“Food” for thought for the weekend:
Maybe we’ll have to begin paying farmers not to grow peanuts anymore, for fear a small segment of society will demand complete access to all venues, public or private, free from any responsibility to avoid situations that may, in fact be life threatening…
How soon do we stop driving on roads because it’s too difficult for parents to pay attention, lean out the window and yell “GET OUT OF THE STREET BEFORE YOU GET HIT BY A CAR!” when little Johnny strays off the grass and onto the asphalt? When you see the signs in your neighborhood “No Motorized Vehicles Allowed - Children Might Be on Roadway” you’ll know we’re renounced all personal responsibility…
Said xformed @ 3:50 pm Comments (0) | Permalink
Britain has been in mourning this week after the break up of what many were calling the ‘romance of the decade’ - the love affair between Tory leader David Cameron and the MSM.
In final proof of the dictum that history repeats first as tragedy and then as farce, Cameron appears to have modelled himself on John McCain. Just like McCain, David Cameron’s reputation was based on his endorsing every stupid myth the liberal media has ever spread about conservatives and conservatism.
Say what you like about the senator from Arizona, but at least he has a genuinely heroic war record. Cameron meanwhile is an almost beyond parody example of the incestuous nature of the political elite. It speaks for itself that that the only job Cameron’s ever held outside politics was a short stint as a PR flack for a media company. Add in the education at elite institutions and his penchant for surrounding himself with similarly privileged cronies and it may just be that Cameron can go days without ever meeting anyone with a real job.
Needless to say, the silver spoon aristocrat Cameron is much more to the liberal media’s liking than Lady Thatcher, the grocer’s daughter, who’s supporters even included people suspected of working with their hands. Indeed, with his blow-dried image, absurd photo ops and ability to spout the most ludicrous charges against the right, Cameron always seemed like he was auditioning for a job in the MSM - right up until this week.
The liberal media is currently all a flutter after Cameron launched a virulent attack on the government’s immigration policy. Those of a sensitive disposition might want to look away now, but what he said was this:
It is important to understand that if your child is going into a reception class and suddenly 20 new kids turn up because lots more families have arrived then that is a big pressure.
This is the type of statement which is classified technically as ‘blindingly obvious’. Yes, indeed, doubling the size of a class can affect the education of the kids already there, but since when has the MSM ever let itself by hobbled by logic and facts, when there’s girly hysteria to be indulged in ?
Suddenly, all Cameron’s new friends have deserted him. The MSM is proverbial for its good dog/bad dog rhetoric with rightists, but the switch is rarely so blatant. Indeed, the BBC - supposedly legally obliged to remain impartial, remember - has been caught shopping round for someone, anyone, to come on air and support their claim that the Tories are pandering to the hard right (much like every welfare boondoggle is greeted by the MSM with charges of pandering to the hard Left… no, wait, that’s a different universe).
It’s tempting to sympathise with the Tories, except not really. Cameron justified his idiotic pandering to the liberal media with a load of pretentious blather about needing to ‘detoxify the brand’ - an oddly pretentious way of saying that his whole strategy was to convince people that the Conservative Party no longer had any actual conservatives in it. Just as long as Cameron and his cronies were prepared to denounce the mainstream of the right, they were lauded as heroic tellers of unpleasant truths, but as soon as they disconnected the kool aid IV, all bets were off. In other words, David Cameron - the Smartest Man In Britain - is just the latest fool to realise that you can cut a deal with the Left, but they won’t respect you in the morning.
Said DJ @ 9:46 am Comments (0) | Permalink
Hillary Clinton obviously thinks that a token contribution of $23,000 to one of her favorite “charities” is going to make this whole Hsu matter go away. Today her campaign made a big public production of giving $23K to charity “as soon as she found out” about the status of Mr. Hsu… They would have you believe that their reaction was: Oh, really? He belongs in jail?? Who knew?
Meanwhile the Clinton campaign continues to hold onto contributions from the Paw and Hyung Young “Daniel” Lee families, which add up to a total of $69,100–even though the Wall Street Journal article Monday made it quite clear that, for example, donations from the Paw family–whose head of household is a Postal Worker who makes about $50K per year–were obviously funneled to the campaign via Hsu. You see, the Paws and the Lees both have family members who are Hsu employees. Go figure.
All of this funnelled money from the Hsu ‘channel’–at least the $92,100 that we know about–was funneled to the Clinton campaign via contributions, for example, from every single family member of the Paws–children included. You will also recall from Monday’s news that Hsu had listed on a contribution tax form the address of the very modest 1,200 square foot Paw family home as his primary residence, even though he never lived there–and that Paw’s son works for one of Hsu’s companies, as does Lee.
And if you are tempted to write off this story as just a ‘one-off’, it is time to wake up and smell the coffee. Earlier this year we briefly saw this story–very briefly; media outlets seemed bound and determined to avoid it, and still do (if you did see this on the news, be truthful–do you recall seeing any broadcast about this story carried in Big Media for more than 1 day, max–never to be heard from again?). Regardless, see if the details of the story don’t appear to be using the same playbook as the Hsu example discovered by the WSJ this week:
A Pakistani immigrant who hosted fundraisers in Southern California for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is being sought by the FBI on charges that he funneled illegal contributions to Clinton’s political action committee and Sen. Barbara Boxer’s 2004 reelection campaign. Authorities say Northridge businessman Abdul Rehman Jinnah, 56, fled the country after an indictment accused him of engineering more than $50,000 in illegal donations to the Democratic committees. A business associate charged as a co-conspirator has entered a guilty plea and is scheduled to be sentenced in Los Angeles next week…
The case has transformed Jinnah from a political point man on Pakistani issues, a man often photographed next to foreign dignitaries and U.S. leaders, into a fugitive with his mug shot on the FBI’s “featured fugitives” wanted list. Jinnah’s profile peaked in 2004 and 2005 as he wooed members of Congress to join a caucus advancing Pakistani concerns and brought Clinton to speak to prominent Pakistani Americans, lauding their homeland’s contributions to the war on terrorism and calling relations with Pakistan beneficial to U.S. interests.
Jinnah and his family donated more than $100,000 to the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates. Now friends say they believe Jinnah has returned to Pakistan. Attempts to reach him and his relatives were unsuccessful. A “For Sale” sign stood in his yard on Thursday, and a neighbor said the family had not lived there for months.
Jinnah’s troubles appear to have begun when he attempted to circumvent election laws by reimbursing friends, business contacts and their family members for contributions made in their names, according to court records. Federal statutes set limits on contributions to federal campaigns and political action committees and bar donations made in the names of others.
Authorities say that from June 2004 to February 2005, Jinnah directly or indirectly solicited contributions from more than a dozen “conduits,” reimbursing them with funds from his company, All American Distributing, a seller of cellphone service and accessories. Authorities said the scheme allowed Jinnah to get around limits then in effect on individual donors of $5,000 per year to PACs and $2,000 per election to candidates, as well as the ban on using corporate money for political donations.
Jinnah’s case has been handled with discretion by the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, which recently lost a high-profile case against former Clinton campaign official David Rosen. Rosen was acquitted of charges of filing false reports about a Hollywood fundraiser given for Clinton in 2000.
Campaign finance reform–which Hillary voted for–only allows a candidate to receive $4,600 per year from each individual: half for primaries and half for the general election. The fact that this sordid episode is obviously a way for the wealthy felon Lee to funnel money through his employees and their families to Clinton seems to be lost in Hill’s reaction thus far to the episode. Her decision to give back the money received directly from Hu only (the $23,000) is as lame as it gets. Hell the “charity” she is supposedly giving it to could easily be one of George Soros’ 501.c.3 companies–which would still end up benefiting the Clintons… As we also learned this week, America Coming Together, one of Soros’ shadow companies that was a front to basically go buy votes, has now been found guilty of numerous illegalities and fined; but the important thing to understand is that this is just the tip of the Soros iceberg (you really should read allof this linked article by Byron York, entitled The Democratic Money Mega-Scam…):
On Wednesday, the Federal Election Commission slapped America Coming Together with a $775,000 fine — the third-largest such penalty in history — for violating campaign-finance laws in the 2004 election. Now largely defunct, America Coming Together was the biggest of the so-called “527” groups that took in millions from donors like George Soros for the purpose of defeating George W. Bush. In a case that has taken years to decide, the FEC ruled that America Coming Together did an end-run around the campaign-finance laws in 2004 by claiming it was using its money for non-partisan purposes like voter registration when it was in fact spending millions specifically targeting Bush.
Yes it sounds like a big fine, but it’s a drop in the bucket considering the enormous sums raised by this outlaw group and funneled illegally to the Dems.
To say that all of this Democrat corruption stinks to high heaven is a gross understatement–but it shoudn’t be that much of a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention; corruption and scandal has been following the Clintons like stink on excrement ever since the Arkansas days.
Remember 1996? Another campaign finance scandal, this one also involving Chinese surnames: If the names the names Johnny Chung, John Huang, and Yah Lin Trie don’t ring a bell, they certainly should. In that same election cycle, these men headed a shadowy cast of characters which funneled millions of dollars into Democrat campaign coffers–money that reportedly originated from the government of Communist China. There was also this from one John Lee, not to be confused with Stan Lee… or with Daniel Lee:
Senator Clinton’s likely Republican opponent in 2006 and a South Korean newspaper are raising questions about campaign donations the New York Democrat has received from a New York businessman who is involved in an organization that sets up cultural events in North Korea.
The organization was founded by a man who later resigned as South Korea’s ambassador to America after allegations emerged that he helped establish a “slush fund” for South Korean politicians.
“Once again serious questions surround Senator Clinton’s fund-raising operation,” the Republican challenger in Mrs. Clinton’s Senate re-election bid, a former mayor of Yonkers, John Spencer, said about the donations. “We know that federal charges were levied against her fund-raisers from her last campaign and that she has taken money linked to supporters of Iranian mullahs. Now another issue pops up. Senator Clinton needs to come clean and answer these latest questions.”
Which of brings us to the famous (to anyone who does not get all their news from the left-media sources) Hollywood fund-raising party. Hillary’s former campaign chairman was jailed just two years ago for a star-studded gala whose actual cost was fraudently presented in order to garner at least $400,000 in additional donations for Bubba’s wife:
The indictment, rare for a political campaign, was unsealed in Los Angeles charging David Rosen with four counts of filing false reports with the Federal Election Commission. The charges focus on an Aug. 12, 2000, dinner and concert supported by more than $1.1 million in “in-kind contributions” — goods and services provided for free or below cost. The event was estimated to cost more than $1.2 million.
The FBI previously said in court papers that it had evidence the former first lady’s campaign deliberately understated its fund-raising costs so it would have more money to spend on her campaign.
While the event allegedly cost more than $1.2 million, the indictment said, Rosen reported contributions of about $400,000, knowing the figure to be false.
The indictment charged that he provided some documents to an FEC compliance officer but withheld the true costs of the event and provided false documents to substantiate the lower figure.
In one instance, Rosen obtained and delivered a fraudulent invoice stating the cost of a concert associated with the gala was $200,000 when he know that figure was false, according to the indictment. The actual cost of the concert was more than $600,000.
Each of the four counts of making a false statement carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines upon conviction.
To say this was the largest election-fraud party in history is not hyperbole; it is a statement of fact.
Let’s face it: scandal in general has been par for the course for the Clintons for over 30 years, and as we pointed out yesterday, the Bill Clinton Administration is far and away the most corrupt Administration in American history. The numbers don’t lie.
The fact that Hillary seems to think that the news media will fall all over itself to not raise a stink if she only gives back a small amount of the money she has thus far received illegally from Hsu (and who knows who else…) is both short-sighted and arrogant; but then arrogance is also par for the course for she and her sleazy husband. And my guess is that this triad of Hsu, Paw, and Lee is just the tip of the iceberg for the illegal money currently flowing into Mrs. Clinton’s campaign.
These latest “incidents” remind us of a time where the words “Corruption,” “Scandal” and “Clinton” were pop culture synonyms. Remember for example the $1.5 million that went to the Clinton library from fugitive felon Mark Rich, who was later pardoned on Clinton’s last day in office? Or the pardoned members of a Jewish Community in New York who months before had voted unanimously for Shrill-ary after she paid the community a pre-Bush Inauguration visit during her Senate campaign?
There are literally dozens of documented cases of financial wrongdoing for both Bill and (for those with fuzzy memories, here is a pretty good summary of some of the major corruption in recent years), and these are just the ones we know about!
Do we really want another four years of non-stop sleaze in the White House? In a just world, one if not both of the Clintons should be in jail, not in the Oval Office again. But because of the media’s love affiar with everything Clinton, this sludge seems to roll off of them like water off of an umbrella. Just when is enough finally enough?
Cross posted at The Discerning Texan
Said Discerning Texan @ 10:01 pm Comments (1) | Permalink
As mentioned earlier, when other countries’ dregs pour across our undefended southern border, it isn’t only our laws that get trashed. In Arizona, the beautiful Sonoran desert is disappearing beneath mountains of illegal alien trash.
Compliments of Varla, here are some shots of an “illegal super highway” south of Tucson:
On and on and on it goes: discarded backpacks, water containers, food wrappers, clothing, soiled diapers, you name it. Hey, if they had any respect for this country, they wouldn’t be invading it.
If only Hollywood enviroweenies would outgrown their global warming posturing, they might be able to do some good by drawing attention to a real environmental crisis like this one.
That our government allows this is unforgivable.
Cross-posted at Moonbattery.
Said Van Helsing @ 3:18 pm Comments (2) | Permalink
A little humor to lighten your day
FACTS TO PONDER:
(A) The number of physicians in the U.S. is 700,000
(B) Accidental deaths caused by physicians per year are 120,000
(C) Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171.
Statistics courtesy of U.S. Dept of Health Human Services. Now think about this: Guns:
(A) The number of gun owners in the U.S. is 80,000,000. (Yes, that’s 80 million..)
(B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500.
(C) The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is .000188
Statistics courtesy of the FBI
So, statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners.
Remember, “Guns don’t kill people, doctors do.”
FACT: NOT EVERYONE HAS A GUN, BUT ALMOST EVERYONE HAS AT LEAST ONE DOCTOR.
Please alert your friends to this alarming threat.
We must ban doctors before this gets completely out of hand!!!!!
Out of concern for the public at large, We have withheld the statistics on lawyers for fear the shock would cause people to panic and seek medical attention!
Said Richard Nixon @ 6:32 am Comments (0) | Permalink
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Said Cao @ 5:50 am Comments (0) | Permalink
Yeah you heard me. Now be a good little muzzie and run off to some Screamin Moojie Preacher and GET ME MY FATWA!!!!
Damn, it’s gettin so’s ya c’aint get good help, ya know?
What? You say I am being confrontational, hateful and racist with my remarks?
Hateful, possibly. I hate what the representatives of Islam are doing to my country.
For just two of the most recent examples go see Theodore’s World and read about a story of some CAIR representatives knocking on a former Marines door one night to “dialogue” with him about his bumper sticker, which read “Jesus Loves You, Allah Wants You Dead.” Had a couple of Christians knocked on the door of some muslim guy at night to “dialogue” with him about a bumper sticker it would be called a “hate crime” with CAIR screaming loudly for sensitivity training at the least if not outright jail time.
Example number two comes from Florida, where a late night TV Preacher talked about islam in his show a few too many times for the local CAIR branch, so they whined to CBS to get him pulled off of the air, and dhimmis that they are, they complied. Mind you nobody said this preacher threatened anyone or lied, instead they claimed he disparaged islam.
Free Speech for Me, but Not for Thee seems to be the message here.
So yeah I am a bit hateful about this crap.
Racist? No not at all. First off racism is the belief that one race is superior to another, and I do not believe that. I am an individualist. I believe that individuals make themselves great and that their race has nothing to do with it.
Besides that, “muslim” is NOT a race.
Am I being confrontational?
You bet your ass (or camel or goat) I am.
Said Kender @ 12:01 am Comments (2) | Permalink
What if, just for speculative purposes, we formed a deliberative body of elected officials. We then chartered them to formulate procedures and processes by which we would manage our society. Next, we might, via our voices in print and in polls and via the ‘net, collectively indicate what we felt the most seriousness about, communicating to them our priorities. Then we agree to pay them for this work and we then get back to our work of construction buildings, laying asphalt, fixing power generation plants and downed bridges.
Sounds like a good plan to me.
But….what happens? This esteemed group, by their actions, decides they would rather divide up into smaller factions and adopt a philosophy or “anything EXCEPT what the opposition wants!” Oh, then they begin to demand that their solution is the only acceptable one, and everyone else MUST do as they say, or they will do nothing but lay constant roadblocks in the way or any other progress. And…don’t get me started on endless cycles of hearings to find some fault with circumstances you just don’t like.
And top it off, with many serious issues unresolved, the body decides to further endear themselves to the working man and women, by taking off from work in the high heat of August, after promising to get it all done when you come back.
Congress: you have to love their way of collecting a fat paycheck and racking up an incredible retirement benefit package, while still not getting significant issues taken care of…
Now, consider for a moment, could I have been describing the Iraqi legislature? The actions of their elected officials seems very much like the constant, infantile squabbling coming out of our own hallowed institutions of the Senate and the House.
Here’s the irony I see: If one of our strategies was to build up democratic governments in the Middle East, beginning with Iraq, I would submit we just might have become overly successful, but somehow, we have failed to see the outcome for what it is. The Iraqis went to the polls, as we did, voted in people who promised to tackle the many issues that “We the People” have confirmed are worthy of their attention, but what have they, like us, received in return for our statement of confidence at the ballot boxes? Lots of talk, lots of back-biting, lots of wasted energy and certainly, not any worthwhile decisions. Quite a striking parallel, I’d say.
To be fair, there have been some Iraqi politicians who have lost their lives going to work. I can’t say that for our elected representatives, nor would I wish it on any of them, but I do see how there is some degree of courage the Iraqi must muster that ours need not actually have to have to get to their offices daily.
I think that the Iraqi politicians have, for the most part, modeled themselves after what our “democracy” style of today represents, which is something more like a “ME!-ocracy,” (I think that may be my 4th original/phrase concoction) were the “I” or “Me” is the ultimate customer of the process and the rest of us are supposed to “eat cake” while also sometimes standing up and yelling “I want it MY WAY!” or “WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?!?!?!?!”
Maybe we expected that the Iraqis would have gone through a series of historical events of fiery oratory from modern day Jeffersons and Madisons and Washingtons and Henrys, and since that has not occurred, we don’t recognize they have skipped right over all of the hard work of getting it out on the floor, in speeches that will be recorded and repeated and quoted for centuries to come, then coming to a common ground, acceptable to the many, and from that unity of view, begin to take on the daily irritations of life, once the nation has a foundation.
So the irony of it all comes in many words and actions, with our own elected officials, who have yet to complete some important bills, for one the annually written (SURPRISE! - It happens every year!) Defense funding bills, moan and complain that the Iraqi parliament will take the month of August off for not only vacation, but because it’s so darn hot. Our elected reps make such remarks, while wiping the sweat from their brows, claiming Global Warming has made Washington, DC hot this same August (like so many other Augusts before), then they hop on their jets and beat feet out of town for…yes, “vacation”….Maybe they somehow justify theirs as superior to the time off of the Iraqis because they will be out at fund raising events, which, is their main work, so they are really not on vacation in their mind. Nice rationalization, but what they consider work is merely an investment in their future in a job where they can decide their own priorities and not perform, with little fear of being called to account for a lack of measurable results.
Note to Iraqis who might be reading this: You’d be better served studying our history before the late 60’s - early 70’s “flower children” brought their “do your own thing” mentality to the halls of government.
One more ironic point: I bet we could never get the libs to stand up and say “Hey! Time to bring the troops home in VICTORY because we have given them democracy! The Iraqi politicians are just like us, and we’re a democracy: Do nothing, lazy, power hungry, entrenched careerists, on vacation in August with nothing accomplished for all the pay, in it only for ourselves! Hooray for America!”
Said xformed @ 12:01 pm Comments (0) | Permalink
One topic has beeen dominating water cooler conversation in Britain today: the murder of 11 year old Rhys Jones as he returned from soccer practice.
Needless to say, as with any such incident of sadistic cruelty, the Left has swung into action with their two standard talking points: it’s an isolated incident, and it’s all caused by poverty. In other words, we need to avoid any knee jerk reactions, except when it involves throwing even more tax money down the hole in the ground labelled ‘community welfare social work yoof stuff’.
Don’t be shocked, but both these points are ludicrous. The killing occurred in a well-off suburb, while only the youth of the victim and the use of a firearm sets this case apart from any of the other examples of violent lunacy in modern Britain.
Incidentally, the fact the murder weapon was described as a pistol with a long barrel, rather than anything more specific, does serve to remind us of another embarrassing fact for the Left. Few (law abiding) people in Britain could identify any particular type of pistol simply because they’re banned, and have been since 1998. Indeed, in so far as Tony Blair announced during that crackdown that he’d taken the guns off Britain’s streets, that should have been our first clue as to Blair’s distant relationship with reality.
Apparently, banning guns might have been a failure, but all those other great Liberal ideas on handling crime, why, they’ll work fine, just as soon as they get a few tens of billions more.
Call it a hunch, but there may be a clue to the real cause of the current murder and mayhem in Britain in this week’s other controversial case. Twelve years ago, school head Philip Lawrence was stabbed to death by all-round scumbag Learco Chindamo. The judge recommended he be deported to his native Italy at the completion of his sentence. Since then the whole things become moot - as an EU citizen there’s nothing to stop Chindamo jumping on the next plane back, but that still didn’t prevent the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal coming out with a truly bananas decision not to deport him in the first place, as that would impinge on his ‘human right to family life’. In other words, the Tribunal decided that it’s illegal to deport murderers, if they’ve thought on to bring their family over to Britain before committing the offence.
That’s not the best of it. Guessing that, for some strange reason, our Italian friend may face a certain hostility from the public, the Left has now decided that he needs to be given a new ID. So America has the witness protection program, and we have the scumbag protection program - after all, as one apologist pointed out, being known as an unblanced thug would make it hard for him to ‘make friends’ Hey, call me ‘Mr Harsh’, but I’m thinking that it’s the sign of a healthy society where sadistic nutcases are excluded.
On the other hand, while the Left agonises about their baby seal being unfairly abused, they have no qualms about abusing people who really are innocent victims. Here is the truly deranged nature of modern Liberalism in full bloom. Murder is no reason to be thrown out of the country, in fact once you’ve finished your twelve year sentance for murdering a completely innocent citizen, the state will bend over backwards to ensure you don’t even have to face any social stigma, even to the point of screaming abuse at the victim’s family should they be rude enough to object. Yet, still kids are being shot on their way home from soccer practice. Must be the shortage of youth clubs, hmmmmmmmm ?
Said DJ @ 8:50 pm Comments (2) | Permalink
Does anyone care? Do you care? The media doesn’t seem to care. Frontpage Magazine mentions what’s going on there, in case you’re interested.
In short, Iran is preparing to make attacks against citizens in Iraq. I know, I know, Iran and Iraq have been at war, it seems, for centuries. Whatever. However, right now, America has taken responsibility for the people of Iraq. And Iran is openly announcing that it is going to attack the nation of Iraq.
While we’re endlessly entangled in this war on terror, this could be a good thing — in a strange way. If the United States wanted to really show the world we’re serious about freedom, they should shift some American troops into the area. We shouldn’t do it in secret, we should make a lot of noise and make announcements. We should be open and clear. America should announce to the United Nations that America and the United Nations mission in Iraq will move to protect the citizens of Iraq against foreign aggression. We should inform the representatives of Iran that any actions taken against Iraq and the troops there will be considered an open and overt act of war. And then we should move troops there.
Then Iran will be faced with a clear option: attack America or shut up. I don’t know which option Madman I’mADinnerJacket will take. He will certainly “lose face” if he backs down. However, if he continues, he will risk open war. And this is the part that could be a good thing (again, in a strange way).
I’m all for peace. I really, seriously, want peace. But I do believe in defensive war. Right now we’re at war with a religion (and won’t admit it). We’re at war with questionable people. We’re at war with a ill-defined enemy. If Iran attacks American troops, it will give us a very clear target. We won’t have to worry about “ununiformed” combatants — they will be open and clear targets. That’s what our military needs right now — clear direction and targets.
So while I don’t want war, ever — America has the chance to rid the world of an evil dictator if that dictator decides to attack us openly. And if the people of Iran don’t want to be killed, perhaps they should shut their “leader” up.
Said Ogre @ 6:21 am Comments (0) | Permalink
All I have to say about this is: IT’S ABOUT TIME. And it is time for other cities to follow suit: Houston, Portland, Austin, San Antonio, Los Angeles, New York, Tuscon, et al–are you paying attention yet?? I think Don Surber’s comments about the New Jersey case really hit the mark (have you noticed yet that pretty much everything Surber writes hits the mark?):
The gangland slaughter of 3 college students in New Jersey and sundry other violent crimes by illegal aliens forced that state’s attorney general, Anne Milgram, to order all police officers in New Jersey to determine the immigration status of the people they arrest. Yes, you should identify whom you arrest.
Sanctuary City, N.J., has been shut down for the summer.
Jackasses like Newark Mayor Cory Booker have been belligerent in defying requests to identify illegal alien suspects as illegal aliens. They are not immigrants. Immigrants go through the front door. These suspects are gangsters who come here, kill people, get deported and come back.
By refusing to cooperate with federal officials even in the wake of the execution of 3 college students in his pathetic city, Mayor Booker is an unindictable accessory after the fact. Only because he is acting in his official capacity is he immune from criminal prosecution.
In short, the law is on his side.
Or it was until this morning when AG Milgram stepped up to the plate. AP reported, in full (my newspaper pays for this):
TRENTON, New Jersey: Shaken by three recent execution-style killings in a schoolyard, New Jersey’s attorney general on Wednesday ordered all law enforcement authorities to notify U.S. immigration officials whenever an illegal immigrant is arrested for an indictable offense or drunken driving.
One suspect in the Aug. 4 killings of three college students is an illegal immigrant from Peru who was out on bail for other crimes. The case led to an outcry over the lack of communication between local authorities and immigration officials.
Before the new order, “all police departments in our state had complete discretion as to if, when and how to notify immigration authorities,” State Attorney General Anne Milgram said.
The policy takes effect immediately.
Each state is free to set its own guidelines for reporting illegal immigrants who are arrested.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) keeps no record of which states have statewide reporting guidelines, said spokesman Michael W. Gilhooly. …
How can some of these idiotic politicians even begin to defend purposefully not reporting felons who happen to be in the country illegally to ICE? I am not necessarily advocating that we have to engage in deporting 20 million illegals right now; but it will be a very steep hill to climb for any selfish politician to try and defend not reporting illegal immigrant felons. In fact, what reasonable argument can there be for keeping repeat felons in this country, and continuing to let them commit violent crimes over and over again, and never tell the Feds they are illegals? Franky it is an untenable, unjustifiable postion for any politician who cares about being re-elected.
The New Jersey massacre is the perfect opportunity to get this done now: If this issue is raised to a national level now–with elections on the horizon next year–I fail to see how anyone but the most vehemently left-wing zealots could possibly vote against reporting illegal alien felons to the Feds the minute they are arrested.
I have heard O’Reilly advocate President Bush introducing legislation which would deny federal funding for one year to any cities who was caught failing to report an illegal immigrant felon to Homeland Security (ICE). I seriously doubt that a majority of the cowards in either house of Congress would have the courage to show their true colors and vote against such a bill. So why not force that vote now with grassroots pressure–while these murders are fresh on everyone’s mind, and while the do-nothing PC Dems have the Congressional reins. Let’s force them to either back their political base or else to enforce the will of the overwhelming majority of the American people.
So what do you say, Mr. President–how about making Congress walk this plank? This is about terrorism and violent crime, not about ethnicity. It is a question of criminal law and counterterroism, and–as much as the La Razas will try to make it so–it is not discrimination against Hispanics, it is discrimination against felons who are a danger to society. And if mayors want to continue play this bullshit leftist game of political correctness, and they willingly continue to purposefully withhold the names of undocumented felons from ICE, then the cities they represent should not get one penny of the Federal taxpayers’ money. The time to act is now.
Write the President and write your Congressmen with this message: The notion of “Sanctuary Cities” is endangering the public and our national security. It is time to withhold federal funding from any city or municipality who is found to have failed to report any arrested person who is not in this country legally.
Cross posted at The Discerning Texan
Said Discerning Texan @ 5:37 pm Comments (2) | Permalink
This was considered enough of a crime to warrant a 5-day suspension for the 13-year-old who drew it:
As you can see, there is no blood in the doodle, no sizzling bullets, no mutilated victims. It’s barely even recognizable as a gun. Yet educrats at Mesa’s Payne Junior High deemed it to constitute a threat to other kids, comparing its creation to the 1999 Columbine massacre.
Only when the boy’s outraged father got in their slack faces did the bureauweenies lessen his sentence to three days.
Do moonbats forbid even the concept of guns because they think that by pretending guns don’t exist, they can make themselves bulletproof? Or is it that guns represent masculinity and individual empowerment, two things liberals cannot abide?
Whatever their motivation, totalitarian moonbats’ attempts to forbid boys’ natural and healthy fascination with weapons continue to expose the depth of their pathological ideology’s absurdity.
On tips from Dwaine and Wiggins. Cross-posted at Moonbattery.
Said Van Helsing @ 3:50 pm Comments (0) | Permalink
..well, not really. After all one cannot say farewell to a species that is now extinct. And I know this isn’t really a political posting, but you good people need something new to read, and since we have writers that are MIA, you can read this bit of drivel.
The Yangtze River Dolphin, one of only four exclusively fresh water dolphins in the world is now “functionally extinct” says a scientist that conducted a six week 2000 mile survey of the Yangtze river without spotting even one of the creatures.
This is exacerbated by China’s explosive growth, lax environmental rules and large hydrological projects.
One the one hand this doesn’t bode well for China, as a river that can’t sustain the dolphin probably won’t be able to sustain people either. That’s just common sense.
On the other hand I am not going to feel bad about the chinese getting into a bind. They made their bed, now they gotta sleep in it. Maybe if they are busy trying to figure out how to take care of the 6% of the worlds population that lives next to the Yangtze they’ll be too busy to continue to build up their military with an eye towards being the big kid on the block.
And that can’t be a bad thing for us.
On the third hand (hey, whaddya want? River pollution does funny things) this just shows that animals that can adapt will survive, and those that can’t don’t.
I mean, come on, the damned thing was mostly blind and relied on sonar for finding food? So what did we lose here? I blind mammal.
There is a reason that animals have eyes, and those that lose that sense usually end up dying because of it.
Trust me, nature knows what she’s doing, folks.
Said Kender @ 12:28 am Comments (0) | Permalink
This comes from a video tape that’s almost 20 years old, so please be forgiving of the video and sound quality. It was edited on an Amiga 2000 (now THAT’s OLD!).
VQ-2, which is based in Rota, Spain, flew two different planes: the EA3B, a jet, and the EP-3, a four engine turboprop - and this made for a somewhat schizophrenic squadron at times, LOL. Nevertheless, the late 80’s were a wonderful time to be stationed at VQ-2.
At the time of filming, the A3’s were on their way to retirement, and so this seven plane flyby is a rather special event. I hope that perhaps some of our old squadronmates stumble across this and enjoy remembering the Good Times we all had.I also hope that this video serves as a reminder of a grand old warrior that served it’s country well.
(Crossposted from CatHouse Chat)
Said Romeocat @ 7:00 pm Comments (3) | Permalink
I will keep this short and sweet.
I despise you.
Let’s not mince words.
You disgust me.
Socialism takes way the greatness of the human spirit. Without the possibility of abject failure the possibility of true success cannot be possible.
Imagine a ladder. Imagine a wall that stretches for infinity and has ladders all along it.
In your system the ladders are ten feet tall, at a 45 degree angle and bolted to a wall and there are cushions beneath it. All but the most inept creatures make it up their ladder, to mingle with all of the others that have made it up their ladder.
Where is the glory? Where are the people that have conquered adversity to rise up and shine as an example for the rest of us?
In your system, they simply don’t exist.
Now imagine that wall is now higher than you can see. It disappears into the clouds, and lining it are ladders leaning up close to the wall, not bolted on, and there are no cushions below to break your fall. Once you start climbing the ladder you find that every so often there is a level place where you can step off and stay if you wish. But you find that the higher you climb, the more enjoyable are the amenities.
Which ladder do you want to try to climb?
I want to climb that ladder into the clouds. Oh sure, I know I may fall, but the rewards are greater the higher I climb. I don’t want to climb the little ladder and be mingling with the people that also made it up that ladder. Where is the glory in that?
Where is the greatness of the human spirit?
You folks that believe we should have a more equal outcome, and that life isn’t fair, want to set up the system to give everyone short ladders on an easy climb.
And that is because you are cowards.
You are so scared of actually failing that you want to live in a system that takes away the possibility of failure, and to hide that cowardice you hide your intentions in alleged goals of “helping our fellow man.”
Help them do what? Be mediocre? Be run of the mill? Help them be just like everyone else? Help them be cowardly like you?
You socialists are so craven that you cringe at the thought of anyone actually succeeding, and hide behind platitudes and feel good language all the while hoping that nobody realizes what weak creatures you really are, and you sit around with a smug air of superiority that deep down you know is a hypocritical lie, and you grow to hate yourselves for it.
I am ashamed to share a planet with you.
I am ashamed to share DNA with you.
To those of you in the U.S. I am doubly ashamed to share a country with you. (move to france)
I am ashamed that there are humans so scared of life, so terrified of actually being a human and failing, that you advocate a system to make failure the only possible outcome for all.
I just wish you knew what it felt like to be ashamed, but you have no more shame. Your fear has overcome all of your other emotions, and you are leading us down a path that is going to make humanity much duller, less colorful and simply pointless.
Thanks for that.
Now hang your head and cry.
Said Kender @ 9:44 pm Comments (3) | Permalink
