'Stand Up, Selma'

Talk about hypocrisy.

Sunday night, the people of Selma, Alabama were treated to an event called "Stand Up, Selma." The organizers proclaimed their purpose was to "stand together in love" in order to build a “beloved community.”

And some of the speakers backed up those goals with their talks to the audience:

Reverends Mark Duke and Spicer made a call to action. Spicer said to celebrate and appreciate everyone’s culture.

“My heritage is a part of me,” he said. “I should be who I am, and you should be who you are. We should like each other for who we are.”

Duke spoke of acceptance for everyone.

“People should be tolerant for one another,” he said. “We should respect each other.”

Sounds good. But one look at who put this little love-fest together raises immediate suspicion: the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Worse, the keynote speaker was none other than Heidi Beirich, whom the article describes as the "director of research and special projects intelligence projects [sic] for the Southern Poverty Law Center ..."

Whoa! Seems like Heidi acquires a new, even-creepier sounding title every time we hear from her.

So how does a community "stand together in love" and promote respect for everyone's heritage?

If you're Heidi Beirich, you terrify the audience:

The law center says there are 24 hate groups in Alabama.

“There is a hate group base in Selma,” Beirich said. “It is called the League of the South. They are a neo-confederate group that basically wants to return to a way of life pre-1865.”

Beirich said members of the group believe slavery is God ordained.

She told the horrified audience tips to help stop hate groups.

Oh, the horror. The horror.

In case you missed it, Heidi Beirich just implied the League of the South's number one goal is to bring back slavery. How that deliberate distortion promotes mutual respect and a "beloved community" escapes me.

But such dishonesty is the SPLC's business plan. Forget the League of the South's core message warning about the dangerous concentration of political and economic power, and about the intensifying assault on our traditional protections from an out-of-control central government. Forget the speeches urging self-reliance and why we must break growing dependence on government. Forget the books and articles seeking to preserve historical cultures, and documenting the historical record of appeals to egalitarianism, the favorite incendiary device of ambitious demagogues.

Instead, demonize an organization promoting the true history and the survival of the Southern people as something it is not. Reduce its members and the people it represents down to a single, malicious lie.

Of course, the remarks of the SPLC's director of special intelligence projects make perfect sense -- that is, once you understand that the SPLC's actual goal is to profit from racial animosity.

If the SPLC were in charge of fire departments, they'd put napalm in all the hydrants.

Fixing that innertube thingy

OK, I've switched to a new ISP, and should be able to get RebellionBlog email properly now.

There's a lot going on these days in the fight for devolution and local self-government as Leviathan continues to collapse under its own weight. With so much to talk about, you won't want to miss any of our posts. Things are starting to get REAL interesting! So hold onto your hats, and be sure to check Rebellion every day.

California outlaws Bush's torture policies

California's been making a lot of noise lately about charting a different course than Uncle Sam (see here, for example). Her latest act of resistance should have some long-lasting, international repercussions:

The California Legislature today adopted a resolution aimed at preventing California health professionals from engaging in coercive interrogations of detainees at Guantánamo and other U.S. military prisons.

Senate Joint Resolution 19 instructs the state’s licensing boards to inform California doctors, psychologists and other health professionals of their obligations under national and international law relating to torture. The boards will warn the licensees that they may one day be subject to prosecution if they participate in interrogations that do not conform to international standards of treatment of prisoners.

California has resisted DC's control regarding pollution and immigration as well. So when do folks there realize the sane thing to do is to make a clean break from DC's destructive, wasteful rule?

New England Groups Look to Secede

Here's a great report on yet another movement to restore local sovereignty and put the brakes on a runaway Federal government:

Burt Cohen, 57, a former state senator, is leading a front in New Hampshire to secede from the U.S., and join with Maine, Vermont, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Gaspé Peninsula to create a new authority called New Acadia or Novacadia based on maps of a 1702 maritime union.

"This is a continuation of my politics," Cohen said. "I am interested in people taking part in decisions, and right now, it seems to me that fewer and fewer people have more concentrated wealth and power."

This is not some radical idea Mr. Cohen is advocating, but simply the continuation of a fine, long-forgotten tradition of New England self-government.

The central argument the post makes for secession is becoming more obvious every day: at some point, bureaucracy gets too big, and breaks down. The groans and cracks all around us can no longer be ignored.

A disgruntled reader defends pro-SPLC writer

Oh, yeah, the mainstream press maintains strict professionalism and objectivity when it publishes the SPLC's press releases.


At least this reader thinks so:

I think you're letting your own biases cloud your vision here, Mr. Rebellion.

And I think someone's spoiling for a fight.

The story you tried to smear as biased toward the Southern Poverty Law Center [Interview with the SPLC] is as fair and impartial as it could be. The quote from Mr. Potok was balanced by other quotes defending the accused. I suppose you'd only be satisfied if only the defenders of ethnic intimidation were heard from.

[Name withheld by request - permission granted to post email]

Dear Name,

But the article not only quoted Count Potokula from the Southern Poverty Law Center, but the pro-amnesty Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund as well. These nationally known, well-funded organizations are going to carry more weight with unsuspecting readers than the supportive comments of the accused boys' friends and neighbors.

Then, to add even more authority to the pro-open borders side, the article quoted a sociology professor who poses as an expert on "hate crimes." And wouldn't you know his comments echo the SPLC position:

"Jack Levin, a sociology professor at Boston's Northeastern University who has written books on hate crimes, said he could see it coming.

In a 24-hour news culture, where blogs, talk radio and cable TV provide a steady torrent of negative stereotypes about illegal immigrants, Latinos are primed as potential victims, Levin said."

So where were the quotes from organizations and scholars who oppose amnesty for illegal alien invaders? Representatives of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, VDare, or Americans for Legal Immigration are easily contacted and eager to tell their story. Why didn't the writer provide an authoritative quote from them? He would -- IF he really cared about presenting both sides of this crisis.

I'll say it again: the mainstream corporate press continues to ignore the obvious truth that the SPLC makes its fortune by painting all immigration control activists as evil racists who want to kill minorities out of irrational hatred. Dees & Co. terrify little old liberals with visions of Klansmen and neo-Nazis being behind all border security efforts -- which, naturally, benefits big corporations always hungry for more cheap, exploitable labor. So there's a financial incentive behind the SPLC's version of immigration reform. Doesn't that deserve just a little probing? Doesn't it demand a little extra effort to provide real balance?

Russia: Poland risks attack because of US missiles

Dangerous times require dangerous leaders.

You'd think we would've learned something from the Cuban Missile Crisis: countries don't like it when you arm nearby countries -- and pushing an anti-missile system on Russia's neighbor is guaranteed to make the bear even more skittish. Yet here's the Bush maladministration imposing democratic imperialism at Russia's doorstep:

Poland and the United States on Thursday signed a deal for Poland to accept a missile interceptor base as part of a system the United States says is aimed at blocking attacks by rogue nations. Moscow, however, feels it is aimed at Russia's missile force.

"Poland, by deploying (the system) is exposing itself to a strike — 100 percent," Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of staff, was quoted as saying.

What on earth is Bush thinking? Why should we risk nuclear war to defend Warsaw? Or Tbilisi, for that matter?

But then, as Pat Buchanan points out here, DC has been seeking to fill the ideological and political vacuum caused by the collapse of the Communist bloc for some time, including during the "liberal" Clinton regime -- and all the while, demanding other nations live by a set of rules that somehow don't apply to the US:

Russia has invaded a sovereign country, railed Bush. But did not the United States bomb Serbia for 78 days and invade to force it to surrender a province, Kosovo, to which Serbia had a far greater historic claim than Georgia had to Abkhazia or South Ossetia, both of which prefer Moscow to Tbilisi?

Is not Western hypocrisy astonishing?

So here we are, getting a glimpse of the chaos and danger of DC's globalist agenda.

Student fights Anderson Co. Confederate flag ban

Here's the shirt:


Image from Dixie Outfitters

With all the rotten news out there, here's something to shed a little ray of hope. A young Southerner in Knoxville endured multiple suspensions for wearing a Southern pride shirt to school. The case goes back for years (click here for an early report), but he's still fighting. His comments this week display the Southern fighting spirit that many thought had been brainwashed out of the present generation:

Outside court Thursday, Tommy Defoe, a former student, said, "They're trying to say the Confederate battle flag is offensive to others and it's not. They can't prove that it is, you know. I mean, it's my heritage. It makes me mad that they would say that about it."

Mr. Defoe, you deserve a salute from Southerners everywhere. Deo Vindice!

The news is too confusing

Now, let's see -- the Bushies think it's vital that all US resources be used to safeguard Georgia's borders. As Bush said yesterday, "Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected."

And yet, there's nothing we can -- or should -- do to stop Mexico from violating American sovereignty and territorial integrity. I suppose if Bush were president of Georgia, he's be working for amnesty for the Russian invaders.

Also, we're supposed to be all panicky about what Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili calls the possible "ethnic cleansing" of Georgians by Russians.

But we're supposed to overlook the real and immediate ethnic cleansing of American blacks by Latinos in Los Angeles.

I just don't get it.

"Naval Blockade" or All Out War Against Iran?

Here's yet one more indication that the Bush-Cheney Neonuts are determined to spark Armageddon. From Global Research:

It is worth noting that the Kuwaiti government had activated emergency procedures based on the information pertaining to a major naval deployment in the Persian Gulf.

Based on the movement and location of USS carrier and expeditionary strike forces, the Bush administration has not decided to carry out a naval surge directed against Iran immediately following the conduct of the North Atlantic War Games,

The eventuality of a naval blockade directed against Iran is nonetheless being considered by the Pentagon. In fact, the naval blockade initiative is supported by a bill which was launched in the US Congress in late May. (See below for details).

We have checked the most recent information regarding the movements and location of the various USS Carrier and Expeditionary Strike Groups.

Will American Insouciance Destroy the World?

Paul Craig Roberts gives us an unnerving but insightful follow-up to The Caucasian Ultimatum. He warns that we're in the closest thing we've had to a nuclear showdown since the Cuban Missile crisis, only then, adults ran things in DC. Roberts, who served in the Reagan administration, knows the men in charge today well enough to know we should all be frightened -- very frightened:

Dick Cheney, the insane American Vice President telephoned Saakashvili to express US solidarity with Georgia in the conflict with Russia and declared: "Russian aggression must not go unanswered." Cheney's telephone call is like Great Britain's "guarantee" to Poland against Nazi Germany. Only a complete idiot would tell Saakashvili anything other than "to cease immediately." ...

The US military certainly has no resources for a war against Russia on top of lost wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a planned war with Iran.

Worse, enough people in this country still believe whatever lies pour forth from the mouth of W the Great to support another losing war -- and again, in a corner of the world that is no threat to us.

Quietly, an era ends for news media

Here's a pundit touching on what I wrote Tuesday in The Other Edwards Casualty. However, he doesn't go as far as I did when I argued the Edwards sex scandal metastory was a major milestone marking the end of Big Media. Instead, he claims what's been lost is the mainstream media's ability to define what is and what isn't a legitimate news story (he is, after all, a dead tree journalist). The writer even goes so far as to state that the story wasn't "real" until ABC news made it real. See what you think:

From the start, the Edwards scandal belonged entirely to the alternative and new media. The tabloid National Enquirer had done all the significant reporting on it – reporting that turns out to be largely correct. Bloggers and online commentators refused to let the story sputter into oblivion.

True. But here's his conclusion:

With that admission, the illusion that traditional print and broadcast news organizations can establish the limits of acceptable political journalism joined the passenger pigeon on the roster of extinct Americana.

So what's really happening to Big Media? You say emending, I say it's ending.

Let's call the whole thing off.

Congressional apology for slavery was completely illogical

This zinger from the Southern Avenger (who was that masked man?) needs to be circulated near and far:

But in reality the wagging finger of today's slave drivers has more to do with politically correct fashion than logic — Sharpton, Jackson, and company completely ignore the slavery that exists in modern Africa, yet they can't stop talking about an institution that's been long gone in America.

Things have gotten so absurd that even alleged symbols of slavery like the Confederate flag are considered so offensive that major retailers often refuse to stock merchandise featuring them. Meanwhile, these same stores gladly stock merchandise that very well may have been made by actual slaves.

Of course it's all nonsense. It's not the real problem of modern-day slavery that motivates guilt mongers like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, but the power and treasure in manipulating white guilt. Well done, Southern Avenger!

And we didn't even have a chance to thank him.

Interview with the SPLC

Four white teens have been arrested and charged with the murder of an illegal Mexican immigrant in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania:

The Schuylkill County district attorney has charged Brandon Piekarsky, 16, and Colin Walsh, 17, as adults with murder and "ethnic intimidation," which covers hate crimes. Derrick Donchak, 18, has been charged with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation. Another 17-year-old faces the same charges in juvenile court. All have pleaded not guilty.

End of story, right? Wrong. Remember, the corporate press is one of the globalists' shiniest and sharpest tools. The point of publicizing this crime is to skew perceptions about who's victimizing whom and to lay on a thick coat of guilt on middle-class Americans:

This pocket of blue-collar America, where big-band musicians Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey got their start, is spinning in the ugly vortex of the nation's racially charged war over illegal Immigration. Federal officials have launched an investigation into last month's murder to determine if it is part of a rising trend of anti-Latino hate crimes around the country.

Could the writer be any clearer? If you're part of "blue-collar America" and take what is clearly the WRONG SIDE in the "racially charged war over illegal immigration," you're magically and totally associated with these alleged murderers.

And whenever an illegal immigrant is harmed by a white, look who comes to life -- Count Potokula, the Dark Prince of Diversity.


It's a lesson you learn on day one of journalism school: you can't do a story on immigration or race without a canned response from the Southern Poverty Law Center. And what is Count Potokula's reaction to what happened in Shenandoah? Naturally, he sees it as an opportunity to feed on white guilt:

"We are reaping what we, as a nation, have [sown]," said Mark Potok, spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate crimes nationwide.

See? I told you we're all guilty.

That's because Count Potokula only comes out when there's the statistically rare white-on-Latino crime: In a study of anti-Latino crimes conducted in Los Angeles, 76% of the suspects were black and only 22% were white. But the Count snoozed away in his coffin last month when a Latino gang member killed Tony Bologna, who was white, and Bologna's two young sons in San Francisco. And when another illegal immigrant, Jose Carranza, murdered four black students in New Jersey last August, the Dark Prince of Diversity remained frozen. Nor has Potokula so much as fluttered an eyelid about any of the other crimes committed by illegal aliens, though, as this report reveals, illegal aliens are responsible for a disproportionate amount of criminal activity:

In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total 1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens.

That explains why illegal aliens are crowding American prisons far out of proportion of their numbers in this country -- which are growing every day.

Of course, the globalist ghouls don't want you to know the real story. That's why they have to rely on sensationalistic, emotionally charged agitprop pieces. Just as vampires fear mirrors, creatures like Count Potokula fear open debate and facts about the illegal immigration disaster that's ruining our country. Guilt, innuendo, and moralistic grandstanding are all they have.

Hmmm -- vampires also fear the crucifix and other Christian symbols -- could that be why the SPLC objects to the public display of the Ten Commandments? Just wondering ...

Whatever happened to Christian Exodus?

Here's one report from the liberal American Prospect:

Christian Exodus, which was formed in 2004 (partly inspired by Lawrence v. Texas) and claims to have 1,500 members, hoped to move 50,000 Christians to South Carolina to enact a Christian government that would ban homosexuality and abortion, cease public school funding in favor of parents homeschooling their children, and protect all Christian religious displays in public. Furthermore, though the group claims to support racial equality in its statement of positions, it also seeks to repeal the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed rights to former slaves, and all laws or rulings associated with it (not to mention the group's work with far-right groups such as the neo-Confederate League of the South).

Right. And the October Revolution guaranteed liberty and prosperity to the workers.

Really, now. It continues to amaze me how liberals (including the American Prospect) maintain an otherwise healthy skepticism toward DC's actions, including its wars of "liberation," yet swallow the self-congratulatory, aggrandizing myth of the War Between the States and Reconstruction as a noble crusade to free blacks. When war came, it was clear that it was a war between two economic and political systems, as opposed to the post-war propaganda that it was a great, noble war of liberation. In the real world, nations do not go to war to do good deeds; they go to war for power, land, and treasure.

This, too, was noted at the time hostilities broke out between North and South:

"Lincoln's determination received the hearty applause of powerful northern interests. Eastern manufacturers worried that they would lose Southern markets to European competitors because of the Confederacy's free-trade policy. Yankee merchants and ship builders faced an end to a monopoly on the South's coastal trade that the government granted to US vessels. Holders of government securities were edgy about the Union's loss of tariff revenue." Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, professor of History and Economics, Golden Gate University, San Francisco, Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men: A History of the American Civil War (1996)

Foreign observers quickly comprehended the real issue the South faced. Charles Dickens, the renowned literary champion of the poor, wrote this scathing indictment of Mr. Lincoln's intentions in an 1861 article: "The Northern onslaught upon slavery was no more than a piece of humbug designed to conceal its desire for economic control of the Southern states."

The 14th amendment was ballyhooed as a liberating document; in fact, its actual purpose and effect was to reverse the roles of the once-sovereign States and their former agent, the Federal government. That amendment -- which was never legally ratified -- endorsed the military conquest of the Southern States, and through them, all other States in the Union, by granting the Federal government ultimate authority on State actions, something the Founders would never have accepted.

So my analogy to the Bolshevik Revolution and Lincoln's Counter-Revolution stands.

The Caucasian Ultimatum

A reader is worried about Bush talking loudly when he has no stick to back it up:

This bothers me in more ways than one. First, WHY are we inserting ourselves into it? But, on a more trivial note and more along the backwards logic I possess - what if Texas seceeded from the Union. And then the United States decided to launch an all out war against Texas.

Why could Russia not send troops to aid, support and train Texans on how to fight under the guise that they recognize the need for the Independence of the Country of Texas. It's a strange logic, but isn't that what we are doing with Russia right now? Or do I just not get this? I am not that educated in the Georgia Republic, etc. so I may be off target. I am concerned that we are sending troops there however. Robbi

Oh, I think you're absolutely right. That's exactly what Bush is doing. And you're also right that Bush's actions toward Georgia - which are being endorsed by both globalist candidates seeking to replace him -- are making our world and our country less safe, not more. By assuring the Georgians the good ol' US of A would watch over them no matter what they did, Bush gave them a false sense of confidence. They foolishly tried to quash Ossetian independence, and the Russians, who expected such a move, jumped in.

And after backing Kosovo's independence, which is in Russia's, not our, back yard, on what basis can the US government object to Russia's actions?

The Ghosts of Political Leanings

Cool title, and some pretty cool insights. The fact that they come from an Open Borders, pro-war Neocon (he even concludes with a quote from Abraham Lincoln!) makes these observations even more fascinating -- and revealing:

To understand changes in the political map, we naturally tend to look for contemporary explanations. But American political alignments are not written on an empty slate. Beginnings matter, and the civic personalities of states tend to reflect the cultural folkways of their first settlers.

Or, as my great-aunt used to say, "You don't get past your raising." It's true with people, and it's true of states. Barone pretty much echoes Grady McWhinney and David Hackett Fischer:

The other area in which McCain is running even with or better than Bush is the set of states settled by the Scots-Irish stock who thronged to the Appalachians in colonial days and whose descendants followed the southwest path pioneered by their hero Andrew Jackson. Barack Obama, who has lived in university communities all his adult life, did very poorly in primaries here. McCain, a career military man, runs ahead of Bush in Tennessee and Arkansas and about even in Kentucky, Missouri, and Oklahoma. He's running further behind in West Virginia only because Bush ran especially well there.

So now even the Neocons are noticing the increasing importance of heritage and ethnicity as American identity continues to dissolve in a sea of multiculturalism. And taking its place is the resurgence of the real, echoing that lesson of history William Faulkner captured so well.

The other Edwards casualty

It wasn't just John Edwards' political career that took a hit from the National Enquirer scoop. The mainstream media took a real body blow. By ignoring the evidence of Edwards' foolin' around -- heck, "ignoring" isn't the word for it -- they suppressed it as long as they could. Anyway, by sitting on that story as long as they did, they proclaimed to their dwindling customer base that they didn't care what people want to know about; they have their own agenda to follow. And embarrassing a progressive Democrat wasn't about to make its way to their to-do list.

Which leaves it to the Drudges, the bloggers, and talk radio to give the people what they want.

The Derb disses Dubya

Who would've thought you'd see something like this in National Review? For too long, they published only praise of Dubya and his wonderful wars, including the embarrassing "We're winning!" cover that war critics just love to display. Of course, this is John Derbyshire, an original, highly eccentric, though talented writer. After approvingly quoting Pat Buchanan's comparison of Chamberlain's foolish and unenforceable guarantees to Poland with Bush's assurances to Georgia, Derb concludes:

There are some spectacles that are at once tragic and farcical. One such has been the sight of Georgian troops scuttling back from assisting us in whatever it is we imagine we are doing in Iraq, to help defend their homeland, while Condoleezza Rice stamps her foot, George W. Bush watches a basketball game, and John McCain says that he will do such things, what they are, yet he knows not, but they shall be the terrors of the earth.

A perfect picture of Team Bush.

Why is the SPLC denouncing Turkey?

Here's today's quiz: Why would an organization that advertises itself as a non-profit (giggle!) civil rights advocate spend so much time on the history and policies of far-away Turkey? Check out these seemingly incongruous articles, starting with this one, featured on the cover of the latest Intelligence Report:

Turkey Spends Millions to Cover Up Armenian Genocide

Then there are these other recent pieces:

Institute of Turkish Studies Chair Forced Out For Rebuking Genocide Deniers

Board Members Quit Turkey-Funded U.S. Institute in Flap Over Armenian Genocide

So why would the Southern Poverty Law Center give a hoot about something that has nothing to do with its stated mission?

Long-time readers know the answer to that one: the SPLC's stated mission has nothing to do with its actual role, or with its money-making activities.

Here's a hint: the Neocons are hell-bound to attack Iran. And it seems Turkey has developed quite a bit of trade with Iran, and doesn't want to see its new trading partner isolated, much less engulfed in war. So, as Foreign Policy in Focus reveals, the Neocons have been bad-mouthing Turkey.

And we know the SPLC enthusiastically supports the Neocon/globalist agenda. Whether it's depressing the wages of poor and middle-class minorities by helping globalist corporations import cheap, Third-World labor, demonizing fellow leftists trying to expose the crimes of globalist corporations, or working as a "super-snoop" outfit for the Federal government, the SPLC is DC's well-paid hired gun. Propagandizing the American public for another aggressive war? All in a day's work.

Where's the "anti-war" movement on the Russo-Georgia war?

Oh, brother. The red-white-and-bloodthirsty pro-war bloggers (see here and here) are working themselves up over the fact that there are no American protests against Moscow.

Please. Two darn good reasons come to mind for NOT protesting Moscow's invasion of Georgia. One, grievances against one's own government are much more relevant than the perceived wrongs of foreign governments. But mostly, Americans figure they have about as much influence on the Kremlin as they've had on the White House.

Myanmar Refugees Changing Face Of Connecticut

For those of you dissatisfied with the rate of America's ethnic transformation, take heart -- there's a virtually untapped, literally endless supply of Third World immigrants from a new section of southeast Asia making itself felt in this country -- and many, many more are on their way:

In the past five years, hundreds of thousands of political refugees, mostly from eastern Europe, Africa and southeast Asia, have been resettled in American cities, according to the U.S. Department of State. In Connecticut, they are transforming the face of metropolitan areas like Hartford, challenging the image of the state's cities as Hispanic and African American urban cores ringed by white suburbs.

(Hmmm -- whenever similar housing patterns are described here in the South, there's always a long and preachy tsk-tsk about the "Southern legacy" of slavery and Jim Crow. Wonder why Connecticut gets off so easy?)

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, we can expect to see much more of this newest wave of Third-World immigration -- thanks, apparently, to George W. Bush, who is noted in the article as having visited Burmese refugee camps with his wife Laura. And it looks like W. is getting help from the UN importing his latest favorite ethnic group to America:

Than Htay (pronounced Thon Tay), 24, who arrived in Hartford in June, is one of about 23,000 Burmese refugees who have legally immigrated to American cities in the past two years under a United Nations resettlement program. It is the U.N.'s largest such effort.

Has there been a more extreme internationalist in the White House than George W. Bush? Can either Obama and McCain rival him? We know this much -- they'll do their very best to beat him. The only mystery is whether America will be turned into a Third-World colony in the name of progressivism or conservatism.

The suspense is killing me.

The bizarre is now banal

Have you noticed that ever since the National Enquirer scooped an unresponsive mainstream media over the John Edwards sex scandal, headlines now sound as if they were ripped off the front pages of your typical tabloid? Here are just a few examples from normally staid CNN:

Pup cloning recalls Mormon kidnapping case

Family dog chases 200 lb. bear up tree

Student pole dancers take off pounds

And my favorite:

38 dead after being bitten by vampire bats

Can Bat-Boy be far behind?

Maverick magic

Sounds like Democrat Joe Lieberman has caught McCain fever:

Asked later if he agreed with Sharansky that an Obama presidency was "a risk" to Israel, Lieberman told Newsmax: "I guess I'd say it affirmatively: A McCain presidency will be good for the state of Israel."

Here's an idea -- and I'm just thinking out loud here -- wouldn't it be nice to be able to vote for someone who'd be good for this country, and not Israel, or Mexico, or the trans-national corporations?

Just a suggestion ...

Man Attacked In Salisbury In What Police Call Ethnic Intimidation

The first fruits of North Carolina's "Get tough!" anti-gang legislation:

A young man is being held in the Rowan County Correctional Facility accused in the mob-style beating of a 47-year-old who was simply taking an evening stroll in his neighborhood.

Matthew Dwyer's eyes are blackened, his forehead stitched up and his arms scraped up. He said he was beaten by nine black teenagers.

Salisbury police said it was a racially motivated and gang-motivated crime. Dwyer is white. Salisbury Deputy Police Chief Steve Whitley said the teens were wearing gang colors and are part of a well-known gang in east Salisbury.

"This adds to their notoriety and reputation amongst other hoodlums, and it's our job to ferret them out and we are actively about that,” he said.

Police arrested the teen who they believe is the gang leader and started the beating. His name is Marlon Barber, but he goes by "Murda."

Yep -- that new law is working great, ain't it?

I have a question -- if Mr. Dwyer was beaten by nine kids, why is only one -- "Murda" -- in the pokey?

In response to this senseless, violent ethnic intimidation, the Southern Poverty Law Center is issuing a sternly worded release condemning Murda and his gang. Here it comes -- any minute now -- wait for it --

Mexican Soldiers Enter Arizona

Four Mexican soldiers crossed into Arizona and held a U.S. Border Patrol agent at gunpoint on Sunday. -- Fox News report

“I have said that Mexico does not stop at its border, that wherever there is a Mexican, there is Mexico.” -- President Felipe Calderón

Why doesn't this sort of thing happen on the US-Canadian border? Just wondering.

The BBQ Song

A review of barbecue in the Southern United States. I will vouch for this video's total objectivity and fairness. And it has nothing to do with me being an unapologetic Lexington barbecue bigot. Trust me.

Hat tip to Harold!

With Jobs Disappearing, Congress Determined to Admit More Foreign Workers

With the American people hurting economically, and increasingly worried about losing their jobs and homes, there's only one thing for the government to do.

Twist that knife:

Congress adjourned for a month-long recess on Aug. 1, the same day that the Bureau of Labor Statistics released distressing news about unemployment. The July economic news was not good. The official unemployment rate hit a four-year high of 5.7 percent, as the economy shed 51,000 jobs last month, bringing the total of lost jobs for 2008 to 463,000.

Seemingly oblivious to what is happening back in their states and districts, the House Immigration Subcommittee finished up business for the rest of the summer by approving legislation that, if enacted, would “recapture” some 557,000 visas that were not used during the years they were made available, going back as far as 1992. The bill, H.R. 5882, was introduced by Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.).

Congress remains oblivious to our plight for the simple reason we're not getting their attention. That's why a self-regulating, traditional society cannot co-exist with an empire -- all that power seething and lusting in DC will lure those who want to exercise that power, or, as the article goes on to explain, feed from it:

The push for admission of hundreds of thousands of new foreign workers is a graphic reminder of why Congress is held in such low esteem by the American public. At a time when 8.8 million Americans are officially unemployed, when our economy is losing more jobs than are being created, and when people’s paychecks are not keeping up with the soaring costs of food and energy, the agendas of the business and ethnic lobbies still takes precedence.

It's the ethnic lobbies, from the NAACP to La Raza, as well as their well-paid advocates, that are the immediate beneficiaries. But the big winners will be the transnational corporations, whose insatiable appetites for cheap, exploitable labor require vast populations of vulnerable, rootless workers. By importing more Third-World immigrants into this country, DC disrupts American society while creating isolated communities of aliens, thus sowing chaotic conditions for us, and endless opportunities for big business.

And the political scientists can't figure out why folks distrust the government ...

Feds: Army Scientist 'Only Person Responsible' for 2001 Anthrax Attacks

Can't argue with a case like this:

Army scientist Bruce Ivins "was the only person responsible" for anthrax attacks in 2001 that killed five and rattled the nation, the Justice Department said Wednesday, backing the claim with dozens of documents all pointing to his guilt.

And have you noticed that Ivins hasn't presented one word of rebuttal? Case closed!

Obama's Muslim affairs coordinator resigns

Seems Obama has a help wanted ad for a new Muslim outreach liason. CNN reports:

After barely a week on the job, Barack Obama's Muslim outreach adviser resigned from the campaign after an old business connection with a fundamentalist Islamic imam surfaced last week.

Wow. Looks like Obama's supporters are hurting him more than anything the McCain camp has done. I'd say the Democrats have found their Dukakis, and the Republicans have found their Dole.

What a campaign. Voters have to decide which candidate to vote AGAINST.

News flash: Ed Sebesta hates the South

We haven't blogged on Edward Sebesta, the Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Junior G-Man Division, in some time. The reason is that he continues to whip out his masterpieces at a pace that can only be described as -- glacial. I suppose it's the anticipation that whets readers' appetites for his masterpieces, such as this shot at Charleston City Paper's Southern Avenger, with the dyslexic title, Is Southern Avenger called me politically incorrect? [sic]

So whatever Sebesta does in the long stretches between his blog posts, it obviously doesn't include proof reading.

Anyway, in his latest blog entry, he rails against what he denounces as a "pro-lynching" song by Toby Keith. The song describes popular disgust with rising crime, and mentions how the generation of his "Grandpappy" would hang crooks from "a tall oak tree." It concludes:

We got too many gangsters doing dirty deeds
too much corruption and crime in the streets
It's time the long arm of the law put a few more in the ground
Send 'em all to their maker and he'll settle 'em down

Now that doesn't sound like an endorsement of lynching, but the cry of fed-up citizens demanding that "the long arm of the law" do its duty.

But facts like that won't get in the way when Sebesta's hot about something:

What is the most shocking thing about Toby Keith's song isn't the song itself which is appalling, it is the tolerance for the song and acceptance of Toby Keith by major media despite him singing and promoting this song.

Max Blumenthal has done the pubic [!] a service by reminding people what lynching is in concrete terms.

(Did I mention how Sebesta mangles English as badly as he does his facts?)

But of course, as in all of Sebesta's rants, the real point is that the South and its defenders are eeeevil:

The neo-Confederates are strong supporters of being violent as a southern quality. League of the South president Michael Hill called the IRA the equivalent to a Medieval Scottish clan. Former League of the South member of the board of directors, Thomas Fleming has pushed the idea of violence in Chronicles magazine.

Well. Actually, Michael Hill's "Honor, Violence and Civilization" was subtitled "Things worth dying for," and explored the Southern tradition of fighting for noble purposes, rather than for violence for its own sake. Biologist E. O. Wilson explored the same theme when he lauded Southern men for upholding ideals of "altruism and devotion to duty" as they exhibited the "strength ordinary people possess that held civilization together in dangerous times."

But again, Sebesta has repeatedly demonstrated his total disregard for facts, preferring to rip words out of context to suit his purpose.

The interesting thing is that for all his talk of "democracy" and anti-violence, Sebesta has no problem trying to sabotage those who object to the ongoing Federal assault on our rights to privacy and due process here at home. Further, he clearly relishes the violence unleashed against innocent Iraqi civilians, and seeks to discredit those who protest against it. In fact, he bragged on his blog how he informed the pro-invasion New York Sun that I had written some articles for LewRockwell.com. The Sun was delighted to link Cindy Sheehan, who’s also written for Rockwell, with those sinister “neo-confederates.” As usual, the mainstream corporate media gleefully accommodated Mr. Sebesta, and published the following “exposé” on the anti-war movement:

The anti-Israel and anti-neocon crowd has, as usual, found common ground with the camp that thinks the wrong side won the Civil War. A lewrockwell.com contributor, Michael Tuggle, who is chairman of the “North Carolina League of the 1857 South,” told us yesterday in a phone interview that he had traveled to Washington from Charlotte for last month’s anti-war march at which Ms. Sheehan spoke. Mr. Tuggle spoke to us of “the tragic defeat of 1865.” He said, “That was the end of limited government, what the Southern patriots of 1861 fought for.” He said that Washington, D.C., and big business are bigger threats than Al Qaeda. Of Ms. Sheehan, Mr. Tuggle said, “I think she’s a fighter, and I appreciate that.”

Incidentally, I feel vindicated for tagging DC as a greater threat to our freedom than al-Qaeda. It wasn’t Osama who maimed the Bill of Rights with the Patriot Act and the Military Commission act, enabling the government to wiretap and search without warrants, and to imprison and punish citizens without recourse to habeas corpus. The events of the last couple of years have further convinced me that centralized big government is irredeemably tyrannical. With no independent, local centers of power to mitigate its actions, its quest for total control, as well as its descent into corruption at home and aggression abroad, are unstoppable.

The South has a proud history of resisting tyranny, from the Revolution to the present day. But people such as Ed Sebesta have condemned us, and therefore dismiss our arguments about the Constitution, the abuse of government power, or whatever we have to say as nothing more than vain attempts to distract attention away from our secret, sinister purposes. Such creatures pursue their hatreds with such passion that they do not notice or care what harm they do to others.