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The latest battle in the war on illegal immigration isn’t over the smuggling of undocumented workers, it’s over the trash they leave behind.

Government officials and border activists say the garbage dumped in the desert by illegal immigrants and their smugglers is staggering.

And the cleanup is costing taxpayers millions.

In 2006 alone, more than 1.18 million pounds of trash was collected along southern Arizona border, many in the meeting spots where immigrants rest, change clothes and wait to hitch a ride further north with a smuggler.

“You can find everything,” said Shela McFarlin, special assistant for international programs at the Arizona Bureau of Land Management. “Blankets, airline tickets, Bibles, wedding pictures, photos of children, school reports, because clearly people don’t tend to throw away everything they’ve brought with them — they’re forced to.”

Arizona officials have spent approximately $4.4 million over five years to clean up the mess, that continues to build with each crossing. Nearly $1 million was spent for 2007 from a base BLM appropriation.

[...]

The trash is a problem that activist groups, like the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, say will not stop until the nation’s southern border is secured.

“It’s just like a flood,” said Chris Simcox, the president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. “You can’t clean up the floodwaters until you stop the flood and fix the dam.”

[...]

Since 2003, the Arizona BLM has run a project to mitigate the damage caused by the migration of illegal immigrants along the state’s border with Mexico.

“What we’re beginning to wonder is how extensive is the problem?” McFarlin said. “How many millions of pounds of garbage? How many roads are really damaged? How many miles of illegal trails?”

McFarlin’s agency works with local government, student volunteers and civic groups to bag trash in wilderness areas frequented by immigrants. The BLM also disguises smuggling roads by planting new vegetation over the desert tracks carved by smugglers.

[...]

“We recently cleaned up one location with almost 4,000 backpacks left behind,” she said.

Simcox said his group cleans up the private lands of ranchers who help them on their quest to monitor the border.

“We’ve seen it time and time again, where we go in and clean up these areas and within months they’re just filled again with the same debris,” Simcox said.

The Arizona BLM and the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps do not work together on cleanup efforts.

Both groups say it may take years to correct.

“Truly, it’s a national disaster of our cherished outdoor areas,” Simcox said.

Where is the environmental lobby on this?

Once one understands the MSM’s “Basra Narrative” and the assumption that if there is fighting going on, we (the United States) must be losing…

Big push coming in Sadr City
By Ed Morrissey
Hot Air

...

Since Sadr refused to disband the militia, Maliki has little choice but to root it out and destroy it. The US and Iraqi forces have already started doing that by building barriers to keep the Mahdis locked into known positions, with some skirmishes already taking place in Sadr City. Now that they have the battleground defined, the next step will be the military action that will end the Mahdi Army as an organization and establish lawful control over the last of the rebel ground Sadr controls.

This will likely take weeks to complete. Once the battle starts, expect to read and hear plenty of media reports emphasizing civilian deaths, setbacks in the battle, defections in the Iraqi Army, and statements of defiance from Sadr. What we won’t hear is progress by Maliki and the US in finishing off Sadr’s forces until it suddenly becomes impossible to ignore it — and then we will hear about how inept the Iraqi forces were in achieving victory.

Call it the Basra Narrative. Just because it failed in Basra doesn’t mean the defeatist media won’t use it again, and again, and again.

Damn the facts!  Let the narrative continue! /progressive_mode

Indeed.  Via Instapundit

Pressure mounted on embattled Rep. Vito Fossella Wednesday to walk away from his congressional seat in the wake of his drunken-driving bust and relationship with a single mom.

Fossella tried to project calm by attending his eldest son’s Confirmation on Staten Island, but some Republican campaign officials warned donors he was a “huge problem” going into the fall elections.

Some even told donors to withhold checks to Fossella, inside sources said.

Party officials were losing confidence Fossella could hold onto his seat even if he survived fallout from his drunken-driving arrest in Alexandria, Va., last week, the sources said.

The married congressman also faced questions over whether he had a 3-year-old love child with retired Lt. Col. Laura Fay, who rescued him from the drunk tank on Thursday, the sources and others familiar with the conversations said.

“That’s a huge problem for us,” a GOP official told representatives of political action committees who support Republican candidates.

by the Left.

Here is the map of change in delinquency rates (by quintiles) on a county by county basis:



Here is the map of the 2004 Presidential Election on a county by county basis:



Quite the interesting correlation there. I think my already tepid support for mortgage relief just cooled to well below freezing.

Hat Tip: Marginalizing Morons via Michelle Malkin (more...)

All the elements of a good story for...well, you know the guy! Heh.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A Democratic political consultant questions why two former U.S. House members who voted against impeaching President Clinton 10 years ago are now jumping on a bandwagon to force Ohio’s attorney general to resign or be forced from office.

Clinton’s case rings similar to that of Attorney General Marc Dann, a fellow Democrat from Youngstown who has admitted to an extramarital affair with a subordinate and is being challenged for inconsistent statements made under oath.

Congress impeached Clinton, as Democrats are now threatening to do to Dann. Yet Clinton, who was subsequently acquitted in the Senate, never resigned.

Governor Ted Strickland would like Marc Dann gone before the November elections, because he is a bright, glowing neon sign that political corruption is well and truly bipartisan!

Some pundits have opined that the Ohio AG could destroy the Potemkin village of “Democrat reformers” that swept Democrats into office two short years ago, and put Ohio back in play for the Republicans.

...Strickland and Brown are joined by nearly every Ohio political leader - both Democrats and Republicans - in wanting Dann to resign.

Ah! Bipartisanship, at last!

...Strickland (D) says Dann has clearly met the threshold for removal, in part due to his statements to investigators looking into complaints that an aide in his office sexually harassed subordinates.

``There were what I perceived to be some inconsistencies in the testimony, a failure to recognize the seriousness of some of the things that apparently had happened, failure to exercise proper oversight and management of the office,’’ the governor said after leading a Democratic charge Monday to get Dann out of office.

...Republican consultant Mark Weaver said transcripts of a sexual harassment probe at Dann’s office that concluded Friday refer to personal acts by Dann that call his judgment into question. Among them are allegations Dann served drinks to subordinates during off-work hours, made personal and suggestive statements in office e-mail and allowed the hiring of a friend as a section chief despite knowledge that he had a drunk driving conviction.

``With Taft, there was not the direct link back to his behavior that was creating the problems,’’ Weaver said. ``People who accuse Taft of wrongdoing ... said he wasn’t paying close enough attention to what was going on. The argument against Dann is that he was actually fomenting it, he was involved in it.’’

And a “golden oldie” at the end of the piece:

And Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Traficant, a nine-term congressman from Youngstown, never resigned before heading off to prison. He was convicted in 2002 of charges he received gifts and free labor from businessmen for his political help, and took cash kickbacks and free labor from staff.

``Richard Nixon and Jim Traficant are both infamous political figures,’’ Weaver said. ``At least give Nixon credit for not making the country go through an impeachment trial. Jim Traficant would not do that and had to be taken away in handcuffs.’’

Heh. Of course, you might want to check with Elliot Spitzer. They might like handcuffs! Heh. Heh.


Cross posted at Proof Positive

WASHINGTON — More than 43,000 U.S. troops listed as medically unfit for combat in the weeks before their scheduled deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003 were sent anyway, Pentagon records show.

This reliance on troops found medically “nondeployable” is another sign of stress placed on a military that has sent 1.6 million service members to the war zones, soldier advocacy groups said.

“It is a consequence of the consistent churning of our troops,” said Bobby Muller, president of Veterans For America. “They are repeatedly exposed to high-intensity combat with insufficient time at home to rest and heal before re-deploying.”

North Dakota’s 2008 deer season has been set with 149,400 licenses available to hunters this fall, an increase of 850 from last year.
Randy Kreil, wildlife chief for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said mild winters and a corresponding increase in reproductive success have maintained white-tailed deer populations above management objectives in many units in northeastern, north central, and parts of southwestern North Dakota. “We will continue to be aggressive in units where deer numbers are above management goals,” Kreil said.
The results of an aggressive approach to lowering deer numbers is evident in the northwest and southeast where many units will have stable to lower license numbers. “A significant decline in deer numbers in these areas is a direct result of several years of high harvest on does,” Kreil said.
Because of high deer numbers in northeastern North Dakota, the department established a seven-day September antlerless deer gun season in units 2C and 2D. “We have been aggressive in trying to lower deer numbers since 2004, and the response in some units is not what we had hoped for and we need to take additional measures,” Kreil said.
This experimental season will run from Sept. 26 – Oct. 2, and is only for hunters with 2C and 2D antlerless (doe) deer licenses.
Another consideration in this first-of-its-kind special season is the serious bovine tuberculosis outbreak in neighboring northwestern Minnesota. “We believe it would be prudent to reduce deer numbers in this area ahead of an unlikely but not improbable movement of this disease into North Dakota,” Kreil said.
The mule deer population in the badlands remains at or above management goals. The 2008 population survey in the badlands indicates a stable to increasing number of mule deer. As a result, the number of mule deer licenses available in 2008 will be slightly higher than in 2007.
The number of licenses available for 2008 includes 8,600 for mule deer, an increase of 250 from last year; 2,816 for muzzleloader, up 12 from last year; and 345 restricted youth antlered mule deer, up five from last year.
North Dakota’s 2008 deer gun season is set to open Nov. 7 at noon and continue through Nov. 23. Online applications for the regular deer gun, youth and muzzleloader seasons are available through the Game and Fish Department’s Internet website, gf.nd.gov. Paper applications will be available at vendors throughout the state by mid-May. The deadline for applying is June 4.

September Antlerless Deer Gun Season Q and A
In 2004 the North Dakota Game and Fish Department set management goals for each hunting unit. These goals were based upon historical information as to what the particular unit could support and landowner tolerance for deer in the area. Since 2004 the department has been aggressive in trying to lower deer numbers in units that were above management goals by offering additional antlerless licenses. For the most part this approach has been successful in much of the state. In other units we have not observed the harvest and reduced deer numbers we had hoped for by now. For this reason we are now considering other approaches to reducing deer numbers.
The September Antlerless Deer Gun Season will allow the harvest of any antlerless deer with any legal firearm or bow, including centerfire and muzzleloading rifles, during the season dates beginning Friday, Sept. 26 at noon through Thursday, Oct. 2. Units 2C and 2D were selected for this initial early antlerless season. All standard hunting regulations regarding equipment, manner of take and clothing requirements will apply to this season. We have received a number of calls and suggestions regarding this season. Following is a basic summary of many of the most frequently asked questions we have received.

Question: Why not just issue more licenses?
Answer: In unit 2C in 2006 a total of 3,000 antlered and 7,500 antlerless licenses were available to hunters and an estimated 5,529 antlerless deer were harvested. Population indices suggested stable to increasing deer numbers in 2C; so in 2007 a total of 3,000 antlered and 8,000 antlerless licenses were made available. By the end of the 2007 hunting season 395 antlerless deer licenses remained unissued, and the estimated harvest of antlerless deer declined to 4,933. Just increasing the number of licenses will not result in more deer being harvested.

Question: Why not make antlerless licenses less expensive?
Answer: License fees for hunting are set by the North Dakota legislature. Other states have tried this by selling antlerless licenses for as little as $2 each. Hunters buy the license but do not feel compelled to fill the license and harvest a deer. The price of the license is just a small fraction of the actual cost to deer hunt. Youth licenses (hunters under 16 years-of-age at time of application) are $10, and nonresidents can now purchase a concurrent season license for $50.

Question: Why not make all the hunters first shoot a doe and “earn” a buck license?
Answer: This has been tried in other states with mixed success. It would require verification by department personnel that an antlerless deer had actually been shot. Other states with a much larger staff find this sort of program very difficult to administer. The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is the second smallest state wildlife agency in the nation. We do not have the personnel to handle this sort of labor-intensive program.

Question: Why not have the doe season later in the fall?
Answer: That has been tried in the past. Due to severe weather conditions during the 2004 November Regular Deer Gun season opener, a Special December (17 to 31) Deer Gun Season for antlerless white-tailed deer was enacted for much of the state. The department received numerous complaints about that season. Approximately 7,700 deer were harvested during that period or about 120 deer per 1,000 square miles. For area as large as 2D and 2C (4,000 sq. miles) that would amount to amount to about 475 deer. We are hoping for a harvest larger than that. Additionally, we are hoping that hunters will be more inclined to harvest additional antlerless deer for meat at a time of year when they do not already have another in the freezer, and are not preoccupied with trying to shoot a buck.

Question: It can still be warm weather that time of the year. Won’t the meat just spoil?
Answer:  It probably will be warmer than the November Regular Deer Gun Season. However, we have deer archery, elk, and pronghorn seasons open in August and September. In 1999 the opening weekend temperatures for the November Regular Deer-Gun Season were in the 80’s and 90’s across the state. Hunters will need to adjust their hunting practices, bring ice coolers, and process their deer quickly.

Question: Crops will still be in the field, the sugar beet harvest will be underway, and cattle will still be at pasture. Will farmers let hunters on the land this time of the year?
Answer: During the November Regular Deer Gun Season some crops (sunflowers and corn) are often still in the process of being harvested, and cattle are also often still out to pasture. Hunters will need to adjust and make contacts with landowners earlier in the fall. Hunters harvesting deer with a gun is our most cost effective means of controlling deer numbers.

Question: Have other states tried this sort of program before?
Answer: Yes, Minnesota and Wisconsin are two of the closest Midwest states to have used this management tool and they have been pleased with the results.

Question: Will I have to wear orange while archery hunting in 2C and 2D during this seven-day Special September Antlerless Deer Gun season?
Answer: Yes.

Question: Will youth season license holders be allowed to hunt during this September Antlerless Deer Gun Season?
Answer: No, not this year. We are unsure of the amount of hunting pressure that will occur during this experimental season and we do not want too much competition for youth hunters when they are learning the basics of deer hunting. If a September antlerless season is held in the future it is possible youth season hunters will be allowed to hunt. However, a youth season license holder could purchase a concurrent season antlerless license in units 2C and 2D to hunt during the September Antlerless Deer Gun Season.

Question: Will all additional “concurrent season” licenses be valid?
Answer: Yes, concurrent season licenses are valid for all open seasons as long as the deer is harvested in the unit specified on the license, any special regulations for that season are followed, and the hunter uses a firearm or bow that is permissible for that season. Multiple concurrent licenses can be purchased and used during this season.

Comment: Much of the land along the Red River and other areas in these units has been bought up and posted for recreational hunting. Some of these landowners feed and bait so the deer are highly concentrated on specific properties. Those landowners may not be willing to let other hunters on to shoot does and scare away the bucks.
Answer: Yes, we have noticed a dramatic increases in gratis licenses since 1998 in 2C (371 to 791) and 2D (77 to 189). Yes, we know that much of the unit is posted and that deer baiting and feeding is occurring in some areas. This issue may be in part why we are having trouble keeping control of the deer population. By having the antlerless season open in September it will allow an antlerless deer to be harvested, and deer to settle down again before the November Regular Deer Gun Season. All landowners in these hunting units need to work with us to make this or any other management tool work. Everyone needs to realize that their personal actions taken on their own private property may have unintended negative consequences for their neighbors.

Question: This will affect my bow hunting in units 2C and 2D by increasing the number and length of time gun hunters are allowed in the field. Will the department be extending the bow season two weeks longer into January?
Answer: No. The North Dakota archery season is currently one of the longest in the nation. There will be ample opportunities for archery hunters to harvest a deer between Aug. 29, 2008 and Jan. 4, 2009. Archery hunters in 2C and 2D need to understand that if deer numbers are not maintained within tolerance levels of landowners, all hunters will suffer. We believe that a Special September Antlerless Deer Gun Season for gun hunters is the most efficient and expedient means of controlling and reducing deer numbers. We are hopeful that once deer numbers are within our management goals and objectives that we will be maintaining deer numbers using traditional season structures.

Sang backup for Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne. Engaged to Eagles singer-songwriter Don Henley. Devastated by a brother’s death in Vietnam.

All are part of the colorful past described by Carrollton Mayor Becky Miller, acquaintances say.

But spokesmen for the famous singers said the three don’t know her. And the mayor’s father said she never had a brother who died in the war.

Mrs. Miller’s challenger in Saturday’s mayoral election, Ron Branson, first expressed doubts that her brother had died in Vietnam, and checks by The Dallas Morning News also raised questions about her singing career and whether she attended Western Kentucky University.

The mayor, who is seeking a second term, said that the singers are wrong and that she went by another name when she associated with them during the 1970s. She initially declined to give that name but said Monday that most people at the time called her Pinky.

And he said the brother that his daughter mentioned couldn't have been a stepbrother or half brother unless his wife of nearly 60 years "has one hidden away I didn't know about."">Her father, Edward Sampson, said his son is alive in Maryland. “He was never in the service,” Mr. Sampson said.

And he said the brother that his daughter mentioned couldn’t have been a stepbrother or half brother unless his wife of nearly 60 years “has one hidden away I didn’t know about.”

About a month ago, I wrote about the apparently sleazy doings of

Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, a former Democratic state senator has been keeping a sexual harassment investigation of one of his friends and top managers, Anthony Gutierrez, an internal investigation, despite the potential conflict of interests.  (He finally stepped aside Wednesday.)

One woman complained that Gutierrez pressured her to have drinks after work. Gutierrez receives a call from his boss the Attorney General, inviting them to his apartment for pizza. Dann is there with yet another female employee, Dann’s scheduler Jessica Utovich , allegedly wearing pajamas…

“The woman said she felt intoxicated, rested on Gutierrez’s bed and later awoke to find three buttons on her pants undone and Gutierrez next to her in his underwear.”

(…)

And the “scheduler”?

In January 2007, after about two weeks in office, Dann hired Utovich as his scheduler at an annual salary of $35,000. Seven months later, her pay was raised to $45,000 and her duties expanded.

(Pajama modeling???)

In the last few days, Marc Dann has admitted having an affair with Jessica Utovich. Gutierrez and Dann's top staffers have all resigned or been fired, and the governor, Ted Strickland (D) is calling for Dann’s resignation. Dann, like a good Democrat caught with his hand in the ethical cookie jar…doesn’t want to leave! Strickland has threatened Dann with impeachment. Dann still doesn’t want to go.

A colleague in Columbus said that while campaigning for Ohio’s top cop, Marc Dann said he wanted to pattern himself after New York’s Elliot Spitzer. Heh. He succeeded beyond all expectations!

The Dayton Daily News has done yeoman’s work in documenting the details of this sordid affair. They have timelines here and here.

Cross Posted at Proof Positive (more...)

Obama speaking to his crowd:



Here’s the pull-back shot:



Can you say “fake”?  As in “what a fake”?

Update:

Original link plus credit for the photo: Mary Katharine Ham See her blog for more back story on the photos.

Shellshocked House Republicans got warnings from leaders past and present Tuesday: Your party’s message isn’t good enough to prevent disaster in November, and neither is the NRCC’s money.

The double shot of bad news had one veteran Republican House member worrying aloud that the party’s electoral woes — brought into sharp focus by Woody Jenkins’ loss to Don Cazayoux in Louisiana on Saturday — have the House Republican Conference splitting apart in “everybody for himself” mode.

“There is an attitude that, ‘I better watch out for myself, because nobody else is going to do it,’” the member said. “There are all these different factions out there, everyone is sniping at each other, and we have no real plan. We have a lot of people fighting to be the captain of the lifeboat instead of everybody pulling together.”

And in a closed-door session at the Capitol, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told members that the NRCC doesn’t have enough cash to “save them” in November if they don’t raise enough money or run strong campaigns themselves.

“The Republican brand has been so badly damaged that if Republicans try to run an anti-Obama, anti-Rev. Wright or, if Sen. Clinton wins, anti-Clinton campaign, they are simply going to fail,” Gingrich said. “This model has already been tested with disastrous results.”

LOL ... now why doesn’t this surprise me?

Rosie O’Donnell defended Rev. Jeremiah Wright on the “Today” show on Monday, saying Barack Obama’s former pastor “made sense to me.”

The comedian also compared herself to Wright, saying “some people confuse passion for rage.”

Heh…

HODA KOTB, co-host: You know Rosie there has been a void on morning TV since we don’t hear your opinions. Every times there’s like, I was going through a story today “I wonder what Rosie thinks about that.” What about — can I ask you about just the little Jeremiah Wright thing?

[...]

Yo.. Ro ho, I didn’t think it was possible, but you’re past nuts. You’ve out done yourself



H/T SondraK

By James Lewis

This is just too good.

White Guilt is the locomotive propelling the Obama campaign. Without it the Junior Senator from Illinois would be just a skinnier Bill Clinton. American kids are being guilt-tripped in all the public schools today, from grade school to graduate school.  By the time they get to voting age, they feel so bad about the slave trade and Jim Crow that they are ready to pay up for forgiveness. That’s Senator Obama’s Youth Vote.

I’m a big fan of black radio personalities Ken Hamblin and Larry Elder. Ken Hamblin called himself “the Black Avenger,” not because he hates anybody, but because he was so enraged by the con artists who have taken over so much of the “racial Left,” leaving devastation in their wake. Because the race industry is fueled by White Guilt, Hamblin decided to hand out absolution certificates—he’s a black guy, after all, and therefore naturally authorized to forgive white folks, just as much as the Three Revs (Jesse, Al, and Jeremiah). Hamblin still has his official Certificate of Absolution for White Guilt on the web.  You can print it out, signed by Mr. Hamblin, and post it on your wall. Look at it whenever you feel that dreaded clutch of guilt. It’s free.

But Ken Hamblin is missing a big opportunity here. What a race entrepreneur needs is a way to monetize White Guilt, to turn that craving for absolution into cold hard cash. As Chaucer’s Pardoner understood so well, once you can offer forgiveness for sin, you get a market, just like hog bellies or soda pop. It’s supply and demand. Guilt-tripping preachers and politicians make you feel terrible about black suffering and oppression, and you have to pay what the market will bear to shrug off that burden.

The Democrats have monetized White Guilt in a fashion by turning forgiveness into a government franchise.

But there is a free market solution. The key is to understand that any black person can dispense personal forgiveness. You don’t have to go to Obama or the Black Caucus. What we need is competition between suppliers. You can choose between up-market dispensers of forgiveness, like Senator Obama and Oprah Winfrey, or down-market ones like Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson. And for all you cheapskates out there, just print out Ken Hamblin’s Certificate of Absolution. There. Feel better now?

[...]

PS. I just found out about Dr. Walter Williams’ “Proclamation of Amnesty and Pardon Granted to All Persons of European Descent.” Maybe we should all go around granting pardon and amnesty to everybody we meet for everything their ancestors either did or suffered from all of our ancestors. The Hindi salute “Namaste” is said to mean “I salute the soul in you.” Our new American greeting could be: “I pardon you!” It’s just as good a way to start a conversation as any other.

This is a great illustration that there is a free market solution to just about everything.
It’s time for the race hustlers and guilt-trippers to move on.

Now for some fun.
This Old Retired Petty Officer has done more for this country in a single day than either clinton or obama have done collectively in their entire lives. For one reason,I took the oath of enlistment seriously. That being said,when on active service, a service member does not serve the man but the Office. This was imparted to me by an old crusty Chief Petty Officer. As I have been retired from active service for almost 15 years, I can take liberties as it were. For one, I do not pop tall for just any member of the Congress. I don’t work for them anymore. The Congress ceased being in my chain of command on 30 September 1993. I have done a pretty good job of taking care of myself and my family since then.  So value wise, I am better.

In a speech today at Wake Forrest University, Republican presidential nominee John McCain came out swinging against Senator Barack Obama.  McCain, who heaped praise on Chief Justice John Roberts for his conservative, strict-constructionist leadership of the high court, blasted Obama for being one of 22 senators who voted against appointing Roberts to the Supreme Court.

… A justice of the court, as Senator Obama explained it - and I quote - “should share one’s deepest values, one’s core concerns, one’s broader perspectives on how the world works and the depth and breadth of one’s empathy.” These vague words attempt to justify judicial activism - come to think of it, they sound like an activist judge wrote them! 

Continuing his attack on Obama and making an impassioned plea for judicial restraint, McCain went on to say,

Somehow, by Senator Obama’s standard, even Judge Roberts didn’t measure up. And neither did Justice Samuel Alito.

We may be witnessing the opening volley on McCain’s part in what could become a major issue in the fall campaign - the future of the court. At least it should be for any thoughtful conservative.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/4672