Our Immigration Reform Dilemma

Like so many people, I think the current immigration reform bill stinks. It's being rushed through without enough debate, and tries to accomplish too much. So much of what I've read about it sounds like it's unworkable and unenforceable. Our politicians are ignoring us, which is infuriating.

The American people have said again and again, we want our borders secured. What part of that sentence don't the politicians in Washington understand?

SECURE OUR BORDERS
If they would simply do that, the rest could be sorted out in good time. Secure our borders first, and I think much of the opposition to everything else would calm down, and reasonable debate could ensue. I think what makes so many Americans angry is that our government repeatedly fails to demonstrate any serious intention of securing the border. They focus instead on everything else related to immigration, which is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.


Polls show that the majority of Americans don't want mass deportations that split up families. Proponents of the current immigration bill keep trying to smear all opponents with accusations of racism, to silence their criticism. Whatever happened to REAL debate?

Multiculturalism, which has advocates on both the left and right, has become the favorite tool of the new Stealth Socialists. They've not been able to dominate politically, so they support the open borders concept to bring in a new proletariat underclass they can manipulate. The Multiculturalists on the right support open borders, to bring in cheap labor.

The Open Borders crowd, both left and right, uses accusations of racism to try to silence any debate about or opposition to their open borders agenda. The end result is squashing debate, which is just plain wrong. Rushing faulty legislation into law without public debate is WRONG.



I do realize that we are trying to fix something that has gone unattended for far too long. I realize that we don't have endless time to do something, and that no bill is going to ever please everyone. Yet something MUST be done.

I say listen to the folks in the middle. The moderate center. Work for compromises that are WORKABLE and REALISTIC. Break this bill up into segments. Secure the border first. Then work on the rest, a chunk at a time.

It's fine if the extremists on both sides of the aisle are displeased. But debate these things properly, and listen to the moderates in both parties, and WORK for consensus. The way it's being handled now disrespectful to the American people.


Related Links:

Slow Down and Absorb:
Open borders? Mass deportations? How about some common sense instead?

Capitulation, from A------ to Z

Don't Run for the Border:
America needs comprehensive immigration reform, but not a law enacted in haste.

Opposition to Senate immigration bill fading?

THE AMNESTY BILL .. HEADED FOR PASSAGE?

[...] It's all very simple, really. Close the border. Stop the invasion. Turn off the faucets. Then we'll have time aplenty to sit back and figure out what to do with those illegals who are already here. Americans are not cold blooded monsters who want to uproot established Hispanic families and dump them across the border. You present the average American with the story of a Hispanic high school graduate trying to get into college, a young adult who was brought to this country by their parents at the age of three, and you aren't going to find many who would insist that this person, who has known nothing but life in America, be sent back to a country they don't know.

Why is nobody talking about the cost to the taxpayers here? Since 1990 Hispanics have accounted for 92% of the increase in poor people in this country. Only about 53% of the Hispanic adult population in the U.S. even have a high school education. This means we are legitimizing a huge number of people who will eventually end up on the receiving end of our hundreds of local and federal welfare programs. Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation has compiled some of the costs. He says that government tax payments ... entitlements and means-tested benefits ... would increase by about $8000 per American household. We're looking at about 20 billion a year .. and that's just starters.

You've read about the increases in crime across the country, haven't you? For every 100,000 U.S. residents in a specific age group you'll find Hispanics in prison at a rate of about two-and-one half that of whites. There seems to be some reluctance to report this in the news, but what would you like to bet that a huge portion of the increase in crime in this country is coming from the fine people who have been part of the Mexican invasion. This isn't rocket surgery. What, after all, have we been teaching these people? They cross our border illegally, and nothing happens. They stay here illegally ... they use forged documents to get jobs and they work here illegally, and nothing happens. Can you blame some of them for not believing that we're all that serious about enforcing our laws?

Again .. it's very simple. When the government becomes selective in enforcing our laws, it's only natural that the people would become selective in obeying them. [...]

Neal Boortz makes a lot of sense here. I hear lots of people saying ALL illegal immigrants are criminals. Technically, that may be true. But when we don't bother to enforce our own laws, people will not bother obeying them. That's human nature.

We haven't enforced our immigration laws for decades, and the consequences are 12 million or more illegals. That's the price we are paying.

We can send back the actual criminals in this group that are currently in our prisons. A path for citizenship for the rest who have otherwise been law abiding may be possible. Many don't WANT to become US citizens, they are here to earn money; perhaps some sort of work visa could be created. But none of this will be viable if we don't FIRST secure our borders. The open borders advocates on the left and right need to stop obstructing that. Then perhaps we can find real, workable solutions.


UPDATE 06-06-07:

From Neal Boortz:

AMNESTY BILL UPDATE

[...] Alabama Republican Senator Jeff Sessions released an excellent report of 20 different loopholes he found in the bill.

* -Loophole 1 – Legal Status Before Enforcement
* -Loophole 2 – U.S. VISIT Exit Not In Trigger
* -Loophole 3 – Trigger Requires No More Agents, Beds, or Fencing Than Current Law
* -Loophole 4 -- Three Additional Years Worth of Illegal Aliens Granted Status, Treated Preferentially To Legal Filers
* -Loophole 5 – Completion of Background Checks Not Required For Probationary Legal Status
* -Loophole 6 – Some Child Molesters Are Still Eligible
* -Loophole 7 – Terrorism Connections Allowed, Good Moral Character Not Required
* -Loophole 8 – Gang Members Are Eligible
* -Loophole 9 – Absconders Are Eligible
* -Loophole 10 – Learning English Not Required For A Decade
* -Loophole 11 – Earned Income Tax Credit Will Cost Taxpayers Billions In Just 10 Years
* -Loophole 12 – Affidavits From Friends Accepted As Evidence
* -Loophole 13 – Taxpayer Funded Legal Counsel and Arbitration
* -Loophole 14 – In-State Tuition and Student Loans
* -Loophole 15 – Inadequacy of the Merit System
* -Loophole 16 – Visas For Individuals That Plan To Overstay
* -Loophole 17 – Chain Migration Tippled Before Being Eliminated
* -Loophole 18 – Back Taxes Not Required
* -Loophole 19 – Social Security Credits Allowed For Some Illegal Work Histories
* -Loophole 20 – Criminal Fines Not Proportional To Conduct

[...]

That's just part of it. Read the whole thing. This bill is NOT ready, it's too rushed. What can I say? AAAARGH!!!


UPDATE 06-10-07
Here's two bloggers that sum it up perfectly:

The Bloody Immigration Debate

Well-meaning but misguided Senate immigration bill dead
     

A Hummingbird Party

Here is something I got in my email:

WOW!

This is something I have never seen before, or ever even heard of. This lady lives in a Hummingbird fly zone. As they migrated, about 20 of them were in her yard. Just for a lark, she took the little red dish and filled it with sugar water and this is the result.

Snopes.com verifies that the story is true, and provides further details:

A Hummingbird in the Hand.

It seems the photo owners, Sam & Abigail Alfano, emailed the photos to friends, not realizing that the friends would forward them to their friends, and soon the pics would be sent all around the world.

The Alfanos also have their own web page:

The Hummingbird Lady

On that page, Abigail explains how the photos came to be:

"I am Abigail Alfano, the woman in the photos. My husband, Sam is the photographer. We live in Pine, Louisiana which is approximately 1 1/2 hours north of New Orleans.This year we had more hummingbirds in our yard than I ever recall. The feeder sits right outside of my window where I drink my morning coffee. I remember watching the birds one morning and telling my husband that I wish I could just hold one! We decided to give it a shot."

"Over the course of several days, I would simply stand beside the feeder so that they would get used to my presence. Then, I began putting my hands around the feeder so that in order to drink they had to land on my fingers. I was amazed at how quickly they were willing to do this.

The next step was to remove the feeder and place a small red cap on an old milk can in the same area. They eventually found the small replacement and began feeding. The morning the photos were taken, I simply went outside and filled the cap with the sugar water, placed it in the palm of my hand, and sat very very still. Within ten minutes, they were resting in my hands, drinking. It was sheer delight for me! I was even able to move my hands around a bit with the birds on my fingers. They are light as a feather...and simply beautiful. I can't wait until next year."

See their site for more information. Please note that the photos are copyrighted. Someone in Tennesse fraudulently entered one in a photo contest and won, but they were exposed.

You can see more hummingbird photos from their photo gallery.
     

Iran: "Temporary marriage is God's rule"

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer:
Iran official backs temporary marriage

TEHRAN, Iran -
Iran's hard-line interior minister is encouraging temporary marriages as a way to avoid extramarital sex, a stance many in this conservative country fear would instead encourage prostitution.

A temporary marriage, or "sigheh," refers to a Shiite Muslim tradition under which a man and a woman sign a contract that allows them to be "married" for any length of time, even a few hours. An exchange of money, as a sort of dowry, is often involved.

Although the practice exists, it's not very common in Iran, a Shiite majority nation where many consider it a license for prostitution. Others, however, have advocated institutionalizing the tradition, saying it would help fight "illicit" sex in a country where sexual relations outside marriage are banned under Islamic law.

"Temporary marriage is God's rule. We must aggressively encourage that," state-run television quoted Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi as saying. [...]

The article goes on about how half of Iran's population is under the age of 30. Many men cannot afford to buy a home and support a wife. Since extramarital sex if strictly forbidden under Islamic law, what are these young men to do with their sexual needs?

Temporary Marriage! Talk about mind games. Prostitution by any other name is still what it is.

I've heard of temporary marriage used in another context. Women in prison who are condemned to die. If they are virgins, whey would go to heaven. In order to prevent that from happening, the women are forced into temporary marriages with prison guards, who then rape them to insure that they are not virgins when they die. And God approves, because it's not extramarital sex.

Those Imams, those men, seem to come up with Islamic solutions to just about everything.
     

Should we bomb Iran? Two views...

Norman Podhoretz insists that it must be done:

The Case for Bombing Iran:
I hope and pray that President Bush will do it.

[...] The Iranians, of course, never cease denying that they intend to build a nuclear arsenal, and yet in the same breath they openly tell us what they intend to do with it. Their first priority, as repeatedly and unequivocally announced by their president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is to "wipe Israel off the map"--a feat that could not be accomplished by conventional weapons alone.

But Ahmadinejad's ambitions are not confined to the destruction of Israel. He also wishes to dominate the greater Middle East, and thereby to control the oilfields of the region and the flow of oil out of it through the Persian Gulf. If he acquired a nuclear capability, he would not even have to use it in order to put all this within his reach. Intimidation and blackmail by themselves would do the trick.

Nor are Ahmadinejad's ambitions merely regional in scope. He has a larger dream of extending the power and influence of Islam throughout Europe, and this too he hopes to accomplish by playing on the fear that resistance to Iran would lead to a nuclear war. And then, finally, comes the largest dream of all: what Ahmadinejad does not shrink from describing as "a world without America." Demented though he may be, I doubt that Ahmadinejad is so crazy as to imagine that he could wipe America off the map even if he had nuclear weapons. But what he probably does envisage is a diminution of the American will to oppose him: that is, if not a world without America, he will settle, at least in the short run, for a world without much American influence. [...]

While many in the US would dismiss Ahmadinajad's comments as crazy rantings, not to be taken seriously, Podehoretz makes an analogy with the Cold War, and explains in detail why this cannot end the same way.

Many Muslims consider Israel a "one bomb country", i.e., one nuclear bomb exploded over Tel Aviv would end the country of Israel. Ahamadinejad has indicated that any counter-strike against Muslim nations could be endured, and would be worth it; the casualties would die as martyrs, and that is acceptable!

Also, whether or not President Bush has the will to carry out a military strike seems highly doubtful these days. Not impossible, but doubtful.


(for commentary & links click here.)


For an entirely different point of view, Iranian "prince" Reza Pahlavi makes the case that we must NOT bomb Iran:

Reza Pahlavi: war with Iran is unnecessary

I don't care much for the idea of "royalty", such titles don't impress me. Pahlalvi is hoping to to be reinstated as Monarch in Iran one day, so of course he is against bombing; if he was for it, the Iranian people would never let him be their King in any capacity. Yet putting Royalty considerations aside, he none the less makes some compelling arguments against bombing, arguing for supporting a revolution from within Iran to bring about regime change.

It sounds good, but how plausible is it? In both scenarios there is a great deal to consider, and no certain solution.
     

Kindergarten Graduation Ceremony on Hamas TV

#1468 - Graduation Ceremony at the Islamic Association in Gaza on Hamas TV
Al-Aqsa TV (Palestinian Authority) - 5/31/2007 - 00:04:01

[...] Boys: Allah Akbar. Praise be to Allah. Allah Akbar. Praise be to Allah. Allah Akbar. Praise be to Allah. Allah Akbar. Praise be to Allah. Who is your role model? The Prophet. Who is your role model? The Prophet. What is your path? Jihad. What is your path? Jihad. What is your most lofty aspiration? Death for the sake of Allah. What is your most lofty aspiration? Death for the sake of Allah.

It fits right in with what the kids learn from Micky "Jihad" Mouse:


#1442 - A Mickey Mouse Character on Hamas TV Teaches Children about Islamic Rule of the World
Al-Aqsa TV (Palestinian Authority) - 4/13/2007 - 00:02:12

#1446 - Hamas TV Insists on Continuing Inciting Children TV Show
Al-Aqsa TV (Palestinian Authority) - 5/11/2007 - 00:02:57

Also see: 'Mickey Mouse' promotes jihad

Western governments from around the world keep sending money, taxpayers money, to the Palestinians, to insure they have the time and resources to keep doing this. Why?


(for more info, see Hamas Kindergarten)

Jihad Micky made it into the news because of the strangeness of seeing a beloved symbol of American childhood used in such a perverse way. It seems like a freak event to us, but unfortunately it's all too common an occurrence. It's just one small part of a larger deliberate and consistant indoctrination into a death cult.

And for decades, we've been giving them money so they can keep on doing it! How long will it be before that comes back to bite us in the ass one day?



     

The redneck version of drinks and dinner...

From Neal Boortz's Redneck Scrapbook
     

Are you ready for the Thought Police?

Your very thoughts could be a crime. Do you understand what you need to know to avoid punishment for your thoughts? Take this quiz and find out:

'Hate Crimes' And Double Standards
     

Changing Tyres Can Be Dangerous

My dad sent me this video in my email. It's three good examples of what NOT to do when changing a tire. Kids, don't try this at home. Yikes.

These are ads for the new Goodyear tires, that allow you to continue driving for a considerable distance when the tire goes flat, so you don't have to stop and change it in a dangerous place. They're a great idea, we have them on our Ford Focus.

The URL shown on the video goes to Goodyear's European website. Perhaps that explains the spelling of "Tyre" (British).

Hugo Chavez revokes license of popular Caracas TV station; response is protests and violence

The Socialist Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez decided to silence his political opposition by revoking the broadcast license of Radio Caracas TV, which has been critical of his totalitarian policies. More from Tammy Bruce:

Caracas TV station employees, after being forced off the air.

Has Chavez Finally Gone Too Far?

Let's hope so. The Venezuelan people deserve better. But really, what did they expect--that he would be the one tyrannical Marxist on Earth to leave television alone? Mass communication is the biggest threat to fascists. Why do you think Hillary and the American left are obsessed with shutting down talk radio and "regulating" the internet? Why do you think the Democrat party want to demonize Fox News? Because they know information and a free discussion is the antidote to...them.

[...]

Chavez, like every other depraved leftist in history, simply bought his way into power with money and entitlements for the poor. And as always, the people are shocked, just shocked, to find out that the man who had no ideas but lots of goodies to give away, suddenly wants something in return--their freedom and the future.

Now they understand the convenient Marxism they embraced comes with a price. Let's hope the Venezuelans understand they can refuse to pay and reverse their mistake. [...]

(bold emphasis mine) See Tammy's post for links and more.




Neal Boortz also comments on the Caracas TV station closure:

HUGO CHAVEZ AND THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE

Jealousy is an ugly thing. And jealousy is especially ugly when you have freely elected leaders from a country that prides itself on a dedication to freedom and individual liberty being openly jealous of a dictator.

Such is the case with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

Hugo the Horrible has now accomplished in Venezuela what Democrats only wish they could accomplish here at home. He has silenced a broadcast outlet that was critical of his regime. Sunday night Venezuela's most popular television station went off the air. Why? Because Chavez decided that their broadcast license would not be renewed. Radio Caracas Television was the only TV station in Venezuela that was broadcast nationwide ... and Radio Caracas Television was critical of Hugo Chavez.

Are you starting to get the picture here?

Chavez says he is "democratizing" the public's airways. He also said that this TV station was a threat to his country. Wow! Now doesn't that sound very much like the things that the left is saying about talk radio in the U.S.?

What Chavez accomplished by edict the left in this country hopes to accomplish through legislation and regulation. [...]

(bold emphasis mine) The methods may be different, but the goals are the same. And so it goes. What do you suppose comes next? For Venezuela and for us?


     

Remembering Our Heros...

Cox and Forkum have a brief History of Memorial Day.

Maynard at the Tammy Bruce Blog comments on the holiday:

Memorial Day is not a "Happy" Holiday

     

Sunday Funnies 05/27/07

(click on image to see larger version)

Multiculturalism: it isn't your grandfather's Communism

Multiculturalism is supposed to be about tolerance for cultural differences. But too often, its used as a social engineering tool. Tolerance for different cultures isn't itself necessarily a bad thing. I'm not against every aspect of Multiculturalism; what I object to, is the sneaky way it is being used to advance agendas that have nothing to do with tolerance.

Leftists who have failed to bring about their goals through political means have found better methods; accusations of racism, enforced political correctness, immigration issues and the abolishing of borders. Having failed to sufficiently sway the proletariat in Western societies, the left wishes to replace it with a new one, an under-class they can manipulate. Fjordman at the Brussels Journal addresses these ideas and more in detail in his latest article. Some excerpts:

A Communism for the 21st Century

[...] On one hand, we’re supposed to “celebrate” our differences at the same time as it is racist and taboo to recognize that any differences between groups of people exist at all. This is hardly logically coherent, which is why Multiculturalism can only be enforced by totalitarian means. Perhaps it boils down to the fact there are no major differences, just minor quirks, all cute, which should be celebrated at the same time as we gradually eradicate them.

We are told to treat cultural and historical identities as fashion accessories, shirts we can wear and change at will. The Multicultural society is “colorful,” an adjective normally attached to furniture or curtains. Cultures are window decorations of little or no consequence, and one might as well have one as the other.

[...]

We should remember that this view of culture as largely unimportant is essentially a Marxist view of the world, which has now even been adopted by segments of the political Right, united with Leftists in the belief that man is homo economicus, the economic man, the sum of his functions as worker and consumer, nothing more. Marxism doesn’t say that cultures or ideas are of absolutely no consequence, but that they are of minor or secondary importance next to structural and economic conditions.

[...]

Imagine you have two such houses next to each other. In House A, the inhabitants have over a period of generations created a tidy and functioning household. They have limited their number of children because they wanted to give all of them a proper education. In House B, the inhabitants live in a dysfunctional household with too many children who have received little higher education. One day they decide to move to their neighbors’. Many of the inhabitants of House A are protesting, but some of them think this might be a good idea. There is room for more people in House A, they say. In addition to this, Amnesty International, the United Nations and others claim that it is “racist” and “against international law” for the inhabitants of House A to expel the intruders. Pretty soon, House A has been turned into an overpopulated and dysfunctional household just like House B.

This is what is happening to the West today. Europe itself could become a failed continent by importing the problems of Africa and the Islamic world. The notion that everybody should be free to move anywhere they want to, and that preventing them from moving into your country is “racism, xenophobia and bigotry,” is the Communism of the 21st century. And it will probably lead to immense human suffering.

One of the really big mistakes we made after the Cold War ended was to declare that Socialism was now dead, and thus no longer anything to worry about. Here we are, nearly a generation later, discovering that Marxist thinking has penetrated every single stratum of our society, from the universities to the media. While the “hard” Marxism of the Soviet Union may have collapsed, at least for now, the “soft” Marxism of the Western Left has actually grown stronger, in part because we mistakenly deemed it to be less threatening.

Ideas about Multiculturalism and de-facto open borders have achieved a virtual hegemony in public discourse. By hiding behind labels such as “anti-racism” and “tolerance,” Leftists have achieved a degree of censorship they could never have achieved had they openly stated that their intention was to radically transform Western civilization and destroy its foundations.

According to the French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, “the lofty idea of ‘the war on racism’ is gradually turning into a hideously false ideology. And this anti-racism will be for the 21st century what Communism was for the 20th century: A source of violence.”

Alexander Boot, a Russian by birth, left for the West in the 1970s, only to discover that the West he was seeking was no longer there. This led him to write the book How the West Was Lost. Boot believes that democracy, or in the words of Abraham Lincoln, the government of the people, by the people and for the people, has been replaced by glossocracy, the government of the word, by the word and for the word.

In a culture where language is power and words are used as weapons, those who control the most fearsome of these weapons control society. In the West, where equality in all walks of life is the highest virtue and “discrimination” is a mortal sin, the “racist” is the worst of creatures. Those who control the definition of “racist,” the nuclear bomb of glossocracy, have a powerful weapon they can utilize to intimidate opponents. The mere utterance of the word can destroy careers and ruin lives, with no trial and no possibility of appeal.

Currently, the power of definition largely rests in the hands of a cartel of anti-racist organizations dominated by the extreme Left, often in cooperation with Muslims. By silencing all opposition to mass immigration as “racism,” they can stage a transformation of society every bit as massive as that of Communism, yet virtually shut down debate about it.

[...]

Ideas matter. Individuals matter. Cultures matter. Truth matters, and truth exists. We used to know that. It’s time we get to know it again, and reject false ideas about the irrelevance of culture. We are not racists for desiring to pass on our heritage to future generations, nor are we evil for resisting to be treated as lab rats in social experiments on a horrific scale. We must nip the ideology of transnational Multiculturalism and unlimited mass migration in the bud by exposing it for what it is: A Communism for the 21st century.

(bold emphasis mine) There's more; how Europe is becoming a laboratory, treating it's citizens like lab rats. Many of the trends that the Multiculturalist elites of Europe have established there are also catching on here, and I fear the same motives are behind them. Let's not let it continue.


Related Link:

Political Correctness and Multiculturalism:
The New Tools of "Stealth" Socialism?
     

Fred Thompson: Run Fred Run!

I've been wanting to post about Fred for a while now. Pat at Born Again Redneck Yogi has been doing many great posts about Fred.

The latest post today was from Pat's Fred Roundup, which was excellent. Here is a portion of Fred's speech he gave recently in Connecticut:

In his speech, Thompson criticized Democrats as he discussed terrorism, Iraq and national security. "Our choice is not whether or not we're going to fight. Our choice is where we're going to fight," Thompson said. "And the only debate going on right now with regard to this most important issue facing our country on the Democratic side of the aisle is the date of our surrender."

He added, "My friends, I don't think that the American people are going to turn the keys of this country over to a party that invests their political capital in defeat."

But Thompson also stressed his own party returning to their key issues and warned his fellow Republicans to "get nervous if they go the wrong way."

"Someone once said that a cat won't sit on a hot stove twice, but he won't sit on a cold stove ever," Thompson said. "Here we had an election that was traumatic for some people, and the media blamed it on Iraq. I think it had more to do with pork barrel spending and corruption than it did Iraq." [...]

(bold emphasis mine) In that speech he also criticized "Open Border" immigration policies. Then regarding Memorial Day... well follow the links, it's worth it. Pat's posted a good video there by Fred, called "The Soldier".
     

Rosie O'Donnell can't take being contradicted

Rosie's cheap emotional antics didn't work in a spar with Elizabeth Hasselbeck, so she's going to take her marbles and go home 3 weeks earlier than planned:

ABC: Rosie O'Donnell Won't Be Back on 'The View'

[...] A political discussion over the war in Iraq became heated when an angry O'Donnell decried Hasselbeck for not standing up for her when media outlets suggested that she'd called U.S. troops "terrorists" during a previous debate.

The argument with Hasselbeck began over O'Donnell's statement last week about the war: "655,000 Iraqi civilians have died. Who are the terrorists?"

Talk show critics accused O'Donnell of calling U.S. troops terrorists. She called Hasselbeck "cowardly" for not saying anything in response to the critics.

"What you did was not defend me. ... I asked you if you believed what the Republican pundits were saying — you said nothing, and that's cowardly," O'Donnell said.

"Do not call me a coward, because No. 1, I sit here every single day, open my heart and tell people what I believe," Hasselbeck retorted, and their riveting exchange continued despite failed attempts by their co-hosts to cut to a commercial.

O'Donnell and Hasselbeck were shown on a split screen as the argument progressed without commercial interruption.

"Do you believe that I think our troops are terrorists? And you would not even look me in the face, Elisabeth, and say, 'No, Rosie,'" O'Donnell said.

Responded Hasselbeck: "Because you are an adult, and I am certainly not going to be the person for you to explain your thoughts. They're your thoughts! Defend your own insinuations!"

O'Donnell said she wasn't going to fight anymore. "So for three weeks, you can say all the Republican crap you want." [...]

You can see the video here: War of the Rosie. I thought Elizabeth handled herself with restraint, but without backing down. Rosie did what most libs do when they are contradicted - over emotionalize, cry foul, claim THEY are the victim... anything to avoid a calm debate about facts. And when they can't get their way, they snatch up their marbles and go home. Like so many libs, Rosie can only tolerate a milieu where she's not contradicted.

And speaking about emotions out of control, there's more:

[...] According to a New York Post report, O'Donnell's chief writer, Janette Barber, was allegedly led out of the building on Wednesday after she was caught drawing mustaches on photographs of Hasselbeck in "The View" studios. [...]

Well there is a mature response from a rational adult. But since she writes for Rosie, I guess we are supposed to lower our expectations of civility?

Interestingly enough, O'Donnell's nemesis Donald Trump weighed in on the squabble and defended O'Donnell, claiming that anyone who supported the war in Iraq was an imbecile, among other things. You can read the article for the details. All I can say is, The O'Donnell and The Donald deserve each other. Do either of them have a sensible alternative on how to deal with this?:




Until they do, I can't take either one of them seriously. Thank you, Elizabeth.
     

Only in Marin... I wish!

Al Gore made an appearance at the Marin Civic Center to promote his book. The ZombieTime Blog has plenty of photos:

Al Gore Appearance at the Marin Civic Center


Al is starting to look more and more like Chairman Mao these days.



The Marinites came in droves, in there SUVs and sports cars, to hear Al preach about global warming.





Click the link to see more pics of what 2,000 hypocrites look like. And their car bumper stickers and Che bags too.

When I moved to California nearly 26 years ago, people would often say "Only in Marin" about this sort of thing. Actually, I wish it was only in Marin County that this type of hypocrisy goes on. Now it's not limited to there, but it IS still typical for Marin. Unfortunately it also would seem it's becoming increasingly mainstream among Democrats.     

Dell Finally Offers Linux Pre-installed

From DesktopLinux.com:
Ubuntu-powered Dell desktops and notebook arrive

On May 24, the rumors and speculation came to an end. Dell officially unveiled its three consumer systems -- the XPS 410n and Dimension E520n desktops, and the Inspiron E1505n notebook -- that come with the Ubuntu 7.04 Linux distribution factory installed.

DesktopLinux.com predicted that Dell would release Ubuntu-powered computers from these lines. We did not see, however, that rather than offering a variety of models, albeit not the full range from each line, that Dell would be offering a single system from each line. [...]

There was speculation for a while about if it would ever happen. This is the first time that one of the Big computer manufacturers has offered to ship their machines with Desktop Linux already installed.

Choice is always a good thing! We all benefit. See the full article for details.

Also from DesktopLinux.com:
These are Dell's Ubuntu PCs
More details about the actual machines Dell is shipping with Ubuntu Linux.
     

Are Americans too stupid to understand basic economics?

There seems to be a lot of evidence that the answer could be yes. And there seems to be no end to the politicians who would pander to that ignorance.

From Jeff at Jeff's Garage and Alehouse blog:

How About a Windfall Ignorance Tax?

[...] # As we continually remind people here at JG&AH, the oil companies profits average about 10 cents on the dollar. Other such industries average much more than that. When I worked in Automotive retail, a manager that I came up under would always say to me "Jeff, we need to make 20% profit on everything, just to turn the lights on." Profit is the necessity and motif of EVERYONE who is in business. As the above links demonstrate FTC investigation has already demonstrated that there is no corporate price gouging. The Gouging is from the government tax at all levels - more than twice the Big Oil Profit. Where's the outrage over that?

How many people have money in mutual funds or their 401Ks tied up in Oil Company Stock? Further, how many do and don't even realize it while they gripe about oil profits? Sad fact of the matter is, a windfall profits tax that the Populists and their leaching power whore buddies in office seem to threaten will do nothing but further hamper supply and damage many average citizen's investment portfolios. Way to stick it to yourself. [...]

(bold emphasis mine) Too many people don't understand the difference between "profit" and "profit margin". The profit is how much money you take in. The profit margin is how much money you have left to keep as income, AFTER you have paid all your related business expenses to keep the business running.

Time and time again it has been proven that the oil companies are not price gouging. But that doesn't sit well with people too ignorant to understand what a profit margin is, or to understand basic economics like supply and demand. What ARE they teaching in government schools these days? Nothing practical, apparently.

Pat at Born Again Redneck Yogi has more, with some great excerpts from Jon Markman:

What a gas!

[...] Higher prices at the pump today are a matter of simple economics. U.S. refiners have the ability to churn out 17 million barrels of gasoline per day. Demand is around 22 million barrels per day. To make up the difference, we bring in gasoline from foreign refiners, which means that, at the margins, pump prices are set by import prices.

Total U.S. demand for oil products is up 2.7% year to date, boosted in part by the surge in cold weather in February. But since we are far from the only country importing gasoline and other key refined products, we don't have a lot of say in what those prices are.

Gasoline, like crude oil, is auctioned worldwide to the highest bidder, and with the dollar weak and overseas economic growth strong because of our fantastic appetite for iPods made in China and T-shirts made in Costa Rica, we have to pay up to keep our supply coming in. And that's all there is to it. [...]

It's not hard to understand. Too many people are not paying attention, and are thus becoming part of the problem instead of the solution, which requires understanding what's actually happening. The links I've provided here discuss the realities involved, and what we realistically can do about it. Knowlege is Power.
     

Ethanol Nonsense is wasting taxpayers money

I can't believe we are going forward with subsidizing Ethanol. The evidence against this as a practical solution is overwhelming. From John Stossel:

The Many Myths of Ethanol

[...] If ethanol's so good, why does it need government subsidies? Shouldn't producers be eager to make it, knowing that thrilled consumers will reward them with profits?

But consumers won't reward them, because without subsidies, ethanol would cost much more than gasoline.

The claim that using ethanol will save energy is another myth. Studies show that the amount of energy ethanol produces and the amount needed to make it are roughly the same. "It takes a lot of fossil fuels to make the fertilizer, to run the tractor, to build the silo, to get that corn to a processing plant, to run the processing plant," Taylor says.

And because ethanol degrades, it can't be moved in pipelines the way that gasoline is. So many more big, polluting trucks will be needed to haul it.

More bad news: The increased push for ethanol has already led to a sharp increase in corn growing -- which means much more land must be plowed. That means much more fertilizer, more water used on farms and more pesticides.

This makes ethanol the "solution"?

But won't it at least get us unhooked from Middle East oil? Wouldn't that be worth the other costs? Another myth. [...]

Read the whole article for the rest of the myths, and for a possible reason why Ethanol is being pushed anyway. Hint: it has to do with Iowa and elections.



Once again, government is doing something just for the sake of making it look like they are doing something to solve a problem, even though it really isn't. Isn't it time to put an end to this useless and wasteful posturing?
     

Slaves to Fashion or Fascism?

If only this were a joke. The Cox & Forkum blog has many links to articles and more pictures and videos of the harassment and arrests that have been happing in Iran as the Islamic Dress Code Crackdown continues. Here are just a few samples:









Men are not exempt from harassment or arrest. Their crime? Wearing short sleeves, tight pants, or western hairstyles?







Here is a woman being arrested for not dressing correctly. The policeman KICKS her into the car:

Hejab in Iran new
Uploaded by siamakold

Sometimes it's more than just harassment or a kick. Blood can flow, as these poor women discovered:

Iranian Fashion Police Publicly Bludgeon Women

The cartoon is not exaggerating about the violence. And they call this the religion of peace?
     

Iranian Fashion Police Publicly Bludgeon Women

Police, Improperly Clad Women Clash In Tehran

Male and female police officers clashed with women who were not dressed according to the Islamic dress code.

The clashes, which took place at Haft Tir Square in Tehran, came during the current Iranian security forces campaign to enforce the dress code.

One girl who refused to get into the police car was beaten by police, and removed from the area by civilians who were called to the scene.

Source: Rooz, Iran, May 21, 2007

My God!!! They're Beating Their Women to a Bloody Pulp!

[...] The Iranian blogosphere is all over this...
Will America ignore this brutality?????????? [...]

Iran Religious Police Now Beating Women in Public

[...] today's leftists are neither feminist nor progressive as they seethe and fume and argue for a complete abandonment of the women who are beaten, imprisoned, murdered and disappeared not only in Iran, but throughout the barbaric Islamist world.

I suppose when the world, even the United States, gives you a pass for murdering innocent civilians worldwide, beating up and murdering your own women becomes that much easier. [...]

Disgusting, but unfortunately not surprising. If they do this in public, imagine what they do behind closed doors?


Related Link:

Iranian Fashion Police at work... literally