Threat to traditional values

Is this the Macaca incident part deux? Virginia Representative Virgil H. Goode Jr. has opened his mouth and stuffed his foot firmly inside. How much more un-American can you be than to issue this kind of warning?

I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped.

His website gives details on how to contact him directly to complain. Or perhaps you might want to point out the real threat to the nation’s values are the closed-minded intolerant folks and lying cheats who try and find scapegoats.

If Goode needs to bellyache, perhaps he could highlight the defeat of men like Congressman Don Sherwood this past November:

A Republican congressman accused of abusing his ex-mistress agreed to pay her about $500,000 (€390,000) in a settlement last year that contained a powerful incentive for her to keep quiet until after election day, a person familiar with the terms of the deal told The Associated Press.

Congressman Don Sherwood is locked in a tight re-election race against a Democratic opponent who has seized on the four-term congressman’s relationship with the woman. Republicans are struggling to hold onto power in Congress in the Nov. 7 elections, and President George W. Bush recently campaigned for Sherwood.

Sherwood, a 65-year-old married father of three who is considered a family-values conservative, had one of the safest seats in Congress until Cynthia Ore sued him in June 2005, alleging he physically abused her throughout their five-year affair.

Or is Goode afraid to take a stand against lying, cheating and manipulative members of government for fear of having a platform that is too controversial?

If he wants to come to terms with the true threats to his nation’s values, like George Allen, perhaps he should first take a long hard look in the mirror. I mean when it comes to someone who calls upon “tradition” do you really want Goode as a leader? Consider this analysis of Goode’s loyalties:

This is no story of a man without a party, a representative as solid as a rock in an ever-changing political world. Virgil Goode is a turncoat, plain and simple — he’s available to the highest bidder.

And then, in August of this year, the heat headed towards Goode based on some rather shady financial dealings:

Mitchell Wade is giving Jack Abramoff a run for his money in the headlines department. Wade, he of the Duke Cunningham bribery scandal, has also had questionable dealings with Reps. Katherine Harris (R-FL) and Virgil Goode (R-VA). It’s Goode that we’re concerned with now.

Company of Cunningham and Harris? Interesting. I also can’t help but notice he has been rated as a 100% regressive unAmerican by the Vote Record and Cosponsorship site. It is not hard to understand why, if you read some of the details:

Regressive, destructive, and downright unAmerican actions Rep. Goode has taken that contribute to a RCS of 100:

[…]

The way that U.S. citizenship works is pretty simple when you get down to it: if you are born in this country, you are a citizen. Leave it to Representative Virgil Goode to come up with a way to change that. Representative Goode has thrown support behind H.R. 698, which would deny citizenship to American-born babies if their parents aren’t themselves citizens. Such a change would move us toward the German model of citizenship, in which families who have lived in Germany for generations were denied citizenship because they lacked the so-called “virtue” of a German bloodline.

Even more bizarrely under this bill, if a baby is born in America of a father who is a citizen and a mother who is not, the baby is denied American citizenship if the father and mother are not married. Yes, you are reading that right — the Republicans even want to deny babies citizenship when the father is himself a citizen. How extreme. How xenophobic. How simply unacceptable.

Ouch. And a little more research found that the co-sponsor of this bill explained himself this way:

“If you’re coming here illegally, you shouldn’t be benefiting from it,” [co-sponsor, Rep. Gary Miller, R-CA] said. “If I rob a bank, and left some money to my kids, should they be allowed to keep it?”

Fitting analogy from someone who serves on the House Financial Services Committee. Too bad he’s so incredibly off-base with his analysis, and also too bad he’s being accused of using his office for personal profit. It will be a real shame for his children and his children’s children if he is convicted. Maybe these new allegations will slow him down a bit before he proposes that Homeland Security scan records for criminal activity in your family going back two generations and then penalize the entire family for the crime? Imagine what happens when your grandparent can’t find (or never had!) a birth certificate or immigration papers? Sorry, your entire family will have to leave the country now. And then maybe he’ll just advocate that the US create an official profile for suspicious or “potentially illegal” people and come up with a “solution”….

Incidentally, Miller used to run the G. Miller Development company in the 1970s. Wonder how many people with foreign ancestry he relied upon in Whittier, CA (Los Angeles) to get his career started? And I am absolutely sure he does not count people who lived in the area prior to its annexation by America as “native”.

Major ancestry groups reported by Whittier residents include:
· Mexican – 46%
· German – 8%
· English – 7%
· Other Hispanic or Latino – 7%
· Irish – 6%
· Italian – 4%
· French (except Basque) – 2%
· Central American: – 2%
· Scottish – 2%
· American Indian tribes, specified – 1%
· Black or African American – 1%
· Dutch – 1%
· Polish – 1%
· Japanese – 1%
· Filipino – 1%
· Swedish – 1%
· Norwegian – 1%
· Scotch-Irish – 1%
· Russian – 1%
· Armenian – 1%
· Chinese, except Taiwanese – 1%
· Salvadoran – 1%
· Spanish – 1%
· Danish – 1%
· South American – 1%
· European – 1%

Nonetheless, I have to ask who traditionally lived there?

Inhabited by indigenous people for millennia, California was first colonized by the Spanish in 1769, and after Mexican independence in 1821, continued as part of Mexico. Following a brief period as the independent California Republic in 1846, California was annexed by the United States that same year, and was admitted to the Union as the thirty-first state on September 9, 1850.

Ok, anyone who can not prove their Mexican/Spanish/indigenous descent, Congressman Miller and Goode say that your non-traditional “Bear Flagger” ancestors did bad things (like illegally settling the area and starting a revolt and secession movement — robbing Mexico of the territory) so you have to leave now. Hmmm, any chance Miller will follow his own advice and leave California? But who would allow such a staunch opponent of immigration to immigrate?

Time to patch

RedSeal has posted results of a survey about the time it takes companies to patch:

Once the need for a patch is determined, 34 percent of respondents indicated it takes between one day and one week to implement them while 29 percent of respondents need between a week and a month. 23 percent say they are able to implement patches within 24 hours while 13 percent of respondents indicated that they do not know how long their patch implementation takes.

Pretty good results, if you ask me, as that means 34 + 29 + 23 = 86 percent are able to patch within a month. That only leaves 13 percent and they might actually fall into the other group, but just weren’t sure — “do not know how long” does not necessarily mean longer than 30 days.

Hmmm, we’re missing one percent. How many participated? I probably should point out that the survey was done during a 2006 RedSeal “webinar”, and thus it also may only reflect the type of person interested in evaluating/buying a RedSeal product.

Disney 0wns Santa

Or maybe I should say they claim to 0wn Santa? Either way, if you look anything like Santa you should beware the Disney legal enforcement team.

The BBC tells a disturbing story about how the giant corporation reacted when kids seemed to like something on location that Disney was not able to profit directly from:

When James Worley paid a visit to Disney World in Florida his portly frame and white beard soon had kids asking: “Are you Santa Claus?”

Not wanting to disappoint, Mr Worley, 60, played along with some “ho-ho-hos”.

But Disney officials descended, telling him to stop the impersonation or get out of the park. They said they wanted to preserve the magic of Santa.

Mr Worley took off his red hat and red shirt but said: “I look this way 24/7, 365 days a year. This is me.”

[…]

He said Disney had told him “Santa was considered a Disney character”.

Officials at Disney World’s Epcot park said they had had complaints from “several guests who were very upset”.

Hard to tell if the story is exaggerated or leaving out crucial details. For instance, some parents are terrified of imposter Santas, and they often have good reason to be afraid.

In fact, maybe someone can make a case for Disney trying to prevent someone from trying to take advantage of children. But when you get right down to it, that would hardly be different than the laws outside the walls of Disneydom and the last time I checked you can be a happy Santa-lookalike all you want. Thus, the difference does seem to be that Disney has claimed Santa as their own character.

Let this be a warning to anyone who might happen resemble the “next” Disney character.

Even better, perhaps they’ll license your fingerprint too and then charge you to touch things? What will their lawyers think of next?

Oh, by the way. Disney is raking in the profits. I haven’t looked at the statements in detail, but something tells me it is very lucrative for them to take public domain stories like Cinderella, Pinocchio, the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Snow White, etc. and call them “owned”:

“It is a result of the incredible creativity at our company,” [president and chief executive Bob Iger] added.

Indeed, I say it takes a lot of creativity to say that Santa is “considered a Disney character”, especially in the Christmas season.