October 6, 2006
A VIRTUAL FENCE....I see that the Republican Party is busily continuing its usual electoral strategy: pretending to pander to the base during election years but simultaneously doing their best not to actually deliver anything. It might lose them votes elsewhere, after all:
No sooner did Congress authorize construction of a 700-mile fence on the U.S.-Mexico border last week than lawmakers rushed to approve separate legislation that ensures it will never be built....
Shortly before recessing late Friday, the House and Senate gave the Bush administration leeway to distribute the money to a combination of projects not just the physical barrier along the southern border. The funds may also be spent on roads, technology and "tactical infrastructure" to support the Department of Homeland Security's preferred option of a "virtual fence."
....In this case, it also reflects political calculations by GOP strategists that voters do not mind the details, and that key players including the administration, local leaders and the Mexican government oppose a fence-only approach, analysts said.
Hooray! The rubes, who party bigwigs hope aren't "minding the details," think they're getting something like the Great Wall of China, but in reality they'll get a few miles of showpiece fortification plus a billion dollars worth of "tactical infrastructure" and "virtual fence."
Political parties play politics. But I have to say that the 20-year dance that Republicans have played with the social conservative wing of the party has been about as cynical as anything in modern history. I'm fine with that, of course, since I'd just as soon see social conservatives confined to their basements churning out angry mimeographed newsletters about the horrors of secular humanism, but it really makes you wonder if they're ever going to catch on. How many times can Lucy pull the football away before they figure out they're being had?
—Kevin Drum 1:20 PM
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Um, the same reason that they write the rot they do is the one that tells you that this will go on forever - they're cretins - they don't get it (or anything real for that matter), no?
Posted by: Name on October 6, 2006 at 1:26 PM | PERMALINK
Boeing got a contract for security cameras on 200 foot towers. These cameras can spot movement, isolate that movement and alert border guards. Dollar for dollar it is a much cheaper method than chain link fence.
Posted by: Matt on October 6, 2006 at 1:31 PM | PERMALINK
How many times can Lucy pull the football away before they figure out they're being had?
Well, in fairness to the GOP, they have done their damnedest to appoint friendly faces to the courts, and it's not out of the question that the real prize, the overturning of Roe, could be delivered to the SocialCons in the fullness of time.
When it comes to building a wall, though, I say: thank God for the cynicism of GOP elites. Constructing a 21st century Great Wall of America would be a very, very, very expensive way to only moderately reduce illegal immigration.
Posted by: 99 on October 6, 2006 at 1:31 PM | PERMALINK
Sort of like:
"I voted for that legislation before I voted against it."
This thread is about as big a piece of wishful thinking as I've ever seen. You may wish that republicans were as inconsistent as democrats, but that just won't make it so.
As a sidebar, I see that at crunch time (October), Kevin has abandoned the more debate oriented topics, and switched into pure attack mode. I'm sure that's a decision that will be 'popular with the base', ie. the readership.
Posted by: sportsfan79 on October 6, 2006 at 1:32 PM | PERMALINK
This Republican Congress has few guiding principles, agreed. But I think it's unfair to characterize building a border fence as "pandering the the base" -- a majority of Americans want it, after all, and it passed 80-19 in the Senate. Even Boxer, Feinstein, and Hillary voted for it!
Of course, maybe those three only voted for it because they realized congress could weasel out of actually building it, in which case we could say the Democrats, too, in this congress have few guiding principles.
Posted by: Orkon on October 6, 2006 at 1:33 PM | PERMALINK
. . . it really makes you wonder if they're ever going to catch on. How many times can Lucy pull the football away before they figure out they're being had?
At this point, I don't think they'll ever catch on. They have so much invested in not seeing what's right in front of their faces that if they ever allow themselves to notice that they've been had their entire self identities will crumble.
It's all the fault of the "liberals," see? That can be applied to any situation, any circumstance, anything they disagree with. It's the "liberals" fault, somehow, even if the real liberals had nothing to do with it whatsover.
Blaming everything on the "liberals" shields them from having to think critically and cause their own heads to explode.
Posted by: Greg VA on October 6, 2006 at 1:34 PM | PERMALINK
Oh, we'll never see that we're being had. Because the only option is you commies, who want scary brown gay terrorists to marry my wittle Ally-kins!
Posted by: Al's Mommy on October 6, 2006 at 1:35 PM | PERMALINK
And don't forget killing babies and robbing graves! We can only pay for our endless war by taxing working people; and any woman who even THINKS about having sex MUST bear a child. Just look at me!
Posted by: Al's Mommy on October 6, 2006 at 1:37 PM | PERMALINK
I think if you're a bigoted racist who believes in an invisible cloud-being, you don't exactly "do nuance".
Posted by: raff on October 6, 2006 at 1:37 PM | PERMALINK
Oh, we'll never see that we're being had. Because the only option is you commies, who want scary brown gay terrorists to marry my wittle Ally-kins!
Hey Al's Mommy, I've seen your continued posts over the last few weeks. Does this mean you're going to make a permanent situation out of parodying the fictional mother of a conservative poster on this board?
Sorta' lame, isn't it? Oh well, knock yourself out.
Posted by: sportsfan79 on October 6, 2006 at 1:38 PM | PERMALINK
Kevin: "... I'd just as soon see social conservatives confined to their basements churning out angry mimeographed newsletters about the horrors of secular humanism."
You mean as opposed to seeing Charlie's comments posted on your blog?
I think computers probably outnumber mimeograph machines these days whether in the basements of "social conservatives" or anyone else.
Posted by: SecularAnimist on October 6, 2006 at 1:39 PM | PERMALINK
As long as they don't touch that Party Hardy Set Aside Money for the V-I (Victory in Irag) celebration. Emanem's grandsons are scheduled to perform.
Posted by: thethirdPaul on October 6, 2006 at 1:39 PM | PERMALINK
sportsfan79 wrote: "Does this mean you're going to make a permanent situation out of parodying the fictional mother of a conservative poster on this board?"
Do you really believe that "Al" is a "conservative" and not a parody of so-called "conservatives"?
I wouldn't be surprised if the comments from "Al" and "Al's mommy" are posted by the same person.
Posted by: SecularAnimist on October 6, 2006 at 1:41 PM | PERMALINK
I for one have come to enjoy Pl's Mommy's posts
Posted by: Dan on October 6, 2006 at 1:42 PM | PERMALINK
How many times can Lucy pull the football away before they figure out they're being had?
How about 10^10?
Who ever lost an election by underestimating the intelligence of the voters?
Posted by: gregor on October 6, 2006 at 1:44 PM | PERMALINK
Kevin wrote: "How many times can Lucy pull the football away before they figure out they're being had?"
The same question could be asked of "sensible liberals" and "centrist Democrats" who embrace "bipartisanship".
The Republican Party of today is a criminal gang masquerading as "conservative" politicians. They are equal-opportunity con artists. They'll con the right, they'll con the left, they'll con the "moderates". It's all the same to them.
Posted by: SecularAnimist on October 6, 2006 at 1:44 PM | PERMALINK
I wouldn't be surprised if the comments from "Al" and "Al's mommy" are posted by the same person.
Ya think? Weird.
Maybe so, though. Sometimes I wonder about the life stories of blog posters. If they're real or faking, how many screen names their using, if they're normal people or weirdos. Cyberspace is a strange thing, if you think about it.
Posted by: sportsfan79 on October 6, 2006 at 1:46 PM | PERMALINK
"How many times can Lucy pull the football away before they figure out they're being had?"
Kevin, these people support stupid causes for a *reason* --- they are *stupid*.
Lucy can pull the football away till the end of time and they will still not get the picture.
Posted by: Maynard Handley on October 6, 2006 at 1:49 PM | PERMALINK
99 writes:
"Constructing a 21st century Great Wall of America would be a very, very, very expensive way to only moderately reduce illegal immigration."
Not true. The cost of building the wall would be much less than the cost of having millions of illegals here.
Posted by: Orkon on October 6, 2006 at 1:52 PM | PERMALINK
Well, the fenced border has broad support across party lines, so the bait and switch is meant to snooker a lot more than the so-called social conservatives. If I remember correctly, 80 senators voted for the fence, so it is not only Republicans displaying a lack of principle.
Posted by: Yancey Ward on October 6, 2006 at 1:55 PM | PERMALINK
Again, we need a parliamentary government. That way, the Religious Right could form its own party, and we'd get to see GOP pandering on a scale never before witnessed.
More seriously, Yancey's at least partially right: This is a populist issue to some degree, at least.
Posted by: SocraticGadfly on October 6, 2006 at 1:58 PM | PERMALINK
Mickey Kaus over at Slate thinks the wall will still get built, despite what the Post piece says:
http://www.slate.com/id/2150865/
I have to agree. The Post is openly campaigning for "comprehensive" reform and is extremely hostile to the "enforcement first, then we'll talk" bill that's now passed both houses of Congress.
It's interesting to see how openly pro-illegal immigration the Post is. I thought newspapers were supposed to be evenhanded, but those days are behind us, it seems. Not that I lament it --I think every news medium has its biases, and I'd rather know what they are than not.
That's why I watch Fox! And read pravda...and the Post!
Posted by: Orkon on October 6, 2006 at 1:59 PM | PERMALINK
Lets talk about stupid people for a minute - Since the Ig-Nobels were last night, and now we know why Woodpeckers so not get headaches.
There is a real life tongue-in-cheek research paper on The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity. Stupidity and Hydrogen are the only universals, you know.
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 2:00 PM | PERMALINK
SportsFan -- you know what is really lame? Thinking that we were better off under Clinton! No war, no deficits, no 6-years-between market records, zillions of new jobs a month.
My poor Al cried every day, until Manly George came in and made his life worth living.
Like having a sports team that you can root for, no?
Posted by: Al's Mommy on October 6, 2006 at 2:00 PM | PERMALINK
The cost of building the wall would be much less than the cost of having millions of illegals here.
People are going to get wise when they are paying two bucks a can for irregular pears down the road a piece. The fruit harvest is rotting on the ground this year because of a dearth of pickers. That is a real effect of this anti-immigrant hysteria.
I don't pretend to have the answers to this dilema, but I have some common sense, and this issue is not a simple one to parse.
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 2:04 PM | PERMALINK
Apparently, if our own trollocracy is any indication, Lucy has thoroughly convinced Charlie Brown that Linus is responsible for his inability to kick the football.
Posted by: Kenji on October 6, 2006 at 2:06 PM | PERMALINK
A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.
This prety much stands on it's own with no supporting verbiage from the likes of me, and it applies across the board.
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 2:07 PM | PERMALINK
I wonder if Al wears a dress when he posts as his mommy? Could his last name be Bates?
Posted by: Michael7843853 G-O in 08! on October 6, 2006 at 2:08 PM | PERMALINK
Mickey Kaus over at Slate
Wow, talk about your reliable, informative sources...
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 2:13 PM | PERMALINK
Oh, my gosh!! The Mexican government opposes the building of a border wall
You know, I wouldn't be bringing up the fact that Vincente Fox basically put his finger in GWB's chest and told him what the US immigration policy was going to be.
If and when we get a leader to actually stand up to the tin horn leader who runs Mexico now, and tell them to start reforming their political system and their economy, you might have a leg to stand on. NAFTA isn't working, Clinton didn't do what he needed to do, and Bush certainly hasn't done it either.
Until the lives of the average Mexican citizens improves, it doesn't matter if you build a moat with motorized crocodiles that shoot flames out of their eye sockets--you aren't going to stop human migration.
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 2:22 PM | PERMALINK
If the grape harvest rots on the vine, the Publicans may have to serve French Wine at future fundraisers!
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 2:24 PM | PERMALINK
the Publicans may have to serve French Wine at future fundraisers!
Hey! I thought we were going to go shoe shopping. Can you have the chauffeur bring the car around? Or did the INS grab him, too?
Drat the luck!
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 2:26 PM | PERMALINK
Lemme get into my high-school uniform to model the Mary Janes I have my eye on...
That driver! He was a security risk and last seen was being extraordiarily rendered in an undisclosed location. Good help is so hard to find!
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 2:28 PM | PERMALINK
I'm sure that's a decision that will be 'popular with the base', ie. the readership.
So what's he supposed to do, piss all of us off and make you, Al and Americanchickenhawk happy? Sure all bloggers would love to have a site that gets visited by 3 guys every day.
Posted by: tomeck on October 6, 2006 at 2:28 PM | PERMALINK
He was a security risk and last seen was being extraordiarily rendered in an undisclosed location.
Why, if he mislaid one of your delightful mink stoles, I should assume that a good, Christian interrogator is waterboarding his sorry ass as we speak.
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 2:30 PM | PERMALINK
We can only hope, Pale Rider, we can only hope...Can you pick me up in that cute little hybrid?
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 2:33 PM | PERMALINK
I'd just as soon see social conservatives confined to their basements churning out angry mimeographed newsletters about the horrors of secular humanism...
Or posting on Wash Monthly. That means more from Al, American Chickenshit, Charlie/Cheney/ThomASS/ThomASS1 and Jay. A small price to pay, I guess, for a dem majority.
Posted by: MeLoseBrain? on October 6, 2006 at 2:38 PM | PERMALINK
Or posting on Wash Monthly. That means more from Al, American Chickenshit, Charlie/Cheney/ThomASS/ThomASS1 and Jay. A small price to pay, I guess, for a dem majority.
Oops, I forgot shitstain79. Soryy, shitstain!
Posted by: MeLoseBrain? on October 6, 2006 at 2:40 PM | PERMALINK
The fence issue really frustrates me because it seems that everyone ignores the fact that there is already a FENCE in every urban and developed area on the border. If you want to see a "few miles of showpiece fortification," I recommend the border at Tijuana. That's one big fence. I have also visited the border at Mexicali, Matamoros and Laredo. I can assure you: barriers are in place in all of those locations - not to mention that there is also a river. I would think that anyone who is fiscally conservative would insist on a cost-benefit analysis of fences in the middle of the desert.
The other elephant in the room is the coastline. Spain is receiving waves of boat people from Africa. Sometimes hundreds per day. It makes the whole wall idea seem silly. Build the Great Wall of China if you want, but unless you continue it all the way up the coast to San Francisco, and over to Miami and north to the Carolinas, well, you've wasted your time and money.
I wish they'd stop wasting our money to cater to bigots.
Posted by: Marcus on October 6, 2006 at 2:40 PM | PERMALINK
In 120 years we've gone from the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor beckoning immigrants to high security barrier fences along the southwest border excluding them.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame,
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
by Emma Lazarus, New York City, 1883
Sigh . . .
Posted by: pj in jesusland on October 6, 2006 at 2:44 PM | PERMALINK
The other elephant in the room is the coastline
Been screaming about this for years. All that is needed to penetrate the American perimiter is Phoenician technology.
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 2:45 PM | PERMALINK
Can you pick me up in that cute little hybrid?
Hybrid? Poppycock!
I'll send a Ford F-350 King Cab to get you so we can fill it full of new shoes.
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 2:48 PM | PERMALINK
My hope is they put the Iraq reconstruction contracting folks in charge and then we'll never have to see this awful thing on our border
Posted by: coyote on October 6, 2006 at 2:49 PM | PERMALINK
If you believe in the the magic guy in the clouds®, I have to guess you'll buy anything.
Posted by: Noam Sane on October 6, 2006 at 2:51 PM | PERMALINK
At least you aren't sending a damned Chevy...
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 2:53 PM | PERMALINK
Oops, I forgot shitstain79.
And his little pal mhr?
Oh, wait. mhr hasn't gone through the troll basic course yet and gotten the necessary accreditation. I think it got lost in the shuffle.
mhr, hook up with Will Allen, fill out the necessary paperwork, and submit it to the education department so they can contact finance and get them to upgrade your status as a Troll, Apprentice Mate, Third Class and receive the necessary pay, privileges and rum ration.
Put down the Cheetos and sew that patch on your wife-beater T-shirt (if you can't sew, get your Ma Ma to do it for you.)
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 2:54 PM | PERMALINK
Damned Chevy,
Hmmm, very popular in East LA.
As they used to say, there were three major holidays in East LA.
May5 for Cinco de Mayo,
September 16, Mexican Independence Day,
and October 10 - When the new Chevies come out, man.
Posted by: stupid git on October 6, 2006 at 3:04 PM | PERMALINK
Pale Rider wrote: "Until the lives of the average Mexican citizens improves, it doesn't matter if you build a moat with motorized crocodiles that shoot flames out of their eye sockets--you aren't going to stop human migration."
Here's something that's going to affect migration.
The Century of Drought
by Michael McCarthy
October 4, 2006
The Independent / UK
Excerpt:
Drought threatening the lives of millions will spread across half the land surface of the Earth in the coming century because of global warming, according to new predictions from Britain's leading climate scientists.
Extreme drought, in which agriculture is in effect impossible, will affect about a third of the planet, according to the study from the Met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research.
It is one of the most dire forecasts so far of the potential effects of rising temperatures around the world - yet it may be an underestimation, the scientists involved said yesterday.
The findings, released at the Climate Clinic at the Conservative Party conference in Bournemouth, drew astonished and dismayed reactions from aid agencies and development specialists, who fear that the poor of developing countries will be worst hit.
"This is genuinely terrifying," said Andrew Pendleton of Christian Aid. "It is a death sentence for many millions of people. It will mean migration off the land at levels we have not seen before, and at levels poor countries cannot cope with."
One of Britain's leading experts on the effects of climate change on the developing countries, Andrew Simms from the New Economics Foundation, said: "There's almost no aspect of life in the developing countries that these predictions don't undermine - the ability to grow food, the ability to have a safe sanitation system, the availability of water. For hundreds of millions of people for whom getting through the day is already a struggle, this is going to push them over the precipice."
The findings represent the first time that the threat of increased drought from climate change has been quantified with a supercomputer climate model such as the one operated by the Hadley Centre.
Their impact is likely to even greater because the findings may be an underestimate. The study did not include potential effects on drought from global-warming-induced changes to the Earth's carbon cycle.
In one unpublished Met Office study, when the carbon cycle effects are included, future drought is even worse.
Why is it that scientific studies like this are routinely front-page news in Britain and Europe, but are virtually never reported in the US mass media?
Why is it that climate change plays a major role in British politics (note these findings were released at a Conservative Party conference!) but is not even on the map of issues affecting the 2006 elections in the USA?
Why are Americans living in a fantasy dream world, ignorant of the global catastophe that is overtaking this planet, the only known home of life in the universe -- a catastrophe brought on in large part by our own greed, gluttony and profligate wastefulness?
Posted by: SecularAnimist on October 6, 2006 at 3:11 PM | PERMALINK
The Stockade of Liberty!
Can we get that on the Texas state quarter?
Posted by: Osama_Been_Forgotten on October 6, 2006 at 3:11 PM | PERMALINK
"the guy in charge of the Iraqi reconstruction project"
Actually, I believe that the person who will lead this project is the same one at the Pentagon who is in charge of that money allocated for the Victory in Iraq celebration. His cubicle is in the (How many subfloors does the Pentagon have? oops, classified) bottom right corner behind the smoke screen pumps. Very hush, hush.
Posted by: thethirdPaul on October 6, 2006 at 3:13 PM | PERMALINK
If the grape harvest rots on the vine, the Publicans may have to serve French Wine at future fundraisers!
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 2:24 PM | PERMALINK
nah - with Global Warming, it'll be Yukon Wine.
Posted by: Osama_Been_Forgotten on October 6, 2006 at 3:15 PM | PERMALINK
S-A,
Did you catch this as well:
The environmental adversities around the Aral Sea in Central Asia have been the subject of recent research. Attempts at sustainable provision of palatable drinking water in low chemical and microbial contaminants for the 4 million people in the two countries around the Aral littoral have been largely unsuccessful. In the last few years, severe drought has further depleted the amount of available water. This shortage has negatively impacted on agriculture, and accentuated the out migration of people. An appeal is made to assist the local population in this arid area to cope with the acute and chronic deterioration of water security.
It is an excellent contrast to what is going on. The images in one article that I saw on the Aral sea--which once had a massive Soviet biological testing range right smack dab in the middle of it--are horrifying.
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 3:19 PM | PERMALINK
You know, the construction costs of building the Stockade of Liberty would be much lower if we could hire illegal Mexicans to build it!
Posted by: Osama_Been_Forgotten on October 6, 2006 at 3:21 PM | PERMALINK
Personally, I'm in favor of funding exploratory research into the Virtual Mole, a set of remote sensing devices that will enable us to track illegal immigrants who choose to tunnel under the Virtual Wall.
Posted by: Wonderin on October 6, 2006 at 3:26 PM | PERMALINK
Really prefer the Denali Ridge Zinfandel to that of the Ted Stevens Cabernet - Found the taste of that cab a little long in the tooth and sort of a vintage to nowhere.
Posted by: stupid git on October 6, 2006 at 3:28 PM | PERMALINK
Who let this stupid git in here?
Everybody knows the Frank Murkowski Sauvignon Blanc goes through a man like shit through a goose...
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 3:30 PM | PERMALINK
That Murkowski vintage is full of antifreeze - they had to do something with the stuff when the new Alaskan Riviera came to pass.
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 3:32 PM | PERMALINK
I really can not understand the failure of Ted's Cab - Ton of government money for R & D and marketing research - Hired the finest vintners from the Heritage Foundation - Must prove how federal money for R & D is a complete waste.
Posted by: stupid git on October 6, 2006 at 3:33 PM | PERMALINK
Why are Americans living in a fantasy dream world, ignorant of the global catastophe that is overtaking this planet, ....?
Posted by: SecularAnimist on October 6, 2006 at 3:11 PM | PERMALINK
*sigh*
We've been over this, SA.
They do it because they CAN.
Very soon, they will no longer be able to, and THEN they'll pay attention. By then, it will be too late for the vast majority of people who are going to die. But thems the breaks, I suppose.
Remember - Americans were pretty blissfully ignorant of Terrorism until 9/11. Now they're just blissfully ignorant of the Domestic Terrorism that the Republican Party commits daily. When it affects them in ways they cannot ignore - we'll have a War On Anarcho-Capitalism.
Posted by: Osama_Been_Forgotten on October 6, 2006 at 3:34 PM | PERMALINK
I thought the problem with Frank's wine was that too many of his kids and other family members, including his vast staff had stomped those grapes a little too long.
Posted by: thethirdPaul on October 6, 2006 at 3:37 PM | PERMALINK
I thought the problem with Frank's wine was that too many of his kids and other family members, including his vast staff had stomped those grapes a little too long.
Frank's got a couple of gay Eskimos on the payroll; they roll around in the grapes, use a lot of whale oil for lubrication, and it all smells like the inside of a size 13 basketball shoe that's been stuffed with dirty underwear.
Frank loves the stuff; drinks himself silly and fires off his 30.06 at the locals. Oh, sure--the Sheriff has to take him to the drunk tank once in a while, but that's all hush-hush.
Kinda like when Pete Coors got busted for DUI--except Pete didn't have the kind of juice that Frank has...
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 3:45 PM | PERMALINK
I don't think they'll ever know, because they just blame us (Democrats).
And that's alot more useful to them; it upsets the 'Independents' who just want a reason to hate the system (and encourage them not to participate) and gives them a reason to rally the base.
'They wouldn't let us, but you know we'll try again!'
Posted by: Crissa on October 6, 2006 at 3:47 PM | PERMALINK
So, basically, Kevin Drum is calling all those who oppose illegal immigration "rubes" and falsely claiming that only "social conservatives" care about enforcing our immigration laws.
Will Kevin ever get a clue and decide to discuss immigration matters in an adult, non-partisan, pro-American fashion? Unfortunately, I don't think so.
Those who don't want to be so ignorant can read my very brief illegal immigration primer.
To see where all this is heading, read up on the North American Union.
To read what Congressmen - of both parties - think of you, the "citizen", read Politics by Other Means: The "Why" of Immigration to the United States (a former Fox advisor details his encounters with "our" representatives).
And, here's a progressive take on illegal immigration.
And, read MSM propaganda promoting illegal immigration.
And, here's more on links between some immigration march organizers and foreign governments and parties. Some of those organizers have links to various Democrat politicians.
Bonus! ACLU, SPLC, MALDEF, and the Mexican government. Those well-known groups are part of a new "workinggroup", and at least three other members of that "workinggroup" have links to the Mexican government.
Posted by: TLB on October 6, 2006 at 3:58 PM | PERMALINK
TLB, sorry--
Already checked out the lone wacko blog.
Pathetic.
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 4:00 PM | PERMALINK
I have to say that the 20-year dance that Republicans have played with the social conservative wing of the party has been about as cynical as anything in modern history.
Good stuff, Kevin.
Posted by: luci on October 6, 2006 at 4:01 PM | PERMALINK
I don't much agree with the LoneWacko on immigration, but I would like to see more honest discussion of immigration. People have a right to say they don't want more immigrants coming, and others to disagree. Turning a blind eye to illegal immigration and enforcement of the laws, seems a worse outcome for most involved (except cheap labor capitalists).
And I see nothing wrong with a fence.
Posted by: luci on October 6, 2006 at 4:09 PM | PERMALINK
luci,
Lone Wacko is a front for a cheap, ignorant racist who is trying to parlay unreasonable fear into a little revenue stream--nothing more.
Today's Mexican is yesterday's Irishman-that's all you need to know about the so-called 'immigration issue.'
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 4:19 PM | PERMALINK
How many times can Lucy pull the football away before they figure out they're being had?
Until Jayzuz comes down int his fiery chariot and smits all the evildoers with his mighty, righteous lightsaber, you heathern. Then you'll all be sorry, I can tell you buddy!
Posted by: Rube in a cube on October 6, 2006 at 4:29 PM | PERMALINK
Osama,
The Stockade of Liberty? How about the Wall of Shame? Whatever happened to the Old West and "Don't Fence Me In?"
Texans used to bust down walls when they surrounded old Spanish settlements. They don't like fences that surround federal land, keeping their cattle from destroying public property. But they sure like fences around their oil rigs and golf course communities.
Just wait till the Edwards Aquifer runs dry and those Texans will come squealin' like piggies with their Bibles in their hands talking about charity and "doing unto others." They won't be able to knock fences down fast enough when their asses are in a sling.
But we will remember.
Posted by: pj in jesusland on October 6, 2006 at 4:46 PM | PERMALINK
EDWARDS AQUIFER AUTHORITY DECLARES STAGE I
OF DEMAND MANAGEMENT/CRITICAL PERIOD PLAN
Mandatory Reductions in Aquifer Pumping Take Effect for Much of Region
SAN ANTONIO (July 19, 2006) The Edwards Aquifer Authority (Authority)
today declared Stage I of its Demand Management/Critical Period Management
Plan (DM/CPM), meaning that most of the Edwards Aquifer region is now under
mandatory groundwater restrictions and likely to remain so for at least the next
30 days.
* * * * *
No worries, cowboys and cowgirls -- global warming is just crackpot Democratic-funded science! Put up those fences and keep those golf courses green. You just won't have anyone to replace the divots.
Posted by: pj in jesusland on October 6, 2006 at 4:59 PM | PERMALINK
we were stationed in Texas when the shrub was governor - I left that state thinking the other 49 should wise up and secede.
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 5:07 PM | PERMALINK
Until the lives of the average Mexican citizens improves, it doesn't matter if you build a moat with motorized crocodiles that shoot flames out of their eye sockets--you aren't going to stop human migration.
We bought one of those from the SkyMall, but the goddman mailman still manages to deliver the bills. Goddamn gummint employees.
Posted by: craigie on October 6, 2006 at 5:10 PM | PERMALINK
What is the official Democratic Party position on the security of the Mexican border? Is a fence more, or less, likely to be built by a Democratic Administration?
Posted by: Trashhauler on October 6, 2006 at 5:15 PM | PERMALINK
Pale Rider: If you're calling me names that's one thing. But, if you're accusing me of "fronting" for someone else, that's a false statement and libelous. You might want to explain which it is, seeking legal advice first.
Posted by: TLB on October 6, 2006 at 5:18 PM | PERMALINK
You might want to explain which it is, seeking legal advice first.
Fuck off and die, ass candy.
It took, oh, THREE seconds to figure out who you are, what you're about, and what's going on with that shitsoaked little blog of yours.
You're the one who ought to fear...
La reconquistadors!
Somebody driving a Chevy with the hydralic lift might be driving past your front door, man...better load them guns and hide...
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 5:24 PM | PERMALINK
Yeah Pale Rider!
TLB is going to get O'Rielly to call Fox Security on you!
Just wait till he goes through your past postings and finds something vaguely threatening to the President!
Posted by: Osama_Been_Forgotten on October 6, 2006 at 5:26 PM | PERMALINK
So, basically, Kevin Drum is calling all those who oppose illegal immigration "rubes" and falsely claiming that only "social conservatives" care about enforcing our immigration laws.
No. He's saying that people who oppose illegal immigration and therefore vote for the GOP in the expectation that the Republicans will do something about it, are rubes. Because the GOP doesn't care. They have much bigger donors than the rubes, and those donors want as much immigration, illegal or otherwise, as the traffic will bear.
Posted by: craigie on October 6, 2006 at 5:28 PM | PERMALINK
... Put up those fences and keep those golf courses green. You just won't have anyone to replace the divots.
Posted by: pj in jesusland on October 6, 2006 at 4:59 PM | PERMALINK
Thanks, pj, for reminding me of my FAVORITE Global Warming Side-Effect: No.More.Golf. :)
(note to self: buy stock in green-spray-paint manufacturers. These fuckers are stubborn!).
Posted by: Osama_Been_Forgotten on October 6, 2006 at 5:32 PM | PERMALINK
It isn't the sport itself that is so bad, OBF - it's the stubborn fuckers who play it.
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 5:36 PM | PERMALINK
You just won't have anyone to replace the divots.
When I conquer you gringos and take all of the land to build my massive tequila factory, I will put TLB to work replacing the divots, one at a time, in the hot sun with nothing but a gunnysack to cover his pasty white ass...
Posted by: La Reconquistador on October 6, 2006 at 5:36 PM | PERMALINK
Trashhauler,
Ignore the fence for a moment. Think outside the fence, if you will.
The Democratic alternative needs to address the range of causes and impacts of illegal immigration.
Here's a start: stop subsidizing US crop prices, particularly corn prices. Subsidized corn + NAFTA = massive amounts of cheap, mass-produced American corn flooding the Mexican market, where corn is a staple. It is driving Mexican farmers off the land in droves, to the cites where there are no jobs and then to illegal border crossings into America.
The fence is a symbol of American hypocrisy -- our own "free trade" policies cause a significant portion of the illegal immigration, which conservatives stoutly decry and use to justify spending billions more erecting 700-mile-long fences to protect their heavily subsidized farming operations, which ironically depend on immigrant farmworkers to sustain their wealth.
Fruits, nuts and vegetables are already rotting in the fields in California because no one is there to harvest them. So how about this for Democratic immigration position #2: a guest worker policy?
Posted by: pj in jesusland on October 6, 2006 at 5:37 PM | PERMALINK
TLB - "The Wal-Mart greeter for the Stockade of Liberty."
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 5:38 PM | PERMALINK
Now we are a caballero?
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 5:38 PM | PERMALINK
It isn't the sport itself that is so bad, OBF - it's the stubborn fuckers who play it.
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 5:36 PM | PERMALINK
It's not a sport.
At best, it's an avoidance mechanism.
Posted by: Osama_Been_Forgotten on October 6, 2006 at 5:39 PM | PERMALINK
Rosie O'Donnell says it isn't a sport, it's men in funny pants walking. Personally I can't pass a golf course without looking at the garish plaid these fatasses are wearing and thinking to myself "Somewhere, there is a 73 Beetle missign seat covers."
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 5:42 PM | PERMALINK
Global,
It's the wide rides in the lime green pants that get to me.
Posted by: pj in jesusland on October 6, 2006 at 5:50 PM | PERMALINK
If you're calling me names that's one thing. But, if you're accusing me of "fronting" for someone else, that's a false statement and libelous.
Bozo, he's accusing your internet alias for being a front for a real person with a specified set of traits.
Wow, you're stupid, even when you aren't talking about immigration.
Good luck with the libel suit, though.
Posted by: cmdicely on October 6, 2006 at 5:55 PM | PERMALINK
Good luck with the libel suit, though.
Thank God my lawyer is Lionel Hutz, esq.
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 6:28 PM | PERMALINK
"he's accusing your internet alias for being a front for a real person with a specified set of traits."
. . . and he's apparently bitterly denying that he's a real person . . .
I suspect that an imaginary person lacks standing to sue for defamation.
Posted by: rea on October 6, 2006 at 6:39 PM | PERMALINK
Rosie O'Donnell says it isn't a sport, it's men in funny pants walking. Personally I can't pass a golf course without looking at the garish plaid these fatasses are wearing and thinking to myself "Somewhere, there is a 73 Beetle missign seat covers."
_______________
No one has worn plaid on a golf course since the 1970s. Normal golf wear is simply casual sports wear.
Posted by: Trashhauler on October 6, 2006 at 7:13 PM | PERMALINK
It's certainly interesting that after calling me names, the same person then makes a "joke" refering to "gringos" and "pasty white ass". If you switched those terms around, they'd be quite racist; but as it is it's just a fun "liberal" "joke".
And, no one's "anonymous" on the web; records can be subpoenaed as necessary. And, it should be obvious to just about anyone who reads most of my posts what the acronym stands for and who I am, especially because of links to my site preceded by phrases such as "I discuss here" or "at my site". Why don't you try to sound it out, specifically what it says in the upper left corner.
But, enough fun with Kevin's third graders, now back to the important stuff.
craigie intones: He's saying that people who oppose illegal immigration and therefore vote for the GOP in the expectation that the Republicans will do something about it, are rubes. Because the GOP doesn't care. They have much bigger donors than the rubes, and those donors want as much immigration, illegal or otherwise, as the traffic will bear.
Only a small number of people vote for the GOP in the expectation that they'll do anything about illegal immigration. That's frequently presented as one of their weak points. In fact, at least one poll asked a question along the lines of, "if there were a GOP candidate who was right on all the other issues except illegal immigration, would you vote for that candidate?"
The problem is that prospective GOP voters who oppose illegal immigration are forced to vote for the GOP because the Dems would be far worse.
If, on the other hand, people like Kevin Drum would get some sense and encourage the Dems to move to a more pro-American stance on this issue, the Dems could grab a large share of those voters who oppose illegal immigration.
But, the Dems won't do that because - like the GOP - they're controlled by special interests that support massive immigration: labor unions working against their members' interests, far-left racial power groups, immigration lawyers, and so on.
And, Kevin Drum is in a way refering to those American workers who vote Democratic in the expectation that the Dems will fight for their interests. The Dems have shown time and time again that they care more for foreign workers than U.S. workers, such as their endless attempts to take benefits from U.S. citizens and give them to foreign citizens who are here illegally, their support for illegal labor which was brought in to take jobs from American hurricane victims, and so on.
Posted by: TLB on October 6, 2006 at 7:41 PM | PERMALINK
There is a course near my where many of the duffers wear garrish plusfours. No kidding. Little poms on their tams - white hillarious, actually.
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 7:42 PM | PERMALINK
It's certainly interesting that after calling me names, the same person then makes a "joke" refering to "gringos" and "pasty white ass". If you switched those terms around, they'd be quite racist; but as it is it's just a fun "liberal" "joke".
No, it's actually satire; and satire is a device used to humiliate racists like you. The deal is, I use the thing that you are most afraid of--Hispanic culture--and I turn it around to show how ridiculous you are for being afraid of it.
If you had anything approaching a grasp of the culture, you'd understand. But, we've established that you're a flaming dumbass who is going on progressive/liberal websites to shill for your two-bit blog.
But thanks for playing.
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 7:51 PM | PERMALINK
And, no one's "anonymous" on the web; records can be subpoenaed as necessary. And, it should be obvious to just about anyone who reads most of my posts what the acronym stands for and who I am, especially because of links to my site preceded by phrases such as "I discuss here" or "at my site". Why don't you try to sound it out, specifically what it says in the upper left corner.
Poor TLB. He thinks he has recourse--he does not. He thinks we're actually going to increase the traffic on his blog--thereby giving his advertisers proof of hits. We're not.
I blog responsibly; take my IP address and you'll find yourself standing outside of a PC bong in Taegu, South Korea.
Nah, I think I'll keep a nickel out of your pocket, ass candy.
Get a lawyer. Sue me. Make every pantywaisted threat you can think of.
I'm still laughing at you.
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 7:56 PM | PERMALINK
Now see, I am not even going to click his link - I've heard enough here, thanks.
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 7:59 PM | PERMALINK
Globe,
You better click his link--he's got a lawyer!
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 8:08 PM | PERMALINK
And I have the JAG office at Whiteman.
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 8:24 PM | PERMALINK
Oh - and a Jewish bloodline. Come to a family reunion some time - you can't toss a Matzo Ball without hitting a lawyer. The family members who aren't lawyers bring theirs to the gathering.
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 8:26 PM | PERMALINK
Click it!
Posted by: Pale Rider on October 6, 2006 at 8:53 PM | PERMALINK
We've met - I could teach aWol about stubborn...
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 6, 2006 at 8:54 PM | PERMALINK
How many times can Lucy pull the football away before they figure out they're being had?
Charles Schulz went to his grave without Charlie Brown ever figuring the deal out. Something for y'all to think about as you approach the end of this thread.
Posted by: dr sardonicus on October 7, 2006 at 12:30 AM | PERMALINK
Ah, the rocket man has Whiplash Willy as his barrister. Things must be slow in San Jose.
Posted by: thethirdPaul on October 7, 2006 at 12:35 AM | PERMALINK
Paul-3 - check your email. I just sent you a link. Buck O'neill passed away tonight. I am heartbroken.
Posted by: Global Citizen on October 7, 2006 at 1:02 AM | PERMALINK
Uh, Kevin - Don't you think people who believe in a literal Genesis story and etc. really are pretty damn stupid?
Posted by: Neil' on October 7, 2006 at 11:29 AM | PERMALINK
social conservatives stick to the Republican party because they know that no other sane voice would have them.
Posted by: cc on October 7, 2006 at 6:41 PM | PERMALINK
Good heavens, what excellent news! You get so tired of the news reporting one fiasco after another. Who specifically is responsible for this fine, fine legislative catch? My hat is off to him or her.
Entirely aside from whether an anti-immigrant fence is a desirable thing, a $1.2-billion fence - specifically, a too-short fence that transgressors simply go around - comes very close to the perfect inutility of dumping sixty million twenty dollar bills in a heap on the ground and setting them afire. In fact it may be worse, because can you cook up hot dogs on a stick over a fence? But $1.2-billion worth of roadway improvements, now that's got a good chance of being a useful public investment.
Posted by: W. Kiernan on October 7, 2006 at 6:58 PM | PERMALINK
But the U.S. needs a virtual fence. How else are they going to keep out all those virtual Mexicans?
Posted by: Place W on October 7, 2006 at 9:34 PM | PERMALINK