Proof that "A mind is a terrible thing to waste"

The celebration of ignorance continues, and even after being told in terms a 6-year old could understand what the theme of the card meant, they still thought it was about "black whores".


Stupid is as stupid does, and you can't fix stupid.

NAACP Urges Hallmark to Pull 'Racist' Card From Shelves

LOS ANGELES --- A space-themed, talking Hallmark graduation card is being pulled from store shelves because of the card’s reference to a black hole.

But members of the Los Angeles NAACP say the message sounds like "black whore" in the card's audio recording. That's how they hear it, and they say it's racist, KABC-TV in Los Angeles reported.

"That was very demeaning to African-American women when it made reference to African-American women as whores, and at the end it says 'watch your back,'" said Leon Jenkins of the Los Angeles NAACP.

The Hallmark card reads, "Hey world, we are officially putting you on notice," before playfully touting the ambitious future of the new graduate.

Characters known as "Hoops" and "Yoyo" banter on: "And you black holes, you are so ominous. Watch your back."

Hallmark calls the outrage a misunderstanding, claiming that the space theme emphasizes the power the graduate has to take over the universe, even energy-absorbing black holes.

"The intent here is to say that this graduate is not afraid of anything," explained Hallmark spokesman Steve Doyal.

Apparently, NAACP members heard something different.

FOX

Only in the minds of government bureaucrats is spending more considered "cost -saving"

Inspector General’s Memo: Census Says It Hired More Workers Than It Needed As a ‘Cost-Saving Measure’

The U.S. Census purposefully hired more workers than it needed, telling the Office of the Inspector General of the Commerce Department that it did so as a “cost-saving measure,” according to a memorandum that Todd J. Zinser of the inspector general’s office sent to Census Bureau Director Robert Groves last week.

“According to Census,” said Zinser’s May 26 memo to Groves, “‘frontloading’ its workforce (i.e. hiring and training more enumerators than necessary to offset turnover) is a cost-saving measure.” The inspector general’s memo, however, suggested that in at least one Census Bureau operation excessive staff had increased the “cost of operations” and that in another operation deployment of an unnecessarily large number of workers "increased the operation’s direct labor and travel costs."

In the first quarter of this year (January-March), personnel from the inspector general’s office observed Census Bureau operations in four programs. These included “update/leave” (U/L), in which Census workers deliver questionnaires to homes that would not be reached by ordinary mail service; “update/enumerate” (U/E), which counts people in communities where the homes lack ordinary mailing addresses or street names; "enumeration at transitory locations" (ETL), which counts people at places where their residences are potentially mobile, such as recreational vehicle parks, campgrounds, marinas and carnivals; and “service-based enumeration” (SBE), which counts homeless people at places such as homeless shelters, mobile food vans and so-called “targeted non-sheltered outdoor locations” (TNSOL).

The inspector general’s memo said that the Census Bureau had “overestimated” the staff needed for the program to enumerate people at transitory locations. “During the ETL operation,” said the memo, “crew leaders overestimated the number of Census staff needed to enumerate transitory locations, thus increasing the cost of operations.”

The memo also said that there were so many people hired for the “service-based enumeration” that there turned out to be one Census enumerator for every seven homeless people counted, and that the inspector general’s office “observed significant periods of enumerator inactivity at certain locations.”

"In another operation [which the inspector general’s office confirmed to CNSNews.com was the SBE program],” said the memo, “we found many enumerator teams to be unnecessarily large—an average ratio of one enumerator for just seven homeless respondents. We observed significant periods of enumerator inactivity at certain locations, which increased the operation’s direct labor and travel costs.”

As a result of these problems, the inspector general suggested that the Census bureau should “reevaluate” frontloading—that is, the practice of hiring more enumerators than necessary to cover anticipated turnover. “Census should reevaluate its practice of frontloading and develop a better process to estimate workload and cost assumptions,” said the memo. “A more streamlined enumeration process could reduce training and travel costs and be more responsive to changing economic conditions.”

The inspector general’s quarterly report to Congress on the Census, published on May 5, also noted that there had been one Census enumerator for every seven homeless people counted at locations other than “targeted non-sheltered outdoor locations” in the SBE program. “We also found many enumerator teams to be unnecessarily large--an average ratio of one enumerator for just seven homeless respondents for non-TNSOL operations,” said the report. “As a result, we observed significant periods of inactivity at these locations, which unnecessarily increased the cost of the SBE operation.”

CNSNews.com asked the inspector general’s office if it had determined that the Census Bureau’s practice of hiring more workers than needed, the so-called “frontloading,” had indeed been a “cost-saving measure” as the bureau had contended and whether the program referred to as “another operation” in the quotation above was in fact the SBE program. The inspector general’s office confirmed via email that the program in question was indeed the SBE program, but said it had not done the analysis to determine whether or not the Census Bureau’s “frontloading” in hiring had saved money.

“Our office has not done the analysis to conclude that Census’s practice of ‘frontloading’ its workforce is or is not a cost-saving measure,” said the email from the inspector general’s office. “Our recommendations are based on our observations of the operations mentioned in the second paragraph of the memo—update/leave (U/L), update/enumerate (U/E), enumeration at transitory locations (ETL), and SBE.”

CNSNews.com asked the Census Bureau two questions about the inspector general's memo: Did the bureau contest the inspector general's conclusion that there was an average of one enumerator for each seven homeless people counted in the SBE program? Does the bureau still contend that "frontloading" its workforce by "hiring and training more enumerators than necessary in order to offset turnover" is in fact a cost-saving measure?

Michael C. Cook, public information officer for the 2010 Census, responded by email. "Experiences in 1990 and 2000 have demonstrated cost and time efficiencies associated with the early training of sufficient employees to replace those lost through attrition," he said.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that employment in the United States grew by 433,000 jobs in May, but that those jobs included 411,000 temporary workers hired by the Census Bureau.

CNS


Census

Stossel: One-Size-Fits-All Government

A Nevada woman named Michelle Lyn Taylor "kissed a friend’s [13 year-old] child, forced him to touch her breast and asked him to have sex with her."

That's bad, but should the punishment be... life in prison? That was the sentence that she got.

In the sentencing, which is on youtube, the defense attorney argues:

"The sentence here shocks the conscience… The minimum penalty for first degree murder is 50 years. She could get 25 years for 2nd deg murder... She is getting a greater penalty for letting a boy touch her breast than for murder.”

The prosecutor didn't argue that a life sentence was reasonable -- rather, he just informed the judge that there was no choice:

"This is the sentence that the legislature of Nevada has created for this type of crime… now really there’s nothing left to be done except for the imposition of a life sentence."

after delivering the life sentence, The judge offered a confused-sounding explanation:

Ms. Taylor, you were charged with a crime with this sentence and apparently you weren't offered any plea deal... I've done a lot of these cases and I can't figure it out. To tell you the truth I don't know why they charge what they charge... and why they give plea bargans to some and others not, but I know that you had a jury trial, and you were charged, and this is the sentence. Good luck.

Good luck!? Julie Stewart of the group "Families Against Mandatory Minimums" tells us:

We are following this to its bitter end -- fighting to get it overturned in the State Supreme Court -- to try to make sure that this is overturned not just for her case, but that they overturn the law.

Once again, one-size-fits-all government policy imposes its nasty results.

Fox Business

Some Gluckstadt residents hope community will become Madison County municipality

Canton Mayor has no objection, Madison Mayor withholds judgement pending more information

Group pushes hopes for city



The future of the proposed city of Gluckstadt rests on 10 sets of petitions circulating in the Madison County community.

"We're going to put a push on this summer to get the signatures we need," said Bill Weisenberger, listed as the proposed mayor of Gluckstadt for incorporation purposes if a successful petition drive can get the cause to Madison County Chancery Court.

Two-thirds of the qualified electors living in the proposed city have to sign the petition asking for incorporation.

That number is "simply a moving target. The pool of qualified electors changes every day" as people move in and out of the community, said Jerry Mills, the attorney for city-status supporters. "You've really got to prove a super majority of voters - on the day of filing - want this incorporation."

Weisenberger said no target date has been set for getting the required number of signatures, but "we'd like to get them as soon as possible."

The committee overseeing the incorporation effort plans come-and-go meetings in the coming weeks for residents to sign the petitions and find out more.

Read more at The Clarion Ledger



Gluckstadt Incorporation

Man arrested for cocaine possession in Madison

A traffic stop lands one man behind bars in Madison County.

A Ford Explorer was traveling northbound on Interstate 55 when a sheriff's deputy conducted a traffic stop. After questioning the driver 47-year-old Jose Delarosa the deputy grew suspicious and requested consent to search the vehicle. A false compartment was discovered with five kilos of suspected cocaine inside.

Delarosa is charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, driving with a suspending drivers license and following too closely.

The vehicle was also seized.

Delarosa is being held in the Madison County Detention Center.

WLBT

Madison Police need help finding burglary suspect

Police release sketch of Cobblestone attempted burglary suspect


Madison Police have a composite sketch of a suspect wanted in an attempted house burglary in Cobblestone subdivision.

The burglary, in which an occupant of the house struggled with the suspect, occurred May 27.

The witness to the crime assisted police in creating the composite sketch. The suspect is about 5 feet, 10 inches tall and had an "unshaven, unkempt appearance," according to a Friday statement from police.

Anyone with information about the attempted burglary should call the Madison Police Department at (601) 856-6111.

Obama Administration decides it's time to shoot the messengers and create their own.

LA Times Andrew Malcolm writes:

What's widely-known is that Americans are not buying newspapers anymore in droves.

What hasn't been widely-known, until now, is that a year ago the new Democrat administration ofBarack Obama launched a major internal study intended to design a major government rescue plan for the nation's financially-troubled information media, primarily newspapers.

That strident sound you hear are the alarms going off in minds and offices across the country: Government helping the press? Which press? How help? In return for what?

Well, two years ago who'd have thought the feds would own General Motors with major holdings in a bunch of banks and financial institutions, reshaped the healthcare industry, spent $787 billion on who-knows-what to create some jobs, have rewritten a package of new financial regulations to corral Wall Street and still not be securing the U.S.-Mexico border?

The Federal Trade Commission has just released a major staff study of modern American media titled "Potential Policy Recommendations to Support the Reinvention of Journalism." And....

...silly you thought the private business of journalism was doing that by itself in its own stumbling ways without the help of the Washington branch of the Chicago Democratic political machine.

The study notes those industry-wide revival efforts and adds:

There are reasons for concern that experimentation may not produce a robust and sustainable business model for commercial journalism. History in the United States shows that readers of the news have never paid anywhere close to the full cost of providing the news. Rather, journalism always has been subsidized to a large extent by, for example, the federal government, political parties, or advertising.

True, there have been government subsidies over the decades in the form of below-cost postal rates and printing contracts. But this FTC study is rated R for anyone who thinks the federal government, the object of copious news coverage itself, has no business deciding which sectors of the private media business survive and thrive through its support, subsidies and encouragement with things like tax incentives 

Yet that's what this Obama administration paper is suggesting as another of the ex-community organizer's galactic reform plans.

Would you believe: major changes to the copyright law, including government licensing provisions; government pilot programs to investigate potential new media business models, antitrust changes to allow media companies to unite on imposing online pay walls, establish a journalism division of AmeriCorps with government underwriting the training of young journalists, tax incentives per news employee, increased funding of public broadcasting, a 5% tax on consumer electronics and/or assessments on users of public airwaves.

Mark Tapscott of the Washington Examiner tells independent journalist they better wake up: 

Those in the administration who clearly view independent journalism as an obstacle to "change we can believe in" and their numerous allies in the old media, non-profit, and academic communities who either share a similar ideological vision or see the FTC process as their salvation against the Internet, will no doubt dismiss my assertions as extemism or alarmism.

Fine, call me whatever, but what they cannot deny is what is clearly written in the FTC document and what it reveals about the intention behind the initiative, which is to transform the news industry from an information product collected by private individuals and entrepreneurs as a service to private buyers, to a government-regulated public utility providing a "public good," as defined and regulated by government.

The authors hide this dangerous intention behind carefully worded expressions of concern for preserving "quality journalism" and "addressing emerging gaps in reporting,"

Read the FTC Report here. 

Apartment plan draws citizens' ire

South Madison County residents are expressing outrage over a proposed apartment complex at Gluckstadt that could put as many a 500 new students in an already strapped district that has struggled for decades to keep up with growth.

Superintendent of Education Michael D. Kent said the district is not equipped to handle such a sudden influx of new students and issued a strongly-worded letter of opposition last week.

"This just blows us out of the water," Kent said, noting their district is already facing major budget cuts. "A high-density complex like this could overcrowd Germantown (Middle School) and (Madison) Crossing (Elementary) and Gluckstadt High School overnight and destroy all this planning we've done."
The proposed development includes 250 to 300 apartment units on a 26-acre tract of land directly across Interstate 55 from Germantown Middle School near the Nissan assembly plant.

The city of Canton on Tuesday announced a rezoning hearing had been canceled due to "legal issues," but officials said they expect to reschedule the hearing in about a month.

In a letter to the Canton Zoning Board, Nelwyn Madison, president of Ingleside Homeowners' Association and board member of the Madison Organization of Neighborhood Associations, said the apartment project is nothing more than a "bait and switch" involving developers.

"I am sick of developers begging for TIF (Tax Increment Financing) money and once awarded, come back and wanting to change the rules. I cannot believe the city of Canton would even consider this."

The area was approved for $1 million in Tax Increment Financing in January 2005 and language limited the accepted uses and prohibits apartments, according to District 3 Madison County Supervisor D.I. Smith.

Read more at the Madison County Journal

Related Posts: Canton Zoning Board meeting canceled due to 'legal issues'
Mike Kent wants your help


School Board Opposes Canton Apartments

Tulane-Madison approved for student loans

MADISON — Tulane University’s Madison branch has now been cleared for students to receive federal student loans, a little too late for some classes that were scheduled to begin this week.

Sherry Chance, director of the branch, tells The Clarion-Ledger that the U.S. Department of Education handed down the official certification of the campus as an institution of higher learning yesterday.

The federal approval is needed so that lenders can process federal student loans.

On May 28, university officials decided to cancel the five classes that were to start yesterday and run through July 12.

Richard Marksbury, dean of the School of Continuing Studies that operates the Madison campus, said the university expected the federal approval before classes were to start.

MBJ

Related Posts: Tulane-Madison 'glitch' cancels classes



Tulane Madison cancels classes

Even the President is having a hard time dealing with the Health Care Law's red tape.

White House misses early deadlines in ObamaCare implementation

Critics say missed deadlines and other signs show the Obama administration is stumbling out of the gate on its early steps to implement the president’s health-care law.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has already missed as many as four deadlines under the law – not on any major regulations — but still a worrying trend, critics say.

Congressional staff and industry representatives have also been asking HHS for a timeline specifying when it will issue the numerous regulations required by the law. They were shocked to find the agency has not produced such a document, one aide said.

The issue is important because vast industry sectors are trying to plan their own implementations of the health-care law and most of the details remain in bureaucrats’ hands, leaving a vacuum of uncertainty about the final burdens the law will impose.

The missed deadlines include creating task forces on breast cancer and Alaskan health care, publishing a list of new authorities granted under the law, and setting a schedule for a Government Accountability Office study and financial audit.

HHS spokeswoman Jessica Santillo noted the administration had already implemented numerous parts of the health care law in advance of deadlines.

“HHS has been working to get the benefits of the new law to the American people as quickly as possible which is why several important benefits are taking effect well in advance of their deadlines, such as ending the practice of rescinding coverage of Americans who get sick, and allowing young adults under 26 to stay on their parents coverage,” Santillo said.

She defended the administration’s approach on one of the missed deadlines – a requirement under the health-care law that HHS publish “a list of all of the authorities provided to the secretary under this act” on its website.

Santillo pointed The Daily Caller to a page listing the names of sections in the law, such as “Sec. 1562. Conforming amendments.”

Republican critics say the list, which links to parts of the actual bill text, doesn’t meet the letter or spirit of the law’s requirement, which is included in a section of the law titled, “Transparency in government.”

“Now it looks like the simplest job assigned to the Obama administration – outlining its own new authorities and responsibilities — was so daunting that HHS decided just to reprint the table of contents from the new law until they can sort things out,” said Lisa Miller, a spokeswoman for Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, a key Republican on health-care issues. “It’s troubling because, if they can’t even explain what they are supposed to do, how do we expect them to actually manage a sixth of the economy?”

While missing the deadlines, the administration has found time to send promotional material touting the law’s benefit, including a brochure for senior citizens and post cards from the IRS advertising tax breaks under the law.

The brochure for seniors may improve the law’s perception among lawmakers – the 111th Congress is the oldest in history by average age – but it is not assuaging some Republicans who call it propaganda.

Read more at The Daily Caller


Health Care Reform

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie continues to speak the truth

Christie speaks in Washington DC, calling Newark schools 'absolutely disgraceful'

More proof there's no shortage of race-pimps ready to cash in on "oppression"

Charges of Racism Fly in Arkansas Runoff

The president of the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP said Tuesday that he’s worried racism is rearing its ugly head in Arkansas’ 2nd district Democratic runoff.

Dale Charles, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he is concerned about what Speaker Robbie Wills and his supporters really mean when they question the “electability” of the other candidate, state Senate Majority Leader Joyce Elliott, who is black.

“To say that she’s not electable — that’s a code word for racism,” Charles said. “She is electable in her [state Senate] district and served three terms in the [state] House. She came out on top in a field of five in the primary. ... Why all the sudden does the word electability come up?”

Elliott won just under 40 percent of the vote in the May 18 primary to set up a Tuesday runoff with Wills, who took second place in the primary with about 28 percent.

The winner of the runoff will face former U.S. attorney Tim Griffin, who has been highly touted by national Republican leaders to take over the seat being vacated by Rep. Vic Snyder (D).

Read more at Roll Call


NAACP race baiting

MCJ: Canton Zoning Board meeting canceled due to 'legal issues'

Apartment complex hearing canceled due to 'legal issues'


A public hearing on a proposed apartment complex was canceled due to what Canton officials called "legal issues," but is expected to be rescheduled in about a month.

Several dozen citizens showed up for the City of Canton Zoning Board meeting which was scheduled to hear a rezoning request on the development Tuesday afternoon.

City officials wouldn't elaborate on what issues spurred the cancelation, but they did say they will restart the rezoning process which includes public notification at the site and in the newspaper. It normally takes up to a month to complete the process.

Read more at The Madison County Journal


School Board Opposes Canton Apartments

Miss. revenues fall 12.6 percent short in May

Gov. Haley Barbour says Mississippi tax collections have fallen short of expectations again.

Barbour said in a news release on Tuesday that May collections were 12.61 percent, or $51 million, below estimates. The governor said the figures show the state hasn't recovered from the national recession, but he has no plans for additional budget cuts at this time.

Barbour said last month was the worst month for Mississippi State Tax Commission collections since May 2009. Collections have been below estimates 20 out of the last 21 months.

Sun Herald

Nanny of the Month

They're finally stepping out into the open.

I have written before of the effort to bring "open access to all" on the internet. These attempts are nothing more than a not so cleverly disguised effort to clamp down on the free exchange available on the web today.

The idea has been to demonize "Big, Bad, Greedy Evil Corporate America" through statements like this one:

"At a time of corporate dominated media, a free and open Internet is democracy’s last chance to preserve our First Amendment rights without which all others are threatened. Activists call it Net Neutrality. Media scholar Robert McChesney says without it “the Internet would start to look like cable TV (with a) handful of massive companies (controlling) content” enough to have veto power over what’s allowed and what it costs. Progressive web sites and writers would be marginalized or suppressed, and content systematically filtered or banned."

The problem with that is you are replacing a free-market system with a government regulated system. We all know how that works, or should we say, doesn't work. Thankfully, Obama's FCC was stymied in their first attempts by a federal appeals court.

It would appear that the campaign has reached a point that the guerilla's are now deciding to fight face to face.

FCC asked to monitor "hate speech," "misinformation" online

Over thirty organizations want the Federal Communications Commission to open up a probe on "hate speech" and "misinformation" in media. "Hate has developed as a profit-model for syndicated radio and cable television programs masquerading as 'news'," they wrote to the FCC earlier this month.
As for the Internet, it "gives the illusion that news sources have increased, but in fact there are fewer journalists employed now than before," they charge. "Moreover, on the Internet, speakers can hide in the cloak of anonymity, emboldened to say things that they may not say in the public eye."

The groups who want this new proceeding include Free Press, the Media Access Project, Common Cause, the Prometheus Radio Project, and the League of United Latin American Citizens. Their statement, filed in the Commission's Future of Media proceeding, comes in support of a petition to the agency submitted over a year ago by the National Hispanic Media Coalition.

ARS Technica


I guess if you lack the intelligence to argue a point, you can always attempt to shut down those you disagree with. But, wouldn't it be more productive to learn the new medium, and use it effectively to communicate your own point of view, that is, provided you are the type that doesn't have to be told what to think.

US Supreme Court declines to rehear appeal in 1996 Madison County murder

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from Azikiwe Kambule, a South African man who wanted to withdraw his guilty plea and stand trial in a much-publicized 1996 Mississippi carjack-murder case.

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Tuesday led stand a Mississippi court's rejection last year of Kambule's argument that his plea was involuntary because he did not have a good understanding about the legal proceeding.

Kambule was a teenager in 1996. He argued in court documents that he knew nothing of the U.S. justice system when he entered into a deal in 1997 to plead guilty to charges in the death of social worker Pamela McGill and to accept a 35-year sentence.

Prosecutors said Kambule and Santonia Berry killed McGill in Madison County on Jan. 25, 1996, because they wanted the Jackson woman's red 1993 Dodge Stealth sports car. Her body was found nine weeks later when Berry led authorities to it.

Defense lawyer, Chokwe Lumumba of Canton, said there was no evidence Kambule fired the shots that killed McGill.

Kambule had come to Mississippi two years earlier, when his mother began studying psychology at Jackson State University. His mother and stepfather returned to South Africa several years ago after briefly living in Atlanta.

The case drew international publicity after prosecutors insisted on the death penalty even though Kambule was a teenager at the time of the crime.

A Madison County judge ruled Kambule's sentence could not be tougher than that for Berry, the admitted triggerman. Berry received a life sentence without parole after pleading guilty to capital murder.

Kambule was sentenced to 30 years for armed carjacking and five years to being an accessory after a murder. He did not appeal the sentence.

History

On the evening of 25 January 1996 Ms McGill, 31, was kidnapped at gunpoint outside her home and driven away in her car, never to be seen alive again. Two weeks later a tip led police to Kambule, then aged 17.


He confessed his role in the crime immediately. He said that on the evening in question he had been driving around Jackson with Santonio Berry, then 21. Berry, the driver, followed Ms McGill home, pointed a gun at her head, ordered her into the passenger seat and drove off, with Kambule sitting in the back. Berry stopped the car by some woods on the edge of town and led Ms McGill away. Kambule waited in the car. A few moments later Berry returned without her and the two drove off.

The day he was arrested Kambule led police to the woods where he thought Berry had shot Ms McGill but his recollection was hazy and the body was not found. Berry was arrested soon after. Although he refused initially to co-operate with police, two months later Berry led police to McGill's decomposing body.


Kambule Murder Case

Tulane-Madison ‘glitch’ cancels classes

MADISON — When a Tulane University satellite campus opens Tuesday in Madison, Miss., only three of the classes that were set for a June start will begin.

Branch director Sherry Chance tells the Madison County Herald that a “bureaucratic glitch” canceled seven summer courses.

Richard Marksbury, dean of Tulane’s School of Continuing Studies, says the U.S. Department of Education has not yet certified the campus as an institution eligible for federal student loans.

He says there was miscommunication between Tulane and the U.S. Department of Education. He says it was not Tulane’s fault.

Marksbury says the three classes beginning on Tuesday will cover both summer semesters, and their students don’t need financial aid to pay the three-hour course fee of $846.

MBJ



Tulane Madison cancels classes

Canada may point the way to sensible immigration policy

BY: Froma Harp

Immigration reform? Look north. Canada has a large immigration program but little illegal immigration, because Ottawa won't tolerate it.

Ripped from the news: Haitians are illegally crossing into Vermont from Canada, looking for work.

Why didn't the Haitians stay in Canada, where the social-safety net is far cushier? Because, as the head of a Haitian radio station in Montreal told The New York Times, "they saw that they had no chance to become Canadian permanent residents." And, he added, "people thought that the United States were going to receive all the Haitians."

What do we take home from this?

First off, porous borders are not the biggest reason that illegal immigration has become such a huge problem in the United States. Note that while President Obama is sending up to 1,200 National Guard troops to secure the border with Mexico, there are no troops, rivers or even fences along most of the U.S.-Canadian border. Some country roads mark the boundary with a simple stone.

True, illegal aliens can walk into the United States from Mexico. The logistics are easier in the American Southwest. But there are plenty of illegal workers in Washington state, Michigan and Maine — and little stopping them from going on to Canada.

Our northern neighbor has a large immigration program but little illegal immigration, because Ottawa won't tolerate it. No country with generous entitlements can afford a growing population of low-income workers.

Canada tweaks its immigration program to meet economic needs. It favors entrants with highly desirable skills. And when the economy recently turned sour, it stopped renewing many temporary work permits.

Should America do as Canada does? Should it stringently enforce its ban on hiring illegal workers? Yes. And should it stop fretting over what happens to undocumented people already in the country? Yes, but not yet.

What separates the United States from Canada on illegal immigration is a consistent message.

America's landmark 1986 immigration-reform law banned the hiring of illegal workers while granting amnesty to several million already here. But it was purposely rendered toothless at the last minute, when saboteurs yanked out a provision requiring a secure check of job applicants' identities.

Talk about messages. Suppose you're an impoverished Mexican. You know that the United States has offered several amnesties to illegal workers, and in any case, hasn't much enforced the law. You heard President George W. Bush announce that he was going to "match any willing worker with any willing employer." And you know that the conservative Wall Street Journal has called for open borders, while the liberal New York Times runs editorials on immigration that refuse to distinguish between legal and illegal.

What would you do? You would come to the United States, papers be damned.

We've had several decades of a two-faced immigration policy during which millions have come to this country illegally, taken jobs, started families and become part of the American scene. They are mostly good people who have been integrated into our economy and communities. There must be a last amnesty to cover them.

And it will be the last one if two things happen: One, we pass immigration reform that requires every new hire to present counterfeit-proof ID. Two, the public demands that their government go after lawbreaking employers.

After virtually no enforcement in the Bush years, the Obama administration has begun to cite and fine employers who break the law. This is needed to move public opinion toward an immigration package that includes legalizing many already here. Sending troops to the border may also boost confidence.

But as Canada shows us, it's not the ease of crossing the border that encourages illegal immigration, but the ease of getting a job once in. The United States needs to get its act together and its message straight on immigration.



Immigration

Darden turns himself in, then heads back for "treatment"

It's not the treatment in rehab he needs to be worried about. It's the treatment he'll be receiving from his new friends in jail.

Former Yazoo teacher returns to rehab


YAZOO CITY — Former Manchester Academy teacher Richard Darden is back in rehab today after turning himself in to authorities Thursday evening.

Yazoo County Sheriff Tommy Vaughan said Darden arrived at his office around 5 p.m. with his attorney. This morning, Darden made his initial court appearance in which Justice Court Judge Pam May set bond at $200,000, and Darden was ordered back into rehabilitation.

Once Darden finishes, the Sheriff's Department will place him in county jail under the bond. Vaughan said he did not know for how much longer Darden would need treatment.

"It sounded like it would be several weeks," he said. The sheriff would not say what specifically Darden is seeking treatment for other than an "addiction."

Darden's attorney, Cynthia Stewart, said her client "is innocent until proven guilty. All we have now is just allegations and many of them made in a lawsuit seeking money."

Vaughan said his investigators waited to take Darden into custody "because there were so many complaints filed we had to investigate each on independently and that takes time. We don't work on hearsay."

More than 100 students have come forward with allegations against Darden. Many are minors.

Investigator Dennis Moulder said he has yet to interview Darden because the suspect's attorney refused.

Investigators have been through Darden's house and have taken several items of evidence. Moulder also confirmed finding a room from where Darden may have watched students.

As for claims of abuse conducted at the school, Moulder said there is no firm evidence anything occurred at Manchester Academy.

Vaughan also said he is not investigating accusations against Darden made in the suit filed Wednesday in Yazoo County Circuit Court.

"I haven't seen it. I don't want to see it. I don't deal with civil. I deal with criminals," he said.

Clarion Ledger



Manchester/Darden Scandal


Related Posts: Manchester teacher caught peeping refuses to turn himself in.

Students sue former Manchester Academy teacher accused of abuse