Happy Valentine's Day?

(No, I do not actually celebrate this religious turned corporate fiasco of a holiday.)

February 14, 2008
To: Michael Chertoff, Chief, Homeland Security
cc: President Bush, Congressional leaders, and members of the media

Dear Michael Chertoff, Chief, Homeland Security

I am asking you in the name of decency to stop the ICE raids at the homes and workplaces of the immigrant community. No family should have to endure armed squads bursting into their houses with shotguns and automatic weapons drawn. One's home should be a place of security and peace. Children should not be left alone or have to lose their parents through raids at their work, resulting in depression, traumatic stress disorder and separation anxiety. Children should live with love and joy. This is what America stands for.

This Valentine's Day, please have a heart and STOP THE RAIDS!

Sincerely,
Zahra Billoo


(Folks send your own letter ASAP, by clicking HERE. Do it for the kids. It'll only take a couple of minutes!)

Katrina Comparisons Are a Different Class of Wrong

You knew it had to happen.

The moment firefighters began to get an edge on the fires, pundits, bloggers and other gasbags couldn't wait to proclaim San Diego's superiority over New Orleans in government response to disaster.

A writer on the conservative Red State website said the difference, of course, was firm Republican leadership in San Diego.

"New Orleans, on the other hand," said the writer, "was a city on the federal dole dominated by Democrats, racial politics, and the legacy of Huey Long's populist-socialist dreams."

Everybody got that?

Republicans are better at evacuations than Democrats. This seems to be particularly true when the Republicans in question can flee down the highway in Yukons while Democrats wait for buses trapped under water.
. . .
"It's phenomenally better," Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff said of the difference in federal response, "because we have been planning and preparing and training together for the last 2 1/2 years."

There you go.

You'd think San Diego's staunch defenders would be thanking New Orleans for making these improvements possible, rather than all but calling the recovering bayou city a jungle filled with savages who got what they deserved.

But we have different classes of people.

Full story: LA Times