Not Just Another Pretty Face!
President Mohammad Khatami, paying the first visit to Afghanistan by an Iranian head of state in 40 years, accused the United States on Tuesday of pursuing an "angry approach" to foreign policy since the attacks of Sept. 11. Too bad Iran doesn't have a space program.

ZZZZZZZ

UN officials call for participation by youth in sustainable development policies

12 August - Marking International Youth Day, United Nations officials today called for young people to be fully engaged in sustainable development policies in order to foster a world free of poverty, disease and war for future generations.

In his message on the Day, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the involvement of young people "crucial" to the success of the World Summit for Sustainable Development, which opens in Johannesburg at the end of this month.

Mr. Annan noted that although governments were responsible for ensuring that international commitments on the issue were translated into action, they must rely on young generations to participate in this effort.

"I call on all of us to make the best possible use of young people's imagination, energy and indomitable spirit, in the cause of sustaining the future for succeeding generations," he said.

Echoing this view, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, said that the cause of sustainable development, a key-concern among young generations, could be reinvigorated by their attendance at the Johannesburg Summit.

Mrs. Robinson added that youth should continue to campaign for peace and the respect of human rights while demanding action on poverty, education, food, adequate housing and a safe environment.

"I would like to encourage young people to continue their inspirational efforts," she said. "To campaign now for human rights and equality for all is to lay the groundwork for sustainable development for all, development that will not compromise the needs, dreams and possibilities of future generations."

International Youth Day has been commemorated worldwide every 12 August since 1999, after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution designating the date to promote a better awareness of the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond.

Why is it that United Nations press releases sound like old Soviet Union press releases with the words updated? I think it's the stilted language coupled with organizations and activities that no one in his right mind could possibly care about. "World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond" - what a snoozer. The UN would be just some silly, tasteless freak show except that the US taxpayers are paying for it.

Airbrain Alerts!
From the Media Research Center:

Anna Nicole, seemingly first hearing about violence in Israel: "Who's killing the Jews?"

Nicole's lawyer, Howard K. Stern: "People are going like with bombs on their bodies into Israel and they're blowing themselves up in like coffee shops and like ball rooms."

Anna: "Whoa! Why would they do that? Don't they think it's kind of painful? It's just so not right."

Then Leonardo DiCaprio opened his pie hole to emit:

Leonardo DiCaprio, calling the United States the world's biggest polluter, urged President Bush to make a statement in favor of the environment by attending the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, later this month.

"Mr. Bush, we're asking for your support, to be the president that looks towards the future," DiCaprio told a Monday rally organized by Global Green USA, an affiliate of Green Cross International.

Actually Leo, if he doesn't show up at this bureaucratic clam bake, he will prove he does look towards the future.

Getcher Illegal Alien ID Card Here!
I mentioned the "matricular counsular" yesterday, but clicking past the the Raleigh (NC) News and Observer web site this morning I spotted a picture of illegal alliens lined up to get one. It's the teaser for a feature with the title, ID Cards Open Doors: Matricula consular helps new residents prove identity, obtain services. Hmm ... new residents lack identity and services, must find out more.

Since it is the Snooze and Deceiver, I didn't need to read the subtitle to know that it isn't going to be too forthcoming about how a Mexican government document has been conjured up to allow illegals to hop on the US gravy train, but let's see what David Olson, Staff Writer, has to say:

RALEIGH - Gilberto Cerron, like dozens who line up at the Mexican Consulate each weekday, came to buy a red-hot item: the matricula consular, a card that makes it easier for Mexican nationals to open bank accounts, get driver's licenses and seek social services.

"Mexican nationals" in this context are illegal aliens who aren't supposed to be here, much less entitled to these "social services". Legal aliens and immigrants already have documentation. And thanks to Bubba's Motor Voter law, I wonder how many illegals forget that they aren't supposed to vote?

"I had heard of it before, but I didn't know how important it was," said Cerron, 34, a Mexican immigrant who lives in Reidsville.

Word has spread among Mexican immigrants of how useful the card can be.

In the first six months of this year, the Raleigh consulate issued 7,813 matriculas, nearly four times as many as during the first six months of 2001. About three-quarters of the people who crowd the consulate each weekday are there to get the card. Nationally, Mexican consulates issued nearly 500,000 in the first half of this year.

Paging the INS! Target rich environment outside all Mexican Consulates!

But I'll hold my horses. We haven't yet heard from the politicians in search of "clients".

The card's profile is also rising as more local governments, police departments and banks accept it as an official ID. Carrboro aldermen unanimously voted to do so in June, joining cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Houston.

The card helps undocumented immigrants in particular because they are unlikely to have another photo ID with a U.S. address, Carrboro Alderman John Herrera said.

Obviously a rocket scientist. Actually with all the ID fraud, they probably have more photo ID's than I do.

Carrboro's resolution will make it easier for Mexicans living in Carrboro to get residents' discounts for parks programs and will help police verify the identity of Mexicans who report crimes or are suspects, he said.

I wouldn't want any illegal aliens to miss out on parks programs.

In June, state Sen. Daniel Clodfelter, a Charlotte Democrat, introduced a bill that would encourage law enforcement and other government agencies in North Carolina to accept the matricula as identification and would allocate $25,000 to educate agencies about the card. The bill is in committee.

"It doesn't grant legal residency. It doesn't confer rights or benefits," Clodfelter said. "It's just a good, useful identification document."

Sorta like a passport and visa, eh Clod?

Uh Oh! Time for the obligatory negative quote:

But not everyone thinks the card is a good idea.

The Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates greater restrictions on immigration, criticizes the Mexican government for issuing the card and local governments and banks in the United States for accepting them.

"Really, the whole purpose of this card is to circumvent U.S. immigration law," said Steven Camarota, the center's research director.

"It sort of institutionalizes illegality and conveys that we are just not serious about our laws."

No kidding, but corporate whores smell money.

Some major banks don't agree.

Durham-based Central Carolina Bank began accepting the matricula at all of its 263 branches in the Carolinas in May, and Charlotte-based Bank of America began taking it nationwide in June.

"This is a way for an underbanked, underserved population to access our services and to learn to trust us," said Gillian Breidenbach, a Bank of America spokeswoman. Many immigrants have never had a bank account and keep their money at home, she said.

Underbanked and underserved - the horror! I wonder how they discuss this in their annual report - "Your Company is pursuing a new growth market, scofflaws!" ?

"I've heard of people who have been assaulted after leaving work with a lot of money," said Cerron, who tried to open a bank account four months ago but didn't have a North Carolina ID. "It's less risky having money in a bank."

A problem that would be obviated if you and your employer weren't breaking the law.

Cerron, who works in a clothing factory, also wants to use his matricula to get a driver's license and car insurance.

I just know he took a cab to the consulate.

The state Division of Motor Vehicles likes the card because it proves the holder lives in North Carolina, said Wayne Hurder, DMV's director of driver's license certification. And, because foreign nationals must pass a driving test, making it easier for Mexicans to get a license makes the state's roads safer, he said.

Safer than none of them being here and on the road?

But wait! This is a high tech document which is only awarded after rigorous scrutiny by the crack office staff at the consulates!

The matricula is white and gray and looks something like a driver's license. It includes the person's photo, local address and date and place of birth. Later this month, the Raleigh consulate will begin issuing Mexico's new, green version that is more difficult to forge.

The Mexican government requires matricula applicants to provide an original birth certificate and a copy, a Mexican or U.S. photo ID and a document -- such as a utility bill --with a local address.

Proving that no nonsensical idea goes unrewarded, the closer is:

Other Latin American governments have noticed the card's popularity among Mexicans. Guatemala approved a similar ID in June and plans to begin issuing it at its consulates Thursday, said Ana Villacorta, spokeswoman for the Guatemalan Embassy. The closest Guatemalan Consulate to Raleigh is in Washington.

Honduras and El Salvador also are considering issuing similar cards, officials with those two countries' embassies said.

El Salvador began looking into the idea two years ago, said Rene Leon, the country's ambassador in Washington. But it put off plans for the card after the U.S. government made most Salvadorans in the United States eligible for "temporary protected status" -- allowing them to stay in the United States -- after their homeland was devastated by earthquakes in 2001. The status was recently extended until September 2003.

And, Leon said, because many of those who would benefit from a matricula are undocumented, and about 95 percent of Salvadorans in the United States are here legally, the need to issue a Salvadoran version is not as urgent.

A rainbow of documentation for illegal aliens from every grease spot on the map - that ought to simplify things.

Elbonian philospher and pleased to meet you, I am! Here my Elbonian consular card is! Where are services?

I'm surprised the UN hasn't got in on this racket.

How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm? - Iran Style
Tim Judah has a backgrounder in the Telegraph (UK) on The baby boomers who want to rock Teheran:

Garage rock is big in Teheran. In earlier times and different circumstance, garages, heavily padded for sound, might have been used for secret printing presses to churn out samizdat papers or revolutionary literature, but not in Teheran today. If heavy rock is your thing, find a garage.

Here, in the Islamic republic, heavy rock is officially considered moral pollution. So it goes underground. Blasting at their drums and electric guitars, the heavily sweating crew from Sokoote-e Shargh, which means Oriental Silence, meet three times a week to practise in a sound proofed room inside an underground garage.

They are not alone. There are scores of other underground bands of all types across Teheran. Technically, playing in an underground garage, provided there are no unmarried girls and boys dancing together or drinking, may not be illegal.

But no one is really sure what is legal or not in Iran any more. The band once got permission to play a small concert at an arts college, but they would never be allowed to sing in English or legally distribute a CD.

...

Indeed a social revolution is taking place. In the wake of the Islamic revolution of 1979 and the attack on Iran by Saddam Hussein in 1980, the mullahs urged women to produce a new generation of Islamic martyrs. But their project has gone horribly wrong.

Today two thirds of Iran's 70 million people are under 30 and, like Oriental Silence, chafing at the restrictions imposed by the state.

Satellite television, including broadcasts from several Iranian exile stations in America, has opened a new world to young Iranians. Satellite dishes are illegal, but the rule is flouted.

Today 1.75 million Iranians also have access to the internet, but in five years that figure is expected to grow to five million. Wherever there are computers you can see girls wearing the officially prescribed Islamic dress.

But every Iranian has a public and a private face. Peer at what they are doing on the internet and it is as if they are the inhabitants of a parallel nation.

With headphones clamped over their headscarves and chadors they are bobbing about while happily downloading music by the rapper Eminem or internet chatting with their boyfriends across town.

The imperialist forces infilitrate yet another peaceful Islamic republic. But don't worry, the mullahs are on the case:

In the past two months the hardliners have been flexing their muscles. Several papers have been shut down and a fleet of new Land Cruisers with aggressive morality enforcing policemen inside have made their presence felt.

Also, in mosques across the Teheran and the rest of the country, young men from the Basij, a militia loyal to Mr Khamenei, swear they will defend the Islamic revolution until death.

If reforms stay stalled then one day they may yet be called upon to do so.

Hmmm ... sounds familiar.

The Burqa Patrol Strikes Again
Th AP lets us know that Miss World Entrants Warned:

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - Nigeria, host of this year's Miss World pageant, has warned the contest's beauty queens to avoid parts of the country where Shariah, or Islamic law, is enforced, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Culture and Tourism Minister Boma Bromillow-Jack said organizers were warned to stay away from the dozen Nigerian states that have adopted Shariah after Muslim groups threatened to disrupt the pageant.

"We have told the people (organizers) not to allow the ladies to go to Zamfara and other Shariah states because of the risks involved," the minister told reporters Friday, according to the Vanguard newspaper.

...

Muslim groups in Nigeria have denounced the pageant as immoral and said they will prevent it from taking place, but have not threatened any specific action. They are particularly incensed by the swimsuit competition.

Snort!

Islamic law prescribes harsh punishments such as flogging for Muslim women who expose too much flesh in public, amputations for theft and death sentences for adultery

...

Nigeria applied to host the pageant after a Nigerian, Agbani Darego, was crowned Miss World last year.

The U.S. State Department renewed its warning to U.S. citizens against traveling to Nigeria last week citing violent crime and ongoing ethnic and religious conflicts - some triggered by the introduction of Shariah.

Thousands have died in bloody conflicts across the country since President Olusegun Obasanjo was elected in 1999, ending 16 years of military rule.

Sounds like a slow-motion riot and yet another fine member state of the United Nations. Good choice by the "Miss World" organizers.

Sniff!

Sniff!

Jackpot!
Cindy Gonzalez at the Omaha World-Herald raises eyebrows with Man gets jail instead of jackpot :

COUNCIL BLUFFS - Jose Cruz Mena thought it was his lucky day when the slot machine he was playing burst into jackpot bells.

But instead of handing over $3,000 in winnings, Harrah's casino handed Mena over to law enforcement authorities.

For the past month, the 32-year-old has been sitting in the Pottawattamie County Jail awaiting deportation.

Jose Cuevas, the local head of the Mexican government effort to aid and abet illegal immigration, er, Mexican Consul, explains:

Cuevas, a Mexican government representative whose Omaha office serves Iowa, Nebraska and North and South Dakota, said it is his understanding that Mena presented the casino with a matricula consular card - an official photo ID that carries his government's stamp of authenticity. The card was rejected when Mena tried to claim his jackpot, Cuevas was told.

The arrest came after Mena then showed his visa as identification and officials saw that he had overstayed his time in the United States. He had been living and working in Omaha.

"If they're going to start that policy," Cuevas said, "they might as well start placing immigration officers at the entrance of every casino to see if you're a U.S. citizen or legal resident of this country."

Good idea Jose! Even better placement would be outside every Mexican consulate where the illegal aliens line up to get a matricula consular. But Harrah's isn't really taking a stand:

Tess Barry, a spokeswoman for Harrah's, said Friday she could not comment on whether Mena presented the consular identification card.

She said that as a general rule, Harrah's considers the card an acceptable form of ID to claim a prize. Identification is needed, for tax purposes, to collect anything more than $1,200.

Barry said the riverboat would be "more than happy" to pay Mena his jackpot if he returns with the consular identification card.

The last is a nice touch. Hey, maybe the bus back to Mexico can stop at the casino on the way! And where is the INS in all this?

Alonzo Martinez, an INS official for Iowa and Nebraska, said Mena is awaiting formal deportation. Agency files, he said, show no criminal record for Mena.

The INS takes a tougher stance with immigrants who overstay their visas, Martinez said, than with someone who sneaks across the border with no documentation.

Ah! I can sleep better knowing the nation is in good hands.

"Earth" Summit Update
The Sunday Times (South Africa) reports on the scramble for foreign guests' cash.

Much of the SA interest in the World Summit on Sustainable Development is less about idealism than about the material spinoffs for local business.

The expectation of 65 000 free-spending delegates has inspired all sorts of South Africans to gear up for a windfall. From house owners fixing up their homes in expectation of renting out rooms at R1 000 a night to arts and crafts vendors, sex workers and restaurateurs - the hopes are for rich pickings.

But there's always a Gloomy Gus:

Société Générale chief economist Nico Czypionka is less sanguine...

"It is an illusion that there will be enormous spending, and what spending there is to a degree will simply displace other spending. They take hotel rooms that others would have taken and spend money that others would have spent but will go elsewhere during the summit," says Czypionka.

...

"People will undoubtedly be frustrated at being chased off the streets by the motorcades of some tinpot dictators," adds Czypionka.

It's sure to be a laugh riot. Be there or be square!

It's the UNLotto!
Reuters astonishes with Finnish Leader Says Global Lottery Could Fund UN:

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Plans for a global lottery to help fill United Nations coffers have taken a step forwards and could become reality within 18 months, according to a former Finnish leader promoting the idea.

Martti Ahtisaari, a former president and U.N. peace broker, said on Saturday the United Nations had recently agreed a cooperation project with the World Lottery Association (WLA), and if it got the go-ahead, it could be running by late 2003.

"We will know at the end of the year how lottery support can be put into practice," he told STT news agency in an interview.

Ah! A tax on the poor and innumerate to benefit well-to-do bureacrats. How very UN of the UN!