The Phoenix New Times reports that Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard is alleging that Carmen Mercer, president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC), participated in a scam that involved offering homeowners phony property tax reduction services. The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps is the largest and best-financed border vigilante group in the US.

Mercer is accused of participating in a scheme in which official-looking letters were sent to homeowners offering to reduce their property taxes in exchange for a $189 processing fee. The lawsuit alleges that the solicitations were “completely fraudulent and deceptive” and that the defendants duped consumers into believing they were paying a legitimate business for services that could not be performed. Mercer was identified as the owner of the Post Office box listed on the scam letters. She claims that she was asked to open the Post Office box by a friend and that she did not know its intended purpose.

It’s pretty ironic that someone who is so worried about “illegal” immigrants harming US citizens is currently being accused of scamming unsuspecting American homeowners and breaking the law herself. However, Mercer’s legal woes are miniscule compared to those faced by other Minuteman leaders. Most recently, Shawna Forde, leader of the Minuteman American Defense group, was charged with the brutal murder of a 9-year-old girl. In 2007, former leaders of the Minuteman Project sued founder Jim Gilchrist for allegedly using $300,000 of the group’s money to promote his book and run for Congress. Gilchrist then filed a defamation suit against his colleagues.

Former MCDC President Chris Simcox was also mired in legal controversy. Anti-immigration advocates across the country turned against him when he failed to account for $1.6-$1.8 million in private donations he claimed to have raised for an “Israeli-style” barrier” based on “the fences used in Gaza and the West Bank.” The project turned out to be little more than a two mile-long barbed-wire cattle fence. Simcox’s own ex-wife fought to obtain full custody of their son, describing Simcox as being “prone to sudden, violent rages.” In January 2003, Simcox was arrested while while on patrol with Civil Homeland Defense for illegally carrying a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun in a national park. Simcox is planning on running against Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) this fall, claiming “I work for the people, period.”

Mercer’s predecessor Al Garza resigned two weeks ago saying that MCDC “is now on a path that I cannot endorse.”

Our guest bloggers are Winny Chen, Research Associate, and Natasha Vickers, a National Security intern at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

American and international aid has begun to arrive in Taiwan after Typhoon Morakot devastated the island, killing at least 127 people and leaving thousands more stranded. The aid comes more than a week after the storm, raising serious questions and criticism surrounding President Ma Ying-jeou’s slow response.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry reportedly refused several offers of foreign assistance in the days after the storm. The announcement, which rejected all non-monetary aid, elicited heavy fire from the media and the Taiwanese people, as the death toll, now projected to top 500, climbed and thousands remained homeless.

To make matters worse, Ma’s comment to a British reporter a few days after Morakat struck appeared to put the blame on the victims themselves. “They were not fully prepared. If they were, they should have been evacuated much earlier,” Ma stated. “They didn’t realize how serious the disaster was.” Ma has also come under criticism for his decision not to declare a state of emergency or fully mobilizing the military to respond.

President Ma has issued two apologies, taking full responsibility for the slow response, reversing the decision to refuse foreign aid, and promising to investigate the country’s emergency response system. But the damage was already done. Vice Foreign Minister Andrew Hsia resigned his post today, in large part because of his role in the Foreign Ministry’s instruction to foreign representative offices to decline non-monetary aid. The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have called for the resignation of Premier Liu Chao-shiuan and his entire Cabinet.

Ma already suffers from a 35% approval rating, and his bungled response to the nation’s biggest disaster in fifty years is sure to sink the ratings even lower. Moreover, in Taiwan, where it’s all politics all the time, the opposition party predictably didn’t miss a beat. The DPP, whose strong base is located in the hardest hit regions, wasted no time in attacking Ma’s handling of the crisis.

Some have compared Ma’s handling of Morakat to George W. Bush’s “Katrina moment.” But the implications of Morakat go beyond substantial loss of life and domestic political concerns. The loss of the public’s support may jeopardize Ma’s much applauded cross-Strait agenda, which has eased tensions between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China.

Disapproval of Ma in the aftermath of Morakat may translate into declining support of his foreign policy agenda. Ma’s Nationalist Party may lose in some upcoming local elections as a result of Morakat, while the Taiwanese public has already called into question Ma’s leadership. In a strange twist of irony, Ma must now save what he does best –- foreign policy -– by concentrating on what he has so far done worst –- saving and consoling the people of Taiwan.

On a visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories this week, former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee supported Israel’s right to build settlements on Palestinian land. He also stated his opposition to a two-state solution, saying that there is no room for a Palestinian state “in the middle of the Jewish homeland”:

Speaking to a small group of foreign reporters in Jerusalem, Huckabee, seen as a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2012, said the international community should consider establishing a Palestinian state some place else.

“The question is should the Palestinians have a place to call their own? Yes, I have no problem with that. Should it be in the middle of the Jewish homeland? That’s what I think has to be honestly assessed as virtually unrealistic.”

This isn’t the first time Huckabee has come out against a two-state solution and endorsed the idea of Palestinian population transfer. In August 2008, Huckabee said, “The two-state solution is no solution, but will cause only problems,” insisting that “the Palestinians can create their homeland in many other places in the Middle East, outside Israel.” Ironically, the Jerusalem Post reported that Huckabee “did not want to impose his views on the situation or to Americanize it.”

Huckabee’s current visit is being sponsored by the American Friends of Ateret Cohanim, a non-profit organization “that sends millions of shekels worth of donations to Israel every year for clearly political purposes, such as buying Arab properties in East Jerusalem.” Israel’s Haaretz reported that the group “is registered in the United States as an organization that funds educational institutes in Israel,” but that its financing of settlements in East Jerusalem would “seem to violate the organization’s tax-exempt status.”

Yesterday, Huckabee attended a reception at the Shepherd Hotel in East Jerusalem, which “became the focus of American-Israeli tensions last month.” The Obama administration has objected to Israeli plans for construction of a new Jewish settlement at the hotel, which is “located in the heart of a Palestinian neighborhood.”