Of Immigration, Assimilation, Americanism, Service

General Peter Pace, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, chokes up at the hearing. Photo Credit: By Joe Raedle -- Getty Images

Few of us who were born here in the United States really understand the struggle to become free.

The one thing though, that we do understand, is the gratefulness one has once freedom is achieved.

This is why many of us become confused when we see hundreds of thousands of people, carrying foreign country flags as we did in May, demanding immigrant rights similar to those who have attained citizenship. We are confused by the push for rights for and by immigrants without assimilation, Americanism, and service to this country.

General Pace's witness in front of members of Congress yesterday, served as stark contrast backdrop in the changes of attitude by immigrants, and those who support them, in the immigration debate.

Excerpts from The Washington Post -

General Speaks of Immigrant Father
Congressional Hearing Turns Personal
By Glenn Frankel and Daniela Deane - Washington Post Staff Writers - Tuesday, July 11, 2006; Page A03

MIAMI, July 10 -- A congressional hearing on immigration came to a dramatic pause Monday when Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, choked up as he talked about his Italian immigrant father and the opportunities that America had given to his family.

A hush fell over the auditorium at Miami Dade College as Pace, a Marine who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and grew up in Teaneck, N.J., was overcome with emotion and struggled to continue reading from his statement as the opening witness at the field hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
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After he composed himself, Pace described his older sister, who went to law school, and his older brother, who, like himself, attended the Naval Academy and was a Marine.

"There is no other country on the planet that affords that kind of opportunity to those who come here," Pace concluded. The audience burst into applause.

Pace's father was born in Italy in 1914, immigrated to the United States and became an electrician in New York City, raising four children there. The first Marine to be named chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Pace has been chairman since September 2005 after serving as vice chairman for four years.

Pace, whose last name means "peace" in Italian, is a 1967 graduate of the Naval Academy and has served in Thailand, Korea and Japan.
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Field hearings are being held around the country on the separate House and Senate immigration bills currently before Congress. The subject of the Miami hearing, chaired by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.), was the contributions immigrants have made to the armed forces.

The House bill calls for tighter border controls, 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border and funding for local law enforcement agencies along the border. It also calls for tougher deportation standards and stringent enforcement of rules governing employers who hire undocumented workers.

The Senate's immigration bill, co-sponsored by Kennedy and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), includes similar provisions. But it also outlines a method for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens and calls for a guest-worker program that would provide legal residency status for as long as six years.
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Let's end the confusion now - PUT UP THE FENCE ... deport found illegals ... deeply fine companies hiring known illegals.

California Dreamin' - "Chat Room Bomber" Visit Disclosed / UPDATE - Burnin' Down The House

Port Authority Police Lt. John Ryan walks into the PATH train tunnel under the World Trade Center disaster site in this April 16, 2002 file photo in New York. Authorities thwarted an alleged terrorist plot to use suicide bombers in the PATH tunnels which extend under the Hudson River and link New Jersey with lower Manhattan. The terrorists believed that by bombing the train tunnels, they could unleash a flood on Lower Manhattan, including Wall Street, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. Photo Credit: AP Photo/Beth A. Keiser, File

Upon deeper review of the "Chat Room Bomber's" possessions, it was discovered that the terrorist arrested in Libya last week, had visited California in recent years.

Five other suspects are still at large.

Excerpts from AP via Yahoo! News -

Suspect in tunnel plot said to visit U.S.
By PAT MILTON, Associated Press Writer - with contributions from Hussein Dakroub/Beirut, Lebanon. - 1 hour, 31 minutes ago

Lebanese authorities found maps and bombing plans on the personal computer of an al-Qaida loyalist accused of plotting to attack New York train tunnels, and a U.S. official disclosed that he had visited the country at least once.

Acting Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat described the information found on 31-year-old Assem Hammoud's computer as "very important."

"It contained maps and bombing plans that were being prepared," Fatfat said in a local television interview.

In the U.S., a federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said Hammoud had visited the United States at least once — a trip to California six years ago.

The official said Hammoud had a legitimate visa for a brief stay, and was believed to have been visiting either family or friends. The visit occurred long before authorities say the tunnel plot began to unfold.
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Lebanese security officials told The Associated Press that they obtained "important information" from Hammoud's computer and CDs seized from his office at the Lebanese International University, where he taught economics.

"This information helped the investigators make Hammoud confess to his role in plotting a terror act in America," one Lebanese official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
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Other suspects still at large include a Saudi, a Yemeni, a Jordanian, a Palestinian, and an Iranian Kurd, As-Safir said.

The suspect's family denied that he had any al-Qaida links. His mother, Nabila Qotob, said Hammoud was an outdoorsy person who drank alcohol, had girlfriends and bore none of the hallmarks of an Islamic extremist.

Hammoud studied at Concordia University in Montreal for seven years beginning in 1995, university spokeswoman Chris Mota said Sunday. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in commerce in 2002.
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UPDATE:

Excerpts from AP via Yahoo! News -

Official: Tunnel plot suspect mulled arson
By PAT MILTON, Associated Press Writer - Mon Jul 10, 4:16 PM ET

NEW YORK - The Lebanese man accused of plotting to destroy and flood Hudson River train tunnels also discussed the possibility of setting wildfires in California to inflict harm on the U.S., a federal official said Monday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said wildfires were "only part of their planning discussions. No steps were taken to carry it out."
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The possible fire plot and backpacks — first reported by Newsday and the Los Angeles Times — were among several new allegations to emerge in recent days about the 31-year-old Hammoud, who was arrested in Lebanon in April.
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Hammoud's family denied that he had any al-Qaida links. His mother, Nabila Qotob, said Hammoud was an outdoorsy person who drank alcohol and had girlfriends — none of the hallmarks of an Islamic extremist.
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Pinch Me - 3 In-A-Row For AJ Allmendinger!

One happy dude. Beyond fairytale endings to destiny. Image Credit: LAT Photographic

Like the lyric in the song made famous by Canada's Bare Naked Ladies - pinch me, I must be asleep.

AJ Allmendinger becomes the first driver to capture three in-a-row wins in races in twelve years when Al Unser Jr. did it back in 1994!

AJ's team-mate, Paul Tracy, muscles his way past Bourdais to take and keep second place for a Forsythe Championship Racing One-Two finish.

The win moves AJ up from 3ird in points for the season to 2nd (168), 23 points behind Newman/Haas Racing's Sebastian Bourdais (191) with eight races to go.

Photo by Paul Webb, USA LAT Photographic - Copyright © 2006 Champ Car World Series, LLC.

Excerpts from AP via Yahoo! Sports -

Allmendinger wins third straight Champ Car race
By MIKE HARRIS, AP Auto Racing Writer - July 9, 2006

TORONTO (AP) -- The whole scene felt just a little too familiar to A.J. Allmendinger. Fortunately for the only American-born driver in the Champ Car World Series, it didn't turn out that way -- and he captured his third race win in a row.

Headed for an easy victory Sunday at the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto, a late caution flag bunched the leaders and gave teammate Paul Tracy and series leader Sebastien Bourdais one last shot at Allmendinger

Almost exactly a year ago, in Edmonton, Allmendinger was on his way to a win when a late caution waved. Then-teammate Justin Wilson, right behind Allmendinger, crashed on the restart, but Allmendinger also made a mistake on the slick track and hit the wall with eight laps to go, giving Bourdais an unlikely win.

Asked what was going through his mind when Nelson Philippe and Oriol Servia crashed with 10 laps to go on Sunday, bringing out the third yellow flag of the race, Allmendinger gritted his teeth and replied: ``Edmonton, last year.''
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"It's a lot of confidence and it's nice to be in this car,'' said the 2004 rookie of the year, who didn't win until the third year -- and 32nd race -- of his Champ Car career.

"I love Champ Car racing and I'm starting to love winning,'' Allmendinger said.

It took getting fired by RuSport last month after a fourth-place finish at Milwaukee and being hired a few days later by Gerald Forsythe's team to get the 24-year-old Californian to the victory podium.

Since he replaced Mario Dominguez in the No. 7 Lola, Allmendinger has been unbeatable.

"If somebody had asked me heading to Portland for my first race with Forsythe if I could win three in a row, I'd have said no,'' Allmendinger said. "But, after the first practice, feeling the energy of the team, seeing how well they work together and knowing how comfortable I felt in the car right away, it's no surprise.

"The team and my whole engineering staff has been absolutely awesome,'' he added. "They seem to hit the car perfect when it counts.''
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Tracy, a former series champion who has struggled this year, had a shot at winning his third Toronto race after the Philippe-Servia crash late in the 86-lap event on the 1.755-mile temporary street circuit.

The local favorite -- from suburban Toronto -- was behind Allmendinger on the restart on lap 83, but couldn't get close enough at the end to make it a race. The winningest driver in the series -- with 30 victories -- wound up a distant 1.851 seconds -- nearly the entire final straightaway -- behind his new teammate.

The Champ Car series gives the drivers a limited amount of extra turbocharger power, called push-to-pass, for each race. Tracy said he had used up the extra boost in getting past the other contenders, while Allmendinger was able to conserve his.

"Obviously, coming home 1-2 was the best we could do,'' said Tracy, who had only his second podium finish in the first seven races this season. "When it came down to the end, he had more push-to-pass and I couldn't really make it competitive. But my state of mind and spirits are up, and I can build on this.''
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What's In A Crowd Count?

Thousands of supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, presidential candidate for the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), attend a rally to protest against the result of last weekend's election in Mexico City's Zocalo square July 8, 2006. Image Credit: REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar (MEXICO)

Depending on who one listens to, the size of the crowd of supporters for Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador that had gathered in Mexico City's "Plaza de la Constitución" (Constitution Square) to protest the results of last weekend's election was estimated to be anywhere from 100,000 to 400,000.

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't the protests held May 1st, on immigration reform in downtown Los Angeles draw upwards to 1,000,000 people? Further reports on the "day without immigrants protest" had Chicago with 300,000 plus.

Funny, I guess that even given that the vote was close ... it wasn't important enough to show up and protest the vote count.

Excerpts from AP via Yahoo! News -

Mexican tells crowd he'll seek recount
By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer - 49 minutes ago

MEXICO CITY - Leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called on a huge crowd of supporters Saturday to keep peacefully protesting as he goes to court to challenge what he called his fraudulent electoral defeat.

The fiery former Mexico City mayor said he would present fraud allegations to Mexico's electoral court on Sunday and formally request that all 41 million votes be recounted.

The ruling party's Felipe Calderon can't be declared president-elect until the electoral court weighs allegations of fraud or unfair campaign practices. The court has until Sept. 6 to declare a winner.
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Election monitors from the European Union said they found no irregularities in the count. Calderon says the vote was clean and has taken congratulatory phone calls from President Bush and the leaders of Canada, Spain and Colombia, among others, despite Lopez Obrador's plea for foreign governments to hold off on recognizing the result.

Lopez Obrador called for nationwide marches beginning Wednesday and converging on Mexico City for a July 16 rally.

He provoked groans of disappointment when he told the crowd of more than 100,000 packing Mexico City's central plaza not to block highways during the marches.
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The likelihood of continuing demonstrations suggests how difficult it will be for Calderon to unify Mexicans, many of whom believe the nation has yet to overcome the decades of institutional corruption and fraud that kept its leaders in power.

Lopez Obrador has repeatedly evaded questions about whether he would accept court decisions that go against him.

Lopez Obrador took direct aim at President Vicente Fox, accusing him of conspiring with Mexico's autonomous elections agency, known as IFE, to engineer a Calderon victory.

Election officials say Calderon, of Fox's National Action Party, beat Lopez Obrador by less than 244,000 votes out of 41 million ballots — or a margin of about 0.6 percent.
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Lopez Obrador has millions of devoted followers who believe only he can help Mexico's poor and downtrodden. Most of his supporters come from Mexico City and poor southern states, while Calderon's strength is in Mexico's industrialized north.

Lopez Obrador claims a manual recount would confirm that hundreds of thousands of votes for him remain uncounted, miscounted or voided. The law allows such a recount only for specific polling places where credible evidence of irregularities exist. The leftist's supporters say that applies to at least 50,000 of the approximately 130,000 polling places.

The crowd in Mexico City's famed Zocalo plaza would accept nothing less than victory.
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Many traveled all night to arrive at the Zocalo, joining a sea of yellow, the color of Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party.

"We are ready to do whatever is necessary," said Belisario Cruz, 32, a farmer from Tabasco. "We are tired of the rich having everything and the poor having nothing."
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Amazing AJ! - Strikes Again In Toronto - UPDATED

AJ Allmendinger - Photo credit: Phillip Abbott, USA LAT Photographic

The fairytale run of AJ Allmendinger continues in Toronto!

The first day of qualifying proves that AJ's run of great racing is no fluke. For the third time in three races, AJ can do no better than be on the front row. If his time posted Friday survives today's qualifying session, he will have captured the pole position of the start of the race for the second time in two races. With the way he is running, even if someone betters his time in the first session, he would probably be able to come back and still set best time - we'll see.

Today's final qualifying session begins at 2:20 pm ET

Excerpts from CCWS -

AMERICAN A.J. ALLMENDINGER CONTINUES TITLE QUEST
Leading First-Day Champ Car Qualifying at Molson Grand Prix of Toronto

TORONTO (July 7, 2006) - American racing prodigy A.J. Allmendinger (#7 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) continued his march toward the top of the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford standings, leading a qualifying session for the third consecutive race, pacing today's opening session at the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto.

Allmendinger snapped off a quick lap of 58.621 seconds (107.777 mph) to lead the first day of qualifying around the 1.755-mile Exhibition Place street circuit, besting former RuSPORT teammate Justin Wilson (#9 CDW Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) by two-tenths of a second to score the first championship point of the weekend. Nelson Philippe (#34 CTE Racing - HVM Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) put up a quick time of 59.203 seconds (106.718 mph) late in the session to wrest the third spot away from hometown favorite Paul Tracy (#3 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone).

The Forsythe Championship Racing driver, who just yesterday signed a deal to extend his stay with the Chicago-based team, used a daring strategy and a new set of red-rimmed alternate Bridgestone Potenzas to take advantage of a rare bit of open track midway through today's 30-minute qualifying session.

Allmendinger was one of the first drivers to pit after his first stint, and was sitting fifth after everyone else had logged their first set of times. Sitting in the pits, Allmendinger and his team realized that every other car was on the Pit Lane as well, and decided to roll out ahead of everyone else for their second stint.

"My engineer asked me if I wanted to go out or if I wanted to wait, because the track usually gets better with every lap somebody runs on it, and there were still 10 minutes left in the session," Allmendinger said. "But we decided to go out and take advantage of the clear track and we ran three good, clean laps."
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UPDATE:

Justin Wilson, AJ's former team-mate, pulls out a last lap of session pole position over AJ by .082 seconds. Read the blow-by-blow of the qualifying session here>>!

So, it's Wilson and Allmendinger on the front row, followed by Bourdais and Tracy - This will prove to be an interesting start!

Race tomorrow on CBS starting at 9:30 AM PST

Score One For The FBI - Zero for the NYT

Traffic streams past the New York entrance of the Holland Tunnel Friday, July 7, 2006 in New York. Law enforcement officials say authorities have disrupted planning by foreign terrorists for an attack on New York City tunnels. Photo Credit: AP Photo/Jason DeCrow

The FBI, monitoring internet "chat rooms", nabs a plot to compromise New York's underwater tunnels to Manhattan Island.

Boy, it’s a good thing that the New York Times didn't get wind of this, otherwise they would have been able to shut down the distribution of the newspaper off of the island for a long time! They're slip'n ... they just must be asleep at the wheel.

Excerpts from the AP via Yahoo! News -

FBI disrupts New York City tunnel plot
By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer - 24 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Authorities have disrupted planning by foreign terrorists for an attack on New York City tunnels, two law enforcement officials said Friday.

FBI agents monitoring Internet chat rooms used by extremists learned in recent months of the plot to strike a blow at the city's economy by destroying vital transportation networks, one official said.

Lebanese authorities, acting on a U.S. request, have arrested one of the alleged plotters, identified as Amir Andalousli, the other official said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still under way.

A senior Lebanese security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suspect was arrested a month ago. He said his real name is as Assem Hammoud, and that the native of Beirut admitted to the plot.

"Hammoud is a member of Al-Qaida and he confessed to this (plot) information frankly and without coercion," the Lebanese security official said.

One U.S. official said other arrests in the plot had been made overseas, and not all were in Lebanon. The official would not say how many people are believed to be involved.
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Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said, "This is one instance where intelligence was on top of its game and discovered the plot when it was just in the talking phase."

The planning for the tunnel attacks was first reported by the New York Daily News in its Friday editions, the first anniversary of the attacks on the London transportation system that killed 52 people.
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Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said that federal law enforcement and New York police have been monitoring a plot to attack New York's mass transit system for at least eight months.

"There was nothing imminent, but it was being monitored for long period of time," said King, who said he has received regular intelligence briefings on the alleged plot as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

King said he had been unable to publicly disclose the plot because to do so would risk the investigation.

"This is ongoing, that's why I've said nothing about it until now," King said. "It would have been better if this had not been disclosed."

The Daily News reported that the plotters wanted to blow up the Holland Tunnel, the southernmost link between Manhattan and New Jersey, in the hopes of flooding New York's financial district. The desired effect would be akin to the flooding that ravaged New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the newspaper said.
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UPDATE:

Excerpts from AP -

ADDS PATH train tunnels; locates all major river crossings from Manhattan. Image Credit: AP Graphic

FBI: Thwarted plot involved 'martyrdom'
By PAT MILTON, Associated Press Writer - Sat Jul 8, 12:59 PM ET

NEW YORK - The terrorist plot, in the words of one FBI official, involved "martyrdom and explosives": suicide bombers who would attack train tunnels used by tens of thousands of commuters in an effort to bring death and flooding to lower Manhattan.

Eight suspects had hoped to pull off the attack in October or November, federal officials said. But federal investigators working with their counterparts in six other countries intervened before the suspects could travel to the United States and become a more serious threat, officials said Friday.

Initial reports said the suspects — including an al-Qaida loyalist arrested in Lebanon and two others in custody elsewhere — wanted to attack the Holland Tunnel, a major thoroughfare that carries cars beneath the Hudson River and into Manhattan.

But officials said the group, with five suspects still at large, had specifically mentioned only the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation train tunnels, which carry more than 215,000 passengers each weekday between New York and New Jersey.

"This is a plot that involved martyrdom and explosives," said FBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon.
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New York's transportation system has emerged as a potential terrorist threat several times over the years. A June book by journalist Ron Suskind highlighted a reported plot by al-Qaida to kill thousands by spreading cyanide gas in the subway. In May, a man was convicted of plotting to blow up a bustling subway station.

Associated Press writers Pat Milton in New York; Lara Jakes Jordan, Katherine Shrader and Mark Sherman in Washington, D.C.; and Sam F. Ghattas in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this report.

Meathead Goes Back To Grinding ‘em Out

Photo Credit: LA Times

Well, after having a very heady and protected run at political influence and power, Rob Reiner runs back into familiar heady, protected, and powerful territory - film direction and production.

It is said that he has taken on two projects. One is designed to be a box office hit with Jack Nicholson, and the other is designed to bang people over the head in a political statement saddled smartly against war, go figure.

All of this movie making activity will be going on while the audit of the California Children and Families, "Commissioner Reiner" headed, is underway. Word on the results of the audit are expected anywhere from as early as August to sometime this fall. This mix is never far from the front burner.

Excerpts from Bill Bradley's New West Notes (LA Weekly)-

Rob Reiner's Next Projects Not Political
By Bill Bradley - June 3, 2006

On the night of the landslide defeat of his tax-the-rich for universal preschool initiative, Proposition 82, movie director Rob Reiner declared that it was only the beginning of his drive for preschool and he would continue to be heavily involved in politics. But now, going on four weeks from California’s June 6th primary, it looks like his next project is cinematic, rather than political, and will engage him heavily during this fall’s general election campaign.

Various Hollywood sources say that Reiner will direct a film called The Bucket List, tentatively starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. In the movie scenario, two terminally ill patients break out of a cancer ward and endeavor to live out all those things on a list they have of what they would like to do before, as the saying goes, they kick the bucket. These adventures include driving race cars, dating models, scarfing down plates of caviar, gambling in Monte Carlo, and so on.

Reiner also has another movie project in development, one with more of a political theme and a very current political connection. Whiskey River is, according to the Internet Movie DataBase, a story in which “an American soldier injured in Iraq is called back into action before he's fully recovered, prompting his father to kidnap his son in order to save his life.”

The writer is one James Webb, one of the most highly decorated Marine Corps officers of the Vietnam War, Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of the Navy, and an acclaimed novelist. But Webb is somewhat busy just now. Due to his opposition to the Iraq War, he re-registered as a Democrat. In fact, last month he became the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Virginia. Last fall, he trailed incumbent Senator George Allen -- a 2008 presidential hopeful -- by 15 percent. Now he’s cut the incumbent’s lead to five percent.

Webb’s connection with Rob Reiner is somewhat problematic, of course, in what was the most dominant of the Southern colonies prior to the American Revolution. So we should not expect to see the erstwhile “Meathead” -- Reiner’s Emmy Award-winning acting role on the classic sitcom All In The Family -- surfacing in a very closely fought Virginia Senate race with major national implications, both for the Presidential primaries of 2008 and the Iraq War today.
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Those Wacky North Koreans

Photo Credit: China Rail by Allen Zagel

Honestly, what else can be said?

This from the Stategy Page -

Forget the Missiles, This is Even More Bizarre
The Strategy Page - July 5, 2006

While everyone's attention was focused on North Korean missiles, the real story is the North Korean economy. It continues to fall apart, and more North Koreans are unhappy about that. Worse yet, more North Koreans are finding out how badly they have been screwed by their leaders.

Meanwhile, North Korean officials engage in even more bizarre behavior. For example, food and fuel supplies sent to North Korea have been halted, not to force North Korea to stop missile tests or participate in peace talks, but to return the Chinese trains the aid was carried in on.

In the last few weeks, the North Koreans have just kept the trains, sending the Chinese crews back across the border. North Korea just ignores Chinese demands that the trains be returned, and insists that the trains are part of the aid program.

It's no secret that North Korean railroad stock is falling apart, after decades of poor maintenance and not much new equipment. Stealing Chinese trains is a typical loony-tune North Korean solution to the problem.

If the North Koreans appear to make no sense, that's because they don't. Put simply, when their unworkable economic policies don't work, the North Koreans just conjure up new, and equally unworkable, plans.

The Chinese have tried to talk the North Koreans out of these pointless fantasies, and for their trouble they have their trains stolen. How do you negotiate under these conditions? No one knows.

The South Koreans believe that if they just keep the North Korean leaders from doing anything too destructive (especially to South Korea), eventually the tragicomic house of cards up north will just collapse. Not much of a plan, but so far, no one's come up with anything better.
Link Here>>

S2 Mile Marker Mystery Tour – follow-on #1

TOP - One of the watering stations (mile marker 52) – BOTTOM - One of the six one gallon bottles of water – Contents maintained by____(?) in the blue drum watering stations found along the westside of southern most part of a 15 mile stretch of San Diego County road “S2” inside Anza Borrego Desert (California) State Park. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2006)

S2 Mile Marker Mystery Tour – follow-on #1

As for the S2 Mile Marker Mystery Tour, the research is by no means complete … but I have found a few clues.

The mile marker mystery source – ie. the large blue drums that contain approximately six, one gallon sealed containers of water resourced from the Borrego Springs Bottled Water – may be an immigration support organization that goes by the name “Border Angels”.

I was watching a local news special by the title “State Divided” on KNBC-4 (July 4, 2006 – 5:00 PM) and the founder of the Border Angels, Enrique Morones was interviewed. What he stated as the purpose and the cause of the organization seemed to match up with the effort required to place and maintain these watering stations.

A Google search was enjoined and turned up the following information:

The following excerpt is from Indy Media –

Saving Peoples’ Lives: Border Angels At Work’, Special Guest: Enrique Moronoes.
By Indy Media

“Since the advent of Operation Gatekeeper and the installation of the steel wall at the Border in 1994, migrant persons have been forced to move through the perilous mountain and desert areas of Imperial Valley. Since October of 1994, 2,750 migrant persons have died and thousands more are ill or missing. Enrique Morones founded the Border Angels, a non-profit organization of extraordinary individuals, to help prevent the unnecessary deaths of these migrant persons. Along with other groups, the Border Angels have set up rescue stations with water, food, and blankets in the most hazardous areas of Imperial Valley.”
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This led to looking into the Border Angels website and to the "LETTERS" page.

Excerpts and edits from Border Angels -

LETTERS
By Louis Vilml

In 1985 while the U.S. and Soviet Union was competing for the hearts and minds of the non-aligned nations, President Reagan stood in front of the Berlin Wall, the symbol of a divided Europe, and said ‘General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe…tear down this wall’.

At home Mr. Reagan had launched the largest peace-time military budget in U.S. history spending 2.4 trillion dollars including the infamous SDI-the placing of weapons in outer-space.

American politicians are renowned for their double standards. Worshipping at the altar of self-righteousness and superiority brings out the worst in the areas of denial and contradictions. Supremacy breeds fear and insecurity while words do not reflect action.

From the European colonization of North America, where newly arrived settlers displaced millions of the indigenous populations by building fences, forts, and reservations, to the deadly and warlike trade embargoes against such countries as Japan, China, Cuba, Libya, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea, the U.S. has become enslaved to a vast network of bulwarks and military complexes.

This fortress mentality trickles down and spans across America to the thousands of high-tech security and gated communities in which every home has a ’panic room‘.

Several of America’s foremost politicians are now leading the charge to build a parallel multi-billion dollar, two-thousand mile long fence between Mexico and the U.S. President Fox is right in claiming the fence would be disgraceful and shameful to the people of Mexico.

Unfortunately, past and present U.S. policy makers have erected other walls that still remain hidden to this day.”
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As a result of 9-11, the mantra by the Bush Administration is that security is the means by which America will achieve fundamental freedoms.

On the contrary, intelligence, economic justice for all, and cooperation with other countries is the means by which the U.S. will achieve fundamental freedoms.

On 9-11, the terrorists did not attack the Statue of Liberty. They attacked the Pentagon, WTC, and attempted to attack Washington DC where the U.S. government resides.

The terrorists do NOT dislike our freedoms but instead abhor the U.S. for its foreign militarism, violent interventions, destructive economic policies, and an ill-advised government that is sheltered from the realities and sufferings of the underprivileged and exploited.

Therefore, it is these words and the policies on the base of the Statue of Liberty that America should continue to abide by…
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For one who believes in the pursuit and protection of United States sovereignty, the political posture shown in the “LETTERS” section of the Border Angels website is troubling, indeed.

Back to the mystery, the one linkage I have not been able to establish, however, is the tie between the S2 Mile Marker watering stations and the "how & why" these stations exist on California State Park land and NOWHERE ELSE throughout the park (again, not just there for general park visitors).

Further, when people try to cross our borders legally at border crossing check-points, they are patted down, frisked, and asked to take off parts of their clothing, but when it comes to the rest of the border, our federal government will not put up a fence, let alone have our National Guard stationed there be allowed to touch or detain those who walk across illegally. WHY?

By myself, I am not an Army Of Davids … I am but one person with questions.

The how & why - may be an official link between the “Border Angels” and Anza Borrego Desert State Park officials.

The how & why - is that the stations may have been placed without permission by outside interests (unlikely).

The how & why - may be an official program, supported through the use of tax dollars, of the State Park to assist immigrants.

The how & why is … (?).

So, this is where the discussion of this issue and posts continue – any helpers?

Academic Freedom - A Current Oxymoron

Photo Cartoons - GOP Playing Cards - David Horowitz. Image Credit: Internet Weekly

It's time to open up the academic "tent"!

It is easy to tell when someone is goring (not Al) the ox of the status quo when in intellectual honesty; one puts himself at risk of ridicule.

It sure seems funny how tradition based religion and academia has swapped their traditional approaches to the value each brings to the human pursuit to life.

Religion helps to anchor the human experience with strong unwavering cultural values direction to living as a rudder would give a vessel, whereas academia helps to explore the human intellect by broadening ones point of view through dialog as sails give a vessel power.

Why is it that we humans want our cultural experience to become "Sails" while our academic experience becomes a "Rudder" on which it may run the risk of getting stuck in the mud?

Enter David Horowitz and the Academic Bill of Rights ...

Excerpts from The Washington Times -

Academic manifesto takes root
By Valerie Richardson - THE WASHINGTON TIMES - July 3, 2006

DENVER -- Three years ago, David Horowitz came to Colorado to promote his newly inked Academic Bill of Rights, a plan the radical-turned-conservative activist said was needed to liberate students from an oppressive atmosphere of liberal groupthink at the nation's universities.

Critics had scoffed at the assertion by Mr. Horowitz -- who in the 1960s had been a prominent left-wing student activist -- that freedom on 21st-century campuses was being crushed by a tyrannical regime of political correctness.

But as then-state Senate Majority Leader John Andrews listened to Mr. Horowitz over breakfast at the Brown Palace Hotel, he agreed the time was ripe for an intellectual revolution.

"We were finishing each other's sentences, because this has been a concern for conservatives for such a long time," Mr. Andrews recalled. "I started working on and researching legislation right away."

A few months later, the Colorado legislature became the first to broker a deal with state universities on policies to protect students from political discrimination.

Since then, the Academic Bill of Rights, which says students should be graded and faculty should be hired and promoted without regard to their political or religious beliefs, has inspired the introduction of legislation in 18 states. Ohio and Tennessee struck deals with their universities on protecting academic freedom in lieu of legislation.
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In April, Princeton University became the first institution of higher learning to pass a version of the Student Bill of Rights by a vote of the entire student body, surprising even Mr. Horowitz, who had no hand in the election.
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Of course, it hasn't all been good news. A well-known conservative writer and activist, Mr. Horowitz was never the most popular guy on campus, and the academic freedom movement has cemented his status as a persona non grata.

Demonstrators greet Mr. Horowitz's every college appearance. At Duke University, associate professor Diane Nelson urged students to pull off their T-shirts to protest his March 7 speech. During a talk last year at Butler University in Indiana, he was hit in the face with a pie.
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"The left knows there's a battle on, and they're in it," Mr. Horowitz said. "Conservatives are still hung up on this legislation thing -- they don't want to do anything that requires legislation. It's going to take a little time."
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In February, a coalition of teachers unions and civil-liberties groups, including the center, founded Free Exchange on Campus, an organization designed to counter Mr. Horowitz and his quest.

Jamie Horwitz, who acts as a spokesman both for Free Exchange on Campus and the American Federation of Teachers, said the opposition was slow to react because "we dismissed it at first as the rantings of an ideologue."
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On its face, few would disagree with the Academic Bill of Rights, a two-page document that outlines principles protecting the free-inquiry and free-speech rights of professors and students while stressing the importance of intellectual diversity.

It says that professors should use their class time for education -- not indoctrination -- and that neither the political nor religious beliefs of students and faculty should be a factor in grades or promotion.

Despite the document's political neutrality, critics fear that if it becomes state law, it will be used as a hammer to promote conservative thought and squelch liberal dissent.

"I think what they're doing is curtailing academic freedom," said Adam Jentleson, policy and advocacy manager of Campus Progress. "I don't think they're really making that much progress because every state that's considered it has either voted it down or referred it to committee."
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Indeed, university professors have been the document's biggest critics, arguing that the cure is worse than the purported disease. Already, they say, the debate has created a climate of self-censorship on campus as professors increasingly steer clear of politically charged topics, such as global warming.

"Wouldn't it be worse to have laws that restrict free speech in the classroom?" Mr. Horwitz said.
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To those who ask for evidence of liberal bias in academia, Mr. Horowitz has two words: Ward Churchill. The University of Colorado ethnic-studies professor transformed the debate in February 2005, when it was publicized that he wrote an essay comparing victims of the September 11 terrorist attack to Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.

"Churchill is huge," Mr. Horowitz said. "I don't think this movement would have happened without Ward Churchill. I know I wouldn't have written 'The Professors' if it hadn't been for Ward Churchill."
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Nowhere was his influence greater than in Colorado, where Mr. Churchill literally rescued the movement. After the Democrats took back the legislature in November 2004, state Sen. Bob Hagedorn introduced a bill that would have erased the state's groundbreaking Memorandum of Understanding with the state universities on academic freedom.

A few weeks later, the Churchill story broke, and Mr. Hagedorn, a Democrat, withdrew the bill.

"Everything changed," recalled Mr. Andrews, now a fellow with the Claremont Institute. "Churchill became the poster boy for abuse in the classroom and destroyed whatever chance Hagedorn thought he had to pass this protective layer on university professors."
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"This is something people are talking about, on talk radio, on the street, in the papers," Mr. Schuberth said. "I think it's a winning issue for us, to be honest. It's playing well, and any candidate who talks about academic freedom is going to win support."
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Some Documents Are Much Too Important

Mexican emigrant Dario Ibarra, 74, shows his electoral card before heading to Tijuana, Mexico, on a bus leaving from Huntington Park, Calif., to vote in the Mexican presidential election Sunday July 2, 2006. This is the first time in which Mexicans living abroad are able to vote. Image Credit: AP Photo/Stefano Paltera

Do you ever stop and ask yourself -- just how many people that are immigrants, like Dario Ibarra (photo), have managed to register and receive thair electoral card to vote in Mexico, but will NEVER bother to get proper documentation to reside here in the United States?

If photographers can find people who are hopping busses and planes to get to the border to vote, how come our government officals and the people we are paying to manage immigration into the United States can't find these same "target rich" environments?

Excerpts from AP via Yahoo! News -

Mexican migrants in U.S. head to polls
By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writer - 50 minutes ago

TIJUANA, Mexico - Thousands of Mexicans living in the United States traveled by plane, bus and car to Mexican border cities to vote in Sunday's hotly contested presidential election.

The Mexican government set up 86 polling places along the 2,000-mile border, mostly for migrants who missed out on the country's historic absentee ballot campaign.

Across the border from San Diego in Tijuana, a sprawling city of more than 1 million people, out-of-town voters arrived Sunday by bus from Los Angeles and other California cities. Many said they made the trip because they received little information about how to request absentee ballots, lacked the correct voting card, or did not fill out their applications correctly.

Maria Salome Rodriguez, a 38-year-old farm worker, drove eight hours with her husband from Fresno, Calif., and waited for two hours to vote at a polling booth outside Tijuana's airport. She and her husband decided to make the trip to the border after their applications for absentee ballots were rejected because they wrote down the wrong address.
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Lawmakers approved a law last year to allow the estimated 11 million Mexicans living in the United States to vote by mail for the first time. But the effort was thrown together to beat electoral deadlines, and only about 32,632 absentee ballots from 71 countries were mailed to the Federal Electoral Institute.

Of those, 479 did not meet requirements and were rejected, electoral officials said.
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