Just a reminder: NY ICE will be holding its anti-amnesty counter protest tomorrow at twelve noon! I’m sure that the New York City Council’s decision to confer legitimacy upon potential criminals, at the expense of taxpaying citizens, as well as the current administration’s latest threat to subvert the Constitution and the rule of law, will be addressed. You can find all of the details in the activism tab of this website.

See you there!

Marketwatch clues us in. 

It’s unequivocally good news for investors: More immigration equals cheaper labor, whether that’s provided for picking corn or processing computer code, with a possible rise in aggregate demand to boot. 

It’s likely good for the broader economy, though the benefits flow mostly to the rich. In a study that the White House cites in apaper about immigration , the average wage gains over 14 years were 0.2% for native-born high-school dropouts and 6.7% for native-born workers with a high-school degree. Another study , again one the White House cites, finds wages dropping 8.9% among high-school dropouts over 20 years.

Note:  Video footage, including a rousing speech made by the legendary Pamela Geller, as well as a moving speech by 9/11 mother Nelly Braginskaya, at Atlas Shrugs. Also, additional photos and footage provided by the indefatigable photo-blogger Urban Infidel. 

If  there was a single, overarching theme to the first Stop the Islamization of Nations Congress, it was just that. Freedom. The freedom exercised by Rifqa Bary-the courageous young woman who converted to Christianity despite the wishes of her Muslim parents, and whose portrait you see emblazoned upon the poster above-as well as the freedom to engage in critical inquiry regarding any and all subjects-including Islam-are one and the same. For fundamentally, they both come down to the exercise of free will. Individual choice is something that is not highly valued in authentic Islamic culture, as the plight of the recently freed Iranian Christian pastor  Yousef Nardakani, and the fate which befell Arab journalists who republished the famous Jyllands Posten Mohammed cartoons, demonstrate.

I traveled to the UN Millennium Plaza Hotel on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 massacres in order to listen to a roster of speakers who would illuminate just how precarious the freedom we enjoy is, why it is imperiled-not only in the United States, but across the globe-by whom, and how we can resist the encroachment of those who would circumscribe, and ultimately, eliminate it.

Notwithstanding the passel of amiably grouped American and United Nations flags in that photo, the  values of the United States and those undergirding the United Nations could not be further removed from one another. Anyone who has read the aptly titled The UN Gang by Pedro Sanjuan, a career diplomat and Foreign Service officer-a book that , ironically enough, was stolen while I attended the conference-would recognize just how different our nation is from the anti-American swamp in Turtle Bay. Unfortunately, those in power today-particularly within this administration-seemingly want to emulate the rogue’s gallery of Islamic theocracies, tinhorn military dictatorships, and third world socialist backwaters that currently comprise its membership. At least, with respect to the citizen’s relationship to the state.

Although the words from the Old Testament prophet are laudable-if a bit confusing when juxtaposed against the United Nations general opinion of Jews-they in stark contrast to most of the actions undertaken by the UN, which range from supplication before the preeminent state sponsor of terror, to deploying “peacekeepers” whose chief recreational activity consists of terrorizing the people they were putatively sent to protect. However, the most insidious threat posed by the United Nations is its attempt to nullify our natural rights in order to preserve the edifice of Islam as a great religion.

In decades past, the free world-led by the United States-would have led the fight against criminalizing dissent. However, the position espoused by the American government has been changed dramatically. The instinctive reflex on the part of government officials is exemplified by the craven tweet-since deleted-by the United States embassy in Cairo issued shortly before it was assaulted by a salafi mob. A mob which included, it should be noted, both the younger brother of Al Qaeda’s current emir and members of the terrorist organization whose leader is responsible for the first World Trade Center bombing. Of course, now that the Arab Spring is in full bloom, we should keep in mind that yesterday’s terrorist might very well be today’s democrat.

The most significant aspect of this transformation is the State Department’s active encouragement of a UN resolution, crafted by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which would criminalize any substantive criticism of Islam. As Robert Spencer pointed out during the conference, this treaty would have the force of law, and there’s no reason to believe that the United States Supreme Court-McConnell vs. FEC made its cavalier attitude towards expressive speech plain-to honor our First Amendment rights any more than it has recognized those enshrined within the Second Amendment, or, I would add, the Fifth.

The institutionalization of this dhimmification of our legal system is occurring in our own backyard. State Senator David Storobin, who-regardless of any other criticism that can be leveled against him-should be congratulated for having the temerity to attend this conference, explained why this is such a pernicious development. A man whose family escaped from the Soviet Union-the largest totalitarian empire in world history-and whose relatives were slaughtered by Islamic separatists-Senator Storobin is perhaps uniquely qualified to speak to this issue. He denounced hate speech laws, which he correctly described as penalizing thought rather than criminal action, and averred that he believed in the principles of the Founders. “The founding fathers of America, not the Soviet Union. Madison, not Lenin.”

It’s a quote worth keeping in mind when the vanguards of the left insist upon adopting a policy of prior restraint against the only religion of global breadth they seemingly venerate.  What makes matters even more grave is the fact that those whose sensitivities will be preserved at the expense of our liberty, unlike the victims of other thought crimes-or perceived thought crimes-the left has sought to give protected status, these individuals have the propensity to vent their displeasure in ways much more colorful than public protests or civil disobedience. This fact was brought home to the audience during the speech of the man you see below, David Yerushalmi, founder of the American Freedom Law Center and tireless advocate for American civil liberties.

Mr. Yarushalmi’s speech focused on the nexus between the application of sharia law within Western societies and the inexorable diminishment of civil rights and liberties of citizens living in those societies. Contrary to the anodyne picture of sharia which has been painted by the press, academe, and assorted lapdogs of CAIR touted by our intellectual betters, the facets of Islamic law-provided we ever agree on a school of Islam to impose-which many have no trouble with in principle are diametrically opposed to the values we cherish as American citizens. A perfect illustration of this conflict in practice occurred earlier this year during an Arab American festival held in the city of Dearborn, Michigan.

Exercising their Constitutional right to peaceably assemble and voice their opinions, several Christian missionaries decided to demonstrate their profession of faith in Christ-and disbelief in the assertions found within the pages of the Koran-during this event. Doubting the claims of Mohammed-or his adherents-is a criminal offense-in Islam, not in the United States-which led to these men to being stoned by a frenzied mob of “Arab Americans.” Despite the fact that it was the peaceful protesters who were attacked-to the point of bloodshed-they were the ones told to vacate the premises, lest they be arrested.

The Orwellian revision of the facts by local and national media outlets-where the victims and aggressors were inverted-was not surprising. However, the willingness of a large municipal police department to enforce the legal code that contradicts the 1st Amendment is what led Mr. Yarushalmi to pursue a lawsuit against the officials responsible for this outrage.

While this incident might be interpreted as speaking to the depressing lack of respect for constitutional rights by those entrusted with the use of deadly force by the state, the tenacity with which this lawyer is seeking redress is what stands out in my mind. This determination to protect the sacred right of free speech can also be seen in the legal battle between the American Freedom Defense Initiative/Stop the Islamization of America and the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority over the content of the subway ad you see presented in the powerpoint presentation below.

Questioning the rationale behind the construction of a mosque within sight of Ground Zero, the ad was initially deemed unacceptable by MTA executives before a lawsuit reminded them that freedom of speech trumps the tender sensibilities of a teflon-coated religion. The same MTA was forced to back down again after a federal judge chastised it for refusing to consent to the display of another AFDI/SIOA ad which supported the state of Israel.

However, the most intriguing recent legal victory of Mr. Yarushalmi’s was the decision by the corresponding public transportation governing authority in the city of Detroit.

The poster you see above is nearly identical in content to billboards commissioned by atheist activists exhorting non-Muslim believers to abjure their faith. The only difference being that a the consequence for individuals who answer the question posed here in the affirmative is death. As the tragic fates of Jessica Mokdad…

…and Aqsa Parvez make clear.

It is precisely the willingness among adherents to the Koran to inflict often lethal violence upon its critics which leads governments to attempt to circumscribe the actions, and police the expression of thoughts, of the people whom they ostensibly serve. However, the complicity of almost every major media organ-both in print and on television-in the whitewashing of Islam’s intolerance of dissent-among other less than admirable traits-has as much to do with affinity for the ends-if not always the means-of its followers, as it does any craven abdication of responsibility linked to fear. We’ll examine the responsibility of the press for the current state of affairs in Part II of our coverage.

Update: My full live-tweet of the SION Conference is online! Read it here. 

Today marks the eleventh anniversary of the catastrophic attacks upon the Pentagon and World Trade Center, as well as the thwarted assault aimed at the U.S. Capitol, which led to the loss of thousands of lives and introduced millions of Americans to the apocalyptic ideology of Al Qaeda and assorted Sunni jihadists.

As the democidal tyrants in Tehran inch ever-closer to acquiring the second Islamic bomb, one which will be at the disposal of adherents to an apocalyptic, Shia millenarianism, it’s worth noting that violence is merely the chosen expedient for people who want to impose their dogma upon the entire globe. A much more existential, and efficacious, threat to our civilization is the campaign to erode, and eventually abolish altogether, the fundamental natural rights we exercise every day of our lives and which we have taken for granted for far too long. The foremost right among them being the freedom to debate issues such as this one without the fear of coercion and reprisal from those who disagree with our opinions.

That’s why the SION Freedom Conference, organized by my dear friend Pamela Geller and slated to take place later today, is such a watershed moment. It will serve as the chief forum from which to illuminate the dire threat posed by an ideology that wishes to permanently redact, to criminalize, any critical observations about it inside of nations where speaking your mind is enshrined as a bedrock constitutional principle.

In addition to Atlas, there will be a roster of courageous dissidents from across the globe showcased this afternoon, including Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has experienced firsthand the animosity some Muslims feel towards those engaged in critical inquiries regarding the Religion of Peace. I will attempt to live-tweet both speeches-along with the rest of the proceedings-provided my not-so-smart phone doesn’t fail me-as it so often does.

You can follow my updates here, and ask questions of your own @OddLane. For those of you blessed to have some disposable income during the worst economic recession in recent memory, might I suggest putting some of it towards defraying the immense costs that events such as the SION Freedom Conference impose upon their sponsors? If inclined, you can do so by accessing this link.

Hopefully, tomorrow’s event will honor the memories of those thousands-from New York and elsewhere-who can no longer speak for themselves.

Some qualified good news came out of the Supreme Court recently, with a decision that partially upheld Arizona’s 2004 voter identification law. Unfortunately, while the court let stand the portion of Proposition 200 that required voters to provide I.D. in order to vote, it invalidated the I.D. requirement for voter registration.

The bigger news though, from the perspective of those of us who want to ensure fair and transparent elections, is the decision by the American Legislative Exchange Council to  withdraw its support for the voter identification laws now under sustained legal assault by the Obama administration. Although the ostensible rationale for ALEC’s narrowed legislative focus is the coordinated left wing crusade against Stand your Ground laws in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting, this incident was simply the pretext for an ongoing attempt to legitimize election fraud by Van Jones and his open borders, collectivist allies.

For those of you who are followers of American Rattlesnake, you’ll know that the campaign against ALEC has been a key aspect of the Democratic Party’s election year drive to enliven a voter base whose enthusiasm has waned since 2008. Stretching back to last December, there have been rallies against any effort to prevent parties and voters from engaging in electoral fraud. The insipidity of their arguments is exemplified by the sign held aloft by one of our friends from the MinkWon Center, which graces the top of this page.

The American Spectator has an in-depth exploration of the forces behind these attacks on voter integrity, which include former Obama green jobs ‘czar’ and 9/11 truther Van Jones, as well as Color of Change, a demagogic open borders group that has attempted to accomplish through boycotts and 21st century mau-mauing what can’t be achieved in the legislative arena. These forces are now pressuring businesses that have in the past supported ALEC to sever ties with the organization. Even if  knuckling under to leftist intimidation spares some multinational corporations Jackson and Sharpton-style muscling-the controversial stances of the race-based, hard left Congressional Black Caucus do not seem to elicit the same concerns-ALEC’s attempt to spare itself from further harassment will ultimately prove futile.

The reason is that the institutional left is not interested in achieving consensus, especially when they perceive themselves-accurately, in this case-to be winning the public relations battle. The attempt by Arizona’s ignominious congressman Raul Grijalva and his radical colleague Keith Ellison to coerce states into rejecting stand your ground laws is proof that regardless of how many concessions you make to political correctness, its practitioners are never quite satisfied. That’s why ALEC would do well to remember that standing by principle-while  unprofitable in the short term-often is the best policy course for organizations that want to be taken seriously as agents for free-market enterprise, limited government, and federalism.

USA Today is reporting on a new strategy self-entitled immigration scofflaws are using to stay in this country.  They exploit public sympathy and liberal news outlets to publicize their illicit immigration status and demand the right to stay in this country:

Abdollahi’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from Iran on a student visa when he was 3, but did not return when the visa expired, so the entire family was living in the U.S. illegally. Abdollahi heeded his parents advice, until two years ago when he felt they were getting close to being deported.

That’s when Abdollahi did the unthinkable — he got himself arrested during a May 2010 protest of immigration policies and had a friend alert immigration officials of the arrest. He figured that if his case was made public, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials would be hard-pressed to deport him.

As the case of Daniela Pelaez proved last week, this strategy can work when uncritical media reports manage to pull the heart strings of a well-meaning public.

Speaking of Michele Bachmann, she’s released a comprehensive immigration plan that would incrementally deport the estimated 11 million illegal aliens currently living in the United States. In addition to implementing a policy of enforcement through attrition, she would construct a border fence along the Mexican-American border, mandate that English be this nation’s official language, and do away with birthright citizenship. In a must-listen interview with Laura Ingraham, she also takes Newt Gingrich to task for his amnesty lite plan, which couldn’t differ more starkly from the Bachmann platform.

In disturbing news, the House of of Representatives has rubber stamped a bill that would exacerbate one of the most damaging aspects of our current immigration policy, i.e. chain migration. While the useful idiots in the mainstream media have attempted to portray this bill as benefitting high-skilled immigrants from China and India who want to remain in the United States, the true beneficiaries of this-should it be enacted into law-will be thousands of distant relatives from countries like Mexico sponsored by newly minted American citizens. Any time you hear the word “bipartisanship” your attenae as American citizens should go up, and this is no different. When the leader of the National Immigration Forum-one of the legal and political spearheads of the open borders movement-and Chuck Schumer support something, it’s usually a good idea to oppose it. Unfortunately, that’s not what the Republican-led Congress did, and we’re so much the worse for it.

In a shameful example of the depths to which the fifth estate will stoop in order to promote their open borders agenda, the tragic suicide of a young man named Joaquin Luna is being manipulated by the mainstream media in order to promote the DREAM Act, which has been repeatedly and emphatically rejected by Congress since it was first introduced over a decade ago. The good folks at Newsbusters have an astute analysis of the despicable manner in which just one media outlet-in this case, CNN-has attempted to politicize this personal tragedy.

One of the real tragedies of the immigration debate-such as it is-that we’re having in this country is the distortive effect the media has when it comes to prioritizing issues. Instead of focusing on the potential illegal alien recipients of taxpayer largesse, why aren’t we discussing the amount of carnage illegals are cumulatively inflicting upon our society? Jim Kouri has a must-read piece highlighting a buried government report that examines the damage they have caused by creating some of the most destrutive forest fires in our country’s southwest, particularly Arizona. It’s rare that I compliment John McCain, but I agree with The Blaze’s assessment that the GAO report vindicates previous public statements he’s made on this matter.

In news closer to home, a New Jersey judge has ordered the deportation of a woman who is allegedly being targeted by a Guatemalan gang called Valle del Sol while allowing her sister to remain the United States indefinitely. The extent of gang influence in Latin America is staggering, demonstrated once again by the open declaration of war on American and Mexican authorities recently issued by Los Zetas, perhaps the most feared narco-cartel in the country of Mexico.

In a case eerily similar to Operation Fast and Furious, the United States government is now facing calls for investigation into a money laundering operation undertaken by the Drug Enforcement Administration in an attempt to find patterns among Mexican drug trafficking criminal syndicates.

Staying in Mexico, we find a claim by Mexican authorities that they’ve foiled an international conspiracy by one of the late dictator Mouammar Kadhafi’s fugitive sons to escape Libya through illegal passage into Mexico. This story would be worthy of mockery if the impact of Mexican illegal immigration-facilitated by the Mexican government itself-weren’t such a grave matter.

In yet more news of immigration fraud that endangers our nation, a woman living in Rancho Cucamonga  has been arrested for bringing in unauthorized foreign students to train at her flight school under fraudulent visas. For those of you who are regular followers of American Rattlesnake, this story will sound very familiar. Apparently, our government has learned very little from September 11th.

In contrast, the government of Israel seems to be learning very rapidly how much damage an open door policy can inflict upon a nation’s sovereignty. That’s why Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai has come out publicly and stated that African economic migrants-from predominately Muslim nations like Eritrea and Sudan-will no longer be welcomed with open arms by the Jewish state. The national identity of Israel may very well be imperiled by overly generous asylum policies, a lesson that we in North America  have yet to absorb.

Last but not least, we’re pleased to bring you another incisive, amusing take on the skewed priorities of our federal government, courtesy of Anthony Bialy. Even as this administration waves the white flag on illegal alien border jumpers, it continues its war against hippie drug paraphernalia. Only in America, and only under the Obama administration.

Today the great state of South Carolina joined a growing list of states that are on the receiving end of Justice Department lawsuits. Even as the Obama administration systematically dismantles whatever superficial immigration enforcement measures still exist, including the deportation of violent criminals, Barack Obama’s chief crony at the Department of Justice, Eric Holder, exacts revenge upon states that defy the Executive Branch’s de facto policy of wholesale amnesty. What began as a vendetta against Arizona has spread East. Governor Nikki Haley needs to be commended for standing up for the rights of South Carolinians instead of illegal alien criminals and their supporters. Regardless of whether South Carolina’s law withstands future legal appeals, the fact that individual states have not been cowed into submission by President Obama’s crusade against Americans, with Arizona the first target, is cause for hope. May the rest of this country’s governors emulate the example she and Jan Brewer have set.

Hat Tip: Katya Abram

Multiculturalism, the notion that all cultural norms and practices are equally valid, was popular in the latter half of the twentieth century. Rather than assimilating immigrants into the broader culture, Western nations, suffering from imperial guilt, allowed immigrant groups to form sclerotic pseudo-societies separate from the rest of the population.  In Europe, parallel societies have formed which are comprised of Islamic fundamentalists opposed to essential human rights for women.  In America, Hispanic immigrant communities have become opaque seas of petty lawlessness where the English language is unknown and where interracial comity is an illusion. 

In Europe, the tide is finally turning against this nonsense. Switzerland has outlawed new minarets.  The Netherlands now demands all new immigrants speak Dutch.  Germany’s Prime Minister, Angela Merkel, has flatly rejected multiculturalism as a failed experiment.  In France, the burqa has been banned on the proposition that a woman cannot be seen as an equal in a society where she cannot even show her face.

From female genital mutilation, to honour killings, to a thriving kidnapping industry, to the worship of “Saint Death”, there’s a long list of foreign nastiness that civilized people, even those that recognize the benefits of some immigration, must separate themselves from and reject.

It is time for America and Europe to recognize once again the inherent superiority of the liberal democratic world we have created, and to demand that those who wish to live among us adopt our language and customs, especially those customs that uphold the basic tenets of Western civilization and human progress. If we’re not careful, we might soon find ourselves in the situation depicted in the cartoon above: many peoples residing in one nation with no common cultural or linguistic currency. For our sake, I hope that does not come to pass.

As it turns out, not everyone is as amused by the President’s rib-ticklers as his sycophants in the mainstream media. Margaret Carlson, are you listening? From Fox News comes word that those besieged residents of American border towns have written a powerful letter to Mr. Obama expressing their outrage at his cavalier dismissal of their legitimate concerns about their imperiled safety and livelihoods.

Their concerns are shared by millions of Americans who’ve seen the anarchic situation on our southern border migrate to their cities and states as the federal goverment continues to ignore their pleas. The next time you hear news about a raging wildfire consuming everything in its wake, stop and think for a moment who the arsonists might be. Then think about the negligent policies of the federal government that probably encouraged the disaster to unfold.

I suggest you tell President Obama and his lackies that our unsecured border is no laughing matter. You can contact the White House through this helpful website. I’m sure the President will be pleased to hear from some of his constituents, even if they’re crazy, moat-loving nativists.