Word is that longshot Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo of Colorado got loud applause (correction: a standing ovation) from those assembled for appearing at the NAACP convention in Detroit yesterday.

It’s not reported what the reaction was to this part of his speech, but it deserved another standing O:

He called amnesty for illegal immigrants “a slap in the face to everyone who came here the right way.”

Tancredo said the wages of black workers suffer because of illegal immigration.

“I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know,” he said. “Perhaps no other group has been more adversely affected by this crisis than the African-American community.”

If he didn’t, Tancredo also should have mentioned the impact of illegals on African-American and teenage unemployment.

No word on whether any of the supposedly compassionate, caring Democratic candidates made any attempt to link illegal immigration with low wages for African-Americans and teens (I’ll bet not), or instead played the tired, irrelevant race card (bet they did).

If so many voters weren’t congenitally addicted to pulling the “R” or “D” levers regardless of the quality or positions of the candidates, a candidate like Tancredo (note: I’m not saying he’s the answer; I don’t know enough about him to judge that) might have a chance.

Apparently there is no leading Washington Democratic politician who will call out Dennis Kucinich over this outrage (HT Writes Like She Talks and The View from Out Here, who notes the flailing, and failing, attempt at a backtrack):

Dennis Kucinich, the colorful Cleveland congressman and longshot presidential candidate, has outraged Jewish leaders in Northeast Ohio by insisting that Iran’s anti-Zionist leader is not seeking to exterminate Israel.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is regarded by many in the western world as a menace with nuclear ambitions, who recently called for supporters of Israel to, among other things, “burn in the fire of the Islamic nations’ fury.” Kucinich, however, says another translation of that and other statements is that Ahmadinejad merely wants regime change in Israel, not death to its people and supporters.

Yeah — everybody got the translation wrong except “colorful” Dennis (”colorful” is Old Media for “he’s a raving lib-left moonbat but we don’t have the will to call him what he really is”).

Oh, and Ron Paul. Yeah, Denny’s in bed with Ron Paul on this one. That should be an editorial cartoonist’s dream come true.

Four years ago, he took leave of his prolife views in a strongly Democratic but prolife district. Now he’s taken leave of his senses. So when is someone in his district going to mount a credible challenge?

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UPDATE: I see the “Ahmadinejad didn’t say what he said” crowd consists of Dennis, Ron Paul and a few folks from Lew Rockwell and antiwar.com. Nice try, guys; no sale –

When he says “this regime occupying Jerusalem,” he is quoting a phrase familiar to Iranians. It was coined and used by his popular spiritual leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini. Its meaning is crystal-clear to his listeners. To many, it is a painful reminder of the occupation of Jerusalem, including some of Islam’s most holy places by non-believers. Yet it avoids uttering the hated word, “Israel.” As to the ending of that inflammatory statement, “must vanish from the page of time” is metaphorically equivalent to “wipe off the map.” Both refer to a conclusive termination (of Israel): the first in time, the second in space.

Oh, and I suppose this NY Times translation isn’t accurate either (10th para) — “Our dear Imam said that the occupying regime must be wiped off the map and this was a very wise statement.” Give me a break.

With only about a half-hour to go to beat Bill Sloat’s 24-hour deadline, here are some positive things I can say about Ohio:

• An expressway infrastructure that is much better, and generally in better condition, than most other states I have been to — We don’t know what REALLY bad day-to-day traffic is.
• Six major pro sports teams (Bengals, Reds, Browns, Blue Jackets, Indians, Cavs), despite not having a single city with over a million people — something I don’t believe any other state without a seven-figure city can claim. Missouri, with five, is the only one I can think of that comes close (Cards, Rams, Blues, Chiefs, Royals).
• Affordable housing — try seeing what kind of place 200 thou gets you in Southern California.
• Sneaky-nice scenery — none of the breathtaking stuff, but consistently nice, pleasant countryside driving (and lakeside driving up north).
• Kings Island and Cedar Point, the 15th and 16th most-attended amusement parks in the USA. Ohio is the only state besides Florida and California with two in the top 20. Texas has none.
• Fall foliage.

I sure hope I’m not the only one that took the Bill’s Buckeye Boast challenge.

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UPDATE: Jerid picked his spot. Brian at Plunderbund has a nice list with solid points, plus this one — “We have seasons.”

UPDATE 2: More about CP and KI –

Last year, for the ninth season in a row, Cedar Point was voted “Best Amusement Park in the World” in an annual poll conducted by Amusement Today, a monthly trade publication that’s considered the Bible of the industry. In the same poll, voters said that Kings Island had the best kids’ area of any amusement park in the world – the sixth straight year it’s received that honor.

I’m late getting to this (some of the others who were on this much earlier included RAB [here, here, and here], Matt at WoMD, Conservative Culture, and the Keeler Report), but I surely won’t ignore it:

671,000 more at risk in state data theft

More than 671,000 Ohioans who haven’t cashed refund checks or have done business with the state were added yesterday to the list of people whose personal information may be at risk because of last month’s theft of a state computer backup storage device.

In all, the number of Ohioans or businesses with some form of personal data on the device has climbed to 1.1 million.

Anyone who believes their personal information may be at risk should contact the toll-free number or the web space set up to deal with the matter. They are 800-267-4474 and www.ohio.gov/idprotect, respectively.

Is there anyone left who considers the Strickland Administration’s pattern of drip-by-drip revelation acceptable?

I don’t think the Governor is orchestrating the buffoonery, but it’s understandable that many think he is is. The only way to clear the air is to do something I suggested when we learned that the data involved was, contrary to original assertions, not encrypted, then called for when it was learned that the number of people affected was “only” a couple of hundred thousand, and then “only” a half million: Conduct an independent investigation.

If the Governor doesn’t set up an independent investigation, he will only have himself to blame when the cloud over the ongoing snafu parks over his head, and stays there.

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UPDATE: I have to note that the Blade’s Jim Provance felt it necessary to cite the Governor’s high approval numbers at the end of his report — as if that’s relevant, especially since the poll was done before the latest revelation.

Earlier this week, shortly after the Pajamas Media strips were installed here, I found one of them filled with Google AdSense listings.

I made my concerns about directly supporting Internet Wall of Shame member Google known to PJM Tech Support. Within a couple of hours, I received an e-mail stating that they would no longer run AdSense ads on BizzyBlog.

Kudos to PJM; they certainly didn’t have to do that.

As to Google, anyone with a shred of decency should be appalled by this (fourth paragraph):

In the last year — behind the scenes — we’ve managed to shut down a number of her sites, though we’ve been unable to convince Blogger (Google owned) to take away …. (her) ….. account; meaning that, as one blog comes down, she puts a new one up — and invariably violates the terms of the restraining order we have against her, as well as the preliminary injunction issued by the Colorado court.

That’s right — despite a bench warrant and a court-issued restraining order/injunction, Google’s blog platform allows a known Internet stalker to continue to post away (examples have been collected here by those trying to stop her) with only minor inconvenience to her.

Jeff Goldstein, the target, who has been put through hell for a year and has decided to suspend operations to defend himself, says it well (Comment 88):

But you know the Blogger Team — it’s all about free speech. Unless we’re talking about China. In which case it’s all about the yuan.

Don’t worry, Jeff. I’m sure the ACLU will be calling any time now to lend a helping hand (/sarcasm).

From Providence, Rhode Island:

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Trooper Brendan Doyle was wheeled out of Rhode Island Hospital yesterday, under the warm summer sun that he hadn’t felt in three weeks and two days, and gave the thumbs up to the applause of family, friends, and hospital staff.

He’d nearly died from severe head injuries after being punched to the pavement, police say, by an alleged reckless driver last month. But his steady recovery since then has surprised his doctors and overjoyed his family and friends, who call him “miracle boy.” He was now on his way to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston.

His mother, Maureen Adams, spoke for him as she tearfully thanked everyone for their support, from the firefighters and doctors who saved his life, to the state police who visited around the clock, and well-wishers who sent hundreds of cards that papered his room in the neuro-intensive-care unit.

But one question could only be answered by Doyle.

Will you come back and be a Rhode Island state trooper?

“Yes,” he said hoarsely, giving the thumbs up again and touching off cheers and laughter.

The 25-year-old trooper, nicknamed “Buzz” by his family for the way he used to buzz around the house as a toddler, had followed in the path of two uncles when he joined the state police in 2005. A marathon runner like his father, six-time Ocean State champion Robert Doyle, the young trooper earned a reputation as a hard-charger. He risked injury several times — when a drunken-driver slammed into his cruiser in 2005, when a motorcyclist he was trying to stop drove at him several months ago, and then, on June 16, when he tried to stop a driver in downtown Providence……

Go here for the rest of the story.