According to today's Washington Post:
About 300 followers of an organization labeled a "hate group" will gather at a Herndon hotel today for a conference at which speakers will expound on what they see as the global threat of immigration to whites and the moral and intellectual differences among races.American Renaissance, a Fairfax County-based journal, will hold its seventh biennial conference at the Hyatt Dulles hotel. Its focus will be the "defense of Western civilization," organizers said.
This is very unfortunate, obviously. I would also point out that the Latin American immigrants these people are so up in arms about are PART OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION. Brief history lesson: the Italian named Christopher Columbus "sailed the ocean blue" to the New World in 1492. Thereafter, Europeans conquered the entire Western Hemisphere, in the process leading to the death of millions of indigenous people. Today, the descendents of those Spanish, Portugese, French, English, and other conquerers are migrating to the United States in large numbers, mostly for economic reasons (strong demand for their labor in the United States). Now, you can argue whether or not this is a good thing, but to claim that these people - overwhelmingly Christian and Hispanic (e.g., originating from Spain, which is part of Western Europe last time I checked) - are not part of "Western" civilization is simply ridiculous. Just thought I'd mention that little, inconvenient fact.
In related news, Michael Shear reports that "Two House bills targeting illegal immigrants seeking to attend Virginia's public colleges and universities were effectively blocked by a Senate panel." House Bill 262, for instance, "would have prohibited the enrollment of students in Virginia's state colleges if they could not prove they were lawfully present in the United States, even if they graduated from the state's public schools.." This one was unanimously defeated. The other bill - HB 1050 - "would have prevented illegal immigrants from receiving in-state tuition rates." This one was pulled by its sponsor, Del. John S. "Jack" Reid (R-Henrico), "who sensed that the bill would be defeated [in the Senate]." Thank you, Virginia State Senate!