Replies

Oh, the Sunday shows will be full of Argentina riots and 'Bush's numbers falling through the cellar' (Wolf Blitzer on CNN yesterday, where Parisian riots didn't exist, only Argentina's molotov cocktails and thousands demonstrating their hatred of the US and Bush. No mention of communists and anti globalization sentiment. Well, they'll bash Bush all weekend while the real news is taking place in Europe. What could de Villepin say to blame Bush, but (keep it simple so even the dumb general public gets it)...if the US hadn't gone to war in Iraq, Muslims everywhere, esp. in France, would not have to take to the streets and burn cars.'

On NPR early this am, one of their rerun shows from the night before, a BBC reporterette was interviewing a man who advises presidents and govt. ministers, among others, about how to integrate various immigrant groups into society as smoothly as possible.

(They'd probably been talking about Paris riots and how to solve their immigration morass, but I tuned in late, didn't catch anyone's name.) The reporter kept putting words in the man's mouth: 'but the govt. has to do it, make programs, order this or that done....and he said, 'NO! The govt. can do only so much. The bulk has to be done by ordinary people every day. It's all in how you deal with others -- with grace, kindness, and equanimity.'

I paraphrase, but that was the sense of it and I had to agree with him, and since this was NPR and 5:30 AM, you can imagine how hard it was! Frankly, this is why legal immigration works in the US no matter what you look like or how broken your English is...just learn it, please! -- or the color of your skin. We accept others as Americans if they come here legally and work hard. But if they arrive thinking of themselves as Muslims first and Americans second or not at all, and with a definite Islamic agenda, then they end up dead or in jail.