Noting cute poodle or kitty related today. Rumsfeld was doing his usual running around barking at the thunder then realized he could just stand at the top of the stairs and do the annoying poodle yap.  I just glared at him.  Believe it or not – he shut up!  

What is it going to take for the ‘conservative’ community to comprehend and admit they’ve been sold a very serious racist bill of goods when it comes to immigration?  I have additional information today, including the origin of “Aztlan” and the other anti-immigration wonks sources.  Bottom line – it isn’t pretty.

Don’t forget my Blog Critics article about the Wyatt Earp Birthplace Museum and a nasty case of intellectual bullying.

The hidden city beneath Alexandria

UPDATE ON YESTERDAY’S RANTS AND RAVES
In other words, the nasty little pedophile ‘house’ of horrors includes a man on probation and waiting deportation.  Why are people getting probation for molesting children and ruining their lives?  Evidently judges don’t understand and comprehend that molesting a child is almost a form of murder.  You are killing part of a childhood.  You are killing something special inside of them.  I know.  It has taken me and it has taken the last 14 years of my life to discover who I am and regain the strength and the person I once was.  

There was once an episode of Babylon 5 where an offender was punished with “Death of Personality”.  This is what child molestation does.  If it doesn’t completely destroy a person’s personality, it puts it into deep remission, for want of a better term.  In many ways being molested stunts a person’s emotional growth.  There are emotional and psychological parts of a person that are frozen in time, at the moment molestation occurred.  

I just wish our dear judges and prosecutors could suffer a little.  Then maybe they would understand the only way to stop the madness is a mandatory life sentence.  

JOHN & ELIZABETH
WACKY AT LAST!
I noticed this morning that Drudge has a headline about Elizabeth Edwards giving up tangerines to help fight global warming.  This is a relief.  While she is going to attempt to buy local, a joke in itself (see my Blog Critics article)

And the Palmetto Scoop on the Dems dirt tricks in Charleston.

This new spontaneous mutation theory for autism is terrifying.

AJ Strata hits it today.  First he exposes the problems the GOP is facing.  We all know the real reason for the low poll numbers is the way the conservatives in the GOP acted over immigration reform.

Where Is Home?  By Gil Cisneros and Wayne Trujillo
“…Some politicians continue to dismiss the burgeoning Hispanic population as largely illegal and without voting privileges. Both parties in the past bemoaned Hispanic absence from the polls, but today they actually have cause to fear their presence at the polls. With the exception of the Cuban-American population, Republicans historically dismissed Hispanics while Democrats assumed their indefinite allegiance. But California’s Proposition 187 startled both political parties. The Hispanic uproar enticed the ethnic group to storm the polls, and their participation in subsequent elections allowed Democrats to reclaim the governorship and monopolize California’s government for nearly a decade.

With Republican presidential candidates and Congressional members hedging or reversing positions on comprehensive immigration reform, not to mention outright opposing it as “amnesty,” Hispanic skepticism increases. The voices heard loudest by both the party’s candidates and mainstream media are the most shrill — the radical anti-immigration faction, one of whom equated illegal immigration to Satanism.

The far-right’s histrionics and hubris obscure rational dialogue and, sadly, the Republican leadership can’t hear the American majority’s opinions over the ruckus.  Public opinion polls consistently show that the majority of Americans favor a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. While many Americans, perhaps even a majority, are concerned about border security and law enforcement, they also favor competent, compassionate and realistic action by their government, not partisan calculations.

Unfortunately, Republicans are the primary culprits, delaying action with posturing and pandering to the conservative base. The GOP’s big tent is nearly deserted and any refrains singing the praises of diversity and inclusiveness now sound like ghostly and empty promises from elections past. The Pink Elephant — or rather White Elephant — in the middle of the deserted Big Tent are the small but vocal band of extremists who will destroy the Republican Party, if need be, to destroy the dreams of millions….’

Then Strata continues his excellent coverage of the Litvinenko story.

I may have been wrong about Brownback.  He’s hammering Tancredo about Tanton and Romney on his flipping.  Good job there.

LINDSEY ON IRAQ
A profile
“…Usually personable and even playful, the senator has been pushed to exasperation lately.
…Graham's position on the war -- along with his support of President Bush's controversial immigration reform proposal -- have raised questions among some of his conservative constitutents and escalated talk of a challenge in the 2008 Republican primary. Several names have been circulated, including that of Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer.

Experts say Graham's unwillingness to follow public opinion, especially on immigration, could make him vulnerable.

"It has struck me as rather unusual that Lindsey Graham has not been pandering to the right flank of the electorate," said Donald Aiesi, a political science professor at Furman University.
The chairman of the York County Republican Party, Glenn McCall of Rock Hill, said he was relieved to see Graham back on solid conservative footing with support of the military after he disappointed constituents by trying to negotiate an immigration bill they viewed as amnesty for illegal immigrants.

"It definitely helped the vast majority of us to know that he didn't totally go off the wagon," McCall said.

Graham's position on the troop buildup doesn't differ markedly from that of other Carolinas senators, but he's made it a signature issue.

The son of a World War II veteran, he says he's pleased that others are looking to him for leadership on the issue.

"He's just plain smart and he's passionate," said Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who almost lost his job in the last election for supporting the war and had to switch from a Democrat to an independent to win. "He's not going to play politics with the issue, and he's not going to take the easy way out."

Graham says he's tired of lawmakers punting hard decisions, and he's willing to deal with the consequences….”

From the Greenville News 
“…Last week, the Senate debated and came close to passing an amendment by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) which would have done that by mandating American troops begin to withdraw from Iraq beginning in 120 days. All Americans would have needed to be out of Iraq by May 2008.

This approach would spell disaster for our national security interests both in Iraq and throughout the Middle East. It would have been international news and a major propaganda coup for al-Qaida to claim victory in forcing the United States to withdraw.

The effects of a withdrawal would also have a major impact beyond the borders of Iraq. It would tremendously embolden the Iranian government which is fiercely anti-American. Iran continues in its efforts to destabilize Iraq and increase its influence throughout the Middle East. In weeks past we have captured and killed many Iranian terrorist cell members. Now, thanks to the surge, we are beginning to see a rejection of the Iranian influence similar to that of al-Qaida in Iraq….”


IMMIGRATION
Captain Ed has an interesting take on the ID cards for illegal immigrants uproar.   I echo his concerns.  I don’t know how I feel.  On one hand it makes me quite uneasy.  On the other, maybe having “legal” identification would solve a few of the identification problems illegals have.  

Pamela Meister has an excellent American Thinker column today about
the plight of the legal immigrant.

Yes, Virginia, there is racism.  Check out this piece from an AOL forum.

Hyscience has an interesting post about LaRaza.  You will want to read my comments.  Hyscience  references this error filled Human Events piece by Rep. Charlie Norwood.

Please read the comments following the article.  To me they reek of racism.

Norwood wrote
“…MEChA and the La Raza movement teach that Colorado, California, Arizona, Texas, Utah, New Mexico, Oregon and parts of Washington State make up an area known as "Aztlan" -- a fictional ancestral homeland of the Aztecs before Europeans arrived in North America. As such, it belongs to the followers of MEChA. These are all areas America should surrender to "La Raza" once enough immigrants, legal or illegal, enter to claim a majority, as in Los Angeles. The current borders of the United States will simply be extinguished.

This plan is what is referred to as the "Reconquista" or reconquest, of the Western U.S.

But it won't end with territorial occupation and secession. The final plan for the La Raza movement includes the ethnic cleansing of Americans of European, African, and Asian descent out of "Aztlan."

As Miguel Perez of Cal State-Northridge's MEChA chapter has been quoted as saying: "The ultimate ideology is the liberation of Aztlan. Communism would be closest [to it]. Once Aztlan is established, ethnic cleansing would commence: Non-Chicanos would have to be expelled -- opposition groups would be quashed because you have to keep power."

Members of these radical, anti-American, racist organizations are frequently smoothly polished into public respectability by the National Council of La Raza….”

Now, read La Raza’s response. A taunt series of letters and press releases went back and forth.  Norwood finally responded by making a list of demands for LaRaza to adhere to.

 And this
“…Norwood Condition 7: Acknowledge the internationally recognized borders of the United States, the right of the citizens of the United States to determine immigration policy through the democratic process, and the right of the United States to undertake any and all necessary steps including military action to effectively enforce immigration law and defend its borders against unauthorized entry.

NCLR Response: NCLR has repeatedly recognized the right of the United States, as a sovereign nation, to control its borders. Moreover, NCLR has supported numerous specific measures to strengthen border enforcement, provided that such enforcement is conducted fairly, humanely, and in a nondiscriminatory fashion; for example:

NCLR helped draft and advocated for bipartisan legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate which included tough enforcement measures against unauthorized migration.

NCLR’s President and CEO served on and endorsed the recommendations of the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future, an independent, bipartisan, blue ribbon commission chaired by former Rep. Lee Hamilton and former Senator Spencer Abraham, which recently released a set of recommendations on immigration reform, including more than a dozen new enforcement measures.

In a major address in San Diego last year, NCLR President Janet Murguía stressed that any comprehensive immigration reform needed to include a strong, effective, and humane enforcement component.

All of NCLR’s policy materials describing its positions and activities on the immigration debate are all available on its website. In particular, an Issue Brief, Immigration Reform: Comprehensive Solutions to Complex Problems can be found here….”

Someone isn’t being honest here.  

As to the whole Reconquista debate, La Raza responded to Norwood’s demands by commenting…
:… Norwood Condition 1: Denounce and sever all ties with MEChA [Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán or Chicano Student Movement of Aztlán] and any other organizations with which they are now or have ever been associated or funded which held to the racist doctrines published by MEChA.

NCLR Response: NCLR has never supported, and does not support, separatist organizations. According to its mission statement, MEChA is a student organization whose primary objectives are educational – to help Latino students finish high school and go to college, and to support them while at institutions of higher education. NCLR freely acknowledges that some of the organization’s founding documents, e.g., Plan Espiritual de Aztlán, contain inappropriate rhetoric, and NCLR acknowledges that rhetoric from some MEChA members has been extremist and inflammatory.*…”

It’s time for a little lesson in what is going on here.

There is the  Mexica Movement. 
“…Hispanics are the Spaniards, the people of Spain. We are not Spaniards! We are Mexica! We are the people of Anahuac.  We are the Nican Tlaca (Indigenous people) of this continent, the true owners of this continent.  We are not Spaniards or the property of Spain.  Calling ourselves "Hispanic" denies us our true Nican Tlaca Anahuac identity, history and heritage. It enslaves us to the interests of the "Spanish" white world. Calling our people Hispanic is racist.  Calling our people Hispanic is like calling the African descent people in the U.S. Britannic because they have British names and because they speak English….”

Now, before you go getting your little conservative panties in a wad – you’d better stop and consider that there is a CONSERVATIVE version of this.  It’s called the Christian Exodus.

The Christian Exodus believes the following:
“…ChristianExodus.org is an association of Christians who no longer wish to live under the unjust usurpation of powers by the federal government, and therefore resolves to formally disassociate itself from this tyrannical authority, and return to the model of governance of a constitutional republic. We seek a republican government constrained by constitutionally delegated powers. If this cannot be achieved within the United States, then we believe a peaceful withdrawal from the union to be the last available remedy….”

A MINI RANT
Frankly, I don’t see any difference. One group is liberal and the other is conservative.  They are both wackos.  Unfortunately, the Christian Exodus people are part of the entire ultra conservative cabal and has ties to some very scary people.  I will take the liberals over this bunch any day of the week.   They are both out TO DESTROY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

For those of you who aren’t afraid of the boogyman, here’s the Aztlan web site. /  It’s screaming liberal.  So what.  They have a right to be liberal.  Are they demanding the overthrow of the US?  Doesn’t seem so to me.  So, which is worse?  To me The Christian Exodus is far more disturbing.

Read Orinicus about Aztlan, reconquista, etc.

Where do conservatives get their ideas of Reconquista?  Try a serious racist website that is big into Holocaust denial.  You might want to peruse their reading list.  It’s heavily into the National Socialist ideology.  If you don’t know what that is, then you need to do a little history lesson.

“Some Mexicans and Mexican-Americans want to see California, New Mexico and other parts of the United States given to Mexico. They call it the “reconquista,” Spanish for “reconquest,” and they view the millions of Mexican illegal aliens entering this country as their army of invaders to achieve that takeover. To an extent, they also have actual armed soldiers of the Mexican army, along with mercenaries from North Korea, Russia and other communist or former communist lands, and have already fired upon American Border Patrol officers and terrorized American ranchers. Shockingly, certain politicians in America are willing to sell out to the Mexicans. Here we consider the background to this disturbing development. 

Mexico, of course, was once a Spanish colony, the Aztecs and numerous other tribes in that region having been conquered by the Spaniards—or, in many cases, having willingly sworn allegiance to the Spanish king in order to free themselves from Aztec tyranny. (However, it may be noted that in the northern reaches—the so-called Interior Provinces—of what was once called “Mexico,” the natives had never been subdued by any outsiders, including the Aztecs.) When a number of Mexicans, inspired by Ameri ca’s example, revolted against Spain, they set up an independent government and assumed theoretical rulership of a vast area, in cluding what is now known as the South western United States….”

THE RANT CONTINUES
I’m getting sick and tired of this.  Let’s tie it all in for you dear little anti-immigration people.  It isn’t about conservative, liberal, Dem, GOP, it’s about RACISM, BIGOTRY, and a movement that has links directly back to this… 

“…Right-wing bloggers have played a central role in this, but in a way that reflects the extent to which they are simply another cog in the conservative-movement propaganda machine. Carefully examing how the right blogosphere operates, as such, reveals important truths about the nature of the larger movement.

So let’s take a good look at how it’s structured. The first thing you’ll notice is that right-wing bloggers are generally careful to never express any overt or naked racism. Instead, what they do is act as a transmitter, taking an old far-right appeal or idea and present it as a fresh, if "politically incorrect," way of thinking.

Michelle Malkin — certainly one of the leading lights of the right-wing blogosphere — provided us with a vivid example of this in a recent column, with a charge that she later repeated on national television and on her blog:

'Aztlan is a long-held notion among Mexico’s intellectual elite and political class, which asserts that the American southwest rightly belongs to Mexico. Advocates believe the reclamation (or reconquista) of Aztlan will occur through sheer demographic force. If the rallies across the country are any indication, reconquista is already complete.'

But as Alex Koppelman at Dragonfire pointed out:

'You might expect Malkin to give her readers some evidence that Aztlan really is "a long-held notion among Mexico’s intellectual elite and political class," but she never does.
Why? Because Aztlan and reconquista these days aren’t, for the most part, ideas held by Mexicans: they’re ideas held by white supremacists and neo-Nazis. The myth of reconquista stems from a misreading of one of the founding documents of the Chicano movement, "El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan."

In much the same way that the Black Power movement meant the words "Black Power" in a metaphorical sense, that is, as a call to African-Americans to recognize after years of being stigmatized that they too were people with something to contribute to society, "El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan" was an appeal to nationalism as a means to achieve a greater self-awareness and self-esteem.

But that’s not the way some white supremacists, fearful of a brown mass ready to take over the United States, has interpreted it.

A simple Google search shows that the people talking about Aztlan and reconquista are predominantly not Mexican (though there are some radical fringe groups) but white supremacists.

Malkin, in truth, was simply following in the footsteps of the most prominent right-wing blogger, Instapundit Glenn Reynolds, who for several months in 2004 was likewise promoting the "reconquista" notion while arguing, groundlessly, that the student organization MEChA was a pack of "fascist hatemongers" comparable to the Klan.

But in Malkin’s case, the thread from far-right extremism to mainstream consumption is especially pronounced, since she herself has a considerable history of dalliances and associations with extremists and far-right organizations, most notably VDare, the SPLC-designated hate group that publishes not just Malkin’s work but that of Steve Sailer and Jared Taylor.

Malkin, of course, has never explained her association with VDare, just as Reynolds never recanted his groundless smearing of MEChA. Similarly, they never confront the effects of their reliance on old appeals from the far right, because that would undermine the whole enterprise.

Rather, they trot them out for consumption and play coy about any of the deeper implications of what they’re saying. Then, they leave it up to their readers to complete the connection….”

I don’t know about you, but I’d be ashamed, very ashamed, and very very embarrassed.