By Debbie Schlussel
Well it’s about time.
The U.S. Senate voted, yesterday, unanimously to bar companies that hire illegal aliens from receiving federal contracts (like building the wall between the U.S. and Mexico). The ban would last seven years, unless a company was caught hiring illegals while it holds a federal contract–in that case, it’s 10 years.
The language was inserted in a bill to raise the minimum wage, so don’t cheer your Senator if he/she was one of the 94 to vote for it. They may have been voting for the legislation for the wrong reasons.
And, unfortunately, business lobbyists believe they can manage to get the alien-hiring ban removed from the final version of the bill once it reaches conference committee to be reconciled with the House version.

Of note is that business lobbyists are more concerned with that legislation than they are with the minimum wage legislation. Maybe that’s because with illegal aliens, they generally get around the minimum wage requirement altogether.
The ban was introduced by Alabama Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, and those who object are the usual suspects–the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, meat packing companies, etc:

The ban would not be subject to appeal in court, but the federal government could waive it for national security reasons. Companies that use a pilot electronic employment verification system would be exempt from the sanctions. Business groups complain the verification system is flawed.
“The Sessions amendments are comparable to using the nuclear option for a paperwork violation,” Jeffrey D. Shoaf of the Associated General Contractors of America wrote to senators in a last ditch attempt to kill the immigration provision. “These amendments will have ramifications well beyond immigration law, and would open the floodgates to using the procurement system as an enforcement mechanism for even first time paperwork violations.”
Others voicing opposition were the American Meat Institute, whose meat packing members have been frequent targets of immigration raids. Others who signed on to a letter of opposition included the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Homebuilders and the Associated Builders and Contractors.
Critics objected that the provision did not give businesses the opportunity to appeal the ban in court and said the national security waiver would place small businesses at a disadvantage.
“Who’s going to get the waiver and who’s going to get punished?” Amador asked. “They will go after the small businesses.”
The Sessions provision is similar to a ban on federal contracts contained in the Senate version of broad based immigration legislation last year. The bill died after the House and Senate could not reconcile their differences. This year, with Congress under Democratic control, immigration legislation stands a better chance of passage.
Thursday’s vote came just one week after immigration officials arrested 40 illegal workers hired by military contractors in three states. Last July, immigration officials arrested nearly 60 illegal immigrants at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
“The vast majority of businesses carefully follow the law, but many of them unfortunately do not,” Sessions said. “Some are even contractors who are working on sensitive government contracts. Let me tell you, we have a problem.”
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a co-sponsor of the Sessions amendment, sent a letter Wednesday to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff questioning whether the government required its contractors and subcontractors to participate in the employment verification system.
“If they skirt the rules by hiring illegal aliens, they should face the consequences,” Grassley said.

Absolutely. Would love to see how many of DHS Chief Michael Chertoff a/k/a “Mr. Burns'” contractors employ illegal aliens. Time for an Inspector General investigation into that.

By Debbie Schlussel
I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails from ostriches, in light of yesterday’s stories in which Senator Barack Hussein Obama allegedly “debunks” the Insight Magazine story and other charges–first made on this site–about his Muslim background.
But apparently ostriches can’t read. Because Obama’s alleged “debunking” didn’t debunk a thing. It raised more questions. For starters, many have cited an AP story and a CNN story, both of which sent “reporters” to check into the Muslim school that Obama attended. All of Al-AP’s Muslim “reporters” in Indonesia tell us that the school, SDN Menteng 1, is a public school, NOT an Islamic school or madrassa (which literally means “academy”), as Hillary Clinton’s camp claims in the Insight Story.
The vice principal of the school, Akmed Solichin, tells AP that

Most of our students are Muslim, but there are Christians as well. Everyone’s welcome here. . . it’s a public school.

And we should trust him because Muslims never lie or propagandize. Taqiyyah is a concept in Hinduism or maybe atheism? The same goes for the denials of Indonesia’s Islamofascist-dominated Ministry of Religious Affairs, which denies the school is Islamic. They hate America and would love one of their own in the White House, but they would never lie.
More important, in his own two autobiographies, Obama writes that his teacher at the school sent a note home to his mother that Obama made trouble by making faces while the class was studying the Koran. Uh, sorry, but public schools DO NOT study the Koran. Islamic schools do. And which suras was Obama studying? How about the many suras that preach deception and killing of Infidels? It’s doubtful that the school didn’t teach those. It’s more likely that they did. And which violent Hadiths did the school teach? We’ll never know. And Obama won’t be trumpeting them.
So Christians and others are welcome at the Muslim school Obama attended. That proves nothing. Everyone (except women) would be welcome in most Islamic schools around the world–a great opportunity to indoctrinate and convert them. How do you think Adam Gadahn a/k/a Azzam Al-Amriki learned about Islam before he became a fully converted, educated Muslim? It wasn’t by osmosis.
And finally, there is the glaring red flag on Obama’s attendance at Fransiskus Assisi, a Catholic school.
AP reports this:

At first, Obama attended the Catholic school, Fransiskus Assisi, where documents showed he enrolled as a Muslim, the religion of his stepfather.
The document required that each student choose one of five state-sanctioned religions when registering _ Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Catholic or Protestant. Gibbs said he wasn’t sure why the document had Obama listed as a Muslim.

Gee, if he wasn’t a Muslim, but a Catholic, why would a Catholic identify as a Muslim in a Catholic school? He and his parents were trying to hide his Catholic background from a Catholic school?
I don’t know about him, but when my parents enrolled me–a Jew–at Akiva Hebrew Day School, they didn’t tell Rabbi Schostak that I, Debbie Schlussel, am a Muslim . . . just to make me sound more exotic.
And I doubt that’s the reason Obama self-identified as a Muslim at Catholic school.
The real reason might just be the logical one: that it’s the truth. That he actually was a Muslim.
One other thing: Obama told NBC’s Today Show:

Me going to school in Indonesia for two years at a public school there at the age of 7 and 8 is probably not going to be endangering in some way the people of America.

Well, that depends on what they taught him there. If we shouldn’t be worried about what Obama learned in a school that he admits taught him the Koran (shortly before he self-identified as a Muslim at a Catholic school), then we should stop worrying about Palestinian Authority TV training kids at age 3 to kill Jews and Americans and become homicide bombers.
After all, what they learn when they are young and impressionable doesn’t matter. Does it? . . .

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade Martyr Poster
of Palestinian Child Terrorist Homicide Bomber

By Debbie Schlussel
**** SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE ****
All of our brave men and women serving in Iraq are important and appreciated. As are all of those who have been injured or killed.
But when someone with a special renown is killed, we take notice because it puts the lie to those (John Kerry, Rosie O’Donnell, Matt Damon) who claim that only down-on-their-luck losers with no other choice are serving there. That couldn’t be further from the truth–the smart, skilled, well-educated, dedicated soldiers with jobs, families, and achievements that are monumental back at home.
One of those is Captain Brian S. Freeman, 31, of San Diego. He was among five Americans murdered Saturday in an ambush by terrorists dressed as U.S. troops near Karbala.

Captain Brian S. Freeman, RIP
Freeman was a skilled athlete who trained for the Olympic Games and competed in bobsled and skeleton. He was formerly part of the U.S. Army elite athlete program.
More:

Members of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton teams learned of Freeman’s death this week while preparing for the world championships, which begin in St. Moritz, Switzerland on Thursday.
“He was one of the greatest men I have ever known,” said World Cup overall bobsled leader and 2006 Olympian Steven Holcomb, who was in the WCAP program with Freeman. “The time I spent with Brian not only made me a better person, but a better athlete. He was a brilliant, honorable humanitarian.”
Freeman was 16th in the 2003 U.S. skeleton national championships. He won a bronze medal as a four-man sled brakeman at a 2002 America’s Cup race, teaming with two-time Olympian Mike Kohn.
“Brian will always be remembered for his willingness to ride with any driver so that the driver could gain more valuable experience driving the track, even if that meant crashing a few times,” U.S. Skeleton National Program Manager Steve Peters said. “As a result, many of those drivers later went on to make future World Cup teams and the 2006 Olympic team.”
Freeman was assigned to the 412th Civil Affairs Battalion, based in Whitehall, Ohio, defense officials said.
He was born in Bakersfield, Calif. and later settled in Temecula, Calif., said his father, Randy Freeman. The 1999 West Point graduate was on active reserve.
His awards include two Army Commendation Medals, two Army Achievement Medals, a National Defense Service Medal and a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. He also earned Combat Action, Air Assault, Parachutist and Marksmanship Qualification badges.
“He had a fantastic sense of humor that made you want to be around him all the time,” World Cup skeleton slider Bree Schaaf-Boyer said. “This isn’t just the loss of a close friend of the bobsled and skeleton community, it’s the loss of an amazing person, father, husband and son.”
Freeman is survived by his wife and two children, ages 3 and 1.

A U.S. Olympic Committee press release about one of his 2002 competitions, he was described as showing “true grit.”
But the truest grit he showed was on the battlefield, giving his life in service of our country.
Brian S. Freeman, Rest In Peace.
**** UPDATE: Bush Presidential speechwriter, soldier, and Harvard Ph.D., Ben of Mesopotamia knew Brian Freeman and said that he was killed by Islamic militia members who were likely trained by Jaish al-Mahdi. That’s the Muqtada Al-Sadr’s terrorist Mahdi Militia a/k/a Mahdi Army.
He writes:

But even though he questioned the wisdom of our being in Iraq, he said that he had made a commitment when he entered West Point in 1995, and that he was honor bound to fulfill that pledge regardless of his political beliefs.

By Debbie Schlussel
So, you are traveling, you’re at the Miami International Airport, and you get caught with a water bottle containing a hidden compartment with dark particulate matter that looks and smells like marijuana.
Police have a security video, and you are forced to surrender your makeshift James-Bond-esque drug gadget to security screeners.
If you are most other people, you’d probably be charged with a crime . . . several crimes.
But if your name is Michael Vick and you are the Atlanta Falcons Quarterback, you are cleared of all wrongdoing, the bottle is destroyed or “lost,” and, that substance you hid in your water bottle was just a perfectly legal spice you inserted to make your water more flavorful. Hurriedly, the Miami-Dade Police Department rushes to erase the flash drive containing the airport security video.

Secret Compartment Water Bottle Afficionado Michael Vick
That’s what happened to the January 17th video of Vick. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution made several Freedom of Information Act requests for the video, including on on January 18th. But someone at the Miami-Dade PD is a Michael Vick fan.
They erased the video in a hurry. Why? Why is Michael Vick being protected by the Miami-Dade PD and prosecutors? Sure looks like a cover up. And what’s on the video that someone didn’t want us to see?
It’s hard to believe Miami-Dade police and prosecutors don’t give special treatment to celebrities, given the the lack of prosecution and rush to destroy evidence of a possible crime.
And it’s doubly hard to believe that a water bottle with a secret compartment containing matter that looked and smelled like pot, didn’t actually contain pot.
What else could have been in there–oregano and pachouli? You don’t really need a secret compartment for those substances.

By Debbie Schlussel
The military’s newest weapon is space age and sci-fi.
It’s a ray gun, which shoots a beam that makes people feel as if their clothes are about to ignite. It’s a harmless way to get enemies to drop their weapons. And it can locate targets and fire beams upon them from more than 500 yards away, almost 17 times the range of existing nonlethal weapons (ie., rubber bullets).
Unfortunately, the ray gun–referred to as an “active denial system”–wil not go into production until 2010, even though all branches of the military have expressed an interest in it and a successful prototype–“Silent Guardian”–was displayed for the press. It was developed by the U.S. military and produced by Raytheon.

Silent Guardian Ray Gun Weapon System
Why so long? Reuters reports that it’s already been tested for 12 years on more than 10,000 people. Our troops could surely use that weapon now in Iraq and elsewhere (ie., Somalia–where we have gunships off the coast). Given that timeline, by the time it gets produced, Al-Qaeda and other Islamic terrorists will already have trained for extreme heat/burning sensations. Right now, they aren’t trained to resist. So now is the time.
Right now, AP reports, anyone hit by the beam immediately jumped out of its path because the sudden, intense blast of heat–130 degrees–is felt throughout the body.
More details:

The system uses electromagnetic millimeter waves, which can penetrate 1/64th of an inch of skin, just enough to cause discomfort. By comparison, microwaves used in the common kitchen appliance penetrate several inches of flesh.
The millimeter waves cannot go through walls but can penetrate most clothing, officials said. They refused to say whether the waves can go through glass.
The weapon could be mounted on ships, airplanes and helicopters, and be used for security or anti-terrorism operations.
“There should be no collateral damage to this,” said Senior Airman Adam Navin, 22, of Green Bay, who has served several tours in Iraq.
Navin and two other airmen were role players in Wednesday’s demonstration. They and 10 reporters who volunteered were shot with the beams. The beams easily penetrated various layers of winter clothing.

Rush this weapon out now to give our brave men and women the tactical advantage. Otherwise, it’s just plain stupidity to publicize it to our enemies and give them time to train accordingly.
They could have kept it a secret and then just started using it. Why telegraph our new weapons and what they can do? Is that dumb or what? There’s simply no benefit to doing that.

By Debbie Schlussel
From today’s Detroit Free Press:

Guns, Killings Linked

Ya think?
Up next: Food, Eating Linked

By Debbie Schlussel
More evidence you can’t trust Communist China, that the country is not and hasn’t gotten more tolerant from Western culture entering its borders.
The front page of today’s Wall Street Journal says it all. The headline:

Pigs Get the Ax in China TV Ad, in Nod to Muslims: Porcine Prohibition Sends Marketers Scrambling; A New Year Complication

Though I have no respect for Communist China–its slave labor, lack of human rights, one-child-per-family policy, etc., etc., etc.–I thought, at least, the country got tough on Islamic extremism. The Chinese government has raided and destroyed camps populated by Chinese Muslim Uighur (pronounced “Wee-gur”) extremists. As I’ve written, last year, several Uighurs were Al-Qaeda terrorists held in Guantanamo Bay, and China protested their release (to Albania). But, as I also wrote, China gave millions to HAMAS, last year.
And there’s another stark indication that China’s not so tough. The country is as PC when it comes to the “Religion of Peace” as we are. The proof is in the new prohibition of pigs in advertising and on TV in light of next months Year of the Pig–all as a sop to a tiny group of Chinese Muslims. Interesting how the country bows to Islam, but is quite tough on the practice of Christianity.
Can’t wait for the Islamolympics.
Here are a few excerpts from the WSJ story:

SHANGHAI — Next month, China will ring in the Year of the Pig. Nestle SA planned to celebrate with TV ads featuring a smiling cartoon pig. “Happy new pig year,” the ads said.
This week, China Central Television, the national state-run TV network, banned Nestle’s ad — and all images and spoken references to the animal in commercials, including those tied to the Lunar New Year, China’s biggest holiday.
The intent: to avoid offending Muslims, who consider pigs unclean. “China is a multiethnic country,” the network’s ad department said in a notice sent to ad agencies late Tuesday. “To show respect to Islam, and upon guidance from higher levels of the government, CCTV will keep any ‘pig’ images off the TV screen.”
Suddenly, companies reaching out to China’s booming consumer market have a pig problem. The edict has sent Nestle and others scrambling to adapt to the last-minute rule change, altering spots that had included pigs. . . .
The pig ban is a significant shift for a government that seldom puts the interests of minority groups ahead of those of the broader population. China has more than 20 million Muslims, but they constitute less than 2% of its population.
For most other Chinese, the pig has powerful and positive cultural associations as one of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac. Year of the Pig decorations already festoon cities and villages all over China.
Pork is the meat most widely consumed by the country’s Han Chinese majority. On average, Chinese annually eat more than 80 pounds of pork , according to United Nations statistics. At banquets in southern China, people often roast whole pigs, decorated with blinking red lights in their eye sockets. . . .
Chinese TV’s ban comes in the wake of the killing of 18 Muslims by police in the country’s remote northwest earlier this month. The government accused the men of being terrorists. Muslim activists have called for an independent investigation. . . .
Advertising-industry executives in China say senior Communist Party leaders recently told CCTV that references to pigs should be avoided to prevent conflicts among ethnic groups. CCTV’s move was then announced to advertisers just as many were finalizing their spots for the holiday, which begins Feb. 18. . . .
Pigs have often been at the center of communal violence between China’s Muslim minority and the Chinese majority. Protests ensued when a pig’s head was nailed to the door of a mosque several years ago.
Tensions have flared again since security forces killed the 18 accused terrorists in an area — the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region — known for Muslim separatist activity. Uighurs are Turkic speaking Muslims who have long bridled at Beijing’s rule.
“After an incident like that, the government often tries to make up for it, in an overt propaganda way,” says Dru Gladney, an anthropologist at Pomona College in California, who studies China’s Muslims. . . .
“Muslim people hate pigs and don’t even mention pigs in their daily lives,” says Ma Yunfu, the vice chairman of the China Islamic Association. Mr. Ma said he hadn’t been informed of the CCTV ban but views it as “a precaution.”
“We don’t want to see any misunderstanding like the one 12 years ago,” during the last Year of the Pig, says Mr. Ma. At that time, Mr. Ma says, some newspapers published a tale in which a pig saves the life of Muhammad. “That aroused a lot of anger,” he says.

I’ll bet it did. For the record, Islam plagiarized the pig prohibition from my religion, Judaism, which originated the ban on consumption or use of pig and pig products.
But we Jews don’t impose our religion on others, such as absurd objections to piggy banks (I own a few of those) or Disney’s Piglet from “Winnie the Pooh.”
That’s the difference between a religion that just wants to be tolerated and let to live in peace (Judaism) and one that wants its religious prescriptions to dominate the world.

By Debbie Schlussel
To me, since it was the same old speech from every other year (get off oil dependence while I fete the Saudis, we need to let more illegal aliens become citizens, etc.)–but for his addition, this year, of Hezbollah being a bad group (which he doesn’t really believe or his foreign policy over the last 6 years would be vastly different)–the only part worthy of attention was the guests in the gallery that he recognized.
To me, the best part was Subway Superman Wesley Autrey hugging fellow American hero, Silver Star recipient, and future action figure Sgt. Tommy Reiman. Wish I had a picture to post of their hug. But strangely, can’t find one. Why not? (The Baby Einstein lady was a waste of time and not heroic. But in the day of Oprah nation, you gotta do something to show women voters you care about their feelings.)
**** UPDATE: Bill Warner sends this photo, which is not the one I had in mind, but the closest we can find. Sgt. Tommy Reiman is the man in the Army uniform to the right of Mrs. Cheney (who is in a white suit).

By Debbie Schlussel
New Orleans Judge Ernest Jones postponed the opening of a trial from Monday until today because of Sunday’s National Football League NFC championship game between the Saints and the Chicago Bears (which the Bears won) “for the sake of all fans,” the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports.
Gives new meaning to the dumb slogan, “Sports: It’s not brain surgery. It’s more important.” Well, for stupid judges, it apparently is (since they’d never qualify to learn how to do brain surgery, which is why they became lawyers and then judges). Read the silly motion citing football, which Judge Jones granted.

By Debbie Schlussel
Kudos to CBS Sports and analyst Randy Cross for giving our brave soldiers a GREAT way to participate in this year’s Superbowl: the inaugural Baghdad Bowl, live from Iraq. It was Cross’ idea.
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand, in his “Sports on TV” column today, reports that during CBS’ Superbowl pregame show, the network will air the Baghdad Bowl starring U.S. soldiers donning Colts and Bears jerseys for a touch football game. And Cross is going to Iraq with him Monday to prep for the game. Good for them!
More details:

Randy Cross, Then & Now, Always a Patriot

New bowl games always pop up. But here’s one that, without a title sponsor or teams with track records, gets a fabulous time slot its first time out: The inaugural Baghdad Bowl, in Iraq, will air during CBS’ Super Bowl pregame show.
CBS analyst Randy Cross says he proposed the idea to CBS after visiting a U.S. military base in Afghanistan last year. The idea is for U.S. soldiers in Iraq – male and female – to don Colts and Bears jerseys for a touch football game that, he jokes, “will give you an early indication” of the Super Bowl winner.
Not surprisingly, says Suzanne Smith, who is Cross’ director on regular NFL coverage and will go to Iraq with him Monday, this bowl will be creative. Jeeps will be lined up to serve as bleachers, she says, “And we’re talking about making some kind of goalposts.” She is not sure about player gear – “Maybe they’ll wear their helmets.”
Smith, working with the military, says she’ll be supplied with two cameras – “which I guess is a big deal over there” – and help in scouting locations: “In e-mails, like whenever you do a shoot, they talked about the advantages and disadvantages of two sites. But with this, they talked about which is safer.”
But at least the game balls, which will emulate Super Bowl balls, will be emblazoned with “Baghdad Bowl” lettering. After all, Cross says, “The idea is to bring some degree of normalcy to the troops.”

I’ve always liked Randy Cross. Now I have another reason why. He may have been a Forty-Niner, but the man is obviously a Patriot–with a lot of concern for our brave men and women serving in a war zone. He’s giving some of them a chance to forget, just for a little while, that their lives are at risk.
With this, it really will be a Super Sunday.