Not all Americans are xenophobic. That's the good news from the latest Quinnepac poll, in which 59% of Americans say they favor some sort of guest worker plan for undocumented residents.

Most of those polled also favor more stringent attempts to close the border. But at least they recognize that those who are here, working and lawfully paying taxes, should be allowed to stay here.

In July, I wrote about the absurd law passed by the Las Vegas city council prohibiting people from providing food for the homeless in city parks. It was intended to affect soup kitchens. The penalty was up to six months in jail and a $1,000. fine.

How was someone determined to be homeless? By their appearance.

The law defines a homeless person as an indigent "whom a reasonable ordinary person would believe to be entitled to apply for or receive assistance."

So the test was whether someone looks poor enough to be on welfare. Classic discrimination based on appearance.

A federal judge has now thrown out the law, issuing an injunction against its enforcement pending his final ruling.

The president's father claimed to see "a thousand points of light" in the charitable organizations "that are spread like stars throughout the Nation." The current administration praises private efforts to help the unfortunate while it harasses Muslim charities. One victim of the administration's double standard is Dr. Rafil Dhafir, whose arrest TalkLeft discussed here.

In direct response to the humanitarian catastrophe created by brutal sanctions on Iraq, Dhafir, a man of Iraqi descent and Muslim faith, and an American citizen for almost thirty years, started the charity Help the Needy (HTN). ... When the deaths of children over the age of five and adults are added, the number killed as a direct result of the sanctions rises to between 1.5 and 2 million dead civilians. ...

For the crime of breaking the U.S. and U.K. sponsored UN sanctions on Iraq and sending humanitarian aid to sick and starving civilians, Dhafir was held without bail for thirty-one months and then sentenced to twenty-two years in prison.

The linked article recaps the case against Dr. Dhafir, a case that ran on twin tracks: a fraud prosecution for activities that, according to its prosecutors, had no link to terrorism; and contradictory claims by federal authorities that Dr. Dhafir's charitable activities assisted terrorism.

Paul Craig Roberts has a provocative article in Counterpunch today (scroll down) about whether the Dems will do anything about the Bush Administration's destruction of the Bill of Rights and freedom in the name of the war on terror.

He asks:

Do Pelosi and the incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have the intellect and character to deliver the leadership required for Americans to remain a free people? Instead of bemoaning the damage Bush has done to civil liberty, Democrats are up in arms over one child in five being raised in poverty. The more important question is whether children are being raised as a free people protected by civil liberties from arbitrary government power.

Cindy Sheehan was arrested outside the White House gate for "interfering with a government function." Cindy and 50 protestors wanted to share with their president the signatures of 80,000 Americans who agree that he shouldn't attack Iran. This is known as petitioning the government for a redress of grievances, a right protected by the First Amendment.

The "government function" with which Cindy interfered apparently consisted of ignoring Cindy's request to accept the petitions.

"It was taking too long for them to decide whether to accept them or not, so we just delivered them," said Sheehan, who waited about 15 minutes with other protesters before tossing the petitions over the fence.

Yesterday's Examiner: Three Santa Barbara elementary schools to fingerprint students. The purpose: use of the cafeteria.

A plan to fingerprint elementary school students when they buy lunch has some parents worrying that Big Brother has come to the cafeteria.

The Hope Elementary School District has notified parents that beginning this month, students at Monte Vista, Vieja Valley and Hope elementary schools will press an index finger to a scanner before buying cafeteria food.

The scan will call up the student's name and student ID, teacher's name and how much the student owes, since some receive government assistance for food.

All children born in the U.S. are United States citizens. But the Bush-signed Deficit Reduction Act that went into effect in July prevents Medicaid from covering health care benefits to those born to undocumented residents -- unless the parents file proof of citizenship for the child, which is a catch-22 because the application form takes weeks or months and many of the immigrant parents don't want to alert authorities to their presence here.

Hospitals are just now catching up with the law's demands and doctors are justifiably outraged:

Dr. Jay E. Berkelhamer, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the policy “punishes babies who, according to the Constitution, are citizens because they were born here.” Dr. Martin C. Michaels, a pediatrician in Dalton, Ga., said that continuous coverage in the first year of life was important because “newborns need care right from the start.”

“Some Americans may want to grant amnesty to undocumented immigrants, and others may want to send them home,” Dr. Michaels said. “But the children who are born here had no say in that debate.”

Compassionate conservatism at work. Vote these xenophobic louts out November 7. These babies are citizens and entitled to every advantage we can provide. Every child is entitled to an equal chance to succeed. Medical care during the first year of life is critical.

After a long legal fight, the records of two abortion clinics are now in the hands of the Kansas Attorney General.

The state attorney general said Tuesday night that his office has received the records of 90 patients from two abortion clinics and is reviewing them for possible crimes, the culmination of an effort that prompted concerns over patient privacy.

Now here's the b.s. The Attorney General says he wants the records to go after sex offenders, rapists and abortion doctors.

How many women provide a rapist's or sex offender's name when going for an abortion? Doesn't he really mean he's doing this just to go after doctors who performed the procedure?

Smoke and mirrors, folks. Once again.

Talkleft reported on the legal fight here. More from Feministing here, and on how this same Kansas attorney general wanted to require healthcare workers to report evidence of teen make-out sessions here.

700 miles of fence will be built along the Mexican border. President Bush signed the legislation Thursday. But that's not all:

The new law also provides for more vehicle barriers, checkpoints and advanced technology to bolster border security. A previously enacted domestic security spending bill provides $1.2 billion for the fence and the accompanying technology.

A mere $1.2 billion. Republicans must think money grows on trees. Hopefully, the American public will teach them it doesn't on November 7.

The border fence will not keep out the undocumented.

Those who support life should also support stem cell research.

Crooks and Liars has the video of Rush Limbaugh's absurd attack on Michael J. Fox.

Update: More on the New Jersey decision at the New York Times and Washington Post.

Big Tent Democrat wrote about the decision today by the New Jersey Supreme Court (opinion here, pdf). Several commenters weighed in with where they got married, in a civil ceremony or a religious one.

I got married twice in one weekend. The first ceremony was conducted on Friday by the Mayor at City Hall. The second was a religious ceremony that Sunday, at the home of friends of my parents. (I had cast the marriage date astrologically -- it was the '70's after all -- and it wasn't possible to do a religious ceremony on a Friday night.)

The marriage that was recognized by the state was the civil union on Friday. The religious one made no difference.

Is marriage inextricably intertwined with religion? I'd say no, nor should it be.

How about you? Where did you get married?

The Minnesota Court of Appeals held that compulsory DNA testing required by Minnesota law on persons charged with a felony. Court distinguishes all the cases involving those convicted of a felony. In re C.T.L., 2006 Minn. App. LEXIS 149 (October 10, 2006) (I know this case is 10 days old, but I get them from Lexis when Lexis posts them.)

This apparently is the first case to deal with such a statute. Cases have uniformly held that DNA testing after conviction for any felony are constitutional. Based on that, legislatures have tried to go one step further, to test everyone on arrest, apparently oblivious to the fact that most felony arrests do not result in convictions for a felony.

From the holding: