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Saturday, December 9

What Is Going on with Conservatives in the GOP? Part I

by SJ Reidhead on Sat 09 Dec 2006 08:31 PM MST

For quite some time I have been concerned about the nasty attacks that are being made by "Republicans" against Republicans who do not meet their ideological requirements, thereby violating one of Ronald Reagan’s most important commandments, “Thou shalt not speak ill of your fellow Republicans.” This past week a series of posts over at GOP Progress and conservative attacks on Liz Mair have only illustrated the problem. Until recently, I’ve never known Republicans of any ilk (liberal, moderate, or conservative) to be attacked so viciously by others who claim to be Republican. Until recently there was never a cult-like ideology where anyone who claimed to be a Republican must pass a litmus test.

You can’t run a political party or entice voters that way. It reeks of the foul stench of a cult. In a cult people are brainwashed, harassed, and sometimes tortured until they agree with the views of the self-proclaimed leader. Unfortunately this is what appears to be happening with various and sundry ideologically RIGHT conservatives who have decided they are the true Republicans and anyone who disagrees with them needs to be excommunicated from the party.

This is a recipe for electoral disaster. We saw it in November when we lost the House and the Senate. If we are not careful and if all factions of the GOP do not grow up and behave like adults, we’re going to be losing elections for a very long time.

The Republican Party is a “Big Tent Party” where many views are allowed and based on party principles, people are allowed freedom of thought, assembly, and speech. To constantly harass and threaten those who do not 100% agree with an ideology is not what the Republican Party stands for at all. The very act of doing so makes one wonder if the party doing the harassing even knows what it is to be a Republican.

The Republican Party stands for freedom. To disallow that very practice within the party is disaster, abject disaster. It is time for those individuals and groups who feel we are not RIGHT enough for them to sit back, take a deep breath, and get a grip on life. If you do not begin using your head to think things through in a logical intelligent manner, you are doing nothing but helping Howard Dean liberals. Maybe that is what you want. I don’t know. I do know we have a serious problem and it isn’t coming from GOP members who are liberal, moderate, or Reagan Conservatives. It is coming from people who have usurped the party and turned it into something Ronald Reagan would never allow.

“…And just to set the record straight, let me say this about our friends who are now Republicans but who do not identify themselves as conservatives: I want the record to show that I do not view the new revitalized Republican Party as one based on a principle of exclusion. After all, you do not get to be a majority party by searching for groups you won’t associate or work with. If we truly believe in our principles, we should sit down and talk. Talk with anyone, anywhere, at any time if it means talking about the principles for the Republican Party. Conservatism is not a narrow ideology, nor is it the exclusive property of conservative activists….”

Last Sunday I began the Pink Flamingo posting with this quote and ended with the following comment: Okay, what idiot would be so brazen as to say something like that? Would you believe Ronald W. Reagan on Feb. 6, 1977?

Unfortunately during the past few months a battle seems to be growing within the Republican Party. It is between the ranks of those who feel they are the heirs of the message of Reagan and the keeper of the flame and everyone else. The perfect illustration of the problems we are now experiencing is a comment that was posted over on The Pink Flamingo the other day. I am not revealing the name of the woman who posted it.

“Lindsey Graham is a big moderate. He wants media adulation, like McCain, on fact his main goal seems to be to impress McCain: he says whatever Mcain (sic) does. There are many instances of Graham RINO'ing it up: Gang of 14, the torture bill, this summer on military tribunals, etc. He's pretty spineless on most things- not a true conservative. Rush does the same thing to McCain, because you can't respect them as conservatives.”

Kristin’s comment proves my oft stated point that today’s RIGHT conservatives who claim to be Republican have no earthly idea just who or what Ronald Reagan was and what he actually believed. In the same Feb. 6, 1977 (The Shining City on the Hill speech) it is though Reagan knew his version of Conservativism would be perverted into some sort of a cult.

“…One thing that must be made clear in post-Watergate is this: The American new conservative majority we represent is not based on abstract theorizing of the kind that turns off the American people, but on common sense, intelligence, reason, hard work, faith in God, and the guts to say: "Yes, there are things we do strongly believe in, that we are willing to live for, and yes, if necessary, to die for." That is not "ideological purity." It is simply what built this country and kept it great.

Let us lay to rest, once and for all, the myth of a small group of ideological purists trying to capture a majority. Replace it with the reality of a majority trying to assert its rights against the tyranny of powerful academics, fashionable left-revolutionaries, some economic illiterates who happen to hold elective office and the social engineers who dominate the dialogue and set the format in political and social affairs. If there is any ideological fanaticism in American political life, it is to be found among the enemies of freedom on the left or right -- those who would sacrifice principle to theory, those who worship only the god of political, social and economic abstractions, ignoring the realities of everyday life. They are not conservatives.

Our first job is to get this message across to those who share most of our principles. If we allow ourselves to be portrayed as ideological shock troops without correcting this error we are doing ourselves and our cause a disservice. Wherever and whenever we can, we should gently but firmly correct our political and media friends who have been perpetuating the myth of conservatism as a narrow ideology. Whatever the word may have meant in the past, today conservatism means principles evolving from experience and a belief in change when necessary, but not just for the sake of change…”

Now, do you understand the words of Ronald Reagan… “If there is any ideological fanaticism in American political life, it is to be found among the enemies of freedom on the left or right -- those who would sacrifice principle to theory, those who worship only the god of political, social and economic abstractions, ignoring the realities of everyday life. They are not conservatives…”

Reagan understood that ideological conservatives from the far right were just as dangerous to the freedom of this nation as the ideological liberals from the far left. They are on in the same. The only difference in their cult-like adherence to an ideology is the fact that one is left and the other is right.

I'm a Republican Because...

I BELIEVE the strength of our nation lies with the individual and that each person’s dignity, freedom, ability and responsibility must be honored.

I BELIEVE in equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed, sex, age or disability.

I BELIEVE free enterprise and encouraging individual initiative have brought this nation opportunity, economic growth and prosperity.

I BELIEVE government must practice fiscal responsibility and allow individuals to keep more of the money they earn.

I BELIEVE the proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations, and that the best government is that which governs least.

I BELIEVE the most effective, responsible and responsive government is government closest to the people.

I BELIEVE Americans must retain the principles that have made us strong while developing new and innovative ideas to meet the challenges of changing times.

I BELIEVE Americans value and should preserve our national strength and pride while working to extend peace, freedom and human rights throughout the world.

FINALLY, I believe the Republican Party is the best vehicle for translating these ideals into positive and successful principles of government.

I think one of the problems we are facing within the Republican Party is the fact that people have lost sight of just what/who is a “real” Republican. Maybe we need a primer on just who Republicans are and what we stand for.

Let’s start with the History of the GOP.

Leave Comment | Permanent Link | Cosmos

What Is Going on with Conservatives in the GOP? Part II

by SJ Reidhead on Sat 09 Dec 2006 08:27 PM MST

Currently

“The Republican Party is comprised of many informal factions, which often overlap but do not necessarily agree. For example, there are Fiscal Conservatives, Evangelicals, Social Conservatives, Neoconservatives, Paleoconservatives, Libertarians, Moderates (sometimes derided as Republican In Name Only, or RINOs, by more conservative Republicans), and Log Cabin Republicans.The Republican Party is the more socially conservative and economically libertarian of the two major parties, and has closer ties to both Wall Street (large corporations) and Main Street (locally owned businesses) but has little support among labor unions. The party supports lower taxes, limited government on economic issues, and favors business; it supports government intervention in some social issues such as abortion.^[1] In his 1981 inaugural address, Republican President Ronald Reagan summed up his belief in limited government when he said, "In the present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."^[2] Since 1980, the GOP has contained what George Will calls "unresolved tensions between, two flavors of conservatism -- Western and Southern." The Western brand, says Will, "is largely libertarian, holding that pruning big government will allow civil society -- and virtues nourished by it and by the responsibilities of freedom -- to flourish." The Southern variety, however, reflects a religiosity based in evangelical and fundamentalist churches that is less concerned with economics and more with moralistic issues, such as opposition to abortion and homosexuality.^[3] There is of course a strong Christian evangelical Republican movement in the Western United States; and in no way should these two movements—economic libertarianism and social conservatism—be considered mutually exclusive, since, especially within the Republican Party, they often overlap.”

Today, many of the most vocal supporters of the RIGHT wing of the GOP have associations or are talking talking points from the CofCC.   I am truly concerned that today’s RIGHT conservatives have been hoodwinked and led astray by organizations such as the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC) and endorsing their ‘principles’. The CofCC (as this ADL link shows)   evolved out of the old White Citizen’s Council.   There have been accusations of racism for years. The SPLC has an excellent profile of Gordon Baum, the leader of the CofCC.

Kirstin, mentioned above, is parroting the words of the SC chapter of the CofCC as they attempt to have Senator Lindsey Graham removed from office because he does not meet with their standards of ‘conservative purity. Strangely enough, many of the RIGHT attacks of John McCain also parrot the language the CofCC uses. Is the CofCC calling the shots and the truly RIGHT branch of the GOP is being sucked into their on special version of racism and hate? I truly hope not, but there are signs this is indeed happening.

“…The Council's state chapter president, Kyle Rogers, said the rally's purpose was to convince state congressmen to vote against guest-worker programs and amnesty. "We got to put pressure on the House Republicans," Rogers said. "President George W. Bush is pressuring them to accept amnesty. But the whole state of South Carolina will turn against you (senators). "The state is already furious at Lindsey Graham. His career is shot." Citizens speak out Protest participants lined the entranceway of the Channel 4 news station with flags and signs that read: "Lendsey (sic) Graham is a traitor," and "Stop the Invasion."Passing motorists honked their horns and shouted out "America!" as they drove past the rally. The location of the protest was ideal for Greenville city traffic visibility, and it also blocked the entrance to the news station. "WYFF said that we had dozens of people at the last protest," Rogers said. According to Rogers, there were at least a 1,000 people in attendance. So standing in front of the news station was "symbolic." "Most conservative events don't draw the numbers the left wing does because of the media," Rogers said. "But we're going to keep going despite of them." The small numbers didn't fetter the enthusiasm participants had for their cause…”

This is also important for yet another reason. Kyle Rogers was active in arranging the infamous appearance of Colorado’s Tom Tancredo at a CofCC and League of the South event in Columbia last summer. Or as the Denver Post peged it, Tancredo Sings with Bigots.

Baum's associates include former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr.

"A personal injury lawyer specializing in auto accidents and workmen's compensation claims in St. Louis, Baum formed the organization in 1985 based on the mailing lists of the segregationistWhite Citizens Councils for whom he had been the Midwest field organizer. It grew to include some 15,000 members, mostly in the deep South, and to have genuine political power — power that could be glimpsed when the group's links to Lott and then-U.S. Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) were exposed...."

There is a spider's web of dots to connect including the fact that the CofCC meets with Stormfront when they have national conferences.

Or try this piece about Stormfront and the CofCC. I hope you are getting this. Jeffrey Feldman has discovered the following:

"...Members of the IKA including an Imperial Officer attended the June 16-17 Council of Conservative Citizens conference in Louisville, Kentucky. There were many exemplary speakers at this event (Don Black, Paul Fromm, Sam Dickson, Col. Robt. Slimp, Dr. Ed Fields, James Edwards, Dr. Brent Nelson, Kevin Lamb, and others) and there was music to enjoy as well. Don't let the word "Conservative" or the formal attire give you the wrong idea – these gentlemen aren't your typical conservative buffoons. The speeches given were absolutely revolutionary and quite informative. The IKA made many important contacts networking at the conference which will prove beneficial to future endeavors. The conference was a fine experience and we would like to extend our thanks to the organizers and attendees of this event for their warm welcoming and hospitality.

WHITE UNITY!

–Imperial Godi, Imperial Klans of America..."

Have you ever smelled a rat? Try misogonist Carey Rogers and his anti-feminist life’s work. Evidently he doesn’t like women, unless they are silent, barefoot, and pregnant. He especially doesn’t approve of them in conservative politics, and feels the presence of women such as myself have corrupted the Republican Party. More power to him!   (Oh, FYI, he also believes more women commit violence against men that men commit violence against women. Bet he also doesn’t believe men rape women, either.   Guess the little ladys just askin’ for it.) I just love the way RIGHT conservatives twist and misuse facts then say only liberals do it.

“…Thankfully, some in the conservative ranks have bravely spoken out against the rad-fem jihad, including Phyllis Schlafly, Ann Coulter, Laura Schlessinger, Catherine Seipp, Kathryn Jean Lopez, and Myrna Blyth. But why are there only six, not 600 conservative women on the list? And what about conservative men? Are the conservative no-shows intimidated or merely complacent? Why haven’t the mainstream conservative organizations come out four-square against radical feminism? To be sure, one reason is that the conservative movement has become beholden to the electoral imperatives of the Republican party, fearing that any criticism of feminism might stir a backlash on election day. This fear is misplaced, however, as only a quarter of American women call themselves feminist, and 22% of women say that being called a feminist would be an “insult.” Another reason is that many conservative men – especially politicians and newspaper editors—confuse ladies-first chivalry with becoming water-carriers for the latest feminist myth-de-jour. It’s time that these guys wise-up to the feminist bait-and-switch. These gals claim to be the complete equals to men. But voice any doubts about their ideology, and they lapse into a pathetic cocoon of hurt feelings. And then there are those ladies who claim to be straight-laced conservatives, but bristle with an anti-male hostility or spread poisonous gender myths….”

Why do I digress? It is quite simple. For months I’ve been trying to unearth the roots of this very nasty strain of RIGHT minded conservatives who think they own the Republican Party. I keep finding some interesting little tidbits here and there.   You need to connect the dots.

Carey Roberts writes his wonderfully enlightened material for a number of good conservative RIGHT publications. One of them is Aeonweb that is run by Move Off.com.MoveOff. Com is a part of the New Media Alliance. The New Media Alliance is owned by Heritage Media Partnerships. Heritage Media Partnerships is part of Reality Check. org.   There are a number of umbrella organizations all spewing the same bait and switch. Gary Schneider   is the front name for the IRS reports. The New Media Alliance works in conjunction with Townhall.

Part of the New Media Alliance web includes the American Daily. One of the top contributors to the American Daily is Daneen G. Peterson, Ph.D. Peterson has, in my humble opinion, penned some of the most bigoted, hate filled, misrepresentations about the Hispanic people I've ever seen. Then there is Timely Topics. Another publication is the UsaSentinel. I have no idea what RTPX is. North America Views is another part of the spider web. Then there is Moveoff Us. You should note that this site links to the Constitution Party. I keep saying we're not dealing with actual Republicans here, but people who are conservative who pretend to be Republican. Then there is the Conservative Press. MoveOffWs is also part of the problem. Then there is News by Us. Truth in Conviction   The View from 1776Conservative Crusader

Now we come to Republican Voices by Emil Levitin, who is a member of GOP Bloggers. And there is the New Media Journal that claims to be Republican. The PubliusForum is part of the group. And then we have Frosty Woodbridge, who defies description. I would love to call him the Cindy Sheehan of the whacked out right. There is Time to Vote. And they have the Capital Hill Coffeehouse. The most fun is the only Republican political figure you see any of these organizations linking to is Tancredo. Great Minds Think Right How about Mad as Hell.

The Roberts article that started all of this is from News With Views that is ultra conservative and terribly unGOP.

Comments (1) | Permanent Link | Cosmos

Monday, July 24

Heather MacDonald - Immigration 'Expert'

by SJ Reidhead on Mon 24 Jul 2006 02:09 PM MDT

This is one I can't pin down, which is unusual. I think the problem is the sheer volumn of work MacDonald has churned out in the past few years makes it almost impossible to do a true web search on her. Every instinct I have tells me she's not 'kosher' but I can't prove it. Anyone as prolifically anti-hispanic and as seriously racist as MacDonald has something in a closet somewhere. The problem is her past is buried so deeply I can't crack it. She's squeeky clean, so far. But, someone who is cited so much by Malkin, Vdare, Steven Sailor, Sam Francis, American Resistance, American Renaissance, etc. isn't a saint. I was finally able to prove she is playing fast and lose with the facts and sourcing on Hispanic culture. Frankly, in my humble opinion, she is probably one of the worst, most biased anti-hispanic source out there today.

When dealing with anything about immigration, the first thing a person needs to know is to look beyond the hype and investigate the credentials of the author of a piece. Heather MacDonald is no exception. In NRO she has an extremely biased, one sided kill piece about the Hispanic family. She's an expert, right? Well, Vdare has her as part of the libertarian (a kicker right there) Manhattan Institute. And a Source Watch profile reveals nothing that could point to MacDonald's racism against Hispanics. MacDonald is one of the promoters of the racist, Hispanic Family Values (check out this Vdare which parrots her). I know she is using the racist Myth of Hispanic Family Values from American Resistance, but I can't prove it.

(Note: The thing that gets me about libertarians and illegal immigration - Libertarians are allegedly for limited government - as little as possible - but the anti-immigration stance many of them take is the ultimate Big Brother. You can't have it both ways. A true libertarian would let these guys come and go over the border and live and let live. As it is, they are some of the biggest promoters of Draconian immigration laws. Go figure. I'm not bright enough.)

From her profile on One People's Project (which is quite liberal, but the person doing it is an ex-hate monger so I give him a break) "...A non-practicing lawyer fresh from stints at the EPA and as a clerk for a Judge Stephen Reinhardt in California, Heather MacDonald moved to the city from Los Angeles in 1987 and jumped into the racial tensions going on there at the time. She found herself at a conservative think tank called the Manhattan Institute (MI) This lovely place was founded by former CIA director William Casey and in the past was funded by far right eugenics advocates such as the Pioneer Fund and others, Many of those other backers also backed Hitler's rise to power. One of them, Chase Bank, has publicly apologized for its support of Hitler, but where today's hate politics are concerned, MI does not seem so forgiving. They have sponsored eugenics projects, most notably the pro-eugenics book The Bell Curve, a best-selling book that proposed the idea that blacks are mentally inferior. On one website, it is noted that while the Manhattan Institute does not publicly advocate mass extermination or mass relocation of minorities the policies it does promote are mostly about targeting black and Latino inner city populations in such a way as to make relocation an attractive option and elimination a day to day reality. ..."

Her immigration numbers are skewed, but you can't pin her down. The closest I can get is this AZ Central article. "...Nearly two dozen organization members handed lawmakers two-page documents that they called the "real facts." Richard White, president of the organization, called Pearce's rhetoric a smear campaign against "a whole people that tends to create division and fear."The purpose is to advance a political agenda of hard-line immigration reforms by instilling fear in the public and pressure among lawmakers to act, White said."I hope the public will recognize the song and dance for what it is," he said.Statistics can be slippery ground, and even the organization's fact sheet didn't compare apples to apples as, in one instance, Pearce cited statistics on federal prisoners and the Interfaith Network responded with statistics on prisoners in state facilities.Pearce has said that one-third of federal prisoners are illegal. The Network points out that fewer than 12 percent of those incarcerated in state prisons are Mexican nationals.The Republic found that nearly 28 percent of those incarcerated in federal prisons are not U.S. citizens, according to the Federal Bureau of Prison Statistics. That's 5 percentage points short of a third and doesn't take into account foreign-born residents who are in the country legally. Pearce, R-Mesa, said he got the statistic from CNN. Pearce also was called on a statistic that said 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide in Los Angeles target illegal immigrants.But officers at the LA Police Department and Sheriff's Office say they aren't sure how that fact was deduced."I don't know where those come from," said Lt. Paul Vernon, who handles public information with the LAPD. Much like in Phoenix, officers do not check immigration status. Neither LA nor Phoenix police departments track the number of illegal immigrants involved in crimes, officials said. The statistic appears to have originated with Heather MacDonald, who is listed as a scholar with the Manhattan Institute in New York. MacDonald could not be reached for comment on Monday."

And debunking MacDonald's stats on illegals, CA, crime, and gangs from the LA Times.

"Just the Facts-- UPDATED

According to the search service Technorati, at least 130 weblogs have recently posted 10 "facts" about immigration, allegedly coming from the L.A. Times. As Readers' Representative Jamie Gold has pointed out, this list, which is being forwarded around the world at lightning speed, is a hoax.

We combed our archives to see whether the paper has indeed written anything like these facts, and found just one Op-ed column — by leading anti-immigration figure Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Col.) — that comes close to stating what the e-mail hoax claims. Meanwhile, we've tried to assess the veracity of the various statistics from online sources as well as representatives of federal, state, county, and city officials. We'll continue to post more details as we receive them. Here are the results:

"Fact" 1: 40% of all workers in L.A. County (L.A. County has 10 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This was because they are predominantly illegal immigrants, working without a green card.
LAT citations: None.
Factual basis: The Economic Roundtable, a research outfit affiliated with the Los Angeles County government, concluded in a December 2005 report [PDF] that the low-end estimate for LA County workers working for cash is 322,400 and the high end is 972,500 in 2000. From this, the Economic Roundtable paper extrapolates a mid-range 2004 estimate of 679,000, or 15% of the workforce. (Note that the total workforce of Los Angeles County is about 4.5 million, while the total population is closer to 10 million.)

"Fact" 2: 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
LAT citations: May 15, 2005 — "According to Heather MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute, 95% of the hundreds of outstanding homicide warrants (and 60% of outstanding felony warrants) in L.A. are for illegal immigrants."
Similar citations: January 19, 2004
Factual basis: An outstanding warrant is quite a different beast than a regular warrant, so this "fact" left out the key word. We did some more checking on the outstanding warrants point itself. MacDonald stated this in a 2004 City Journal article, and in testimony before the House of Representatives in spring 2005, noting that this came to 1,200-1,500 warrants. One LAPD officer cited the same factoid in the National Review earlier this year, saying that it's specific to "the first half of 2004". But Jane Robison, press secretary for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, told us that the D.A. does not keep track of this number; a representative with Detective Headquarters said the same.

"Fact" 3: 75% of people on the Most Wanted List in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.
LAT citations: None.
Factual basis: We can't locate such a fact anywhere. The Los Angeles Police Department's most wanted list contains a number of people with unknown or obscured identities, suggesting that tallying the legal status of everyone on the list would be very difficult if not impossible. Ditto for the FBI's most-wanted list.

"Fact" 4: Over 2/3's of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by taxpayers.
LAT citations: Jan. 15, 1999 — "As many as 70,000 illegal immigrants a year use state-funded prenatal services." (Similar citations: Jan. 14, 1999, June 12, 1998, March 6, 1998, Jan. 30, 1998, Jan. 4, 1998, Dec. 18, 1997, Aug. 26, 1997, July 10, 1997, Feb. 6, 1997, Nov. 13, 1996, Nov. 5, 1996, Nov. 2, 1996, OCt. 24, 1996, Oct. 17, 1996)
Feb. 14, 1999 — "Two-thirds of all births here are to foreign-born mothers." (Similar citation: July 25, 2004 — "40% of the births in California are to foreign-born women.")
July 7, 1998 — "[Rep. Elton] Gallegly [(R-Simi Valley)] cited a 1990-91 Los Angeles County study that showed that two-thirds of the women giving birth in public hospitals were undocumented." (Similar citations: Oct. 2, 1995, July 19, 1995, June 11, 1995, Jan. 27, 1995, Nov. 21, 1993, Sept. 13, 1993, Aug. 17, 1993, Aug. 1, 1993, May 28, 1992, Apr. 2, 1992, Oct. 26, 1991, Oct. 24, 1991)
Factual basis: None of these citations establishes the "fact" above. According to the California Department of Health Services, 158,782 babies were born in L.A. County in 2001 (these are the most recent statistics available online). Of these, 99,089 were to Hispanic mothers. That's just under 2/3 — 62.4% for all Hispanic moms, which would include legal and undocumented mothers from Mexico as well as other countries.

"Fact" 5: Nearly 25% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
LAT citations: May 1, 2005, in an op-ed by Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Col.) — "More than 10% of the inmates in U.S. jails and prisons are illegal aliens, and in California it is more than 20%."
July 11, 2004 — "Each year, the [Los Angeles] County Jail system processes about 170,000 inmates, and federal officials estimate that a fourth of them are illegal immigrants. But with just a fraction of the foreign-born being questioned, officials say it is impossible to know exactly how many illegal immigrants are in the system and how much the county should receive in federal compensation." (Similar citations for Riverside County, Apr. 12, 2006; Anaheim city, Nov. 5, 1997, June 27, 1996; Los Angeles County, Jan. 25, 1996, Jan. 15, 1996, July 10, 1995, May 23, 1995; state and county, Nov. 27, 1993, June 1, 1993, Oct. 19, 1992, Oct. 6, 1992, Aug. 4, 1992, Aug. 18, 1991, Dec. 16, 1990, Dec. 4, 1985)
Factual basis: The 25% figure could be approximately correct for state and federal prisons in California, or correct for county, at least as of 2004. But "detention centers" is an extremely broad term that could include all juvenile detention facilities, federal prisons, state prisons, and county jails in California's 58 counties — making this figure very tough to come by. The San Francisco Chronicle offered a lower figure for state prisons on May 4: "Of the nearly 171,000 inmates crowding state prisons, 22,478, or about 13 percent as of March 31, are undocumented immigrants or are suspected of being undocumented." The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group in favor of reducing immigration, offers a lower figure for L.A. County jails: "Deportable aliens comprise 11% of the Los Angeles County jail population costing the county an estimated $75 million a year."

"Fact" 6: Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.
LAT citations: Jan. 31, 1994 — "As many as 100,000 families in Los Angeles County are believed to be living in bootlegged apartments or illegally converted garages."
May 24, 1987 — "A systematic survey by The Times indicates that about 42,000 garages are sheltering about 200,000 people in Los Angeles County." (Similar citations: Apr. 3, 1989)
Factual basis: None of these estimates makes clear who among those taking shelter in garages are in the country illegally. No comment so far from county offices. One City of Los Angeles representative said that the last tally was done over five years ago, and found 50,000 to 70,000 illegally converted units in the city of Los Angeles, out of about 800,000 residences.

"Fact" 7: The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.
LAT citations: May 15, 2005, in an op-ed by attorney Carol Platt Liebau — "Of the membership of the notorious 18th Street gang, estimated at 20,000, fully 60% are illegal aliens, according to a 1995 report by the state Department of Justice." (Similar citations: Jan. 19, 2004, March 25, 2000, June 11, 1997, Dec. 17, 1996, Nov. 21, 1996, Nov. 17, 1996)
Factual basis: Heather MacDonald of Manhattan Institute stated that "No one knows for certain the percentage of illegals in gangs, thanks in large part to sanctuary laws themselves." She does offer some statistics in the City Journal:

A confidential California Department of Justice study reported in 1995 that 60 percent of the 20,000-strong 18th Street Gang in southern California is illegal; police officers say the proportion is actually much greater. [...]

The leadership of the Columbia Lil’ Cycos gang, which uses murder and racketeering to control the drug market around L.A.’s MacArthur Park, was about 60 percent illegal in 2002, says former assistant U.S. attorney Luis Li.

Even if you accept the 18th Street Gang estimates, which would be notoriously difficult to determine with accuracy, that's just one gang in a city where several prominent gangs — including the Crips, Bloods and Aryan Nation — are not largely comprised of immigrants, at least not from "south of the border."

"Fact" 8: Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
LAT citations: None.
Factual basis: No comment yet from HUD, and the only statistic we found online is at FAIR, and it is for only the state of California:

The state Housing and Community Development department has prepared new screening rules based on the welfare reform legislation adopted by Congress in 1996 that would ban illegal aliens from public housing programs. The HCD estimates that as many as 5 percent of 25,000 housing units could be affected.

"Fact" 9: 21 radio stations in L.A. are Spanish speaking.
LAT citations: None in the last 10 years.
Factual basis: Estimates vary by source: one website lists 15 Spanish stations out of 78, another lists 18 out of 83.

"Fact" 10: In L.A. County, 5.1 million people speak English. 3.9 million speak Spanish (10.2 million people in L.A.County).
LAT citations: None.
Factual basis: The Census reports that as of the year 2004, 3.9 million people in L.A. County speak only English at home; 3.7 million speak primarily Spanish at home"

Leave Comment | Permanent Link | Cosmos

Sunday, July 9

Fake Leadership Syndrome Part I...or...Goosestepping with Nazis

by SJ Reidhead on Sun 09 Jul 2006 11:23 PM MDT

World Net Daily has proclaimed the following people to be important American leaders. How many have you heard of? To me a leader is GWB, Rudy, Hil, Nancy Pelosi, Lindsey, Bill Frist, Slick....but not this bunch. They aren't leaders - are they? Let's investigate them!

Fasten you seatbelts, it is going to be a bumpy ride!

Jim Boulet, Jr., English First

James R. Edwards, Consultant to NumbersUSA

Ellen Grigsby, Open Doors USA

Joan L. Hueter, American Council for Immigration Reform;

Mark Krikorian, Center for Immigration Studies

Chris Simcox, Minuteman Civil Defense Corps

Alan Keyes, Declaration Alliance

William Green, RightMarch.com

Richard A. Viguerie, Conservative HQ.com.

Marc Rotterman, American Conservative Union

Peggy Birchfield, Religious Freedom Action Coalition

Brent Bozell, Conservative Victory Committe

Bay Buchanan, Team America PAC

Mario A. Calabrese

Christine Carmouche, GrassTopsUSA

Jim Clymer, Constitution Party National Committee;

Kristen N. Cooper, Foundation for American Christian Education;

Jerome R. Corsi, author;

Kay Daly;

Tom DeWeese, American Policy Center;

Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch;

Don Feder, Don Feder Associates;

John Fonte;

Paul Goedinghaus, Alamo Alliance;

Colin Hanna, Let Freedom Ring, Inc.;

Carl F. Horowitz, National Legal and Policy Center;

David Horowitz, Center for the Study of Popular Culture;

Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Hope Christian Ministries;

Kevin Kearns, U.S. Business and Industry Council;

Mal Kline, Accuracy in Academia;

Gary G. Kreep, United States Justice Foundation;

Deborah Lambert, Accuracy in Media;

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Toward Tradition;

K.C. McAlpin, ProEnglish;

William J. Murray, Religious Freedom Coalition;

John O'Neill, Swiftboat Veterans;

Howard Phillips, The Conservative Caucus;

Alan Potter, Constitution Party of Virginia;

Phyllis Schlafly, Eagle Forum;

Rick and Caryann Shaftan, Neighborhood Research/Mountaintop Media;

Rev. Lou Sheldon, Traditional Values Coalition;

Kent Snyder, The Liberty Committee;

Mike Valerio, Mike and Helen Valerio Foundation;