The fellow who did this apparently made some remarks about God, as he was doing his arson thing.

No one was hurt, but the manger and such were a total loss. This is the second such incident this year; the last guy set himself on fire.

Associated Press– Police: Man Sets Fire to Nativity Scene
A man walked into a church, doused a nativity scene with a flammable liquid and set it ablaze in front of a practicing choir, police said.
The Associated Press
Monday, Jan. 8, 2007 Posted: 9:50:AM PST
RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) - A man walked into a church, doused a nativity scene with a flammable liquid and set it ablaze in front of a practicing choir, police said.

Robert Mills, 40, of San Pablo, was arrested Friday night while hiding in a park minutes after police said he walked into St. Cornelius Parish and announced he was going to set the church on fire.

Mills told everyone to leave but blocked the doorway until he began showering the sanctuary with the liquid, giving choir members a chance to escape, said Richmond Police Lt. Enos Johnson.

The fire destroyed the nativity scene, a lectern and carpeting, and caused extensive smoke damage. No one was injured.

They’re thinking it might be a hate crime.

While the Religious Left has played a pretty active and visible role in the current immigration debate, demanding amnesty for illegals and droning on about social justice and loving thy neighbor, the Religious Right has more or less avoided the issue. Perhaps that was for the best. As Allan Wall pointed out in a recent column, even though white evangelicals are far more likely to oppose immigration than pretty much anyone else, evangelical leaders are almost as open borders as their godless rivals.

Now, for better or for worse, some of these self-appointed spokesmen for the Almighty have decided to enter the fray, though it’s a little hard to tell whose side they’re on. According to a recent article in the Washington Times (Christians Enter Illegals Debate – By Charles Hurt, January 8, 2007), several leading Christian conservative groups have teamed up to endorse a proposal for immigration reform:

“In letters sent today and obtained by The Washington Times, Families First on Immigration urges President Bush and leaders of the new Democratic Congress to adopt a grand compromise on the divisive issue that includes strong border security, an amnesty for illegals already here who are relatives of citizens and an end to birthright citizenship.

Former Republican presidential hopeful Gary Bauer, Deal Hudson of the Morley Institute for Church & Culture and David Keene of the American Conservative Union are among those who have joined forces to chart a new path on immigration reform, an issue that conservative Christians have generally avoided.”

Well, it’s certainly not perfect, but it could have been much worse. I know when I first glanced at the headline, I never expected these guys to advocate anything as meaningful and substantive as abolishing birthright citizenship. Then again, that could always be overturned by the Supreme Court, and we’d still be stuck with the amnestied illegals.

Not surprisingly, evangelicals justified this concession on the grounds that we shouldn’t separate families, but as Enoch Powell said long ago, “there are two directions in which families can be reunited;” so maybe deportation would be the more “family friendly” solution after all.

A VDARE.com reader who is a Union member has written in to point out that many Unions and Locals have discussion boards on their websites. He has posted this morning’s blog about the AFL-CIO on his, and suggests others do the same.

We have noticed in the past that from time to time surprisingly large volumes of traffic can come from discusssion boards associated even with seemingly unrelated websites. It is a good idea.

The url for Could the AFL-CIO be waking on immigration? is easily obtained by placing your cursor over the headline and double clicking.

As Congress (unfortunately) reconvenes there has been a predictable procession of log-rolling stories in the MSM trying to create a bandwagon effect to support a new version of last year’s Kennedy-Bush Amnesty/Immigration Acceleration Bill. The standard tactic is to claim that victory is in the bag because of collusion between the White House, Senate Republicans and the Democratic leadership. And indeed, if the matter was entirely left to these elements, it might well be, even if the Democratic delegations as a whole are less certain.

But a new pothole may be developing on the road: the AFL-CIO. A commendably alert piece of reporting (Democrats’ ties to labor could complicate immigration reform - By Dave Montgomery The Mercury-News Sunday January 7 2007) relates that the disastrous guest worker concept in particular is in trouble:

the AFL-CIO is better positioned to confront a powerful coalition of business groups that is pressing for a temporary worker program to bring in thousands of foreign workers each year… AFL-CIO officials say the program is designed to give business a steady source of cheap labor and would take jobs from U.S. citizens.
“We don’t believe our elected representatives are ready to adopt legislation that creates paths for corporations to import workers (and) reduce working standards in the United States,” said Ana Avendando, associate general counsel for the AFL-CIO. “That’s exactly what guest worker programs are.“

(VDARE.com empasis)

From the point of view of the American unionized worker, the current managing bureaucracy at the AFL-CIO, which has been in place a long time, should all be fired. They have stood by virtually silent while Washington, bought by employer interests, has launched the most brutal attack on the living standards of their members and workers in this country generally since the Great Depression. That has been the effect of the failure to stem the influx of low-skilled labor since the 90s. It is all documented in Ed Rubenstein’s VDARE.com archive. Any union officer not familiar with this data needs different employment.

Some Union leaders, indeed, have abandoned their constituents, seeking a new “electorate” amongst the newcomers. This is a direct betrayal of the Gompers tradition.

But Union bureaucrats, at the end of the day, are, like Congressman and Senators, politicians needing re-election. Indeed, they may be more responsive to their members whose numbers and income level affects their life style directly. Up till recently, most AFL-CIO comment on the debate has been simplistic support of the Democratic national leadership, with some distressing signs of excessive influence by ethnic lobbies. Now, perhaps, the Grass Roots are having some input (see, for instance, this sensible piece from their website on importing nurses).

The AFL-CIO website is notably reticent about contact details. However, Union members in particular amongst VDARE.COM readers (we know there are a lot) should invest a few minutes in sending the AFL-CIO their views. Applaud the essay on Nurse importation, and ask for more.