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Andante noticed that the decision to make undocumented aliens felons was based on a request from the Department of Justice.

Now, if you were a cynical former law enforcement-type who knew how funding worked, you would probably assume that the Feds were looking for cheap felony arrests to pad their numbers. A couple of hundred people scooped up in a single raid; people would be processed as felony arrests; that would look really good on the paperwork. Most people wouldn’t bother to dig to find out that those “felons” had just finished harvesting somebody’s tomato crop.

We all know it’s just a coincidence that shortly after major raids make a media splash, there is some type of legislation pending in Congress that the DoJ wants passed.

Gary at Easter Lemming notices they are Going After Migrants, but Not Employers:

The number of federal immigration agents who focus on work-site enforcement plunged to 65 nationwide in 2004, from 240 in 1999, according to the Government Accountability Office. Moreover, the government reduced the number of notices of intent to fine employers who hired illegal immigrants to just 3 in 2004 from 417 in 1999.

Those numbers make it plain how concerned the Shrubbery and the Republicans in Congress are about controlling immigration.

Are you enjoying the extra 20 to 25% tacked on the price of a gallon of gas because of the threats against Iran? Will you enjoy the doubling or tripling of the price if Iran is attacked? How about the further doubling or tripling when Iran responds by halting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz?

In Washington Post Hits Blair Over Iran Split Taylor Marsh, writing at Fire Dog Lake, notes that the WaPo thinks Tony Blair is a total wimp for not submitting to the whims of the Shrubbery.

The newly elected prime minister of Italy, Romano Prodi, is pulling troops out of the “Coalition of the Clueless”; so don’t expect to see troops from countries that the majority of Americans can find on a map.

Everyone needs to read the well-linked and documented Wikipedia entry on Iran’s nuclear program. You will learn that Iran is in compliance with the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and has the right to enrich uranium under the treaty. Iran, unlike the United States-Indian agreement just completed, is not breaking any rules, nor has the IAEA accused it of any violations.

I would also point out that the US, Germany, and France owe Iran billions of dollars for equipment that Iran paid for, but was never delivered. When the Shah was removed the delivery of equipment for Iran’s nuclear program was stopped, but no one has even suggested that any of the countries was going to return the money to the government of Iran.

The situation is identical to the Iraqi WMDs: Iran is being required to prove a negative, that it doesn’t have a nuclear weapons program.

Just as they had helped Saddam get WMDs, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz were prime movers under the Ford administration for an Iranian nuclear program.

Update: Natasha at Pacific Views has pictures of what they want to nuke.

I don’t swear much any more. After the military and law enforcement it isn’t because I don’t know how, I can verbally blister paint anywhere in the world in multiple languages.

You may have heard the phrase: “it’s not worth a tinker’s damn,” and wondered why a “tinker’s damn” is considered such a trifle.

It was accepted that those who practiced certain trades, tinkers in England and shoemakers in much of the world, cursed almost constantly. Because it was expected that tinkers cursed, the curse had very little meaning.

I choose to reserve my curses on-line and off, so that when they do flow, people understand that a line has been crossed and I am well beyond annoyed.

Billmon called it Payback, but by any name, the Washington Post article on Maryscott O’Connor was designed to portray all of the liberal side of blogtopia™ ^{[skippy the bush kangaroo]} as the American version of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party.

Along with many others Shakespeare’s Sister in Angry for a Reason and Echidne in The Angry Moonbats , point out reasons for anger, but not the reason for the piece. Both notice that the article seems to point to the anger as a reaction to the anger from the right.

The Washington Post started this leitmotif of the angry foul-mouthed liberal blogger when Deborah Howell got caught spinning a Republican talking point in the Jack Abramoff story. They had to shut down the comments because liberals were so angry and vomited filth. [Read more →]

I’m sick of it. Every time the politicians want to intrude on peoples’ lives they haul out the excuse: “It’s to protect children.” If politicians actually cared about children they would help them move out of poverty.

Now, according to CNET, ISP snooping gaining support:

At a hearing last week, Rep. Ed Whitfield, a Kentucky Republican who heads a House oversight and investigations subcommittee, suggested that data retention laws would be useful to police investigating crimes against children.

“I absolutely think that that is an idea that is worth pursuing,” an aide to Whitfield said in an interview on Thursday. “If those files were retained for a longer period of time, it would help in the uncovering and prosecution of these crimes.” Another hearing is planned for April 27.

Internet providers generally offer three reasons why they are skeptical of mandatory data retention: first, it is not clear who will be able to access records of someone’s online behavior; second, it’s not clear who will pay for the data warehouses to be constructed; and third, it’s not clear that police are hindered by current law as long as they move swiftly in investigations.

“What we haven’t seen is any evidence where the data would have been helpful, where the problem was not caused by law enforcement taking too long when they knew a problem existed,” said Dave McClure, president of the U.S. Internet Industry Association, which represents small to midsize companies.

McClure said that while data retention aficionados cite child pornography, the stored data would be open to any type of investigation–including, for instance, those focused on drug crimes, tax fraud, or terrorism prosecutions. “The agenda behind this doesn’t appear to be legitimate,” he said.

Of course it’s not legitimate, it’s another power grab from the KGB DoJ. They aren’t using the PATRIOT Act for terrorism investigations, they are using it for their standard workload with a seeming preference for drug and pornography cases. The only “terrorists” that seem to interest this Department of Justice are “eco-terrorists”.

Protecting children is the job of parents, not the Congress. Collecting more terabytes of data on people is not going to make children safer; it’s just building another pond for the DoJ to fish in.

Well, with my “Bush Tax Cut” and a quarter, I paid the postage on my tax return.

According to the Christian Science Monitor a growing number of people are reacting in a different way: When the Tax Man cometh, they don’t answer the bell.

The Golden Rules of income taxes: always file and never distort your income. Everything else is open to interpretation.

The FEMA Inspector General concludes that FEMA managed to accomplish every screw up that people complained about.

FEMA made every incompetent move imaginable and a few that no one even thought possible. FEMA under the Shrubbery has entered a new dimension by managing to perform the triple play of public agencies: malfeasance, nonfeasance, and misfeasance.

It was a “heck of a job”.

Hurricane season in a month and a half.

Apparently a cat trapped in a wall is the new missing white woman, every news outlet has a story on 11-month-old Molly being trapped in a wall in a New York deli.

Well, Molly is free and MSNBC has the tape if you care.

I really like cats, but this much coverage is overkill, and frankly so many people hanging around is probably one of the reasons the cat didn’t want to come out.

Steve Gilliard reminded me that they brought in a “rescue kitten”, a poor confused little kitten that was supposed to stir Molly’s maternal instincts.  I can imagine the kitten mewing “Don’t come out, lady!  These people are seriously deranged.”

Again and again people ask “Why did these generals wait to complain if things were so bad?”

They have been complaining, but the complaints aren’t public. In the military complaints go up the chain of command, not to the media. So when complaints are made the public doesn’t know about them.

There are other ways of complaining if you know what to look for. When General Eric Ken Shinseki was pushed out for telling the truth to Congress about the troop levels needed for the Iraq mission, none of the active duty officers who were eligible to become Army Chief of Staff would take the job, and Rumsfeld was required to call up General Peter Schoomaker from retirement. There are a number of positions in the Pentagon that are filled by temporary replacements because they can’t get qualified people to accept the jobs.

Major General John Rigg complained and it cost him a star after being accused of mismanagement so minor it didn’t even make it into his personnel file.

If you would like to know what the government and military does to officers who complain while on duty, look at the case of the “father of the US Air Force”, Brigadier General William L. Mitchell. Gary Cooper starred in the movie about the general: The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell.

Mitchell was a real lunatic: in the 1920s he stated his belief that the Japanese would carry out an aerial attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Obviously you couldn’t let maniacs like that remain in the military.

For the record, Rumsfeld said there were thousands and thousands of generals and admirals – there are under 900 active duty flag officers in the military, Reserve, and National Guard included. There might be two or three times as many retired flag officers, although generals and admirals tend to retire in their 60s, and military life is not generally conducive to old age.

How could you pass up a story like: Wildlife parks join devil breeding program.

It is a well-known disease with a vaccine and effective treatment, but we can’t control it: Air travelers eyed in mumps outbreak.

If it were bird flu or SARS we would be in major trouble.

We’ll start with the Christian Science Monitor: Retired generals speak out to oppose Rumsfeld, which covers General Merrill McPeak [USAF], General Anthony Zinni [USMC], Lieutenant General Greg Newbold [USMC], Major General John Batiste [USA] and Major General Paul Eaton [USA].

Then NPR picks up with Major General John Rigg [USA] and CNN finishes with Major General Charles Swannack[USA].

General Eric Shinseki talked about the need for twice as many troops as Rumsfeld wanted, so he was forced out.

I feel certain that we are all aware of General Wesley Clark’s feeling about the current Defense Department.

There has been a rash of negative views of Rumsfeld and the current administration from retired general officers because nothing is getting better and now they are talking about using nukes.

This is what it looks like when people start thinking about the International Criminal Court and the possibility of real investigations of what has been going on for the last five years.

This did not happen after Vietnam. Senior officers did not speak out, and it is amazing to those of us who spent a great deal of time in and around the military. These guys are really asking Congress for investigations. They really want to talk on the record, not to the media, but only Congress can provide the forum.

Update: I missed Lieutenant General William E. Odom (Ret. USA) and the crew that opposed Alberto Gonzales: Brigadier General David M. Brahms (Ret. USMC), Brigadier General James Cullen (Ret. USA), Brigadier General Evelyn P. Foote (Ret. USA), Lieutenant General Robert Gard (Ret. USA), Vice Admiral Lee F. Gunn (Ret. USN), Admiral Don Guter (Ret. USN), General Joseph Hoar (Ret. USMC), Rear Admiral John D. Hutson (Ret. USN), Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy (Ret. USA), General Merrill McPeak (Ret. USAF), Major General Melvyn Montano (Ret. USAF Nat. Guard), and General John Shalikashvili (Ret. USA).

Kevin comments on people looking to solve the military recruitment problem by using immigrants. He’s worried that this will turn the US military into a mercenary force.

Okay, a lot of people don’t know about the draft, but immigrants were drafted and have always enlisted to help themselves with the process towards citizenship. This is the way it has always been in this country, non-citizens can join the military, and it probably does help them with immigration issues.

Steve Gilliard pointed this out earlier.

Via Jack K., the story of a group of meat cutters for Wolverine Meat Packing who have been fired for attending the immigration protests.

I would suggest that there are many choices for meat products and Americans should patronize those that show a due regard for American values, like “…the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

If you see Wolverine or Royal Gold in the meat aisle, do you really want to support a company that fires people for exercising their First Amendment rights?