I come to praise the News-Press

The Santa Barbara News-Press is a liberal (in the debased, late-20th-century sense of that term--i.e., socialist) paper in a majority liberal town. It is not uncommon to find unhinged anti-Bush editorials and propaganda pieces such as Sunday's pro-illegal-immigrant articles. But every so often, someone on the editorial staff gets it right. (I presume not Wendy, as she's probably too busy working up the News-Press's 33rd editorial against feral pig genocide, but who knows?)

Today's editorial rightly criticizes the City Council for spending time on feel-good socialist policies (the recently passed "living wage" ordinace, discussion of putting a limit on local political campaign spending), while ignoring the city's real and obvious problems, such as the ever-increasing hordes of slovenly and abusive vagrants that now throng State Street, and the increasingly violent Latino gangs--the editors note the two recent stabbings downtown, in broad daylight. But such problems are difficult to solve, and would require standing up to the people that want to tear this city down. Much easier to protest against the war in Iraq.

Congratulations to the News-Press editors for pointing out what should be obvious: city council members should be addressing the city's serious problems of security and safety. But given Santa Barbara's propensity for electing lefty ideologues with little real-world experience in business or leadership, this may be hoping for too much.

Red Star over De la Guerra Plaza

News-Press staff writers are, in general, deliriously happy about illegal immigration, but Shelly Leachman's Sunday front-page article on Saturday's illegal immigrant rally downtown sets a new standard for partisan rabble-rousing thinly disguised as reportage:

Wet weather Saturday didn't dampen the determination of the masses who marched in Santa Barbara in support of immigrants' rights--as the rain came down, their spirits rose up.

The "masses"? Yes, comrade, a glorious Red Dawn is just around the corner. The photographs that accompany this piece of agitprop prominently feature the American flag, which marchers have been told to carry--the much more popular Mexican flag sends the wrong message to some of the racist xenophobes who read the Press. Speaking of racist xenophobes, Ms. Leachman goes on to tell us in more detail who the good guys and bad guys are:

As the waterlogged marchers made their way through the downtown area, shoppers, passers-by, salespeople and others stopped to watch, listen and, mostly, show support.

The few nay-sayers included a dark-haired woman passing by Saks Fifth Avenue [store of choice for the oppressive bosses], who said to the woman beside her, "What's the point?" A heavyset, red-faced [white racist] man muttered "Keep it, buddy" to a volunteer passing out informational fliers.

But some white folks are almost as enlightened as Shelly herself:

But then there was the by-all-appearances well-heeled woman outside high-end clothing store Natasha, who smiled, nodded her platinum-blond head, and formed two fingers on her right hand into a peace sign.

She may be well-heeled (i.e., she pays the taxes that pay for illegal immigrant education, medical care, and welfare benefits), but her heart's in the right place!