Seattlest, a blog about all things Seattle, is reporting that Rabbi Elazar Bogomilskyhas withdrawn his lawsuit, and the Port of Seattle

has decided to replace the trees it removed from the international arrivals area of the airport over the weekend. Rabbi Bogomilsky withdrew his suit, but we’re guessing the reversal had more to do with the national attention the Port got than any actions on the part of the rabbi.

What they’re putting back are officially called “holiday trees” which the same blog earlier described this way

“holiday trees” are evergreens that have been decorated with lights and garland and small hanging ornaments - They’re similar to Christmas trees, except holiday trees don’t go to heaven when they drop their needles.

We have been doing our part in stoking the “national attention” that the Port of Seattle noticed. See posts by Patrick Cleburne here, here, and here.

Just as Macy’s and Sears enjoy a Christmas increase in business, so do Mexican people-smugglers. The reason is the illegal aliens here who want the kiddies delivered to their US addresses: they don’t ring Fedex, but instead contact Call-a-Coyote to haul their children–who are sometimes drugged, often terrified–across the border.

The director of the port of entry at Hidalgo, David Higgerson, put it this way: “As the holiday season is already upon us, so also is the season for child smuggling.” [Child smuggling shows upsurge, El Universal 12/11/06]

Curiously, the parents with those famously family-friendly Mexican values seem disinterested in the harm their children might encounter from coyotes. Innocent children may be subjected to horrific abuse at the hands of smugglers.

As for entrusting children to professional smugglers, “if they’re young girls they could be raped. Little boys can be sold to other families,” said Nina Pruneda of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “They could be kidnapped, held for more money. Some actually make it, end up with their families, everything’s happy. Others don’t.”

In addition, unattached illegal children picked up by US authorities are placed in taxpayer-funded shelters with plenty of amenities until relatives can be found. Sadly, for some kids, a shelter full of strangers is better than home.

But the expansion of expensive services to foreign children is only one aspect of the efforts of utopian do-gooders to provide welfare to the world, despite America’s overspent credit card now approaching $9 trillion in the hole.

One thing you won’t have to worry about this Christmas is having to start the new year with a massive increase of H-1B visas.

Despite an intense lobbying campaign by the likes of Bill Gates, Congress didn’t pass an H-1B increase or any other escalation in immigration.

Bill Gates started lobbying for the Skil bill months ago. He personally went to Washington D.C. twice, and an army of his paid K-Streeters swarmed Capitol Hill to buy votes. Bill Gates was so salient that the Skil Bill was nicknamed “Bill’s Skil Bill”. In addition Gates spent untold millions of dollars to buy votes in Congress.

Gates wasn’t the only one to get slapped in the face. Hundreds of companies and cash-rich political action campaigns failed to open the flood gates to cheap labor.

Congress had one last chance to slip in an increase to the H-1B cap before the House and Senate voted in favor of the “United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act” (H.R. 5682) and (S. 3709) — more appropriately named “Nukes for Mangos” . John Boehner (R-OH) spearheaded a backdoor attempt to attach an H-1B increase to the bill but it was blocked by Sen. Biden (D-DE). At that point the clock ran out on the cheap labor lobby.

I wish I could have seen Bill Gates as the gavel closed on the 109th Congress! He was probably stomping his feet, clenching his fists, and having a temper tantrum.

Defeat of the Skil bill was a huge upset that wouldn’t have been possible without Roy Beck and his tireless team at NumbersUSA. They launched a full scale call-in campaign to stop increases to H-1B and another bill by Sen. Hutchison (R-TX) to increase visas for nurses by 100,000 per year. The uproar from NumbersUSA activists was too loud for the politicians to ignore.

It’s time to celebrate!

Or War on Weinacht–Tom Piatak pointed out five years ago that the Nazis tried to abolish Christmas, substituting something they called Julfest. Colby Cosh has a post pointing to evidence of that. Cosh, not a churchgoer himself, writes

From Calvin College’s German Propaganda Archive, images from the Nazi Culture Department’s Christmas book 1944. Those scholars who continue to insist that Nazism was essentially a Christian phenomenon will search in vain for non-pagan symbolism here, and whatever else might be said of the Christian faith, it cannot be accused of celebrating the “eternal victory of the strong over the weak.”

AP reports that the Port of Seattle may reconsider their Airport Christmas Tree massacre tomorrow (Seattle Port may discuss Airport Christmas trees – The Associated Press Monday December 11 2006)

“One commissioner, John Creighton, has said he knows at least three of the five commissioners would like to see the trees go back up”

A roll-back would be a great victory. Port of Seattle commissioners’ email here (on the top right of the page). And don’t forget the Airport Managing Director, Mark Reis, either.

Arturo Sarukhan, former Mexican consul in New York City, is a man to watch in the new Felipe Calderon administration, epecially as it concerns U.S.-Mexican relations.

Sarukhan was foreign policy coordinator for Calderon’s campaign and transition team, and was expected to be named Foreign Minister. But instead, the Foreign Minister portfolio has been given to Patricia Espinosa.

Sarukhan has been designated as the man responsible for managing Mexico’s relationship with the United States.

In a recent interview Sarukhan had this to say about his proposed strategy:

“Certainly the only way in which Mexico can advance a comprehensive agenda with the United States is if we use the (Mexican) embassy and the network of consulates as ‘beachheads’ of lobbying for the image, the interests and the agenda of Mexico in all of U.S. territory and with all sectors of American society.”

Sarukhan plans to insist on an amnesty for illegal Mexicans working in the U.S. and also work for a guest worker program. In order to accomplish this, Sarukhan plans to work with the U.S. Congress, American governors and local assemblies.

Definitely, we need to keep an eye on what this guy’s up to.