He should buy a lottery ticket

Once a year a line of bicyclists zooms by. Well, not exactly.

The first rider and a few small groups behind him (her?) zoom passed the house. The next riders are zooming, too, but just not as fast. They're followed for hours by broken strings of other bicyclists, individuals and groups, with each going a bit more slowly, until there aren't any more. Whenever that might be or how many are involved, who knows.

It's the annual Tour de Fort, an almost forty-mile jaunt that begins somewhere up the road and goes all over the place, until it circles back and ends where it started.

Da Kid had just gotten dressed after coming out of the shower when we heard the first screams. A mix of someone in pain and others yelling for help.

We've been here long enough to know what it means. Either there'd been another automobile accident or someone had probably been hit by a car, and with the jumble of bicycles on the ground just outside the fence, odds were this time it was at least one of the riders.

Hubby grabbed the phone and began calling 911; Da Kid flew out the door at a dead run. I snatched up a blanket and the first aid kit following him.

Whoever the man lying on the ground is, when he gets out of the hospital he definitely needs to buy a lottery ticket.

He hadn't been hit by a car. Something had happened to his heart rate and his implanted cardiac defibrilator had shocked it back into a normal rhythm, something it did several times while he lay there on the ground.

The episode occurred just as he passed a group of bicyclists instead him being alone as he had been for much of the ride, in front of a house in which one of the residents (Da Kid) responds to emergencies of this nature as part of his job, and instead of in the middle of no where, in a location smack dab in between two fire stations, both of which were on site with paramedics within 15 minutes.

Like I said, the man needs to buy a lottery ticket when he's released.

United 93

The movie officially opens tonight . The theater had two earlier showings. I've just come back from seeing it.

I didn't want to see this movie. I don't need to be reminded of 9-11 because I haven't forgotten that day nor will I ever. I'm not going to give you any long reasons or explanations of why I went except to say as silly as it may seem, I felt it was the right thing to do. And I'm not going to tell you to go see it. That's something you're going to have to decide for yourself just as I did.

United 93 starts off quietly, ordinarily just like September 11, 2001, itself, did. The intensity grows, just like it did that morning.

From air traffic control centers to NORAD, the unimaginable becomes the horrible reality of that day. What has occurred remains unknown to the passengers on United 93, until after the horror had already begun on their own flight.

There are moments of graphic violence depicted on the plane but none of it is done gratuitously. It happens so quickly, too, that on one level you already know what happened but on another, because of the use of hand-held cameras for the filming providing a you-are-there feel, you're also in the middle of the chaos and confusion.

Some movies are described as stunning because of their cinematography or costumes. I'm describing United 93 in that manner because I was so stunned, I was surprised to find the sun was still shining outside when I left the theater. Yes, it is that forceful.

There are no heroes in United 93. What there are is ordinary people like you and me who, on that flight, did not go to their deaths meekly. Knowing that unless they did something they were going to die, they joined together to fight for their lives.

With as political as the Oscars have become, I'll be shocked if United 93 receives a nomination in any of the major categories. What it deserves is Best Picture and for Paul Greengrass, Best Screenplay and Best Director.

Everything you've heard about this film is true.

They're in the mood for lurve ...

We're having a bumper crop of reptiles this year.

Because of their size I suspect the gopher tortoises are only searching for new homes after their habitat was "disturbed" when a few months ago, all the tall pine was taken off the tree farm in back.

Frogs is frogs, except for the little ones with suction-thingies on their toes. We've always had a few of the latter here and there by the hoses and faucets, but even with as dry as it is because of the little rain we've had so far this year, they're all over the place.

I haven't seen that many snakes, not that I want to see any, but the Black Racers I have seen have been big. Long? The longest one was over three feet, an eyeball measurement only made when a neighbor — who comes running whenever he hears me scream I call — captured it and held it up for me to see. ("Jay," an amateur herpetologist, either added it to his collection of "pets" OR he took it out into what's left of the woods in back and turned it loose. I don't care so long as he gets them out of here.)

Lizards are everywhere. The skinks hanging ‘round the feed and hay shed are so numerous I hardly notice them anymore as they scurry around. (Hardly.) Chameleons don't bother me and haven't for years, ever since that time long ago when one of the dogs decided to eat one.

Being the nice person I am, I opened the dog's mouth, crammed my hand down its throat grabbing the Chameleon by its tail and dragged it out, thereby saving its life.

The Chameleon thanked me by taking off leaving its flip-flapping tail still between my fingers. ("Jay" heard me and came running thinking I'd spotted another snake.) After that I began ignoring my dogs' strange dietary habits.

I've spotted a different kind of lizard around this year, not that I study them you understand, but these were kind of hard to miss.

About a week ago I was just starting to go up the back steps when the activity drew my attention. Looking more closely I was immediately transported back to those old, filmed in black and white, horror movies I knew as a kid. You, too, might recognize them.

The hero and heroine (and the disposable extras) are in a world filled with dinosaurs. As the terrified heroine screams (and keeps screaming) two dinosaurs, the rills on their backs erect, are locked in mortal combat.

Mouths clamped shut on the others leg or throat, over and over they roll, each one refusing to let go! It's a battle to the death!

Sure was.

I'm certain thanks to the lizard's ability to regenerate missing parts the one lizard would have grown a new tail. I'm not sure about the leg on the other but . . . well, Starbuck showed up and before they knew it (<GULP>) they were both gone.

I wanted to blog about these lizards, their battle and scenes in dinosaur movies of old, but needed a picture to go with it. I finally got my chance to get one yesterday when once again I spotted two lizards rolling around.

I grabbed my camera and began shooting blindly, getting closer and closer with each and every step, hoping for a clear shot when suddenly, the lizards took off in opposite directions.

It wasn't until I'd loaded the pics onto The Beast and zoomed in on my last shot that I realized . . .

Jeez, I'm sorry. I really didn't intend to interrupt.

Guard the Borders Blogburst

By Heidi at Euphoric Reality

Facts are a funny thing. They are conveniently forgotten if they don’t uphold one’s point-of-view, and they’re easily overlooked if they are randomly scattered about. But when solid facts are brought together in one place, the pattern is difficult to ignore. The facts I’m about to provide below are just such a case. People may be able to overlook a single fact, but the weight of their significance cannot be denied when they come together in one place. That is the purpose of this week’s Blogburst - to look at some hard facts.

I think it’s important to study the problems of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas as instructive for the rest of the states. It may be that others can write off the doom of California by saying, “Well, that’s just California, a loony state of fruits and nuts - that would never happen here.” But while California is tipping head-first into ruin, it is highly indicative of the chain of events the rest of us are blindly bumbling through. Arizona and New Mexico have declared official states of emergency because they are completely unable to handle the burden of the influx of illegals into their communities. Texas is not far behind with mass hospital closings, an overwhelmed and declining school system, and a climbing crime rate. Just because one lives in Idaho or Nebraska or Maine does not mean that it won’t happen to you! You’re just a few years behind the curve.

The following 10 facts have been pulled from the LA Times. We’ve posted them all at one time or another at ER or in the Blogburst.

1. L.A. County has 10 million people. 40% of all workers in L.A. County are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants, working without a green card.

2. Of the 10 million people in L.A. County, 5.1 million people speak English. 3.9 million speak only Spanish.

3. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.

4. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.

5. Over two-thirds of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by taxpayers.

6. Nearly 25% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.

7. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.

8. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.

9. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.

10. 21 radio stations in L.A. are Spanish language only.

We need to look at the experience of California as inevitable for the rest of us - if we don’t, we’re only burying our heads in the sand and bequeathing that future to our children! After all, if we keep merrily careening down the road to California, we can’t be dumbfounded when we actually end up in California, can we?!

Here are a few more facts on a national scale:

1. Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops but 36% are on welfare.

2. Over 70% of the United States annual population growth (and over 90% of California, Florida, and New York) results from immigration.

3. The United States receives more immigrants every year than the rest of the world combined.

4. The cost of immigration to the American taxpayer in 1997 was a NET (after subtracting taxes immigrants pay) $70 BILLION a year [Professor Donald Huddle, Rice University].

5. The lifetime fiscal impact (taxes paid minus services used) for the average adult Mexican immigrant is a NEGATIVE.

6. 29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens.

The problems of illegal immigration are not solely “border state” problems. They impact everyone. California and Texas are the two biggest economic engines in the United States - and they are teetering on bankruptcy on a catastrophic scale. If they go bust, guess who picks up the pieces? Indiana, New Hampshire, South Dakota, West Virginia, and all the rest. Illegal immigration is not - I repeat, NOT - a border state problem. It’s a burden we’re all bearing and a risk we’re all sharing.

We are way past the point of half-way measures and temporary fixes. As a nation, we must demand a definitive, decisive, no-nonsense solution. We cannot be placated by smarmy speeches from self-interested politicians, or fooled by spin semantics (”it’s a guest worker program - not amnesty”), or lulled into apathy by the drone of our everyday lives.

We cannot leave this crisis to our children. Do something! Get out of your comfort zone and get involved. There are bigger issues at stake than the price of lettuce! The time is critical. And it’s NOW.

_________________________________

This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we’re going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our Blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.

AT ANY COST

Since I'd already bought, read and enjoyed two other books by Bill Sammon, (former White House correspondent for the Washington Times, now with the Washington Examiner) I broke down and bought an earlier one he'd written. His first. By the third page I was hooked and when I finished did something I rarely do. I immediately started reading AT ANY COST (How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election) all over again right from the first page.

I bought AT ANY COST not long before the 2004 election. Of the four books Sammon's now written, I still think this one is the best. It begins:

I stopped at home en route to the airport and stuffed a change of clothes in my briefcase. My wife suggested I pack a proper bag, but I assured her: "It's a two-day story — tops." Then I headed out the door, unaware that I would remain in Florida for the next forty-six days.

When I got home after voting in 2004, the MSM was celebrating reporting constantly that Kerry was way ahead in the exit polls. I understood why they were doing it. I'd read Sammon's book.

Later, I was fixing dinner listening to Sean Hannity blabber away, sounding downright panicky, saying that although it looked like Kerry'd already won, there was still time for Republicans to vote for Dubya!

Doesn't he know, I wondered, how screwed up exit polls are because of the way they're conducted, how the people doing them are hired, their background and the inherent liberal bias in the whole danged process.

I did. I'd read Sammon's book.

That night Hubby and I were watching the television coverage before all the polls nationwide had closed, and I knew why THEY were still yammering away about exit polls, like they supposedly meant something. I was also fully aware, this time, when the actual votes started being tallied of the massive discrepancy between how the talking heads are calling states for Kerry or Dubya.

You guessed it. I'd read AT ANY COST.

Sammon's last three books (the last one very recently published) have labeled him as a Bush cheerleader. I'm not talking about them. Sammon's reporting on Bush in this one is background since his assignment for the Washington Times was covering the 2000 Election, including on several occasions traveling with the Gore campaign.

AT ANY COST doesn't really kick into high gear, though, until Sammon begins slicing and dicing the maneuvering done and shenanigans played by politicians, attorneys, judges, party hacks and the talking-heads hoping to ensure a Gore election starting on election day.

What effect did the MSM's announcement that Gore had already won even before many voters had cast their ballot? Read it, not just in the studies Sammon cites but in the first-person story of a Florida Panhandle voter — a largely Republican area — who'd never NOT voted before. But on the way from work to his precinct, he headed home instead after the news reports coming through his truck's radio said Gore had already won. And it wasn't just Florida Once the announcements were made, the effect dominoed across the entire country.

When it comes to the media, Sammon is merciless. His description and analysis of the games they played on that election night is devastating. You will never watch election night coverage the same way again.

The Florida Supreme Court's decision and the USSC's? Do you recall it only in a confused and confusing blur? Sammon lays it all out filing by filing, court by court and decision by decision, in a manner the MSM didn't and won't.

A step-by-step look at the desperate attempt to disenfranchise absentee ballots cast by military voters, again with a first-person effect: a Navy Lieutenant aboard the Tarawa who learned while his ship was escorting the badly damaged USS Cole to safety, that his ballot had been disqualified simply because it didn't have a postmark.

Sammon dissects the complete chaos of the recounts (and recounts of recounts) in each of the Democrat counties Gore picked as his best bet for changing the results in Florida and winning the presidency, and how the canvassing boards jiggled and re-jiggled the standards repeatedly, sometimes on the span of only a few hours WHILE in the middle of counting.

Sammon's a darned good read, too, with an easy style. He also has an eye for the absurd (like the "Brooks Brothers uprising" that culminated in Democrat and Republican recount volunteers in the same room at the same time, both frantically trying to toss out more of the opponent's ballots than the other side could of theirs) and loons, like Dan Rather and his nonsensical "Ratherisms."

With the 2006 election fast approaching, I'm not only telling you to read this book. I'm telling you to buy it. In hardcover. Then every two years just before an election, do what I'm doing right now: Pull it from the shelf and read it again.

Ka-BOOM!

Just in time for the rising cost of gas, Da Kid traded in his paid for 2000, 6-cylinder Ford Ranger for payments on a brand-spankin' new, 8-cylinder Nissan Titan. My job, as his mother devil's advocate during the process, was to tell him what his mistakes were and suggest ways to remedy them. (My primary argument was that he'd just paid the Ranger off and since it hadn't ever given him any trouble he didn't need a new freakin' truck, especially a new-new monster-sized one.)

For the most part he listened to me and did what I suggested, except for buying the truck that is. He knew exactly what he wanted (I wonder where he gets that from.) and after a week of him throwing stuff and saying nasty things (about car salespersons and dealerships) as soon as he walked in the door, he came home with the truck he wanted at a danged good price, amazing even since after the deal was done he'd even gotten the dealership to toss in a few freebies (like the top-of-the-line spray-on bedliner) instead of charging him extra.

As soon as Da Kid got The Truck gas prices started to climb. He's smart enough to know not to complain to me about it because that was one of my arguments to him for keeping the Ranger.

But now like he's been doing even when he was driving the Ranger, when my car needs gas I've found a way to save 20 cents a gallon.

I don't buy it here.

He works up there and I don't but when my tank gets to about a quarter full (I have this thing about not letting it get any lower than that.) I go to a station 25 minutes away and fill it up. The difference in price is every easy to explain: Florida's tax on gasoline is 20 cents more a gallon than Georgia's.

I love as the prices started climbing again, the usual suspects once again started blaming the "Big Bad Oil Companies" and, of course, Dubya.

Too bad no one ever takes an honest look at why we're paying so much at the pump. Oops! Via Boortz it looks like the Washington Post did.

Add to that if I recall correctly, and I think I do, Dubya has been pushing from the start to reduce our dependence of foreign oil by FINALLY opening up ANWR. Alternative energy sources completely aside, we have oil deposits that have never been tapped because of objections raised by environmental whackjobs.

Speaking of environmental whackjobs, not only have no new refineries been built in the US because of their objections but the price is jumping now because many distribution terminals have been taken off line while they convert from what they were processing (that's being phased out) for one mixed with corn-based ethanol.

Anyone remember how when gas prices were going nuts immediately after Katrina how they dropped and how quickly they did the instant Dubya ordered that refineries stop worrying about producing environmentally-sensitive designer blends of gasoline and just start cranking out the plain ol' ordinarly kind?

Of course I'm not suggesting that Dubya do that again.

If he did I'm certain the skull of each and every environmental whackjob would simply explode, further increasing global warming.

Quotable Quotes

"[T]he process of auditing is pivotal to Scientology. The auditing process consists of one-on-one counseling, during which a member's responses to questions are monitored on a device called an "e-meter." The e-meter is similar to a polygraph. It is also very expensive and, together with the training courses, a good and faithful Scientologist can spend tens of thousands of dollars getting "clear," i.e., free from life's problems. (I have achieved basically the same thing with alcohol and drugs, and a damn sight cheaper.)" -- Juan Paxety

Now taking applications

White House press spokesman Scott McClellan had hardly announced his resignation today before rumors began swirling (Leaks began dripping?) on who would be chosen to replace him.

Names mentioned so far (that I recognized) include Tony Snow (Fox News), Torie Clark (former Pentagon spokesman spokeswoman spokesperson) and Ann Coulter.

With as polite and shy and respectful as the White House press corps is, I think Coulter would be an excellent choice BUT, as I've stated before, there's someone else far better suited.



LATER: Carnivalized at Carnival of the Trackbacks LX

I hate these things!

Bass (66% dark & bitter, 33% working class, 66% genuine)

So the deal with this test is that each taker, based on his or her scores, is assigned a beer that fits their personality (Corona, Bud Select, and so on), and along with the personality description, there's a poster or an ad for that beer. As you can imagine, most of the images feature booty models, sports cars, or, maybe even more depressing, retro kitsch. It's a testament to Bass Ale, and therefore to YOU, that when I went to look for ads for Bass, all I found was this. An ad from 1937. Bass is legit, and if your scores are true, so are you. I tip my glass to that. Personality-wise, you have refined tastes (after all, Bass is kind of expensive), but you know how to savor what you get. Your personality isn't exactly bubbly, but you're well-liked by your close circle of friends. Your sense of humor is rather dark, but that's just another way to say sophisticated, right? Cheers.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 50% on dark You scored higher than 0% on workingclass You scored higher than 16% on genuine

Link: The If You Were A Beer Test written by gwendolynbooks on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Via: Tammi

Clarity

A few weeks ago — the Friday of the first illegal alien demonstration in Los Angeles — waiting for my car to be serviced, I ended up in front of the big screen TV the dealership has in its waiting area.

I'd brought a book with me to read (BUSH COUNTRY by John Podhoretz, it's <waggle hand> and not really worth blogging about ) when a salesman — perhaps emboldened because of the book's title — interrupted my reading to point out to me what was on the screen.

I didn't hear what he said but seeing the incredible number of people shown on the screen and the caption "Immigrants Rally," his attitude ticked me off. Not that it takes much for me to get ticked off at car salesmen (or women) and fast, but this one's body english and tone indicated that he was less than pleased with people demonstrating against, as the talking heads described it, the immigration bill being considered by Congress.

"It's about damned time immigrants FINALLY took a stand and made their objections known," I spat. And, off he stomped.

That's when I noticed for the first time the station they had on: CNN.

CNN? Providing this much coverage for a "rally" by immigrants in response to legislation that toughen penalties? Wow! Yes!!! There must be so many immigrants, CNN COULDN'T ignore . . .

(<Cue James Earl Jones!>) This . . . is CNN.

So there I sat, my mind going in endless circles something like . . .

CNN uses the phrase "undocumented worker" to mean illegal alien but they're saying these are immigrants, not "undocumented workers" so maybe they are real immigrants but [(<Cue James Earl Jones!>) this . . . is CNN] so maybe they're calling them immigrants now to . . . but if so then why are these people rallying for . . . maybe they're demonstrating against all those Senate bills being discussed . . . but . . . [(<Cue James Earl Jones!>) this . . . is CNN] so maybe instead of . . . wait, thehousebill. I forgot the bill the House of Representatives just passed. If that's the legislation they're "rallying" against then it all FINALLY makes sense! They're not immigrants, and that's why CNN is calling them immigrants!

Or something.

I came across a new phrase today, folks.

Instead of calling illegal aliens illegal aliens and since "undocumented worker" translates to illegal alien and so many are catching on to the substitution of "immigrant" for illegal alien, I think calling them "Imported Laborers" is just so . . . it's just so . . .

Go ahead, fill in the blank.

Guard The Borders Blogburst

A Welfare State With Illegal Immigration Offers Businesses a Better Deal Than Slavery
by Darnell MaGavock at [1] Indpendent Conservative

Let me start by saying I don’t endorse either slavery or illegal immigration. But looking at things from the economic standpoint of a company that hires illegals today versus the use of slave labor in the 18th and 19th centuries, illegal immigration offers companies a better deal than any slave owner ever had. The reason is the modern day welfare state that is known as America.

During American slavery, the slave owner was responsible for the total care of the slave. Although slave masters did this “on the cheap” they had to provide housing, food, clothing and medical care for the slave and their entire family. This resulted in the institution of slavery being more of a loss than gain over time. The only other option was to grant freedom to slaves who were a great expense, but that involved the strain of possibly breaking a family. Separating families often resulted in the other slaves trying harder to escape to be with loved ones. Non-profitable slaves were not sellable, because nobody else wanted the burden. This was the slave master’s dilemma, that people like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin figured out. They realized that slavery was not financially good over time - because the “free labor” was not really “free”, given the need to provide full care to the slave labor force. This was in addition to the expense of buying a slave in the first place.

Today’s employer of illegal immigrants does not have any of the hassles experienced by slave owners. The employer of illegals offers them a very small salary and no benefits. Which means such an employer never runs the risk of going cash-flow-negative on labor costs. They can adjust wages at will, because they will always find an illegal that is willing to accept the rate. This is the reason [2] Cesar Chavez once disliked illegal immigration. If one set of illegals tried to “strike” for better wages, the company would simply replace them with new illegals that were willing to accept the pay rate offered to them.

So the employer of illegals has no direct issues with having to fund housing, medical or the expense of educating the children of illegal immigrants. These are expenses that American taxpayers have been funding. Government (funded by taxpayers) helps illegals secure home loans and encourages banks to give them out. Government (funded by taxpayers) is picking up the medical expenses of illegals. Government (funded by taxpayers) is educating the children of illegal aliens.

You may have seen the CNN Special “Immigrant Nation: Divided Nation”. If you did, you saw profiles of illegals that live in my county of Gwinnett Georgia. The show often tried to make granting amnesty to illegals look like a good thing, but like the slave master’s dilemma, even the tax paying illegals do not come close to covering the expenses involved in caring for them.

Excerpts from, [3] Transcript of CNN Special Report - Immigrant Nation: Divided Nation

…
HINOJOSA: Ten years ago when I first came to Georgia, I asked people if there was a Latino neighborhood, or barrio. I got a lot of strange looks.

Now I’m here in the heart of just one of the many Latino barrios in Georgia. I can get some of the best tacos outside of Mexico right here 24 hours a day. The home of Martin Luther King, the state that gave us the civil rights movement, is now home to half a million Latinos, a 300 percent increase in a decade.
…
HINOJOSA: Estimates vary, but somewhere between 7 and 20 million people are living in this country illegally, one of the largest populations of undocumented immigrants in the world. Most of them come across this border. According to the U.S. government, over 1 million were caught last year alone.

This latest wave of immigrants has spread far beyond the southwest and the West Coast. Latino immigrant communities are now fixtures across the nation, especially in the south, in places like Gwinnett County, Georgia.
…
HINOJOSA: Rosa first came to Georgia two years ago, all alone.

Last year, unable to bear the separation any longer, Rosa paid a smuggler $5,000 to wade her children across the river at night, but they were caught at a checkpoint and immediately deported. Rosa faced a difficult decision.

ROSA (through translator): I told my daughter, you have two options. I either stay in Mexico with you, or I will leave for the States for another year in preparation to bring the two of you. Then my daughter told me to return to the States so I could bring them eventually.
…
HERCHEK: I’m afraid that America could become a third world country. We’re importing poverty by millions every year.
…
HINOJOSA (on camera): The numbers say it all. Ten years ago, these schools served very few Spanish-speaking students. In 2003, one out of 10 students listed Spanish as their primary language, $26 million will be spent in Gwinnett County in English language services.
…
HINOJOSA: Federal law says people are entitled to emergency medical care, whether or not they’re in this country legally. In one year Georgia paid $58 million in emergency Medicaid reimbursement for undocumented immigrants.
…
The smugglers will be paid almost $6,000 by Rosa if they were successful, would show border agents false papers for the children. They didn’t make it.

Despite their fake papers, Junior and Rosita were detained. The smugglers were arrested. The children were returned to Mexico and reunited with their grandmother. Despite the set back, Rosa vows to try again.

ROSA (through translator): I will keep trying to bring them. The sooner the better. If in 15 days I find someone to bring them here, then we will try again with them.
…

Unlike slavery, with illegal immigration the burden of expenses is carried by the entire nation. So instead of individual plantation owners having to endure the expenses of supposedly cheap labor, it is a burden carried by taxpaying Americans.

It is my family that endures pain, while waiting behind illegals for medical care. It is my tax dollars that pay for education of illegals, that by school rules have 6 years to learn English and many drop out before ever finishing school. So they take up much space and expense, while not even learning much during the process. While school time is spent on illegals, it diverts resources and teaching time away from children in a legal family. And I’m not even going to get into the issues with gangs. (That would require its own post.)

The issues I see here in Gwinnett County, Georgia will only get worse with anything that encourages illegal immigration or makes them feel they will be rewarded. And the issues will get worse for America. The nation will not be able to sustain the expense of this dilemma for much longer. It is causing the nation to engage in a race to the bottom and then we all lose.

America’s borders need to be secured and the only means made for immigration should be via the current legalization process. What employers of illegals see as a “resource” is really a great expense. Immigration requires regulation to prevent this nation’s collapse.
__________________________________________

This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It is syndicated by [4] Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we’re going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration in our country, join the Blogburst! Send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.

GRRRRRRRRRR

FAIR TAX!

Dammit

Question: When Doyle is making even minor changes to her sidebar, how many times does she screw something up and have to go back and fix it.

Answer: I'd rather not talk about it.

(At least I didn't blow the damned thing up this time.)

UN-Dependability

After finally fessing up to the UN that it had been lying for years about its nuclear enrichment programs; jerking the UN, the EU (and everybody else) around with bogus negotiations about its nuclear enrichment programs; and the day after it announced that it had enriched its first uranium and was immediately going to start work on making a lot more; we learn today (via Eye On the UN) that Iran has been elected co-chair of the UN's Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Commission.

Quotable Quotes

"[S]ome sort of one-time amnesty, as opposed to the old rolling and periodic reprieves, could only be discussed in the context of closing the border, precluding guest worker programs, and returning to assimilationist policies, so that the present pool of millions of illegal aliens would vanish rather than being perpetually replenished. Very rapid assimilation might work if the pool of those who come illegally, without English or education, to work largely in low-paying service jobs, would be vastly curtailed. In some sense, guest workers are far more destabilizing than a one-time amnesty. The former constantly enlarges the number of exploited and soon to be disillusioned aliens; the latter ends it. The prohibition of bilingual government documents and services, and of a racially chauvinistic and separatist curriculum in our schools and universities, would also send a powerful message that one should not come north unless he is willing to become a full-fledged American in every linguistic, cultural, and political sense of the word." -- Victor Davis Hanson

(That's just one paragraph from France's Immigrant Problem - and Ours, linked to above.)

Old Man

OLD MAN
(For Lucky - 4/11/00)

Doc, we had another scare today
With "Old Man" dog, my friend.
And once again I've had to face
That this could be the end.

But for tonight, another night
He's sleeping by my side
And once again I'm spared the tears
I'll try so hard to hide.

Doc, I know you know
How much he means to me.
But, Doc, Old Man is not a dog.
He's my friend. You see

Friends are not possessions.
For them you'll take the pain
Of letting go, not holding on
So they won't hurt again.

And Old Man dog will tell me
When his joy in life is gone.
His eyes will simply tell me,
"You're only holding on.

"Friends are not possessions.
For me please take the pain
Of letting go, not holding on.
Set me free, my friend."

Vete a la mierda tu puta baracha

Thank you, Jaime Contreras for that warm introduction.

Buenos tardes! Gracias por darme la oportunidad de estar en este evento. Y gracias por demandar justicia para todos los inmigrantes.

I look across this historic gathering and I see the future of America. As President Kennedy proclaimed a half century ago, we are a Nation of Immigrants. And today, we stand together as brothers and sisters to shape America’s destiny – old Americans, new Americans, future Americans – all joined together for the common good.

Let me ask you some questions. Are you ready? (Estas listo?)

Do you have a job? (Tienes trabajo?)

Do you love your family? (Amas a su familia?)

Do you love your community? (Amas a su comunidad?)

Do you love America? (Amas a America?)

You are what this debate is about. It is about good people who come to America to work, to raise their families, to contribute to their communities, and to reach for the American dream.

This debate goes to the heart of who we are as Americans. It will determine who can earn the privilege of citizenship.

It will determine our strength in separating those who would harm us from those who contribute to our values.

It will determine our future progress as a nation and our future economic growth.

Some in Congress want to turn America away from its true spirit. They believe immigrants are criminals. That’s false.

They believe any of us who help immigrants – even our priests – are criminals, too. That’s false.

They say you should report to deport. I say report to become American citizens.

More than four decades ago, near this place, Martin Luther King called on the nation to let freedom ring. Freedom did ring – and freedom can ring again.

It is time for Americans to lift their voices now -- in pride for our immigrant past and in pride for our immigrant future.

We stand for the future. (Nosotros apoyamos el futuro.)

We stand for our families. (Nosotros apoyamos nuestras familias.)

We stand for our faith. (Nosotros apoyamos nuestra fe.)

I stand with you. And you and you and you and you.

Are you with me? (Estan conmigo?)

John McCain and I have a plan. It is a strong plan. It is a fair plan. It is a plan for America’s future.

And today we are making that future happen.

Will you support us? (Me apoyan?)

Will you support us? (Me apoyan?)

Will you support us? (Me apoyan?)

Well, I’m here today to say that we will support you, too. (Nosotros vamos a apoyar a ustedes tambien.)

We will never give up. We will never give in.

Hasta la Victoria!

Si se puede!

-- Sen. Ted (Osama-Obama-Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong) Kennedy

Squirrels laugh

Today would have been Tank's 13th birthday. No surprise that I began the day feeling blue. I miss him.

A few hours later my mood had lifted. I'd come back inside laughing and I'm still grinning, not that Starbuck was or is particularly pleased.

Just as always I opened the back door this morning to take him out for the first time, and off he zoomed. His first stop was the back gate to see if he could see the feral cat that's been hanging around that he chased out through the gate . . . umm, about two weeks ago.

After I've made sure the gate is not just latched but strapped closed to make sure Starbuck doesn't get out, I head out (Starbuck zooming by me) to the front gate (and unstrap it) to search for the newspaper and check the mailbox.

By the time I've finally found the newspaper and sorted through the mail (and putting the mail mistakenly crammed into my mail box into the appropriate neighbors') Starbuck's done peeing and usually ready to go back in.

I say usually because if his nose has found something, it overwhelms his single-cell brain and he might be out there for a while running with his nostrils to the ground over the same path again and again. And again. And again. And . . .

Or if something moves, Starbuck's always in hot pursuit.

He'll run with his head up in the air chasing squirrels as they jump from tree to tree until he loses sight of it / them. Then he'll take off completely across the yard because he just spotted it / them over there! "There it / they are!" And off he goes again.

I know the squirrels laugh at Starbuck, as they chatter messages back and forth in squirrel speak that if translated into human might go something like this: "Okay, I've ducked out of Dummy's sight now. <tee-hee-hee> Your turn. I'm giving odds today on who gives out first: Dummy or his screaming human. Any takers?"

Starbuck chases and plays with wiggly stuff, too. Wiggly stuff like snakes.

I know there are some bad ones out there that Starbuck may meet up with one day. I gave up trying to stop him a long time ago but not through lack of trying.

See, when Starbuck flips ‘em, snakes "break" and then he has his choice of two wiggling things to run around with. So while I'm trying to get him away from one, he takes off with the other. When I chase him down he's broken that piece into two MORE wiggling things and he's heading back to the first, larger piece. Back and forth and on and on. I finally just gave up.

So after finding the newspaper and sorting mail and strapping the front gate behind me once I got back inside the fence this morning, you now know why seeing Starbuck focused intently on something was nothing new.

The difference was this time whatever it was he pounced on, flew. It didn't go far, landing only a few feet away from him with Starbuck already in pursuit.

Oh jeez, I thought. It's a hurt bird or a baby one.

The mail went flying and so did the newspaper. Maybe, just maybe I could get to Starbuck before . . .

Starbuck landed but just before he did, the bird took off landing on a branch about ten feet over his head. The "maybe hurt, maybe baby" bird was neither.

There's a nest in that tree somewhere and that bird along with its mate began dive bombing Starbuck. Courageous canine that he is, Starbuck turned tail running straight back to me. Behind me, actually, peaking around my legs to see if those mean birds were still after him.

A few hours later the Pissed-Off Parents went after Starbuck again, but waited until he was in the middle of doing a Number Two before they attacked. Butt down and tail cranking with his head bobbing up and down ducking, Starbuck couldn't push it out fast enough.

When done, he zoomed completely by me heading to the back door.

He was moving so fast, I know he didn't the squirrels laughing.

(When we need it most, Starbuck, always seem to find some way to make us smile.)

LATER (04-15-06): Carnivalized (I liked that word so much I'm stealing it.) at Mickey's Musings in this week's edition of the Carnival of the Dogs.

"Mother . . . "

The storm finally came through around 7 last night dumping much needed rain. It didn't last long, maybe two hours, but since we haven't had even a drop since I don't remember when, even that little bit was an improvement.

We don't have a garden for any fancy plants to worry about when it gets this dry. What bothers is memories of 1998 when it seemed like all of Florida was one big wildfire. Weeks and weeks of nothing but smoke. Everywhere, with out-of-control blazes to the north and west of me and even one small but persistent fire just down the road.

You really take stock of what's important when the possibility exists that with little warning you might have to grab what you can, jump in the car and just go.

And now Da Kid's a firefighter in a one-man station out in the middle of nowhere with wooden Smokey The Bear in front that warns all passers-by that the fire danger is HIGH.

Where am I going with this? Dang, where did I start? Rain? Rain!

Once again I have absolutely no idea when Da Kid's going to be home. It used to be that either he was at Job One, his part-time job or school. Not much has changed. He's either at his station, another one of the stations or since he started Firefighter II, school!

He left Friday morning for his shift, had school Saturday for an unknown number of hours AND / OR might be working some overtime , might be working a swap shift Sunday, and had his next regular shift Monday so he might be home until . . .

When he walked in this afternoon I exclaimed, "What are you doing home?"

He'd worked his shift Friday, had school while on call at another station Saturday before heading back to his station, and had school again today BUT, they got out early so . . .

"Get any rain up there?" I asked.

"Yep." And that's when he started telling me some of the "high points" since he'd left Friday morning.

Friday night was a controlled burn that didn't stay that way. I started to interrupt asking with the fire conditions the way they are, what fool would approved a controlled burn.

"Mother . . . " (I hate it when he calls me that. I hate it even more when he knows what I'm going to ask before I even get a chance to!)

Da Kid was at school while on call at a different station when his radio went off. His station was responding to a fire (with a chief on the way so Da Kid said he knew it wasn't an "ordinary" fire) at the exact same address he'd been to the night before.

Despite the fire ban in effect, the property owners were having a fit with the firefighter there putting out the fire they'd again started.

They had a permit, you see, and it was good for a year.

Too bad the dingbats hadn't read the permit. It was good for one day only, for 24-hours after its issuance . . . a year ago.

So last night Da Kid's back at his station. It's raining like hell and just as he finished closing the bay doors for the night, the power went out. That's when the radio started "toning."

I still haven't figured out how many stations Camden County has, but with all the trees and wires down per Da Kid, only two weren't sent out.

His was one.

Local Weather Report

It's been mostly sunny, temperature in the high 80s with a steady, strong breeze coming from the west. We've also been under a tornado watch for most of the day, one that will continue for several more hours.

With the extensive television coverage of the damage and deaths in Kentucky and Tennessee and while I really don't expect anything to happen here, just color me jumpy.

Ya' know, this wasn't exactly the best of days for the radio station I had on in the kitchen to test their emergency broadcast system, and not a particularly good time, either, just as I was pouring spaghetti sauce into containers for the freezer.

Oh, wasn't my kitchen face red!

Bombing [with] the voters

Yesterday's televised love fest ran into a little problem this morning, when by 39 to 60, the Senate voted against cloture in order to keep yakking away about the "compromise" reached on "immigration reform."

Good.

The longer they keep yammering away about it, the deader this thing will be as we get a chance to actually see what this "compromise" on "immigration reform" contains.

As if amnesty for illegal aliens isn't bad enough, the "compromise" has a few other . . . uh, surprises.

Via the New York Post [BugMeNot]:

It [includes The Dream Act that "Turbin Durbin" wants that] repeals a 1996 law that prohibits state universities from offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens. The principle, of course, is that no illegal alien should be entitled to receive a taxpayer-subsidized benefit that out-of-state U.S. citizens can't get. But the committee's bill allows illegals to be treated better than those U.S. citizens on tuition.

And that's only one of the "hidden bombs."

Who needs Miss Manners ...

. . . when we have Florida Cracker to instruct us on The Art Of The Forced Apology.

You blew it

John McCain's in there somewhere, with this self-serving bunch that was so pleased with themselves today when they announced that in the spirit of bi-partisenship, they'd reached a tentative agreement on "immigration reform."

All the beaming faces as they congratulated each other saying how great and wonderful so-and-so was, with So-And-So interrupting to interject, "No! You're even more wonderfuller than I am!"

(Dang! Can you tell I'm a little pissed?)

Corporations will maintain a supply of cheap labor that keeps wages for American citizens depressed. The illegals, if they're working, will continue to send a goodly chunk of their pay back "home," taking those dollars out of our economy and putting it into theirs. Then, since the illegals either don't earn enough or don't have enough money left to pay their own way, they'll continue to suck down the public services that we taxpayers are forced to fund for them. And, their corporate employers.

This isn't "reform."

The Senate agreement on immigration, hailed on Thursday by both Republicans and Democrats as a breakthrough, would closely mimic the 1986 overhaul of US immigration laws that has been criticised by both sides for exacerbating the problem of illegal immigration in the US. -- Financial Times.

Same citation:

With four times as many illegal immigrants as in 1986, it would now require even greater bureaucratic and police resources to identify those eligible to stay, while deporting or denying work to those who do not qualify.

Immigration advocates criticised the compromise as "completely unworkable".

Even "immigration advocates" are against what you came up with, you idiots!

In other words, despite all the self-serving PR engineered today, not one of you actually accomplished one damned thing.

You idiots will begin your two-week vacation tomorrow afternoon, the threatened anti-American immigration demonstrations will go on Monday as previously scheduled, and the US will continue to be overrun by illegals that ordinary folk like me and mine will continue paying for through the nose.

But wait! One of you idiots DID actually accomplish something.

The presidential aspirations you have, Senator Frist?

You blew it.

'Naggin' Nagin' Strikes Again

Have you heard the latest?

First, despite warnings and even a personal call from the National Hurricane Center's Max Mayfield, New Orleans Mayor Ray "Chocolate City" Nagin doesn't order a mandatory evacuation until just hours before Katrina, and then he tries to spin it as Dubya's fault. Or Goobernor Blanco's. Or . . . anybody but his own.

Then it was somebody else's fault that he couldn't evacuate people out of the storm's path because nobody sent him the buses New Orleans needed.

Next, with large portions of New Orleans still flooded and Hurricane Rita possibly aiming at New Orleans, Nagin's telling those who'd evacuated to come on back!

Then came more of "Naggin'Nagin's" complaints, one of the primary ones that FEMA was at fault for not getting trailers into New Orleans fast enough.

I'm not the only one who's noticed that Nagin hasn't exactly been . . . um, straight forward.

From today's Times-Picayune: [Emphasis mine]

City may have to pay up, FEMA says
Trailer contretemps draws plenty of fire
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
By Lynne Jensen
Staff writer

New Orleans may have to reimburse the federal government $1.6 million if FEMA is forced to terminate the installation of a group trailer site in Algiers, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Tuesday.

Mayor Ray Nagin approved the site on Tullis Drive at Lennox Boulevard for 35 families on Dec. 19 and the project is 80 percent to 85 percent complete, FEMA spokesman Darryl Madden said.

After a weekend confrontation between Orleans Parish residents and federal officials over construction at the Tullis site, Nagin announced Monday that the city would suspend the installation of all group sites.

Madden said Tuesday that his agency received an official request from the city to stop work only at the West Bank site, which sits behind the Lakewood Estates gated subdivision.

"We have received no official letter to stop work on any other place," Madden said. "As of right now, work (at the Tullis site) has suspended pending a final resolution," he said.

City Attorney Penya Moses Fields said Tuesday that "because there is a pending legal process," there will be no further comment from the mayor.

Also Tuesday, the New Orleans branch of the NAACP announced its opposition to Nagin's move to suspend the citywide installation of FEMA group trailer sites.

New Orleans NAACP President Danatus King said displaced residents are "receiving mixed signals from our city" that are "causing them to make their permanent residences elsewhere."

King said he can't help but wonder if politics played a part in the decision because it came after complaints from residents who "will most likely vote" in the upcoming mayor's race.

During Nagin's announcement Monday, City Council members Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson, who represents Algiers, and Eddie Sapir agreed with the mayor that FEMA ignored city protocol in establishing the group site on Tullis.

King said Tuesday that protocol cannot be allowed to delay the return of New Orleanians displaced by Katrina.

He said that halting construction of group trailer sites while investigating other types of housing, such as modular homes, means "our citizens are still going to be locked out of our city" during that time, he said.

King said 100,000 residents "are eager to come back" to the city. With immediate housing, "they could work and generate taxes," he said.

Squabbles about trailer sites exhibit "pettiness" that is not playing well in the national media more than seven months after Katrina, King said.

"I can hear the laughter in Washington and the sound of doors being closed," King said. "I can hear the congressmen receiving phone calls from constituents saying, 'Don't help those folks. They don't want the help.' "

Usually, I only quote snippets. Since after a few days the TP archives its articles on a pay-for basis, this time I'm including the whole danged thing in case anyone wants to quote from it the next time Nagin or someone else starts starts naggin' that the Feds should have had New Orleans all put back together by how.

More here.

Picture this?

Report Cards

"[W]e have a gotdamn senate that is going against the will of the American voters and are planning on passing an immigration bill that will eventually not only give amnesty to these who are breaking our laws and traditions but will also provide for them to become citizens?" writes GuyK at Charming, Just Charming. "Anyone who votes for this pending bill," he continues, "will not get my vote come election time and I will do my best to support their opponent."

Unfortunately the immigration bill Guy's talking about is only one of several that our congresscritters are currently considering or voted on over the years.

I'm not against immigration. I just want the people coming here from other countries to do so legally. The problem is that each time the problem is "fixed," the mess it creates makes the situation even worse.

I've always wondered why new immigration laws are needed when the ones already there aren't ever enforced. Will these new "remedies" be enforced any better or at all?

Of course not.

Once again with the wave of a magic pen wand the past mistakes will simply "disappear." Those who've entered this country illegally will automagically become legal.

Ollie ollie oxen free! Ya'll can come come out now!

Gag me.

The problem with illegal aliens will become even worse, just as it has every time. And why not!

Hell, I can't blame 'em for not taking our immigration laws seriously when the officials we've voted into office and wrote them don't.

All the illegals have to do is get across the border and wait it out before this or the next amnesty legalizes their presence.

People are pretty upset right now (to put it mildly) with the Mexican-flag-waving demonstrations demanding that the United States surrender to their their demands.

Will the growing backlash affect the mid-term elections?

Let's turn that question around: Will the growing backlash affect how those running for re-election vote?

It wouldn't surprise me if worried that they won't be re-elected by their constituents if they vote for one of the amnesty bills, those running for re-election decide to vote NAY. Or drag the debates on and on causing the bills to be tabled until after the upcoming elections.

In other words, I don't believe voting on this one bill in the current climate provides sufficient information on a candidate's stance on immigration.

So how the heck do you find out what it really is?

If they're running for re-election or have served previously, look at the history of how they've voted before on immigration issues.

ALL TOGETHER NOW! ANNA ONE, ANNA TWO, ANNA THREE: EVERYBODY GROAN!

Relax everyone.

Like Bill Quick, The Daily Pundit, I've added Americans for Better Immigration to my sidebar.

They've done all the work for us.

It was only a matter of time

I don't remember the specific post, but a while back a reply at ABFreedom asked how it had been possible to obtain someone's telephone phone number.

I responded that through some of "Find Your High School Classmate" search engines on the Internet it's really quite simple.

I'd added that I found out just how easy it was when it had happened to me several years ago, but deleted that part before I hit PUBLISH because I was worried someone might ask me about the circumstances.

It wasn't one of the best times of my life with all the sticky situations and teasing.

Once again I've made the mistake of thinking, believing, that everyone had forgotten, but it looks like once again someone's been digging into my past.