• Hot Off The Presses

    The Minuteman Caravan

    BBC NEWS | Americas | Drive for strict US immigrant law The Minuteman people interest me, because very often when they are quoted, the surnames of the spokespeople are Hispanic. Of course, they’re probably native born Latinos and Latinas, or at least naturalized citizens. They’re pretty successful at getting their pictures in the paper doing what they do, but not so successful with the gathering the massive crowds of people to rallies in support of their cause. The caravan will leave Los Angeles on Wednesday, where it plans to highlight unemployment in the African-American community. It says the problem is…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Hastert Redux

    Here’s an even better visual on Speaker Hastert’s cynical press conference at a BP station: arrives in a hydrogen cell-powered car, departs in same, switches cars around the corner to the typical black SUV (one of fourteen, no doubt). Thank you, Speaker Hastert, for your visible support of environmental concerns, and your unwavering loyalty of the industries that make this country great. Via Irregular Times: News Unfit for Print | Blog Archive ? Dennis Hastert, the Photo-Op Environmentalist. What About You? Technorati Tags: Gas Rebate, Rep. Denny Hastert, Hybrid Cars, Hypocrites

  • Hot Off The Presses

    Illegal, But Gratifying

    LiveJournal site Once Lost, Now Found reminds us of the prototypical image of the Bush Presidency: Just In Case You Haven’t Had Enough Yet… Yes, boys and girls, that is our fearless leader delivering, no doubt, one of the more satisfying sucker punches of his career. Little did we know, he would model his whole presidency on illegitimate retaliatory acts like this one!!! Illegal, but gratifying. Sign 750 bills into law without vetoing, but quietly file signing statements indicating you have no intention of executing them as enacted. Because you’re President Gumby, dammit. Yep, I think we’ve all had enough.…

  • Hot Off The Presses

    Why Is Davie Blaine Famous?

    Oh, GOD. This guy was all the news when we were in England a few years ago: David Blaine begins another idiotic and unfortunately fruitless attempt to die getting our attention. Blaine entered the “bubble” wearing trousers, rubber shoes and a special diving mask. Please hold your “boy in the bubble jokes” until the end of the post. He will be fed with a special tube. Please, God, let his air feed and his feed feed get mixed up. Or let the guy in charge of the venting or valves or what not get fed up. During the seven-day challenge…

  • Home Improvement

    Hybrids Good News For Ford

    Ford’s April U.S. sales dip 7%; cars gain – MarketWatch Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford said it sold 262,722 cars and trucks in April, with the Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln Zephyr sedans as well as the crossover Ford Escape and Freestyle posting gains as consumers moved away from the automaker’s more gas-thirsty vehicles. “These new, fuel-efficient cars are helping our dealers to retain owners and capture new ones,” said Al Giombetti, head of Ford and Lincoln Mercury sales. “We never have been in a better position to compete for customers in an environment of rising gasoline prices.” On the downside, Ford’s…

  • Books

    How Would A Patriot Act?

    Next must-read book: How Would a Patriot Act? Defending American Values from a President Run Amok by Glenn Greenwald How Would a Patriot Act? is one man’s story of being galvanized into action to defend America’s founding principles, and a reasoned argument for what must be done. Greenwald’s penetrating words should inspire a nation to defend the Constitution from a president who secretly bestowed upon himself the powers of a monarch. If we are to remain a constitutional republic, Greenwald writes, we cannot abide radical theories of executive power, which are transforming the very core of our national character, and…

  • Hot Off The Presses

    Unbound By Law: Bush The Law-Ignorer

    Bush challenges hundreds of laws – The Boston Globe WASHINGTON — President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution. Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ”whistle-blower” protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research. Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush’s…

  • Blogs Wot I Read

    Immigration Ideas

    David and I were talking about today’s big march, and kicking around ideas that could get both sides moving toward a solution somewhere in the middle. It appears ***Dave is of much the same opinion as we are: amnesty, easily obtainable worker visas and a clean slate, and then serious penalties for overstaying the term of the visa. ***Dave :: Immigration Day Stuff 1. Devise a guest worker program that is easily applied for (including from within the country, initially), is quickly processed, has a very high quota, has strong protections for workers and strict penalties for overstaying one’s welcome.…