Zogby: Hispanics Favor Enforcement, etc.

Dr. Steven Camarota writes: "While it is sometimes assumed that minorities, particularly Hispanics, favor increased immigration and legalization for illegal immigrants, a new Zogby survey finds that minority voters’ views are more complex. The poll of Hispanic, Asian-American, and African-American likely voters finds some support for legalization. But overall each of these groups prefers enforcement and for illegal immigrants to return home. Moreover, significant majorities of all three groups think that the current level of immigration is too high. These views are in sharp contrast to the leaders of most ethnic advocacy organizations, who argue for increased immigration and legalization of illegal immigrants. The survey used neutral language, avoiding such terms as 'amnesty,' 'illegal alien,' or 'undocumented.' "

Go aqui for more about this poll.

In Praise of the Serious Pujols

The March issue of ESPN, the magazine, is out, and the cover story is about how serious and hard-working a guy Albert Pujols is. And what an inspiring story it is. Besides being the best of the best in the MLB, Albert is a devoted family man and a humanitarian. His charity helps the poorest of the poor in the Dominican Republic (where the big guy was born). In the states, his community service is all about helping adults and kids with Down syndrome. (Dee Dee, Albert's wife, has a daughter, Isabella, who was born with Down syndrome.) Unfortunately, the article is not online, but here's a quote from Todd Perry, the director of his foundation, about the Pujols' annual trips to the Dominican Republic:

"There's one thing people should know about Albert and Dee Dee. They are among the people - the lice, the scabies. We've even seen leprosy. They are not the type of people who say 'You guys take care of this, we'll be by the pool.' It's remarkable to see someone of his stature humble himself the way he does."

More about the Pujols Family Foundation here.

Full disclosure: This blog's mascot, Albert the tabby cat, is named in honor of Mr. Pujols.

GW: Happy (Belated) Birthday

Poll results to the contrary, you've hardly been forgotten.



Since George Washington was an 'above parties' kind-of-president, here's a link to a HuffPo piece about him. (My tiny stab at bi-partisanhip or non-partisanship.)

And Rubio is a Gator and 'Cane

Besides Roy Beck, the second-most sensible person in this Wall Street Journal* piece (about the GOP courting Hispanic voters) is Marco Rubio, the candidate for the U.S. Senate in Florida. Rubio, whose mom and dad are Cubans, objects to having illegal aliens counted in the U.S. Census.

*Whose editorial page writers, cozy with Big Business, have been staunchly open-borders for quite some time - ugh.

Update: Donny Deutsch smears Candidate Rubio.

Border Wars: Of Coyotes & USBP

RE: The National Geographic Channel's show, "Border Wars" - my husband watched this episode (one scene dealt with a sting operation on a house in Nogales) and said it was outstanding. He said he thinks the Border Patrol agents are vastly underpaid* given how dangerous their jobs are (especially when you compare their salaries to what overpaid big kahunas in higher ed. make).

The next episode of "Border Wars" will air on Feb. 28 at 8 p.m.

*Base starting pay is around $37,000

Smith College Hearts Rachel Maddow

Well, well, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow will be the speaker for the Smith College (the all-gal college in Massachusetts) commencement.

A perfect fit.
Rachel, hanging with John McManus and William Jasper, of the John Birch Society at CPAC.

Bonus: Bill Jasper interviews J.D. Hayworth, the Republican, who is running against U.S Senator John McCain. Among other issues, the pair discuss amnesty.

Only Humble, Non-Gringos Should Apply?

It's not the ugly American, it's the arrogant American.

Fox News is reporting that an IT staffing firm, advertising for a technical writer, created an unusual help-wanted ad:

"Exelon is looking to provide these proposals to Chinese businesses, so someone who is respectful and understands Chinese culture is preferred. An arrogant American will not work well in this role."

Actually, arrogant people, of any ethnic background, are awful to work with and for.

The company has apologized for the tacky ad.

Constant Clash: Burqa & Western Society

The French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, writing at The Huffington Post, wants the burqa banned (from public places) because “The burqa is not a dress, it's a message, one that clearly communicates the subjugation, the subservience, the crushing and the defeat of women.”

While I’m sympatico to the ‘woman aren’t chattel’ argument that BHL is making, and I don’t find the burqa a particularly attractive garment, unlike, say, a modest sari or a plain Amish dress, I don’t think Levy's argument is the appropriate reason to bar women of faith from covering their faces.

One of the commentators to Levy's piece, however, does makes the better case for burqa bans in non-Muslim societies.

Writes Joel Cohen: "People in Western society are not allowed to wear facial masks in public. Everyone has a civil right to be able to identify the person who sits next to him/her on a bus, or who shops next to him/her at the market, or who stops and asks for directions. This is a matter of civil security and civil peace, and has nothing at all to do with religion, ideology, Islam, Judaism, Christian Science, or any other such concern.

I do not think that in a democracy there are convincing arguments against the wearing of crosses, headscarves, turbans, yarmulkes, and other such accoutrements. People should be free to dress as they like, for tribal or religious or personal reasons. But masking the face is where the line must be drawn."

Agreed.

Laws, as Frederic Bastiat, another intellectual from France, once believed, should exist to protect an individual's person, property, and liberty. The proper role of government vs. social engineering.

Narcocorridos: Sing at Your Own Risk

Narco and immigration corridos are a controversial musical genre, popular in Mexico, which immortalizes the lives of drug dealers, gangsters, and illegal immigrants. Mexico's international reputation as a Narco State in song, if you will.

The music, as you can hear in this video, about the Tijuana cartel, comes across as folksy and upbeat.



But crooning about drug dealers can mean a soulful singer's death.

So, Jerry Kammer, writing for CIS, wants to know why Univision, the Spanish-language television station, “glorifies” narcocorridos by running their ads: "Jorge Ramos grilled the mayor of Juarez today on his Spanish-language television program, Al Punto. The Univision newsman expressed indignation at the unrelenting violence that drug traffickers have inflicted upon that border city across from El Paso. He asked why the mayor hadn’t resigned. Noting the five thousand killings in Juarez during the last two years, Ramos asked Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz, 'Isn't that a terrible sign of failure?'

Here's a question Ramos should ask the business side of the Univision, especially those who sell advertising and schedule it into the network's programming: Why would you follow the Ramos-Reyes interview with an advertisement for the 'narcocorridos' that glorify the drug-trafficking life?"

What say you, Mr. Ramos?

Costa Rica Overwhelmingly Picks a Mujer

Laura Chinchilla Miranda just made history by becoming Costa Rica's first woman president. Ms. Chinchilla, an attractive 50-year-old who is a mother to a teenage son, is a protege of Oscar Arias, the Nobel Prize winner and former president of the country. She also speaks English as she attended Georgetown University.

Laura's politics are progressive-conservative. Interesting mix, and if you know anything about the small Central American, you'll agree she's representative of the views held by a majority of 'Ticos.' As this article points out, "But most Costa Ricans were reluctant to shake up the status quo in a country with relatively high salaries, the longest life expectancy in Latin America, a thriving ecotourism industry and near-universal literacy."

However, the libertarian candidate also did well, in this presidential election, which is in keeping with Costa Rica's freewheeling side.

But there's immigration trouble in paradise. Costa Rican officials are restricting visas to Jamaicans, due to a spate of serious problems with Jamaican gangs who have illegally entered the country.

Among the Orphans of the Earthquake

Doug Phillips, and the Vision Forum team, are in Haiti lending a hand and gathering information. Lots of pics and vignettes. Good on them, and all Americans who are going the extra mile for the homeless and hungry of this nation.

Now this story, that Doug brings up, is really interesting. Geraldo Rivera defended - very forcefully - the American missionaries who were accused of abducting Haitian children. He also lets the (very corrupt) Haitian government have it. Are these missionaries still in custody?



Update: Justice for the missionaries!

Que Chévere

U can buy these tees here.

Breitbart Wants to Control Narrative

The opening for this NPR feature is chuckle-worthy and funky: "The conservative online news entrepreneur Andrew Breitbart is, for the moment, doing little to dispel stereotypes about bloggers. During a recent visit to his home on the west side of Los Angeles, Breitbart, 41, is working from his own basement. Barefoot. At the beck and call of his own kids."

The piece talks about the Big Journalism, Big Hollywood, and Big Government websites.

Soldier & Baby Mum: When Worlds Collide

Hoover Institute Research Fellow Mary Eberstadt, willing to incur some public wrath, valiantly tackles a sacred cow: The American military's propensity for sending mommies off to war zones, and the consequences of such policies.

She writes, " ... American laws like most others delineate what kind of civilization ours is. And currently, ours is one in which military and political and cultural leaders appear to believe that there is nothing intrinsically wrong about deploying mothers away from their children and into the wars. This apparent near-consensus brings us to another reason the status quo has continued without public protest: because the parties that ordinarily might be expected to be paying attention to this military-social experiment have sidelined themselves for reasons of their own."

Read the whole essay, and ponder the titanic clash between equality and reality.

Update: Will Grigg has written about maternity and the military in "Leviathan's Orphans."

'Nother Update: A U.S. Serviceman, who lives in the Heartland, shared his thoughts with me on this one: "When I was in Iraq, there was even a mothers-of-young-children support group composed of soldiers who were mothers of young children, to help each other get through the deployment while missing their children. Now is that not sick and insane?

But there's not much criticism of it, in part because too many conservatives are just gung-ho about the military and are not willing to question anything about the military for fear of not supporting the troops. They seem oblivious to the fact that today's military is a PC-run organization."

'Nother, nother update: Pastor Baldwin discusses another troubling angle to this story - military women and rape.

Meet Joan of America

In her hometown of Dallas, Holly Dutton is known as "Joan of America," because of the one-woman, 18-month long campaign she conducted on behalf of the "Free Ramos and Compean" cause. (Which, as many of you know, had a happy ending.)


Ms. Dutton recently wrote TCC about another issue she is passionate about: "Since the news media always featured pro-illegal (alien) Catholic leaders, I wondered for a long time if ANY Catholics besides my family and friends and other fellow patriots in the pews opposed illegal immigration. Then this past year Father (Patrick) Bascio's book On the Immorality of Illegal Immigration came out. It is so dynamic and factual! Better yet, it was great to find out that a noted Catholic clergyman actually opposed illegal immigration! I want Father Bascio to know that there are lots of Catholics who really appreciate patriots among our leaders!"


"Joan of America" (on the left) with Jose Compean and his wife, Patty. Cindy, another friend of justice, is on the right.