I really wish I had been awake and looking westward the night of April 14 when the meteor lit up the night sky, visible in Madison, and struck the earth at the Iowa-Grant County border. The Icelandic volcano has been awesome.
Now it transpires that the Stately Squire missed another phenomenon of nature, Boobquake. I have a feeling this approach could solve a lot of problems, such as ...
Al Sharpton immigration alert issued for Arizona
Speaking of natural disasters: If you thought Arizona had immigration problems, it gets worse. The desert dwellers deserve the sympathy of all for ... CAUTION! WARNING! Al Sharpton is headed there. Can we do a Megan's Alert?
That's how I know the Arizona immigration law can't be all bad. Al the Demagogue is against it.
Along with all the usual suspects. In Wisconsin, Jim Rowen urges Major League Baseball to boycott the D'backs. San Francisco's city attorney is calling for a boycott of the entire state. House Democrats are threatening to pout.
Would it surprise you to know that 360 illegal immigrants have been deported from Wisconsin in the last 1.5 years? That is the number Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen submitted to a group of us today.
"We have an awful lot of illegal aliens in Wisconsin who are not the ones liberals (profess) to love," Van Hollen said.
Those 360 are not the convenience store operators or lawn and garden workers "doing work most people won't do" but drug dealers and gang members. J.B. says he used his connections with federal authorities -- he was the chief federal prosecutor for Wisconsin's Western District before being elected AG in 2006 -- to work with the state's sheriffs and D.A.'s in facilitating deportation of illegal aliens.
J.B. said he has not read the Arizona statute that is causing Democrats, including President Obama, to rush like moths to the flame and so cannot comment on its constitutionality. But if, as reports indicate, it allows law enforcement to enquire about legal status after a legitimate stop for another reason then, Van Hollen hazards, the Arizona law could well hold up.
I realize Republicans like Karl Rove, Lindsay Graham, and Jeb Bush have criticized the Arizona law. I think they're looking to an important demographic: our fellow citizens of Hispanic origin.
But they are far removed from the battlefield, so to speak. The Arizona Republic newspaper, no fan of the new law, despaired of "a level of violence and criminality that has been rising as smuggling cartels grow more vicious."
In case anyone hasn't noticed, Mexico's war with drug lords has spilled over into our borders. Even Democrats are calling for a shooting war in defense. Politico is reporting today that
Democratic and Republican lawmakers from border states are asking President Barack Obama to send National Guard troops to the southern border-and to allow them to shoot back. "We urge you to deploy the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border, as has been requested by a number of border state governors," the group of lawmakers wrote to Obama Wednesday.
Byron York of the Washington Examiner finds:
Contrary to the talk, [the immigration provision] is a reasonable, limited, carefully-crafted measure designed to help law enforcement deal with a serious problem in Arizona. Its authors anticipated criticism and went to great lengths to make sure it is constitutional and will hold up in court. ...
The law requires police to check with federal authorities on a person's immigration status, if officers have stopped that person for some legitimate reason and come to suspect that he or she might be in the U.S. illegally.
The heart of the law is this provision: "For any lawful contact made by a law enforcement official or a law enforcement agency ... where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States, a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of the person..."
From what I can tell, that is exactly what Sheriff Dave Mahoney is doing in Dane County, much to the displeasure of The Kathleen's crowd.
The one difference is that Arizona SB 1070 creates a new crime of trespassing by illegals, defined as being in Arizona illegally. While that cannot be used as the primary reason for apprehension, according to the statute, it does provide the cover for local police to detain the illegal. In any event, Arizona appears to properly reserve final determination of illegality to the proper federal authorities.
If you still don't like the bill, blame our distracted federal government, controlled top to bottom by Democrats, and its failure to act on the nation's problems and its determination to enact its own agenda.
Read the Arizona illegal alien bill for your own self.
Whither Scott Hassett?
Van Hollen on Tuesday announced his candidacy for re-election. He is expected to be challenged by former DNR Secretary Scott Hassett, who recently lost his legendary father, Paul Hassett, who was Jim Haney's predecessor at WMC.
Scott is one of the real good guys. Great sense of humor. An old college friend. A true hook and bullet man. Just wish he wasn't running against J.B. Van Hollen.
I think Scott knows better than to claim, as he did to WisPolitics.com, "I think it's going to be a good year to be a Democrat in Wisconsin." In fact, it will be a lousy year. It's a Republican year. Both houses of the state legislature could flip. Dave Obey, Steve Kagen, Tom Barrett and Russ Feingold are going to put first dibs on campaign money.
Hassett's campaign finance report filed in February shows $68,456 in receipts. Of that, $10,000 came from the Madison Teachers Union. (Oh, Scott!) Scott has spent $12,275 of that -- mainly on Melissa Mulliken, who was The Kathleen's campaign manager and doppelganger. Shudder!
But the $68,456 Hassett raised pales in comparison to the $382,350 Van Hollen has picked up, with $202,518 going out the door.
Then there are the issues. Add to immigration law such J.B. Van Hollen issues as protecting the sanctity of the voting booth -- he is prosecuting ACORN scam artists -- and his quest to challenge the over-reach of ObamaCare. Van Hollen cleared up the backlog of DNA cases in the state crime lab -- yes, he asked for and received more resources to do so -- but the lab now handles 500 DNA cases a month up from 96 when he took over, he says.
And the Republican incumbent has locked up 61 sheriffs and 50 district attorneys -- that accounts for most of the 72 counties. That's what you want when you're running for the state's "top cop"
I'm not sure DNR secretary is the best springboard for statewide elective office, either, although it can be said that Tony Earl got elected governor from that job. One thing Scott did right was to leave the Doyle administration with something of a righteous huff before the whole thing went down with the Titanic. Now, if Dick Leinenkugel had taken a principled hike ...
Now Scott, if you pledge to run for Dane County Executive, I might go door to door for you.
Works for me
"Fed a steady diet of paranoia and emotional appeals to vague concepts like freedom and liberty ... For those on the Left who believe that government should act as an agent of redistribution, this evidence should put to rest the idea that the tea party is a constituency we can work with." [Richard Kim in The Nation 4-21-10]
Cop hater, disliker under-appreciator Brett Hulsey is off Personnel and Finance, where he royally pissed off the sheriff's deputies during last year's budget process, but has been appointed to Public Protection and Judiciary by County Board chairman Scott McDonell, where he can do so on a weekly basis. We'll see if Hulsey gets elected chairman of that committee.
Take the Blaska quiz:
Hey kids, it's springtime on Madison's southwest side. In other words, things are heating up. See how you do with this brain teaser:
The Chazen art museum is showing 9 Faberge Easter Eggs once belonging to the Czars. But here's 5-year-old Timmy with his hammer, busting these priceless objets d'art. He ain't your kid. What do you do?
a) Kids have been doing things in museums that adults disapprove of since forever. The problem is easily ignored. You walk away.
b) You call the proper authorities and hope they arrive before all nine eggs are destroyed and can prove in a court of law that little Timmy did it.
c) You take the little bastard's hammer and risk Larabee the Liberal calling you a "vigilante who takes the law into his own hands."
Take your time.
Today's Chuckle