Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Still more on immigration...

There's a lot to say about immigration still.

First, let's discuss the Powerline poll. This is a poll that can only be described as having been stacked in favor of the results wanted via the choices offered. You could only pick one option out of the eight offered. What's more, there was no entry in the poll that came remotely close to the President's comprehensive proposal. This has been typical of what has passed for conservative criticism of the President's plan: Phony claims of "amnesty" and "no serious enforcement", repeated often and loudly. This is doubly disappointing given this blog's superb work to expose the blatantly dishonest reporting of Dan Rather. I expected better. I sent them an e-mail about the poll, and pointing them to my blog. I await their response.

Second, we go to Captain's Quarters, and a disturbing propsoal from Congressman Jack Kingston of Georgia. Short version: He wants to repeal the portion of the 14th Amendment that states that all those who are born to persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States are consdiered citizens. In other words, he wants to take up to citizenship that is largely along the lines of France and Germany. The concept of "blood citizenship" can only be described as latently bigoted, if not worse. It simply tells people that because of who their parents are, they do not have what it takes to be an American. This not only flies in the face of the constitutional prohibition on "corruption of blood" (for treason, I might add), it also is in conflict with the principles espoused in the Declaration of Independence ("all men are created equal").

In addition to the objections on principle, there is a practical effect. France and Germany have had huge problems with unassimilated minorities. Why? Because for generations, they have not been given a stake in that country, and they have been effectively told that there is no hope whatsoever for their children to become members of that country. Thus, they congregate among themselves, and have no reason to assimilate - because the country they are in has summarily precluded the chance that they or their children can become French or German.

The third piece of news is much better. It is a column at TCSDaily covering the recent protests in DC against the abominable House bill. The author noted a lot of citizens there - and you can bet that if they are motivated to protest such a stupid bill, they will also be motivated to vote on this issue. Perhaps some of the House Republicans, Hugh Hewitt, and others need to take a good look at this. There are a lot of people who object to the House bill. And for good reason. More horror stories emerge of people caught in the immigration morass. One was a caller to Rush Limbaugh's program who was given bad information. CNN covered an Irish couple who is also technically "illegal" because of an all-too-typical bureaucratic screw-up (no link available, sorry). Add this to what Dafydd at Big Lizards reported at 1:28 PM on March 28 (scroll down for the comment), and the Colombian family I am aware of, and the pattern is emerging of a law that has gone so far wrong it is receiving the same level of civil disobedience that ultimately ended racial segregation in the South.

At this point, what more is there to be said?

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