CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Mexicans See Illegal Immigration As Part Of Life

The Associated Press reports most Mexicans accept illegal immigration as a fact of life they can't imagine changing:

Mexico's economy, society and political system are built around the assumption that migration and amnesties for undocumented migrants will continue — and that the $20 billion they send home every year will keep coming, and almost certainly grow.

In fact, the government is counting on continued cash from a Mexican-born U.S. population it predicts will rise from 11 million to between 17.9 million and 20.4 million by 2030.

"There have been amnesties and reforms before, and they will continue to occur periodically," said Jesus Cervantes, director of statistics for Mexico's Central Bank.

President Vicente Fox is one of many Mexican who considers the migrants "heroes," because they send money to their impoverished home villages, and in some cases risk death walking into America in pitiless desert sun.

Many families give their babies "American" names, figuring it will help them fit in when they make the inevitable trip north. In one central Mexican village, men on a dusty side road knowingly discuss which Long Island towns are best for day-labor work.

Cervantes avoids using the common metaphor of migration as an escape valve for Mexico's social tensions, but says the country of 105 million people would be in trouble if 11 million migrants returned en masse.

[. . .]

Few in Mexico question the prevailing feeling that Mexicans have an inalienable right to go north, documented or not.

This article highlights my biggest concern about the so-called immigration reform proposals that include legalization of some or all of the 12 million illegal aliens already in this country. It will simply encourage more to illegals to come expecting that eventually they too will be legalized.

That lesson was learned with the adoption of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 ("IRCA"). That "immigration reform" legalized 4 million illegal aliens. IRCA has been a monumental failure. Twenty years later there 12 million illegal aliens to legalize. If some or all of these millions of illegals are now legalized, then we should only expect that twenty years from now we will have to consider granting amnesty to 36 million more new illegal aliens to legalize.

Kerry Dismisses Idea Whites Run Nomination

The Associated Press reports Senator John Kerry dismisses Idea that his support for Iowa and New Hampshire's prominent roles in the presidential nomination process means he thinks only the votes of white people count.

Yesterday, I posted about Kerry's opposition to a DNC advisory commission's plan to place one or two caucuses from more ethnically, racially and economically diverse states between Iowa’s caucus and New Hampshire's primary.

A DNC advisory commission recommended that the additional early states be chosen by the rules committee based on "racial and ethnic diversity; regional diversity; and economic diversity including union density." The commission found that Iowa and New Hampshire "are not fully reflective of the Democratic electorate or the national electorate generally," and, specifically, "do not represent the racial and ethnic diversity of the party or the nation."

On ABC's "This Week," Kerry rejected the opinion of a Democratic strategist who said Kerry's supporting the status quo was "saying only white people's votes count in those early states:"

"That's so much bunk," Kerry responded. "I don't know how to describe that comment in any other way than to say that that's absolutely ridiculous. The converse of that is to suggest that the people in New Hampshire and Iowa are insensitive to those issues and don't care about them."

Getting bashed for failing to adequately adress minority concerns is a continuing problem for Kerry. During his 2004 run the Kerry campaign's diversity was challenged. The Associated Press reported that some black officials and independent analysts were concerned that there is a lack of minority representation in the Kerry campaign, which threatened to weaken enthusiasm among black and Hispanic voters. At the time Kerry's inner circle - the dozen or so advisers who participated in the campaign's most important decisions - was mostly white.

Hillary: Build A Wall Then Legalize

Senator Hillary Clinton told the New York Daily News she wants U.S. borders secured with a wall or fence. She favors a legalization process for the millions of illegal aliens already here.

Clinton envisions a two-stage plan in which border security is beefed up, followed by legalization efforts in a year or two.

"A physical structure is obviously important," the New York Democrat and possible presidential contender said. "A wall in certain areas would be appropriate," she said, endorsing a high-tech "smart fence" that could spot people approaching from 200 or 300 yards.

Embracing both conservative and liberal goals, Clinton said she backs citizenship rather than amnesty for illegal immigrants, as long as it's "earned."

At the same time, she welcomed tougher enforcement of federal laws punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants.

Here is something the New York Senator and I can agree on, build a wall to secure the border first, then we can debate what to do with the 12 million illegals already here. The wall should be substantial and effective, like Israel's 25 foot high wall, not one the illegal aliens have no problem crossing.

Brain Cells Linked To Choice

Researchers at Harvard Medical School have identified neurons that seem to play a role in how a person selects different items or goods:

The neurons were found in an area of the brain known as the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) while studying monkeys which had to choose between different flavors and quantities of juices:

They correlated the animals' choices with the activity of neurons in the OFC with the valued assigned to the different types of juices. Some neurons would be highly active when the monkeys selected three drops of grape juice, for example, or 10 drops of apple juice.

Other neurons encoded the value of only the orange juice or grape juice.

We now have a scientific explanation for indecisiveness, it's the neurons fault.

Bonds Hits 709

Barry Bonds hit his 709th career home run, his first this season, as the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 6-4 Saturday night.

Bonds' homer puts him within five home runs of Babe Ruth's 714.

’s President Met With Terrorist

The London Times reports that President Ahmadinejad, attended a meeting in Syria earlier this year with one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, Imad Mugniyeh.

Mugniyeh is reported to have traveled with Ahmadinejad in January this year from Tehran to Damascus, where the ian president participated in a "terror summit" meeting with leaders of Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

Mugniyeh is the Lebanese commander of Hezbollah’s overseas operations and is on the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorists” list for his role in a series of terrorist attacks, including the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jet and murder of one of its passengers, a US navy diver, the kidnapping, torture and mutilation of William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, in 1984 and the terror attack on the American embassy and marine barracks in Beirut in 1983.

Mugniyeh lives in and reportedly has many connections to terrorist cells in Europe, Africa, Latin America and the US and he is said to have met Osama Bin Laden.

According to the Times, Mugniyeh was in regular touch with the new ian intelligence minister, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ezhei and is head of 's overseas operations.

I wonder what Mugniyeh will do with a nuclear weapon when is able to provide the evil doer with one.

Save Nazanin

I have recently learned about the of Nazanin. According to the Save Nazanin website, Nazanin is an 18-year old ian girl, who has been sentenced to death by hanging. Nazanin's "crime" was killing a man who ambushed and tried to rape her. Her case speaks volumes about the ian legal system that punishes the victim and murders innocent children:

On January 3, 2006, 18-year-old Nazanin was sentenced to death for murder by court in after she reportedly admitted fatally stabbing one of three men who attempted to rape her and her 16-year-old niece in a park in Karaj (a suburb of Tehran) in March 2005. She was seventeen at the time. Her sentence is subject to review by the Court of Appeal, and if upheld, to confirmation by the Supreme Court.

According to reports in the ian newspaper E’temaad, Nazanin told the court that three men had approached her and her niece, forced them to the ground and attempted to rape them. Seeking to defend her niece and herself, Nazanin stabbed one man in the hand with a knife that she possessed. As the men continued their attack, she stabbed another of the men in the chest, which eventually caused his death. She reportedly told the court “I wanted to defend myself and my niece. I did not want to kill that boy. At the heat of the moment I did not know what to do because no one came to our help”. She was nevertheless sentenced to the maximum punishment possible under the law, death by hanging.

At Save Nazanin you can read about the cruel manner by which Nazanin will be put to death. The site also suggests things you can do to try and save Nazanin.

You can sign a petition to here and add your name to the more than 68,000 who have already requested that Nazanin's death sentence be commuted.That is the least you can do.

Kerry Opposes Primary Plan

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, who won the last New Hampshire presidential primary, opposes Democratic party plans to dilute the primary's impact.

Kerry told the New Hampshire Union Leader the early nomination calendar does not need to be fixed because it isn't broken.

"If they start cramming (caucuses and primaries) in there, it's harder for people to get places, see people and be seen by people, and it's harder for a candidate to break out, in my judgment," he said.

According to the Union Leader, the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee is pushing a plan to place one or two caucuses from more ethnically, racially and economically diverse states between Iowa’s caucus and New Hampshire's primary:

Its plan would also put one or two primaries from more diverse states immediately after the New Hampshire primary.

The plan was designed by a DNC advisory commission, which found last year that Iowa and New Hampshire “are not fully reflective of the Democratic electorate or the national electorate generally,” and, specifically, “do not represent the racial and ethnic diversity of the party or the nation.”

The commission recommended that the additional early states be chosen by the rules committee based on “racial and ethnic diversity; regional diversity; and economic diversity including union density.”
The commission said the changes were necessary to produce “the best and strongest Democratic Presidential nominee.”

Is Kerry's opposition to the DNC advisory commission's plan another indication that the senator will campaign for the presidency? I think so. The only thing that will prevent another Kerry run is a lack of support.

Iraqi Parliament Picks Leaders

The Iraqi Parliament elected President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, to a second term and gave the post of parliament speaker to Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni Arab. Al-Mashhadani's two deputies were to be Khalid al-Attiyah, a Shiite, and Aref Tayfour, a Kurd.

Talabani's first act was to designate Jawad al-Maliki, a Shiite, to form a new government.

Now that the political deadlock among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds has been ended hopefully Iraq can make significant progress towards forming a permanent government and quelling the sectarian violence.

The Post Defends CIA Leaker

Yesterday we learned that a CIA officer who admitted to "unauthorized discussions with the media in which the officer knowingly and willfully shared classified intelligence including operational information" was fired. And rightly so.

The Executive Editor of the Washington Post, Leonard Downie Jr., tried to justify a CIA officer's leaking of classified information to Post reporter Dana Priest, saying "people who provide citizens the information they need to hold their government accountable should not 'come to harm for that.'"

The reporting that Dana did was very important accountability reporting about how the CIA and the rest of the U.S. government have been conducting the war on terror," Downie said. "Whether or not the actions of the CIA or other agencies have interfered with anyone's civil liberties is important information for Americans to know and is an important part of our jobs.

Isn't Post is being hypocritical here? The Post took the New York Times to task over the Times' revelation of the Classified NSA program of intercepting al-Qaeda communications with people in the United States.