Minuteman Project
Here's a short opinion piece from today's Rocky Mountain News defending the Minuteman Project's border patrols [November 13, 2005, "Speakout: Project's border patrols effective"]. From the article, "This ongoing effort by ordinary citizens like me and my wife to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border is by no means bogus, as stated, but rather the outgrowth of an effort now years old by Arizona border residents trying to find some relief from the invasion of illegal immigrants. Of course the Minuteman Project's patrols are not about 'catching illegals' and never has been. Minuteman organizers have always stressed, out loud, the protocol of not engaging illegals unless they require humanitarian assistance, but allowing them to pass and reporting by phone or radio to the Border Patrol which can then do the job of intercepting them. The goals have been, since last winter's beginnings, to publicize the border problems, the social and financial costs to the country of the invasion by illegals and to bring media and public pressure to bear on Congress and the administration to do their constitutional duty of protecting the country from this invasion."
Linda Seebach weighs in on Intelligent Design in her column from yesterday's Rocky [November 13, 2005, "Seebach: One step forward, one back in struggle against 'design'"]. She writes, "If someone holds a worldview that is essentially religious, and in a form that puts much emphasis on doctrinal purity (not every religious person does) then even small differences seem to be evidence of catastrophic failure. The early Christian church was convulsed by disputes over such now-esoteric distinctions as the one between 'homoousian' and 'homoiousian,' and the distinction between Shiites and Sunnis convulses Islam still. Equally small differences between biologists over the mechanisms of evolution are likewise taken as evidence of catastrophic failure in a scientific theory, when in fact they're the normal and healthy way that science makes progress."
Washington Post: "Tom Tancredo has a bold idea to stop illegal immigration: Deny automatic citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants. 'There is general agreement about the fact that citizenship in this country should not be bestowed on people who are children of folks who come into this country illegally,' he told the Washington Times. General agreement? Perhaps among Mr. Tancredo's friends in the House but not among the framers of the 14th Amendment. Indeed, any such modern consensus would have a small problem in the text of the Constitution, which is, inconveniently for anti-immigrant demagogues, not subtle on the point. The 14th Amendment begins: 'All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.' Not 'all persons except children of illegal immigrants,' not 'all persons except those Congress exempts in moments of nativism.' All persons."
Thanks to Elevated Voices for the link.
Newsweek: "Of all of his many jobs (ambassador to the United Nations, secretary of Energy, congressman, negotiator with Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro and the North Koreans), Bill Richardson says being governor of New Mexico has allowed him to make the 'most difference' in people's daily lives. Finishing out his first term, Richardson plans to run for re-election next year. But the chattering classes are already eyeing him for the presidential ticket in 2008. In his new memoir, 'Between Worlds' (Putnam), Richardson explains how being the son of an American father and Mexican mother has shaped his life and politics."
Thanks to Oval Office 2008 for the link.
Josh Marshall on the President's speech Friday, "In the president's new angle that his critics are trying to 'rewrite history', those critics might want to point out that his charge would be more timely after he stopped putting so much effort into obstructing any independent inquiry that could allow an accurate first draft of the history to be written. In any case, he must sense now that he's blowing into a fierce wind. The judgement of history hangs over this guy like a sharp, heavy knife. His desperation betrays him. He knows it too."
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
9:15:00 AM
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