Sunday, April 02, 2006

This sounds about right

Jack Kelly sounds about right here:

Barriers work, especially when they are covered by fire, or in this case, by observation. The Israeli wall has sharply reduced terror attacks within Israel.

The nutty provision in the House bill is the one that would make just being an illegal immigrant a felony.

A sign carried by many demonstrators read: "somos illegales, no somos criminales" (we're illegals, not criminals). To many Americans, this is a distinction without a difference.

It isn't. The mere fact of being here means illegals have broken the law. But the vast majority are no more criminals than you are, just because you got a speeding ticket.

The overwhelming majority of illegals are decent, hardworking people. Though the importance of immigrant labor to our economy is exaggerated by advocates of guest worker programs, most contribute more than they take.

George Will noted it would take a line of buses stretching from San Diego to Alaska to deport 11 million people. To devote the resources required to round up all those who pick fruit and clean houses would be like telling the police to forget about murderers and rapists to crack down on overdue parking tickets. That would be insane.

And immoral, said the Web logger the Anchoress:

"We have to think long and hard about what it means to gather people at gunpoint and put them on trains to send them to a place they do not want to go," she said. "That cannot be America, if she is to survive."

The logical thing would be to combine the enforcement provisions of the House bill with the path to legalization provided by the Senate bill.

But logic is hard to come by in Washington these days, especially in an election year.


Logic is hard to come by and so is loyalty. I noticed on some of the blogs lately there has been talk of Republicans being under represented in polls and how that effects Bush's numbers. The truth is the demographics used by polsters do not do as much damage to Bush's poll numbers as people like William Buckley, Pat Buchanan and David Frum do. Over at Polipundit the question was asked if Bush works for Vincente Fox. Folks.... with friends like that Republicans do not need to go after enemies like Feingold. It should be remembered that George Bush is the Commander in Chief in a time of war and to be stabbed in the back by leaders of his own party for the sake of election year politics is a disservice not only to him, but to all of us. The stakes are too high for this nonsense.

It might be satisfying in a high school sort of way to see Bush punch Fox in the nose, but in the real world of policy making rather than flapping your gums and pounding on your keyboard there is such a thing as reality. The Mexicans are right next door, like it or not and if studying European history teaches us anything it should be that getting along with your neighbors is in your own best interests as much as theirs. Or we could follow Tancredo's advice and not only nuke Mecca, but start acting like a police state ourselves. Remember the scenes in black and white of German soldiers loading women and children into boxcars? Welcome to Tancredo's America. And that will be the end of the Republican majority.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Syl:

Long time no see.

Syl said...

I've been around, just haven't felt like writing. I think my thyroid levels are low--effects my memory and ability to put words together.

Seems to go in cycles. But I'm here!

Rick Ballard said...

You have to remember that silly time will last into June. Mid June to mid September is when the real issues will be defined - if any can be found this year. The real heat starts in mid September.

We're going to have 'tales told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing' for another few months yet, so retaining a sense of humor is necessary in order to retain sanity.

This is really the nonpartisan season when both parties put forward their biggest noisemaking jackasses in an effort to remind the polis that they continue to exist.

I favor a "Political Jackass of the Week" contest with awards to both Reps and Dems. Tancredo would have to be barred in order to allow new talent to emerge - McCain too, probably.

Unknown said...

Rick:

I hope you are right, but I am extrememly annoyed by conservatives pundits who spend half their time trashing Bush for not walking on water and the offer complaining his poll numbers are not higher. It is no wonder most people think the country is going in the wrong direction when all these people do is bitch bitch bitch.

Barry Dauphin said...

My pet peeve this week was both Rich Lowry and David Brooks getting upset with the Administration for not having any "ideas". It sounded as if they were lacking ideas for columns.

Rick Ballard said...

Barry,

There's the rub. A blank mind facing a blank page with a deadline approaching is a truly terrible thing to behold. Marry that to criticism being infinitely easier to accomplish than original thought - or even wrapping a few words around a modicum of research and Frankenstein is given life on a weekly basis.

I'm still trying to figure out how in the hell "12 million" was derived. I suspect that somewhere in the background there is a hockeystick manufacturer but I haven't the statistical skills to provide the evidence.

cf said...

Tax exmept bucks in the hands of the FOundation Mandarinate A friends who is studying this issue reports:

"Ford actually created La Raza and Maldef, and several other groups as well. These were top-down ideological lobbies, lavishly funded, which went out and built organizations from the top down."

Unknown said...

cf:

Sometimes those kinds of organizations work against the best interests of the people they are supposed to be supporting. In fact getting people worked up is part of the plan.

I wonder how many of those people demonstrating were illegals and like Rick I also wonder about the number of overall illegals.

Unknown said...

David:

212 people died in the Arizona desert last year. That makes me wonder how easy it is to come here legally. That border has been open forever. A part of me feels that building a wall will send a wrong message but I do understand that we need to get a handle on this and so it might have to happen. But I still wonder why nothing was done years ago before environmentalists and the ACLU came along to make everything so damn complicated. That is why I do not

Unknown said...

That is why I do not entirely blame the illegals, we should have dealt with this years ago.

{I did not mean to post so soon but I am babysitting today and I had help with my post, if you know what I mean.}