You can listen to Peter Brimelow on Tom Hartmann here:MP3. The War On Christmas stuff starts at 3:08.

Political reporter Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic writes:

Barack Obama has launched the era of the political economy, where, to an unprecedented degree, the White House will determine the course, structure and function of the American economy; where, if reports of $2 trillion worth of stimuli are to be believed, the size and scope of the federal government has the potential to nearly double over the course of eight years. He’s already shifted the paradigm’s default from private enterprise to public action. To the extent that your program or pet cause gets to share in the spoils, it must justify itself to the Obama administration.

Everyone who wants anything from the federal government has to interface with the now conjoined office of intergovernmental affairs and public liaison in the Obama White House. To head this office, Obama has appointed his best friend and most trusted counselor, Valerie Jarrett. Jarrett has appointed as her chief of staff Michael Strautmanis, one of the Obama family’s best friends and another trusted confidant. Traditionally, the intergovernmental affairs portfolio and the OPL portfolio have been kept separate, although Karl Rove unified them in the Bush White House.

Cecilia Munoz, a senior vice president at the National Council for La Raza, is a powerhouse who knows everyone in Washington. She’s going to be the formal director of intergovernmental affairs. Tina Tchen, another long-time Obama friend, will be the head of the office of public liaison. Additional staff appointments will follow; usually, the deputies in these offices aren’t big names; the names being considered for the sub-department portfolios in the Obama administration would have been credible candidates for the top jobs themselves.

The bigger the federal government gets, the more important these offices become. They’ll probably be THE powerhouse in the Obama White House from the perspective of politics, constituency relations, interest and client groups, the Washington community, state, local and tribal governments. Jarrett won’t just pass messages between the outside world and the president. Her job will be manage the relationship between the outside world and the president, and, vitally, she and her staff will have the juice to make decisions about how the Obama administration relates to just about every external constituency.

No wonder Valerie Jarrett dropped out of the bidding for Blago’s blessing. Who wants to be crummy U.S. Senator when you get to be fixer-in-chief for the new quasi-nationalized economy?

And how about having a Senior VP of La Raza stationed right at the chokehold?

This is what happens when your country is located next door to a crackhouse.

EL PASO — Nearly 50 people wounded in Juárez in 2008 received medical care at Thomason Hospital and racked up medical bills totaling about $1.4 million, hospital officials said.

Thomason Hospital spokeswoman Margaret Althoff-Olivas said as of Dec. 9, the hospital had been paid about $508,000 of the $1.4 million, and additional payments of $655,875 were anticipated from insurance companies and patients.

“The vast majority have been multiple gunshot wounds,” she said. “A couple of the individuals have been stabbed and some were the result of physical assault.” [$1.4M is cost to treat Juárez's wounded,By Erica Molina Johnson, El Paso Times, December 15, 2008]

I suspect the hospital is dreaming to think it will be paid for most of the treatment it provided. What do they care — there’s always Uncle Sucker and the unwilling taxpayer.

Speaking of which, here’s more about what the Texas taxpayer is forced to bear: Study: Illegal immigrants’ care costs state $677 million.

AUSTIN — The state of Texas and local hospital districts spent an estimated $677 million to provide health care to illegal immigrants in a year, a new study says.

The survey, issued by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said that most of the money — $597 million — was spent by local hospital districts for the immigrants’ care during the state’s fiscal year that ended on Aug. 31, 2006.

Lawmakers from both parties said they were not surprised by the millions spent and expressed hope that the report, required by the 2007 Legislature, will help prompt Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation.

Brilliant! Make the deadbeats into citizens so they can freeload even more–that’s the only solution the liberal media can imagine.

Steve Sailer keeps saying that if we’re going to have massive unemployment, it’s cheaper for Mexicans to be unemployed in Mexico than in the United States–and now some illegal Mexicans are acting on that:

The Associated Press: Some Mexicans leaving US, planning never to return
Some Mexicans leaving US, planning never to return

By IVAN MORENO – 8 hours ago

DENVER (AP) — After going months without a full-time job, Daniel Ramirez has decided it’s time to return to family in Mexico.

Vicenta Rodriguez Lopez says she can’t afford to live in Colorado any more because her husband was deported.

Roberto Espinoza is going back, too. After 18 years as a mechanic for a General Motors dealership in Denver, his work permit wasn’t renewed and he didn’t want to remain in the country illegally.

All are leaving Colorado in time for Christmas — joining a traditional holiday migration that will number almost 1 million people, says Mexico’s interior ministry. But they have no intention of returning to Colorado, a place that promised prosperity.

Layoffs, dwindling job opportunities, anti-immigrant sentiment and the crackdown on illegal immigrants are forcing hard choices on many Mexican nationals in Colorado. Though not an exodus, some are returning to a nation they haven’t seen in years.

“You despair. You think, ‘I used to earn $600 a week and now I’m getting half of that a week?’” said Ramirez, 38, who lost his Denver construction job in August. He left last week, driving to San Luis Potosi in central Mexico.

Mexico’s consul general in Denver, Eduardo Arnal, said more people like Ramirez are going home for good.

He cites a rise in applications for import tax exemptions by Mexican nationals bringing home their belongings. The consulate hasn’t compiled statistics for 2008 but says it receives about three applications a day, compared to one per week in 2007.[More]

Pete Brimelow will be on Mark Reardon’s show in St. Louis at 3:20 PM Eastern. Listen to that here. If you’re actually in St. Louis, it’ll be 4:20.

Peter Brimelow will be on the Thom Hartmann show at 12 PM Eastern Time, discussing the War on Christmas, and where immigration fits in. You can listen here. He’ll also be on Mark Reardon’s show in St. Louis at 3:20 PM Eastern. Listen to that here.

Here’s the video of question about Obama and his discussions with Blagojevich mentioned below. But remember, McCain doesn’t approve.

Why did they even bother to have the election, when one side was represented by John McCain, who as Steve Sailer said basically decided to take a dive in the election rather than get smeared as a racist. And now that Obama is involved in perfectly predictable scandals, McCain is defending him:

McCain Scolds GOP for Whacking Obama

By Mike Allen
NBC-Dallas Fort Worth
Updated 8:57 PM CST, Sun, Dec 14, 2008

U.S. Sen. John McCain is interviewed by George Stephanopoulos on This Week with George Stephanopoulos on December 14, 2008 in Washington, DC. McCain spoke on various topics including the scandal surrounding Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

In a surprising rebuke to the warriors who fought for him through tough times, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday sided with President-elect Barack Obama and scolded the Republican National Committee for fanning the Illinois corruption scandal.

On ABC’s “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos asked: “The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Mike Duncan, has been highly critical of the way President- elect Obama has dealt with this.
“He’s had a statement every single day, saying that the Obama team should reveal all contacts they’ve had with Governor [Rod] Blagojevich. He says that Obama’s promise of transparency to the American people is now being tested. Do you agree with that?”

McCain replied: “I think that the Obama campaign should and will give all information necessary. You know, in all due respect to the Republican National Committee and anybody — right now, I think we should try to be working constructively together, not only on an issue such as this, but on the economy stimulus package, reforms that are necessary. And so, I don’t know all the details of the relationship between President-elect Obama’s campaign or his people and the governor of Illinois, but I have some confidence that all the information will come out. It always does, it seems to me.”

(more…)

I’m very sorry to report the death of a friend and long-time stalwart in the battle to save America. Alan Kuper, a retired physicist who was 84 years old, died Saturday in his home in Shaker Heights, near Cleveland. He was a tireless and honest environmentalist, a position that required him to include the issue of unsustainable immigration as part of his belief system.

I first became acquainted with Alan when I joined up with Sierrans for US Population Stabilization, as the group was known then (now SUSPS). He was one of the founders–long time members of the Sierra Club who were disgusted with the organization’s disavowal of a responsible population policy in 1996 and decided to change it back, using the Club’s democratic mechanisms.

Up to that time, the Sierra Club had stated policy goals that were entirely reasonable, e.g. “Immigration to the U.S. should be no greater than that which will permit achievement of population stabilization in the U.S.” (1988). We had no idea then that the fix was in, that Sierra Executive Director Carl Pope was a pay-to-play guy who had sold the Sierra Club’s integrity for $100 million. That “donation” to the Club came with ideological strings attached from Wall Street investor David Gelbaum (not revealed until the October 27, 2004 LA Times article The Man Behind the Land). “I did tell Carl Pope in 1994 or 1995 that if they ever came out anti-immigration, they would never get a dollar from me,” Gelbaum declared.

As a result, the Sierra Club changed from a non-partisan environmental organization to a far-left group whose new best friends were MoveOn.org (used to smear our top-notch Board candidates as racists) and leftist puppetmaster billionaire George Soros.

I explain this history because of all the people involved with SUSPS, Alan still thought he could work within the Sierra Club, despite the loss of its soul. He ran for a seat on the board even after the revelations about the Gelbaum affair, but never succeeded. That was a shame, because Alan was a devoted Sierra Club member, and continued to work for worthwhile issues despite the corruption at the top. At an earlier time, he was recognized nationally with a Special Achievement Award in 1994. He was a well known voice of the environmental movement in northern Ohio because of the public service radio announcements he presented over 25 years for a local radio station, noted in a local Sierra newsletter in 2006.

Starting in 2000, he created CUSP - Comprehensive (approach to) U.S. Sustainable Population in order to “raise awareness of the population-environment connection and to encourage reduction in U.S. population and consumption.” The website includes an assessment of Congressional voting records as well.

Alan had an operation for stomach cancer at the end of October and was initially upbeat about his prospects. Then he got the bad news from the doctors which he sent around to his email recipients on Nov 6, that a pathology examination indicated an aggressive form of cancer, and he had less than a year to live. Sadly, his remaining time was far less than that.

Below, a photo from 1999 of several members of the SUSPS group, hiking on San Bruno Mountain south of San Francisco. That’s Alan Kuper on the left, looking the way I will remember him.