Disastrous by Association

For conservatives, the first clue that the Senate compromise on "comprehensive immigration reform" (read: AMNESTY) was horribly damaging to the nation's interest was the fact that Ted Kennedy was one of its principle architects and spokemen. Now, the GOP's gargoyle has jumped in and made it absolutely clear that this bill is meant to destroy America:

WASHINGTON - The No. 2 Republican in the Senate made an all-out pitch for support of a comprehensive immigration bill Wednesday as the Senate voted to reduce the size of a proposed guest-worker program, infuriating employers.

The Republican, Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, was not part of the bipartisan group of 12 senators who negotiated the "grand bargain" on immigration with the White House. But on Wednesday, Lott defended the deal, which has come under heavy fire from the right and the left.

"Is the current situation in America with legal and illegal immigration intolerable and unacceptable?" Lott asked. "Yes. Everybody would agree. Is this bill better than the current law? Without a doubt, yes. Are we going to have another opportunity to do this better next year or the next year? The answer is no. We've got to do it. We've got to do it as good as we can. We've got to do it right now.

"The only thing that's unacceptable is to do nothing," said Lott, the Senate minority whip.

No, the only unacceptable thing would be to agree to a bill that destroys American sovereignty, absolves invaders of their crimes and forces the American people to pick up the tab for the welfare benefits and government services for people they never wanted in their country in the first place. Far better to do nothing than to do this.

Proposed Immigration Bill Wildly Unpopular

Despite the best efforts of a reckless White House and feckless Republican senators, the American public knows an amnesty when it sees one, and doesn't like it at all.

Initial public reaction to the immigration proposal being debated in the Senate is decidedly negative.

A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey conducted Monday and Tuesday night shows that just 26% of American voters favor passage of the legislation. Forty-eight percent (48%) are opposed while 26% are not sure. The bi-partisan agreement among influential Senators and the White House has been met with bi-partisan opposition among the public. The measure is opposed by 47% of Republicans, 51% of Democrats, and 46% of those not affiliated with either major party.

The American people see the face of their country changing before their very eyes and realize that the reason for that change is untrammelled illegal immigration, and they want it stopped.

Unfortunately for them, their elected leaders do not.

Immigration Sinks Bush

Unsurprisingly, Rasmussen's most recent polling, taken in the wake of last week's "comphrensive immigration reform" (read: AMNESTY) deal shows the president's popularity falling to the lowest levels ever recorded by Rasmussen.

The President’s Job Approval has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded by Rasmussen Reports. For the second straight day, just 34% of American adults Approve of the way that George W. Bush is performing his duties as President (see comments on comparing Approval Ratings from different polling firms). Sixty-three percent (63%) Disapprove.

Only 13% Strongly Approve of the President’s performance. That’s also the lowest level ever recorded. Forty-six percent (46%) now Strongly Disapprove. To appreciate how far the President’s support has fallen, it’s worth looking back to the numbers from early in his second term. In February 2005, the Strongly Approve and Strongly Disapprove numbers were essentially even. Now, there are nearly four Americans who Strongly Disapprove of the President’s performance for every one who Strongly Approves.

The President’s ratings have tumbled each time immigration reform dominates the news. While the President advocates a “comprehensive” reform focused primarily on legalizing the status of illegal aliens, our most recent survey shows that most voters favor an enforcement first policy. Last year, following a nationally televised Presidential Address on immigration, just 39% of Americans agreed with the President’s position.

Other polls have consistently put the presidents approval numbers several points below Rasmussen. Expect to see his numbers in those polls fall to new lows this week.

The American people do not want this amnesty. They recall the 1986 amnesty, which Washington politicans assured them was the last, and the promises of greater border enforcement that turned out to be nothing but lies. They have no confidence in their elected leaders who have lied to them too many times and who do not, they correctly perceive, act in the interest of the nation.

President Bush doesn't care what the American people want. He doesn't care that this amnesty will effectively destroy the GOP, since it will add tens of millions of Democrat voters to the rolls (anyone who thinks that most Latinos will vote Republican is delusional). He doesn't care that adding millions of low skilled workers will sharply drive down the wages of American blue collar workers by adding millions more low and unskilled workers to the labor pool (a boon for big business, which naturally supports all this). But mostly, he doesn't seem to give a damn what this will do to the nation as a whole. He doesn't care about America's unique culture, which cannot assimilate this many new immigrants (and the millions more that will follow). Nor does he care that upsetting the racial demographics of the nation (destroying the white majority) will lead to ethnic balkanization and eventual racial conflict.

Republican leaders need to sink this deal as fast as they can. Assuming, of course, that they are not completely suicidal in regard to their party's - or their nation's - future. But that is no longer a safe assumption.

Mugabe Follows the Trend

One of the most predictable markers of the malignant narcissism that afflicts authoritarian rulers is the inevitable temptation toward lavish self-aggrandizement. The desire to construct great momuments apotheosizing themselves usually comes late in their reigns, after they've ruined their nations and are setting about to squash any hope for a properous future after they finally die (or fall). Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, having destroyed his country's economy and forced his people into starvation, illustrates this principle perfectly as he prepares to erect a momument to himself.

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- The country's economy is crumbling and its people are struggling to survive in the face of nearly 4,000 percent inflation, food and fuel shortages and the prospect of power cuts for up to 20 hours a day. Yet longtime Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is spending almost $4 million on a grandiose project -- a monument to himself.

Work has already begun on a museum dedicated to the life and dubious achievements of the 83-year-old president, in his home district of Zvimba, 65 miles west of the capital, Harare.

"As we speak right now, groundwork for the construction of the museum is at an advanced stage," a government minister said. "The president wants the project to be speeded up so he can open it next year, possibly after winning the [presidential] elections."

Mr. Mugabe's policies, such as the seizure of white-owned farms, are blamed for an economic crisis in which inflation leaped to more than 3,700 percent in April. Unemployment is running at about 80 percent and there are severe shortages of staple foods such as corn and wheat.

Construction of the grand edifice, which will cover an area the size of a soccer field and has been dubbed the "Mugabe shrine," is being supervised by the local government minister, Ignatius Chombo.

Perhaps the North Korean leadership can give him asthetic advice.

But Mugabe has his enablers, some of whom are helping him with his little project.

Materials are understood to have been obtained from countries with regimes friendly to Zimbabwe, such as Malaysia, which supplied the timber for Mr. Mugabe's lavish Chinese-built residence in Zvimba.

Well, of course.