation for the subversive effect of foreign propagandists. The Nazis had Lord Haw-Haw, Imperial Japan its Tokyo Rose, the Soviets the World Council of Churches (among many others) and the North Vietnamese Jane Fonda. Now, our time's totalitarian ideologues — the Islamofascists — have the New York Times.
This may not seem to be exactly a news flash. After all, the Times has been rendering invaluable service to the enemy's information operations and military campaigns for years. To cite but a few examples: In December 2005, the paper disclosed a highly classified program for monitoring suspected terrorists' communications on this war's global battlefield. In June 2006, it revealed another enormously sensitive surveillance effort concerning movement of funds around the world. And practically every day, what passes for its news pages and editorials run down the nation's leadership, military and progress in defeating our foes.
The New York Times marked a deplorable new milestone this weekend, however — a true nadir in collaborating with the enemy in the war of ideas. Its Sunday magazine featured an article by Harvard law professor Noah Feldman entitled "Why Shariah? Millions of Muslims think Shariah means the rule of law. Could they be right?" According to the Times' Mr. Feldman, the answer is a resounding "Yes."
This article is a mix of sob story plus a helpful examination of the specific cost of one injured illegal alien to the American community -- nearly half a million dollars.
ECATEPEC, Mexico - When the motorcycle that illegal immigrant Laura Velázquez was riding slammed into a concrete wall, it cost a Phoenix hospital $478,000 to save her life.
If the hospital did indeed absorb the cost of this young woman's treatment, rather than charge the taxpayers, then that cost is passed on to all patients in terms of more expensive medical care. Otherwise the hospital would quickly be forced to close its doors like many others. There are other costs down patient level -- services cut back, departments closed, technology purchases shelved. Citizens get a lowered quality of healthcare and are forced to pay more for it because of illegal foreign deadbeats.
The money outlay alone is mind-boggling. A recent study found that San Diego County spent $155 million in unpaid medical care for foreigners in 2006.
The hospital is footing the bill. But Velázquez's life in America is finished after hospital officials sent her back to Mexico.
But the Arizona Republic is telling this story, so the Mexican is portrayed as an innocent victim of circumstance because she was brought here as an 11-year-old child by her parents. That's true up to a point, but Miss Velaquez is an adult now who must accept her life as a Mexican citizen.
But Velázquez's case also shows how innocent people can get ensnared in the illegal-immigration controversy. Velázquez, now 22, never asked to come to the United States; she was brought as a child. She wasn't driving the motorcycle; she was only a passenger.
In this case as in others, Mexicans believe Americans should provide free medical care and social services for them because they are "here struggling for this country." The only cure for such a monumental sense of entitlement is a negative response, repeated thousands of times.
Her journey home has attracted the attention of Mexico's national media. Government officials in Ecatepec, her hometown on the outskirts of Mexico City, say she should have been allowed to recover in Phoenix, and they have accused the United States of indifference.
It's St. Patrick's Day, and that means the Irish PM traditionally goes to the White House to deliver a bowl of shamrocks and talk up the Irish in America. It's also expected that he insist on amnesty for illegal Irish immigrants. The Irish figure their long history of immigration to the United States entitles them to extra slack in the visa department, and they work politicians hard to make that point.
It is curious when the leader of a prosperous country pleads that America take in thousands of his citizens. Perhaps Ahern believes having a bunch of real Irish lurking about is a way to keep Irish issues on the American plate. Or maybe the Poles and other immigrants have taken all the jobs and housing on the little island.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was urged last night to personally ask US President George Bush to accept a deal to grant visas to 10,000 illegal Irish emigrants.
The Irish have scaled back their demands from full amnesty for the 20-30 million illegals -- solidarity with Mexicans et al has diminished, to say the least.
Mr Ahern visits the White House this morning for the traditional St Patrick's Day presentation of the bowl of shamrock to the US president.
He will attend a lunch on Capitol Hill, hosted by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
Campaigners say they have put together a plan to resolve the problem of the undocumented Irish and want Mr Ahern to present it to Mr Bush.
The Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform's proposal mirrors a deal agreed between the US and Australia, whereby both countries grant the other 10,000 full visas.
Muslims remain unclear on the concept of free speech, and believe their religion should not be subjected to any critical thinking. Because any negative analysis of their religion is considered blasphemy, a crime which requires death.
However, some stubborn friends of free speech (e.g. Danish cartoonists) have refused to be intimidated. The cartoons that upset so many Sons of Allah a couple years ago were republished recently, and the usual violence erupted from the Religion of Peace. The printing of the controversial cartoons was an act of solidarity with cartoonist Kurt Westergaard when an assassination plot against him came to light. Westergaard drew Mohammed with a bomb in his turban.
To shut down free speech (an integral part of representative government, according to the Constitution), Islamic nations are lawyering up.
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The Muslim world has created a battle plan to defend its religion from political cartoonists and bigots.
Notice how the Associated Press calls critics of the murderous belief system to be "bigots." You would think that "journalists" would have a little more respect for the rights to free expression that make their profession possible. But lately, not so much.
Concerned about what they see as a rise in the defamation of Islam, leaders of the world's Muslim nations are considering taking legal action against those that slight their religion or its sacred symbols. It was a key issue during a two-day summit that ended Friday in this western Africa capital.
The Muslim leaders are attempting to demand redress from nations like Denmark, which allowed the publication of cartoons portraying the Prophet Muhammad in 2006 and again last month, to the fury of the Muslim world.
Incidentally, the recent printing of the dread cartoons of blasphemy has painted a target on the courageous Danes: Danish cartoon crisis has upped terror threat: intelligence report.
COPENHAGEN (AFP) — The recent republication of contentious Danish caricatures of the prophet Mohammed has increased the threat of attacks in Denmark and against Danes abroad, the national intelligence service said Friday.
The hits just keep on coming from the New York Times. Today's example is some swill about how "immigrant" Muslims in a small town in Spain are suffering because they don't have a proper mosque. In Lleida, located in northern Spain, the make-do prayer hall's Islamic congregation has exploded from 50 to 1,000 in just five years. But the cultural stresses on the town's citizens are difficult.
"The tension has grown as the numbers have grown," Ms. Roigé said. "They've set up shops, butchers, long-distance call centers and restaurants." These businesses, catering to Muslim immigrants, line the surrounding streets.
Ri-i-i-ght -- better architecture will keep those impressionable boys from jihad. Al Times accepts that ludicrous idea with no question and marches along to more victimhood publishing.
She added: "They are radicals, fundamentalists. They don't want to integrate."
Muslim leaders, however, say the lack of proper mosques is one barrier to integration. And Spanish authorities and Muslim leaders say the potential for extremism would be easier to monitor at fewer, larger mosques than at the 600 or so prayer halls scattered throughout the country.
The weekly magazine continues in the same vein with an apologetic puff piece about Islam: Why Sharia?
In some sense, the outrage about according a degree of official status to Shariah in a Western country should come as no surprise. No legal system has ever had worse press. To many, the word "Shariah" conjures horrors of hands cut off, adulterers stoned and women oppressed. By contrast, who today remembers that the much-loved English common law called for execution as punishment for hundreds of crimes, including theft of any object worth five shillings or more? How many know that until the 18th century, the laws of most European countries authorized torture as an official component of the criminal-justice system? As for sexism, the common law long denied married women any property rights or indeed legal personality apart from their husbands. When the British applied their law to Muslims in place of Shariah, as they did in some colonies, the result was to strip married women of the property that Islamic law had always granted them — hardly progress toward equality of the sexes.
Of course the difference is that the bad old days of English law are long past, while the horrors of sharia continue daily. Men are executed for being accused of homosexuality, women are murdered in honor killings for the smallest infraction of severe social constraints and public beheadings continue in places like Saudi Arabia. Alleged-spell flinging in also frowned upon in The Kingdom (Saudis Cracking Down on Witchcraft).
In fact, for most of its history, Islamic law offered the most liberal and humane legal principles available anywhere in the world.
Thank you, New York Times, for defending Islam's 8th-century brutality against western progress in law and justice.
California's school system is broken -- oh my! Should we be surprised when one quarter of the state's 6.3 million K-12 students are English learners?
The timing of the release of this report is certainly suspect, and can be seen as another transparent ploy by Sacramexico politcians to convince voters that more taxes are needed. We are supposed to respond, Please tax us!
Democrats openly state they are "determined to raise taxes", and the governator is happy to go along. After all, we have millions of illegal aliens demanding welfare and education for the kiddies.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's blue-ribbon committee on education released a list of sweeping recommendations Friday to overhaul California's public school system at an additional annual cost of $10.5 billion - a staggering amount even if the state's budget weren't already hemorrhaging red ink.
Let the boo-hooey begin!
The governor's 18-member Committee on Education Excellence spent nearly three years researching and preparing the report, which contains controversial proposals such as merit-based pay for teachers, giving local school districts more control of their finances and preventing most 4-year-olds from starting kindergarten.
But the Golden State's looming budget deficit, estimated to be $8 billion by July 1, overshadowed many of those proposals, and the governor was among the first to point that out. His own proposed budget calls for a $4.4 billion cut in K-12 education in the next fiscal year.
The report Every Child Prepared provides interesting reading and gives a hint how vast quantities of money are desired by Sacramexico to service foreign children. (As I reported last year when the budget situation was not so dire, the politicians let it slip that it could cost $1.5 trillion annually to knock the state's schools into shape, massively more than the 2006-07 expenditure of $67 billion.)
How best to accommodate the needs of English learners?
In determining the funding needs for English learners, the Committee identified similar issues to those related to determining the appropriate funding level for economically disadvantaged students. Funding models in other states provide higher funding levels for English learners than California currently does. For example, as discussed above, Oregon provides 50 percent more funding for its English learners, while Florida provides 27.5 percent higher funding for them. Gándara and Rumberger suggested that the needs of English learners are similar to those of economically disadvantaged students and that if an English learner is economically disadvantaged, that student may not need additional funding specifically targeted to language-based needs. However, they also noted that further research on this topic is needed. LAO reports that 85 percent of English learners in California are eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch, so there is a strong correlation between these students’ language needs and their status as economically disadvantaged students for purposes of targeting resources.
I've written a lot about immigration sob stories, in which the corrupt press unfairly focuses on the alleged suffering of illegal aliens yet never exhibits any sympathy on Americans who are genuinely harmed by foreign workers taking citizen jobs.
But this is the first time I've seen a sob story where business owners are the aggrieved party. The New York Times is truly a piece of work.
HYANNIS, Mass. — For years, William Zammer Jr. has relied on 100 seasonal foreign employees to turn down beds, boil lobsters and serve cocktails at the restaurants, golf course and inn he owns on Cape Cod and in nearby Plymouth.
Nowhere in the article does the writer mention that these jobs might be filled by Americans.
This summer, however, the foreign workers will not be returning, and Mr. Zammer, like other seasonal employers across the nation, is scrambling to find replacements.
"It’s a major crisis," he said. "We’re very short on work force. We'll be looking at opening a little later, closing a little earlier, looking at how we do our menus."
Mr. Zammer is caught up in a Congressional standoff over immigration overhaul that is punishing employers who play by the rules and that, advocates of change say, could cost small companies billions in lost business.
In fact, college students and other young people used to do those jobs, and were happy to escape the books to work seasonally at vacation spots. Then business owners found that foreign workers (particularly illegal ones) were far more flexible, compliant and cheap.
Here's a puff piece about a sob story movie exploring how innocent children suffer at the hands of cruel America blah blah, but there is an interesting admission tucked away...
Sticking to her principle of putting the priority on a compelling story, she won the trust of private investors and gained funding from the Mexican government, as directors such as Alejandro González Iñárritu have in the past. Even with the emergency backing translating to a more limited budget, Riggen was still able to meet her target date of completion.
Andrew Ostoy, the husband of murdered actress-director Adrienne Shelly, spoke at the sentencing of her killer, illegal alien Diego Pillco.
The husband of murdered actress Adrienne Shelly stared down her killer in a Manhattan courtroom Thursday and told him he deserved to die.
The imortant thing to remember about this case is the motive for the murder: the Ecuadoran killed Adrienne Shelly to hide his illegal status. That situation should be added to the list of special circumstances that require the death penalty, IMO.
"No sentence will be enough for you," Andy Ostroy raged, glaring at laborer Diego Pillco. "You deserve the same fate you handed Adrienne. I want you to suffer like she suffered."
"You are nothing more than a cold-blooded killer, a murderous beast who in an intent to rob, rape and then silence your innocent victim ... took the life of a beautiful, loving woman who, unlike you, had so much to give to society," he said, stonefaced.
The heartbroken widower spoke during a charged Manhattan state Supreme Court hearing that ended with Justice Carol Berkman sentencing Pillco, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador, to 25 years in prison. The judge said he'll be deported after serving his time.
According to the Western States Sheriffs' Association, nothing has changed on the border. It's the same old same old, with thousands of Mexicans illegally breaking in to America every day. For all the good news from Arizona that its tough workplace enforcement measures are sending illegals packing, foreigners are still streaming in to other states.
Last week, Tracy attended the annual spring meeting of the Western States Sheriffs' Association in Reno, where the group drafted a resolution to Congress, asking for help on a plethora of illegal-immigration issues that affect local law enforcement. Nothing in the resolution was new. It simply reiterated the requests the group has been making for several years.
"They've made very little progress in doing anything concrete," Tracy said of Congress.
Tracy said the WSSA made three specific requests of Congress: seal the border, don't create any unfunded mandates requiring counties to enforce immigration law, and reform the process by which temporary workers from other countries can obtain visas to work in the United States legally.
Let's face it: Mexico is a big pain in the neck, to say the least. It's like having Al Capone for your next door neighbor to be stuck next to them. We should all avoid traveling there, buying Mexican products and hiring Mexican workers.
It started as a safety warning to college students headed south for spring break. Now anti-illegal immigration activists are telling all San Diegans to stay away from Mexico.
Actually, Americans have already gotten the message that Mexico is a dangerous place to visit, according to Lou Dobbs Tonight (March 12)...
"Boycott Mexico" is the name of a new nationwide campaign launched by a coalition of groups fighting illegal immigration.
They're urging all Americans to spend their tourist dollars in the US, as long as the Mexican government continues to interfere with the enforcement of US immigration law.
They're also calling on Mexico to reimburse the US for half the costs of incarcerating illegal immigrants in US jails and prisons, and they want the consulate to stop issuing "matriculas" - or I.D. cards.
CASEY WIAN: Some recent victims include police commissioner Ricardo Rodriguez, gunned down by men with assault rifles while having his shoes shined on Friday. A day earlier, three mutilated bodies were dumped outside of the attorney general's office there. The violence is decimating Mexico's tourism industry.
It's pretty sobering that 30,000 Mexican troops haven't made any progress to speak of against the cartels. Look forward to more failing-state symptoms headed in our general direction.
Baja, California alone had nearly two million fewer foreign visitors last year. Just last week, Tijuana police seized more than 100 weapons, including gold and ivory plated assault rifles like these, 50,000 rounds of ammunition and half a ton of marijuana.
Also last week, right across the border from where I am standing, Mexican federal troops fought a seven-hour gun battle with suspected drug cartel members hiding in a wealthy neighborhood home. 30,000 Mexican federal troops have been battling the drug cartels for over a year and Lou, they seem to have barely made a dent in the drug violence.
In addition, even drunk college students are avoiding Mexico like the plague. Mexican Drug Wars Keep Spring Breakers From Heading South of the Border.
Students there say the real madness would be to take the traditional 30-minute trip to the Mexican border for the popular "Two-Nation Vacation."
News of gun battles between Mexican soldiers and drug cartels in border cities are keeping tourists away and prompting many parents to dole out a stern warning: "Don't go to Mexico." [...]
Debra Fassold's family has been running the Original Tours company since the 1970s. Fassold says she used to have 10 to 20 trips from South Padre Island to Matamoros, Mexico, each day. But now she says she doesn't have enough customers for even one tour.
He's ba-a-a-a-ck -- Bill Gates returned to Congress today to demand essentially open borders for foreign tech workers. For his extremism, he was treated like a rock star by the members of the House Committee on Science and Technology, even though he personally has done more than anyone else to gut American jobs in computer- and science-related fields.
Bill Gates is the world's worst billionaire hypocrite. He yammers America should do better with math-science education but completely disincentivizes those careers for US college students by demanding unlimited cheap tech workers from abroad. American kids are too smart to major in computer studies these days when they know they will be "discarded at age 35" because their accrued skills make them too expensive.
For the second year in a row, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates ventured to Capitol Hill and urged Congress to let more foreign-born engineers work in the United States and to direct larger numbers of tax dollars to research and education.
The one exception to the fawning was Rep Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), according to the Seattle P-I's Microsoft Blog:
Just as he did around the same time last year before a U.S. Senate committee, Gates on Wednesday contended America's competitiveness in the global economy is "at risk." He said Congress, the administration, and the next president must commit to overhauling immigration policy and encouraging both public and private research investment.
"It makes no sense to educate people in our universities, often subsidized by U.S. taxpayers, and then insist they return home," he told the House of Representatives Science and Technology Committee during a two-hour hearing.
Rohrabacher: I'm really not talking about top people here. You know ... there's a lot of other people in society rather than just the top people. It's the B and C students that fight for our country and kept it free so that people like yourself would have the opportunity that you've had. Those people, whether or not they get displaced by the top people from another country is not our goal. Our goal isn't to replace the job of the B students with A students from India, because those B students deserve to have good jobs and high-paying jobs.
Yesterday, Senator Byron Dorgan ran a tough hearing on Mexican trucking, where he strongly criticized the administration for ignoring Congress' insistance that foreign trucks not endanger American lives on the highway.
Mexican truck drivers allowed to travel throughout the United States under the auspices of a pilot program are first required by law to demonstrate proficiency with the English language.
But U.S. Department of Transportation regulations allow those drivers to use a language other than English when responding to questions to prove they recognize U.S. highway signs, according to testimony yesterday at a Senate hearing.
The apparent disparity between the legal requirement and the specific regulation drew a skeptical reaction from Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.
"It raises the question of English proficiency, which is part of the safety issue," he said.
Dorgan, an opponent of the program, has accused the Bush administration of not requiring Mexican truck drivers to meet the same safety standards as their U.S. counterparts – a claim that federal transportation officials dispute.
No news report mentioned the appearance of Sheryl Jennings McGurk near the end of the hearing (watch on C-SPAN) to speak against Mexican trucks at the invitation of Senator Dorgan.
Her parents and nephew (Robert and Marie Jennings, and young David Jennings II, shown at right) were killed by a Mexican truck outside commercial zone when the drive shaft fell off in the middle of the highway. Yet we are assured by the hacks in Washington that Mexican trucks are as safe as ours, even though the transportation standards of Mexico are far lower.
See my blog from last September, Early Warning: Victims of Mexican Trucks Remembered.
Senator Dorgan described with obvious emotion the death of his mother at the hands of a drunk driver, so he takes the subject of highway safety seriously.
Here's an interview with "Wisconsin's preeminent illegal immigration foe," Dave Gorak, the Executive Director of the Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration. Incidentally, the odd title is because the reporter's name is Nathan Comp.
Anyway, it's pretty fair as these things go.
Are illegals the scourge of American society?
I wouldn't say that they're a scourge. You can't fault people for wanting to improve their lives, but there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. Most Mexicans, when they cross the border illegally, already have a job in Mexico. It's not that they're starving to death; it's just that they can do a lot better here in the United States.
But there are laws that prohibit people from working here illegally. It's a felony to hire someone in this country illegally. I spent 30 years as an editor and reporter in Chicago and I've seen what drives illegal immigration, a Congress of the United States that has looked the other way in terms of allowing employers to hire these individuals, certainly the federal government is not enforcing laws already on the books, and finally, a mainstream media that has failed miserably in its responsibility to provide balanced coverage of this issue.
There are two sides to this story and right now the only one the public is getting is the one that portrays illegal aliens as victims who are being forced to live in the shadows. Well, they're living in the shadows because they made a decision to enter this country illegally, so they are suffering the consequences of their own actions. I don't expect editors to agree with our views, but I expect that media allow our views to be heard in the same fashion that the other side is being heard.
When I look at immigration coverage today, both on TV and in print, I come away feeling that the only people today entitled to search for a better life in this country are the foreign born, particularly illegals. What about our own working poor, especially the blacks? Blacks are being hurt the worst, but I never see their story on the front page or the 10 o’clock news.
An arrest has been made in the murder of Jamiel Shaw Jr., a 17-year-old black student with a bright future ahead. As was noted in the original report, the shooters were two hispanic men who shot him when he didn't answer their question about what gang he belonged to. Jamiel steered clear of gangs, but that didn't help in Los Angeles, where a low-level race war is ongoing against blacks by hispanics. (See my recent article, In Los Angeles, Hispanic Gangs Ethnically Cleansing Black Neighborhoods.)
Pedro Espinoza, 19, is accused of killing 17-year-old Jamiel Shaw Jr., a standout running back at Los Angeles High School, yards from the student's home in the Crenshaw area on March 2.
Espinoza was charged with a single murder count with a special-circumstance allegation that could make him eligible for the death penalty, said Shiara M. Davila, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
The special circumstance was that it was a gang-related shooting, Davila said. Prosecutors also included special allegations that the crime involved the personal use of a firearm and that it was a gang-related felony offense.
Will America ever become so numbed by political correctness that this sort of craziness will become common here? I hope not, but the spreading insanity is concerning.
THE HAGUE, 11/03/08 - A district court in Rotterdam has acquitted a 20 year old Somali of a mugging. Although the police found his loot in his pocket, the judge wanted to see more evidence.
The victim said he was threatened by the Somali, who told him he had a revolver aimed at his back. He received a blow on his head and was forced to surrender his wallet. When the police arrived they found the wallet in the Somali's jacket pocket. The Public Prosecutor (OM) considered robbery proven, but ran up against the judge, who wanted to see further evidence.
The judge was unmoved by the OM's argument that the victim had given a very detailed statement and the fact that the Somali had been convicted of mugging earlier, Additionally the suspect lied in more than one court case in the past, the OM argued in vain.
Who but the useless San Francisco Chronicle could present a major sniffler sob story about bored Indian wives in Silicon Valley when the economy is tanking and American IT workers can't find jobs.
Shahani, Chellani and Kannan are among the thousands of women who came to the United States on the coattails of their husbands' H-1B visas, granted to highly skilled professionals to fill jobs at the software companies and technology labs of Silicon Valley. But under the conditions of their H-4 dependent visas, spouses are not allowed to work here. Often highly educated and skilled, they find themselves in the uncomfortable position of social and financial dependency on their husbands, while struggling to adjust to life in a new country.
As one of the many commenters posted, "Cry me a river!"
In Silicon Valley, many of the Indian women's stories are similar. Most were born into higher castes in India, graduated with college degrees in computer science or business, worked in fast-paced companies, had a support network of friends and family. Moving to the United States seemed like a great opportunity, but all too often there was little discussion about the terms of their immigration status. Now, while their husbands are climbing the career ladder, they stay at home alone, isolated.
"There is a high level of depression in that community because those women are not integrating into society by working, and it prolongs the homesickness," said immigration lawyer Shivali Shah, who did a survey of 100 H-4 holders. "They usually arrive during their prime working years, and it is very demoralizing for them."
In other creepy Chronicle swill, the cokehead mayor thinks he would cut a fine figure in Sacramexico: S.F. mayor may run for governor.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is considering a 2010 run for governor - a campaign that would embrace many of the same divisive causes he has championed as mayor, including same-sex marriage, universal health care and protections for illegal immigrants, The Chronicle has learned.
Check out the intensive instruction new refugees get about American law and culture -- a briefo chat with coffee and doughnuts.
You can't smoke in most places. Bribes are a no-no. Car seats and kids' bicycle helmets are the law.
More nice people Washington is welcoming!
And beating your wife will land you in jail - not to mention get you deported.
These are among the new rules and customs the world's refugees face in California, but they aren't so tough to handle considering they come with a package of liberties unknown in their native lands. [...]
"In many cultures, it's OK to beat your wife," said Debbie Decker, resources director for the Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Service in Atwater Village. "That is not OK here; it is illegal. You will go to jail, and you will be deported. [...]
"We have to tell them the policeman is not a bad guy. Unlike in your country, they're not out to get you," she said. "If you're pulled over, don't try to bribe your way out of it like you do in most countries.
"The countries these people come from, bribes are a way of life."
It's easy money for the interfaith settlement workers of the Episcopal, Lutheran and assorted other religion groups.
Of course, refugee importation is an activity mandated by the State Department, and if this bunch didn't get paid to provide a Cliff-Notes guide to the USA, then someone else would.
