There Goes The Idea Of Encouraging Savings

Piggy banks are given the chop as bank tries to attract young Muslims

Knorbert the piglet has been dropped as the mascot of Fortis Bank after it decided to stop giving piggy banks to children for fear of offending Muslims.

Pigs are considered an unclean animal by Muslims and Jews, and Knorbert was culled after seven years as the Fortis mascot. A spokesman told the Dutch media that “Knorbert does not meet the requirements that the multicultural society imposes on us”. The bank added that there had been “a number of reactions to the pig” and that a new gift and character were being developed that would be “fun for children of any persuasion”. Children who had received a Knorbert piggy bank for opening a EuroKids account will be given a junior encyclopaedia instead.

From The TimesOnline

My Michelle

"I believe it was Michael Kinsley who quipped that a gaffe is when a politician tells the truth. In this case, it’s what happens when an elite Democrat politician’s wife says what a significant portion of the party’s base really believes to be the truth: That America is more a source of shame than pride.

Michelle Obama has achieved enormous professional success, political influence, and personal acclaim in America. Ivy League-educated, she’s been lauded by Essence magazine as one of the 25 World’s Most Inspiring Women; by Vanity Fair as one of the “10 World’s Best Dressed People; and named one of “The Harvard 100″ top influencers. She has had an amazingly blessed life. But you wouldn’t know it from her campaign rhetoric and her griping over her and her husband’s student loans.

For years, we’ve heard liberals get offended at any challenge to their patriotism. And so they are again aggrieved and rising to explain away Mrs. Obama’s remarks."

From "Michelle Obama's America - And Mine" by Michelle Malkin

Mexico President Calderon Brings "Divide and Conquer" Tour To USA

Mexican Presidente Felipe Calderon is in the United States, checking up on the health of his country's safety net. Remittances from immigrants - particularly illegal immigrants - are a huge source of wealth for Mexico, and so the lobbyist President is here lobbying for immigration reform.

Officially, 26 of Mr. Calderón's 34 events from New York City, Boston, Chicago to Sacramento and Los Angeles are behind closed doors, according to his agenda, which was only delivered to reporters after he arrived in New York City on Sunday night.

At every stop, he has scheduled meetings with top local and state officials, some of whom have direct links to presidential candidates.

In other words, he is here lobbying. Despite the constant rhetoric about "not interfering in a country's affairs," he is interfering. That is the whole purpose of this trip... to fuck with American politics.

In California, Mr. Calderón will meet with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Mr. Calderón and his wife, Margarita Zavala, will meet with the state's first lady, Maria Shriver, who recently endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

"The trip has a political agenda that's aimed at helping shape the agenda for an incoming president," said Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, a Washington-based political consultant at Peschard & Associates.

Dallas News

He is not meeting personally with any of the presidential candidates, but he is urging them not to scapegoat immigrants or use them as "symbolic hostages in their speeches and strategies."

"The worst thing that happened in this country is this anti-Mexican or anti-immigrant perception of people," he said Monday, after giving a speech at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. "We need to contain this."

SFGate

The Mexican president wants help improving his country's tattered image by drawing attention to the economic contributions of many of his 12 million countrymen.

And that's OK with Paula Mercado, a cook at a deli at Penn Station in New York City.

"Anything that helps convince Americans that we're not the terrorists who want to destroy their country is welcome. Adelante," she said, meaning "go right ahead."

That's it, isn't it?

So... start convincing! I am sure folks like Mercado are sincere. I for one would be elated to see Mexicans acknowledge that this is OUR COUNTRY and WE HAVE THE RIGHT to decide who gets in. I don't see that from the Mexicans. What I see is a lot of whining, demanding, and race-baiting. I also see a lot of subtle Aztlan-y rhetoric from the La Raza types all over the country. They might not be shouting it from the rooftops, but they're thinking it. The fact is that many Mexicans believe that the USA is their land, and don't need our approval to be here... and certainly don't feel any need to conform in even the slightest way to our culture.

We need to deal in a constructive manner with those illegal immigrants who are not terrorists and don't want to destroy the USA.

BUT... those immigrants who ARE terrorists and DO want to destroy the USA (such as Elvira Arellano and her ilk) need to be dealt with... swiftly and harshly.

There is no room in this country for immigrants - legal or illegal - who do not wish to become part of it.

There is no room in this country for immigrants who won't assimilate.

There is no room for people who do not acknowledge the dominant culture of this country, and do not seek to work within that culture's morals and laws.

These people need to go the fuck back to where they came from, be it Mexico or wherever. And if they won't go back voluntarily, they should be REMOVED!

More Black Muslim Sickness

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Visit Mexico and Disappear! (but not in a good way)

The U.S. Consulate in Tijuana issued a travel advisory last week that said U.S. citizens living and traveling in Mexico should be extra vigilant.

Kidnappings of San Diego-area American Citizens in Mexico have more than doubled in the past year.

Last year, at least 26 San Diego County residents were kidnapped and held for ransom in Tijuana, Rosarito Beach or Ensenada, local FBI agents overseeing the cases said yesterday. In 2006, at least 11 county residents had been kidnapped in the three communities.

“Some of the 26 were recovered, some were hurt and some were killed,” said agent Alex Horan, who directs the FBI's violent-crime squad in San Diego.

“It's not a pleasant experience. Victims have reported beatings, torture and there have been rapes. . . . Handcuffs and hoods over the head are common,” he said.

Kidnapping has increased - not just in toilets like Nuevo Laredo - but in places like Rosarito Beach, Ensenada, and the backroads of Baja.

He described the kidnapping groups as sophisticated operations similar to terrorist cells, each with a boss and clear divisions of labor. Usually, one group is involved in scouting, another carries out the kidnapping, a third holds the victim and a fourth handles the ransom.

“They know who they're going after. I think they have a list,” Horan said. “These are kidnapping cells. . . . That's what they do. They do kidnappings all year long.”

From: SignOnSanDiego

Wisdom From A Cat

"On a case-by-case basis, liberal foreign policy seems complicated and unpredictable, but the big picture is simple: we're supposed to be nice to our enemies and threaten our friends."

-Ferdinand T.Cat

from: The Conservative Cat

Have A Super Tuesday!

... or not

Vote SANE on Tuesday

The California Primary is on Tuesday, and San Fransanity is here to help! Here are your election recommendations for February 5th...

First, the Propositions...

* SF Prop A (Parks Bond) – YES
San Francisco currently has a budget of $6 billion; that is almost $10,000 a year for every man, woman, and child. It’s really hard to support any spending measure in this climate, but this is a lot better than most.

* SF Prop B (SFPD - Deferred Retirement) – YES
There are probably better ways to spend the money, but SF desperately needs more cops. Keeping seasoned vets on the job may help with the Police Department’s morale. We also need an effective police chief, a District Attorney who doesn’t think like she’s in the Black Panthers, and a Board of Supervisors who actually sees the value of enforcing laws. But, one thing at a time...

* SF Prop C (Global Peace Center) - NO
Stupid hippie crap. This “Only in San Francisco” initiative is so wacky on so many levels that some people have suggested voting ‘Yes’ on it... just to show the utter ridiculousness of the initiative process. The idea is to somehow buy Alcatraz from the Federal Government and turn it into a “Peace Center.” That’s right; take the number one tourist attraction – in a town where tourism is the number one industry – and turn it into a... I don’t know what.

State Propositions

* NO on 91!
The passage of Prop 1a made this proposition moot. Even the people who put it on the ballot are saying to vote ‘No’ on it.

* NO on 92!
The California Community College System has the lowest fees in the nation by far. Lowering them further is not justifiable. Maybe if people paid more for Community College they might actually take it seriously.

* NO on 93! DUMP NUÑEZ! *

THIS ONE IS CRITICAL!

IT IS VITALLY IMPORTANT TO VOTE NO ON 93!

This proposition has been sold – falsely – as “term limits” legislation. While the main points of the legislation are not necessarily bad, the real problem with it is that some politicians -who are slated to be termed out at the end of the year – would be exempt from the limits and get a “do-over,” letting them serve for another 12 years. These politicians are – SURPRISE! – the very same ones who wrote the measure in the first place! Coincidence? I think not!

And who are these politicians? Some of the most vile, corrupt scum in California government today: State Assembly Speaker Fabian “King Anchor Baby” Nuñéz, Don Perata, Gil “One-Bill Gil” Cedillo, and a host of others. In short, the master architects of California’s Nanny State, and the people primarily responsible for spending us into oblivion. Nuñéz in particular has dreams of being the Hugo Chavez of a Hispanic Socialist welfare state, and he’s doing a pretty good job of it, too. 12 more years of that shit may very well do us in.

* NO on 94, 95, 96, & 97!
Stop the unfair Indian gaming deals

Tired of listening to Arnold and Nuñéz and all the other hacks? How about getting the perspective of Original Pechanga's Blog, written by a "Terminated member of the Temecula Band of Luiseno Indians from the Pechanga Reservation." In addition to the gaming compact stuff, it's a good read in general. I guarantee you'll learn something you didn't know about American Indian politics!

* Please click the links in the margin to read about these positions in more detail!