Many people are like instant coffee: the minute they get in hot water they dissolve. ~ Unknown

OK. Let’s try this again. Another hour+ power outage here after an hour or two of searching for first cup items.

Wizbang (Jay Tea) Taking a shotgun to the illegal alien problem — “As far as I’m concerned, the root causes is an irrelevant issue. If someone is bleeding to death from a cut on their arm, how important is it to know if the injury was caused by a knife, a chain saw, an animal attack, or struck by a passing car? The most important thing is to stop the bleeding, THEN worry about the larger issues.”

Outside The Beltway (James Joyner) Castro: Zarqawi Raid a Barbarity — “This is rather amusing given Castro’s human rights record. While we obviously want to be better than him, this does not extend so far as to providing trials before killing enemies during wartime. Zarqawi was killed, not in retribution for his many attrocities, but because he was the leader of the most dangerous faction of the “insurgency” we are fighting.”

Blue Star Chronicles (Beth) Irey on Murtha: He Still Doesn’t Get It — “It seems that Murtha has a problem accepting the reliability of intellegence from Iraqi citizens that al-Zarqawi was killed in an air strike. But he’s willing to accept that kind of intellegence from ‘unnamed sources’ that our Marines are ‘cold blooded killers’.”

TMH’s Bacon Bits (The MaryHunter) DHS Now Accepting Fake IDs — “Get a load of this: (HT: Penelope) from today’s Washington Times we have this encouraging story of our Department of Homeland Security and it’s ultra-high-security system.”

Coffee falls into the stomach … ideas begin to move, things remembered arrive at full gallop … the shafts of wit start up like sharp-shooters, similes arise, the paper is covered with ink… ~ Honore de Balzac

One topic seemed to dominate all others on my blogrolls both today and late yesterday — the story saying that the US Border Patrol, under direction of the government, is providing the Mexican government with the locations of the Minutemen citizen patrols. Here is some of the reaction and commentary. Jim

Michelle Malkin DHS: DENY, HEDGE, SPIN — “Message to the White House: Stop blaming the messengers. Do us all a favor by ending this travesty and apologizing. And please don’t fire Mario Martinez for telling the reporter the truth.” [Michelle's original report on this is here with another update here. Another point she makes in the story quoted above is, "This White House has another burgeoning debacle on its hands." Jim]

Wizbang (Kim Priestap) US Border Control Gives Minutemen Locations to Mexican Government — “The US Border Patrol is supposed to protect US borders from illegal crossings, not encourage them. I thought this issue couldn’t possibly get any more out of control. I was wrong.”

Right Wing News (John Hawkins) The Federal Government Teams Up With Mexico To Thwart The Minutemen — “Not only should Congress demand that the Border Patrol stop working with the Mexican government to circumvent our laws, they should launch an investigation in order to find out who signed off on this unconscionable outrage.”

Iowa Voice (Brian) Who’s Running The Illegal Immigration Show Here, Anyway? — “I’m livid about this. I just fired off a terse email to Senator Grassley, demanding some answers. I’d certainly encourage others to start contacting their Senators and Representatives. This kowtowing to Mexico has simply GOT to stop. We’ve GOT to secure this border, or it’s going to ruin this country.”

Flopping Aces (Curt) Snitching On The Minutemen — “This sends the message to Mexico that we will do everything in our power to help you send us your poverty.”

Stop the ACLU (Jay) U.S. Tipping Mexico to Minuteman Patrols — “Not only absurd and intolerable, but also dangerous! Indeed this threatens our sovereignty to a great degree, however it also threatens our National security.”

Hot Air (Bryan) US Border Patrol Helps Illegals Avoid the Minutemen — I’ve seen several administrations do a lot of outrageous things, but tipping a foreign government to the legal activities of American citizens just might be the most outrageous thing I’ve ever seen any American administration do.”

Confederate Yankee Mexican Handoff — “Bush refuses to protect the territorial integrity of the United States, leaving us exposed to an importation of poverty that strains our social welfare system and artificially depresses wages. At least as important is the fact that President Bush’s border policies leave us naked to the threat of terrorist infiltration.”

Finally, this is by no means an exhaustive list. The outrage on this is palpable and justified. And while several of the posts point out the “corrections” that are trying to be made on this story, the spin just doesn’t wash.

Michelle Malkin has posted pictures from The Day To Hate Republicans and awards this picture from Pete W. as the “dumbest May Day sign from Denver.”

I would agree. But doesn’t this pic just scream out, “Photo Fun”? My weapon of choice is Paint Shop Pro. The results are here:

And to make it easy for you I’m providing a blank. Send your handiwork to lakelandjim at gmail dot com. No prizes, no accolades, just the admiration of bRight & Early readers everywhere.

Chad’s Been having fun already!

So has The Man

He even spotted his friend Jack:

Brian jumps into the party:

The King of the Caption Contest, Rodney Dill, checks in:

Reader Captain Midnight sent these:

One from Jim Rose:

The drink that comforteth the brain and heart and helpeth digestion. ~ Sir Francis Bacon

Palmetto Pundit (Barry Ready) Hey Protestors! Wrap This Around Your Maypole! — “The type of individual who would skip work or school to protest against America as a means to influence others that they should be allowed to illegally stay in America, are exactly the type of non-productive, ungrateful members of society who should be automatically deported from America.”

Don Surber The Cost Of Illegal Aliens — “Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo though saw that if there truly were no illegal aliens today — if everyone played by the rules — there would be 183,000 fewer people without hospitalization insurance in his state, 24% fewer deliveries in Denver OB/GYN wards, and a 50% drop in youth gangs memberships in some states.”

Second Shift Reflections (Bob) Illegal Immigration Rally in Wichita a Bust — “There was an “impromptu” illegal immigration rally today in Wichita that drew an estimated crowd of about 100 people. The organized rally never got off of the ground and this rally was started by a “rumor” that one was being held.”

Right Wing News (John Hawkins) Illegal Alien Rally Pics — “Yesterday, the much heralded “day without out an (illegal) immigrant” rallies occurred and about the only purpose it served was to remind people why we don’t want a bunch of uninvited illegals, rallying in the streets, yelling slogans in Spanish, waving foreign flags, assaulting the police, and demanding the right to break the law with impunity. If only the “day without out an (illegal) immigrant” actually featured a “day without out an (illegal) immigrant”.”

The Jawa Report (Bluto) MSM Openly Sides With Illegals — “Legal immigrants have specific legal rights and obligations, which are clearly spelled out in immigration regulations. Once a person becomes a US citizen, he or she is no longer an “immigrant”, but a citizen of the United States of America on an equal footing with the bluest Mayflower bloodline.”