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It appears that while ignorance of the law is no defense for regular civilians, it is a more than adequate defense for a police officer that feels like harassing a carry permit holder perfectly within his rights.  Un-friggin-believeable.  And the most he gets back is a half-assed apology.  Sure could have been worse, but it certainly could have been handled better.

And no I’m not casting a generalization over all police officers.  I know quite a few and all are pretty good about it.  But all it takes is a few bad apples, and when it happens in a field that is almost religious about protecting it’s own, it can quickly become epidemic.  This case deserves all the attention it gets in order to reinforce the idea that this is unacceptable.

….the more the public gets screwed.

First you make your calls telling your Senator to vote against the DREAM Act amendment :

Senator Coleman - 202-224-5641
Senator Klobuchar - 202-224-3244

Let your Senator know that when you told them to vote against amnesty with the last comprehensive immigration plan, you meant it! And that you’re very disappointed that they are trying to sneak it past you piecemeal now.

Once you’ve made your calls, you get to read the updates….

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The magical mystery wall that was supposed to be built on the border has been delayed, yet again.  Some anti-illegal immigration activists have criticized the use of “virtual walls” as simply another ploy of the federal government to avoid actually building a wall.  And every delay, cost overrun and “glitch” tends to prove them correct.

While fancy technology may look impressive in a Powerpoint slide, we effectively have a low-tech problem on the border.  We need physical barriers to prevent crossings.  Or in the case of especially motivated crossers, it delays them long enough to allow Border Patrol agents to get to the scene and apprehend the crossers.

Essentially we’re trying to build an electronic wheel, when a good ol’ steel/wood wheel served just fine.  Especially when one considers that the electronic wheel costs three times as much and takes four times as long to build.

Where a high-tech solution is needed is for employers to verify the status of their workers and for the federal government to track employers who are less than diligent in following federal laws defining legal workers.  Yet the federal government sinks enormous funds into a high-tech wall, when a cheaper physical version works just fine.  And where a high-tech system is needed, the government essentially punts.

It’s hard not to be cynical about the federal governments true intent when it comes to immigration.

Word is that Durbin will try to bring forth his DREAM Act amendment on Wednesday, so if you were waiting for the last minute to take action, this is it!!!

Our own Senator Coleman is one of the Senators who refuses to pledge to vote against this abysmal amendment, so he needs your encouragement to do so. And our own (unfortunately) Amy Klobuchar, has also steadfastly refused to pledge to vote against it. An updated list of senators can be found here, and don’t let them tell you otherwise….it’s updated within 15 minutes of their pledge.

So call our senators and tell them what you think:

Senator Coleman - 202-224-5641
Senator Klobuchar - 202-224-3244

And in case you needed further reason why to call, let me describe this awful amendment… (more…)

Recently Sally Field recited the very very tired and ridiculous line

If the mothers ruled the world there would be no goddamn wars in the first place.

She made this line in a very long and very asinine speech during the Emmy’s until the network finally saw fit to just turn off her mic and end it. We’ve all heard this line repeated before, and it’s struck most people as just plan ridiculous.

But the always entertaining Rachel Lucas, who has returned to blogging if you didn’t already know, takes it one step further and abuses it worse than a pretty goat in Bin Laden’s undisclosed location.

Now first of all you have to read her rendition of it. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

…

…

Ok you’re back? Good. Now part of Rachel’s point is that part of the reason men have the inclination to fight said wars is basically the testosterone-driven ambition biologically inherent in men, liberals excluded…but then they aren’t really men so I repeat myself. And that the same testosterone drives men to invent all the cool shit we call technology. Ok fair enough, you can make a very rational argument for that, as Rachel goes on to do.

However, I don’t think even that leap is necessary. What most people refuse to acknowledge, or just plain are ignorant of, is that most of this “high technology” we take for granted was developed BECAUSE of war…or at least the possibility of it.

Perfect example, this forum we’re using right now. The reason Al Gore invented the internet is because of war….or more precisely the possibility of it. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) wanted to design a network that transmit information, even if part of said network was destroyed in a massive enemy attack, this gave rise to ARPANET. The ideas that were developed eventually evolved into what we now call the internet and remarkably little has changed at the fundamental level.

DARPA also invented many of the concepts that were eventually gave birth to modern operating systems. Operating systems like Window, Unix, and Linux.

So basically the fact that you can view this website right now, is because our federal government was concerned enough about a massive world war, that they developed this concepts which when applied in a civilian world, gave birth to other ideas.

Virtually every field carries examples like this. It’s no difficult task to find the ones in medicine. Something as simple as stopping bleeding….probably developed to treat battle wounds. Something as complex as amputations?? Guess where the primary need for that was?

Face it people, the reason you have the comfortable lifestyle you do, is not just because past wars have secured it, but also that the threat of future wars have driven people to develop the technology that makes it so.

The one lesson that Congress should have learned, and they claim they did, is that the American public simply does not trust them to enforce the border and therefore we have no inclination to bend over and take it…AGAIN, with another amnesty.

Since they seem intent on shoving another amnesty, it’s probably worth reminding them…

Today begins about two straight weeks of remodeling work on the EckerNet HQ. Unfortunately, some of todays work includes physically removing me from the power grid for what is hopefully a relatively short period of time. If it’s only temporary, you’ll barely notice.

If things don’t go as planned, well….you’ll see this it at the top of the page until it’s fixed.

For those concerned about my carbon footprint, I assure you that I am making up for it in other ways. To start with lots and lots of trucks, heavy equipment and non-recyclable, and possibly hazardous, materials will be used. In addition, three full-grown pine trees will become cedar mulch by the end of the month. In addition, while my power is out, I intend to amuse myself by collecting all the plastic I can find, and setting it on fire.

UPDATE : I have power….yeah!

Today the Senate will be debate amendments to The National Defense Authorization Act H.R. 1585, this includes the DREAM Act amendment S.A. 2237. Despite a majority of the American public consistently disagreeing with this bill, which is why it has consistently failed to see the light of day, it’s now being taken seriously on capital hill.

What’s so bad about this bill??

Well for one it provides in-state tuition for illegal aliens at public universities. We don’t even provide in-state tuition to most American citizens from other states. In a nutshell, you are giving foreign students an advantage over American students, and putting illegal aliens on a fast track to citizenship over legal aliens who have played by the rules.

In addition, this is basically a backdoor amnesty for millions of illegal alien. Any illegal alien can walk into a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office and declare that he is eligible. For example, a 45-year-old can claim that he illegally entered the United States 30 years ago at the age of 15. There is no requirement that the alien prove that he entered the United States at the claimed time by providing particular documents. The DREAM Act’s Section 4(a) merely requires him to “demonstrate” that he is eligible-which in practice could mean simply making a sworn statement to that effect. Thus, it is an invitation for just about every illegal alien to fraudulently claim the amnesty.

This is basically a transparent attempt to pass the amnesty that the public roundly rejected this last summer. My fear is that they will succeed. Our only chance to is let our Senate know once again, that this amnesty is not what we want.

You can do your part by calling your Senator, who at this very moment could be voting for this horrible amendment.

Senator Coleman - 202-224-5641

Senator Klobuchar - 202-224-3244

Numbers of other senators are as follows:

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On Saturday, I joined other Minnesota conservatives at Triangle Park in St. Paul, to partake in a counter-protest of the loonies conducting a “Peace March”. Good times, great people and lots of laughs. Sure took the hippies awhile to get moving but how many organizational skills can one expect from a bunch of anarchists?

There were a few that tried to debate us, but for the most part they sauntered off after the conversations extended past knee-jerk talking points. After that most of the comments we got from the protesters was how few of us there were, and clearly we were a minority.

It is an interesting glimpse into the protesters mind, in their view of the world the only people that existed were the ones standing along or marching down John Ireland/Kellogg that day. I suppose when one looks at the world that way, it’s not a huge stretch of the imagination to truly believe that the 2000 and 2004 elections were “rigged”, “stolen” or whatever other crackpot theory you can come up with.

They don’t take into account that many of the cars driving by honked at our group and shouted words of support. They don’t take into account the many people off the street who stopped by to tell us “thank you” for showing up to counter the looniness of the protesters. They don’t take into account the current and former military members who stopped by to tell us how much the active military appreciated knowing that there were still people back here supporting them. They don’t take into account the millions of people that had better things to do than march around downtown yelling tired slogans and waving signs.

In fact, I drove straight from the protest to a neighborhood picnic/gathering. There were families who had no idea that there was even a protest downtime. And from previous conversations with them, I doubt they cared. It wouldn’t have affected their opinion of the war or any other issue one iota.

Yes, when ones world view is limited to only the path you personally tread, you can get an awfully narrow view of reality. Perhaps that explains why many of the loony lefties can claim to be part of the “reality based community”. Well when you define reality as your own personal experiences and desires, excluding everyone else, it’s fairly easy to fit that description.

[Cross-posted at True North]

Here’s a good lesson to President Bush and all other conservatives that think that simply pandering to an interest group will automatically earn you friendship.  I think it can be argued that nobody argued and fought for the welfare of Mexicans (at the expense of his own country) more than President Bush.  Even Sen Kennedy might have to take a back seat to Bush on this one.

Yet, did it get him anything?? Well no, he suffered a moderate size revolt from his base, expanded a growing mistrust conservatives have of the Republican Party, and officially cemented himself as a lame duck.  And while he might have gotten a T-Shirt, it sure didn’t buy him the friendship of the former Mexican President Vicente Fox, whom has called him “the cockiest guy I have ever met in my life“.

He blames Bush’s stubbornness on Iraq for bad international relations, calls his Spanish “grade-school level,” and admits he didn’t think Bush would ever become president. “I can’t honestly say that I had ever seen George W. Bush getting to the White House,” he pens.

Which leaves me wondering once again, what Bush was thinking when he pushed so hard for amnesty.