novatownhall blog

Courtesy of reader and former Arizona resident Lynn is a pretty amazing story from former Tucson high school teacher John Ward, a Hispanic:

The basic theme of the curriculum was that Mexican-Americans were and continue to be victims of a racist American society driven by the interests of middle and upper-class whites.

In this narrative, whites are able to maintain their influence only if minorities are held down. Thus, social, political and economic events in America must be understood through this lens.

This biased and sole paradigm justified teaching that our community police officers are an extension of the white power structure and that they are the strongmen used “to keep minorities in their ghettos.”

It justified telling the class that there are fewer Mexican-Americans in Tucson Magnet High School’s advanced placement courses because their “white teachers” do not believe they are capable and do not want them to get ahead.

It justified teaching that the Southwestern United States was taken from Mexicans because of the insatiable greed of the Yankee who acquired his values from the corrupted ethos of Western civilization.

It was taught that the Southwest is “Atzlan,” the ancient homeland of the Aztecs, and still rightfully belongs to their descendants – to all people of indigenous Mexican heritage.

Read it all.

From the perspective of America’s legal residents, the essence of the illegal alien problem here is not who they are, but what they do. As in, they don’t follow the rules the rest of us follow (and our government at every level gives them a pass).

Whether it’s turning residences into boarding houses, bringing commercial vehicles onto our neighborhood streets, stealing identities or running businesses out of homes, the bottom line is illegal migration is a problem because of the illegals’ unwillingness to assimilate.

If the majority of them simply worked, lived in the neighborhoods, and played by the same rules as everyone else, there would be no problem. But the sheer number of illegals caused such an impact that by 2006 many, many previously unaffected neighborhoods suddenly were beset by an inflow of people whose agenda clearly was not to “become Americans.” Conveniently, in May of that year, these same people marched in our streets by the thousands under foreign flags demanding their “rights.”

The pro-illegal activists learned from the enormously negative reaction those marches provoked from America’s legal residents, and since then no public events of nearly comparable size have taken place and not a lot of Mexican flags have been seen on the TV news. But as Mr. Ward relates, there has been a movement active for years now to indoctrinate young people of foreign descent, some of whom are likely citizens, against assimilation. And it isn’t just in the high schools.

More here, here and here.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin wrote about this Thursday.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain continues to clarify his position on illegal immigration as the primary season closes and the candidates position themselves for the general election in the fall. McCain has been slowly reviving the notion of “comprehensive immigration reform” in speeches before various groups.

The problem “comprehensive” reform has posed to many Americans is that it posits a path to citizenship for people who are currently in the United States illegally, alongside a supposed array of immigration enforcement measures. Enforcement, however, has largely never taken place. It has been a chimera. This failure was made most evident before the 2006 elections when the Congress passed a law requiring 800 miles of fence on the U.S. – Mexico border, legislation which was signed into law by president Bush. But the fence was never built.

Those who are skeptical of “comprehensive immigration reform” believe that the amnesty portion of the program will definitely be enacted, while the enforcement measures will continue to be empty promises.

Amnesty for those who have jumped the border will send the signal that U.S. immigration enforcement is a joke, and will encourage more border jumpers. Following the 1986 amnesty, what was supposed to be leniency for no more than 3 million illegals resulted in over 20 million illegal aliens in the U.S. today. Those who oppose “comprehensive immigration reform” believe that giving a pass to those in this country illegally will result in tens of millions more illegals coming across our southern border.

On top of that, current U.S. immigration policy is geared towards family reunification and not attracting immigrants with needed skills. “Comprehensive” reform therefore promises millions of new unskilled, undereducated arrivals in the U.S. This is a sure formula for importing many people who will draw disproportionally on government benefits and impose a net cost on U.S. taxpayers.

It means radically increasing the size of the U.S. underclass, essentially relieving Latin American countries of their poorest citizens and putting those people on the U.S. dole. This provides a safety valve for corrupt oligarchic countries south of here, and shifts the public cost to working Americans. We end up bailing out the upper classes in Mexico and other nations to the south.

John McCain as quoted in today’s New York Times:

“Senator Kennedy and I tried very hard to get immigration reform, a comprehensive plan, through the Congress of the United States,” he said. “It is a federal responsibility and because of our failure as a federal obligation, we’re seeing all these various conflicts and problems throughout our nation as different towns, cities, counties, whatever they are, implement different policies and different programs which makes things even worse and even more confusing.”

He added: “I believe we have to secure our borders, and I think most Americans agree with that, because it’s a matter of national security. But we must enact comprehensive immigration reform. We must make it a top agenda item if we don’t do it before, and we probably won’t, a little straight talk, as of January 2009.”

Mr. McCain asked others on the panels for suggestions about how to “better mobilize American public opinion” behind the notion of comprehensive immigration reform.

It is an open question whether Mr. McCain will be able to continue to push for amnesty for illegal aliens while so many Americans are aware how difficult it is for those who are following legal channels to immigrate to the U.S.

Granting amnesty to illegals will allow the border crashers to jump in line ahead of the many millions of people who have been waiting to have their cases processed by the US Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. This policy of blatant injustice may turn out to be an Achilles heel for McCain’s general election campaign.

The prospect of “better mobilizing American public opinion” for the corrupt policy of “comprehensive” immigration reform suggests that McCain is seeking for a way to pull the wool over voters’ eyes.

For a Republican candidate, that is probably not the best way to signal a break with the past.

UPDATE: Ace and John Hawkins join our own Jacob with some very, very serious reservations about McCain.

Our commenter Zimzo will be horrified at this: The Washington Post has joined a Jewish newspaper in furthering negative stereotypes with their impolitic naming of the religion of those accused in the Postville meat packing scandal.

Agriprocessors has been cited multiple times by federal and state regulators for food-safety, environmental, labor and animal cruelty violations. The violations were widely reported by a Jewish newspaper, the Forward, prompting Jewish advocacy groups to note that Jewish law protects workers and forbids inflicting unnecessary pain on animals.

So far, no officials from Agriprocessors have been charged in the immigration case. The company has been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for labor and environmental charges in previous years, and it faced two recent meat recalls…

“How can those who are responsible for preparing religiously fit meat not conduct themselves in a religiously proper manner? It’s an embarrassment to the Jewish community — how can this be seen as Jewishly fit?” asked Henry Karp, a Reform rabbi in Davenport, Iowa. The word “kosher” in English means “fit.”

Last week’s affidavit filed by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement quoted unnamed informants alleging that Agriprocessors paid undocumented workers $5 an hour and underreported worker injuries. The informants also asserted that there was a methamphetamine lab in the plant and that weapons were either “traded for drugs or sold” on the premises. Agriprocessors declined to comment on the allegations but said it is cooperating with the government.

Shame on all of us. Some things should never be spoken, even by a Rabbi.

CONTEST: This is a test for our regular visitors and bloggers. The first three most accurate answerers get a log in at NOVA TownHall – AMNESTY – for a time period of no less than one week and they get announced far and wide.

All victors get their first round of adult beverages at the next NVTH consortium covered by me.

Please examine the graphic below (click on it for a larger image).

Questions:

- Identify each numbered element.

- Explain how each element is to be used.

- Explain why.

The contest ends at midnight of May 21, 2008. Thanks, and I look forward to good times with all of you.

UPDATE: Talk about being on the same wavelength: Blog Fu had it figured out within minutes of my posting it. Nice work, Greg, and I look forward to delivering your prizes sometime soon.

The only correction I will make is once assembled, the package must be delivered to the post office counter because of the rule limiting the size that can be placed in a mail box. It’s no biggee, as explained in this post. The postal clerks are perfectly willing to take the package and it will be delivered C.O.D, no questions asked. (The reason for switching to Spanish-language yellow pages is because I think they will provide a better potential growth area to assist Juan Hernandez in his outreach efforts).

UPDATE II: Oh, and I imagine the last thing Greg needs is another place to blog but if he wants to take advantage of Amnesty Week he can always be our guest.

A Guard the Borders Blogburst guest post by Nancy Matthis of ADMC

The Federal immigration raid last Monday in Postville, Iowa evoked all the stereotypical dramas — illegal aliens, identity theft, stolen Social Security cards, underage workers, worker abuse, a drug lab, a local school system burdened with illegal Hispanic children, a Protestant (mostly Lutheran) small town co-opted by Jewish business interests, Jewish businessmen skirting the law to turn an extra buck, a Catholic church offering sanctuary, an American labor union pitted against the Jewish businessmen who were hiring the cheaper illegal labor, a clash between two US government agencies with competing jurisdiction, pandering politicians scrambling to collect points with the Hispanic vote, liberal sympathizers supporting illegals in suing the government, foreign consulates sticking their noses in, protests that the civil rights of these criminal invaders have been violated and finally the WaPo putting a liberal spin on the news.

It is the stuff of opera, but this plot would be difficult to stage, because there are so many sub-themes that an audience could not follow the action. Ditto for the American public, trying to follow this in the mainstream news media that omit relevant background out of political correctness.

Illegal Aliens

Last Monday, on May 12 at 10 AM in the morning, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided the world’s largest kosher meat packing plant, located in Postville, Iowa. From the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier:

continue reading…

UPDATE: On the 11th District portion of the story below, two commenters say BVBL has bad information. Rick Hendrix says

Huh? Jim Gilmore did NOT “storm the stage” at the 11th District Convention. Convention Chairman Jay O’Brien called for the Credentials Committee report. When it was apparent the report wasn’t ready yet, he invited Governor Gilmore to come up and address the convention.

James Young says

Rick is exactly correct. I was ON the stage, and Greg does not accurately report how Gilmore came onto the stage.

As for “glaring,” I can’t honestly say. Even if he had been, Jay certainly couldn’t have seen it, with the bright lights on the stage. I could barely see that Gilmore was there, and he was right in the front row.

UPDATE II: Shad Plank is running a quick “Marshall v Gilmore” poll – go over and vote!

Blog Fu has a pretty damning report of hubris and general incompetence by the Jim Gilmore campaign Saturday at a couple of the district Conventions. Gilmore reportedly lost his temper and stormed the stage at the 11th District Convention, in order to give his speech earlier than was scheduled on the agenda, then arrived late at the 10th District, after the speeches were over and attendees had nearly all left, where a Gilmore staffer reportedly complained that Bob Marshall should not have been allowed to speak until Gilmore arrived.

Jim Gilmore is not a particularly easy candidate to get excited about, which is why so many of us whose time is too valuable to devote to anything we don’t really care about are supporting Bob Marshall for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.

But incidents like Saturday’s show a distinctly unappealing side to Jim Gilmore and/or his campaign management team, and do not inspire confidence in how he would fare against Mark Warner in the general election. Gilmore appears to think he is owed a great deal of deference by Virginia Republicans. I suggest this presumption is misguided.

Gilmore likely lost a number of delegates on Saturday, and will lose many more tomorrow when the world wakes up and reads the entire Blog Fu account.

The good guys won in 2008. That is the most important part.

The 2008 10th District of Virginia Republican Convention was MUCH better run than the 2006 edition of this event.

Ahem.

Part of the improvement is attributable to the fact that Jim Rich had no opposition as committee chair. Part is because Langley High School was a better venue than Survivor: Horse Country. And I think people kind of wanted to take care of the business and get out of there. (That’s the reason for the abridged coverage by me this time: I had other things to do today and could not hang out until the end.)

It was sort of curious that the balloting had to be broken into two segments. First phase was the voting on all the major candidates. Second phase – hours later – would be voting on “alternate” delegates to the Republican National Convention, who could not be determined until all the votes from the first ballot were tabulated so we would know who the “first” delegates were. This meant, everyone voting on the alternate delegates had to wait around. Hypothetically. Because in reality, most of the voters would certainly have already left. Why not just have one vote, and the three next-highest vote-getters are named as alternates?

10th District Committee Chairman Jim Rich may be a great guy, but a manager he is not. On paper the above might have seemed like a reasonable workflow, but in reality it assumed some really dumb things. Such as, those sitting through the Convention on a spectacular Saturday afternoon would be motivated to stick around for ballot counting and a later vote. On alternates for delegate positions that most voters do not even understand. I had family commitments, so I was not there for the second vote.

If the meeting had been run with Swiss-watch like efficiency, it might have worked. But the first signal this was not the case came when the report from the Rules Committee showed that the three pages of rules had to be read from the podium – because the 10th District staff had neglected to provide copies of the printed rules at the entrance to the Convention hall. Reading the rules was not a powerful tactic for audience engagement, I can assure you. I joined many others leaving the meeting room in search of coffee.

The proceedings, led in an extremely competent fashion by Delegate Tom Rust, got bogged down because the Credentials Committee had to spend nearly an hour adjudicating cases of people who showed up seconds late for the 10:00 am registration cut-off time. A couple signs and some observers in the registration area could have obviated the whole mess.

So what with Tom Rust’s agile leadership and a generally quiescent audience could have been one of the most efficient political conventions in the history of western civilization, this ended up being pretty much like all the others because of subpar management. It dragged on.

I got to see some great friends and fellow bloggers. Our own Brian Withnell was among those who arrived late. Six seconds, to be exact. So even though the clock still read 10:00 am, Brian and his wife were told by 10th District staff they were too late to participate – and Brian is too much of a gentleman to even suggest a protest. They left, and their case was not among those adjudicated by the Credentials Committee. Most of the NVTH blogging crew were there. Also, I got to finally meet Ron of Isophorone Blog, my third-party brother in arms, and I got to spend some always-enjoyable time with Blog Fu.

In attendance from the town next door were newly re-elected Herndon Mayor Steve DeBenedittis, Councilman Dennis Husch, and Help Save Herndon co-founder Phil Jones. I am guessing Fairfax County’s delegation contributed a sizeable number of votes for the good guys on the ticket.

Here’s a screwy thing that a friend brought to my attention, and another commentary on 10th District Chair Jim Rich’s management savoir faire.

The 10th District staff enforced the rules on signage. None allowed inside the Convention.

But, hey, what is the dominant sign within the Convention and the backdrop for the stage?

So while Frank Wolf’s challenger, Vern McKinley, had to play by the rules, the incumbent did not.

Vern had to keep his signs outside.

It’s not easy out here for a regular citizen who wants to represent us in the U.S. Congress.