Where do they find them

I got a tip today. It was a pointer to a story my dad told me about, one which I chalked up to the usual sorts of unbelievable movie-plot paranoia. Nonsense about Iranians (ooh... bad: they want The Bomb, and they are scary muslims and there's the whole embassy thing) going to Venezuela (land of Hugo Chavez; a guy who refused to stay kicked out of office when we backed a coup, who, moreover, had the guts to speak his mind about Bush fils), and learning Spanish so they can sneak into the US and do bad things.

Big whoop. I mean really, the things I hear people saying... this is bizarro-land.

But, as I said, I got a tip that I might want to comment on it, so I read the article.

All of a sudden I was scared. My father, you see, hadn't told me whom the pearl-clutching, scared of her own shadow person was (heck, he didn't even tell me it was a woman; just a person who was less than completely rational).

Representative Sue Myrick (R-NC). That would be the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. The presumptive head of that committee should the Republicans regain control of the House in November.

Who thinks it would take a border agent who can tell the difference between Venezuelan spanish, and "Mexian" spanish, to spot the Iranian infiltrator. Forget that this shows a really massive failure to understand just how different the two sound (I don't speak spanish, but understands some. I have french and russian, on top of my english; Argentine spanish sounds much more french to me than Mexican spanish does, I can't imagine Venezuelan isn't also fairly different).

Never mind that in six months, I don't see most people being able to learn enough of any foreign language to take in anyone else who has a passing familiarity with the language.

What has she to support this theory... tattoos.

It seems there are inmates with farsi tattoos, in the California prison system. I don't know how she knows this, I presume someone who is fluent has told her; because it's tricky for me to spot the difference between arabic and farsi; I am pretty good at spotting farsi (call it 75 percent) if I have a large block of text (call it 300 words). I can't tell you how I figure it out, but when I was working to ID the language of web pages, I could spot farsi pretty well; with that length of text, but from a tattoo... it need an expert.

From that she adduces they are, hell I don't know what she adduces, the comments she made in the clip are in something which looks like english, but doesn't seem to make sense the way english ought.

It can't be that in a state with 30 million people, and a very large Iranian community, that some of them might be criminals, and some of those criminals might have tattoos; in farsi, nope. It has to be the big bad terrorists, getting help from the big bad Venezuelans, so they can exploit the porosity of the border with Mexico and blow us up.

Really, I can't even begin to make this sort of thing up; who would believe it?

Game and set

Match to follow.

Two state employees suspected of compiling list in Utah

The governor made a statement, two employees have been placed on administrative leave, the various levels of the Republican Party (at least in Utah) have said good things, and Kirsten Cox, head of the state department the employees worked for said, ""The people we have identified certainly have some very strong political opinions and are frustrated," Cox said, about the issue of illegal immigration. "If they want to go rogue, they need to quit the department."

Governor Herbert went on to say the only sources for the information were Medicaid files and assistance programs which the children of undocumented residents; who are citizens, are entitled to use.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said during a separate event Friday that once information from the governor's investigation is turned over to his office by Monday, "We will begin an immediate, aggressive, formal investigation.

"We'll do that jointly with the U.S. attorney's office, because from what we're hearing, mostly likely federal and state privacy laws may have been violated. We're talking serious crimes that could rise to a felony," he said.

Utah Republican Party Chairman Dave Hansen said in a statement Friday that the party supported Herbert's request for an investigation into the origination and release of the list.

"The unlawful release of private information to the public is unconscionable under any circumstances and is not to be tolerated," Hansen said in the statement. "Immigration is an emotional and much-debated issue, not only here in Utah, but nationwide. However, flaunting the law because of frustration with the law is no excuse for illegal behavior.

That, my friends, is a good thing. Even if you think there is a lack of sincerity, the public rhetoric, the stand for law and order (even when it contradicts some of the party's planks) is good for the commonweal.

Two people. At this point, if there were more, we'll find out, but I suspect it's just the two of them.

Silver Spring

My plan is to leave here on Monday, 19 July, in the early morning bright, and hie me up the road (through the Shenandoah Valley; following the path of "Jackson's Foot Cavalry") up to Silver Spring, Maryland. I'll be staying in Takoma Park (where there is a great music shop ( The House of Musical Traditions), and planning on supper at Mandalay.

It's a Burmese place, so it's new to me.

The fly in the ointment... It's about a ten hour trip for me (about eight on the road, but I have to get gas, eat, etc.). If I don't pack the computer until the morning, I'll be later out the door. I'll look at alternate means of getting it on the bike.

In any case, I won't be on the road earlier than 0700... which means the best I can get in is probably 1630, and 1700 is more like it. I figure I can pretty much be certain of making the restaurant by 1900. I'll shoot for 1830, and try to make an announcement when I get in.