First read this New York Times article about what happened to the Thakur family -- and about how many similarly situated children are deported to countries they have never lived in because of a removal (deportation) order against their parents.

Check out the response by one conservative group, referring to the children as "collateral damage," and the response of government officials who are completely indifferent to the children's plight.

But Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, which favors restricting immigration, calls such children "collateral damage of their parents' lawbreaking" and of a crackdown that is long overdue.

....From the government's perspective, said Manny Van Pelt, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Thakur case was a success. "We did the part that we were responsible for," Mr. Van Pelt said. "We carried out the successful removal of a person who had violated the nation's laws and that the court had determined had to be removed from this country."

What planet do these people come from?

Good news...the tracking device company that a California public school planned to hire to provide radio frequency devices to be worn by students to track their whereabouts has backed out of the deal.

Background on the story is here.

White supremacists across the nation have begun a billboard campaign to recruit new members.

White supremacist groups around the country are moving aggressively to recruit new members by promoting their violent, racist ideologies on billboards, in radio commercials and in leaflets tossed on suburban driveways.

The group behind the ads is the National Alliance.

.... The local chapter spent $1,500 on MetroLink ads here in St. Louis last month, plastering nearly every commuter train car in the city with a blue-and-white placard declaring "The Future belongs to us!" and listing the group's Web site and phone number.

"We want to use mainstream advertising to say to the public: We're not a shadowy group. This is what we believe in, and we're proud of it," said chapter leader Aaron Collins.

The ads are also on display in Utah, Nevada and Florida.

Someone should send this to this article to Terry Schiavo's husband. Not that it would change his mind, but still....

I'm surprised at Dave Kopel's Rocky Mountain News column today on media coverage of the Ward Churchill controversy. It is such a misnomer. It's about coverage of media-bashing of Churchill, as I explain at 5280, it's not about media coverage in general. How can you represent an article as being about media reaction to or coverage of an event if you only present one side?

Bump and Update: Balloon Juice explains why tracking kids is so wrong.

*************
2/11/05

If a school ever did this to my kid, I'd be livid. So why aren't more of the parents at Brittan elementary school, north of Sacramento, making a fuss? Tracking kids through radio frequncies and making them wear badges is a practice that should be nipped in the bud....before it spreads.

The only grade school in this rural town is requiring students to wear radio frequency identification badges that can track their every move. Some parents are outraged, fearing it will take away their children's privacy.

The badges introduced at Brittan Elementary School on Jan. 18 rely on the same radio frequency and scanner technology that companies use to track livestock and product inventory. Similar devices have recently been used to monitor youngsters in some parts of Japan.

I see London, I see France, but you better not let me see your underpants....

That's the message Virginia legislators are sending out by endorsing a bill to ban low-riding pants.

Delegates approved a measure that would allow police to assess a $50 fine on anyone who exposes their below-waist underpants in a "lewd or indecent manner."

[Freshman Norfolk Delegate Algie Howell Jr.] said that since he introduced it last month, he's been deluged with calls and e-mails about the issue, mostly positive. Howell told The Virginian-Pilot that he kept hearing from customers in his barber shop that something needed to be done about young people who wear their pants around their knees, exposing their underwear.

Update: The bill is dead.

Embattled CU ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill received a standing ovation tonight at his speech at the University of Colorado. More than 1,000 people were in attendance. Take that, CU Regents, Colorado Legislature and Governor Owens!

A University of Colorado professor who ignited a firestorm by likening the World Trade Center victims to Nazis received a standing ovation Tuesday from a crowd of more than a thousand who packed a ballroom to hear him speak.

..."I do not work for the taxpayers of the state of Colorado. I do not work for (Gov.) Bill Owens. I work for you," he said to thunderous applause.

After a lawsuit was filed in federal court today by various groups on behalf of Ward Churchill, CU relented and rescinded its cancellation. He'll be speaking at 7 p.m. at C.U. in the Glenn Miller Ballroom.

CU's decision also came just hours after Churchill, American Indian Movement leader Russell Means and several organizations representing students and faculty filed suit claiming CU had violated Churchill's free speech rights. In an affidavit filed with the U.S. District Court lawsuit, Churchill said it is critical he be able to speak.

Due to death threats to students and to Ward Churchill, his talk in Boulder tomorrow has been canceled. The right-wing fringe wins again.

[comments now closed, you can comment at the new thread which reports his speech has been reinstated.]

University of Colorado Ethnic Studies Professor Ward Churchill continues to be a hot topic of debate, both in MSM and by bloggers. Here's the latest:

In one corner, we have Law Professor Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit, writing at his MSNBC blog. Glenn says that Churchill shouldn't be fired, but he is very critical of Churchill as a scholar. In the opposite corner, is Kurt Nimmo, writing for Counterpunch, who sees similarities between Churchill and Sami al-Arian, the professor from Tampa who has been sitting in a jail cell in isolation awaiting trial on terrorism charges, which Nimmo says largely stem form pro-Palestinian views.

If you get caught running a red light or speeding in Phoenix, you can expect the cop to pull out an inkless fingerprinting pad along with his ticket book. Is this the shape of things to come?

The cops say it's voluntary, but how many motorists believe that? As the local ACLU spokesperson says,

"`The standard is not whether we have anything to hide... ``It's 'Does the government have a right to invade our privacy?'''

[link via CrimProf Blog and Grits for Breakfast.]