A Brief Moment of Sanity

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/immigration/entries/2007/06/04/democratic_hopefuls_reject_off.html

And, ladies and gentlemen, the winner of this round goes to Barack Obama, who says that the question of whether English should be the official language of the USA is intended to divide.

Everybody is going to learn to speak English if they live in this country. The issue is not whether or not future generations of immigrants are going to learn English. The question is: How can we come up with both a legal, sensible immigration policy,” he said. “And when we get distracted by those kinds of questions, I think we do a disservice to the American people.

Everyone is going to learn to speak English if they live in this country? Excuse me, I'll be back in 30 minutes to finish writing this, after I stop laughing. I don't remember the question being about immigration. Your answer is relevant how?

And what's so wrong with having people learn English to read official government documents? Do we not want them to be assimilated in society? I know, let's let them completely cut themselves off from the mainstream. Because that worked so well with the Muslim population in France. We should try to bring people in to our culture, not tell them "It's okay, speak a different language than the majority of the population. Don't make an effort to fit in."

I don't know if anyone watched the hearing that Alberto Gonzales attended in Congress recently. The purpose was to investigate the firings of various U.S. Attorneys. So when John Kyl (R - Arizona), got up to question Gonzales, he naturally aked about the firings, right?

Wrong. He spent nearly all of his time questioning Gonzales about online gambling. If you need a refresher course, John Kyl was the one who tacked on the gambling legislation to the Port Security Bill at the last second. The bill was then signed by President Bush, and it became law.

In Gonzales' defense, he didn't necessarily agree with Kyl, but for the Arizona Senator to hijack a hearing to further his personal agenda, one which is extremely questionable when you look at his funding sources, is despicable. Arizona, get rid of him now. He's making you look bad.

Links:
http://www.online-casinos.com/news/news4416.asp

Pastor Martin Niemöller wrote these words in response to what the Nazis were doing in Germany. These words are just as important today as they were then, even if it is in a different context. They aren't actually "coming" for people in the sense that the Nazis came in the night and took people to concentration camps. Now their "coming" for people in the sense that they're challenging personal freedoms and liberties, under the guise that the government must protect people from themselves.

What people have to realize in cases such as smoking bans and trans-fat bans is that the real issue isn't smoking or eating foods that could be considered bad for you. The real issue is that the government wants to take away an individual's choice to partake in activities that are perfectly legal. It's not about whether or not you smoke, or even think that smoking should be allowed. What it is about is the government being able to dicate what a private business owner can do in a private establishment. Read the poem above again. If you don't speak out now, who will speak out for you when they take away something you enjoy?

With apologies to Pastor Niemöller: