The “Right to Migrate” Trumps All

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The Center for Immigration Studies has issued a report, Fewer Jobs, More Immigrants, maintaining that despite the loss of 1 million jobs, 13.1 Million immigrants arrived in the last decade. The level of immigration remained the same despite a huge worsening of job creation.

Most tellingly, in 2008-2009, in the midst of the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression, 2.4 million new immigrants (legal and illegal) settled in the United States, even though 8.2 million jobs were lost over the same period. And the forecast is miserable, the LA Times print edition headline screaming “Fed forecasts hears of pain on job front.” The article did not quote anyone who thought that cutting back immigration would be a good idea.

Which tells us one thing: It’s not about economics. As the CIS notes, “the level of new immigration can remain high even in the face of massive job losses.” Read more

Moral and Aesthetic Idealism among Whites: The Constant Gardener

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There seems to be a certain moral fervor in many of us Whites. It’s apparent among the Puritans and some of their noisier descendants, the abolitionists of the 19th century. They waged Holy War on behalf of righteousness (see also here), often on against their own people on behalf of people quite a bit unlike themselves.

I was reminded of that while watching The Constant Gardener, a film starring Ralph Fiennes as Justin Quayle, a minor British diplomat posted to Kenya who is married to crusading humanitarian activist Tessa, played by Rachel Weisz. We see her originally holding forth in a room crowded with journalists blaming the British government for what’s going on in Africa, her rhetoric so extreme that the room quickly empties. Although Tessa gets married to the White diplomat, her heart is in all things African. We see her flirting with an African doctor, openly consorting with him at a high-level cocktail party, then opting to have his baby in a hospital swarming with poor Africans, except for the White nurses and doctors. The birth of the baby happens as though it is part of the natural order of things—the husband is just fine with it, acting as if there’s nothing to notice, while the father of the baby looks on proudly. Tessa’s only thought is to help the poor African girl in the next room.

Tessa and her African lover, amidst the squalor

Oddly, we are given only brief glimpses of the baby—as if the director didn’t think the audience would be quite ready to relate to the child of a married White woman and her very African lover—although, it must be said, we now have a president who was conceived under broadly similar conditions.  Read more

Courting the Jews on the European “Far Right”

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The Guardian’s definition of “far right”, and mine, differ considerably, which is the reason why I have not rushed to its website to read a two-page article published a few of days ago about “the threat of the far right in Europe” which, I am told, made no mention of the BNP or the state of race relations in Britain.

Guardian caption: A Roma family leaves a camp in northern France. Far-right groups across Europe are nurturing an anti-immigrant backlash.

The Financial Times simultaneously published a similar one-page survey, but this included a brief post-script item about the failure of the BNP to mobilise the full potential of anti-immigration sentiment persisting amongst the British electorate. It begins as follows:

In a pub garden in Birkenhead, a blighted post-industrial suburb in England’s north-west, Nick Griffin told the Financial Times that his party had a “once in a lifetime” chance to escape its white supremacist roots and emerge as an alternative for millions scorned by the London elite.

Less than 18 months later – following this year’s disastrous national election campaign, a savage internal power struggle and a court battle with the country’s equality watchdog that threatens to bankrupt the party – his dream is over.

The impression I have gained in recent years is that the only “far right” parties in Europe who have been able (allowed) to flutter near to the flame of power are those that have been able to convince the Establishment, the media and Jewry that they are most definitely not anti-Jewish, not “racist”, not against all coloured immigration (but only against the immigration of Muslims!) and not against the multi-racial society (just so long as it doesn’t include Muslims!) The Jobbik Party in Hungary may be the only notable exception to this. Read more

Jakob Friedrich Fries and the Intellectual Origins of Anti-Judaism in Europe

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German philosopher Jakob Friedrich Fries (1775-1843) was born at Barby in Saxony and studied theology with the Moravians in the German town of Niesky, which was then heavily populated by Czech refugees fleeing Catholic persecution from their former homeland of Bohemia. Fries then traveled to Jena and Leipzig to study philosophy. In 1806 he became professor of philosophy and mathematics at Heidelberg. Although his development in psychological theory led him away from the Moravian approach, he always respected the Moravians as bearers of a symbol of a higher spiritual truth. The Moravian Brethren were heavily influenced by the Czech philosopher, heretic and martyr Jan Hus. However, they entered a period of decadence when at a special Communion Service held at Berthelsdorf on August 13, 172, they revived their ancient Church, which was so successful that John and Charles Wesley, the famous founders of the Christina Methodist movement, were eventually converted.

It was from the exiled Moravians that German philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher and especially the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe drew a great deal of inspiration. However, the philosopher and the poet were alienated from the Moravians because they could not accept the doctrine of the substitutionary sufferings of Jesus Christ. Read more

Eric Cantor’s Loyalty

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It’s a good sign that Rep. Eric Cantor’s pledge of allegiance to Israel has raised eyebrows. Cantor, who will soon be Marjority Leader in the House, released a statement that

“the new Republican majority will serve as a check on the Administration and what has been, up until this point, one party rule in Washington.” “He made clear that the Republican majority understands the special relationship between Israel and the United States, and that the security of each nation is reliant upon the other.”

Philip Weiss links to several commentators who were rather amazed that Cantor seemed to think it appropriate that the Republicans in the House would be making US foreign policy. Perhaps the most vitriolic comment is by Mark Perry at Foreign Policy who lumps Cantor’s statement in with the abject behavior of the Obama administration in offering Israel billions of dollars worth of military hardware in exchange for continuing a partial settlement freeze for three (3!) more months. Perry reviews a number of other recent examples of groveling before the Israel Lobby, and even sees fit to mention Elena Kagan’s testimony during her confirmation hearings: Read more

Glenn Beck on George Soros

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Glenn Beck has not exactly been a favorite around here (see here, here, and here), but his series on George Soros is intriguing to say the least. Beck has honed in on Soros as the root of all evil, and he has emphasized the point that Soros is Jewish. Beck seems have two main complaints: that Soros is a major funder of the left and that he is a currency manipulator poised to take down the dollar and foment revolution in the US.

Soros is well-known for funding the left, but Beck sees Soros as orchestrating the entire show:“For months, Glenn has been pulling back the structure progressives have worked decades to put in place. Beneath every layer lies one common thread: George Soros.” Beck’s team highlights Soros’ self-image as a messianic figure who believes he is able to change the world in his image: “If truth be known, I carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood which I felt I had to control, otherwise I might end up in the loony bin. But when I made my way in the world, I wanted to indulge myself in my fantasies to the extent that I could afford.” Beck’s website shows how Soros funds the left, including Moveon.org, ACORN, Center for American Progress, the Tides Foundation, the Open Society Institute, and the National Council of La Raza. Read more

Soros Courts the Neocons

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As reported in the Salon, George Soros has paid $150,000 to Randy Scheunemann, a neocon foreign policy figure. Scheunemann was McCain’s foreign policy adviser during the 2008 campaign and is now a top aide of Sarah Palin.

Scheunemann is completely in line on Israel, as is Palin. The Jewish Journal noted that during the campaign,  Scheunemann had led the attack on

Obama’s willingness to sit with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Scheunemann also led efforts to pitch the Iraq war to the American public prior to the invasion. . . . Scheunemann is also close to the pro-Israel community. Working with [Trent] Lott, he authored the 1995 legislation that would move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem; a year later, Scheunemann’s advice led Bob Dole — the Republican presidential candidate that year — to pledge to do so. This year, McCain has picked up that pledge. Read more