The seige continues

As most people who don't watch mainstream news would assume, the protests of immigration reform are highly organized...hardly the "groundswell" of opposition the NYTimes has tried to portray.

FrontPage has a good piece by Ben Johnson connecting most of the dots.

These massive gatherings of illegals, who denounced their government unmolested by police or immigration officials, had an immediate impact – on legislation and on border security.

Reporter Sara Carter of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin says since these protests, border patrol agents have reported an explosion in illegal crossings from Mexicans (and others) keenly observing the Senate debate and emboldened by same. Some were under the impression amnesty had already been granted and hoped to be the first to take part in the second California Gold Rush.

The rallies had a political impact, too. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-CO, stated on Monday:

The immigration rallies over this weekend and today show how disordered our immigration system has become. For years, the government has turned a blind eye to illegal aliens who break into this country. It isn’t any wonder that illegal aliens now act as if they are entitled to the rights and privileges of citizenship.

As a sign of their political impact, Republicans immediately began discussing the potential threat their political careers face from an Hispanic backlash, should they have the temerity to pretend the United States is a sovereign nation with definable political boundaries.

I also recommend checking out Michelle Malkin's blog. Malkin, journalist and author of Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists Criminals & Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores has done a lot of research into border issues over the last decade.

Oh, it burns!

Think we didn't know already? Well, it's good to watch just for the sake of seeing them wallow in "mortification,"--almost like an elder from the Church of Objectivity getting caught in an adulterous affair with *gasp* an OPINION!

Drudge has the headline today: "ABC NEWS EXEC: 'BUSH MAKES ME SICK'; E-MAIL REVEALED"

John Green, currently executive producer of the weekend edition of GOOD MORNING AMERICA, unloaded on the president in an ABC company email obtained by the DRUDGE REPORT.

"If he uses the 'mixed messages' line one more time, I'm going to puke," Green complained.

The blunt comments by Green, along with other emails obtained by the DRUDGE REPORT, further reveal the inner workings of the nation's news outlets.

Three thoughts:

1: The media is really liberal.

2: The media is so liberal that he felt "safe" enough to send this out to everyone, expecting a outpouring of commiseration I guess (which makes his lament sound so pathetic now that he was "outed"). I feel sorry that he lost his sense of security from opposing viewpoints in the workplace--ouch--I mean, somebody backstabbed him for crying out loud! Worse, they spilled it to DRUDGE!!! Agh! Of all the people, Drudge is the epitome of the "anti-media" (if you factor in liberal bias).

3: On the other hand, what the point? I mean really, I was serious in my reference to the "church of objectivity" as the religion of journalists. While I appreciate a lot of the benefit embodied in the theory (fact-driven, consistent, concise, agenda-free reporting), it seems to appeal mostly to those who are shallow enough to be complete relativists. Green will probably be slapped on the wrist in a hypocritical show of "shaping up."

Crossposted at Meneltarma

The Professors: the one (or two?) up here

The book makes headlines in the academic world by the simple virtue of its title - "The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America."

My favorate professor (Brad Howard) has lamented that he missed the list. Perhaps it is out of sympathy for his disappointment at being snubbed that I call on Mr. Horowitz to pen a sequel as soon as possible with my favorite professor prominently displayed on the front cover.

But...alas, back to the reality of the book itself. Western is blessed with one professor who was deemed worthy of mention. The Western Front finally published their obligatory protectionist piece on behalf of the besieged Prof. Larry Estrada of Western's Fairhaven College. It can be viewed in the last issue of Winter quarter...and can be found online here. I don’t have anything to add on Mr. Estrada beyond that he has been involved in forming the faculty union recently. I don’t know him, nor anything special about him. Fairhaven College seems in some ways like an isolated nursery. Walking around the faculty offices, absorbing the project displays and door posters, and talking to 6th year seniors forms the basis for my impressions. It’s always seemed like a good place to go for students who don’t want the pressure of living in the world or learning about it for as long as possible.

My copy of "The Professors" arrived the other day. It will keep me great company through spring break I'm sure.

Catch of the day...er...year!

Matt Drudge is showing a link to an essay by Barbra Streisand, in which she accuses Bush of being an arrogant C student:

In her February 28th, 2006 essay, Streisand flubs 11 words, a personal record.

• Irag
• curruption
• dictatoriship
• crediblity
• Adminstration
• warrented
• desperatly
• preceedings
• ouside
• subpoening
• responsibilty

...Streisand has not seen fit to run a spellcheck on the rant as of Noon, March 06.

But alas, she had when I checked the link little bit ago--and ran it through spellcheck...but don't let that stop you from seeing it: The old version is still preserved in all its currupted glory in the Google.com cache system. It's quite entertaining so read it while you can.

Some gems for safe keeping:

In the 1970’s, during the Nixon Adminstration, serious political curruption arose and the Republican leadership stepped up and took responsibilty by holding hearings and subpoening administration officials.

The arrogance of this C student who maligns his opponents’ crediblity by calling them flip floppers, is the biggest flip flopper himself!

When debating Al Gore during the 2000 presidential elections, Bush spoke against nation building, yet went into Irag a year later to national build…which we now see has resulted in disaster.

Crossposted at Meneltarma