Cats Sans Shame

Cats are notoriously without shame (I believe the great philosopher George Carlin once remarked on this) and Chloe and Daphne are no exceptions. This vision was bad enough:

But Daphne has a long way to go to top this:

Still No Iraqis but Add One American

It looks like we’re reaching the end of the Chinese terror ‘plot.’ The anonymous tipster has now added a used car dealer from San Diego previously known to the DEA.

The tipster also gave police the names of a San Diego used car dealer and his girlfriend, contending that they were involved in a smuggling ring and in drug dealing, according to several law enforcement officials. The car dealer has previously been investigated as a possible drug dealer by federal and state officials in California

Sounds like this guy has a long list of people he wants to get in trouble. And more light has been shed on the origin of the photos and additional names:

The unidentified caller directed police to a package he had tossed over a border fence into California with three visas that had been issued to three of the Chinese nationals by the Mexican embassy in Beijing and a Chinese identity card for the fourth, the officials said.

According to one official, inside the package were airline ticket stubs indicating that the four had flown from Beijing to Mexico City. Some documents in the package, including baggage claim tickets, contained 10 additional names, but it was unclear what their connection was to the six or whether they are aliases for them.

The Associated Press reported last night that nine of the additional names are Chinese: Yu Xian Weng, a woman either 40 or 41; Quinquan or Quiquan Lin, 21; Liqiang Liang, 28; Min Xiu Xie, 27; Xiang or Xing Wei Liu, 22; Mei Xia Dong, 21; Xiuming Chen; Cheng Yin Liu; and Zao Yun Wang. The 10th name is Jose Ernesto Beltran Quinones, of unknown age or national origin, according to the AP. The FBI said that none of the 10 appeared previously on any kind of watch list, the AP reported.

My suspicions about the quality of the photography aside, this is looking more and more like a drug deal gone sour. We may never know who the anonymous caller is, but if as it now appears this turns out to be a hoax and we catch him he should be charged and prosecuted for everything we can find – including overdue parking tickets. As to the Chinese – immediate deportation back to the PRC seems right.

The greater good that can come out of this is the need to change our border procedures. The threat would have been far less credible if border jumping were far more difficult.