AZ Immigration Law: Read it for yourself

You can read the full text of the Arizona immigration legislation (both the Senate and House versions) along with the Governor's Executive Order, which expressly prohibits using a person's race, color or national origin as "suspicion" that a law has been violated.  Here.

Mexican President Calderon Admits the Truth

CNN's Wolf Blitzer: "Do Mexican police go around asking for papers of people they suspect are illegal immigrants?"
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Calderon:  "Of course."
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It's at the 5:35 mark if you want to skip Calderon's Democrat talking points.




Kudos to Wolf Blitzer for asking the right questions.

If It Were Only About Mexicans

A great firestorm has come up over Arizona's recent immigration law.  While it's intended to stem the damage done by illegal immigrants from Mexico, a recent report from an Atlanta television station paints an even more serious issue -- terrorists crossing the same borders, mixed with the Mexican nationals.


From the report: 


"[Border control] agents say most of the illegals caught crossing are from Mexico or South America. Still, they say thousands of people caught are classified as O.T.M.'s, which stands for "other than Mexican". They report that includes hundreds of people from nations that sponsor terrorism."


The reporter  viewed records that show illegals in custody from from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen.


"A recent congressional report on the border threat confirmed members of Hezbollah have crossed the Southwest border. It shows photos of military jackets with Arab insignias found on the border. One depicts a picture of a plane crashing into the twin towers in New York City....


"The congressional report also revealed the route Middle Easterners take to get the United States. It showed they travel from Europe to South America, then to the tri-border region. That's where they learn to speak Spanish. The report said they then travel to Mexico and blend in with other illegals."


Hundreds or thousands of possibly hostile non-Mexicans crossing the border from Mexico.  Is the Arizona law all that's protecting America from terrorism?  And why has that congressional report not received wider media coverage?

Republican Smackdown

Maybe NJ Governor Chris Christie will teach other Republican politicians how to act.

How Did I Miss This?

Penn State climate professor Michael Mann, creator of the now-it's-just-a-joke hockey stick graph formerly used to support the manmade global warming theory, has threatened to sue the makers of a satirical video on YouTube.  (I've discussed Mann before.)  They answered properly, "Bring it on."

Are Tea Parties All About Racism?

Read any online discussion about the Tea Parties, and sooner or later (usually sooner) a Liberal will either imply or explicitly state that the Tea Parties are full of racists -- reductio ad klanum -- intent on establishing white supremacy (as well as putting women back in the kitchen where they belong.)

Interestingly, one of the major Tea Party organizations, Tea Party Patriots, ran an online poll to see what tea partiers wanted to see in a "Contract From America."  Hundreds of thousands of votes were cast, and the following ten planks were the most popular:

1. Protect the Constitution
2. Reject Cap and Trade
3. Demand a Balanced Budget
4. Enact Fundamental Tax Reform
5. Restore Fiscal Responsibility and Constitutionally Limited Government in Washington
6. End Runaway Government Spending
7. Defund, Repeal, and Replace Government-run Health Care
8. Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above” Energy Policy
9. Stop the Pork
10. Stop the Tax Hikes

Nary a mention of race in there at all.  As I said -- interesting.  Are there any points that should appeal only to white people?

"I Will Always Love You" -- Again

The hottest video online today is a version of the song, "I Will Always Love You" from a Chinese version of American Idol:

The Chinese video, and most other sources, identify this as Whitney Houston's song, because of the popularity of her version, from the movie The Bodyguard:



The song, however, was written by and first made a hit by Dolly Parton in 1974.  She wrote the song about her breakup with longtime musical partner and mentor Porter Waggoner.  Here's an early performance of the song on the Porter Waggoner Show from 1974:



According to Wikipedia, Kevin Costner brought Linda Rondstadt's version of the song to Whitney Houston's attention, which inspired her to record it. 



Finally two more videos featuring Dolly Parton.  The first one, from the movie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,  represents what I think is the most accurate sentiment from the song -- a love that simply won't work for the people involved:



This last video is what I consider one of the most beautiful duets of the song (Dolly has performed this song with others a million times over the years.)  She recorded it with Vince Gill and had yet another hit with the same song:

Obama's Pitch

As Harry Doyle (Bob Eucker) said in Major League, "JUST a bit outside." (Note that the mascot put the catcher between him and Obama.)

Obama, for all his vaunted athletic skills, seems not to have practiced pitching much since last July.  Together with his terrible bowling during the campaign, this shows that Obama's "athleticism" seems to be pretty much restricted to basketball.

"Embrace Life"

One of the most powerful public service ads I've ever seen.

The Bathroom Rule of Texting Etiquette

Switched.com sponsored a contest to see who could come up with the best rule on texting etiquette, and the following rule is the winner:

If you're in a situation where you'd excuse yourself to go to the bathroom, you should also excuse yourself before reaching for your phone. Otherwise, go ahead without asking. Either way, don't play with your phone longer than you'd stay in the bathroom.

They Can't Help Themselves

Sometimes Democrats can't keep from blurting out their real agenda.  Speaking on a radio talk show, Democrat Representative John Dingell of Michigan made the following comment when asked about the delay in implementing health care legislation:

"It takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps to control the people."

Demotivators - Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Near Miss Day.  Huge asteroid almost collided with earth.  (1989)

Demotivator - March 22, 2010

James T. Kirk born in Riverside, Iowa.  That's Stardate 1277.1 for you Trekkers.  (2233)

Demotivators - Sunday, March 21, 2010

Jack Dorsey posts the first Twitter (then twttr) message.  (2006)

Demotivators - Saturday, March 20, 2010

Extraterrestrial Abductions Day!

Wear your aluminum foil hat or else!

Top Ten Coolest Movie Fighting Skills

Since I'm sort of a martial arts movie geek (among other deficiencies) this is the kind of column I love, because I've seen nearly all the movies. I've even seen "Gymkata."  My favorite?  I really liked Bourne, but it's hard to beat the coolness of Darth Maul.

Tough Interview for Obama

Barack Obama finally faced a tough interview (from Fox News, of course.)  He didn't come out looking very good.  His comment that the deal with Louisiana would help Hawaii because of the earthquake Hawaii had (????) was especially interesting.  Notice the way he avoided answering as much as he could, and how he tried to give extemely long answers to limit and diffuse questions.

Demotivator - March 18, 2010

Patent #2417786 was issued to Hurley Smith for the "Pocket Shield Or Protector."  The nerd is born. (1947)

Demotivator - Sunday, March 14, 2010

It's International Pi Day!

It's also Einstein's birthday. (1879)

Confusing News on Obamacare

Two stories hit today with different spins on the "reconciliation" maneuver Democrats hoped to use on their healthcare legislation.

Roll Call, the official newspaper for Congress, reports that the Senate Parliamentarian has ruled Obama must sign existing legislation before any reconciliation process can begin.  This eliminates the possibilty that the House could vote to accept the Senate version prior to it receiving Obama's signature.

Almost simultaneously, Harry Reid sent a letter to Republicans that he intends to move forward with the reconciliation process.  Since reconciliation is designated only for use on budget-conforming items, apparently the move is to make the motion only on a few thrown-in parts of the legislation which -- using imagination -- can be construed as budget-related.

Of course, voting for the reconciliation would in effect be voting for the healthcare legislation, regardless of Reid's claims in his letter.  House Democrats, who are much more nervous about their seats in Congress and the upcoming November elections, are given a bit of an "out."  They can claim that they didn't vote for the whole thing, but only for those few tchotchkes the Democrat leadership tossed in as a diversion.

Let's hope that Republicans can keep the pressure on House Democrats.  Such sweeping, invasive seizing of power by the federal government should not be approved by a narrow majority of politicians against the will of the American people.