A roundup of some recent news

Some resolve in the House: “Conservative House Republicans bluntly warned their leaders Thursday against any immigration compromise that would allow temporary foreign workers and assailed a Senate proposal that would open the way for illegal immigrants to earn citizenship.  “My fear is that if we continue down this path that the Senate has established, that we will have created the biggest magnet ever,” said Representative Bob Beauprez, a Colorado Republican. “It would be like a dinner bell, ‘Come one, come all.’ ”  But the bipartisan authors of a Senate plan that would combine new border protections with a temporary worker program and a process for illegal immigrants to qualify for residency and eventually citizenship said they thought they were gaining support as the Senate moved deeper into its immigration fight.”

The Swedes are getting what they foolishly bargained for:  “The wave of robberies the city of Malmo has witnessed during this past year is part of a “war against the Swedes.” This is the explanation given by young robbers from immigrant backgrounds when questioned about why they only rob native Swedes, in interviews with Petra Akesson for her thesis in sociology. “I read a report about young robbers in Stockholm and Malmo and wanted to know why they rob other youths. It usually does not involve a lot of money,” she says. She interviewed boys between 15 and 17 years old, both individually and in groups.  Almost 90% of all robberies reported to the police were committed by gangs, not individuals. “When we are in the city and robbing we are waging a war, waging a war against the Swedes.” This argument was repeated several times”

Commemorative crosses constitute the establishment of a church??: “The Utah Attorney General’s Office has asked a judge to toss out a lawsuit filed against the state over roadside crosses honoring troopers killed in the line of duty. The lawsuit was filed by the American Atheists, who say the crosses are religious symbols that violate the separation of church and state.”  There is NO constitutional requirement to separate church and State—only a requirement that no particular church be “established” (State supported)

French winemakers surrender to Anglo-Saxon practices (how that must hurt!):  “After failing to hold off the onslaught from New World winemakers, France is to join them in such heresies as adding wood chips and - perhaps - even watering down the wine. The Agriculture Minister has issued a plan to let vignerons compete with growers in the Antipodes and the Americas whose simple flavours and clever marketing have been winning the world’s wine drinkers. “We have to make wine for consumers, not wine that producers dream of,” said Bernard Pomel, author of the plan, which is likely to be adopted soon as law.  France still dominates the wine trade, with 40 per cent of world production by value, but its share of the market has been dwindling for a decade. Brussels is even about to allow France to turn thousands of barrels of unsold bordeaux into vinegar.

No homosexual marriage for Australia: “The Federal Government will legislate against any attempts by the ACT to give gay couples the same rights as married couples, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said today. Mr Ruddock said today the Government would investigate what it could do to block attempts by the ACT Labor Government to pass laws that would establish civil unions for homosexual couples. The ACT legislation would allow those in a civil union the same rights as marriage in everything but name. Under the constitution, the Commonwealth has responsibility for marriage and in 2004, with bipartisan support, the Federal Government legislated to effectively ban gay marriage.  Mr Ruddock said the Commonwealth was unhappy with the ACT’s attempts to work around federal laws.  “Let me make it very clear, that will not satisfy the Commonwealth and we would include the introduction of legislation to prevent that from occurring,” he said.

Canada’s new Conservative government gets tough on illegals:  “The federal government has no plans to follow in the footsteps of the United States, which appears ready to give as many as 11 million illegal workers a chance at U.S. citizenship, Immigration Minister Monte Solberg says.  Solberg bluntly rejected the U.S. proposal as a solution for Canada, saying that letting illegal workers remain in this country would send the signal that it’s okay to slip in the back door.  “The ideal, of course, is for people to play by the rules and to get in line like everyone else is forced to do,” he said after a cabinet meeting.  “If we don’t emphasize that . . . you are sending the message that the way to get in here quickly is to come illegally. We don’t want to send that message,” he said. A U.S. Senate panel just this week approved sweeping election-year legislation that clears the way for 11 million illegal aliens to apply for citizenship without first having to return home. “We’re not looking at the American model,” he said. “We have our own ideas on that.”

Buchanan on Europe:  “Since World War II, every country in Western Europe has been ruled for a time by socialists. These regimes put in place laws that ensured job security, a living wage, a shorter workweek than in the United States, generous unemployment benefits, early retirement, magnanimous pensions and state-subsidized health benefits.  To finance these maternal welfare states, European regimes take 40 percent or even 50 percent of the economy in taxes, as compared with a U.S. federal, state and local tax bite of 33 percent.  But with globalization, European companies and workers who fund these munificent benefits are finding themselves in neo-Darwinian competition for survival, not only with American, Japanese and East Europeans who work longer and harder, but Asians who work longer and harder for a fraction of their pay and few of their benefits.  European companies are being stretched and stressed, and some are breaking. The capitalist goose that laid the golden eggs for the Eurosocialists is aging, tiring and becoming ever more barren….  What is coming is a time of continuous and constant cutbacks of benefits in every First World country. Public employees will have to work longer for less today and less tomorrow when they retire”.

Posted by jonjayray on Sunday, April 2, 2006 at 09:11 AM in Oh Tempora, Oh Mores
Comments (4) | Tell a friend

Comments:

Next entry: Desperate mothers throw away 20 babies a week as Zimbabwe starves

Previous entry: The Frenchman and the “Religion of Peace”