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President Bush yesterday moved aggressively to resurrect his plan to relax rules against illegal immigration, a move bound to anger conservatives just days after they helped re-elect him. The president met privately in the Oval Office with Sen. John McCain to discuss jump-starting a stalled White House initiative that would grant legal status to millions of immigrants who broke the law to enter the United States….

“We are formulating plans for the legislative agenda for next year,” said White House political strategist Karl Rove. “And immigration will be on that agenda.” He added: “The president had a meeting this morning to discuss with a significant member of the Senate the prospect of immigration reform. And he’s going to make it an important item.”

While the president was huddling with Mr. McCain, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was pushing the plan during a visit to Mexico City. “The president remains committed to comprehensive immigration reform as a high priority in his second term,” he told a meeting of the U.S.-Mexico Binational Commission. “We will work closely with our Congress to achieve this goal.”

But key opponents in Congress said Mr. Bush’s proposal isn’t going anywhere. “An amnesty by any other name is still an amnesty, regardless of what the White House wants to call it,” said Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican and chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus. “Their amnesty plan was dead on arrival when they sent it to the Congress in January, and if they send the same pig with lipstick back to Congress next January, it will suffer the same fate,” he said.

And here I hadn’t even gotten around to posting the contest about when George Bush was going to outrage his conservative supporters and what the issue would be. I guess we’re a little late for that now. Eight days after the election must be some kind of record.

Perhaps for an encore he can force the Marines to break off the Fallujah assault and start negotiating with the surviving enemy fighters. The disgusting thing is that the president won’t do anything about abortion because the country is split on it, but he’ll fight for the rights of illegal aliens even though the vast majority of the country is hugely against it. You can’t say that he’s a coward, but he sure does seem to have courage in all the wrong places.

I just sent off the book proposal for the book in which Pablo has such interest; here’s hoping that the publisher shares the same level of enthusiasm. The book is an explication of why so many American men do not feel inclined to date, let alone marry, their female compatriots. In honor of the occasion, I thought I’d share a little selection from Chapter 12: The Annotated Alanis Morrisette. The original lyrics are in normal text, my annotations are in italics below.

I want you to know that I’m happy for you

Thank you, thank you very much.

I wish nothing but the best for you both

You are too kind. Um, who is this?

An older version of me

If this is who I think it is, I would think you’d be worried about the 20-somethings by now.

Is she as perverted as me

Oh, it’s YOU! Yeah, you were a nutcase, weren’t you. Now it’s all coming back. But you weren’t half as good in bed as you thought you were.

Would she go down on you in a theater?

No, I have to admit, she probably wouldn’t. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all about the blowjobs, but I have to admit I’d just as soon not get busted for indecent exposure. I have a job, you know. What was that whole doing-it-in-public thing about anyhow?

Does she speak eloquently

Not particularly. On the other hand, she doesn’t know what a patriarchy is either. Points to her.

Belgium’s far-right Vlaams Blok was branded racist in a supreme court ruling that will force one of Europe’s most successful anti-immigrant parties to relaunch itself. The supreme court upheld a verdict by a lower court in April that found the party to be guilty of “permanent incitement to segregation and racism”.

The top court rejected all 21 arguments put forward by the Vlaams Blok in an appeal against the April ruling by a court in Ghent, saying that freedom of speech had its limits under tough new anti-racism legislation.

The verdict was met with applause from anti-racism activists inside the packed courtroom but gasps from party supporters. “What happened in Brussels today is unique in the Western world: never has a so-called democratic regime outlawed the country’s largest political party,” Vlaams Blok leader Frank Vanhecke said in a statement.

If you can’t beat them, just make it illegal to vote for them. Vee must always remember zat freedom of speech has its limits, hein? Terry McAuliffe must be kicking himself today. Why didn’t he think of that?

Just remember this when you wonder at what point the Left reaches its limits. They’re a lot further out than you’d ever imagine. It doesn’t usually extend to killing everyone with glasses, but it does more often than you’d expect.

TMQ lauds the Jills:

Kickoff temperature 55 degrees with 25 mile-per-hour winds, the Buffalo Jills came out in miniskirts and bare midriffs. Spectators were wearing heavy coats; coaches on both sidelines sported windbreaker pants; players on the benches had ski caps pulled low over their ears; yet the cheerleaders were scantily attired! This represents one of the most dramatic examples of cheer-babe professionalism that TMQ has ever witnessed. Needless to say, the football gods crowned the team with success.

I think we all know what this means. A gauntlet has been thrown down and as soon as the temperature hits freezing, the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders will show up wearing nothing but bodypaint and white thongs.

Redneck’s Corner takes a gander at THE WAR IN HEAVEN:

If you are a student of the Bible and have a good grasp of it, you are going to love this book. That said the character development is excellent. You get to know all the characters personally and it feels as if you knew them…. I want to tell you from my heart that if you are an educated Christian this is the book for you. It details what we all believe into fantasy. What a great Job.

JamieR also emailed some comments about THE WORLD IN SHADOW yesterday. “Loved the story – once I picked up the book, finished it in 2 nights – and damn, the last 50 pages rocked, but I dont know whether I can say it was way better than War In Heaven, maybe thats got something to do with the discovery of what you’re writing about…. The last third of the book I couldn’t put down.”

In answer to Zod’s question: “I would be interested to know if the angelic hierarchy described in the books is based on any sort of historical description or is the invention of the author.” the one that I used was a modified version of the one created by St. Jerome. It goes as follows, from greatest to least:

1. Seraphim

2. Cherubim

3. Principalities

4. Dominations

5. Powers

6. Archangels

7. Angels

Phil Taylor writes on CNN/SI:

After helping to lead Boston to its first World Series title since 1918, Schilling suddenly feels politically astute enough to tell us all who our next president should be. Appearing on ABC’s Good Morning America the day after the Sox wrapped up the championship, he surprised interviewer Charlie Gibson at the end of the segment by saying, “And make sure you tell everybody to vote, and vote Bush next week.”

Nothing against Schilling — it’s hard to blame him for feeling full of himself after helping reverse the dreaded Curse of the Bambino — but he had no business injecting his political views, unsolicited, into the appearance. Besides that, his voting suggestions should carry about as much weight with the American public as, say, cooking tips from James Carville.

Right, no one should listen to that political ignoramus Curt Schilling, the enlightened analysis and advice that those noted political experts Michael Silver, Peter King, Dr. Z and the guy from San Francisco with the gay father whose name I can’t remember have not exactly been shy about offering over the last month or two notwithstanding.

“Besides, we already know who’s going to win the Series: Boston, because — well, because that’s just the way it is right now. The Patriots haven’t lost in 13 months, and in another two weeks, give or take a few manual recounts, a senator from Massachusetts is going to be elected president.” – Michael Silver, CNN/SI, October 22, 2004

A John F. Kennedy School of Government researcher has cast doubt on the widely held belief that terrorism stems from poverty, finding instead that terrorist violence is related to a nation’s level of political freedom. ‘In the past, we heard people refer to the strong link between terrorism and poverty, but … when you look at the data, it’s not there. This is true not only for events of international terrorism … but … also for the overall level of terrorism, both of domestic and of foreign origin.’

Hmmm, I wonder what was his first clue. The godfather of terrorism, Yassir “I’m not dead yet!” Arafat, is worth over $1 billion and his heirs are desperately trying to figure out where his bank accounts are. The Baader-Meinhof gang was a bunch of German rich kids. Osama bin Laden is a Saudi multimillionaire and the Peruvian Shining Path wasn’t exactly strapped for cash thanks to healthy opium crops in the territory it controlled.

1. The loss to Indy should settle any questions about Randy Moss being a necessary component of the Vikings offense. The Vikings are good without him, they’re just not unstoppable.

2. I’m not sure that the problems in Miami are entirely Dave Wannstedt’s fault, but his resignation is probably the best thing at this point. If Miami is smart, they’ll make a play for Drew Brees if San Diego decides to go with Rivers, because their fans are fed up having to suffer with sub-par quarterbacking ever since the sun set on the Dan Marino era.

3. Judging by the relative lack of success of the Carson Palmer project – at least compared to Kitna last year – San Diego might be wise to trade Rivers instead. The grass isn’t always greener and the fact that one thing is working doesn’t mean another thing will.

4. Pittsburgh looks good. Really good.

5. Mike Martz isn’t the genius. Bill Belichek is. Forget the two rings, he coached Martz’s pants off on Sunday. Martz is a great offensive coordinator who’s been promoted beyond his ideal level of competence.

6. I would never dare to count Bill Parcells done, but there does appear to be a giant fork sticking out of his back. Or maybe that’s Vinnie Testaverde’s, who would be a great backup quarterback but is just too old to be a starter anymore.

7. It was funny listening to Phil Simms commenting on the Patriots-Rams game and mention that Sean Landetta was punting for the Giants back when Simms was winning Super Bowls with them. Running backs may get a lot more glory, but a career as an NFL punter is probably the better bet. Not that most of us are likely to face a choice in the matter.

8. I have no clue what to do with regards to when picking a game featuring one of the following teams: Detroit, New York Giants, Kansas City. Never bet on the NFL. Any Given Sunday isn’t just an empty phrase.

9. Philadelphia, meet The Real Terrell. Has Vegas laid odds on McNabb punching him in the face before the end of the season? McNabb made all the right noises after the game, but this was just the first time Owens has lost it. We’ll see if he’s as patient the second, third and fourth times.

Dear Friend of Choice,

Please help to counter the anti-choice activist groups efforts to derail Senator Arlen Specter from becoming Judiciary Committee Chair. Please forward this alert on to friends of yours that want to have federal and Supreme Court Justices that are going to be fair and uphold the current law of the land on a woman’s right to choose!

In other words, Justices in the tradition of Anthony Kennedy, or Sandra Day O’Connor who wrote the majority opinion in Casey vs. Planned Parenthood (1992) where she said that “in order for women to participate equally in today’s society a woman must have the ability to control her own body”… rather than Judges like Antonin Scalia or Clarence Thomas.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) is a moderate, pro-choice supporting Republican in line for the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Last week he “bluntly warned newly re-elected President Bush against putting forth Supreme Court nominees who would seek to overturn abortion rights or are otherwise too conservative to win confirmation,” reports the AP.

Specter helped defeat President Reagan’s nomination of the rabidly anti-choice Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, and of the anti-choice Jeff Sessions to a federal judgeship. Specter called both nominees too extreme on civil rights issues. Sessions later became a Republican senator from Alabama and now sits on the Judiciary Committee with Specter.

The anti-choice activist groups are having a cow. The Concerned Women for America sent out an alert, urging people to call and email Republican Senators asking them to prevent Specter from being chair of the Judiciary committee…

Somehow, I don’t think Sen. Specter’s friends are talking about a woman controlling her body by putting marijuana or cocaine into it. It’s interesting to see what he says when he thinks the “anti-choice” people aren’t paying attention, isn’t it?

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s number is 202-224-3344. His email address is: bill_frist@frist.senate.gov.

Nick B considers caveman morality:

Rational ethics can be derived from the basic concept of enlightened self-interest alone, even if you don’t want to believe that…. There are hordes of people outside the Judeo-Xtian Belief System who have come to rational behavior of a sorts.

I absolutely agree that rational ethics CAN be derived from the basic concept of enlightened self-interest. I even agree that many secular individuals subscribe to them and live what I would consider to generally be a blameless life. I am merely explaining why such ethics are so obviously and continually powerless in the face of evil. I don’t think it takes a silver-tongued debater to demonstrate to everyone’s liking that the Holocaust or the Killing Fields were irrational and not in the self-interest, enlightened or otherwise, of the very Germans and Kampucheans who perpetrated the democides.

Murdering a liquor store clerk to cover up a $25 theft is ludicrously irrational. But the “rational secularist” has no answer for this except to stand there, as helpless and open-mouthed as Mike Martz watching Adam Viniateri throw to Troy Brown, lamenting that such things should be. What does a rationally derived system of ethics have to say to those who reject it, for whatever reason? We know what Sharia says. We know what the Bible says. But we neither know or care what Mr. Chomsky or whoever the appropriate secular prophet might be has to say, for is not Mr. Nietszche’s offering equally relevant?

I think this inability to conceptually accept the reality of what is outside its Reason is why the atheist left is usually to be found wringing its hands and standing on the sidelines while the religious right is far more willing – let’s be honest, sometimes too willing – to stand in the gap and actively oppose what even those who truly don’t believe in good and evil will describe as evil.