Mark Krikorian attempts to put lipstick on a pig.

by: Duke Reed

Mon Jan 12, 2009 at 03:15:03 AM EST

Pointing out that for too long Republicans have argued about immigration in terms of "lawbreaking" and illegality, Krikorian suggests instead that a new framing is needed ... a framing he views as a more welcoming and in line with public opinion.

Taking a page from the same playbook that brought us the great Bush oxymoron: "Compassionate Conservatism "...  Krikorian  does The Decider one better and frames out a new right-wing paradox for mass consumption:  "Anti-immigration but Pro-immigrant"

Hearts of Darkness: A journey into the nativist lair.

by: Duke Reed

Wed Dec 10, 2008 at 02:16:34 AM EST

Figuring that it's always good to know what the opposition is up to, I decided to sign on to the conference call to get a feel for what strategies they were planning for the upcoming congressional session.

Little did I know that listening to the world according to FAIR President, Dan Stein, would be like falling down a rabbit hole where black is white and white is black.

Backed up by media spokesman, Ira Melman, and Executive director, Julie Kirchner, Stein managed in his 45min presentation to rewrite recent history, rehash long-discredited talking points, ignore or misinterpret reams of factual evidence, and flat out fabricate his own alternative reality.
 

The Anti-Immigration Rally That Wasn't

by: gregflynn

Thu Jul 17, 2008 at 09:16:15 AM EST

A report in the Independent Weekly by Matt Saldaña describes the "event" and the issues:  Choir Practice in Raleigh Anti-immigration activists rally, preaching mostly to themselves

Reporter Mark Binker of Greensboro also had a preview and a subsequent follow-up report on the "rally" that turned out to be little more than a gathering

Below the fold is a collection of images which I've just gotten around to posting.  Several of the images show various staffers from the Civitas Institute, a right wing think-tank in NC that provides demagogic apologia for a range of conservative issues.

John Tanton - architect of hate

by: ragemail

Tue Jun 17, 2008 at 17:21:30 PM EST

To sum up, FAIR has taken over a million dollars from a group that advocates eugenics and Holocaust denial, and has passed that money on to Kris Kobach as salary and campaign contributions."

Here is a memo by Tanton on FAIR strategy, (dated but still worth reading.)  

Open Thread: "English is our lanaguage"

by: Duke Reed

Mon May 05, 2008 at 12:23:07 PM EST

We're getting close to the official launch date of The Sanctuary, so we've got a little housecleaning to do before we open up.

1. If any community members who are representatives of organizations or advocacy groups and would like to have their organizations listed on the "Affiliates" page,  please contact us with the official contact information and we'd be happy to add you to the list.

2. We'll be re-working the layout over the next day or two, giving it a new color scheme and graphics, so if it looks strange or changes as you're viewing it, don't freak ..it's us ...not you.

3. The Sanctuary now allows for "style" attributes when pasting cross-posted diaries directly from other sites. This should make it much easier to cross-post without having to do a bunch of re-formatting.

4. If anyone has any suggestions or comments on the site, or ideas on how to make it better, post them in the comments, and we'll try to incorporate them in before the launch.

Pearls of wisdom from Chuck Norris

by: Duke Reed

Fri May 02, 2008 at 00:14:08 AM EST

Fearful that 105 million scary brown people will flock up the NAFTA superhighway, flanked by terrorist who despise our country and despite all our victories in Iraq still pose an imminent threat, Chuck believes he's come up with a perfect solution to protect our sovereignty and way of life.

....just post "manned trucks" along the border with instructions to use deadly force against all who try to cross. ...just like we do at the super secret space-alien research facility at Area 51 in the Nevada desert    

"Absolut" Madness

by: Edmundo

Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 15:09:36 PM EST

The ad shows a historical map of the Mexico before Texas' Independence and the Mexico-US War of 1846-48 had occurred. The offending map was a historical map of the American Southwest - Texas, California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, and part of Wyoming - as we know it, belonging to Mexico. It was prior to the signing of "Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo," which not only ended the war, but also defined our present-day borders.

The ad was created by TBWA's Mexican advertising firm Teran/TBWA. A year ago, Absolut vodka's embarked in a new campaign strategy, breaking away from the old bottle series. The new Absolut World campaign was meant to invite the consumers to imagine their idea of a perfect world; a world that they knew  would not happen but only in the realm of "an Absolut World." According to Roger Dooley, Founder/President of Dooley Direct and author of the Neuromarketing blog, Absolut's new campaign message is hoping to convey that "Absolut vodka is the closest thing to perfection one can find in this world."

Anti-Illegal Immigration Group Calls for 'Absolut' Vodka Boycott

by: Marisa McNee

Tue Apr 08, 2008 at 22:31:41 PM EST

Courtesy of FOXNews....clearly there are some people who just cannot take a joke-- albeit not the most well-timed joke-- but a joke nonetheless.

An anti-illegal immigration group issued a call to arms Tuesday against a prominent Swedish vodka brand. Americans for Legal Immigration PAC President William Gheen is in a tizzy over an Absolut vodka advertisement that ran recently in Mexico. While it is no longer running, he says it shows the alcohol manufacturer is peddling products to a group of people actively seeking to claim U.S. territory in the name of Mexico.

I'm not sure which is more funny, the fact that the reporter described Gheen as "in a tizzy" or the fact that Gheen believes they were "peddling products to a group of people actively seeking to claim U.S. territory in the name of Mexico" I suppose it's just, well, sad really. And, of course, when the anti-immigrant crowd is involved...hilarity ensues.

Gheen's group is calling for a boycott of the product until Absolut fires the ad agency. "On the one hand, we are boycotting Absolut. On the other hand, we want to thank them for getting caught" placing such an outrageous ad, Gheen said.

Boycotting Absolut? Hmmm, will Absolut even notice? do we suppose the anti-immigrant, gun-toting, border patrolling crowd normally consumes large amounts of imported Swedish liquor?