In our last visit to the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” we learned that another hand-wringing anarchist had joined Star Tribune columnist Nick Coleman in ranting against the “gasoline-pouring” Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who had the nerve to commission a report showing how much it was costing his state to support the estimated 85,000 illegals living there.

Well, Coleman (e-mail him) is back, and he again demonstrates just how little he knows about the subject of immigration. But this time (Ah-ha! The plot thickens) he adds to the mix the possibility of a (gasp!) conspiracy that includes a ‘mystery woman from Maryland’:

“Wonder what’s behind the sudden debate over “illegal” immigrants? Listen to a retired accountant from Lake Crystal, Minn., named Pat Peoples. It turns out the demagoguery is not so sudden. It has been in the works for months.” [Demagoguery's focus intends to blur important issues, December 27, 2005 ](Earth to Coleman: This “debate” has been going on for decades and without the help of individuals like your imaginary Mata Hari from Maryland.)

Coleman writes that last February “a mystery woman” organized a focus group in Mankato to discuss political issues facing residents of Minnesota, and accountant Peoples took exception to the immigration issue being introduced:

“There was no reason for this to be brought up” . . . “I think someone was trying to find an issue that will antagonize people and get them riled up so they come out and vote, without offering a solution.” (“No reason” not to bring up an issue that’s costing taxpayers more each year? Am I alone in being amused by the fact that somebody who earns a living keeping track of money thinks the rest of us shouldn’t be just a little testy knowing our wallets are systematically being raided 24-7 in order to support illegal aliens?)

“Peoples [says Coleman] has perfectly described how demagoguery works: Exaggerate a problem; exploit the manufactured resentment at the polls; offer no solutions to address a problem without creating an even larger one.”

And Coleman has perfectly described how lousy journalism works: Write about a subject without fully understanding it; snow your readers into thinking you’re an expert on the issue; smugly go through each day believing that your job can never be done by a foreigner willing to work for far less than you.

(To see Gov. Pawlenty’s reaction to the flak he’s been taking for the report, click here.)

Janet Murguia, president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza (The Race), says certain rascals in Congress should “keep their hands off the Constitution.”

I went weak in the knees and nearly choked up after reading her moving op-ed that’s working its way around the country because it conjured up that scene from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, where the filibustering Jimmy Stewart holds the whole damn U.S. Senate at bay.

Imagine! Ms. Murguia, whose organization aids and abets illegal immigration, now is warning hard-hearted, snarling lawmakers like Tom Tancredo that she won’t tolerate him and his ilk who want to tear up the rule of law and “go after people’s babies.”

What’s next from the “flame-throwing” Tancredo? Acting on Terry Anderson’s suggestion that we kick all illegals out of the country right now, including those working as ice cream vendors and even those who are old ladies in nursing homes?

VDARE.COM has written repeatedly about Chicago-based lawyer Howard Foster’s remarkable discovery that the 1996 immigration legislation made it possible for private individuals to sue to enforce the law against employers hiring illegal immigrants and his use of the devastating Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations [RICO] statute to do so - something we’ve described as the “RICO Doomsday Machine.”.

Doomsday for Yakima, WA-based Zirkle Fruit is January 9, when Foster’s suit alleging that executives conspired to hire illegal labor is set for trial. If Foster prevails, the ferocious contingent fee-inspired energies of the plaintiff bar will swing into action against the employers of illegal aliens. This is the force, remember, that bankrupted Texaco and several asbestos companies. It won’t be pretty, but it will be effective.

Amazingly, Leah Beth Ward’s very professional December 27 Yakima Herald-Republic story “Racketeering claims Cast“ appears to be the only MSM story so far. Our only quibble is that she says VDARE.COM is a project of our former sponsors, the Center for American Unity, instead of Lexington Research Insititute (soon to be renamed VDARE Foundation).

Watch this space! (And the Yakima Herald-Republic ).