Seal the border, part II
It isn't the heat, its the stupidity. Norbiz riffs on the results of this survey.

"6. Do you think Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq was directly involved in planning, financing, or carrying out the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001? 50% say "stop fucking asking that already," the other half is divided into "yes, I am dumber than fucking horseshit" (41%) and "[blank stare]" (9%). The number of shit-dumb Americans has increased by 5 percentage points over the last three years."


I'm guessing the 22% who thought the Amazon was located in Africa or the 3% who thought it was in North America, make up the bulk of the 26% of the people who still back Bush.

Welcome home
Nine-year-old Canadian Kevin Yourdkhani will soon be coming home to Toronto from the Hutto detention facility where he and Iranian parents have been held by U.S. Immigration authorities after they were found to be carrying false passports when their flight from South America to Canada made an unscheduled stop in the United States due to a medical emergency. The nine-year-old and his parents have been incarcerated for a month, but will soon be free - no thanks to Peter McKay or Stephen Harper who declined to intervene. Way to "Stand Up For Canada" guys.
Immigration Minister Diane Finlay has promised to grant the family a reprieve, which will be sufficient for them to get out of jail in the U.S. and come to Canada to try to get residency status. The parents were deported in 2005 after a ten year struggle to be accepted as refugees. They say they were arrested and tortured immediately after their return to Iran. Their son was born in Canada and is a Canadian citizen.

See, they aren't all wankers

A great big Woodshed thanks to Ralph Isenberg for being a real mensch.

Ralph Isenberg, a Dallas real estate developer whose Chinese-born wife has had her own struggles with immigration authorities, was so touched by Kevin's story he contacted Brouwer to offer help, including covering the family's airfare to Toronto.

"This is my apology to the Canadian people, to say sorry for the insensitivity of our government in taking a 9-year-old boy into custody in a maximum-security prison. Can you imagine what permanent damage it can cause to the child?" Isenberg said.

"Last I heard, Canada is one of our best allies, and this is how we treat our best friend from Canada? God only help you if you're the enemy of the U.S."

Standing up for Canada
Peter McKay is supposed to be hobnobbing with Condi Rice this weekend - do you think this family's case is likely to come up? Or will he be too busy trying to get to first base?

Canadian boy caught in Texas detention

Aircraft's chance landing in U.S. calamitous event for 9-year-old, his Iranian parents

Feb 16, 2007 04:30 AM

Michelle Shephard
Rick Westhead
Toronto Star Staff Reporters

A 9-year-old Canadian boy is in a Texas detention centre after his flight to Toronto made an unscheduled stop and U.S. officials detained his family.

Now the boy's Iranian parents are pleading with Canadian officials to help secure the family's release from the immigration holding facility, which has come under fire for allegedly detaining children in sub-standard conditions.

"All the time he is asking me, `Why am I wearing the uniform? Why I am here?'" the boy's mother said, as she sobbed during a telephone interview from the detention facility yesterday.

"We didn't do nothing. My child is innocent."

The parents, who have no status in Canada, asked that their names not be published out of fear of eventually being returned to Iran, where they say they were previously imprisoned and suffered physical and sexual abuse.

Vigilantes by any other name still stink

Given what has been going on in Arizona, I don't think it is a huge jump to think this could be the work of fellow travelers of the Minutemen. Gee, a bunch of bigots start spouting hate, prompting a bunch of other bigots to start waving guns around and another bunch of bigots start shooting people. What were the freakin' odds? The last line of the article in the second link is telling -- human smugglers shooting people out in the desert are unlikely to be wearing something as dramatic as berets. Anything that theatrical sounds to me like a bunch of uber-patriot military fetishists turned vigilante. Doubtless the freepers can explain to us how it was all the fault of the vicitims for seeking a better life in the first place instead of staying where they were and working for some mega-corporation's dirty little branch plant for a dollar a day.

In other news from Stupidville, 25 percent of Americans think Jesus will return this year. And that is according to an Associated Press poll, not a survey of members of the 700 club. If you are an American reading this, just remember that one of the next three people you meet is likely to think the rapture is going to occur in the next 10 months. So don't lend them any money.