Big ho hum ...

Barry Bonds went yard on No.715. A newlywed husband, waiting at a concession stand for peanuts and beer, saw the ball where it had dropped from above, considered it a moment or two, picked it up and was hustled by security out of whatever-the-hell they now call San Francisco's ballpark.

So much for the rest of his ballgame. There is no word on whether he got his food, or if he was able to retrieve his bride, Megan.

Here's how Sports Illustrated described the moment:

Bonds homered off Byung-Hyun Kim in the fourth inning. The ball glanced off a fan's hands about 15 rows up and then dropped onto an elevated platform beyond the fence.

The souvenir sat there for a few minutes before rolling off the roof and into the hands of 38-year-old San Francisco resident Andrew Morbitzer, who was waiting for a beer and peanuts. He was quickly ushered away by security.

San Francisco lost the game, 6-3, to the Rockies.

Bonds is now "only" 40 homers away from tying Hank Aaron, and we "boldly" predict here and now that he will never attain it. At the rate Bonds' body is breaking down, he'll be lucky if he can stay off the DL before the All Star break.

SI had a nice little op-ed piece by Richard Hoffer explaining why Bonds' achievements will never win widespread acclaim. An excerpt or two:

Bonds' achievements will not stand that test of time ... His cheerless progress past Babe Ruth's onetime record of 714 home runs tells us as much.
...
History has already spoken. There's no crying in baseball, and there's no cheating. For whatever Bonds used, and for however long he used it to hit those home runs, he will be reviled. It's not because he's black, a jerk or not Mantle.

Well stated.

When you can't keep your story straight

Drudge is featuring a snippet from the latest testimony in the trial of Saddam in which a defense witness alleges that "many" of the 148 men condemned to death after a failed assassination plot are still alive, having become wealthy after the assumption of positions of power.

"I ate with them some time ago," the witness explained.

"If it is true and these people are still alive, this whole case should be reconsidered from the beginning," said the lawyer for Awad al-Bandar, whose revolutionary court under Saddam sentenced the men to death in 1984.

Let's get this straight. Saddam and his defense team have proudly admitted to the executions, but claim that they were perfectly justified, and that all the legal "i"s were dotted and "t"s were crossed. Now they put on as a witness some ex-Abu Graib guard contending that many of the men survived and thrived?

How about UFOs abducted the missing men shortly before they were due to be executed? It would be as believable.

Iraq: where mendacity is a lost art form.

Tomorrow is coming, and the government and central banks cannot prevent it

If you have yet to read the text of Clyde Harrison's speech, you must. Harrison is a precious metals guy, and keen observer of what's going on in the nation and world.

There are a couple of excerpts we extracted. The rest, which is a mother lode of that rare commodity, wisdom, you can see for yourself.

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for life.”

Today in order to teach a man to fish, you need two fishing licenses, a state boat sticker, OSHA approved life jackets, EPA approved weights and hooks, you pay a park fee, obtain a fire permit to cook the fish and an EPA permit to dispose of the waste. Thanks to the government, fish you catch costs 8 times as much as the fish you purchase in the supermarket, caught overseas.

That explains a lot.

When I started in the investment business 38 years ago, the Golden Rule was “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” In a few years it was corrupted to, “He who has the gold makes the rules.” Today it has been totally corrupted to, “He who makes the rules gets the gold.”

That explains Congress.

The following will not be in Allen Greenspan’s book:

Between 1800 and 1913, the value of the dollar was more or less constant.

Since the Feds creation in 1914, the value of the dollar has depreciated 97%.
Since the maestro, Allen Greenspan took over, the dollar has lost 37% of its value. Consumers have gone deeper and deeper into debt in order to spend freely out of artificial purchasing power extracted from over valued homes. All that paints a compelling picture of an excess demand driven US economy.

Nothing really explains the Fed.

In an Islamic Republic of America ...

... the Oklahomilist's life would be in danger.

This sad headline explains what is at stake with the war against Islamic imperialism:

Iraqis shot 'for wearing shorts'

The coach of Iraq's tennis team and two players were shot dead in Baghdad on Thursday, said Iraqi Olympic officials.

"Coach Hussein Ahmed Rashid and players Nasser Ali Hatem and Wissam Adel Auda were killed in the al-Saidiya district of the capital.

Witnesses said the three were dressed in shorts and were killed days after militants issued a warning forbidding the wearing of shorts.

So much for the "religion of peace."

Mount Everest revisited

There are people - including Sir Edmund Hilary, the first to scale Everest - who are giving Mark Inglis flack for not abandoning his summiting of the 29,000+ mountain in order to save another climber who, oxygen starved and near death, shivered 500 ft. below the top.

Inglis is the double-amputee who managed the summit on May 15. He and his party were among about 40 climbers who passed by the stricken climber, who had already made the peak and collapsed shortly after beginning his descent. At least Inglis and his companions stopped to see what aid could be rendered. It was determined that there was little they could do, other than try to provide an oxygen canister and a radio call for assistance (which itself as an empty gesture, as no rescue party could hope to climb or chopper to that height in time, if at all).

Hilary, who is possibly past his prime if you get our drift, said that the double-amputee should have put his own exploits on hold and brought the stricken man, David Sharp, to safety at Base Camp 4, some 3,000 ft. below. Perhaps he does not remember as well as he once did, for on a day of 100 degrees below zero farenheit, with the jet stream draining the life from every man and woman on the mountain, with treacherous ice fields and rope climbs to navigate, it is difficult enough to get yourself to a safer (or rather, less deadly) altitude.

That's why 190 men and women have died in the attempt to climb - and get back down - Everest. That's a little more than 10% of those who have made the peak (about 1,500). Similar ratios would get NASCAR banned.

As Jon Krakauer wrote in his book, "Into Thin Air," a personal observation of the May 1996 Everest climbing disaster, climbers were told frequently that, on a good day, it wasn't that difficult to climb the mountain. But the descent is harder than the climb up. Everyone who continues to the summit, after several weeks of preparation, knows fully well the risks they take. Yet so many, when they get into trouble, do not turn back in time, if at all. Why?

Mountaineers explain that any peak above 26,000 ft. is a kill zone, an enemy of human life. Without bottled oxygen it is difficult and rare to make the summit, which explains why it took so long for someone (Hilary and Tenzig) to make the summit (they used bottled O2). But even with oxygen it is not a day at the beach, as Krakauer said. Low-pressure does funny things to the human body and the human mind. There is little clear thinking.

Clear thinking is in short supply even at lower altitudes designed for human habitation. Under the effects of hypoxia it is rarer still. Perhaps the real issue is not whether climbers abandon their humanity in their zeal to conquer Everest, but whether with so many having been to the top, anyone else need go at all.

Do not tell that to the climbers. Kraukauer wrote, in his forward,

"There were many fine reasons not to go, but attempting to climb Everest is an intrinsically irrational act - a triumph of desire over sensibility. Any person who would seriously consider it is almost by definition beyond the sway of reasoned argument."

So lighten up, critics. Before you criticize Mark Inglis and his climbing compatriots, you might want to, er, scale a mile or so of a tall mountain in his boots. Or do a virtual summit of Everest by reading Krakauer's fine book. Then we'll talk.

When Harry Reid smiles ...

... and Ted Kennedy preens, watch your wallet, and your back.

That both senators were praising yesterday's passage in the U.S. Senate of the so-called "immigration reform" bill - "This is the way we should legislate -- on a bipartisan basis," Reid cooed - is a clear indication that what was delivered is no reform. Instead it offers what amounts of amnesty for millions of people who are in this country illegally, some of them bent on subverting the sovereignity of the United States.

It contains inadequate provisions for border security and continues the "free lunch" concept of making Hispanic immigrants a protected class deserving of various social welfare favoritism.

Just to show the duplicity involved, the Washington Times noted that as Reid and his Demo cohorts were praising "bipartisanship" ...

As he spoke, a television screen behind him showed a live picture of the Senate floor, where fellow Democrats were at that moment trying to mount a filibuster against President Bush's latest judicial nominee.

In the end, Democrats failed and a final vote was set for today on the nomination of White House lawyer Brett M. Kavanaugh, named to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. After speaking to reporters, Mr. Reid returned to the Senate floor and cast his vote in favor of the filibuster.

Said Rick Santorum, Republican senator from Pennsylvania:

Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, the No. 3 Republican in the Senate, said the bill "puts the cart before the horse" because it gives citizenship rights to illegals, grants full-blown amnesty to employers and opens the borders to millions of new immigrants each year.

"The horse here, that I've been hearing from my constituents, is we need a border-security bill first," said Mr. Santorum, who spends much of his time campaigning for re-election this fall. "And we need a program that makes sure that our country's borders are secure and that they are not a threat either to our national security or economic security."

Or as the Times noted:

But conservatives in Congress -- like many voters -- are skeptical that the federal government will make good on promises to secure the border and enforce the laws.

They suspect that immigration reform is headed for a repeat of the 1986 reforms that granted amnesty to 3 million aliens and promised to seal the border. Ultimately, the laws were never enforced and 3 million illegals were replaced with some 12 million new illegals.

If that happens, it is quite possible that there will be a civil war in the U.S. Southwest to prevent several states from seceeding and joining Mexico.

It is up to the House of Representatives, where the elected congressmen are still a bit closer to the will of the people, to hold firm and tell the elitist senators, "No deal."

Border security first. Then we can talk about a citizenship process.

Individuals vs the greater good

Maybe if we were getting paid, we'd feel more responsible for the lack of posting in the past week. That's not to say there isn't a little bit of guilt oozing through the gray matter, just not enough to cause us to do much more than mutter a half-hearted "sorry".

It's baccalaureate and graduation time around Oklahomily Manor, one from high school and the other from middle school. The house has been filled with family and friends, and yours truly was immersed in a custom DVD project to highlight youngest daughter's life, to honor her on her senior graduation. This project burned an incredible amount of midnight oil, particularly on its final night when the Oklahomilist stupidly waived the first rule of computing ("save frequently") and wound up losing a half-day's work on a power glitch.

In all this was added five baseball games of youngest Son of Oklahomilist. Our baseball team is a family affair, as I am the team manager and head coach, and Son No. 2 is my trusted and enthusiastic assistant coach. Mom and sibs attend most games.

We've been meeting ourselves coming and going.

So when Bonds hit number 714, all we had strength to do was to mutter "so what?" at the tube and briefly consider wandering over to yon computer terminal for a post. Said consideration was rejected.

But if we had managed the strength to post, we would have said something like "Sadly Major League Baseball took too long to get serious about steroid use, and so it is no surprise that Bonds ties, and eventually will exceed, the Babe. It appears increasingly unlikely that he will master Hank Aaron's 755, as he is stumbling around the outfield and with each passing game showing more signs of proof that his body is breaking down from the chemical abuse it has taken."

Last night we watched as San Francisco managed to silence the bat of our beloved Cardinals. It was a good night for the Giants but a so-so night for Bonds. In the sixth inning we watched in amazement as he failed to make it to a routine fly ball that would not have challenged an untested rookie. It wasn't an error but it was defensive incompetence, and this is far sadder and more tragic for the Giants than most of the sports media are telling. The play turned into a double for Pujols. In a close game, how could the Giants continue to keep Bonds in the field? He is a liability. Sure, those "fans" who are waiting for Nos. 715 and 756 would be disappointed if Bonds were not at the plate, but what about the team? What about the other 24 players and the coaching staff who would like to win? What about the players who came to San Francisco to build a winner? Don't they deserve the manager positioning his players in the best possible conifiguration to win?

This is why Barry and Barry-mania is bad for baseball and so epitomizes the age in which we live. Individual records are all that count: it's all about celebrity, not necessarily the good of the team, or an industry, or a country. Sacrifice is sold short.

Which brings the Oklahomilist to his point: When the needs of the family, and the responsibilities to the baseball team require it, posting is not a priority. I will take myself out of the lineup, temporarily, for the greater good.

Would that Barry Bonds, or his adoring manager, would do the same.

When Headlines Go Bad

One of the pitfalls of writing is that it is easy to get the cart before the horse, logically speaking, or the death before the gunshot, as in this morning's BBC offering:

Camp guard shoots dead Ugandans

When we first saw the headline we thought: What kind of perverted guy would shoot the bodies of dead refugees? Perhaps he wanted to be sure they were dead, rather like the Roman soldier who thrust a lance into the side of Jesus on the Cross?

But it turns out to be one of those headlines where it sounded better inside the head of the journalist than it looks in print.

A refugee camp guard in northern Uganda has shot dead at least 10 displaced people with 13 others in hospital, some with their legs shattered.

An army spokesman said the attack at Ogwete in Lira district, was carried out by a local defence militiaman. He is reported to be on the run.

The man apparently shot his victims after an argument over a woman.

The area houses around 1.5m people who have fled attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.

Army spokesman in Lieutenant Deo Akiki said people who knew the militiaman had no idea of the potential danger he posed.

He will face a court martial and could face a death sentence if apprehended.

Shows you don't have to have a TV to be afflicted with sex and violence.

Living Next to a People in Chaos

Sam and Sally live next door to a family in chaos. The neighbors shoot at one another, cook meth, grab joggers off the sidewalk and hold them hostage. These "unruly" neighbors have a large family, many of whom work hard and who want to be law-abiding, but they live in fear.

Lately some of the children of the neighbors have been seeking refuge with Sam and Sally, who have had an "open door" policy for some time. In fact, a few of the kids refuse to return home. At least one, they think, is living in the basement and only comes out to sneak food from the fridge.

Compassionate and concerned, Sam and Sally consider it their Christian duty to help the afflicted refugees, but new events are making them question whether it is time to end the open door policy. Some of the crazies next door have entered Sam and Sally's home without permission, discharged firearms, and tried to sell drugs to their kids. Last night, at dinner, one of the "guests" wore a side-arm and sported an armband which proclaimed "Death to Sam & Sally."

Normally a very patient man, Sam declared that this guest was no longer welcome in his home, and asked him to leave. He also declared that he and Sally would no longer have an "open door" policy (although even as he said it he wondered how he could enforce it).

This morning, as they went to work, they were met with picketers from next door, demanding that they surrender their home and move away, preferably far far away.

Sam and Sally have tried to work through the system. They called police, and were told that they police were busy helping terrorized residents of another town. They called domestic violence services and were told that they simply did not have enough people to go running to investigate every complaint.

They called their city councilman and asked if there was anything the city could do to help them. No, the councilman explained, "your neighbors' house is just outside the city limits. Perhaps if you sat down with them, tried to reason with them, you could come to an understanding."

Tonight, as they walked through their once normal home, they found gang graffiti on the stairwell and spent shell casings. At the top of the stair they found the bloody body of their youngest son. They called 911 but there was no answer. As they glanced fearfully out at the neighbor's yard they saw several people removing the fence between the two properties.

What are Sam and Sally to do?

Indeed.

Who is running the asylum? (And other thoughts on immigration reform)

The folks south of the border are in serious reality denial mode:

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - Mexico said Tuesday that it would file lawsuits in U.S. courts if National Guard troops on the border become directly involved in detaining migrants.

Mexican border officials also said they worried that sending troops to heavily trafficked regions would push illegal migrants into more perilous areas of the U.S.-Mexican border to avoid detection.
...

"If there is a real wave of rights abuses, if we see the National Guard starting to directly participate in detaining people ... we would immediately start filing lawsuits through our consulates," Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez told a Mexico City radio station. He did not offer further details.

But we will offer further details.

1. Who gave Mexico the right to tell the United States how to secure and protect its borders? No one.

2. Mexico is not known for the quality of its lawyering, perhaps the sad consequence of never having had a legal system worthy of the name. Send your best, Senor Derbez, but don't expect much.

3. If migrants move to "more perilous areas" to attempt their unlawful infiltration of our country, it is their choice to accept the consequences of that decision. Perhaps, if we make it too difficult to sneak in, people will decide not to try. That would force Mexico to deal with its own problems of societal and economic injustice.

A country that does not care about enforcing its border will one day no longer be a country, or not the same country. Any country that tries to water down the border with its neighbor, that aids and abets the unlawful entry of its citizens into a neighbor, is not acting with friendly intentions.

Is this so difficult to understand?

We need to still our bleeding hearts long enough to let our brains absorb the probable end result of another decade or so of unrestricted immigration.

While it is a political question, the proper course of action should not be the one that garners the most votes, or ensures the election of a Democratic congress or the retention of a GOP congress. The proper course of action in this instance should and must be what is best for the citizens of the United States of America, the "we the people" referred to in the preamble of the Constitution.

Any office holder, including the president, who cannot see clear to first do his duty to country and posterity no longer has the moral right to decide even the least little decision. We the People should rise up at election time and vote for the honorable men and women who put their country's survival ahead of party and political games.

We've heard and read what the president had to say Monday night. We've heard and read a great deal of the commentary on his speech.

From our perspective, President Bush did not improve the long-term outlook with his proposals. They are not even half-a-loaf. It's the same old "open borders" (New World Order?) song-and-dance we've been getting from the "elites" who believe that nationhood and nationalities are passing away. He offered half-measures (temporary use of National Guard troops, but not on the border) that are only temporary, and little if anything new or constructive on how we are to get control of the borders.

We have tried to support Dubya at every reasonable opportunity. We have given him the benefit of the doubt on a few issues where we were not sure where his sentiments really were.

But on immigration he is wrong, and his wrong-way leadership will lead disastrous policies that in turn will lead to chaos and heartbreak, perhaps even hostilities between Mexico and the U.S.

This is worse than sad. It is stunningly myopic.

Pray for our nation.

Mark Inglis - Master of Everest, and More

This guy, Mark Inglis, is a stud.

A 47-year-old double amputee (from an earlier brush with mountaineering death), Inglis made it to the top of the world's tallest peak, Mount Everest, today (Monday, May 15). That's 8,850 meters or, for those who insist upon more elegant measurements, 29,035 feet. Anything over 10,000 feet is impressive to the Oklahomilist, who has trouble breathing on top of Pike's Peak. When you're climbing in the rare air of a low-flying 747, that's something.

Particularly now. We just finished reading "Into Thin Air," by Jon Kraukauer, a few days ago, about the 1996 disaster on Mount Everest when 12 climbers died, and many others suffered, when adversity turned against them. Never had much interest in climbing big peaks in far-off continents until reading this book, but found it fascinating.

A lot of experts in the climbing field believe that too many people are climbing Everest these days to make it much of a noble accomplishment. Others, however, point out that any mountaintop higher than 26,000 feet is a killer waiting for another chance to kill again. You can be the utmost in prepared and wind up a statistic if the elements turn against you, or some little thing goes wrong, or someone else loses it and costs you your life.

So bravo Mr. Inglis. You deserve every bit of attention you get for making it up and, more importantly, back down again.

Barry Bonds Update: Still no cigar

We are pleased to report that "cold turkey" from steroids seems as effective as withdrawal from any other substance. Bonds is still stuck on 713, is batting a meager .211, and is still getting booed unmercifully at venues other than in San Francisco.

Yeah, yeah, he'll get number 714 any day now, but the longer it takes the more obvious it becomes that now that he is unjuiced he is merely a good hitter, not a great one.

Barry Bonds Watch - No joy in steroidville

The 'Roidinator went 0 for 3 with a walk against Carlos Zambrano and the Cubbies last night, thus leaving him still yet one shy of tying the Babe. The Giants, who must be held somewhat responsible for feeding and promoting the beast, lost 8-1.

Thus Cosmic Balance is preserved for yet another day.

The Cubs will be called upon once again this afternoon to blunt Bonds' assault on the record.

Go Cubs!

A Bold Plan for America's Energy Independence (or, if you prefer, 'Who runs bartertown, baby!')

Coming soon to a universe neither parallel nor alternate.

Aunty Entity: We call it Underworld. That's where Bartertown gets its energy.

Mad Max: What, oil? Natural gas?

Aunty Entity: Pigs.

Mad Max: You mean pigs like those?

Aunty Entity: That's right.

Mad Max: Bullshit!

Aunty Entity: No. Pig shit.

Mad Max: What?

The Collector: Pig shit. The lights, the motors, the vehicles, all run by a high-powered gas called methane. And methane cometh from pig shit.

Okay, that extract of dialogue from, for lack of a better term, art, leads us to life:

UI researcher makes crude oil from pig manure

They say you can't turn a sow's ear into a silk purse, but University of Illinois researchers are working some interesting magic at the other end of the animal.

"We are the first to actually do this," professor Yuanhui Zhang says proudly of his team's ability to turn swine manure into crude oil. He's a bio-environmental engineer at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who has led the 10-year research project that recently announced a breakthrough in porcine petroleum.

That neat trick may sound crude.

But it also sounds good to a pork industry swamped with oceans of swine manure, and it sounds like the national anthem to those looking to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil.

A typical pig produces about 6 gallons of waste a day.

Right now the product is something close to diesel fuel, but research is still underway.

The U.S. currently uses over 20 million barrels of oil per day (according to the University of Omaha). This is 840 million gallons of gasoline. If pig manure could be converted with 100% efficiency (it can't) at 6 gallons per day per porker it would require 140 million pigs pooping to handle our oil needs!

Unless the pig population has increased a lot since 1999, there are only about 60 million red-blooded American pigs available. But pigs are prolific, producing average litters of seven piglets. By conserving on bacon and ham consumption for a year, we could build up pig numbers so that every family in America could do their part, by adopting a pig.

With a Manhattan Project style program, we could have pig poop processing plants placed in proper proportions to population centers, we think no later than 2010. Then we can thumb our collective noses at the shieks and the freaks (we're thinking Hugo Chavez). Added bonus: By pigifying our fruited plains, no self-respecting Islamo-fascist would want to get anywhere near our shores. Ah, yes, while weaning ourselves from the teat of foreign oil!

That leaves us with little else to say but ...


LIFT EMBARGO!

If the value of a penny is more than a penny ...

... then it stands to reason that they are worth collecting, right?

USA Today - Mcpaper - reports that the cost of minting a one-cent coin is now 1.23 cents, mostly because of the production costs. Each nickel costs 5.73 cents to produce, and the value of the metal is worth more than the coin.

This is the first time in history this has happened, the paper said.

The estimates take into account rising metals prices as well as processing, labor and transportation costs. Based on current metals prices, the value of the metal in a nickel alone is a little more than 5 cents. The metal in a penny, however, is still worth less than a penny.

"Higher zinc, copper and nickel prices are raising the production costs of the nation's coinage," the Mint said in the letter, which it provided to USA TODAY Tuesday.

Naturally the U.S. Mint people are telling us not to melt down the coins in our piggy banks, nor hoard them (really, would we be so foolish as to save money?). Melting doesn't work well anyway, since the coins are a blend of different metals and you'd spend a lot of time trying to separate them out. Or, as Moody's Metals Analyst Michael Helmar said,

"If they were made out of gold, sure," he says.

If they were made out of gold, our country would have the strongest currency on the planet. In fact, if the penny were made out of all copper (and it hasn't been 100% copper since 1837), they'd be almost as collectable as gold coins, and you wouldn't find them beneath the drive-through window!

Strangely enough, the Mint is one of the few outfits in the U.S. government that expects to make a profit each year, as it sells its production "at face value" to the misnamed Federal Reserve System. Even though it is losing money on pennies and nickels right now, it still expects to make nearly $700 million profit this year.

Go figure.

The Government Against the Minutemen?

What's wrong with this picture?

No, there isn't really a picture. It's just a phrase. A damn fine phrase, we would add, on a day in which there are so many weird, out-of-sync news bits dominating.

The yippin' and yappin' continues over the charge by certain Border Patrol people that the U.S. government, chiefly through the Department of Homeland Security and, possibly, elements of the limp-wristed state department, are tipping off Mexican authorities on areas where the volunteer Minutemen are on patrol.

And apparently there's a lot of fire to go with that smoke, according to Andrew McCarthy over at National Review. He has a nice overview of the flap and points out, as have others, that this new immigration news may be singularly responsible for President Bush's dismally low poll approval ratings. A couple of big points:

The Minutemen have been maligned by pro-illegal-alien lobbyists, swaths of the mainstream media, and—infuriatingly—President Bush himself as a “vigilante” group. In fact, they are a vigilance group.

Hear, hear! In fact, let's hear more about the Minutemen.

The project is a lawful association of citizens, multi-ethnic and multi-racial in background, who assiduously monitor the way government performs one of its most basic enforcement missions. That is to say, it does pretty much what CAIR and the ACLU do—except its efforts inure to the benefit of American national security rather than death-row inmates, terrorists, privacy extremists and self-styled dissidents … and thus it is frowned on by our high-minded clerisy.

The Minutemen are doing what the government refuses to do: closely watching the southern border and very publicly reporting to the under-resourced Border Patrol the tide of illegals pouring across. This sometimes shames our reluctant government into enforcing the immigration laws.

Obviously, the feds don’t like to be shamed.

Ya think? Read the rest yourself.

Not that we ever get "polled" but we can't see ourselves as having too many nice things to say right now about anyone in Washington, D.C., or in Oklahoma City, regardless of party.

That doesn't necessarily translate into a big liberal win at the polls next November, although it might serve some people right if the country were handed over to the Dems for a good mishandling for a couple of years. We'll probably hold our nose and vote for the lesser of evils, but if a new party espousing strong borders, fiscal responsibility (as in control spending and resist the impulse to hike taxes), and traditional moral values should come into existence, then we'd say a plague on both Repubs and Democrats.

Looks like Mr. Derbyshire already said the same thing, better:

This thing about our govt. colluding with Narcistan — sorry, I mean Mexico — to keep the flow of illegal immigrants coming, is the last straw. Either our govt. is criminally incompetent, or else it is maliciously hostile to ordinary American citizens. Or both.
...

I can't think of a single thing to say in favor of the national Republican party, its senators, representatives, governors, and administration. I can't think of a single reason why, right now, I should vote for any of them.

Of course, his colleagues over at The Corner are pointing out there isn't much in favor to speak of Democrats either.

Will someone please market some common sense pills, and quickly.

Thoughts before cookin' supper

This is one of those days we could easily forget blogging, and everything else, and go back to bed. Besides, the Cardinals have already played a day game (a 7-4 win over the Rockies) and Pujols hit home run number 18. (Congratulations to Chicago Cub outfielder Juan Pierre for "robbing" Barry Bonds of home run 714. May your heroic example inspire others to do the same.)

But where were we? Oh, yeah, it's one of those days when ...

... the cottonwood trees are exuding "cotton" or whatever it is that gives them their name. The brisk north wind that has followed last night's latest round of storm and rain makes it seem more like March than May, and the occasional fluffy shower looks like snow flurries.

Although the nose knows better. Snow does not exert a hay fever effect on us.

The cottonwood is a necessary price to pay for Green Country becoming green once more, and we are thankful for the recent and many rains that have banished the burn bans. Now if we could only figure out what's wrong with the grill, the Quality of Life Meter would be lifting into the Zone of Excellence.

The Oklahomilist will thus stand the heat of the kitchen tonight as he prepares chicken fried steak, cheese potatoes, and fried squash, preceded naturally with a healthy mixed greens with tomatoes salad. Yes, we live in the SOUTHwestern U.S.

The Best Baseball Player of all time

It was, is and likely always will be George Herman "Babe" Ruth.

Despite the egotistical pretensions of Barry Bonds, he will never be the "best that ever was" because until he wins 94 games as a Major League pitcher, with an earned run average of at least 2.28, Bonds will be just another overweight guy swinging a bat.

Babe Ruth not only carried a .342 batting average to go with his 714 home runs, for the first six years he was in the American League, with Boston, he was a pitcher. That meant not batting most of the time, although in 1919 he led the league with 29 home runs. Even after he was no longer considered a pitcher he managed to pitch in 5 more games for the Yankees - and won all 5.

Credit the Yankees with the good sense to put the Babe in the batters box everyday by switching him to a player position.

In 22 seasons he carried a .968 fielding percentage with only 179 errors.

Bonds has played all of parts of 21 seasons, is a .300 hitter and has appeared in 169 more games than the Babe. As of this moment, at least, he is still one home run shy of Babe's record. If the Bambino could've played in 170 additional games, his number would be considerably greater than 714.

Also, while Bonds has 1,865 RBIs, Babe had 2,211. Difference, 346 in Ruth's favor. That is not an insignificant number.

Babe Ruth had 2,873 hits and a .690 slugging percentage. Bonds has 2,759 and a .611. We would argue that Babe was more of a team player in that he was willing to put the ball into play to score baserunners more often than we have seen Barry try.

Also, Bonds-boosters frequently boast of how many times he has been walked: 2,341. But Babe Ruth was walked 2,062 times. The edge - 279 - goes to Bonds, but it is not nearly as telling a statistic as RBIs. Walks are potential runs; RBIs are tallies on the board.

Finally, lest we forget, while the Babe was accused of ingesting certain liquid substances, they were hardly performance enhancing.

But Bonds ...

Time to hire security help

As we read about a couple of service stations in the Saint Louis, Mo., area having their pumps reprogrammed to provide free gasoline, it occurred to us that perhaps the solution to the rampant theft of such things (copper wiring and air-conditioner units are also on the top of the thieves' shopping list these days) might be an old idea.

Hire more help, principally with security.

But do a better job of screening the new hires than you did with the old ones who obviously leaked gasoline pump keys and codes to evil-doers.

Many businesses have a problem with shop-lifting. Most people have no idea how few security safeguards exist. Again, the solution is to put human bodies - not cameras - in the aisles, particularly if they are trained and plain-clothed and in communication with other security people.

Rip-offs are not supposed to be a cost of doing business, and the Amoral Corporate Code that let us get into this mess (some bean-counter somewhere decided it would be cheaper to factor in the price of theft rather than prevent it with paid help) is part of the reason for the American decline in values.

But then, that's just our opinion. We've been severely ticked off with corporate America ever since gasoline service stations went from full-service (with jobs) to no-service (and many fewer jobs, especially for teens).

Biting the hand that fed you

Tilda Swinton played the "White Witch" in the Chronicles of Narnia, released last year by Disney. Speaking in San Francisco - where else? - Swinton decided to let us know how she really felt about the movie:

She told the audience: "Last year, in the process of promoting two fantasy films for different Hollywood studios, I was advised on the proper protocol for talking about religion in America today.

"In brief, the directive was, hold your hands high where all can see them, step away from the vehicle and enunciate clearly, nothing to declare."

Swinton followed these statements with an attack on the politics of many powerful figures in the film industry.

Speaking about The Chronicles of Narnia, which in the run-up to its release was given a huge push by the Church, Swinton said: "I love the idea of goose-stepping old Walt D making over $700m with the help of a Red Witch. He is more than welcome.

"At least we made her whiter than white, the ultimate white supremacist, and we managed to railroad the knee-jerk attempt to make her look like an Arab."

If Hollywood were truly run by conservatives, Swinton would never again work in that town. Chances are she'll have dozens of scripts on her doorstep for review within days.

Local observations on low riders

What with Oklahoma legalizing tatooing, body piercings becoming an accepted fashion statement, and young people changing their hair color so often that they no longer remember their natural shade, the Oklahomilist is finding himself increasingly on the leading edge of societal withdrawl (forget about that evolutionary thing).

So you can imagine how it gladdened his heart to read today where MeeCiteeWurker attempted a one-man intervention with a young gal who sported generous butt-crackage whilst standing before him at a convenience store checkout. His depiction of the event is worth a read.

It brought to the fore an incident last week in which a young gal of around 18 or 19, we would guess, caught our attention in the condiments aisle of the local supermarket. Our initial gaze was drawn by the rear view of crackage, and while we were "tut-tutting" mentally, she whirled around a gave us a good look at the low-slung front, all the more easily seen because of her mid-riff blouse. And there was hair. Down there.

She smiled, as we seem to remember, though we were agape and, frankly, aghast. She seemed to enjoy the attention.

Turning quickly away, and with nary a word, we hurried to what we hoped would be a safer area. Canned soup, if memory serves, but memory has been troubled since that moment and may not yet be totally reliable.

MeeCiteeWurker has declared moral jihad on all low riders who come within his zone of influence. He is, no doubt, younger and surer-footed than we are. We praise his courage and wish him godspeed, in every sense.

It's true: Trust no one

Paraplegic man stabs three people

The only good news in this is that a baby in a car safety seat was not harmed.

It's a family thing, we think

Concerning Cong. Patrick Kennedy's wee-hours car crash, we have but this to say:

Like father, like son.

But if you want something more, you know, like in-depth coverage of his press conference and speculation as to why he wasn't "breathalized" by Capitol Hill cops, and why the press is giving him the benefit of the doubt necessary for this not to hurt his career, then trek on over to Michelle for her take and related links.

'We don't serve your kind in here ...'

Family Kicked Out Of Buffet Restaurant For Wasting Food

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Wendy Dershem may think twice before leaving that egg roll on her plate at her next Chinese buffet.

The Des Moines woman, her boyfriend and her two children were kicked out of a restaurant last week after management accused her of leaving too much food on her plate.

"They told us we are not welcome there anymore," said Dershem, a repeat customer at the Dragon House buffet. "We waste too much food. But the buffet is all you can eat. And you know kids. They won't always eat everything and they want something else."

Oh, tell the violinists to take a break and spare us the sob-story. Change the word "customer" to "offender" in the above paragraph and you have the real story. A mother who won't discipline her children, and who expects someone else to pick up the tab for their wastefulness.

Here's the side of the Chinese restaurant management:

"They just take one bite and throw it away," said cashier Lin Huyen. "They take four egg rolls and crab rangoon, take one bite of egg roll and throw the whole plate. That is wasting food."

Dershem said she was shocked by the scolding and complained to management. Dragon House manager Kent Cao said his restaurant offers all you can eat buffet, not all you can waste. Dershem's family took food, didn't finish it and then piled on the same food again, he said.

"Shes done that too many times," Cao said.

While it may or may not be true that their are starving children in China, at least the Chinese proprietors have the common sense to reserve the right to reject wasteful clientele.

Sure, some do-gooder government agency will probably step in and threaten to punish the Mr. Cao for his good sense, and likely nobody will give Ms. Dershem anything but sympathy as she weeps and moans over the loss of unlimited Moo Goo Gai Pan for $5.95.

Yes, you may color the Oklahomilist, whose mama taught him to always clean his plate, an insensitive philistine.

On NASA archeology

Bert Rutan, the driving force behind the privately financed Space Ship One, has harsh words for NASA:

“They are forcing the program to be done with technology that we already know works. They are not creating an environment where it is possible to have a breakthrough,” Rutan advised. “It doesn’t make sense,” he said, contending that programs must encourage risks “in order to stumble into breakthroughs.”

Rutan is right, and he should know. He's highly driven to get a private space fleet underway with the help of billionaire Sir Richard Branson, who wants to take passengers into sub-orbital flights on Virgin Galactic spaceways.

Rutan says he wants to go to the moon "in my lifetime." If the NASA plan to return to the Moon and Mars goes forward anywhere even close to the plan, Rutan won't be going. Government interference with private companies attempting space exploration threatens to halt the entire process.

A half-century after the nation first began a space program, the outlook is not promising, and there is little to get the American public excited again. It could be argued that more people oppose space exploration than support it today, some for good reasons. (And others who are just know-nothing naysayers.) Several high profile failures have brought NASA to the point where it seems incapable of daring innovations and, worse, making intelligent safety decisions on what it already has.

It is painfully obvious that NASA is a victim of bureaucratization and loss of nerve. NASA is actually "reverting" to old technology. Rutan calls it "archeology." But the problem may not totally be with budgets and vision: there is a concern that today's NASA personnel do not have the cojones to do space well.

NASA’s space shuttle is complex and generically dangerous, Rutan pointed out. Still, not flying the shuttle to the Hubble Space Telescope is symbolic of a larger issue.

“The budget forecast [for NASA] is to go out and spend hundreds of billions of dollar to go to Mars and yet you don’t have the courage to go back to the Hubble … it looks like you got the wrong guys doing it,” Rutan concluded.

Which is why the U.S., always claiming to be the champion of private enterprise, ought to become the cheerleader for private groups to take us to the next level. Left up to NASA, it may never happen.

Meddling into local schools at a macro level (or Slick Willie campaigns for Sec-Gen)

There is a fine line between doing good and meddling. William Jefferson Clinton - and the foundation that bears his name - does not understand that this line exists.

We refer to the much-ballyhooed announcement today that the WJC Foundation has brokered an agreement among the nation's major soft drink companies to quit marketing soda pop and whole milk to public, and perhaps even private, schools.

From the self-congratulatory comment, you'd think Slick Willie's boys had resolved all crises of the Middle East.

"This is a bold step forward in the struggle to help 35 million young people lead healthier lives," former President Clinton said at a news conference. "This one policy can add years and years and years to the lives of a very large number of young people."

Change the word "help" to "force" and you have a better understanding of what is going on. Furthermore, we question whether there is proof that "this one policy" will add "years and years and years" to the lives of young people, whatever the number. Typical Clinton bullshit.

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a collaboration between Clinton's foundation and the American Heart Association, helped broker the deal.

"The soft drink industry has decided that it won't wait to be pushed," said Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the co-chair of the alliance. "It jumped in. ... It may be the soft drink industry, but they made a very hard decision."

The move follows a mounting wave of regulation by school boards and legislators alarmed by reports of rising childhood obesity. Soda has been a particular target of those fighting obesity because of its caloric content and popularity among children.

If you really believe in the principles of federalism and subsidiarity, which we do, then this entire episode is enough to make you want to find a remote cave, stock up on canned goods, have a good supply of ammo, a portable generator, and retire within to wait out the coming collapse of the old Republic.

Of course soda pop isn't good for you. That isn't the issue. The issue is that the decision whether or not to allow Pepsi or Coke to put machines down at the end of the hall, and in the cafeteria, should be made by local elected school boards, the unit of government closest to the people most directly affected.

These decisions should not be made by unelected corporate bureaucrats, social do-gooders and "I want to be the next secretary-general of the U.N." pimping foundations.

But the mantra is that the little people do not know enough to make good decisions, so we will take that right away from them. Even in a good cause, this is a bad thing. Because if enough of the little people, after awhile, come to expect that it doesn't matter what they think anyway and, after all, William Jefferson "Slick" is on the case, then local government isn't representative.

The evil expressed in Gov. Huckabee's statement that the soft drink industry didn't wait "to be pushed" is enough to condemn the entire proceedings. There's Big Brother, standing by with his lap dogs of trial lawyers and threats of legislation, warning us to cower before the assembled majesty of "those who know better." Just thinking about this makes us want to go out and grab a non-diet Coke in protest.

The banning of whole milk in elementary and middle schools, in particular, is asinine. Yeah, the American Heart Association has been bleating about the dangers of whole milk for a few decades, but more recent research has shown that the fat content of one's diet isn't nearly as critical, if at all, than the overall balance of what we eat, and exercise.

Most children, with the exception of the most severely obese, would be better served with whole milk. At least parents ought to have a say in what kind of milk their children drink. With Clinton's food Nazis continuing their work, how long is it before whole milk is taken out of the coolers in the grocery stores?

The Oklahomilist is not above experimenting in his own lab. For years our children drank low-fat milk as we ritually obeyed the political correct rules of modern health "authorities." Not only were his kids not fat, they were under-developed. But one day, with a demented cackle born of curiosity and inspiration, he brought home a gallon of regular Vitamin D-rich, homogenized whole milk.

Of course the children gagged on the unexpectedly rich, flavorful liquid. But since they didn't have any choice nor knew enough to call the child welfare authorities, they drank deep and ate it with their Cocoa Puffs. In a short time, they raved about whole milk. When Mrs. Oklahomilist tried to backslide with the purchase of a gallon of 2%, the next generation arose in protest over the "pitiful" and "foul tasting" abomination that it is.

But the story doesn't end there. An interesting thing took place. In the next six months, our children, of varying ages, experienced growth spurts. There were fewer instances of colds and allergies. Instead of becoming fat and sassy, they become muscular and active.

It was enough to convince even the backsliding better half that the "experts" were wrong. End of personal story; back to the issue at hand.

Finally, in a journalistic technique known as burying inconvenient information, the WaPo concluded its story with this tidbit:

Most elementary schools are already soda-free.

Oh, gee. Then all of this syrupy self-congratulation is so much propaganda designed to get certain big names in the news.

Disgusting.

Richard Dreyfuss speaks, and makes sense

Richard Dreyfuss - yes, that Richard Dreyfuss - in an interview with Reuters takes out after the mainstream news media (MSM) and, wonder of wonders, says nothing in the published interview with which we can disagree.

"There is no room to pause, no room to think," Dreyfuss, who starred in films ranging from "Jaws" to "Mr Holland's Opus" told Reuters in a recent telephone interview.

"We don't build into our system of thoughts the need to explain, the media doesn't build that into its transmission of knowledge and information."

That creates what Dreyfuss calls "shaped news" -- a version of events according to how the mainstream media want audiences to see what happened, and a violation of journalism's core value of objectivity.

Citizen journalism is playing a vital part in broadening news coverage, as well as scrutinizing professional journalism, Dreyfuss said.

"Information from more than one source is good. I'm totally in favor of it, even if people send propaganda. In the aggregate you can find more truth than in one opinion."

But despite an explosion in blogs, people's views of the news is still shaped by what powerful media corporations print, broadcast and put on their Web sites, Dreyfuss, 58, said.

"Do the mainstream media ever tell their readers 'Don't believe everything we tell you?' No, they don't."

So far, so good. Dreyfuss goes on to discuss the images of the Twin Towers falling that, because they were seen everywhere instantly, provoked mass reaction instantly. That's a fair enough comment. He does not say that the reaction was wrong. He also echoes one of our pet peeves with George W. Bush on the use of the "war on terror."

"The 'war on terror' -- objection to using this term is dead. It's become part of our vocabulary, but what does it really mean? You should know more specifically what you are fighting."

Ditto, we say, the "war on" hunger, poverty, racism, etc. These terms are too broad and allow for over-reaching. Let's be more specific, like the "war on radical Islamists ... where 'ere they may found."

Dreyfuss is often allied on the liberal, even the moonbat liberal, side of things, but from his words it appears that his logic isn't so much unsound as it is employed for the benefit of people who are undeserving of it. Perhaps his newfound interest in civics is changing his perspective. Who knows? Someday a conservative Dreyfuss?

We are discomfitted enough just knowing that we find ourselves in basic agreement with this latest interview. Should he become a conservative, that will be the day to head out to stockpile beans, flour and MREs, and look for a portable generator. The last days will evidently be upon us.

We smell a conspiracy

After four days adrift without the better half, who was in Chicago for a seminar, we joyfully showed up at Tulsa International Airport on Monday, actually watching her plane, one of those small, express jets, waggle its wings on its descent to the runway.

We parked in the short-term "Your first 30 minutes is FREE!" parking, for once getting a parking spot so close to the terminal building we could have hit it with a rock (in the event we were suicidal, of course).

Mrs. Oklahomilist arrived about 15 minutes later in the baggage claim area. Happy to see her, and almost as happy that we would easily be back at the car before the end of the 30 minutes. But the carousel remained silent. A large crowd of anxious, travel weary Okies began to gather.

Minutes ticked by. No bags, luggage or wheeled carts. No boxes secured with duct tape (there's always at least one on every flight, you know).

Finally, at 5:30, the alarm sounded, and the carousel creaked to life. A couple of minutes later her cart arose out of the purgatorial reaches below us, we grabbed it and walked the short distance to the car.

It was, naturally, too late. It cost $2 for 36 minutes of space rental in a half-empty parking lot. For those of you keeping score at home, that's the equivalent of $80 per day. The actual day rate for short term is $8.95. Suffice to say that the airport authority does not believe in accurate pro-rating.

Which leads to the natural assumption that the airlines, perhaps as a condition of their terminal rights, have probably agreed to delay sending baggage to the newly arrived just long enough to make sure that their husbands, wives and significant others get stuck with $2 parking fees, especially now that You Absolutely Cannot Park adjacent to the terminal. There is a sign explaining that these security procedures are FOR YOUR SAFETY.

The $2 fee is just a coincidence, isn't it?

File it Under: "This used to be a Helluva Good Country"

What happens when a blogger posts a link to a state tourism ad and points out that the phone number on the ad is a phone sex line?

He becomes the target of a multi-million dollar lawsuit, of course.

Lance Dutson, the blogger of MaineWebReport, explains:

Warren Kremer Paino Advertising has filed a 3 count multi-million dollar federal lawsuit against me for the reporting I’ve done in this blog. They are claiming defamation, libel, and copyright infringement.

Getting the sheriff to deliver the suit to me, in front of my kids and neighbors, is the latest freaked-out situation this Office of Tourism has put me in. I have to say this has disrupted the Dutson household a bit, that’s what happens when someone files a crushing lawsuit that, if successful, would utterly destroy my life.

So here I am, one man against the state and its contractors, put in the position of shutting up or being pounded by their deep pockets and a wild misconception of what the court system is supposed to be used for. One person who has exposed a cavalcade of incompetence and who has to choose to allow it, or face an onslaught of personal attack and legal action.

This is crap, total crap and I’m not going to fold, not at this point. They’ve already screwed with me and my family so much, and I will not be bullied into discontinuing my work here. This state agency is wasting money, telling stories, and paying subcontractors who seem more focused on spending their time and money bludgeoning critics with legal threats and lawsuits rather than working to promote Maine tourism.

This is supposed to be our biggest industry, but it’s being run like a trailer-park daycare on its 3rd notice from the Human Services people.

(You gotta love the "trailer park daycare" line.)

Fortunately a team of volunteers is rushing in to help Dutson, including a couple of capable attorneys, and scores of Pajamahadeen and even some MSM press coverage is airing out this controversy to the point where perhaps someone with some sense in the hierarchy that is the State of Maine will realize that their efforts to muzzle a lone individual have hurt the state far, far more than he possibly ever could have.

We expect a happy ending, but the process itself is disheartening. That modern government and its corporate lackeys (masters?) are all hubris and no humor, and that more often than not they resort to wielding the big, legal stick as their first option, is disgusting.

Perhaps more correctly, it shows the creators of the ad have a perverted sense of the use of humor. They want to use it to make money. When non-profit humor (at their expense) is employed, they react angrily, punitively, as if the very concept of the free expression of laughter is now forbidden in their America. It's as if they are saying, "when we use humor for profit, we are funny; when you use humor to mock our mistake, you are road kill."

Perhaps we should forget the border rules; let all who wish to enter, do so. (We've never met a hispanic with a lousy sense of humor.) Then deport every humorless, government tit-sucking corporate weasel and his attorney-familiar to Mexico. Or Venezuela.

Evan Bayh - Combining respect for the Constitution with Proven National Defense Stewardship

Seen on Drudge: "Dem '08 Hopeful Bayh: Electoral College should be eliminated."

If Evan Bayh wants to be president, he's knows he's going to need a lot more votes than he's gonna get, and in a lot more than one Indiana-like (conservative) state.

So ditching a major provision of the Constitution doesn't bother him, no sir. The Democratic Party will not rest until it has eliminated every last vestige of the Old Republic, thus resorting to the manipulation of the masses to regain power.

On the lighter side, in the article in the Raleigh-Durham News-Observer which featured a Q&A segment, Bayh was asked how a Democrat gets elected in GOP-leaning Indiana. It included this statement:

"I reach out to all the citizens of our state and let them know that I care about them and their values. I am not an aloof figure, I hope. Finally, they have to know when they go to bed at night [that] you can be a good steward of our national security. Too many people think, nationally, that the Democrats are weak and can't be trusted on that. I don't think that is true. We have to let them know we are capable on that issue."

We had no idea the governor of Indiana had such powers. Thank God, Bayh is our national defense steward and not those halfwits in Washington.

Yeah, yeah: Call it a Posting Boycott. And speaking of Boycotts ...

Though not in solidarity with illegal immigrants.

Solidarity with the ongoing challenges of life.

Logged over 700 miles from Friday to this morning and went absolutely nowhere, but every gasoline-saturated mile was unavoidable. Fortunately the gas price has dropped considerably from last Thursday's $2.79 per to a slightly more tolerable $2.59 (although last night we saw $2.56 in Shawnee, Okla.) Hate to think what summer vacation might cost if the formerly unthinkable happens and we have $100/barrel oil. That should translate into at least $4 per gallon unleaded, and probably more like $5.

Might have to open that pool in the backyard after all. With higher electric rates we've been mulling keeping the lid on this summer.

Naturally the big news of the day is the Immigrant Protest being staged in virtually every city in the land. The goal, the newsies keep insisting, is to show us how much of our economic lives are dependent upon foreign workers, especially those who do not have green cards or citizenship.

Goals are one thing. Results are another. Our prediction is that America, being its schizophrenic self these days, will be split right down the middle. On one side will be the patriotic, somewhat conservative minded folks who don't necessarily dislike hispanics but who intensely dislike having our borders violated, our wages undercut, and our culture dissed. On the other side, the usual suspects: the squishy, touchy-feeley "can't we all just get along," "America is inherently racist, dontcha know," and "Don't criminalize illegal immigrants" crowd. You know, your typical Algore voter.

End result: a lot of building anger. Anger at the government for getting us into this mess, especially toward a Congress that cannot seem to agree on anything and thus does almost nothing. Anger at the businesses and corporations that have been winking at the immigration laws and employing large numbers of illegal workers to keep wage pressures down. Anger at the President for his near tone-deaf approach to relations with Mexico. Also, anger at the government from the lefties (who always seem angry with the government anyway, so maybe that's no big deal).

What we would hate to see is militancy among the masses. There is a report this morning that Latinos in SoCal are being encouraged to arm themselves. The Oklahomilist cannot even begin to describe what a Bad Idea this is. Once there is violence, once you light a match to a situation that is saturated with the aerosol of unhappiness and anger, there is no telling how many people will be hurt.

We have no quarrel with hispanics who want to live in the United States. Come, legally. We need you, especially if you are God-fearing and hard-working (as the vast majority are). Hell, we need your presence to offset the goofy, amoral lefties among the old Anglo citizenry.

But those whose main wish is to turn the Southwestern USA into Mexico Norte can expect to be opposed, sooner or later, and it will not be pretty. We do not want Mexican law or Mexican crime. (U.S. crime is quite sufficiemente, gracias.) We do not want Mexican restrictions on economic liberty, or its official hostility to the Church. We do not want its increasingly lax approach to recreational drug use.

We fear that many activitists for today's boycott (and tomorrow's reconquista) badly underestimate the odds of their success. There is a quite real possibility of backlash. We cite, for example, this column in the Salem, Oregon Statesman-Journal. If female health care workers on the Left Coast are becoming angry, the cause is lost.

The attempting hijacking of the "Star Spangled Banner" also does not sit well. Renaming it "Our Hymn" ("Nuestra Himno") and having it totally in Spanish displays exactly the kind of non-assimulation attitude that is at the heart of the illegal immigration crisis.

There are also indications - additional reasons for rising disgust - that the May Day Boycott is being coordinated with groups in Mexico, if not the Mexican government itself. Check out what's happening today down south as there is a Union Rally against "Gringo" products.

MEXICO CITY - A demonstration by thousands of Mexican workers Friday to promote union solidarity turned into a protest against America's vast influence on the nation's economy, with many protesters saying they will take part in a boycott of all things "gringo" on Monday.

Waving signs saying "Don't Buy Gringo Products. Long Live the Boycott," about 3,000 workers with Mexico's state-owned electrical utility blocked traffic on a major highway and then marched two miles to a colonial plaza in the city's center.

The proposed boycott — known as the "Nothing Gringo" campaign — is timed to coincide with Monday's "Day Without Immigrants" protest in the U.S. aimed at pushing forward a proposal for immigration reform including legalization for many of the estimated 11 million undocumented migrants.

In Mexico, the boycott has also turned into a rallying cry for groups opposed to U.S. economic influence south of the American border.

Maybe we should do a reverse NAFTA. We'll quit trying to change your country and culture with our people and our businesses, if you'll withdraw yours from our country.