Raj Makes the Cable TV Circuit

Raj Peter Bhakta's elephant and mariachi band stunt got some national tv coverage I'm sure he was hoping for. He may not make it to Congress but someone should give him a tv show.

"We Need A Fence, NOT A Farce"

Minutemen Financial Questions

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps has given members little in funds to support border monitoring operations and given reporters little information about its finances. A few minutemen aren't too pleased:

A growing number of Minuteman Civil Defense Corps leaders and volunteers are questioning the whereabouts of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of dollars in donations collected in the past 15 months, challenging the organization's leadership over financial accountability.
Many of the group's most active members say they have no idea how much money has been collected as part of its effort to stop illegal entry -- primarily along the U.S.-Mexico border, what it has been spent on or why it has been funneled through a Virginia-based charity headed by conservative Alan Keyes.
Several of the group's top lieutenants have either quit or are threatening to do so, saying requests to Minuteman President Chris Simcox for a financial accounting have been ignored.
Other Minuteman members said money promised for food, fuel, radios, computers, tents, night-vision scopes, binoculars, porta-potties and other necessary equipment and supplies never reached volunteers who have manned observation posts to spot and report illegal border crossers.

I suppose questioning what the minutemen do with their donations means I'm a traitor to the nation and love illegal immigrants. Too bad since I've always thought they were kooky, vigilante types anyway.

"Minutemen Not Watching over Funds"

Immigrant Song

Jenna at Right off the Shore isn't on my list of immigration restrictionists. She doesn't fear immigrants, legal immigrants:

If we are increasing legal immigration by upping the quotas on the number of legal immigrants allowed in each year, that's fantastic. I think it's great that so many folks want to enter our country. I'd love to seem millions come on in...LEGALLY.

There are many people out there who agree with Pat Buchanan that we need a moritorium on all immigration. These people are hiding their feelings behind a legitimate concern about our laws being broken willy-nilly by illegal aliens. What isn't being hidden is their smell of xenophobia. If we make entering the United States easier legally then there will be less incentive to enter illegally. Some kind of guest worker program might work for those who actually want to work in the U.S. temporarily. What I don't want is to see a guest worker program create restless immigrant enclaves like those that exploded across France earlier this year. If someone wants to temporarily work in the U.S. the law should make easy for that person. Both sides benefit: the worker gets some work and the employer reaps the benefits of that worker's production.

I'm not endorsing or opposing the bill in the Senate since I don't know all the details. The devil is in the details. I'm just trying to shine the light on those who not only oppose illegal immigration but also want curbs on legal immigration.

"Bill to Allow More Legal Immigrants...But How?"

You Have One Day

Because many conservatives aren't happy (read a few weblogs and listen to Rush Limbaugh) with President Bush's immigration speech I'm giving them one day to rant, rave, and act foolish. You have one day to get it out of your system and then get serious. Threatening to stay home in November, six months away, calling for the President's impeachment, or claiming anyone who doesn't love the Minutemen are opponents to U.S. sovereignty are all counterproductive. Glenn Reynolds writes, "If you find yourself sounding like a Kos diarist, step away from the blog and take a break, lest you do for your cause what the Kossacks have done for theirs."
Indeed. (pun intended)

Bush's Immigration Speech

Work made me miss President Bush's immigration speech. From blogospheric reaction no minds were changed. Wizbang has plenty of links; so does James Joyner; and Steven Taylor comments.

In a related story the Washington Times has news that will scare every Minuteman, Michelle Malkin fan, and restrictionist around:

The Senate immigration reform bill would allow for up to 193 million new legal immigrants -- a number greater than 60 percent of the current U.S. population -- in the next 20 years, according to a study released yesterday.

"The magnitude of changes that are entailed in this bill -- and are largely unknown -- rival the impact of the creation of Social Security or the creation of the Medicare program," said Robert Rector, senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation who conducted the study.

Although the legislation would permit 193 million new immigrants in the next two decades, Mr. Rector estimated that it is more likely that about 103 million new immigrants actually would arrive in the next 20 years.

Since I think legal immigrants add so much to our economy and culture I have no fears. Bring them in, there's plenty of room.

"Bill Permits 193 Million More Aliens by 2026"

Podhoretz on Republican Immigration Woes

Jon Podhoretz envisions political catastrophe over the immigration debate:

If a more sober reckoning of political reality does not intrude here, the Right will hurtle headlong toward schism, division, a third party and all sorts of other "pox on all your houses" actions. The cost of this is what I detail in the direst parts of my book Can She Be Stopped? — the easy transfer of power on Capitol Hill and the White House to the Democrats, and particularly to Hillary Clinton.

It's doubtful the policies she will follow as president on immigration will please anyone on the Right. It's certain that the policies she will follow on courts, on social issues, on foreign policy, on taxes, on regulation and on almost everything else you can think of will be deeply displeasing to people on the Right. And then, as a result of the pursuit of an impossible policy of purity on immigration, the country and the world will suffer the consequences.

The potential for self-destruction is terrifying. The potential for grave national harm is worse. Please, you guys, pull back from the edge.

How over-the-top of him. The flaw in Podhoretz's thinking is the Presidential election is two years away. Who knows if Hillary will even claim the Democratic nomination. But such dire talk certainly helps plug a book.

"A Final Word for Now" [via Instapundit]

Minuteman Kooks in Washington

Ted Hayes is on the level of uber freak. Today at a Minuteman Project press conference/pep rally I caught on C-SPAN tonight he spoke of the ancient Aztec practice of ripping the beating hearts out of human sacrifices. What the hell does that have to do with Latin Americans entering the United States illegally? Is there some secret Mexican government plan to establish the practice in the Southwest U.S.? Or is it just demogogery to up the ante in the Minuteman's xenophobia?

These Minuteman guys give me the creeps. They run around along the border playing soldier and come to Washington, D.C. decrying human sacrifice. There's not a hint of empathy for illegals immigrants risking their lives to cross the border. They're not crossing as part of some Mexican government plot to invade the United States. If you think that you're hereby declare you a kook.

In order to maintain the respect for law we must secure the border and not grant amnesty to those who've come here illegally. What we must also do is not be afraid of immigrants and make it easier to have them enter the country legally. Lower the costs of entering and working in the U.S. and you will lower the demand for coyotes to sneak illegals across the border.

[Before people go off claiming I don't care about American borders being trampled on read this post along with these.]

"Minutemen Assail Amnesty Idea"

How One Area Deals with Illegal Aliens

After reading how Fox Valley institutions deal with illegal aliens you'll throw your hands up in frustration even if you're like me and don't mind immigration per se. Local police say even if they ask about a person's immigration status they "don't have enforcement authority." Employers just want enough paperwork (real or fake) to cover their tuckus. Health care providers understandably want to focus on healing the sick no matter the patient's status. Public schools care more about parental involvement than immigration status.

If we want to get serious about illegal immigration all these groups have to do their part. Just as most of us would call the police when we saw a group running down the street throwing rocks into people's windows each of us have to do their small parts in maintaining our nation's rule of law. Immigrants maintain America's dynamism. They bring new ideas and add to our culture. They are a great benefit. However, our rule of law keeps our nation from becoming an anarchy.

"Immigrants at Home in Valley"

Day Without Illegal Immigrants

The illegal immigrant boycotts and protests haven't shut down cities yet, but the fun has just started. Judging by a Zogby poll the hightened activism of illegal immigrants and their sympathizers may be hurting their cause.

On the positive side some Latinos worry about having their movement being associated with the Stalinist ANSWER gang:

Some local Latino leaders said they worry about being associated with a Los Angeles-based group, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), that has been active in promotion of the boycott. They said they fear that the group's broad-based opposition to Bush administration policies could hinder attempts to win allies for immigration reform on Capitol Hill.

ANSWER protested numerous administration policies, including sanctions on Cuba, the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and the war in Iraq. The organization began supporting immigrants' causes last year in opposition to the Minuteman Project's plan to patrol the southern U.S. border, said Carlos Alvarez, a Los Angeles-based ANSWER spokesman.

One thing organizers could have done was to not hold the boycotts and protests on May Day, the communist holiday.

"Citizens Losing Sympathy For Illegal Aliens"

UPDATE: ReadDebateWisconsin declares Christine Neumann-Ortiz, leader of Voces de la Frontera and organizer of the illegal immigration protests in Milwaukee as the "most powerful woman in Wisconsin."

ANSWER is No Answer to the Immigration Question

Expect a big, strong fence to soon be under construction along the Mexican border. Plans are being made for massive immigration protests on 05.01, May Day. When you discover ANSWER is organizing them it makes sense. ANSWER is the anti-American, anti-war, anti-capitalism, pro-Saddam, pro-North Korea organization. No wonder they use a Communist holidy to make a statement. Christopher Hitchens describes ANSWER as "the group run by the "Worker's World" party and fronted by Ramsey Clark, which openly supports Kim Jong-il, Fidel Castro, Slobodan Milosevic, and the "resistance" in Afghanistan and Iraq, with Clark himself finding extra time to volunteer as attorney for the génocidaires in Rwanda." In 2002, David Corn wrote,

The October 26 protest--one of the more prominent antiwar actions so far--had been organized by International ANSWER, a group dominated by the Workers World Party, a small revolutionary-socialist outfit with a fancy for North Korea's Kim Jong-Il and the goal of abolishing private property. So it was no surprise that the antiwar message--which, according to polls, resonates with at least one-third of Americans--was accessorized with the demands of the fringe far-left. Nor was it a shocker that many speakers did not adopt a give-inspections-a-chance position. The WWP, which hails world leaders that stand against US hegemony (such as Slobodan Milosevic), opposes weapons inspections in Iraq and has assumed the task of trying to steer the antiwar movement away from endorsing them. ANSWER eschews criticism of Saddam Hussein.

It was bad enough many protesters proudly waved Mexican flags. With such love of their homeland you'd think they'd want to return. I now know the protests are organized by a group that hates freedom and calls you a racist if you oppose them. My sympathy is wearing thin, and I'm pretty liberal when it comes to immigration. Americans who think there are too many people coming into the country will reject the massive protests by anti-American, totalitarian sympathizers. That will only harden their stance pushing Congress to a more hardline position. A fence will go up, people will be deported, and businesses will be punished. ANSWER will blame racism when they should look in the mirror.

"Boycott Set to Support Illegals"