DoD has fallen in with the amnesty crowd, see the following excerpt from today’s (19 Sept) Washington Times editorial on the DREAM Act [No DREAM at all ] DoD now seeks to undermine and render citizenship meaningless by importing the third world.

The Bush administration has not taken an official position, but Defense Department officials are quietly urging members to support the bill. Meanwhile, Homeland Security officials, alarmed by the prospect of massive fraud resulting from Mr. Durbin’s proposal, have been opposing it. This is a clear cut issue: The DREAM Act is a nightmare.

Reportedly the wisemen who dreamed this up see it as way to increase recruiting, IE, build a mercenary force with no ties to the heart of the nation, or true loyalty to its institutions. This is dangerously delusional. A mercenary force and the devaluation of citizenship were factors in ending the Roman Republic , and later Rome itself.

As the DoD leadership showed in Iraq , they are completely ignorant of other countries and cultures, and I dare say, of their own. A lot of these illegals are completely illiterate and the Indians don’t even speak Spanish. They also come from countries where the military has been an instrument of oppression. But to the “business model” fanatics, a nation’s culture is meaningless, an impediment to the bottom line. To the DoD, and Rumsfeld par excellence, we are all interchangeable parts. To paraphrase “They learn nothing, and forget everything.”

Some church in Simi Valley, California is “hiding” an illegal immigrant and her child from immigration authorities who want to deport her–no, I’m not talking about my favorite fugitive Elvira Arellano but yet another (of what I assume must be thousands) mouthy lawbreaker!

Following a recent protest which required (expensive) additional law enforcement support, the mayor of Simi Valley, Paul Miller, decided to charge the responsible party for all costs incurred. Yeah, the church!! The United Church of Christ is currently home for “Liliana” as part of the church’s “New Sanctuary Movement.”

The “New Sanctuary Movement.” is an official program/policy for all United Church of Christ facilities–and they just got a $40,000 bill from the city! I think it’s brilliant, just brilliant!

Mayor Miller made his intentions very clear and very simple: “This city is not going to be known as sanctuary city.”

For more info click here.

To tell Mayor Miller how awesome he is or to encourage the rest of his City Council to support his position, click here.

Hmm…if you want to tell the church to KNOCK IT OFF this is their email.

For today’s meditation on how immigration-driven overpopulation is worsening every American’s quality of life, let us consider traffic congestion.

A new study from the Texas Transportation Institute reveals that traffic is bad and getting worse. Driving to work takes longer, the amount of the day affected by congestion has increased, more rural areas are affected and it is now harder to gauge travel times on the road. The overall consequence is enormous time and fuel wasted, not to mention the mind-deadening effects of gridlock.

Traffic congestion continues to worsen in American cities of all sizes, creating a $78 billion annual drain on the U.S. economy in the form of 4.2 billion lost hours and 2.9 billion gallons of wasted fuel—that’s 105 million weeks of vacation and 58 fully-loaded supertankers.
[Press Release: Annual study shows traffic congestion worsening in cities large and small Texas Traffic Institute]

Unsurprisingly, Los Angeles continues to have the worst roadway crowding, where the average driver lost 72 hours annually in rush hour traffic in 2005, an increase of 20 hours over 1985.

Road overpopulation is not recognized as such, namely as the expected result of increasing numbers of people and cars cramming onto limited streets and highways. Instead, the problem is approached symptomatically, often with the philosophy of irritation, hoping to shoo off undesired drivers with costs and impediments. New York’s Mayor Bloomburg is considering a plan to charge drivers a fee to enter the busiest parts of Manhattan. San Francisco is mulling a similar idea.

Now if only Washington could be convinced to increase irritation at the border…

As I’ve pointed out before, mass emigration hurts Mexico, in various ways. The existence of the emigration safety valve removes the incentive for reform from the country’s leadership. Shutting it would put pressure on Mexico’s leaders to reform the economy. (See here and here and here .)

On a recent Lou Dobbs broadcast, Mexico-watcher George Grayson, whom Patrick Cleburne introduced to readers last week, discussed the matter in an interview:

KITTY PILGRIM: You know, you’re such an expert on Mexico, I’d like you to take the flipside. Look at U.S. policy. We’ve seen Congress attempting to resurrect elements of the so-called comprehensive immigration reform piecemeal in various pieces of legislation.What do you make of that?

GRAYSON: I think it’s irresponsible and reprehensible and really is patronizing toward Mexico. Mexico has incredible resources. If Taiwan could lease Mexico for 20 years, we gringos up here would be talking about the colossus of the south. We’d be buying poles to vault the border to get into Mexico.

KITTY PILGRIM: That doesn’t seem likely in the immediate future.

GRAYSON: No. But the reforms have to take place. And to the extent we keep that safety valve open, it keeps the pressure off Mexico’s elite to do right by their own citizens.

Just as there’s a general factor of intelligence, coaches tend to talk as if there is a g factor in sports. In America today, they tend to call it “athleticism.”

The way the word is used can be a little surprising: e.g., eye-hand coordination is not considered part of athleticism. Quarterback Michael Vick has “athleticism” but Peyton Manning, despite his superior throwing ability, does not. Cornerbacks have lots of athleticism, but placekickers do not. Centerfielders have athleticism but third basemen do not. Willie Mays had athleticism, Brooks Robinson was good fielder. You might recall Brooks Robinson diving flat out over third base to spear a ferocious one-hopper, then scrambling to his feet to fire a throw to first base, but, well, that’s just not athleticism.

Breaking it down, it appears that “athleticism” consists of footspeed, leaping ability, agility, ability to improvise unexpectedly (e.g., fake left, go right), ability to react, and hitting ability.

One interesting question is whether “athleticism” exists as a general factor much like g in IQ. I sometimes wonder if it’s not just a euphemism for “black.”

Anyway, anyone interested in “multiple ahtleticisms” vs. “a general factor of athleticism” could take a look at the data from NBA and NFL Draft combines. For example, here is the numbers on the 2007 NBA draft hopefuls on two kinds of leaping ability, bench press, lane agility, and 3/4 court sprint. You might be able to extract something interesting here, although range restriction is severe — all these guys a tremendous players.