Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Let 'em roam free

Yet another one got away from us. Here's the story from the Police Blotter: "Police followed a car at 8 p.m. Monday to the 100 block of North Center Street after it made an illegal turn. When the driver was detained, he presented two counterfeit forms of identification to the police, an Illinois driver's license and a permanent resident card, police said. Napolean Juarez, 29, of 553 Locust St., Elgin, was charged with possession of two fraudulent identification cards, police said. Juarez told police he purchased them in Chicago, a report said. He posted a $1,000 bond Tuesday morning and was freed from jail. He has a court date at the Kane County Judicial Center on Nov. 14. " (Daily Herald 10/31/07)

I'm not a trained detective but something leads me to believe this fellow is here illegally. I wonder if ICE was called? I wonder if they ran his name through the Homeland Security database? I wonder if he'll show up at court on the 14th? I wonder if the Kane County judge would pursue his immigration status if he did?

My predictions are no, no, no, and no.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Hillary answers the universal healthcare question

Univision Presidential Debate
University of Miami, September 7, 2007

MODERATOR: Senator Clinton, as first lady, your attempt to establish universal health insurance failed. What did you learn so you can be successful the next time?

SEN. CLINTON: Well, I am very proud that we tried to provide universal health care to every American back in 1993 and 1994, and -- (applause). I learned a lot from that, and I'm going to be presenting a plan next week that will be universal. It will cover everyone, and it will make it clear that we as a rich nation with the values that should be the best in the world will once and for all make it absolutely positive that everyone will have health care.

Now it's not only about the 47 million uninsured. Millions of insured Americans don't get the health care they paid for. We have a lot of people who (applause) -- all of a sudden their child needs an operation and the insurance company won't pay for it. I had an NYPD detective, a Latino with a very important job in the New York City Police Department, call me up distraught because the insurance company wouldn't pay for his two-year-old daughter's, you know, operation. It just brought tears to my eyes.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Senator.

SEN. CLINTON: Well, we're going to make it clear that there will be no parent who ever is told no when it comes to getting health care for their children. (Applause.)

End of quote from the debate…

Nothing in there about illegal vs.legal. But now she says health insurance is only for legal residents. Of course, if she grants them all amnesty that would be a non-issue, wouldn’t it? And every politician knows darn well that no doctor, nurse, or clinic is going to become an expert on immigration law and documents. The old catch-22 at work.

All her health plan will do is open up more avenues for the slimy docs to bill Uncle Sam, as if we don’t have enough examples of chaos already.

Monday, October 29, 2007

George Ryan

Well, the former gov of Illinois is back in the news. He’s lost his appeal to stay out of jail. A nine judge state panel said they were OK with his first verdict.

There is a Supreme Court appeal they can do so the fat lady didn’t sing yet, but we are getting close. He now has been issued an inmate number and they’ve booked a reservation for him on the shores of Lake Superior in Duluth Minnesota, the same prison that housed former Gov Dan Walker.

Walker tells reporters it is mighty cold up there and they run a rope between buildings so the inmates can find their way in the wintertime. Sounds pleasant enough.

I bring this up because there may be an illegal alien link to this story that gets no ink at all. Zero. Zip. Nada. And nothing was really done about giving licenses to illegals until the post-9/11 reforms, although the bribes stopped a few years before that.

The expose on Ryan began back on November 8, 1994 on I-94 near West Layton Ave (Milwaukee) when six children burned to death in a minivan after it was hit by debris from an unsafe truck. Reverend and Mrs. Willis watched as their children died.

Other truckers tried in vain to warn the driver, Ricardo Guzman, before the accident that his truck was losing its parts, but he didn’t understand English.

The investigation after the crash revealed that the truck driver BOUGHT (as in bribery) his license from the DMV. George Ryan was Secretary of State at the time. It turns out that Ryan was requiring campaign contributions from state workers…and state workers were getting those contributions by hitting up unqualified drivers for a bribe.

That was the tip of the iceberg. As they dug deeper they found all sorts of payoffs in the life of George Ryan. And so now we have yet another former Illinois governor set to do hard time. (Judging from the rumors, he won’t be the last.)

So what happened to the truck driver? Well, according to The State Journal – Register in Springfield IL 10/24/05, “Guzman pleaded the Fifth Amendment when asked as part of a civil lawsuit how he got the license and has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the accident or even gotten a traffic ticket.”

I suspect that was part of the deal for cooperating with authorities collecting evidence against Ryan.

He was ordered to pay $1 million to the family but my guess is that was a symbolic move. Here’s a list of the Deep Pockets who DID pay out on the claim, according to Roadstar magazine: “Trucking Interests Agree To $100 Million Accident Settlement -
A Chicago couple who lost six children in a 1994 accident have agreed to a $100 million out-of-court settlement, most of which will be paid by Transamerica Leasing Corp.
The accident occurred when a mud flap/taillight assembly fell off a tractor-trailer traveling in front of the minivan carrying the Rev. Duane Scott Willis, his wife Janet and six of their children. The minivan ran over the assembly, which penetrated the gas tank, puncturing the floor board and setting the vehicle on fire.
According to Business Insurance magazine, Transamerica, which owned the chassis, will pay $60 million of the settlement. Allied Products Corp. will pay $14.5 million on behalf of its Load Craft division, which went out of business in 1992. (Load Craft manufactured the chassis extension.) Truck driver Ricardo Guzman and his employer, Hammer Express Inc., will each pay $1 million.
Guzman has not been charged with wrongdoing in the accident. However, he has come under scrutiny because he obtained his CDL at one of the Chicago license facilities under investigation by the federal government for giving passing test grades in exchange for bribes.
Burlington Northern Railroad, which owned the railyard where the equipment was picked up, will pay $14.5 million. Daimler- Chrysler, manufacturer of the Plymouth Grand Voyager the Willises were driving, will pay $10 million.”

The rumor is that the Willises gave away most of the money to charities and non-profit groups, then moved to Tennessee where they live a modest lifestyle.
Ryan’s career was ended (as it should have been) but what happened to Guzman? And why hasn’t the press investigated his background? I think we already know the answer to that.

Update - Ryan has been granted his request to be sent to a prison in Wisconsin rather than the one in Duluth. It will be a closer drive for the Mrs. to visit him. And it is about 15 degrees warmer in the winter.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

The Mexican agenda - Calderon

Well, now that we’ve heard from Vicente Fox, what does Mexico’s current jefe have to say about America.

ABC sent Diane Sawyer down to Mexico to interview him and came back with these nuggets.

About the illegal alien invasion and what Mexico can do:
“It is impossible to stop that by decree. It is impossible to try to stop that with a fence. Why? Because the capital in America needs Mexican workers, and Mexican workers needs opportunity of jobs. Capital and labor are like right shoe and left shoe and one needs the other.”

About solving the alien problem from the Mexican side:
“No, what I think is…it’s impossible to stop that. It’s natural. It’s an economic phenomenon. It is inevitable.”
(Now, on that one, I would think they could make a few changes internally. For instance, how about ending the Matricula Consular card program? How about keeping your mouth shut when someone is deported? How about the consulate coming forward to help families get back home to Mexico rather than crying that we are cruelly separating families? How about NOT SUING the United States when we get ready to execute murderers? Let’s stop making them feel protected and comfortable here. Mexico can help do that.)

About remittances as an important source of income for Mexico:
“That is absolutely false. You know, Mexico is losing with every single Mexican crossing the border. Why? Because it’s the best of our people. The youngest people, the bravest people, the strongest people. That is a false argument. I don’t want to see Mexico as a permanent provider of workers to the United States.”

About Mexico/US relations:
“The world is open in new ways, new bridges. We are building fences instead of bridges. And that is a problem”

About international trade and competition:
“The world is changing. The United States is not the center of the world. Both sides of the border need to learn to see each other like allies, and probably in the future, as friends… We need to stop this destructive message in media, in politics, in the economy…looking only enemies in the other side of border.”
(He misses the point. Most Americans get along fine with Mexicans here as long as they are here legally, pay taxes, and support themselves. And very few people have an ax to grind with Mexicans in Mexico. It’s the illegal ones that are giving us fits. And they make up 30% of the foreign-born, probably more if you look at Mexico by itself. I can’t let him make a swipe like that at the tolerance of Americans.)

As you read his remarks, I think you can see a decidedly socialist tone. That is a common position made by those who stand to benefit most from the alliance. And there can be no doubt that Mexico is getting much more out of this deal than it is putting in.

Friday, October 26, 2007

The right to peaceably assemble - Chapter 2

A couple of months back Sheriff Dan Beck was cancelled at the Holiday Inn in Crystal Lake because the hotel didn’t want any trouble. (Beck was to talk about ways to enforce immigration laws locally.)

Well, Sheriff Beck is back in town. They booked a hall at McHenry County College and he’ll be speaking there tonight. The Minuteman group paid $400 for insurance to cover the event.

But behind the scenes there was an effort to get the college to cancel the event. An advocacy group called Latinos Unidos presented 400 signatures to the college administration requesting that they ban Beck and any other anti-illegal immigration events at the school.

And just how did the college respond to their request? Read it yourself. The quote below is from McHenry County College President Walter Packard:
"If we start picking and choosing which groups can speak and which can't, you're going down a slippery path. Particularly in our college environment, you have to be prepared to listen to a wide range of ideas in order to learn."

Thank you, President Packard.

But stay tuned, folks. Packard told Minuteman lawyer Suzanne Walters a couple of days ago that "everyone knows" the Minutemen are a violent hate group. Walters asked him about that statement and he told her a Google search would substantiate his statement, though he'd never done so himself. I encourage him to try, as I did, to get the dirt on the Minutemen. (See my post "Vigilante Violence".) He's got some learning to do himself. Plus, he doesn't seem too willing to isolate and protect meeting attendees from protesters tonight.

Added to the post 10/27/07
Just a follow-up to the meeting. It went just fine according to the newspaper. Any protesters were kept away from the actual meeting. Maybe the rain helped keep them away.

A leader from Latino Coalition, Carlos Acosta, said that by enforcing the law Beck is causing illegal aliens to be victims of violent crimes without reporting them to police. I suppose the same could be said for citizens who are drug dealers; they just take it when they are victims of crime because they know they can't go to the police. Perhaps Carlos is suggesting some sort of amnesty for everyone who has a warrant out for their arrest? Now that's a good idea!

The only other negative comment was from a lady who compared the forum to Nazis, but she gave no specifics so I'm not sure what she meant.

The rest of the story.... Today in The Daily Herald the editor praised Packard and the college for demonstrating in a sensible way The Bill of Rights. The students who wanted to ban the Minutemen were told about how things work here in America. They were allowed to protest peacefully and the meeting was allowed to go on as well. It was a good piece. I do hope protests are allowed to continue in this country, along with peaceful meetings.

If only the editor would have addressed the swipe Packard took at the Minutemen...

The apologists

What is shocking about our society today is that there are so many apologists for illegal aliens. This is a rather new phenomenon. If you read the commission reports from just a decade ago – a commission loaded with Bill Clinton Democrats – that attitude was virtually absent.

Sure, there were some civil rights advocates on the commission and they worried about discriminating in hiring because someone “looked” foreign. They worried about such things so much that they recommended that businesses use Basic PILOT, a database for verifying Social Security numbers. Since you can’t tell by looking, look it up with the government. That way you can know without being subjected to a raid on your business.

Now, the State of Illinois has made it illegal to use the database! Why? Because it might be discriminatory. It defies logic.

The apologists abound. They are the folks who allow illegals to move among us, telling us they are good people; telling us that we need them.

Mayor Ed Schock of Elgin Illinois said this:
“After having had, and almost invited, millions of people to enter our country, to come up with draconian measures that’s going to punish those people once they are here is to attack the problem from the wrong end. I think everyone wants an orderly process. Every country wants to know who enters and leaves its borders. But the fact of the matter is the economy of the United States is dependent upon and grown as a result of the immigration. The unfortunate thing is that this has had to occur too often in an illegal environment rather than a legal, orderly process.”

A representative of the Kane County Illinois State’s Attorney (Assistant Brian Mirandola) had an illegal alien a few feet away from him in a courtroom, accused of using someone else’s Social Security number to get loans over a five year period, and our State’s Attorney said: “(The defendant) did it basically to live, to work, to get a house and car loan. I think it's a fair disposition (of the case)." He then proceeded to approve on our behalf a sentence of two years’ probation and zero consequences for his illegal presence in the United States.

Some time back I wondered what the government would do if Elvira Arellano showed up at the White House to protest. Would they have the guts to arrest her or would they ignore her? Well, I think I got my answer – They would welcome her inside! That is exactly what Durbin did on October 23rd – He lined up some illegal alien college students as a backdrop to their plea for DREAM Act votes – right inside the Capitol Building! Tom Tancredo called for Immigration to go over there and make some arrests but his request was ignored. Durbin replied that they were all of legal status because he arranged for these pawns to have free temporary visas. Talk about an apologist!

We repeatedly heard President Bush himself calling for the nation to grant them amnesty.

So, at all levels of government we see an acceptance of the presence of illegal aliens. It is shameful. They are not above the law!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Just help yourself

There is something heartwarming about how people pull together in times of disaster. The evacuations out in southern California show a wonderful spirit of cooperation and concern.

But it has also been said that disasters bring out the worst in people as well. I suppose they strip away the veneer and expose the true soul.

A news report from Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego reveals that eight illegal aliens were arrested for stealing supplies.

Several illegals would back two pick up trucks and a car into the dock area, load up supplies, and drive off. They did this three times before someone questioned them. It turns out they were not authorized to remove supplies from the area. It also turns out they are not authorized to be in the United States.

As it turns out Border Patrol agents have been taken off the border and assigned to the stadium to assist with the relief effort.

The line from Border Patrol spokesman Matthew Johnson was a classic: "We're not out there doing immigration stuff in the middle of a disaster. However, we still enforce the laws." The eight were arrested for immigration violations. Four were later released, presumably to take care of other family members.

Lest you liberals think it is heartless that we are not sharing relief supplies with these people just because they are minorities, it was discovered that the illegals were SELLING the stolen supplies.

It's NOT the same

I thought the editor of The San Diego Union Tribune may have turned a corner with his scathing criticism of Judge Charles Breyer for blocking enforcement of document fraud.

But I see he is back to his same liberal view of the world. On October 24th he published an editorial a la “We are a nation of immigrants”. The point of the editorial was that this third world invasion of immigrants and illegal aliens is good for our country.

The matter came up as John McCain is trying to spin gold out of his support of immigration reform. His strategy is to point out that some Americans think we have too many third world immigrants here – legal and illegal. And he is against that “racist” notion, because those bad nativists deep-sixed the reform effort last summer. His idea of reform does not include changing the criterion for immigrants; merely keeping out the illegal ones (after he legalizes those who are already here).

And the S D Trib editor chimed in with, “The United States didn't become the most powerful and most successful country in the world by accident. It's a direct result of an immigrant tradition that has, for more than 200 years, welcomed the best, bravest, most ambitious and most optimistic individuals in the world -- as long as they came legally. We have to preserve that tradition at all costs, and we can't let legitimate concerns over illegal immigration undermine all that is right with legal immigration.”

Well, things are different this time around, and a newspaper editor ought to know that. Read what Steve Malanga of the Manhattan Institute has to say about now vs. then:
“We’ll never get to an immigration system that serves our national interest until we stop debating the issue in terms set down 50 years ago.
“Open-borders advocates are right to say that immigration made America great: we are indeed, as the cliché goes, a nation of immigrants. But it’s important to understand why previous generations of immigrants succeeded in America, how they helped the country grow, and how today’s immigration differs. The popular image of the 24 million who came during the first great migration, from the 1880s to the 1920s, is that they were Europe’s “tired” and “poor” masses, desperately escaping political or religious persecution and stagnant economies, making their way here with a few threadbare possessions. But what’s forgotten is that many were also skilled workers. A 1998 National Academy of Sciences study noted that the immigrant workers of that era generally met or exceeded the skill levels of the native-born population, providing America’s workforce with a powerful boost just when the country was metamorphosing from an agrarian into an industrial economy.
“Even though nativists agitated to bar these Southern and Eastern European immigrants because they were not Anglo-Saxon, it was not until after World War I that Congress—stunned by the growing radicalism of European workers in the wake of the Russian Revolution and by postwar turmoil in Europe—finally enacted immigration quotas based on national origin, with the purpose of shifting the balance of immigration back to Northern European countries. Those quotas helped cut immigration in half, though it was the Depression that truly ended the great migration, turning America into a net exporter of emigrants during the 1930s, as 60 percent of those who came for a better life left when the economy soured, according to the National Academy of Sciences study.”
Malanga reminds us that the quality of today's immigrant from the third world presents more challenges than blessings. He quotes the work of economists Borjas and Katz with these little pearls of data:
“63 percent of Mexican immigrants are high school dropouts who on average earn 53 percent less than native workers when they enter the United States”
“Mexican immigrants now represent 30 percent of America’s foreign-born population, whereas no two ethnic groups during the first great migration accounted for 25 percent”
“High school graduation rates among the American-born children of Hispanic immigrants are much lower than the average”
“Growing numbers of native-born Hispanics don’t have English-language proficiency—nearly 3 million”
“Low-skilled immigrant workers have crowded into service jobs that do little to make America more competitive internationally or more productive”
“They also depress the wages of low-skilled native-born workers”
“In California each native-born family paid nearly $1,200 more in taxes to support government services that went to immigrants”


It has been noted that a hundred years ago our safety net of social services was much different than today. An immigrant running into trouble back then relied on the church or fellow immigrants from home to bail him out. And as Malanga points out above, when the market crash threw immigrants into despair (with the rest of the country) 60% of them simply went back to the old country.

Today, with all our entitlement programs, America has become “the land of the free” lunch.

So, Mr. Editor, this current immigration problem is not business as usual. We would do well to revise our thinking on they type of immigrant we should allow in, something the politicians have failed to do. There are points system plans out there for review. There are ways to encourage true diversity instead of this Hispanic one note samba.

The last thing we need is to legalize ten million people from south of the border, then continue with more of the same.

To read the entire Malanga article, see The Right Immigration Policy, City Journal, Autumn 2006.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Harry Reid - Master Statesman

...or DREAMs don't always come true.
It has been a rough few weeks for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. First, while speaking to a BYU audience, he tried to out-gun President Ezra Taft Benson (Eisenhower's Ag Secretary) as a patriot. (Harry, Harry. There is no way you can beat a dead Prophet. What were you thinking?)

Then today he’s on the air with back-to-back sound bites saying: “One reason why we have the fires in California is global warming.” Later on in the same press conference, a reporter asked Harry to clarify his statement. “Senator, on the California fires, you said that the reason the fires are burning in California is global warming?"
Reid: "No. Here's what I - I didn't say the reason the fires were burning in Southern California was global warming.”

So, Senator, if you expect people to listen to you, it would be wise to listen to yourself. What you are saying might surprise you.

Reid is fast becoming the Senate’s worst enemy. Remember during the summer when he masterminded the plot to ram reprehensible immigration reform through Congress with his procedural shenanigans? I believe it was called the clay pigeon.

You would think he learned his lesson as he watched the Senate’s approval rating plummet after the failed stunt.

But, no. Harry has to try it again with the DREAM Act, invoking a procedural tactic called Rule 14 to get it passed.

It seems strange to have to remind a man who has been in Washington since 1982, but just once in a while Rule #1 is “Vote on behalf of the American citizens.” Maybe Rule #2 is important as well: “The less time you spend with Dick Durbin, the better off you’ll be.” You see, two amnesty lovers can sometimes convince each other that America wants illegal aliens to be rewarded for trespassing.

It appears that the DREAM Act needed 60 votes, but only received 52. Once again the distinguished gentleman from Nevada has bet on the wrong horse. Maybe November will be a better month for Harry, if he can just keep his mouth shut.

The Mexican agenda - Vicente Fox

If anyone ever had a doubt about the way Mexican officials view amnesty, recent comments by former Presidente Fox should put them to rest.

Vicente Fox is on book tour here. He’s written a book he wants Americans to read called Revolution of Hope. So he’s been doing the talk show circuit and here are some of his quotes from Larry King Live:

“I am not claiming for open borders to everybody. What I am claiming for is a decision, an intelligent decision with a vision to the future, because the United States needs that energy to support the elderly, to support the pension plans, to be competitive in front of Asia and China. And it's a must.”

Well, Mr. Fox, I’m not sure a third world workforce is going to “support the elderly”. In fact, they are competing with the elderly for social service resources! As for being competitive with Asia, well NAFTA has already proven that Mexico can’t go head-to-head with Korea or Taiwan or China. If you could, we wouldn’t be buying all of our goods from over there, would we?

Your first sentence about not claiming open borders for everybody implies that we have border control, visas, and a point system for evaluation. On that point we agree.

“I cannot understand why this land of the free -- why the spirit of the founding fathers has changed. This nation opened the markets in the world, led the world to globalization, came in with the products and their exports to everyone in the world. And today, the United States is isolating themselves from the rest of the world. Who is going to stay inside that wall and who is going to stay outside.”

You don’t suppose this reaction has anything to do with the fact we are overrun with uninvited trespassers, do you? And I don’t think we are isolating ourselves; we just want some control here. And that threatens your status as most favored invader.

“My dear paisanos (countrymen) are all over the United States, working hard, being loyal to this nation, contributing to its productivity and contributing to the management of its economy.”

Loyal to this nation? Hah!

“And I think that immigration can become a win-win situation to everybody. And the number one winner of administrating immigration and doing an orderly and planned flow of immigrants is the United States, the very first beneficiary.”

I’d like to see your figures on that one. We’re the ones building schools and prisons for your citizens. We’re footing the bill for your obstetrics and general health care. We’re putting your people to work because you can’t.

“Let me tell you that you're not paying for medical care for undocumented workers. I have the case of Adrian, 8-year-old kid in San Antonio, Texas, presented to me by the students of Trinity University. And he was not going to be attended. He needed a heart transplant and he needed to raise half a million dollars and nobody would be helping. So we came in, Marta and myself, we called press and we called people and that night we raised $250,000.”

He lost touch with reality altogether on that one! It’s a touching story but it ignores the issue. For every Adrian, there are 500,000 charity cases in hospitals around the country. And we know how charitable Mexico is when an American needs medical care. You’d better have a high limit credit card on you if you walk into a Mexican hospital. And speaking of Mexican hospitals, is there a reason little Adrian couldn’t have that transplant in one of your hospitals? Of course, there is. Talk about that next time.

When Vicente Fox did his interviews, he took a moderate stand on immigration. He sounded like Mayor Schock when he was talking about “an orderly flow” and finding some way to satisfy the labor need here. He is opposed to a fence but not in favor of open borders.

So, that’s the view of the immigration problem from a former Mexican president.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

ID Theft - Kane County style

Forget everything you’ve heard from police departments, the Attorney General of Illinois, and all the politicians about how hard they are working to protect your identity. Forget anything the State’s Attorney tells you.

Forget all those claims about victims’ rights and the help they will give you when you suspect identity theft. Because when the jerk gets to court, nothing happens.

Case in point is 29 year-old Felipe Osornio (sounds Hispanic, doesn’t he?) of Carpentersville. Good old Felipe stole the Social Security number of a teenager in California and proceeded to use it to take out a $173K mortgage, get a car loan, open up credit card accounts, and get himself a cell phone.

So Felipe uses his own name and the Social Security number of this girl in California (who was only 14 when he started his escapades) to do all these financial deals. He gets caught and now he’s before the judge.

He pleads guilty. Here’s the sentence: Two years’ probation and he must notify the girl’s creditors that he used her number to establish his own loans and credit. Restitution? None, because the girl suffered no out-of-pocket expenses.

Assistant State’s Attorney Brian Mirandola was pleased with the outcome. He said, "Osornio did it basically to live, to work, to get a house and car loan. I think it's a fair disposition (of the case)." (Daily Herald 10/22/07)

I had to read that article twice because I thought it was Felipe’s defense attorney who made that statement. No! This is the guy who represents us (as in the people…U. S. citizens of Kane County) before the court!

So, in Kane County Illinois committing fraud as an illegal alien is no big deal. The prosecutor thinks probation is just fine. Don’t these people take an oath to defend the people against criminal acts? Isn’t there something about the Constitution when you are admitted to the bar?

So, Felipe is an illegal alien. Even the newspaper article talked about it. Here’s what they said: “Because he is an illegal immigrant, he could be deported because of the felony conviction. It was unclear whether authorities planned to pursue that course of action.” (Daily Herald 10/22/07)

They’re like dogs chasing a car; what happens when you catch it? They are all looking at each other…the Kane County Judge…the State’s Attorney…the County Sheriff.

In my mind I can hear them discussing the Immigration part and saying in unison: “Gee, I’ve never seen a certified illegal alien before. We’re supposed to tell him he could be deported for the felony but I don’t think he’ll be too worried since no one is getting out
the handcuffs. It’s a federal matter. That’s it. NOT MY JOB.”
Boy, do we need 287(g) in this county. And boy, do we need to stop letting these people trample all over us without even a threat of punishment.

I might add that ICE is not likely to be interested in the likes of Felipe. He’s not violent.

How pathetic our nation has become when it comes to the law.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Vigilante violence

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox was touring the United States, hawking his new book (in English) to the American public. In an AP interview he made reference to "The xenophobics, the racists, those who feel they are a superior race ... they are deciding the future of this nation," but he didn’t specify who they were.

So, later on O’Reilly asked him what he meant by that statement. Here’s how it went:
FOX: Minutemen, Minutemen…aggressive, violent, xenophobic...
O'REILLY: The Minutemen on the border?
FOX: Yes.
O'REILLY: I'm not aware of any violence they've done.
FOX: I mean, that's my claim...
O'REILLY: …I don't think the Minutemen are racist. I don't know of any violence. I don't think they're racist. I think what they're doing is protesting. They're protesting.
70 percent of Americans want the illegal immigration thing brought under control. The Minutemen go out there. And they are protesting. They say, we have to stop this. I don't see that as racist.
FOX: I see it as xenophobic. I see it violent. I see that — that fear is dominating the scene here in the United States. And that we must deal with that problem. Let's move now into drugs. (end of transcript quote)

Well, that led me to investigate the question, Are Minutemen violent? I can say that I paid $50 for a Minuteman card and they checked me out for any past criminal history or gun violations. I’d have to say it was a more complete background check than the one I went through to become a Boy Scout leader.

So, I searched for Minuteman violence and came up with two references. Here they are:
1) A USA masked vigilante with an assault rifle and military fatigues attacked a group of 18 Mexican immigrants on the border near Columbus, New Mexico yesterday. According to a report today by the Attorney General of Chihuahua, Patricia Gonzalez, one or more armed vigilantes, from the US side of the border, stopped a vehicle carrying 18 Mexican immigrants attempting to cross the border near the "Palomas, Chihuahua/Columbus, New Mexico" port of entry.

The vigilante in a ski mask forcefully stopped their car and ordered the immigrants out of the vehicle and then proceeded to shoot the driver point blank, killing Apolinar Ortega Sanchez. The murderer who spoke in "broken Spanish" then ran to a vehicle waiting for him and raced to the USA side of the border according to the survivors. Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez is investigating the possibility that the assault was part of the Minutemen operations that took place along the Mexico/Arizona border and that are now moving westward.
The attack by a gringo in military fatigues and with a military assault rifle brings memories of the attack on Mexican women and children by James Oliver Huberty on July 18, 1984 at a McDonald's Restaurant at the SanYsidro/Tijuana border. According to Huberty's wife, the mass anti-Mexican murderer said to her in the morning of the massacre, "Society's had their chance. I'm going hunting. Hunting humans." Huberty open fire on unsuspecting Mexican families killing 22, mostly women and children. The racist Huberty had blamed Mexican immigrants for his inability to get a job. In June, the Minutemen vigilantes are planning to commence anti-Mexican operations in the vicinity of the "McDonald's Massacre". If the anti-Mexican hate campaign by the English language media continues, we will certainly experienced worse hate crimes against our community. There are many mentally deficient gringos that believe everything they read, view or hear in the printed media, television and hate radio such as Disney owned KABC 790 AM in Los Angeles and they can be easily stirred into a "killing frenzy" by racist propaganda.
Source: La Voz de Aztlan, Sunday, Jun. 19, 2005

2) While none of the Minutemen themselves were charged with any crimes of violence, during the vigilante exercise an Army reservist, Sgt. Patrick Haab, illegally detained seven undocumented Mexican immigrants at gunpoint after confronting them at a rest stop in Arizona on April 10. While he was initially charged with assault with a deadly weapon, right-wing Arizona prosecutors declined to prosecute him. He has since become a fixture on the conservative talk radio circuit and has been celebrated by the Minutemen and other anti-immigrant groups.
Source: The World Socialist Website, May 20, 2005 wsws.org

La Voz de Aztlan is a strange website. It is a mix of anti-Semitism, conspiracy theories, archeology, and anti-Iraq War items. One thing is for sure; they are pro-Latino.
The World Socialist Website is just what it says.

So, I don’t see the violence, unless you count Rick Biesada, age 63, a Minuteman who was roughed up at a protest and knocked to the ground. Perhaps he will be charged with damaging public property for hitting his hard head on the sidewalk. One of the Latino protesters said, “I wished he fell to the ground harder.”

I was hoping to find something from a reliable news source, but couldn’t come up with anything.

Now, there is plenty of press about the Minutemen and organizational infighting, so I know the MSM wants to cover the group. Funny how there isn’t any documented violence from these redneck vigilantes.

And yet there is a general sentiment that being a Minuteman is a kiss of death politically. The problem with a Minuteman sitting on the Park Board in Kansas City (76 year old Frances Semler) has caused La Raza and NAACP to cancel their upcoming conventions unless the city boots her off the Park Board.

And Mayor Alan Mansoor in Costa Mesa California is in trouble because the Minutemen made him an honorary member for his efforts to crack down on illegal aliens in town.

I’ve heard all sorts of people say they support the cause but please don’t associate them with the Minutemen.

Personally, I think we are buying the hype the Latino activists are selling. The Minutemen are no more dangerous than a neighborhood watch group.

As a disclaimer, I do have a Minuteman membership card but I resigned from the group over a year ago because I refused to sign an agreement whereby they own my writings. I simply wouldn’t do that and they wouldn’t negotiate the point.

I support their message, their intent, and their methods.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Compassion Fatigue

I was snooping around the ABC News website and there was a debate going on about the immigration problem. One of the posters used the phrase “compassion fatigue” to describe her problem with illegals.

I really liked that term. I think it describes most of us. We went along with the whole idea, started by the schools, that diversity and multiculturalism were good qualities to have. We were taught that all points-of-view are valid and that Americans need to stop thinking we are the center of the universe.

I think we all realized that putting up world flags in the gym at the elementary schools was a foolish way to spend “multicultural funds” and that making it one of the core standards for education was going a bit overboard, but we figured it wouldn’t hurt the kids to be more tolerant, especially since our country was getting browner.

No one begrudged poor, minority families who had large families and little money. It was right for us to let them slide when it came to school supplies and fees. A free school lunch was no big deal. After all, kids shouldn’t go without. And we went out and bought shoes and winter coats for the same reason.

Providing free emergency care was just good sense. What are you going to do, let them die out on the sidewalk?

For me, all that changed on May 1, 2006. It was then that I realized I was a chump. (See what I mean, “compassion fatigue” sounds much better than “a chump.”)

We are all chumps for giving our country away to third world immigrants, nearly half of whom came here illegally.

Of course, May 1, 2006 was the big May Day march around the country. 400,000 turned out in Chicago. I turned on the news that night to hear Congressmen cheering them on! Gutierrez and Obama were giving speeches encouraging them to keep fighting and promising comprehensive immigration reform.

Even Cardinal George got in the act, supporting their cause, along with other clergymen.

And the protesters were chanting “Yes we can!” and “We are America!” Some were even claiming they owned this country.

I know now that this was a political calculation. The November 2005 House Bill was tough on enforcement and they needed to make a statement that they wanted a path to citizenship.

Frankly, I wanted to know for myself where we stood on this issue of immigration, so I delved into it, read a few books, read lots of demographic charts and graphs, and decided that we have been duped by politicians, employers, and illegal aliens.

I learned that there were three commissions formed by the federal government in the past 25 years to study the immigration problem, and that they did a pretty good job of defining what needed to be done: Better border security, visa control, employer sanctions, identity verification, more deportations (and support structures like money and detention beds)…the same things we are talking about in 2007.

I learned that we didn’t do any of those things very well and now we have 500,000 illegal aliens living in Illinois.

I found out that the desire to enforce the law was gone from our government. I finally figured out that a Republican President, whom I voted for, was actually in favor of amnesty.

I was appalled to find out the extent to which the institutions in our country were willing to look the other way, and how few institutions were willing to challenge their presence.

I came to find out that those who wanted to stop this nonsense were quickly labeled racists, bigots, and xenophobes. While all the while advocacy groups were stepping up to protect the illegal alien in his unlawful acts.

I found it hard to understand that local officials were perfectly OK with the presence of illegal aliens, unaware (or perhaps aware, but unconcerned) that our schools, hospitals, and infrastructure were being heavily taxed by these intruders.

I could go on about the impact of illegal aliens in our lives, but the point is, someone has to keep standing up and telling the world what is really going on here. It isn’t that we are mean-spirited. Rather, it is that we have been fooled long enough, and their presence is a key evidence of a society being degraded and a language diluted while we sit idly by believing they are a necessary part of our economy.

I take off the mask and make other efforts to convince elected officials there is a problem, but there are only a few voices out there telling them to act. Even those who agree with me aren’t willing to write a letter or call their rep. To write to the newspaper or stand up at a council meeting is out of the question.

We’d all like to continue thinking there isn’t a problem here, but we’ve gone beyond that. I’ve been astonished to learn the things I have about the issue. What’s more, I am frightened by the militant nature of the protesters. They have no qualms about demanding legalization, as though it is our fault they came here.

And I’m convinced that Congress could care less. Far too many of them (from BOTH parties) are all too willing to make them legal and release the pressure. I’m also convinced that they would have done just that if not for the outcry from the public.

What I still don’t get is the large number of state and local officials who are OK with the situation. Like Elgin’s Mayor who turns out to be an apologist for them. The problem hits the local budget the hardest and they continue to welcome, even embrace them. Puzzling.

So, I’m compelled to continue to point out the problems and hope people will take note. So far, I’m not encouraged by the silence.

Friday, October 19, 2007

The unholy trinity

I thought I was hearing echoes but it turns out that two different sources placed the blame for the immigration mess on the same three groups.

First I heard Michael Chertoff tell ABC News why past enforcement efforts were half-hearted. Chertoff told Pierre Thomas: “I think what the public may come to see is that for many years the way we dealt with the illegal immigration issue was, we paid political lip service to toughness, but then a variety of groups - whether it be business, or labor, or advocacy groups - essentially frustrated the actual enforcement of the law.”

Business, labor, and advocacy groups, and let’s not forget The State of Illinois!

Now, listen to this editorial from The San Diego Union-Tribune, generally known as a friend to the illegal. It really is a nice piece, chiding Judge Breyer for stopping Homeland Security from proceeding with their No Match letter program. In pointing out vested interests, the Editor says: “At no point must employers fire any worker, illegal or legal -- if they are willing to risk eventually facing those sanctions. That's only one discrepancy between Breyer's order and reality. But it's reason enough to appeal to lift the injunction and move on to the merits of this suit, brought by the ACLU, business and labor. It's an unusual alliance of organizations with zero interest in enforcing existing immigration law and reducing the jobs magnet that drives illegal immigration.”

I recommend reading the editorial in full. It really spells out the provisions of the program and how lame the excuse that it discriminates against valid workers. Here’s the link:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/editorial1/20071012-9999-lz1ed12top.html

They’re right about the people behind the lawsuit Breyer ruled on. It was business (The San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council) , labor (the AFL-CIO), and advocacy groups (ACLU and The National Immigration Law Center).

Whenever anyone, whether a municipality, a state agency, or even the citizenry, tries to encourage enforcement of immigration laws, they are immediately shouted down by La Raza, LULAC, MALDEF, the ACLU, and various union groups. Behind the scenes letters (and checks) are written by home builders, the National Restaurant Association, farmers groups, and manufacturers associations reminding politicians that good help is hard to find these days.

We really are up against some powerful, well-funded, groups. All the more reason to make noise of our own.

Found money

What a great feeling to reach into the pocket of a coat you haven’t worn for a while and pull out $5. A windfall. Money you didn’t know you had.

Lake County Indiana is right over the Illinois border, hard against Lake Michigan. The cops pull over a speeding 1996 Explorer and begin interviewing the driver, 27-year-old Erica Aramula-Fonseca. The officer notices that she is nervous and can’t tell him where she’s headed.

Out comes the K-9 unit to take a whiff. No drugs but the strong odor that there had been drugs in the SUV recently. Lo and behond, they find $440,000 in cash under a false floor!

Like the $5 in the jacket pocket, she says, “Now where did that come from? I don’t know who that belongs to or how it got in my car.”

Erica was released, sans the cash and sans the car.

Now I’ve got three different news reports of the event in front of me. Here’s what they say…

The Post-Tribune: “Fonseca, who said she was an illegal resident and apparently had no prior criminal record, faced only traffic violations and was released. Dominguez conceded Lake County officials likely will never see her again. “

CBS 2 Chicago: “The driver of the vehicle has been released until charges can be filed. She told police she was not in the United States legally. “

The NWI Times made no mention of her immigration status and merely said: “The suspect, who was not charged as of Wednesday, said she had no prior knowledge of the money, police said.”
Erica’s got some ‘splainin’ to do when she gets home.

Meanwhile, next time you drive over to The Dunes, check out the Lake County Sheriffs. They’ll be easy to spot; their squad cars will be BMWs!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

ABO, Part 2?

Months ago I explained to readers that Barack Obama got his start on the national scene in part because of the GOPs secret position of ABO – or Anyone But Oberweis. The party just simply could not allow a new senator with strong views against illegal aliens.

Now we need to keep an eye on what Dennis Hastert does. The former Speaker of the House announced months ago that he is not going to run again. That announcement has brought to the surface several candidates for his job, including Jim Oberweis.

The next question is whether or not Hastert finishes out his term, which ends in January of 2009. He has said he didn’t plan to interfere with the primary next February, which is clearly the fairest thing to do for the candidates.

You see, if he resigns in the next few weeks, as recent rumors suggest, then Gov. Blagojevich will have to call a special election within 120 days to replace him. The primary is February 5th, so he could piggyback on that date.

But Obama will be on the ballot that same day and you have to draw a party ballot here in Illinois. I’m not sure how many folks will be torn between Obama and the pack of Hastert’s potential replacements, but if Blago thinks it will discourage crossover voters, he’s likely to spend the money for a separate election. There's plenty of confusion around here as to whether this special election would be a primary or the final.

With Oberweis in the pack of GOP candidates, Hastert might just throw his replacement primary away to the Democrats. I’ve heard a state rep (also a contender for Hastert’s seat) say, “Oberweis has set the Republican Party back 20 years.”

I think what that means is that most GOP office holders abide by the Bush-Rove philosophy that you go after the brown vote, even if it means giving up the platform people support. The grassroots groundswell of opposition to comprehensive immigration reform has apparently taught them nothing.

Personally, I’d like to see Denny ride out his term, but that seems very doubtful at this point. Rest assured that if the Illinois GOP can foul something up, they will.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Meet Johnny


Isn’t he cute? Johnny D is about four years old, black hair, a little over three feet tall, and weighs around 30 pounds. He was found wearing a navy blue shirt with three buttons, navy blue pants, and a jacket.

Genetically, he is described as “East Asian/American Indian derived from Hispanic or tribal Indian heritage; not black.”

A couple of other not-so-minor details about Johnny…His body was found two years ago in a blue canvas laundry bag and no one has stepped forward to identify him or tell what happened to him.

They held a funeral for Johnny Doe this week in DuPage County Illinois.

Somewhere the people who know all about Johnny are thinking they got away with it. If they are even following the story, they figure that any evidence linking them to the crime would have been traced by now.

But they are wrong. Someone knows his killers and every detail about what they did. Someone has already held the trial. And here’s what He had to say at the sentencing hearing about the disgusting person who cast aside little Johnny Doe: “It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”

The punishment may be delayed, but it will happen just as certainly as the sun rises in the east.

Training for the Olympics

Did you know that Mexican Olympic hopefuls are training right here in Elgin?

Jose Antonio Perez was seen practicing for the triathlon at one of Elgin’s busiest intersections, Rte. 31 and Kimball. Jose sprinted from his car, leapt over the railing on the bridge, and into the Fox River.

He was quoted as saying, “This river is much colder than the Rio Grande,” as he was pulled from the river with a rope.

Perez is answering bond call as I write this blog. It could have been much worse. Every few years they pull a body out of the boil just 20 yards from where he entered the water. A little more current and we would have been holding a wake.

UPDATE - This just in! Dateline ELgin...October 18th
More news about Jose. Unfortunately the Mexican Olympic Committee has banned him from competetion for two reasons:
1) He's not Mexican - He's from Puerto Rico
2) He tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs (a BAC of 0.16)

Besides, Puerto Rico REALLY wants him back to chat with him about some unresolved drug charges. When will we learn that we can't just run from our problems?

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

200 posts

Hi readers. I'm a bit bummed today. A freedom fighter I greatly respect has told me the sardonic approach I am taking isn't working; that we need to take a gentler, more collaborative, approach to the problem.

It got me thinking that the old blog just might be a waste of my time and yours.

After 200+ messages posted, maybe it is time to step back and see if it is worth the effort.

What say ye?

Send me an e-mail or post a comment.

alienrants@gmail.com

"I'll be back." - and he is...

The Governator, as Californians call him, must be listening to the Kennedy he married. Last week he signed into law a bill that makes it verboten for landlords to ask tenants about their immigration status.

Stated in the reverse, it is perfectly legal in California to disregard federal law and harbor illegal aliens.

As we found out recently when Orange County experienced two apartment building fires, state law also forbids setting occupancy standards. (Remember, ten people and seven dogs living in one apartment?)

So, I guess landlords in California are off the hook for just about anything that happens, except maybe housing discrimination. A simple shrug of the shoulders when questioned by Immigration agents is all the response required from landlords.

I’m not sure where all of this fits with a landlord’s right to do credit/background checks on renters. I suspect this will be yet another case where illegal aliens have greater protection/privacy than citizens.

But the Gov did just veto the DREAM Act in California. Plenty of Latino activists are upset about that. In his veto message back to the state legislature, he said: “Under existing law, undocumented students, who meet required criteria, already qualify for the lower in-state tuition rate while attending California public colleges and universities.”

SB1 attempted to give illegal aliens financial aid privileges and fee waivers.

So…I guess no blood, no foul. Aahnold can tell the world he was tough on illegals and the students still go to school with the same benefits as citizens. The losers are the taxpayers who subsidize the benefit.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Elgin forum autopsy - report #5

The economist
Maybe I was a little terse with Dr. Barry Chiswick, the economics expert on the NPR forum in Elgin, when I talked about him in the introductory post.

He did say this: “I know there’s talk about the new wave of immigrants not being able to adjust. And the interesting thing about that is; every new wave of immigration to the United States over the last 300 years, that very same thing has been said, and yet they all adjust.

“And even if the immigrants are not proficient in English, their children are proficient in English. So the patterns that we’re seeing now are the same patterns that we saw a hundred years ago, two hundred years ago. And I would expect that the rapid economic improvement that we have historically seen among immigrants will be seen for the new immigrant groups, and for the next group, and the group after that.”

So I was disappointed with his attitude that we have a resilient economy and can adjust to this influx.

But he also made good sense at other times during the show:
“Australia, Canada, and New Zealand have very successful skill-based immigration policies where the primary question for applicants is, What are your skill levels? How well will you integrate into the economy?

“Our immigration policy is based on the question, To whom are you related? And can you successfully enter the country illegally?” (Touché)

And he said: “Hispanic immigrants have a particular problem in that it is much easier to avoid using English if you live in a large Spanish enclave where you can work using Spanish and where you can shop using Spanish and where the media and the newspapers and the magazines and radio and television are in Spanish compared to an immigrant from Uzbekistan who might have three other people who speak Uzbek. And so that person has to really learn English very, very quickly.

“And the problem of the comfort of the linguistic enclave is that it retards, it slows down acquiring English language skills and that slows down economic mobility. It slows down moving upward in the occupational ladder. It slows down moving to communities where you may get higher earnings but you don’t have a lot of others who speak your origin language.”

He also went a couple of rounds with Mayor Schock about jobs Americans won’t do. It went like this: “You know, when I hire a lawn care service I would rather pay a lower price than a higher price. When I go to a restaurant, I would rather pay a lower price than a higher price. But in fact, native workers would otherwise do those jobs. They’re paying the price and actually the rest of us are also paying the price through higher taxes because of the income transfers that go to low skilled immigrant workers and native workers whose earnings and incomes are lower because of the competition.”

And here’s what Chiswick told the group about labor riots in France (something we have to look forward to when we can no longer afford to give the store away): “Modern day Europe is experiencing a large increase in inequality. They’re finding that their generous welfare programs, their generous social welfare programs are being bankrupt by the large increase in low skilled workers. The riots in the French immigrant enclaves that we saw a couple of years ago were a consequence of large inflows of low skilled workers from North Africa and the youth in these enclaves finding that they didn’t have jobs. They couldn’t get jobs because of French labor policy.”

So, I’m convinced that Chiswick knows all too well the impact of illegal aliens (and low-skilled legal ones) in terms of depressed wages, entry-level workers without jobs, and the higher taxation (“income transfers” he calls them) of citizens.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Police Reports

I’m in the habit of reading the police blotter in the daily paper. You can find out quite a bit about your town by reading it. Here are three favorites of late:

Lousy ROI
“An employee of Suburban Plastic, 340 Renner Drive, was arrested after an audit showed $8,000 in brass fittings were missing, police said. Police said the man brought 216 pounds of brass on Sept. 29 to a recycling center and received $302.40 in payment. Luis Vilchis-Guzman, 29, of 1035 Morton Ave., Elgin, was charged with felony theft, police said. Vilchis-Guzman was held in the Kane County jail on $1,000 bond with an Oct. 25 court date at the Kane County Judicial Center.”

It sounds like an expensive deal all the way around.


Honest Ma’, I’m clean!
“An Elgin man was arrested on drug charges Monday, police said. Benito Suarez, 21, of 472 Ann St., Elgin, was charged with delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school and delivery of a controlled substance, police said. Suarez was held in the Kane County jail on $45,000 bond with an Oct. 17 court date at the Kane County Judicial Center.”
Benito was the victim of a drive-by on September 23rd. And he’s been before the judge a couple of times as the newspaper reported.
Court records, however, show Suarez has a criminal history.
In 2005, the 21-year-old was sentenced to 18 months in prison for aggravated use of a weapon, records show.
That same year, Suarez was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated use of a weapon in a vehicle with a previous conviction.
Also in 2005, he also was issued a 60-day sentence in the Kane County jail for the misdemeanor charge of aggravated battery.
So, he appears to have a heap of trouble now. Judging from the high bail, it’s pretty serious. I wonder what it will take to get him to retire?

TV comes to Carpentersville
“Man in wig, smock exposes himself
A male dressed in a blue wig and a smock exposed himself to someone in the 1200 block of Grant Drive, according to police. Someone who saw the man, about 16 to 24 years old, lift the smock and fondle himself at 11:37 a.m. Wednesday, described it as an "ongoing problem," according to the police run sheet. The suspect was gone when police arrived, according to police.”

Relax. Univision was just taping Sabado Gigante!

He da' man

It's official. From Oslo comes word that Gore is the greatest man of peace this year.
At least it wasn't an award for scientific research!
Congrats to Al and Tipper.
Al Gore explains the finer points of shadow puppets, complete with sound effects.

Friday, October 12, 2007

We're slipping, folks

American citizens just slipped another notch on the liberal food chain. In an effort to prove evolution, they are making man lower than the lizards.

U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle, appointed by Bill Clinton in 1999, has ruled against the border fence, in favor of the desert wildlife.

That’s right. She has ordered a halt to the construction of one and a half miles of fence on the Mexican border because it may harm the little desert creatures.

And it wasn’t that the government failed to do an environmental impact statement; Ellen’s problem is that the study only took three weeks. She says it should have taken longer.

So, what’s the big deal over a gap in the fence 12 blocks wide? Well, I haven’t seen it. Maybe it’s nothing; maybe it’s a strategic spot.

Nevertheless, here’s what the paper said about it: “Huvelle also questioned why equal urgency was not applied to building border fences in Texas and California.” She has her eye on questioning all 700 miles of approved fence!

Ok, so she’s against cracking down on illegals. Maybe she’s got a soft spot in her heart for them. Has she ever heard of a “panty tree”?

You see, the human smugglers who cross illegal aliens through the desert sometimes take advantage of the women and girls who hired them. (What are they going to do; Call the police?) So, when they molest one of their customers, they hang their panties on a tree in the desert as a token of their conquest. It happens all the time. Sometimes the “sexual assault” (PC term. Sounds better than rape.) turns into murder.

By the way they didn’t sell much rapeseed oil, but when they changed the name to canola oil, it was an instant hit in the kitchen. It’s all a matter of packaging. Lest you think canola is an Italian term of ancient origin, it’s not. In 1978, they decided to give the name rapeseed a facelift. Canola means Canadian oil, low acid. It sort of reminds me of Kwanzaa. (Did I really write that, or just think it?)

And what about the people who die from other causes in the desert trying to come across, Judge Huvelle? Are the lizards more important than those people? Isn’t it better for them that we seal the border?

I would really like to have that woman diagram the hierarchy of importance here. It is totally insane.

Elgin forum autopsy - report #4

Moderator Richard Steele: “What kind of legal rights do undocumented immigrants (Oops! Wrong terminology. It’s illegal aliens, remember?) actually have?”

Law Professor Guadalupe Luna: “Well, you know we are a system of laws (I knew that. I didn’t think pro-illegals knew that.) and so we have again a hierarchical relationship between federal law and state law. So let me start at the top, even including international law.

“So, under international laws they’re protected. They have constitutional protections under the 14th amendment for example: Due process, substantive due process law for example, equal treatment, the right to not be treated differently. They have civil rights protection under certain state and civil rights, federal civil rights law. They have federal case law. They have statutory provisions on the federal level.

“Let’s drop down to the state level. Under Illinois we have a wonderful Illinois constitution and it doesn’t distinguish between documented or undocumented status. (I’m sure glad about that. We wouldn’t want to hinder them in any way.) Every person in Illinois notwithstanding their background are allowed civil rights.

“Then you have human rights protection under the state. So there are a lot of laws out there that do protect ‘em. Finally, they have a right to bring a cause of action for a number of reasons, whether we have a hate crime committed, anything in violation of those federal norms, those federal laws, would allow someone to come in with a private cause of action.”
---end of Luna’s answer----

She’s the lawyer; she should know. It is depressing, isn’t it? I can’t even park my car on the lawn with a For Sale sign on it. I can’t circulate an election petition in the lobby of the public library. I can’t work on my car on my own property, or park an RV next to my house, or change the footprint of my driveway.

But illegals can get away with murder – LITERALLY!

There is a case in Texas right now where a Mexican by the name of Jose Ernesto Medellin, along with his gang, raped and killed two girls, ages 14 and 16. Medellin was arrested according to U S procedures, confessed to the crimes, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1994.

Then in 2003, the Mexican government sued the United States because he was never given the chance to contact the Mexican embassy. And President Bush took the side of the Mexican government! But Mexico doesn’t have the death penalty and so we cannot execute this low-life. The U S Supreme Court is now reviewing the case from the angle of states’ rights vs. federal demands.

I suppose this is the very type of international law protection Luna was talking about. I can’t imagine any American having trouble with that, can you?

Right now we have a scoundrel hiding out in the Caribbean, being sheltered by the French after killing his doctor here in Chicago. Hans Peterson ran down to St. Martins after the murder, turned himself in to authorities, and claimed the rights of a French citizen. (France also opposes the death penalty and refuses to extradite him.)

I almost forgot. When the Mexican government filed suit to spare the life of Jose, they also named 50 other Mexican citizens on death row in the United States. And each one is being sheltered from execution. Can you imagine?

But Professor Luna is busy training more lawyers to defend the rights of non-citizens. Only in America!

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Judge Breyer adds to the problem

Judge Charles Breyer pounded another nail in the coffin of America on Wednesday, a nail forged by Judge Maxine Chesney back in August. Both are federal judges. Both were appointed by Bill Clinton.

The Breyer name might ring a bell. His brother is on the U S Supreme Court.

In August the ACLU and the AFL-CIO filed suit to halt the use of Social Security “No Match” letters to expose illegal aliens working in the United States. Federal judge Maxine Chesney issued a temporary restraining order in San Francisco on August 31st.

Judge Breyer made the “temporary” part permanent Wednesday, ruling that Homeland Security cannot send out those letters. The feds just wanted to tighten up that law which says employers cannot knowingly hire illegal aliens. Now they won’t be able to do that.

I guess I don’t understand these rulings. Has anyone actually been harmed by this program? Of course not! The letters haven’t even been mailed to the employers.

Was the correction/verification/appeal process flawed? We don’t know because the program never went into effect. This was a preemptive attack by judges making their own rules.

Now, DHS can appeal that ruling all the way to the Suepreem Tort where Charlie can tell his brother all about it.

Meanwhile, illegal aliens and their wannabe hermanos on the other side of the border are having a good laugh. I guess they would rather be hauled away in a raid rather than quietly quit their jobs because their bogus IDs were found out.

Just for laughs, here’s a quote from those fine employers of the illegals, as printed in the Orange County Register: “Business groups – including the National Restaurant Association and Irvine-based Western Growers Association, which represents farms in California and Arizona – were relieved by the news.”

What has our country become?

Day-o...daaay-o

There is a problem in some parts of the country with day labor sites. They are community centers, sometimes funded by the government, where people can go to find temp work for a day or two.

Here in Elgin we don’t exactly have day labor sites. Oh, there are temp agencies with all sorts of people hanging around in the morning, but the agency is responsible for their paperwork.

And we do have an active scene in the parking lots of hardware stores at daybreak. But we don’t have community day labor centers.

But in Orange California they do. And the city council there voted to crack down on the activities of the center by requiring the would-be workers to present documents and register for services. They simply didn’t want to be a party to illegal hiring practices. I can understand that.

So they passed an ordinance requiring every laborer to sign a federal compliance form and present two forms of ID.

So how did the first day of the new ordinance turn out? Well, the compliance form hadn’t yet been translated into Spanish so they didn’t do that part. But they DID check everyone for the two forms of ID from the approved I-9 document list; the same requirement you and I complied with when we were hired for our jobs. Here’s what they found out on day one:

Out of the 30 people who showed up to work, only SIX had two forms of ID! And they weren’t screening Social Security card numbers or doing any fraudulent document detection. 80% of day laborers couldn’t come up with two pieces of paper (irrespective of quality) proving they had a right to work in the United States!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Elgin forum autopsy - report #3

Little Latin Lupe Lu
Bill Medley wrote it. The Righteous Brothers sang it in 1963. The song did very well. For some odd reason I thought of that song during the NPR Elgin forum on immigration. One of the panelists was Professor Guadalupe Luna. I frequently experience odd connections in data. There is no evidence to suggest that she was the subject of that song. She would have been too young at the time, and there are no accounts of her shaking, twisting, doing the wahtusi (although that does sound multicultural), or the mash potato. However, it will forever be a mnemonic device so I can remember her name.

Since the professor is new to the blog, a little background is in order. Guadalupe Luna teaches at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb Illinois. She specializes in property, immigration, tenant, landlord, voting and agricultural law. She got her law degree in Minnesota in 1985. At one time she practiced law in San Antonio Texas. She also worked for MALDEF. “MALDEF's mission is to foster sound public policies, laws and programs to safeguard the civil rights of the 45 million Latinos living in the United States and to empower the Latino community to fully participate in our society.” ~ from their website

Luna’s published works include:
Immigrants, Cops and Slumlords in the Midwest

Land, Labor and Reparations

Kulturkampf Revelations, Racial Identities and Colonizing Structures

La Causa Chicana and Communicative Praxis

This Land Belongs To Me: Chicanas, Land Grant Adjudication, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

On the Complexities of Race: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and Dred Scott v. Sandford

Agricultural Underdogs and International Agreements

Inter-State Accountability for Violations of Human Rights

NPR has done well choosing her to speak for the Chicanos (pardon me) Latinos.

The moderator asked her to comment about the contributions of immigrants to our society and here’s what Luna said: “I’d rather talk about the exploitation and the abuse of workers, but OK, I’ll go down this path for a minute. Politically, they bring in (pause) come on, they’re waking up union activities again. For example, in Los Angeles they’re stepping outside (pause) what did I say earlier? Let’s reframe the issues. They’re stepping outside traditional, old school, politics that govern unions for so many years, they’re revitalizing communities, they’re revitalizing urban environments (pause) not only urban environments (pause) let’s not forget rural environments, and in doing so they’re seeking actively to participate politically.

“I wanna say that the marches for example in the last year have been wonderful. And they’re highlighting for us which way they wanna go. I would like to see a little bit more of that activity to be honest with you.” (I love it when people use that phrase. Is everything else she’s told us a lie?)

Luna also commented about learning English and retaining Spanish: “Empirical reports after reports after reports. Anecdotal data after data after data (anecdotal data?) tells us that they want to learn English. The problem is that they have to resort to secondary measures (pause) you mentioned the Salvation Army was it? That’s wonderful (pause) and it’s unfortunate that they have to rely on these informal methods because we need to help them learn language (pause) or (pause) English. But I’m not saying that they shouldn’t retain their Spanish speaking skills. (Of course not.) I think that’s a valuable commodity to have in our globalized market. We are not going to be able to compete on a globalized level if we do not protect an individual’s First Amendment right to speak the language that they speak. Does that make sense?” (No. You lost me on that First Amendment part but I’m sure some judge somewhere agrees with you.)

When asked about the idea of establishing an age whereby illegal alien children would be given the same rights as anchor babies, Guadalupe told the group: “Well, I’m not partial to that type of law. I mean again, you know when you have a child coming here unfortunately immigration law does impugn to the child the actions of the parent. But children don’t have free will. They’re babies. They’re young. I remember back when I was practicing we found, or we didn’t find, the Border Patrol found, a seven year old and a five year old wandering alone in the desert, abandoned by the coyotes that were there. Once they’re here, to have them here they should be afforded the same station in their little lives as U S citizen babies are. American law protects our children as much as it can and they should also be afforded a measure of protection. They should not be tossed off to sea the way they’re being tossed. They should not be cast as political actors in a very complex, disruptive, fractionalized system. We need to reframe these immigration issues and allow a more rational basis for how we approach these issues. We need to reframe the language. Let’s do it that way.”

I was going to launch into an argument about how anchor babies are a magnet for future illegal aliens and how adding children to that group would be counter-productive. But all that will make no sense to someone who thinks they’ve found loopholes in the treaty that ended the Mexican war in 1848.

Gee, do you think Mitt Romney will be president when we give Utah back to Mexico? That would be sweet irony, wouldn’t it?

She also had something to say about sanctuary cities, and threw in a warning to Carpentersville to boot: “If we (pause) You know, it’s all reactive. This whole anti-immigration hysteria (Hysteria? Do you mean, American citizens finally pushing back?), it’s all a matter of reactions. I would like to see more of this type of town hall debate. Am I against sanctuary cities? Of course not, but we wouldn’t have had the need to have a sanctuary city if we hadn’t had this anti-immigrant hysteria that’s dominating the discourse today. (Check your timeline, Lupe. Sanctuary cities go way back. 1979 in LA. 1987 in Chicago.)

“Let me give you a heads-up though, that the anti-immigrant ordinances, they’re just one strand of about 500 measures that have been tried in local communities. And the local communities are now having to defend themselves. I understand that the Hazleton community now is facing a two million dollar attorney fees request for the prosecution and defense of that particular ordinance.

“So, unless your local community has a lot of money to spend on frivolous lawsuits of that type, I think they need to go in a different direction. We need an enlightened approach to immigration policy and law.” (I think she means amnesty and open borders. Would that be enlightening enough?)

I’m sorry for the lengthy blog but she had a great deal to say.

At another time I’ll go over her view of the rights of illegals, and what it means to us today.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Elgin forum autopsy - report #2

Sympathetic Schock
Mayor Ed Schock said some interesting things at the NPR forum the other night. He was bemoaning the fact that our government has allowed illegals to enter the country for many years and, because of that, we should not be coming up with laws and ordinances punishing them.

Here’s the quote: “Then after having had, and almost invited, millions of people to enter our country, to come up with draconian measures that’s going to punish those people once they are here is to attack the problem from the wrong end.”

It almost sounded like what Elvira told the Mexican congress back in August when she said: “The United States is the one who broke the law first by letting people cross over without documents and by letting people pay taxes.”

So, because no one has stopped me from speeding along I-90 all these years, they now have no right to pull me over and give me a ticket. Is that what Schock and Arellano are telling us? Heaven forbid they set up a radar gun and entrap me!

The mayor did expose the almighty dollar behind his thinking when he said: “The fact of the matter is, the economy of the United States is dependent upon and grown as a result of the immigration. The unfortunate thing is that this has had to occur too often in an illegal environment rather than a legal, orderly process.”

And later on in the evening Schock said:
“Of course there have been employee and employer abuses, but the key factor to remember is this; In the Chicago metropolitan area since 1970, 96% of the population growth in the entire six county Chicago metropolitan area has been as a result of Latino immigration. No immigration; no new workers. Our region would have lost jobs because of its inability to provide or find workers.”

George Borjas talks about a parallel economy with third world immigrants being both the consumer and the producer. It is an interesting discussion found in his book Heaven’s Door. Of course, all of society benefits from the illegal alien labor force, but we also suffer the consequences of taxation, social program costs, pollution, overcrowding, and crime at the hands of the illegals.

Perhaps worse is the fact that we could have and should have handled this societal adjustment ourselves. This crutch has prevented us from working through a slow-growth demographic model on our own. And our native sons and daughters have missed the opportunity for hard work. They now believe that working at McDonalds or on a landscape truck is beneath them. It’s work the illegals do, not them.

My first job was as a busboy in a department store restaurant. I worked Monday and Friday nights and all day Saturday. I was able to take off the occasional Friday night for a dance or a game. These days I wouldn’t have been given a chance to work there. Juan will work all day and won’t take any Fridays off.

But I worked with someone else that would have been marginalized. David was a 45 year-old man, strong as an ox but mentally a third grader. David was driven to work by his parents every day and he worked 9 to 5, Monday through Friday. David could bus dishes and remove them from the conveyor-type dishwasher. But he was incapable of firing up the dishwasher (steam valves, chemicals, etc) in the morning or even loading dishes on the belt. He was limited to unloading dishes, stacking them, and busing dishes.

The store gave him insurance benefits even though there wasn’t a federal law requiring it. In a year and a half, I only saw David unhappy twice. The rest of the time he was pleasant and happy to be working.

Today, some MBA would have him fired or laid off. “You can’t afford to carry a liability like that”, they’d say. Instead Juan would be hired, work a thousand hours, followed by another Juan for the rest of the year.

This ready supply of cheap labor means my kids won’t learn how to work like I did and guys like David will end up begging on the street corner.

Mayor Schock, the reason your area employers are behind you is because it is the easy way out of our slow-growth population challenge. Besides, the illegals spend money just like the citizens do.

In the process you’ve left a wake of social expenses. But the greater loss is to our own who have been displaced – entry-level workers and those with few skills and limited capacity. Mr. Schock, that is no bargain.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Ten's a crowd
































22 in a phone booth or 40 in a VW.
What fun to see how many people you can cram into a space designed for one or four!

But this is not so fun


Route 104 in New York. 4 dead and 14 injured.


Or U S Highway 191 in Utah. 8 dead and 7 injured.






















Twice in a week there have been apartment fires in Orange County California. In both cases the fires exposed overcrowded living conditions.

For example, in Costa Mesa there were 9 people from 3 families living in a 2-bedroom apartment.

Then in Anaheim there were ten people from an extended family living in an apartment with seven dogs. In all, 40 people were displaced when two apartments were destroyed and two others temporarily condemned due to smoke and water damage.

It is sad to see these people milling about outside the complex, devastated because their apartments are destroyed and their cars as well (because the fire started in the carport underneath the apartments).

But long ago someone sued because code inspectors were trying to halt overcrowding. California has a law against cracking down. Landlords try to set limits but they have no legal authority to do so.

All you ACLU types who think you are protecting the underdog, take a look at what happened. Do you think you are doing anyone a favor by blocking legitimate efforts to regulate overcrowding? Imagine what our society would be like if somehow our government could stop the overcrowding nonsense.

Well, here’s living proof of the problem. Read ‘em and weep. And when we come to our senses we'll see that the most humane thing to do is to regulate housing overcrowding. Everyone will be better off.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Elgin forum autopsy -report #1

This is going to take some time to dissect the victim of the NPR forum in Elgin on October 2nd. The victim’s name is Truth, so I think a full report is warranted.

Actually, a baggage handler from the airport might be more useful than a coroner. The introduction by Richard Steele set the tone for the evening and it is heavy-laden with baggage. This assumptive approach by Steele is quite common as he “frames the debate” in liberal terms.

Here’s his intro, with my comments in red:

Richard Steele: It sounds like the early immigrants to Elgin settled and eventually assimilated. In recent years many immigrant populations here have flourished, but in some areas recent newcomers (Newcomers! That’s an interesting word. It implies either that real immigrants – those with papers and a desire to embrace America – consider themselves discriminated against. Or, more likely, Steele is lumping the illegal aliens in with the general foreign-born population.) are finding existing communities less welcoming.

The northern lakefront suburb of Waukegan introduced a proposal to grant local police officers the power to deport (“Power to deport” paints an image that the Waukegan cops are judge and jury, and that illegal aliens will be picked up and immediately sent to the border. Absolutely false! Even ICE agents don’t have that power. All they can do is identify and detain illegal aliens. It is the beginning of a long process of appeals, letters, and deportation orders. As we know from Elvira’s experience, it was a four year process between her arrest at O'Hare in 2002 and her final deportation order. And she was allowed to roam free on appeal all that time.) undocumented, convicted (Actually, the detainer hold takes place BEFORE conviction, except under some state directives (not Illinois) where the detainer is not issued until after conviction for domestic abuse cases. The whole point is to keep them from making bail and heading south prior to trial and to earmark them for future removal.) felons.

And in recent months the national debate over immigration has hit this area acutely. In Carpenterville thousands gathered at village board meetings (That would be one meeting. And Richard, tell them that most of those protesters weren’t even C’ville residents; they were brought in from Chicago, Aurora, and Elgin on busses.) when officials discussed laws that many people considered anti-immigrant. (Let’s make the distinction here. These proposals were anti-illegal alien, not anti-immigrant. They were as harmless to immigrants as they were to citizens. The key word is ILLEGAL.) The village board passed a resolution declaring English the town’s official language. (Just the same as the state of Illinois.)

They considered an ordinance banning employers (Correction: Withholding a business license.) from hiring illegal immigrants. (Wrong term, Richard. You can’t be an illegal immigrant. The official term from immigration law is “illegal alien”, whether libs like it or not.) Some also wanted to keep landlords from renting to undocumented people. (Actually, prevent them from harboring “illegal aliens”.)

The debate has divided this rapidly changing community (He must mean all the nice new homes going up on the west side of C’ville.) which they can’t deny is in the midst of shifting demographics.
----end of transcription ----

As you can see, the world through brown-colored glasses is much different than the world I see. I haven’t even started on the comments by the panelists and I’m already tired. I’ll pick away at it as time permits.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

More symbolic than substantive

Dear Mayor Schock:
Here are some "symbolic" images for you:
Los Angeles Protest, May 1, 2006


Salt Lake City protest, May 1, 2007


Maywood California United States Post Office, August 26, 2006

Reno Nevada Mexican Bar, October 1, 2007. Removed by patriot Jim Brossert.


Reno, Nevada protest, October 3, 2007 after an ICE raid on McDonalds


Elgin Used Car Dealer, Highland Avenue.


376 Hastings, Elgin Illinois


One who knows the price of freedom.
Sybolism is more powerful than you think. And for those of us who care about this country, symbolism and substance go hand-in-hand.