Monthly Archives: October 2008

Hazelton Fights Federal Frankenstein

Heroic Hazelton goes up against the ACLU and Federal occupiers. I gave you my take on the town’s plight in “Aliens in the Own Hometown.” Read it for background. I’ll quote one paragraph:

“Reasonable people can debate the constitutionality of [Mayor Louis] Barletta’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act and other Ordinances; only sophists would depict these as a usurpation of federal authority. What next? Banning the neighborhood watch for busying itself with crime? Doesn’t that overlap with state police activities?”

Here’s an update on the case. Transcripts are courtesy of CNN’s Lou Dobbs:

Hazleton, Pennsylvania, is one town that knows firsthand the impact of illegal immigration and what’s required to fight back. The city’s Illegal Immigration Reform Act was struck down by a federal judge more than a year ago. The case is now before an appellate court. At issue? Hazleton’s right to hold employers and landlords responsible for doing business with illegal aliens. Bill Tucker has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just 200 yards from the birthplace of Liberty, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, lawyers came and judges convened to hear arguments over a town’s limits on governing itself. The courtroom was packed.

The city of Hazleton arguing that its ordinances punishing employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens and landlords who rent to illegal aliens are proper and necessary. Lawyers for the ACLU and other groups contend the local ordinances are unconstitutional.

The city appealed to a federal appeals panel after losing its case in the lower district court. But much has changed since those initial arguments. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of the state of Arizona, which has similar statutes and a federal district court ruled that Valley Park, Missouri’s local ordinances modeled after Hazleton’s, are legal.

KRIS KOBACH, ATTORNEY FOR HAZLETON: We urge the 3rd Circuit to remain consistent with what the 9th Circuit did out in California and uphold the abilities of cities and states to take limited steps to encourage the enforcement of federal immigration laws.

TUCKER: The ACLU argued the original court order should be allowed to stand. Otherwise, they argued, there will be a patchwork of immigration laws.

WITOLD WALCZAK, ATTORNEY, ACLU: If the court allows laws like Hazleton to go forward, what you’re going to have is immigrant- friendly and immigrant-hostile enclaves in this country.

TUCKER: He rejects the argument that all Hazleton is trying to do is draft laws that are in compliance with federal law. And he argues that the notion of determining a person’s legal status is more complicated than just knowing if they’re unlawfully present in the country. The mayor of Hazleton stands by his law, which has never been enforced.

MAYOR LOU BARLETTA, HAZLETON, PA: I’ll fight this all the way to the Supreme Court. I believe what we’re doing is right and that we have the right to do this.

TUCKER: He may get that chance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCKER: Now just when that day might be, Lou, we don’t know. According to the lawyers, it could take anywhere from four months to a year before the court issues its ruling. Lou?

Jews Against Judaism

Capitalism, Democrats, Economy, Free Markets, Judaism & Jews

The excerpt is from “Jews Against Judaism,” which you can read on WND.com:

“Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida) has become a popular participant on cable TV shout-fests. The pretty blond puts her velvety voice and forceful personality to use in promoting Obama’s statist schemes. (“Obama, a leftist big-government progressive”, has, naturally, captured the media’s imagination more so than “McCain, a conservative big-government progressive.”) …

Wasserman Schultz’s Jewishness is central to her political pitch. (But her double-barreled, affectatious surname isn’t; so I’m dropping it.) Her congressional page states that she is “the first Jewish Congresswoman ever elected from Florida.” Another of Wasserman’s listed accomplishments is to have called on the president to declare a Jewish American Heritage Month. He, and the House, obliged her. Wasserman regularly touts Obama, former friend to race-baiters and Israel haters, as a solid ally of Israel. …

Jews, with the exception of Wasserman and her ilk, have always been among the most individualistic, original, and entrepreneurial members of American society. Think of Ayn Rand, Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, and Milton Friedman. Or, of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, the eponymous mastermind of Dell Inc., casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, and many more.

Unfortunately, fellow Jews like Wasserman have done more than their fair share to swell the counterproductive ranks of the State. The congresswoman fits the well-founded stereotype of the well-to-do, left-liberal Jew. …

An existential contradiction, really. Overwhelmingly self-reliant and self-made, Jews thrive in the free market—and in bygone, perilous times have survived by it. Nevertheless, they’ve consistently championed an elaborate, intrusive welfare state.

“American Jews are the most educated ethnic group in the United States,” write Corinne and Robert Sauer of the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies. …

“Champaign Socialism” is how the Sauers characterize this penchant among American Jews—they tenaciously defy “any empirical regularity that links higher income levels with more conservative, or economically liberal (in the European sense), political positions.”

The complete column, “Jews Against Judaism,” now on WND.com.

Georgia May Have Committed War Crimes

Foreign Policy, Iraq, Propaganda, Uncategorized, War

What do you know? Contrary to the narrative we’ve rejected, but Americans have decided to accept, there are two sides (at least) to the Georgia saga:

“Georgia may have committed war crimes in its attack on its breakaway region of South Ossetia in August,” reports BBC News.

And while I’m at it, let me ask this: Could Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili be a liar of the caliber of Ahmed Chalabi, perhaps? Remember, Chalabi fed the Bush Administration the Intel that served as their ploy for war on Iraq.

Update VIII: Launching The Most Beautiful Site (& Blog) On the WWW

Aesthetics, Free Markets, Ilana Mercer, IlanaMercer.com, Technology

We have lift off!

At last we’ve launched the fabulous, new ILANAMERCER.COM.

The site is huge; the task Herculean. It’s easily the most beautiful site on the WWW.

As you spend time on the new ILANAMERCER.COM, you’ll get an opportunity to test the site’s database and advanced search, and enjoy its many features.

“Going live” is much like moving into a castle in cyberspace.

Developing some of the concepts was great fun. First to my favorite, the creature named “that funky snake”:

At the risk of being denounced, I did not want the Stars and Stripes on the site. The flag no longer stands for the classical liberal ideas and ideals of self-government and individual rights. I don’t think I’d get an argument from our regular readers.

Conversely, early American symbols do represent the values cherished and championed in my work. And in particular, the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag. Or the Gadsden flag.

Other candidates were the Liberty Bell and Liberty Tree. The massive trunk and gnarled bark of the oak (elm was also used) is depicted famously in a lithograph by E. C. Kellogg, the “Connecticut Charter Oak.” (It lives at the Connecticut Historical Society.)

The two symbols, however, turned out to be way too busy as website wallpaper. I just knew that, enlarged as background, the snake symbol would give the page the depth I wanted, bar the busyness. The snake just needed the right artistic touch. He got it.

Although fierce, the rattle snake is an honorable creature that never attacks without provocation and gives its enemies ample notice before attacking. Read about the Gadsden flag here.

The “Ilana Shrugged” concept was certainly unorthodox, down to the Atlas that matched the site’s theme colors.

A nice touch is the call-out side bars on the site’s core pages, showcasing Mercer quotes. The quotes rotate and change each time the page is refreshed. Other favorite and fun elements: the Gallery design, and the mouse-over effect on the upper navigation bar. Naturally, I just had to bring Leonidas into our world. Big and bold. (Read “300.”)

But mostly, the contents. At last, all my work is under one roof, and what a smashing roof it is.

And a huge shout-out to a true maverick: our benefactor, David Szasz. David donated most of the funds for this project.

A big “thank you,” too, to each and every reader who has contributed materially or intellectually.

Enjoy.

Update I: Another handy feature: If you wish to receive the weekly newsletter, click “Mailing List” on the navigation bar, and sign up here. Want to “Unsubscribe”? That too is possible, although never recommended.

Update II: Thanks to Sam Karnick of The American Culture for his kind wishes on our launch, as well as to the Canadian economist, champion of liberty, Pierre Lemieux. He quipped that ours was a “nice site/sight.”

Professor Haym Benaroya is most gracious:

Ilana, your new web site is representative of its owner: unique, and attractive to the mind and the eye. You truly are a master of language. I also appreciated the Atlas-like pose, as would have, I am sure, Ayn Rand. I will spend some more serious time looking it over. (I am wondering why, given Sean Hannity’s endorsement, he does not invite you to his show?) Best of luck! I do what I can to publicize your columns.

Update III: Barely a Blog is getting a makeover too. Fear not.

Update IV (October 29): Another favorite of mine is the “Click-to-expand-click-to-close” features on the Biographical and Quotables pages.

Update V (October 31): Although extremely user-friendly, some of you may find the Advanced Search a little intimidating. So, on the Articles Page, a smart, Search-by-Category button has been set up. Click on it! You’ll arrive at this lovely page, where you can flit between the many search categories with great ease. Let us know how that works for you.

Update VI (Nov. 6): I continue to receive web-approving letters. Thanks to Prof. Rob Sauer of the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies for his kind words; to the intrepid Jim Ostrowski (he has launched a new site too; I wish him all the best. I was always very pleased to have been instrumental in pushing him to write Political Class Dismissed). And to my mother, of course, for her good wishes.

Update VII (Nov. 7): Working with programmers, you learn pretty fast that Microsoft WORD is regarded as a virus. Programmers say it is crappy code. (About programmers, the spouse, who’s an RF engineer, and a PhD., once made this succinct comment: “They–programmers–manipulate ones and zeros; we–engineers–manipulate the laws of nature.”) Fair enough. I won’t get into a turf war; after all, what do I know about code? I’m willing to agree that programmers are right and WORD is crappy from a technical point of view. It sure has gummed up the beautiful font and formatting on my site with HTML gunk. However, WORD is the most popular program in the WORLD.

It is what most of us PC plebs choose to use. The market has spoken. The market always chooses voluntarily what it prefers. Hundreds of million of users have voted. Few of us want to use those other rarified programs PC snobs are always exalting. And for a reason: WORD must have an advantage. (As opposed a government agency, a company grows by gaining market share; by getting people to cast a vote for the product. There is no such thing as monopoly where voluntary exchanges are concerned; only where government is concerned.)

The fact that (far fewer) programmers cannot adapt their code to the most used program chosen by the market is a fault of the programmers, not the market. The market is always right. Call it the aggregate customer. Programmers have simply failed to come up with solution to the problems presented by WORD.

Again, theoretically, programmers who complain about WORD are probably 100% correct, but pragmatically, they’ve not solved the market’s problem. So they’re at fault.

Update VIII (Nov. 21, 2008): I have now launched the most beautiful blog on the WWW, after I had found the perfect blog spot on which to unfurl my signature, Gadsden, “Funky-Snake” flag.

Enjoy!