Immigrant Family Values?

Read 'Em & Weep

Illegitimate Births Among Immigrants
Study: Overall Rate Now Nearly the Same as Natives, Hispanic Rate Higher

WASHINGTON (April 24, 2007) – President Bush and others argue that immigrants have a stronger commitment to traditional family values than do native-born Americans. However, a new analysis of birth records by the Center for Immigration Studies shows that about one-third of births to both immigrants and natives are now to unmarried parents. Illegitimate children are at higher risk for social problems, and the risk may be even greater for those with immigrant parents because they need strong families to adjust to life in America.

The full report, entitled 'Illegitimate Nation: An Examination of Out-of-Wedlock Births Among Immigrants and Natives,' is available at http://www.cis.org/articles/2007/back507.html .

Among the report’s findings:

*Births to unmarried women have increased dramatically. >From 13 percent in 1980 for immigrant mothers (legal and illegal) to 32 percent in 2003, and from 19 to 35 percent for native-born mothers.

* The rate for immigrants is higher than for natives in Arizona, New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina.

* The modest nationwide difference disappears when teenagers, who have the highest illegitimacy rates, are excluded. There are relatively few immigrant teenagers because immigrants tend to arrive older. Without teenagers, the rate is about 30 percent for both immigrants and natives.

* Hispanic immigrants have seen the largest increase in illegitimacy – from 19 percent in 1980 to 42 percent in 2003. This matters because 59 percent of all births to immigrants are to Hispanics.

* In addition to the 42 percent rate for Hispanic immigrants, 39 percent of births among black immigrants are to unmarried women, 11 percent among Asian/Pacific Islander immigrants, and 12 percent among white immigrants.

* There is no indication of improvement over the generations. The illegitimacy rate among the native-born is 50 percent for Hispanics; 30 percent for Asian/Pacific Islanders, and 24 percent for whites.

* 2003 is the first time that the absolute number of illegitimate births to Hispanic women (immigrant and native) outnumbered illegitimate births to black women (immigrant and native).

* Out-of-wedlock births are highest for those with the least education; among immigrant mothers who lack a high school diploma, 45 percent of births are illegitimate.

* The country is currently debating whether to legalize illegal aliens or, alternatively, to enforce the law and cause them to return home. Since 60 percent of illegals lack a high school diploma and 80 percent are Hispanic, legalization would likely contribute to the illegitimacy problem by enabling illegal aliens to remain in the United States.

“Some want to see immigrants as paragons of virtue, others view them as morally deficient in some way. When it comes to family values, neither view is correct,” said Steven Camarota, the report’s author and the Center’s Director of Research. “Immigrants are subject to the same social forces as everyone else. Thus, the idea that immigration will reinvigorate traditional family values is unrealistic.”

Other findings:

*The children of unmarried immigrants often have to overcome their parents’ very low levels of education as well. In 2003, 56 percent of illegitimate births to immigrants were to a mother who also lacked a high school diploma; for natives the rate was 33 percent. For Hispanic immigrants specifically, the rate was 65 percent.

* There is no evidence that illegitimacy is related to legal status. It is common in many sending countries, regardless of how their immigrants arrived here. According to the UN, 38 percent of births are illegitimate in both Mexico and Canada, 73 percent in El Salvador, and 86 percent in Jamaica.

* The high rate for Hispanic immigrants also seems unrelated to legal status because only one-fifth of non-Mexican Hispanic immigrants are illegal aliens, yet their illegitimacy rate is 45 percent. This compares to 41 percent for Mexican immigrants, fully half of whom are illegal.

* The high levels of out-of-wedlock births among native-born Hispanics also suggests that cultural factors play a significant role in explaining high illegitimacy among that group.

* Another reason to think illegitimacy is more related to cultural factors than legal status is that college-educated Hispanic immigrants, only a small share of whom are illegal, still have triple the rate of illegitimacy as college-educated natives.

* Birth records used in this study count all births, unlike Census Bureau surveys that are more likely to miss poor and less-educated immigrants, who have the highest illegitimacy. Thus Census Bureau data tends to understate family problems among immigrants, and does not specifically report illegitimacy.

* Looking at family structure with Census Bureau data shows that 75 percent of the U.S.-born children of immigrants live in a household headed by a married person, compared to 70 percent for natives. The rate is 70 percent for Hispanic immigrants and 79 percent for white natives.

* Among teenagers, who are at the greatest risk for getting into trouble, there is less difference – 70 percent of U.S.-born teenagers with immigrants parents live in a married household, compared to 68 percent for those with native parents.

* Like the birth records, the Census Bureau data show that neither immigrants nor natives can be said to be exemplary when it comes to marriage and children.

# # #

Contact: Steven Camarota, (202) 466 8185, sac@cis.org

Dispatch From The Front

Greetings,

NBC anchor Brian Williams -- whose reports from Iraq earlier this year were spot-on -- has kindly introduced my latest dispatch about American soldiers at war on his blog on the MSNBC news website. Please click here for Part I of "Desires of the Human Heart."

I will publish the second part soon.

I am still with our British friends in Basra. These excellent soldiers have been fighting harder than I realized. Just some hours ago, I was present when British soldiers honored three of their fallen. We were

briefly attacked during the memorial ceremony, when the coffins were carefully carried onto the airplane, but the Brits did not miss a step in bestowing honors on their brethren. Please click here to read British

Forces at War.

At least three more installments are coming about the Brits, possibly four, depending on communications. I'm able to get more work done with the Brits due to the hefty support they offer. It’s made a tremendous difference and is another reason I will regret leaving the Brits later this week, although I have requested a return later this

year.

The sad news about leaving the Brits is lightened by some very good news. I've asked our Marines fighting in Anbar province for permission to accompany them and I'll be embedding with our Marines in roughly one week.

On a final note, this site is funded by readers and your support is essential. The recent action in Basra and surrounding areas has left me with destroyed photo gear—including a lens I had just managed to replace--and a dying laptop. I appreciate the support more than I can ever adequately express.

V/R,

Michael Yon

Basra, Iraq

The Army of course really gave Michael a hard time, and I'm happy to see him embed with the Marines. Here's hoping he remains safe.

Gun Control is for Sissies

by Tommi Avicolli Mecca‚ Apr. 24‚ 2007

" The National Rifle Association (NRA) is right: Guns don’t kill people, people do. And if everyone had a gun, people wouldn’t get killed. Because everyone would be afraid to attack anyone else.

Imagine how safe the world would be. If I saw someone about to snatch someone’s wallet from his pocket, say on a crowded street, I would simply shoot him. Of course there might be a little collateral damage. If someone were wandering around my patio when he shouldn’t be, my trusty metal friend would get rid of him in a hurry. And maybe the bothersome neighbor doing his gardening as well.

It’s not as if anyone would miss a bad guy. Someone who’d snatch a baby from a car or an SUV from a parking lot can’t have family or friends who’d give a damn if he ended up on a slab in the city morgue. Likewise for that kid who grabbed a bag of chips from the corner grocery. He won’t be needing snacks where he’s going.

It makes sense that having more weapons on the planet would solve all of our problems. If some country invades another, the playing field would be level if everyone in both countries had guns. Then everyone could defend themselves against everyone else. Why would anybody dare to step over anyone else’s border? Unless of course they had bigger guns or nuclear weapons.

Think of how good all those guns would be for the economy. With all those gun sales, the arms manufacturers could have the best lobbyists in D.C. They could advocate for all sorts of beneficial measures, such as protecting the rights of people to slaughter every animal on the planet. For sport and food, that is. Who needs Bambi creeping around the picnic grounds when he could be roasting on a grill or hanging in someone’s den?

Good old American competitiveness would boost the sale of arms of all sorts. If everyone had an ordinary old gun, then someone would want a semiautomatic, just to be one up on the next guy. Pretty soon, lots of people would have semiautomatics. Then someone would get a faster and more powerful weapon to top everyone else on the block who merely had semiautomatics. Gotta keep ahead of the Jones.

Eventually neighborhood associations would have nuclear weapons and universities would keep weapons of mass destruction on hand for those students who get all psycho.

Cities would employ Star Wars-type satellite defense systems to zap perverts having sex in parks or vagrants sleeping on the sidewalks. Not to be left behind, the feds would develop photon torpedoes (a la Star Trek). The next time the mayor of San Francisco decides to defy the law and allow Mormons to have more than one wife, the president could order the problem taken care of. The advantage of photon torpedoes is that they don’t leave behind messy bodies or partially standing buildings.

Gun control is for sissies."

Tommi Avicolli Mecca is a radical, southern Italian, working-class, atheist queer performer and writer whose work can be viewed at www.avicollimecca.com.

Indeed. I'm sure that lil Tommi offered the above as a tongue-in-cheek essay on gun control, but the poor lad is so far removed from the realities of life in planet America as to be rendered insensate as to the real world.

Guns ARE good for the economy. Hell, collectively we own over 200 million of them that must be purchased, fed, fired, and cleaned. The Billary years were tough and then came the BATFE with renewed vigor in its quest to put an end to gunshops, communist enclaves in Ill-Annoy and Kalifornia and NYC Iowa, yes, Iowa too, are doing their level best to turn the nation that won WWII into a treehugger's paradise, but eventually we'll rid ourselves of their intrusions into liberty as well.

In a great many ways we've weathered the storm. And come back to the light stronger and more united than ever. Sure, we've the Fudds to deal with, the enemies from within who would Zumbo us at every turn, but there have and always will be the traitors who wish for their little slice of the world to remain pristine while they shite upon their brothers in arms. I'm an admitted Pollyanna when it comes to all this, so sue me. Patriotism was instilled in me from birth and there is no feeling of superiority towards those I worked for. Unlike modern law enforcement that believes itself to be special, most of the military men I've known never forgot who the real boss is. You hired me for a job I did as best I could, but was, and remain, a public servant glad to be here. But of course I wish they'd let me play with the toys I grew to manhood learning to operate, and I guess there's a little resentment in leaving blood and guts in many climes and places only to be then told I'm not good enough any more to be trusted with modern armaments, but like the Frenchies say, who gives a fuck.

The Founders did the impossible. The nation they birthed remains a day to day experiment in fortitude and we'll be damned if it's raise-the-white-flag time every time some nutcase tries ruining it for us. We ARE a nation of rifleman, no matter what the commies say, and who doesn't enjoy a good scrape now and again so bring it on. And just so Tommi knows, it's the military that comes up with the best ideas on designing weapons, not any keeping up with the Jones's because the really good stuff is way expensive to research and manufacture, but guess what?

The military is us. We DO happen to have the best gear in the world because the Jones's we fight happen to live in the middle east and the former Soviet Union, and Red China and North Korea.
Take your best shot, Tommi. All we ask is a level playing field and it's no contest. Hell, it might even be getting damned close to another revolution of sorts, and I'll put my money on the armed over the unarmed any day.

Tommi's silly rant was sent from our brother in arms: A Keyboard And A .45

Ann Coulter On the 2nd, V-Tech, Good Neighbor Koreans, And Of Course The Loons Amongst Us,

"For cranky right-wingers who think politicians don't listen to them, this week I give you elected Democrats running like scared schoolgirls from the media's demand that they enact new gun control laws in response to the Virginia Tech shooting.

Instead, Democrats are promoting a mental health exception to the right to bear arms. We've banned mass murder and that hasn't seemed to work. So now we're going to ban mass murderers. Yes, that will do the trick!

This is a feel-good measure that is both wildly under-inclusive (the vast majority of nutcases receive no formal court adjudication of their nuttiness) and wildly over-inclusive (the vast majority of nuts don't kill people.) The worst thing most nuts do is irritate everybody else by driving their electric cars on the highway.

As lovely as it would be, we cannot identify mass murderers before they have broken any law, and mass murder is often the first serious crime they commit. No one can be locked up permanently for being potentially dangerous.

So on one hand, the mental health exception is a feel-good measure that would be largely pointless. But on the other hand, it's no skin off my back. Liberals go to therapy. Conservatives go to church. And I think we'd all sleep better knowing that David Brock could not buy a gun.

In fact, I think we should expand the mental illness exception to cover First Amendment rights as well as Second Amendment rights.

I note that before mass murder, the only harassment the Virginia Tech killer was guilty of involved speech: creepy e-mails, creepy short stories, creepy phone calls. Stalkers, too, engage in frightening speech -- but that is protected. Revealing a stalking victim's address is "speech" but is little different from being the one to pull the trigger.

This small measure would have taken Dan "What's the Frequency, Kenneth" Rather off the airwaves years ago, preventing him from presenting doctored National Guard documents to the American people to try to throw a presidential election. A mental illness bar would deal a quick blow to Air America and both its remaining listeners. It would also free up about 90% of the Internet.

And it would end the public lunacy of Jim Wallis, the Democrats' Christian. Wallis' first remark on the massacre at Virginia Tech last week was to hail the remarkable "diversity" of the victims. True, Cho murdered 32 people in cold blood. But at least he achieved diversity!

Anyone who thinks a single-minded fixation on diversity must be the ultimate goal of every human endeavor, including mass murder, is not the sort of person who should be able to buy a gun or to publish his daft ruminations in public forums.

But just to get this straight: Democrats are saying we should be able to jail "strange" or "angry" people, but we can't deplane imams who demand extra-length seatbelts after boarding?

Speaking of which, has anyone else noticed the public expressions of shame and contrition from the Korean-American community after the Virginia Tech shooting? Of course, no one blames this exemplary community for the actions of one nut. The Koreans are manifestly law-abiding and decent -- nipping at the heels of Italians as the greatest Americans and tied for second with the Cubans.

Indeed, I believe this marks the first time a Korean has killed anyone in the United States, not involving an automobile. Nonetheless, Korean congregations, community groups and the family members themselves are issuing statements of sorrow. Not "pleas for tolerance." But sorrow. Remorse. Remember those? They were big back in the day.

If the Koreans can do it, why can't the Muslims? What explains the lack of a Muslim guilt impulse -- so normal, as seen in the case of the saddened Koreans -- after dozens of terrorist attacks on Americans?

How about a Muslim exception to the Second Amendment? That would have prevented the Virginia snipers from killing 10 people within three weeks in 2002. But most important: It would help us achieve "diversity" in our gun law prohibitions."

Once you begin fiddling with the Constitution then ALL aspects of it are fair game. A free society remains a dangerous one and such is life.

Cities Are The Best...

	SOCIAL HUB: A new mathematical model shows how different infrastructure and social activity patterns grow along with a city's population; the model could aid city planners in maximizing a city's productivity, while minimizing things like crime and poverty.

"Are you one of those people who think of big cities as little more than hotbeds of pollution, crime and social inequalities? Well, think again. A new report in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA confirms what many city dwellers, who account for the bulk of people on Earth, have claimed for years: Cities have an almost magical ability, spurred by increased human interaction, to stimulate innovation and increase wealth.

The report also pooh-poohs the popular comparison of the growth of cities with biological organisms. An animal slows as it balloons in size ; in contrast, the researchers note, cities speed up as population and everything from crime to per capita income grow."

All well and good, but the "models" NEVER include ethnic-specificity, and without such are rendered useless.

More Tommy

"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion.

The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is
wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ...

And what country can preserve its liberties, if it's rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two?

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

-- Thomas Jefferson

Thanks To David Codrea for making me look this up again.

The Debate Is Far From New

"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe."

-- Noah Webster

How A Nation Of Rifleman Could Exist With Even One Rosie...

“Societies exist under three forms, sufficiently distinguishable. 1. Without government, as among our Indians. 2. Under government wherein the will of every one has a just influence; as is the case in England in a slight degree, and in our States in a great one. 3. Under government of force, as is the case in all other monarchies, and in most of the other republics.

To have an idea of the curse of existence in these last, they must be seen. It is a government of wolves over sheep. It is a problem not clear in my mind that the first condition is not the best. But I believe it to be inconsistent with any great degree of population. The second state has a great deal of good in it… . It has its evils, too, the principal of which is the turbulence to which it is subject…. But even this evil is productive of good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and nourishes a general attention to public affairs. I hold that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing.”

— Thomas Jefferson

For modern liberals who've no idea in hades what old Tom was speaking of, here it is in a nutshell. A free society must and will experience dreadful things from those who do not deserve to BE free. A free society does not punish the many for the actions of the depraved few. In a quite harsh but ultimately honest manner, such goings on are proof positive that the nation deserves to survive.

Get 'Em While They're Hot

Barrett Model M82A1 Semi-Auto Only $9695!

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The Pig Is Out!

NEW YORK — Two days after an obscenity-laced rant before an audience that included media elite and high school girls, lightening-rod talk show diva Rosie O'Donnell is leaving "The View" at the end of her first season on the show.

ABC said Wednesday it was unable to agree on a contract with the opinionated host, and she'll leave the show in June.

O'Donnell said in a statement that "my needs for the future just didn't dovetail with what ABC was able to offer me."

"This has been an amazing experience," she said, "and one I wouldn't have traded for the world."

On "The View" on Wednesday, O'Donnell said she would be back on the show "guest hosting and doing specials."

"They wanted me three years, I wanted one year and it just didn't work. I'm not sad — I loved it here," she said..."

TRANSLATION: Barbara finally had enough. The "insiders" are saying otherwise, but it's my belief that advertisers were beginning to make noise.

FYI: Korean's Walther Purchased At Top Glock...

"We’ve set up this page so that our message is available to the public regarding our sale of a Walther P22 to Cho Seung-Hui. As we fully expect members of the media and politicians to turn this horrible tragedy into a gun control debate, we need to make the facts available and make sure that our message is clear.

Cho purchased the Walther P22 online February 2nd 2007. We shipped it to a federally licensed dealer on February 5th. It was received on February 8th and Cho Seung-Hui picked it up on February 9th after completing the federal and state background checks.

We were made aware this madman purchased the weapon from us via the internet on April 17th by the BATF. Two BATF agents interviewed me in person on April 18th. The media was made aware of this information on April 19th. After being released to the media, I participated in several television, newspaper and radio interviews in order to make sure the facts were clear and that our industry should not be blamed for this tragedy.

As the father of three small children, I was completely shocked by the fact that this sick man purchased the weapon from us and used it to kill 32 students and faculty. We immediately put up links to the memorial fund for the victims and their families and personally donated as well. Having been open in the media, we have been getting a steady stream of harassing and threatening email from the so called “peace loving” people that see no point in owning a weapon. We’ve also received many letters of support and encouragement from those who truly understand the situation.

In that this tragedy will probably be used to call for tougher gun control measures and restrictions on our Second Amendment right, I would ask that the gun grabbers realize that this sick man was the one who murdered those innocent people in Virginia. It is my belief Gun Free Zones, magazine capacity restrictions and gun bans are all feel good actions and don’t accomplish anything at all. This sick man is to blame for this…not a weapon. It is also my belief that the only way to truly be safe is to be able to protect yourself. The Supreme Court has ruled that the People do not have any expectation of protection from law enforcement and has upheld it several times since. Therefore, if the government isn’t responsible for protecting us, we have to protect ourselves. Concealed carry reduces violent crime in every State it is implemented in. The rest of the States that don’t have concealed carry laws should implement them immediately."

The REAL Reason Behind The Iranian DRESSTAPO

Hard-line lawmaker Mohammad Taqi Rahbar said the flouting of the dress code had prompted growing cries for help from Iranian wives whose husbands were being distracted by women wearing skimpy clothing.

"Men see models in the street and ignore their own wives at home. This weakens the pillars of family," he said.

monster flu

first move that didn't entail worshiping the porcelain throne.

be back when able to see the monitor

Rangel Wants Unions In Columbia Or It's No-Go Regarding Drug War

"Under President Alvaro Uribe, Colombia has used $2 billion-plus a year in military aid - granted by the Clinton and Bush administrations - to extradite top drug lords to the United States, imprison 30 death-squad leaders and disarm 30,000 paramilitary militia that protected the drug gangs. The leftist guerillas of FARC have been driven back into remote, unpopulated areas and dare not surface outside their jungle hideouts.

But if Colombia is no longer to export cocaine, it has to be able to sell flowers, textiles, sugar, bananas and other harmless fare to its U.S. customers without tariff or quota barriers.

Along with deals covering Panama and Peru, the U.S.-Colombia free-trade accord is set to come to the floor of Congress in the next few months. Enter Rangel, whose committee has jurisdiction.

At the insistence of the AFL-CIO, Rangel has demanded that the treaty include a requirement that labor unions be allowed to organize and flourish in those Latin American nations. Uribe has no objection to the proposed language - the Bush administration does. Its lawyers warn that the provision could be used by Colombia, Panama or Peru to sue the United States to force repeal of state right-to-work laws or other obstacles to unionization in this country.

The Bushies suspect that the U.S. labor movement is trying to insert the language into the treaties as a back-door way of opening the doors wider to unionization here.

Whether these worries are valid is beside the point. The administration's position leaves Rangel with a clear choice: Do the bidding of the AFL-CIO - or pass the treaty as-is and reduce the flow of drugs to his district.

While the Bush administration is committed to fighting drugs, too, its concern is a bit more theoretical than that of the congressman from Harlem.

If Rangel helps to kill the free-trade treaty because of a battle between Big Labor and the president, he'll undermine and undercut Colombia's successful war on drugs. The troops in Colombia who risk their lives daily to smash labs, defoliate cocoa plants and arrest drug lords will find themselves swimming against the economic tide.

If America does not reward Colombia by making its non-cocaine exports profitable, it will leave the poor of that South American ally no choice but to go back to the drug labs..."

Your minority leadership hard at work. Hell, even Bill Clinton saw the wisdom in helping the Colombians switch from cocaine to pretty doilies.

But not Charlie. And heaven forbid he ever discovers that cocaine is far more expensive in NYC. than it is in the suburbs. There'd be an instantaneous law on the books forbidding price gouging the minority poor when it comes to illegal drugs.

Laws solve everything.

Yet Another Has-Been Singer Mocks Christianity

April 24, 2007 -- ANYONE who's followed Tori Amos' career would hardly be shocked that "American Doll Posse" - due in stores next Tuesday - is sometimes political, often personal and totally provocative.

Just take a look at the CD's cover art, which features a photo of her standing in a shimmering lavender dress with a Bible in one hand, the word "shame" scrawled on the palm of her other, and blood running down her leg.

Amos, 43, whose father was a minister, explains: "The preacher's daughter in me is just asking [in that photo] where women stand in Christianity.

"What do theologians abhor more than anything else?" Amos asks. "They believe in the father God, the authoritative male image. I thought, OK, I'll bring on the mother God."

Okay, stop right there. This is getting old, ladies, so why not give islam a try, eh? Christianity is safe, ever so safe to ridicule, so try your hand at a religion that continues to treat women as chattel, instead of foaming at the mouth over what went on a few thousand years ago when they were assembling what would become the Bible. Christians grew out of a lot of those nasty habits but guess what, Tori?

Moslems did not. Go look it up.

9 Days In The Slammer For A Traffic Violation

"Nine days ago, Luis Martinez was picked up in Queens on a traffic violation.

He pleaded guilty, and agreed to spend two days in jail. That's when the trouble started.

Authorities linked him to an armed robbery and car theft in the Bronx, crimes committed in the 1980s by Luis Martinez.

A different Luis Martinez.

Thus began a horrible odyssey through the city's penal system, as Martinez spent nine days behind bars while authorities sorted out one Martinez from another.

The soft-spoken truck mechanic from Queens finally emerged yesterday from Bronx Criminal Court, haggard and teary-eyed, and not terribly in a forgiving mood.

"The food was no good and I was sick with a fever," said Martinez, 42. "I didn't get any sleep. I cried all night. Jail is not a good place."

He said the first thing he intended to do was "go home, take a shower and call my family."

But his lawyers said their first priority will be to file a wrongful imprisonment suit against authorities.

Martinez was busted April 15 - a day he will forever remember, and not just for tax purposes - for driving with a suspended license. But just when he was to be released, authorities sent him off to the Bronx to answer an old warrant for the other Martinez.

Attorneys William Rita and Gene Anton said all along there was no way their client could have committed the crimes because he didn't live in the country at that time.

"We did everything to get him out, but the system failed him," Anton said. "The evidence was right there in front of their faces and they still wouldn't let him out."

The Martinez wanted by authorities is a light-skinned Puerto Rican, two years older than this Martinez, a dark-skinned Dominican who bears no resemblance to the still-wanted suspect, his lawyers said.

"This is a case of mistaken identity and it is unfortunate that my client remained behind bars all this time," Rita said. "The evidence was there the whole time. The birth dates were different and they don't look alike."

Rita and Anton said they went to court last week to clear up the case of mistaken identity and were taken aback when Bronx Criminal Court Judge Raymond Bruce remanded Martinez and ordered fingerprints. Martinez had no prior arrests.

The attorneys said they were outraged when they returned to court last Friday and found out the prints were inconclusive...

Remember that the next time someone on any of the CSI's or Law & Orders lifts a latent smudge then has some computer geek enhance it in order to crack a big case. All you need know about how accurate fingerprinting techniques and identifications are is to is ask the legions of folks who've applied for a CCW and were mistakenly turned down. Sloppy is as sloppy does and at any given point in time there are hundreds of folks incarcerated because of "inconclusive" prints.

NYC Slavery "Apology" Rearing It's Head Again

A resolution calling on the City Council to "express profound regret for slavery" was introduced yesterday by a group of Council members.

The group of largely African-American Council members said an apology is long overdue for "the very key role" the city played in the slave trade.

"[We] never received the 40 acres and a mule that was planned," noted Councilman Albert Vann (D-Brooklyn), who said no reparations or other remedies were ever enacted in America.

"And so, I think the least of what we can do is to apologize," he added..."

And I never thought I'd need to be armed simply to check the mailbox, so how's about you fella's offering me one, too?

And gee guys, but NEW YORK CITY? Where the abolitionist movements began? The underground railroad? Where the majority of Union troops left from and never returned to? And if you get the apology will you offer a similar one along with one helluva thank-you?

From Fudd To Dud

"If not banning guns all together - which will never happen, I'm sure - then at least make guns harder to get. Maybe we could try making everyone with a gun register themselves and their gun with local police departments. Maybe this would help keep guns under control.

I say to all lawmakers and lobbyists, just work on it so that maybe this violence will eventually stop.

I just don't get how we can keep killing each other with guns and then answer that problem with letting ourselves have more guns. I hope I'm not alone in not understanding this reasoning that Martin makes.

Yes, people will always be able to find guns even if they become harder to get legally, but let's make it harder than it is now. It's worth a try and I'm sure all the people who lost someone they loved to a person with a gun may feel like there loved one didn't die for nothing.

Jennifer Lewis
UK class of 2006

No link. I'll not encourage bad behavior. Mz Lewis is a soccer mom in the making, and add her to the list of Fudd's and out right anti's, which is why we cannot rest on our laurels.
Yes, Mz Lewis. Registering a gun will stop someone from going insane then using it to kill people.

Sure.You might want to check to verify this, but murdering people is already illegal. Demanding that the criminals and the crazies behave themselves doesn't work very well. Which is why even YOU need to learn how to defend yourself. No guarantees, Mz. No freedom from crime zones. This is the world we live in and the sooner you realize this and get over it the better off you'll be. Yes, it can be scary. Sorry Mommy and Daddy didn't prepare you for this but it's not too late to learn on your own. Bad men no go away because you call a time out.

And If All That Wasn't Enough To Make You Quite Ill...

BLOOMBERG WEIGHS IN

The Changing Gun Debate

The Feds ducked responsibility on guns. Good thing America's mayors stepped in.

"FBI statistics show that violent crime is on the rise across America..."

Not so says the real world, but when did the real world ever intrude upon Bloomberg. Click then read it. Just be sure to have your vomitorium at the ready because it's an alternate universe these socialists live in and not very pretty. 32 people died because they were unable to defend themselves and the anti's use this tragedy to raise money and somehow, in some twisted way, try to make the point that since bad people will always do bad things, we should let them because there's nothing worse than fighting back.

You aren't capable. You aren't smart enough. You can't be trusted.

Continuing With Monday's Meathead Mopery With Munitions...

A Fudd Has HIS Say

Guest Column: Gun control of the 'assault'

By BOB MARTIN
Contributing Columnist

"It is inevitable that this issue surfaces again after the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Gun control is the 'third rail' of conservative politics, and I am just silly enough to grab it with both hands.

I am very familiar with firearms. Like most men who grew up in the country, I am a gun owner and have been a hunter since my pre-teens. I am also conservative, and I support the military and the police. In my view, our public policy toward guns borders on the insane.

I do not want to ban guns because I want to continue hunting and target shooting. On the other hand, there is no legitimate reason why private citizens should own assault weapons. Furthermore, the problem created by assault weapons will increase as the technology of those weapons makes them more effective.

I fear we have not seen the worst that can happen unless we do something about assault weapons in private hands.

An assault weapon differs from a sporting arm by its rate of fire. A sporting arm has a very slow rate of fire and a limited magazine capacity. An assault weapon has a very high rate of fire and a large magazine capacity. High rates of fire have one purpose, to overcome or match your opponent's rate of fire in combat.

Clearly, assault weapons were created to kill people. The weapon used by the Virginia Tech killer has a very high rate of fire, and that rate of fire kept him from being stopped by those he was killing.

There is no place for assault weapons in hunting. A high rate of fire makes the hunter a danger to anything and anyone around him. I will not hunt with anyone who wants to use such a weapon. First, I do not want to be shot by such a foolish person. Second, if you cannot take an animal with one shot, you should not be hunting. If you have to "spray and pray" to hit something, you are a slob hunter and should not be in the woods.

Nothing precise

There is no place for assault weapons in marksmanship or target shooting. Marksmanship and target shooting are about precision. An expert shooter is a person who can hit a very small target at long range. There is nothing precise about high rates of fire.

Gun extremists argue that owning assault weapons preserves our freedom.

They usually do not explain what the connection between assault weapons and freedom might be. It is clear that private ownership of assault weapons cannot protect us from an external threat. Since we have the world's best military, why do we need anything else to protect us from an external threat?

Do extremists mean assault weapons preserve freedom from an internal threat? Surely that cannot be the case because that is what the police are supposed to do. By allowing private ownership of assault weapons, we put our police at greater risk.

It follows that the only kind of internal threat that might justify that kind of firepower in the hands of private citizens would be a situation where the military and the police conspire with those who would do us harm.

In other words, the extremist argument for assault weapons boils down to defense against our own government.

I do not fear my government. I do not see anything in its history or present constitution that is a threat to my civil liberties. It is ironic that all the carping about civil liberties is feeding the paranoia of those who want to own assault weapons.

Alternatively, we do have something to fear from people who fear the government. They are more likely to be a threat than is the government, and I would strongly prefer they not own assault weapons."

Bob Martin is the Ewing T Boles Professor of Economics at Centre College.

There is so very much wrong about this mans distorted opinion of everything from "assault-weapons" to government control of our daily lives, that I'll let you decide which to attack first. Just remember; this is what the Fudds feel to be the honest truth. Then be, if not afraid, then at the very least AWARE.

HE knows how many rounds you'll need if worst comes to worst.

Remarkable in it's hubris and stupidity.