Texas roundup

Rick Casey's column from my morning paper: Mayor quits job for gay illegal immigrant he loves

It was, simply put, the most stunning abdication since King Edward VIII in 1936 gave up the British throne for Wallis Simpson, the twice-divorced American socialite.

Only two weeks after being elected to serve his fourth term, Mayor J.W. Lown of San Angelo submitted his resignation letter Tuesday from an undisclosed location in Mexico.

No, being mayor of San Angelo is not exactly the same as being the King of the United Kingdom and Emperor of India, but the reason for Lown’s abdication is the same as Edward’s.

Via Benders Immigration Bulletin: Cornyn jumps the shark

"[W]hile the President and Senator Schumer look to the future, the panel's ranking member, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), was caught facing squarely in the other direction. Cornyn called talk show host, defeated Congressman, and notorious blowhard J.D. Hayworth to testify as an expert on the border." Frank Sharry, May 21, 2009.

Via University of Texas Press: Blockading the Border and Human Rights: The El Paso Operation that Remade Immigration Enforcement

"How on earth did the United States end up deploying tens of thousands of armed personnel to defend a border with a friendly nation that poses no conceivable military threat and which is, in fact, a close ally and trading partner? In this fascinating case study, Timothy Dunn shows that it all began in 1992 with a successful lawsuit that Mexican Americans brought against the Border Patrol to end discriminatory enforcement practices in El Paso, Texas. The unintended consequence was a new enforcement strategy that ultimately became the model for the entire border, transforming what had been a local violation of civil rights into an massive infringement of international human rights. Dunn's brilliant analysis is essential to understanding the origins of a flawed border policy that went on to turn a relatively small, circular flow of seasonal workers going to three states into a huge population of settled families living in fifty states—all at a cost of more than 4,000 lives and billions of taxpayer dollars. This book should be required reading for policy makers and the public alike."

—Douglas S. Massey, Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University; president of the American Academy of Political and Social Science and past president of the American Sociological Association; lead author of Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration

just asking . . .

How is it that in the good old days of last week (or maybe last month) the Houston Chronicle reported the rain chances on the weather page in increments of 10%, 20% etc. Now suddenly, they seem to have refined this. The rain chances tonight are 8% (low temperature 65) - for tomorrow the low temperature is forecast as 45 degrees and rain chances are 13% . . . In the old days with the increments of forecast given in 10s, the newspaper's accuracy was suspect . . . but suddenly, they've refined forecasting to the nth degree? 8% chance of rain tonight????!? Where (excuse the lack of French in what follows) in hell does this refinement come from?

immigration issues

A Houston Chronicle special report on immigration.

Immigration issues - Tracking how immigration, both legal and illegal, has affected Houston and Texas, and the debate over reform.

take this stimulus and shove it

Houston Chronicle columnist Lisa Falkenberg examines the logic, or lack of logic, in Gov. Rick Perry telling Washington "to take its stimulus and shove it."

what governor perry thinks . . .

Time for my morning coffee and the day's headline story from the Houston Chronicle:

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration promised Tuesday to spend $700 million to eradicate Mexico’s drug cartels as it released details of a new offensive that would deploy hundreds of agents and intelligence operatives to fight narco-driven violence along the borders of Texas, Arizona and California.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the massive infusion of federal cash and personnel is designed to bring stability to northern Mexico, where drug cartels have killed about 500 law enforcement officials in an ongoing insurgency. Deputy Attorney General David Ogden said the U.S. government actions are part of a coordinated strategy by the American and Mexican governments “to destroy these criminal organizations.”

But the White House remained noncommittal about sending U.S. National Guard troops to patrol the border, as sought by Texas Gov. Rick Perry and a bipartisan group of lawmakers. Napolitano said she would discuss the request with the Republican governor in Texas on Thursday before making a recommendation to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

“The questions for Governor Perry are very logistical,” she said. “Why 1,000? Where did that number come from? Where in Texas? Texas has a huge border with Mexico. And what does he anticipate the Guard doing?”

Imam requests bail hearing

From this morning's Houston Chronicle is a follow-up story about a jailed Houston area Imam.

Sheikh Zoubir Bouchikhi put his palm to the glass separating him from his 18-month-old daughter at a Houston immigrant detention facility and blew her kiss after kiss, his eyes brimming with tears.

The bewildered toddler touched the window as her older sister picked up a telephone handset to talk to their father for the first time since his arrest at their home three months ago.

“Baba,” said 7-year-old Bushra, using the Arabic word for Daddy. “Are you ever going to come back?”

Bouchikhi, the popular spiritual leader of a southeast Houston mosque, has been held without bail at the facility since Dec. 17. In an interview this week, the 39-year-old imam of Houston’s Abu Bakr Siddqui mosque said he planned to start a hunger strike today to protest the government’s refusal to release him on bail while he awaits a deportation hearing.

“I feel that this is an injustice,” Bouchikhi said. “It’s absolutely outrageous what they are doing, so if they don’t release me I will bring the attention of the whole world to my case.”

The imam said he has faith in the American justice system, “but I think certain government agencies are not really doing justice to themselves, let alone to me.”

Bouchikhi is a native of Algeria who came to America 11 years ago as a student. He later obtained a religious worker visa and applied for permanent residency status for himself, his wife and oldest child. Bouchikhi’s other three children are American-born citizens.

A green card petition on the imam’s behalf by the Islamic Society of Greater Houston was accepted in 2003, but revoked in 2007.

...

Elliot Gershenson, president and CEO of Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, wrote a letter on the imam’s behalf.

“Based on everything we know about this man he’s an honorable man, he’s a faith leader in his community,” Gershenson said. “He’s not a flight risk, and we recommended that he be able to stay with his family.”

Bouchikhi said he has written President Barack Obama about his plight.

“Criminals are being bonded, while a man of God, whose community needs him, whose wife and children need him, is being held without bond. It makes no sense,” the imam said.

farming for cheap food 2 . . .

The Houston Chronicle has details on a plan to turn feral hogs (probably no MRSA problems) into BLTs.

Harris County Commissioner Steve Radack has a problem with hungry hogs. Houston has a problem with hungry people.

If Radack gets his way, hundreds of pounds of pork soon could be hitting the needy’s tables.

Radack plans to allow a few select bowhunters to begin targeting the thousands of feral pigs that live in George Bush Park and hopes to donate the meat to food banks, churches, homeless shelters or even needy individuals.

“If you could harness this, it could feed so many people it’s unbelievable,” Radack said.

The hogs have wreaked havoc in the west Harris County park for years and now are ambling into neighboring subdivisions where manicured yards and flower beds make for a tempting swine buffet.

Their numbers have grown so large that it is not unusual to see groups of the normally reclusive beasts foraging for roots and grubs in open fields early in the morning or late in the evening, Precinct 3 special activities coordinator Mike McMahan said.

Off-duty county employees have been allowed to trap hogs at the park for more than a decade, and they typically remove about 300 to 400 every year, McMahan said. The trappers are responsible for removing the hogs and have been allowed to keep the meat.

But those efforts barely have made a dent in a population that swells so quickly that 50 sows could replace all the hogs that were harvested with just one litter each.

While Radack estimated there are between 10,000 and 15,000 hogs living in the park, McMahan said it would be difficult to provide an accurate count.

There's more via the above link.

we all need a little mercy

Judge Sharon Keller, who heads the state’s highest court on criminal matters, is in the dock facing charges that could lead to her removal from office. She should hope for more mercy than she has shown.

This is a woman who voted to deny freedom to a man imprisoned for rape even after DNA evidence showed the sperm belonged to someone else. Her argument: He might have worn a condom. Later evidence provided proof of his innocence even she couldn’t explain away.

This is a woman who, with her colleagues, appointed grossly incompetent lawyers to handle appeals for indigent death row inmates and then said, “Sorry, your client had his chance,” when skilled lawyers later came in to try to clean up the messes.

This is a woman who, a week before Christmas in 2002, voted to deny freedom to a man who under pressure had accepted a plea bargain for a crime that new evidence showed — “unquestionably,” according to the trial judge who heard the evidence — he did not commit.

Now, Keller stands accused of five violations of the state constitution or its judicial code of conduct.

Read the rest of the Rick Casey column in the Houston Chronicle.

We all could use a little mercy now. I know we don't deserve it, but we need it anyhow.