WARNING: This post has very disturbing content.
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If you thought eugenics permanently lost its luster after World War II, this will be a rude awakening.

Blogged-out Saturday was interrupted because of a startling item that was in Best of the Web at OpinionJournal.com yesterday. I missed it in the skim-through because the segment title (”Swift Note Veterans Against Youth”) gave little indication of what it was really about (HTs to FreeRepublic and World Net Daily).

This is what it’s about: On January 6, 1993 (the letter’s 1992 date is a clear typo), Ron Weddington, who along with his wife Sarah represented “Jane Roe,” now known to be Norma McCorvey, in the Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion through the US, wrote a letter to soon-to-be President Clinton advising him to liberalize abortion laws in the name of what can only be seen as eugenics.

The letter reveals so much about the actual mental outlook of one of the proabortion movement’s leading lights that commenting on the horrors contained herein is unnecessary.

The documents below were obtained by Judicial Watch and published in a 5-meg PDF document called “The RU-486 Files” (what is presented here is at the report’s final five pages). Though not at this blog, I have criticized Judicial Watch frequently in the past for being unfocused and publicity-hungry. Though I think those criticisms remain valid, I have to acknowledge that what they have unearthed is monstrously important (literally), and to congratulate them for including it in their report.

The first note is to Mr. Clinton’s assistant, Betsey Wright, who wrote an instruction to file it. That’s important to note, because although there is no direct indication that anyone in the Clinton Administration shared Mr. Weddington’s views, neither did they dismiss him out of hand as an outlier.

That is followed by a four-page letter to Mr. Clinton. I apologize for the lack of clarity in the document; the clarity in JW’s original source is not that good, and more was lost in the translation from PDF to JPEG. Although I will be trying to create better ones myself, anyone who can create clearer images is welcome to send them to me.

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UPDATE: I do have a question — Doesn’t Weddington’s letter make Bill (”That would be an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do”) Bennett look like a saint by comparison? Weddington clearly believes that eliminating “undesirables” is none of the things Bennett mentions.

UPDATE 2, May 16: Life News reports the following Judicial Watch comments:

Commenting on the letter, Judicial Watch said it was surprised the letter was not thrown away or put in a file for unsolicited comments. Instead, it was included in files used to get RU 486 approved by the FDA.

“On the contrary, the Weddington letter is, chronologically and philosophically, the foundation document for the Clinton RU-486 files,” the group said.

NOTE, Oct. 23: In case you came over to this post from elsewhere expecting to see something supporting illegal immigration, you will be disappointed. Someone who linked to this post extracted the following partial sentence below to claim that I support illegal immigration and cheap labor:

….. I think it’s safe to say that the majority of new homes are being built using more-expensive homegrown labor, and that the high-priced cost structure (plus of course market demand) is driving new home prices.

This is an observation containing some speculation, and is not an opinion. In context, it’s saying that the fears of the Cincinnati Enquirer expressed earlier in the post that home prices may go up as a result of illegal immigrants being taken away from homebuilding jobs are probably unfounded.

The full paragraph containing the above excerpt (and the entire post) makes it crystal clear that I am not in any way an illegal immigration/cheap labor supporter:

Even if Mr. deStefano is fibbing (labor leaders quoted in the article don’t agree with him; you be the judge), I think it’s safe to say that the majority of new homes are being built using more-expensive homegrown labor, and that the high-priced cost structure (plus of course market demand) is driving new home prices. What is really happening is that those using low-paid illegals are pocketing undeserved windfalls. That should be stopped.

I would say that I’m sorry you were misled here, but that would not be right. The person who owes you the apology is at the blog that did the misleading.

Tom Blumer
BizzyBlog

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Imagine that — a law enforcement officer, in this case Butler County (OH) Sheriff Rick Jones, is announcing that he will enforce immigration law:

For Immediate Release May 11, 2006
Sheriff Jones responds to complaints

Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones announced today that over the past few months his Office has been inundated with information and complaints regarding area businesses and employers that may employ illegal undocumented aliens.

Sheriff Jones felt that it was important that all employers are aware that to knowingly hire or continue to employ an illegal undocumented alien is a violation of Federal Law 8 USC Sections 1324 and 1324a. Sheriff Jones realizes that some employers may inadvertently have an illegal undocumented alien on their payroll.

Therefore as a public service, Sheriff Jones will be sending Deputy Sheriff’s to area businesses and job sites to make the businesses owners aware that information had been received by the Sheriff’s Office regarding their business possibly employing illegal undocumented aliens. Sheriff Jones not only wants the businesses to know that information had been received but to also offer assistance in confirming the legal status of any employee that a business may suspect to be an illegal undocumented alien.

Sheriff Jones has assigned personnel within the Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Division to oversee illegal undocumented alien information and investigations.

• Their first priority is to seek out and arrest those individuals who have been classified as “Criminal Aliens” (those that have been convicted of certain crimes while here illegally).
• Their second priority is to assist area Businesses in helping them achieve compliance with Federal Immigration Laws.
• Their third priority would be to assist in the investigation and prosecution of area businesses and employers who chose to ignore the law.
• Finally the Unit’s fourth priority would be to work with Federal Agents in the due process of individuals found to be here illegally.

Information about employers who possibly hire illegal undocumented aliens is often obtained from visitors to the Sheriff’s Office website. Anyone wishing to provide additional information may do so by visiting the website at www.butlersheriff.org , or by writing the Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Unit at 705 Hanover Street, Hamilton, OH 45011.

More thoughts on the matter are at Sheriff Jones’ related blog entry from this morning (”Employers Take Note”).

About, bleeping, time.

So what does The Cincinnati Enquirer focus on? In response to a raid earlier this week in across the river in Northern Kentucky, it frets that the cost of building homes might go up:

But a federal crackdown could drive up the price of a new home regionally, local experts say.

The crackdown included a raid this week against Crestview Hills-based Fischer Homes, resulting in the arrest of 76 allegedly illegal immigrants and charges against four construction supervisors.

The Northern Kentucky raid by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency is likely to continue to ripple through the region’s home building industry, say industry observers. And it will mean higher costs for builders who will either have to pay higher rates to attract domestic workers or face higher costs to make sure their immigrant labor is legal.

That’s funny, because of this quote in the same article:

Dan deStefano, president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati, said use of illegal immigrants is wrong but isn’t a problem among its 1,300 members.

Even if Mr. deStefano is fibbing (labor leaders quoted in the article don’t agree with him; you be the judge), I think it’s safe to say that the majority of new homes are being built using more-expensive homegrown labor, and that the high-priced cost structure (plus of course market demand) is driving new home prices. What is really happening is that those using low-paid illegals are pocketing undeserved windfalls. That should be stopped.

Of course the Ohio ACLU is moaning, but I’ll leave others to comment on that.

For the moment, hats off to Sheriff Jones.
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UPDATE: A commissioner in the Ohio county where I live, Warren County, is suggesting similar action.
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Wizbang Weekend Track Carnival Participant.

Here’s the latest on the ongoing saga from The Cincinnati Enquirer:

New bar sign: Legals only
May 10, 2006

MASON — The Pleasure Inn, which stirred controversy by posting a sign saying “For Service Speak English,” now has a second sign declaring “For Service You Must Be Legal.”

In December, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission found probable cause that the “Speak English” sign discriminated against non-English speakers. An administrative law judge has scheduled an Aug. 15 hearing on that sign.

The commission is aware of the second sign, and continues working with the owner, Tom Ullum, to try to persuade him to remove both signs, said Toni Delgado, commission spokeswoman.

I suspect most people believe that the second sign is less provocative than the first. Both are, of course, perfectly legal, as Mr. Ullum wishes his customers to be. Also, don’t forget that Ullum’s establishment serves alcohol. ID is required to have a drink, and serving someone without proper ID could jeopardize his liquor license.

Mr. Ullum has succeeded in making the Ohio Civil Rights Commission look like what the R-Rated Whistleblower has described (link no longer available) as the “$11,456,071-per-year Political Correctness Commission, whose 135+ bureaucRATS seem to have nothing better to do than travel around the state so they can persecute people like bar owners in Mason for having a helpful sign in their window…..”. Its attempt to determine a civil rights violation based on a couple of signs must mean that there are very few, if any, complaints of real rights violations occurring in Ohio.

This ongoing battle proves that the OCRC has way too much time, staff, money on its hands. It should be de-funded, and its duties absorbed by the Attorney General.
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Previous Posts:

• Oct. 9, 2005 — Questions for the Thought Police at the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and The Cincinnati Enquirer
• Dec. 16 — Thought Police 1, Bar Owner 0
• Dec. 19 — Update: Thought Police 1, Bar Owner 0; Bar Owners Showing Solidarity–1

Here we go again — More problems with e-voting machines (HT Techdirt; bold is mine):

Voting glitch said to be ‘dangerous’
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER

Elections officials in several states are scrambling to understand and limit the risk from a “dangerous” security hole found in Diebold Election Systems Inc.’s ATM-like touch-screen voting machines.

The hole is considered more worrisome than most security problems discovered on modern voting machines, such as weak encryption, easily pickable locks and use of the same, weak password nationwide.

Armed with a little basic knowledge of Diebold voting systems and a standard component available at any computer store, someone with a minute or two of access to a Diebold touch screen could load virtually any software into the machine and disable it, redistribute votes or alter its performance in myriad ways.

“This one is worse than any of the others I’ve seen. It’s more fundamental,” said Douglas Jones, a University of Iowa computer scientist and veteran voting-system examiner for the state of Iowa.

“In the other ones, we’ve been arguing about the security of the locks on the front door,” Jones said. “Now we find that there’s no back door. This is the kind of thing where if the states don’t get out in front of the hackers, there’s a real threat.”

The Argus is withholding some details of the vulnerability at the request of several elections officials and scientists, partly because exploiting it is so simple and the tools for doing so are widely available. A Finnish computer expert working with Black Box Voting, a nonprofit organization critical of electronic voting, found the security hole in March after Emery County, Utah, was forced by state officials to accept Diebold touch screens, and a local elections official allowed the expert to examine the machines.

Note: The article does not identify where the “Argus” reference comes from. Also, the Techdirt story has many links to previous items it covered that were not included here.

The concerns about e-voting are breaking out into the mainstream. A Google search on “e-voting Diebold” (without the quotes) had over 200 items as of last night.

Whether the e-voting machines properly record and tabulate votes should not be a partisan issue, any more than the need to prove that you are who you say you are when you come in to vote should be. Officials of both parties are foolishly running a risk of being associated with all of this when they attempt to use these systems before they have been proven.

I would suggest that any one of the Big Four CPA firms that doesn’t have a conflict of interest (in other words, the one that audits Diebold would be excluded) or some other firm specializing in computer auditing be engaged to prove or disprove whether current e-voting technology will accomplish these seven control objectives (this is totally apart from the issue of whether only real voters get to vote):

1. All actual votes are recorded.
2. Each recorded vote is real.
3. Each recorded vote is properly valued as one vote.
4. Each recorded vote is properly classified.
5. All recorded votes are correctly summarized.
6. All recorded votes are correctly posted to the final results.
7. The system used to accomplish the first six objectives noted is tamper-proof.

If touch-screen voting can’t be made to accomplish these objectives as well as a paper-based system can, does, and has, it should be abandoned.
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UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit, opined on his love of paper ballots four years ago at what is now TCS Daily.

All of them didn’t escape unharmed, but all are heroes:

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