A Rude Question: Was Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez an Illegal Alien?:
The Rude Pundit does not have an answer to this question: When Secretary of Commerce and former CEO of Kellogg’s Carlos Gutierrez was a young boy, were he and his family in the United States illegally during the early 1960s?
La Queen Sucia: More Stupidity in my In-box: A retort that immigrants don’t contribute to this country.
This is the best he can do as a plan of action? From The Corner on National Review Online:
WHAT BUSH SHOULD DO [Rich Lowry ]
When I talk to people about the sad state of the Bush administration lately, we always ask ourselves, “Well, what can he do now?” And I never have an answer, nor does anyone I talk to. Which is a pretty good reason to give way to the kind of despair George Conway expressed today. But, after racking my brain, I have come up with (an admittedly thin) seven-point plan of action:
–Accept an enforcement-only immigration bill. This is a no-brainer. Bush can say, “Look, I love immigrants and we should welcome them, but the only consensus that exists at the moment is for enforcement. That’s why I’m signing a tough enforcement bill, which will enhance our security at a time we face a dire terrorist threat. But I have also extracted a blood-oath commitment from the GOP leadership in the House and the Senate that a proposal for a guest-worker program and bringing illegals out of shadows will be a priority in the new Congress. Once we have better control of our borders, I am confident we can pass sensible, comprehensive, compassionate legislation on this issue,” etc., etc.
–Give some speeches denouncing eminent domain abuse. He can’t do anything about it, of course, but the Republican base will love it and it’s a broadly popular issue, so no one else will be offended.
–Talk about the economy as much as possible, and get a new treasury secretary to try to shift the conversation onto this topic (although I don’t think John Snow is in anyway to blame for the administration’s failed PR campaign on this front).
–Endorse the Ponnuru tax reform plan. Ramesh can spell it out more, but it basically involves an enormous expansion of the child tax credit. It can’t go anywhere this year, but for a party that desperately needs substantive issues to talk about–and ones that aren’t unpopular–it’s a pretty good place to land for the time being.
–Push for the confirmation of his circuit judges that are pending. Talk about them by name. The GOP wins judiciary fights.
–Veto a spending bill. It will make him look strong, and the GOP base will love it. It will embarrass the GOP congress, but, hey, they deserve it, and ultimately the congressional GOP gains when Bush gains.
–Sit-down with conservative bloggers. They are some of his most loyal supporters–include them in the media out-reach.
Okay. On four of his seven, by his own admission, Bush can’t do anything but make speeches. And he all can see how good his purty speechifiying is helping the situation in Iraq.
Eminent domain? Bush? Check into the history of the Texas Rangers and how Bush made his first few millions. Hint: it involved seizing houses and bulldozing them for a new stadium.
Embarrass the GOP congress? You don’t think that they could easily take revenge against him, now of all times? But hey, if you think that showing that loyalty is a one-way street, go ahead. Be mean to people on the way up, because really, what are the odds of meeting them on the way down? And it’s not like Republicans are bloody-minded to people who cross them.
I’m not sure who’s worse off– Lowry, if this is the best he can do; or Bush, if this is the best he can do.
UPDATE: Lawyers, Guns and Money imagines The Meeting between the President and those conservative bloggers. Indeed.
It’s easier to rig an electronic voting machine than a Las Vegas slot machine. Go look and compare.
(Via Patrick at Making Light.)
Via Captain Moonlight and Making Light:
There was a young curate of Kew
Who kept a tame cat in a pew
He taught it to speak
Alphabetical Greek
But it never got further than m.
Thank you, thank you. Try the veal.
Via The Reality-Based Community: A tribal abortion clinic?:
It looks as if the Oglala Sioux Nation is ready to come to the rescue if the South Dakota abortion ban goes through. The tribe could open a clinic on the Pine Ridge reservation, possibly in cooperation with Planned Parenthood. The state apparently can’t regulate medical services provided by Indian physicians on tribal land, no matter who the patients are.
Boy, will this be fun to watch. If nothing else, it’s also a great way to improve medical conditions on indian reservations.
Yes, I’m going to I-Con again. Haven’t missed one yet, it’s my hometown convention. No, I’m not on any programming this year, even though I volunteered to be a speaker back in the beginning of the year, just as I have every year for the last ten years or so. Yes, both authors and comics tracks. No, as of right now I’m not even going to have a guest pass, because apparently they stopped handing those out last week, much to the surprise of Aaron Rosenberg, who’s actually staying at my mother’s house with me. As things stand, I’ll have to pay full price, because I was foolishly expecting to get in in some form or another.
Yes, I’m ticked off about it. I get this way when I remember that I still haven’t been reimbursed for buying ad space in the Comic Buyers’ Guide for I-Con VI, when I was on the con committee. Never mind the year I single-handedly saved their movie previews panel.
I’ve been to every one of these things so far, and it’s really beginning to bug me. I know, the con has the institutional memory of a tapeworm due to the four-year turnover of staff, but it really is beginning to grate on my nerves. It’s things like this that bring to mind Greg Cox’s brilliant summation of the I-Con experience from a while back: “They reinvent the wheel every year, and only occasionally get it round.”
But there’s one event I will be sure to attend: the Destinies Mystery Guest Show, Friday night at 11:30 on WUSB 90.1 FM, streaming at http://www.wusb.fm. Howard Margolin has been hosting the show for over two decades now, and he remembers people. And that’s why I go back every year, jam myself into a recording booth smaller than my dining room with more people than show up at Thanksgiving, and have fun. Because he remembers. (If you want to listen to Destinies old shows, click here.)
And yeah, I’ll be showing up at the I-Con 25th Anniversary panel on Saturday afternoon. I mean, who else would tell the story of the Great Paper Airplane Blizzard of I-Con IV…? And at some point, I need Stan Sakai’s autograph on a special project.
But beyond that, I don’t know where I’ll be. Maybe drinking a toast to Andrew, or ferrying people between buildings and hotels, or saying hi to folks in the dealers room, etc. etc. etc. Brandy’s convinced I’m going to be following the Robinsons around like a puppy. Keep an eye out for me, I’m still tall and easy to spot in a crowd.
Tally ho.
(Oh, and special thanks to Mike Dauenheimer, who has been the only person to date to respond to me from I-Con for any of my queries. See you Saturday.)
#1: Go to the hospital, get stuck with needles, get a rectal exam, and unsuccessfully attempt to pass a kidney stone, or–
#2: Appear on the “Arthur Miller’s Death of a Ninja” panel at Lunacon.
Clearly, no contest. I went with #1.
(No, that’s not the only reason posting here has been sparse, but more on that either.)
Guess who’s going to have to testify eventually…
Call it a hunch, but I’ll bet they were keeping a very close eye on anybody who might be sneaking up on Mr. Cheney with a gun.
There’s been a lot of talk, but let’s get to some speculation, and hope someone here can provide a yes or no answer.
Is it possible that Cheney shot Harry Whittington by accident because of a seizure?
Think about it. Sudden chest pain, Cheney turns in pain and clutches hard around the trigger, and fires.
I don’t know if the gun can work like that, but it seems plausible to me. And that would give reason for a Cheney coverup, because he was in bad health as well. He did have that ambulance crew tailing him, after all. And I couldn’t find any head shots (sorry) of Cheney going to work today, everything was from the back.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Cheney’s health is failing. Quickly. And he may leave office for health reasons. And now, he may be pushed out.
Seriously. Don’t you think he looks tired?