I find this stuff to be distressing beyond words -- but words are all I've got. (And, as a writer, I figure that when I get "fire in my belly" I should "use the 'talent' my master gave me," rather than "hide it under a rock.") (And I do think that parable applies, at least tangentially.)
Realistically, I don't know what I accomplish other than get it off my chest. I fear for the world my kid is entering. Or rather, I fear for my kid, entering that kind of world.
Part of me is glad that I'm old enough, and in poor enough health, that I won't be around for when things get completely off-the-charts bad. But part of me wishes I'd be around to help my wife and kid make it through.
And part of me laughs at the rest of me for being so foolish as to assume that things won't happen so bloody fast as to make a mockery of that anticipated timeframe.
And all of me grieves for a nation whose "leaders" have chosen to close the door on everything that so many generations of selfless Americans bled and died to create and preserve.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/30/D8FF5CDG0.html
Mexican Police Arrest Four Illegal Iraqis
Jan 30 1:08 PM US/EasternMEXICO CITY
Mexican federal agents have arrested four Iraqis trying to sneak into the United States without proper documents, the government said Monday.
Wasim Francis Schamoun and Ivan Yalda, both 23, and Refon Chlil Oraha and Thaer Salem Yelda, both 27, were found on a bus in the northern city of Navajoa after police received an anonymous tip, the attorney general's office said in a statement.
The Iraqis were in Mexico illegally, the statement said.
Officials on Monday said they were investigating the background of the four and trying to determine how they got into Mexico. The four have family names that are common among Iraq's minority Christian community.
Many undocumented Iraqi nationals have been captured in Mexico en route to the U.S. border. None has been found to have had any links to terrorism.
FWIW I am not moved by "family names that are common among Iraq's minority Christian community", because nominal "Christians" in that part of the world are involved in "stuff" ranging from the the Baathist party to "Palestinian" terrorism. Not all, not by any means. But some. And "some" is all it takes to obviate any relief-factor at seeing that their names are apparently non-Muslim.
And of course, even this presumes that the "common [...] Christian" names are their real names.
In short, it's one more wake-up call, and we'd be wise to pay attention. Don't let yourself be bullied by any "astroturf" style cheerleaders who would have you believe that there isn't any significant problem. At the end of the day, none of these happytalking shills will be around to answer for anything. They'll be off on the next job, merrily spouting whatever tripe they're tasked with promulgating.