John Anderson

Contrary to the claims of the pro-amnesty forces that “you can’t deport 12 million people” (or however many illegal aliens there are), Arizona is already proving that ‘attrition through enforcement’ is working.  ‘Attrition through enforcement’ is based on the concept that the harder you make it for people to break the law, the fewer people will break the law.  The harder you make it for foreign nationals to illegally work, reside, and collect welfare for themselves and their families in this country, the less likely they will do so.

The success of Arizona’s SB 1070 law is coming even before the law is put into place, as illegal aliens flee the state.  Some are returning home to Mexico, others are going to neighboring states; others are traveling across the country to more liberal states in the northeastern part of the country.  One illegal alien from Mexico who was willing to give her name to a newspaper (try that for any other legal violation), Wendi Villasenor, said "Everyone is selling up the little they have and leaving, we have no alternative. They have us cornered.”  She’s headed for Pennsylvania, which has a 9.2% unemployment rate as soon as she finishes her yard sale and packs up.

Two other families consisting of a mix of illegal and legal aliens were headed to New Mexico, which has an 8.5% unemployment rate.  One illegal alien from Mexico, Gabriela Jaquez, complained that the SB 1070 law now makes it a state crime to transport illegal aliens.  A person claiming to be a legal alien from Mexico, Lunaly Bustillos, said that the law made her “sad and angry,” complaining “I feel I have the right to be here."  However, anyone with a legal right to be in the country has nothing to fear from the SB 1070 law, as it only targets illegal aliens.

A previous law passed three years ago requiring employers to use the ‘e-verify’ system established by Congress to verify the legality of workers hired by companies resulted in about 100,000 illegal aliens leaving the state.  Polls continue show the law is backed by a large majority of Americans, including 2/3 of Arizonans.  Attrition through enforcement may become more attractive to states like Pennsylvania and New Mexico in the near future as more illegal aliens relocate there.

Contrary to Obama’s claim to be "surprised, disappointed and angry" to learn of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the Obama regime sent a secret letter from deputy head of the embassy in London stating that “the US position is that conditional release on compassionate grounds would be a far preferable alternative to prisoner transfer, which we strongly oppose."  The letter was revealed in British newspapers this weekend, despite the Obama regime’s attempts to suppress the information, claiming the release would impede "frank and open communications" with foreign governments in the future.

Al-Megrahi was convicted in the terrorist attack that killed 270 people on December 21, 1988, when a bomb planted on Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland.  Although the Scottish government which released Al-Megrahi claimed he had only 3 months left to live, recent reports from Libya indicate he is expected to live for at least another ten years.

Discussing recent news events that have brought anti-white racism to the foreground, Senator James Webb (D-VA) has penned an article debunking the myth of "white privilege."  Webb points out that although the original rationale for so-called affirmative action is not applicable at all to many of the current beneficiaries:

Forty years ago, as the United States experienced the civil rights movement, the supposed monolith of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant dominance served as the whipping post for almost every debate about power and status in America. After a full generation of such debate, WASP elites have fallen by the wayside and a plethora of government-enforced diversity policies have marginalized many white workers. The time has come to cease the false arguments and allow every American the benefit of a fair chance at the future.

I have dedicated my political career to bringing fairness to America's economic system and to our work force, regardless of what people look like or where they may worship. Unfortunately, present-day diversity programs work against that notion, having expanded so far beyond their original purpose that they now favor anyone who does not happen to be white.

In an odd historical twist that all Americans see but few can understand, many programs allow recently arrived immigrants to move ahead of similarly situated whites whose families have been in the country for generations. These programs have damaged racial harmony.

The injustices endured by black Americans at the hands of their own government have no parallel in our history, not only during the period of slavery but also in the Jim Crow era that followed. But the extrapolation of this logic to all "people of color"—especially since 1965, when new immigration laws dramatically altered the demographic makeup of the U.S.—moved affirmative action away from remediation and toward discrimination, this time against whites. It has also lessened the focus on assisting African-Americans, who despite a veneer of successful people at the very top still experience high rates of poverty, drug abuse, incarceration and family breakup.

Those who came to this country in recent decades from Asia, Latin America and Africa did not suffer discrimination from our government, and in fact have frequently been the beneficiaries of special government programs. The same cannot be said of many hard-working white Americans, including those whose roots in America go back more than 200 years.

Webb also points out that such blanket categorizations as "white" and "nonwhite" are not useful in determining who is "historically disadvantaged."

Contrary to assumptions in the law, white America is hardly a monolith. And the journey of white American cultures is so diverse (yes) that one strains to find the logic that could lump them together for the purpose of public policy.

A recent NORC Social Survey of white adults born after World War II showed that in the years 1980-2000, only 18.4% of white Baptists and 21.8% of Irish Protestants—the principal ethnic group that settled the South—had obtained college degrees, compared to a national average of 30.1%, a Jewish average of 73.3%, and an average among those of Chinese and Indian descent of 61.9%.

Policy makers ignored such disparities within America's white cultures when, in advancing minority diversity programs, they treated whites as a fungible monolith. Also lost on these policy makers were the differences in economic and educational attainment among nonwhite cultures. Thus nonwhite groups received special consideration in a wide variety of areas including business startups, academic admissions, job promotions and lucrative government contracts.

Not only that, but as was discussed a couple days ago on this site, many "elite" universities discriminate against low income and rural whites, as well as those engaged in activities such as 4-H (a farming program) and JROTC (a program run by the military).

Attempting to navigate the varied and diverse histories of the ethnic groups which make up America in order to parcel out special advantages and penalties, is nigh impossible, even if it were desirable, not to mention the each person's unique family history. This statement by Senator Webb sums up my thoughts:

Our government should be in the business of enabling opportunity for all, not in picking winners.

Tom Tancredo, a longtime leader of the border-security movement, has taken the lead in a recent poll of the Republican Primary for Governor of Colorado. A poll conducted by the Denver Post on July 15^th querying who Colorado Republicans viewed as the "strongest Republican gubernatorial candidate" showed Tancredo with the support of 29% of Colorado Republicans, Scott McInnis at 19%, Dan Maes at 13%, and Jane Norton at 11%.

Currently, McInnis and Maes are the only two announced candidates, and Norton is running for Senate instead. McInnis has recently been exposed by the Denver Post to have plagiarized writings for which he was paid $300,000 by the Hasan Family Foundation in 2005 & 2006.

Former Congressman Tom Tancredo, who supported McInnis prior to the plagiarism scandal, said he was "surprised and flattered" by the support for him shown in the poll. The poll results are indeed surprising, as Tancredo has not campaigned at all for the spot.

Tancredo appears open to being drafted into the race, if it appears that his candidacy would help the Republicans win the gubernatorial election. "I want us as a party to get this governor's seat," Tancredo says, "if I can do it, believe me I will." He says McInnis and Maes should "both eventually drop out" since "neither can win the general election."

Tom Tancredo is a strong supporter of Arizona’s 1070 law which assists in enforcing federal immigration law, and he would likely push to establish a similar law in Colorado. Tancredo was also a headline speaker at the National Tea Party Convention earlier this year. If Tancredo were to receive the nomination, he would likely gather support from the Tea Party movement that is sweeping the nation in addition to his current support from Republican Party regulars.

This last week, Youth for Western Civilization dropped by the left-wing "Campus Progress" conference here in Washington D.C. It was held in the Omni Shoreham hotel, with the main portion of the conference taking place in an ornate ballroom filled with a massive stereo system and two giant projection screens. The conference was headlined by big name speakers like Samantha Powers, John Podesta, Van Jones, and dozens of other presenters and panelists flown in with all expenses paid for the weekend. At least George Soros isn’t lacking for money in the Obama Recession.

All our favorite leftist archetypes were in attendance:

The advocates for the re-distribution of wealth – You know the type. The angry scowlers of the Al Sharpton strain who demand affirmative action and blame white people for black and Hispanic economic disparities, directing a constant barrage of eye-daggers at anyone who appeared to represent "the man".

Illegal aliens and their apologists – They were there in force. Their main objective is the so-called DREAM Act which would give illegal alien minors the ability to become permanent residents if they go to college. According to these law breakers, borders and sovereignty are a thing of the past... for Western countries. It's of course essential that Mexico, Honduras, Vietnam and all the other places these illegals hail from maintain their sovereignty, culture, and identity, while the United States is transformed from a “melting pot” into a “tossed salad” in the never ending pursuit for diversity and inclusion.

The LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender advocate) legions – These were the most prominent groups there. We were unable to guess the gender of many of them. A number of them were wearing shirts advocating a "marriage boycott" until all states begin issuing "gay marriages". Good luck with that.

Even the restrooms were not safe from social engineering. Each men's restroom was designated as a "multigender restroom."  However, for the women’s restrooms, there was no transgender symbol. Only females were allowed in female restrooms. The irony of this "discrimination" seemed to escape them entirely.

David Cho, the winner of one of the organization’s awards, took to the stage to proclaim that he was an illegal alien. His speech consisted of complaints that even though he had gone through the California educational system (no doubt at significant taxpayer expense) he had difficulties finding jobs due to his "status," which he felt was "discriminatory."

"We now have SB 1070 brewing in Arizona, a state that’s sweltering under the heat of oppression, and we now live in a society which restricts young children and students solely on the basis of their status," he proclaimed. This is the Arizona that recently decided to dismantle the speed cameras in the state, hardly a move consistent with "a state that’s sweltering under the heat of oppression." Left unmentioned was the nefarious discrimination against convicted felons, drunk drivers, and sex offenders "solely on the basis of their status."

Although he was proud to announce that he was "undocumented", and list the jobs he and his family illegally work (many of which are the type in which one is commonly paid under the table), no federal agents showed up to arrest him, nor is there any sign that any legal or law enforcement action will be taken in the future to restrain him from continuing to break the law. One can easily imagine this would not be the case had an American citizen proclaimed "I don’t pay my taxes," "I drive without a license," "I sell marijuana for a living," or any other proud announcement of ongoing and purposeful law violation. Rather than living "in the shadows," criminals like Cho can flaunt their illegal status confidently because they know they have the American Establishment on their side.

David Cho has high ambitions for someone who isn’t even an American citizen: "I ultimately want to become a U.S. Senator, because I want to make changes in this country," he announced. Of course, we want to make changes too, though probably something far removed from the kind of "Change" we’ve been suffering through the last two years. Cho concluded, "Let us rededicate ourselves to the commitment and the involvement in the common effort to create a new society, and a new nation."  One wonders who this "us" is, what "new nation" he wants to create, and why he has to do it here. As Americans, we generally like the nation we have now and don’t want it to be replaced.

The various sessions on specific issues were predictable. Granting amnesty to illegal aliens was the subject of one of the morning sessions, entitled "Out of the Shadows, Into the Streets." The main argument put forth by this panel was that with millions of illegal aliens leeching off the institutions and taxpayers of our republic, "it only makes sense" to give them citizenship. As stated above, their foremost goal is the ludicrously named DREAM Act, which would give young adults illegally residing in the United States the opportunity for permanent residency. Americans who do not have access to a college education or law abiding immigrants who are trying to obtain permanent residency would be ignored. One of the requirements for the law would be "good moral character."  Voluntary deportation and legal entry into the immigration process would be a good test of that, but we are pretty sure that’s not what the panel meant.

The mantra of "multiculturalism" was everywhere at the event, even in areas seemingly entirely unrelated. For example, another morning panel we attended on "The Force of Food" was ostensibly organized to discuss organic and sustainable food movements. A number of YWC members and supporters have recently become intrigued with ideas about backyard gardens and getting away from corporate-produced, processed food (which often relies on huge numbers of illegal workers to produce). Therefore, we actually expected some practical help from this panel. Instead, rather than advice on how to build and organize such movements, the focus was on "getting minorities involved."

The panel centered on complaining that there was a "lack of access" to organic and healthy foods in "minority areas," without addressing the underlying culture of this demographic that creates the market forces that generate this pattern. A self-described "Native American tribal activist," Terrol Dew Johnson, complained that there was only one grocery store on his Tohono O'odham reservation, and that "the largest aisle is soda pop and junk food." Another panelist lamented that the supermarkets have departed Los Angeles, and the new tenants in these buildings are liquor stores.

The federal "Superfund" law which mandates clean-ups of polluted "brownfields" even drew a part of the blame, as one of the panelists said that McDonalds was the only company able to pay for such cleanups before building on certain urban sites. However, one would think that large organic and health food chains such as Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s would just as easily be able to afford such cleanups, were there any demand for such stores from the people who live in these areas. Of course, since the CEO of Whole Foods publicly opposed the Obamacare bill, he might be persona non grata in the eyes of the extreme Left.

One questioner, who appeared to be a middle-to-upper class white girl, asked the panel what could be done to bring organic and healthy foods to her area in Philadelphia, which she described as predominantly black. She talked about how she saw no interest whatsoever from the black community in organic or healthy foods. The panel was unable to come up with any answers, saying that the process would be "slow" and could "take a decade or more" to come up with any noticeable shift. One panelist said that he would be speaking at Swarthmore within a few months, but the questioner replied that "unfortunately" she would be on a month-long vacation in France during that time. It’s doubtful that the Eurotripping activist Left will actually be making changes in inner city dieting anytime soon.

One of the afternoon panels we was called "Race and the Recession." The general theme of this panel was that regardless of the ebb and flow of our global economy, white people are responsible for black and Latino disparities in wealth and income. The most recent evidence was President Obama's stimulus bill which was supposedly intended for minorities. However, some of the money ended up going to whites. This, of course, is "stealing the money from people of color," and "as a country of color, we need more programs to elevate the rainbow coalition."

(We should note that because this was a left-wing event and we are quoting Leftists, the following paragraphs contain vairous expletives and racial slurs.)

Ironically, the other afternoon session which we attended, on the topic of "Promoting Progress Through Comedy," was mechanical and boring. The one exception was a "joke" by Baratunde Thurston of The Onion that Mel Gibson’s black friends must be a "pack of raping niggers," which Thurston said he could "only say… because I’m black."

Van Jones seems to have learned his lesson from last year, and like most of the major speakers took care to sound as mundane as possible. One who didn’t get the memo was an individual of indeterminate gender named Andrea Gibson. She went on a few long rants, saying such things as "Our sky is so perfectly blue, it’s repulsive – somebody tell me where God lives, because if God is truth, God doesn’t live here." Her view on supporting the troops was "fuck your yellow ribbon."

Although her time was expired, she decided to stay for one more rant, since, as she put it, "I can’t get off the stage without being gay." She ranted about "the patriarchy," recounted a fit of rage from her lesbian girlfriend when she commented that she’d "like to eat that checkout clerk," and expressed her anger at people who do not want to redefine marriage to enable her to marry her girlfriend "but the fuckers say we can’t because you’re a girl and I’m a girl!"  One of the best moments of her life was "the time we saw two boys kissing on the street in Kansas, and we both broke down crying, because it was Kansas…we were born again that day!"

Another interesting speaker was Beau Sia, who opened up with "I don’t need a gong to make my entrance, I’m Asian-American!" and recounted a series of racial achievements and his pride in them, statements which would have been described as "racist" and  "supremacist"if they had come from a white person. He then proceeded into another tirade in which he described himself as "a developed nation jerk-off," and rambled wildly about "saving the world" from some sort of apocalypse.

What do we take away from this? Campus Progress seemingly has little to do with generating solutions, even in theory, for issues like the economy, job creation, national security, health care, trade, or education. Instead, it is a collection of tribes united only by their hostility to Middle America and everything that it stands for. It's simply George Soros backing the next generation of Jesse Jackson-style shakedown artists and freakish exhibitionists. They have no solutions for America's future – more than that, they're not even trying.   

The next event being hosted by Campus Progress here in D.C. is "Drag Bingo," featuring "the biting commentary of DC’s best drag queen, Shi-Quita-Lee." I think we’ll pass.