Memorial Day

Racist? Kiss my burro!

The Senate voted yesterday to allow illegal aliens to collect Social Security benefits based on past illegal employment -- even if the job was obtained through forged or stolen documents. And almost in the same breath...

Reid calls language proposal racist
By Charles Hurt, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, May 19, 2006

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called a proposal to make English the official language "racist" on the Senate floor yesterday.

"This amendment is racist. I think it's directed basically to people who speak Spanish," the Democrat said during the already tense debate over immigration reform. Moments later, the Senate approved the measure on a 63-34 vote. Virtually all Republicans were joined by 11 Democrats to approve the largely symbolic amendment. Immediately following that vote, the Senate approved a second amendment, declaring on a 58-39 vote that English is the "common and unifying language."

Such proposals enjoy overwhelming support among American voters.

A poll by Zogby International earlier this year found that 84 percent of Americans say English should be the official language of government operations. The same poll found that 77 percent of Hispanics agree.

No More Global Warming

Who could have imagined that it would be an alligator that rescued us all from Global Warming?

Old Kennedy

Using immigration law to import votes, grow the dependency class and thereby preserve liberal power since 1964.

Still Dodging Immigration's Truths
WashingtonPost.com by Robert J. Samuelson, Wednesday, May 17, 2006; Page A23

President Bush's immigration speech mostly missed the true nature of the problem. We face two interconnected population issues. One is aging; the other is immigration. We aren't dealing sensibly with either, and as a result we face a future of unnecessarily heightened political and economic conflict. On the one side will be older baby boomers demanding all their federal retirement benefits. On the other will be an expanding population of younger and poorer Hispanics -- immigrants, their children and grandchildren -- increasingly resentful of their rising taxes that subsidize often-wealthier and unrelated baby boomers....

The central problem is not illegal immigration. It is undesirably high levels of poor and low-skilled immigrants, whether legal or illegal, most of whom are Hispanic. Immigrants are not all the same.

Madeleine

Even pigs can learn from Madeleine Albright. (Check the teeth on those porkers. Click the picture for a larger view.)

What Madeleine Albright Says the U.S. Should Do About Iran
FoxNews By Brit Hume, May 11, 2006

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says the issues raised by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in his 17-page letter to President Bush are "not irrelevant." Speaking in Seattle, Albright urged the United States to engage in direct talks with Iran, saying, "Rather than thinking it's a clash of civilizations, I think we are in a battle of ideas."

Bird Trap

Senate Immigration Bill Would Allow 100 Million New Legal Immigrants over the Next Twenty Years , The Heritage Foundation by Robert Rector, WebMemo #1076
May 15, 2006

If enacted, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIRA, S.2611) would be the most dramatic change in immigration law in 80 years, allowing an estimated 103 million persons to legally immigrate to the U.S. over the next 20 years—fully one-third of the current population of the United States.

Much attention has been given to the fact that the bill grants amnesty to some 10 million illegal immigrants. Little or no attention has been given to the fact that the bill would quintuple the rate of legal immigration into the United States, raising, over time, the inflow of legal immigrants from around one million per year to over five million per year. The impact of this increase in legal immigration dwarfs the magnitude of the amnesty provisions.

Bush immigration speech draws fire from both sides
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent, Reuters Tuesday, May 16, 2006

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's national address on immigration appeared to change few minds in Congress and make little headway toward a middle ground, with critics on the left and right blasting his approach as inadequate....

The general public took a kinder view, with a CNN poll immediately after the speech finding 79 percent of Americans had a "very positive" or "somewhat positive" reaction, and only 18 percent had a "negative" reaction

Fair Game

Pooor Joe Wilson, headed down the hatch with the rest of the day's mice and worms.

Those babies look hungry. If they want more like Joe, maybe next mama eagle will fetch them Mike Nifong.

Toxic Stink

Bringing tears to a pig's eye.

Bad Driver

Panties compliments of Rodger.

Twofer

Tempting Fate

CIA: Ready to Rumble

Two of my favorite bloggers, John Hinderaker at Power Line and Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters, seem to be betting on different horses in the coming contest to replace the CIA's Porter Goss. Though I agree with the Captain that Hayden's a serious gamble, I have to hope it's a stroke of Rovian genius (rather than another Harriett Myers mistep), and agree with John that it's worth the gamble.

Be Careful What You Wish For
Captain's Quarters, May 6, 2006

My friend John Hinderaker at Power Line feels that a confirmation-hearing spectacle for General Michael Hayden to succeed Porter Goss as CIA director would provide a boon for Republicans. He relishes the thought of Democrats attacking Hayden on the NSA surveillance program:...

I hope he's correct, if Hayden actually gets the nod. However, given the nature of Goss' departure and the hostility the NSA program has created among members of both parties in Congress, I suspect that any Hayden hearing will rapidly become a debacle. All one has to do is to review the committee that will likely conduct the hearings to see where the problem lies: Russ Feingold....

Feingold knows that he has little chance to win the Democratic nomination as things stand now. That's why these hearings will give Feingold a golden opportunity to make himself the Democratic standardbearer and the champion of more than just the fringe Left that supports him at the moment. And given the hostility that Congress has already shown towards this program, all Feingold will need to accomplish is to find any kind of inconsistency or questionable assertion regarding the program and its achievements to quickly get support among his peers.

This nomination could start a snowball effect that the Bush administration may find difficult to stop. If Hayden is their choice, they'd better be sure of their Congressional support before the hearings begin, because the gloves will really come off in those chambers -- and Feingold will be going for the knockout punch he needs for 2008.

Storytellers

A New (and 7-Figure) Unmasking for Valerie Plame

The Reliable Source, WashingtonPost.com, By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts, Sunday, May 7, 2006; Page D03

Valerie Plame has signed a seven-figure deal with Crown Publishing Group to write about her life as a CIA operative ...

Now retired from the spy agency, Plame will pen the book herself, Crown reps told the Associated Press.

Though no official details of the contract were disclosed, the industry Web site Publishers Marketplace reported yesterday that the deal is worth more than $2.5 million.

The memoir, due out in fall 2007, has a working title of "Fair Game" ...

Club Mayo

At Home, Cynicism and Support
Many of Kennedy's Constituents Suspect Story but Don't Mind

Washington Post, By David A. Fahrenthold, Sunday, May 7, 2006; Page A04

PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- The bad news for Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy: The voters of Rhode Island do not, by and large, seem to believe his version of what led to a car crash early Thursday outside the U.S. Capitol.

Mollohan: Ambien Blackout

NBC's Today: Patrick Kennedy, the First Democrat to "Misbehave"
NewsBusters, Posted by Scott Whitlock on May 5, 2006

Is it possible that Tim Russert hasn’t been paying attention? The host of Meet the Press appeared on the May 5 edition of NBC’s Today show to discuss President Bush and the midterm elections. Anchor Matt Lauer also asked him about the political fallout from Representative Patrick Kennedy’s car crash:
Russert: "Republicans obviously are watching this very carefully because they want to suggest to the country it's not just Republicans who misbehave or the culture of corruption or whatever. It also could be Democrats. And they're going to really dig into this case, I think, pretty actively."
But Mr. Russert is surely aware that in addition to Democrat Patrick Kennedy’s troubles, there’s also the case of Democratic Representative William Jefferson. He is being investigated in connection with a bribery scandal. Additionally, Congressman Alan Mollohan, a Democrat from West Virginia, recently resigned as the top Democrat on the House ethics committee:
"The Wall Street Journal reported two weeks ago that Mollohan steered millions of dollars in appropriations to nonprofit groups in his district — with much of the money going to organizations run by people who contribute to the lawmaker's campaigns."
But I guess if Russert and others in the media acknowledged these cases, they’d have to start challenging Democratic spinners who apply the phrase ‘culture of corruption’ specifically to Republicans. And where’s the fun in that?
It’s also interesting to note that although the three networks fully covered the Kennedy car crash, neither NBC’s Today nor CBS’s Early Show mentioned that this was his second car crash in three weeks. Over on ABC’s Good Morning America, however, they did reference the April 15 accident. The Weekly Standard commented on Kennedy's odd hand-written account of the event. Click here for a picture.

Jefferson: Ambien Blackout

Democrats Acting Badly
CNSNews.com, by Rich Galen in Commentary from Mullings.com

* Thursdays papers were chock full of a report that a guy named Vernon L. Jackson had plead guilty to bribing Democratic Congressman William J. Jefferson of Louisiana on some Nigerian Internet deal he wanted to sell to the US government.
* Jefferson denied any involvement, saying he was "surprised and disappointed to learn of Vernon Jackson's guilty plea."
* We have a guy who has plead guilty to bribing Jefferson. Not guilty of ATTEMPTED bribery. Bribery.
* Bribery requires a briber and a bribee. To believe that Vernon Jackson could bribe William Jefferson without William Jefferson actually taking a bribe from Vernon Jackson requires a suspension of disbelieve amounting to a religious adherence to the concept of an immaculate deception.
* This is a pretty complicated case, bribe-wise, but the shorthand appears to be that Congressman Jefferson demanded that money be paid to a phony company set up by his wife and son. If Jefferson is going to claim that the money went to his family and not to him and so he was never bribed, he is going to be laughed right out of court and right into the federal slammer.
* You have to read the whole thing to get a sense of the scale of this thing. According to the LA Times, the Vice President of Nigeria is involved. The Vice President of Nigeria is not exactly living in Nigeria.

Pelosi Wants Investigation of La. Democrat
WashingtonPost.com, The Associated PressFriday, May 5, 2006

At the same time, Pelosi sought Thursday to differentiate the Jefferson case from what Democrats have labeled the "culture of corruption" linking the Republican majority and special interests represented by disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. "The Republicans are all tied together," she said. "Mr. Jefferson is his own behavior, he is responsible for it." [sic!]

Bad Muppets

Son of Chappaquiddick

Kennedy: Just a Bad Driver
From Wonkette

Here’s Patrick Kennedy’s police statement from the last time he slammed his car into something. (Photo) Which was, of course, 3 weeks ago. He was pulling into a CVS into oncoming traffic and was broadsided, but we didn’t get that from the statment, which seems to maybe be about pixies? Trowels? We can’t actually read it. How does this guy co-sponsor bills?

But that was three weeks ago. As we learned today, if you’re a drunk-drivin’ Congressman and you smash into something down here in DC, and not in lame ol’ Rhode Island, the cops will drive you home and not, like, test you or anything. Which is, really, above and beyond the call of duty, guys. That kind of treatment? He must’ve been wearing his members’ pin.

Earlier: Breaking: Representative Patrick Kennedy, Drunk Driving, Crashes Car

Patrick Kennedy To Seek Treatment
Congressman Says He Doesn't Recall Crash
Washington Post, May 5, 2006