OUT On The Porch

January 10, 2008

Immigration And Elections

Filed under: Election 2007-2008,Immigration,Politics — OUT @ 1:39 pm

Town Hall: The Messy Politics of Illegal Immigration

By Victor Davis Hanson

With the war in Iraq politically on the backburner, illegal immigration is heating up as a campaign issue. The public wants action, and the candidates are scrambling to react.

Sen. Hillary Clinton’s sure nomination was first questioned when she flubbed an easy debate question about driver’s licenses for illegal aliens.

Sen. John McCain’s recovery took off when he backed away from his support of immigration reform that did not first ensure the closure of the border.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is no longer for “sanctuary cities” that shield illegal aliens from arrest. Like former Gov. Mike Huckabee, he’s now a born-again opponent of illegal immigration.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney assures us that some illegal aliens can be deported within 90 days after he’s elected.

Sen. Barack Obama may talk of “change,” but his relative fuzziness about illegal immigration can’t last forever, and at some point he will have to offer more specific proposals.

Some time ago, supporters of open borders lost the debate. The majority of Americans want them closed — now! They ignore the tired slurs like “anti-immigrant,” “racist,” “protectionist” and “nativist.” And noisy May Day parades with Mexican flags and heated rhetoric from the National Council of La Raza (“The Race”) only turn more people off.

It doesn’t do any good, either, for a Mexico City functionary to cry about how mean we are to want a secure border with Mexico. Most Americans also tuned that out long ago.

They know instead that Mexico cares mostly about sending north those it won’t or can’t feed and house — so it can skim off from them billions in remittances once they arrive in the United States.

Mexico City, of course, could reform the country’s laws and economy whenever it wants. But it changes only enough to draw in tourists or Americans looking to buy vacation homes, not to better the lives of millions of its mestizo poor in the heartland.

The spin masters may think illegal immigration is an issue that pits conservative Republicans against liberal Democrats. But it doesn’t always.

Nowadays, worry about illegal immigration is just as likely to mean that African-Americans are terrified of racist alien gangs in Los Angeles. Asian-Americans are frustrated that their relatives with college degrees wait years to emigrate legally, while thousands without high-school diplomas to the south simply break the law to enter the United States.

And many Mexican-Americans are probably tired of being expected to defend the indefensible of foreign nationals breaking immigration laws simply because they may share an ethnic heritage with illegal aliens.

Read the rest below the fold -> here.

January 7, 2008

Iran: Elections

Filed under: Elections,Iran — OUT @ 1:48 pm

Candidate registration begins for March 14 Majlis elections in Iran

Iran’s Majlis (Parliament) currently has 290 seats. The Elections Headquarters announced that 609 candidates have enrolled for the Majlis elections so far.

Elections are due on March 14. Of Iran’s population of 70 million, some 43.7 million people over the age of 18 are eligible to take part in the vote.

As in the past, all candidates taking part in the elections have to prove their allegiance to the doctrine of the velayat-e faghih (absolute supremacy of clerical rule) before being allowed to participate in the elections.

Iran refuses to allow United Nations observers to monitor its elections, and many Iran-watchers agree that polls in Iran are often rigged.

The ultra-conservative Guardians Council, the religious theocracy’s highest vetting organ, is made up of six senior clerics and six judges who must all have the backing of Supreme Leader Khamenei.

For the 2004 parliamentary elections, the council barred more than 2,500 candidates who were not of the conservative camp, leading the pro-Ahmadinejad faction to take control of the Majlis.


Khamenei: Officials Should Be Responsible
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said resistance against enemies over the nuclear issue is a national necessity.

Addressing a public gathering in Abarkouh, the leader said government officials should be accountable to the nation and believe in national self-confidence, Mehr News Agency reported.

Ayatollah Khamenei called on the nation to participate extensively in nationwide elections scheduled for March 14.

“The nation’s mass participation in elections is a manifestation of the strong determination to withstand enemies,” he said.

He stressed that candidates should avoid tarnishing the image of rivals during their campaigns for the March 14 parliamentary elections.

Iran: Snow Causes Major Disruptions

Filed under: Iran,Weather,Winter — OUT @ 1:05 am

More Freak Weather Expected
TEHRAN, Jan 6–Iran on Sunday awoke to heavy overnight snowfall which forced schools to close, blocked major roadways and led to the cancellation of many domestic flights.

Primary and secondary schools were closed in Tehran and most cities in the north of the country, state television reported.

Tehranis faced serious transport disruptions while public transport including cabs and buses could hardly move in the snow-covered and frozen roads.

State airline Iran Air cancelled all of its morning domestic flights from Mehrabad airport, while roads in the northwest were closed to traffic.

International flights, which now run exclusively from Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) south of the capital, were delayed.

Tehran and several other cities in the north and center of the country are at altitudes of more than 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) above sea level and are regularly hit by heavy snow in the winters.

A spate of cold weather has already created problems in Iran with around a dozen towns suffering gas cuts last week because of a surge in demand and shortages compounded by a temporary cut in exports from Turkmenistan.

Authorities have urged the public to reduce their notoriously profligate consumption of gas to ensure there are no further cuts amid plunging temperatures.

Officials at the state Meteorological Center said that snowfall and sharp decline in temperatures would continue in the coming days.

This Duck Ain’t Lame

Filed under: End Game — OUT @ 12:21 am

Lame Duck? Bush is Comeback Kid
By Donald Lambro

WASHINGTON — Well, 2007 was the year when people predicted the economy would be in a recession, the Iraq war was lost and Democrats would be dictating policy to a weak, lame-duck president.

But the U.S. economy is still expanding, racking up nearly 5 percent growth in the third quarter, violence has plummeted in Iraq as a result of President Bush’s military surge, the first of American troops are coming home and the Democrats lost all of the major legislative fights of the year. So much for those predictions.

Let’s take these one at a time, because rarely has a minority party shown so much unity or beaten an incoming majority so soundly, or a lame-duck president shown more resilience on so many big showdown battles.

Iraq: The Democrats tried repeatedly to tack a troop-withdrawal deadline onto military-spending measures, but could not muster the votes needed to override Bush’s veto. Despite the doom-and-gloom forecasts that Iraq was plunging into the abyss, the surge strategy has been a spectacular success.

Last month, the Democratic majority made one more attempt to restrict or even to deny war funding, only to cave in to Bush’s demands for a full $70 billion more for Iraq and Afghanistan.

The economy: The naysayers repeatedly predicted throughout the year that we were heading into a recession if we were not in one already. But the economy grew in each quarter, turning in a solid 4.9 percent spurt in July, August and September. The people who saw recession just around the corner never told us how the county could be in a near-recession with the nation at full employment.

We’ve produced 8.3 million jobs since August 2003 as a result of a record 51 consecutive months of net new-job creation.

The deficit: The people who said if you cut income-tax rates, you reduce tax revenue and enlarge the deficit were wrong again. The Bush tax cuts have stimulated the economy, put more people to work and boosted revenues.

The result is a deficit that plunged $250 billion in the past three years. It fell further last year as a result of $161 billion in unexpectedly higher tax revenues. The American people are not undertaxed as Democrats keep telling us, but that didn’t stop them from trying to raise taxes last year.

There’s more. Read it here.

January 5, 2008

Bhutto Family

Filed under: Pakistan — OUT @ 4:29 pm

Bhutto family at war with itself
Ishtiaq Ali Mehkri

KARACHI: Three gunshots. A loud bang. Assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Violent end of one more Bhutto. Even in death, Benazir maintained the family tradition. Almost everyone in her family had an unnatural death. The Bhuttos share a history — fighting political battles with the establishment and squabbling among themselves for personal glory and family property.

The Bhuttos’ is a tale of power, politics and death. One of the richest and influential families of the subcontinent, the family has lived under the shadow of violence. The Bhuttos own around 40,000 acres of land in Sindh and assets worth billions of dollars. Family feuds and political rivalries have always kept the Bhuttos divided. Although the name attracts votes and sends shivers through the army, the family members have lived isolated lives, coming close only to fight with each other.

Pakistan’s love affair with the Bhuttos began with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who gave Pakistan three undeniable treasures: a ballot culture, the constitution of 1973 and the nuclear programme. Zulfiqar was the son of Shahnawaz Bhutto, the prime minister of Sindh during the British Raj.

As he rose in prominence, Zulfiqar ran into personal feuds with his cousins and elder family members. Zulfiqar’s first major family battle happened in 1973, when he sacked his cousin Mumtaz Ali’s government in Sindh after Urdu-Sindhi riots. Though Mumtaz was with Zulfiqar when the latter founded the PPP, their differences grew as Mumtaz demanded more autonomy for Sindh. They became hostile to each other in 1973. On April 4, 1979, when Zulfiqar was hanged by Gen Zia-ul-Haq, Mumtaz decided to keep quiet. After Zulfiqar’s execution, Mumtaz wanted to be the PPP leader and he opposed Benazir and Nusrat Bhutto’s agitational politics against the military regime.

At the peak of the Benazir-led Movement for Restoration of Democracy campaign in 1980s, Mumtaz advocated a hardline approach for Sindh as a confederate republic. His expulsion from the PPP at the hands of his niece, Benazir, led him to found the Sindh-Baloch-Pakhtoon Front in 1985. He now heads the Sindh National Front.

Mumtaz, 73, the patriarch of the 700,000-strong Bhutto clan, never forgave Benazir for throwing him out of the party. Just two weeks before her assassination, Mumtaz was spitting fire at his niece, blaming her for cutting off water supply to his land for the past 15 years.

Read the rest here.

Bin Laden Enters “Iraq Caucus”

Filed under: Al-Qaeda — OUT @ 2:46 pm

Osama bin Laden has called on Iraqis to unite under Al-Qaeda

In a 56-minute audio statement released on the Internet on December 29, Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden issued his most vocal criticism to date of Iraqi nationalist insurgent groups.

Bin Laden said the failure of Sunni Arab insurgents to align with Al-Qaeda in Iraq is hurting the global jihadist effort and will ultimately impede the establishment of an Islamic state in Iraq.

He also criticized Sunni Arab tribal leaders in Iraq who have joined the fight against Al-Qaeda, saying they were weak-hearted and misled, and he took aim at Shi’ite leaders, including Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim and Muqtada al-Sadr, saying they are quislings of the United States and Iran.

Read more here.

January 4, 2008

Leaving Iowa: See You In ’12

Filed under: Election 2008 — OUT @ 11:27 pm


(Clipart from Clipartheaven.com)

Bulgarian Heroin Bust at Turkish Border

Filed under: Borders,Crime,Europe — OUT @ 12:43 am
Tags:

Bulgarian police seize 60 kg of heroin

Police have seized a 60-kilogram haul of heroin from a car entering Bulgaria from Turkey at the Kapitan Andreevo border-crossing.

Bulgaria, which joined the European Union in January, has strengthened its border controls to crack down on smuggling and abide by EU standards.

Read more here. For Heroin Smuggling Routes, click here.

January 3, 2008

Dutch Universities Reject Iranians

Filed under: Nuclear — OUT @ 3:11 pm
Tags:


The universities of Enschede and Eindhoven are no longer admitting any students from Iran.

They say they are forced to do so by the government, according to newspaper Trouw.

The technical universities must state in a declaration that new Iranian students will not in any way whatsoever have access to knowledge on nuclear technology.

The universities cannot and do not want to issue this statement because, as they say, their students are entitled to all information available.

The third technical university, the TU Delft, does reportedly still admit Iranians.

The three universities were previously warned by the education and foreign ministries to be prudent as far as admitting Iranians is concerned.

That insistent request has now been replaced by the declaration, which the universities must send to the Immigration Service (IND) in order to be able to obtain visa for their students, said Trouw.

Enschede’s Twente University has informed three Iranian students in writing that they cannot study with it.

An internal email by the university management to staff also states, according to Trouw, that no more Iranians will be admitted in the future either.

More: here and here and here.

Silly Season

Filed under: Election 2008 — OUT @ 10:52 am

IT’S NOT CALLED THE SILLY SEASON FOR NOTHING

by Donald Kaul (Email: donald.kaul2@verizon.net)
Minutemanmedia.org

Once upon a time, not that long ago, I was an all-purpose political commentator, geysering opinions on world affairs, global warming, the price of oil. I was really something.

Now I just write about religion, mainly. Who’s Christian, who’s not. Who believes in God more; less.

God I’ll be glad when the Iowa Caucuses are over.

They used to be kind of fun, you know. They used to be about major issues of the day. I remember back in 1968 when Gene McCarthy challenged President Lyndon Johnson on the issue of the war in Vietnam. People almost came to blows in the caucus meetings that year.

Now you can’t even mention the war in candidate debates. Really. In the most recent debates the monitor, the editor of the newspaper formerly known as the Des Moines Register, actually forbade discussion of the war in Iraq. And the candidates, Democrats and Republicans alike, went along with the gag.

Instead of a boring old issue like the war she asked them, I’m told, what their New Year’s resolutions were. And they told her.

I haven’t checked, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Jefferson Memorial moved three inches off its foundation.

Read the rest -> here.

January 2, 2008

Victory Declared in Liberia

Filed under: Finish Line,Tools,Victory — OUT @ 2:09 am
Tags: ,

Victory Declared in Liberia
January 1, 2008: The UN has declared its peacekeeping mission in Liberia at an end.

The peacekeepers went in five years ago, after eleven years of civil war ended. A year ago, the peacekeeping force was reduced to 350 personnel, down from a peak of 15,000 in 2004. Next September, all peacekeepers will be gone.

Over 12,000 fighters were disarmed, and thousands of bandits were killed or forced to disarm.

The country is still a mess, but the economy is coming back to life, and several rounds of elections have been held.

Fifty peacekeepers died, from disease and hostile action, during the past five years.

Most of the heavy lifting was out of the way by early 2005. At that point, most of the known rebel and army troops had been disarmed, and the UN declared 13 of the 15 counties safe enough to receive returning refugees.

There were then some 850,000 refugees to deal with, 350,000 of them outside the country.

After years of living off food aid, in refugee camps, most of these have since returned to their farms and other property.

The fighting between rebels and soldiers, plus the looting by these forces, and bandits, have left most of these farms looted and burned.

Homes and businesses were also destroyed. Burned out ruins are still a common sight throughout the country.

Foreign aid provided tools, seed and building materials so that the refugees could become self-sustaining. Schools and clinics are still being rebuilt as well.

h/t: Strategy Page

January 1, 2008

Iranian Cities Without Gas

Filed under: Iran,Weather,Winter — OUT @ 11:42 pm
Tags:

Turkmen Gas Deliveries To Resume
The reduction in supplies Sunday, followed by Monday’s complete stoppage, has left a dozen Iranian cities without gas on the onset of wintry conditions.

The nature of the cuts was not specified but provincial capitals Gorgan, Sari and Semnan were among the cities affected as well as other cities in Ardebil, Gilan, Golestan, East and West Azarbaijan provinces.

Northern and northwestern Iran are enduring a spate of cold weather, with snow as well as nighttime temperatures of -10 degrees Celsius.

In a related development, Fars new agency quoted an informed source as saying Tuesday that Iran’s gas shortage has caused a reduction of Iran’s exports of gas to Turkey.

“Based on commitment, about 20 million cubic meters of gas should be delivered to Turkey per day and these days the amount of gas delivered to that country has decreased to about 4 to 5 million cubic meters,” the unnamed official said.

Read more -> here.

Truth Or Territory

Filed under: Politics,Results,Truth — OUT @ 1:34 am


Whenever our lawmakers get themselves into a box and can’t agree on anything, you can be pretty sure the problem isn’t about truth.

It’s about territory.

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