“Anything you can do I can do better…!” An appropriate accompaniment, and, ironically enough, from “Annie Get Your Gun”!
Further proving my conviction that there is no ethical difference between the two political parties at all (they are both habitually dishonest, corrupt, incompetent, hypocritical and Machiavellian), the Republicans opposing immigration reform are in the process of proving they can play the Newtown game too, only more shamelessly. This is why neither party can ever maintain the moral high ground in any issue, ever. While one party is using unethical arguments and tactics, it is just a matter of time before the other party, despite all its protests when it is the target of them, will employ exactly the same measures—and argue that it’s not, of course.
Blechhh.
The Newtown game, if you didn’t get the reference, is when apolitical party cynically seizes on a human tragedy and draws a specious and tendentious connection between it and a desired policy initiative. Gun control was never about stopping elementary school massacres, since what occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary was unprecedented, but suddenly the old, old debates about semi-automatic weapons and background checks were cynically recast as test of whether lawmakers cared about kids or not. Which is more important, an archaic Bill of Rights provision about militias, or saving toddlers from being mowed down in cold blood? Why, if only one child is saved, isn’t it worth limiting our right to arm ourselves? Have you no heart? Gun supporters, Republicans, conservatives and fair minded citizens capable of thought were properly offended at these tactics, while, naturally, the integrity-free mainstream media adopted the same “save the children” mantra.
None of this stopped the Republicans who continue to oppose unavoidable measures necessary to clean up the mess left by decades of bi-partisan negligence regarding illegal immigration from using the latest high-profile tragedy—the Boston Marathon bombing—as a tool to derail the push for immigration reform. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), referencing the domestic terrorist attack by two Russian-born brothers, asked, “How do we ensure that people who wish to do us harm are not eligible for benefits under the immigration laws, including this new bill before us?” Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, also using the bombing as his provocation, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stating that the Senate “should not proceed [with immigration reform] until we understand the specific failures in our immigration system.” Then he asked Reid, more pointedly, “Why did the current system allow two individuals to immigrate to the United States from the Chechen Republic in Russia, an area known as a hotbed of Islamic extremism, who then committed acts of terrorism?”
Oh, I don’t know, Rand…maybe becauset the two individuals were 14 and 9 at the time…children? The evidence seems to show that it wasn’t living in the Chechen Republic that radicalized the Tsarnaev brothers, but rather living in the United States. Dzhokhar, the younger brother now in custody, is a naturalized citizen. He’s not an illegal immigrant, and never was. His dead older brother had a legal green card. Using the Boston Marathon bombers to argue against immigration reform is—congratulations, Republicans!—even more ridiculous than the Sandy Hook fear-mongering used by Democrats and gun-haters over the past months. At least the victims in Newtown were killed by guns. That’s something. Illegal immigration had exactly nothing to do with the Boston tragedy.
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Sources: The Daily Beast, Washington Post1, Washington Post2
Graphic: Theatre Dogs
Ethics Alarms 
I am reminded of a quotation bu Southern comedian of the 60’s, Brother Dave Gardner, who said, “I’m neither a Republican nor a Democrat, lest I forget the country.”
More fracking on this subject, the better. Nothing good will come of immigration reform, so delay delay delay delay with infernal bickering is just fine.
That’s a nice, ethical, statement.
When I heard the initial snippets on the radio of a commentator linking the Boston bombing suspects to immigration reform I had a slight cringe of irritation because I knew the illogical road it was going down.
1) Immigration reform now has one more item clouding it than it had before.
2) The already nebulous argument over the Boston bombers now has one more item clouding it as well.
This crossing and blurring of national / judicial issues that ought to be considered separate ultimately forces people to adhere to one ideology lockstep or the other ideology lockstep.
The solution is obvious, ban children from imigrating to this country.
True that the Republicans are head-rollingly stupid to even think of attempting this line of attack. At least I’m confident that they are inept enough- and they lack the behemoth of the media backing them – to get precisely zero traction on this. At least this isn’t going to have any effect on any policy anywhere – it’s just the R party proving they’re no better than the D. For the most part.
“At least I’m confident that they are inept enough- and they lack the behemoth of the media backing them – to get precisely zero traction on this.”
I disagree, but only insomuch as the traction they get will be thoroughly negative. Depending on the level of desire in regards to this issue, the Leftist media may very well use this to attack the Republican party as idiotic and trivial. Hell, the connection being made by the R’s may very well get more coverage than Ben Ghazi.
Oh, I’m certain of it. Howard Kurtz, for example, a supposed media ethicist (and a shameless Democratic apologist when that party crosses the lines) wrote THIS:
“Never mind that what happened in Boston has relatively little to do with the issues being debated on the immigration front. Many politicians and pundits do whatever they can to hitch their wagon to any news bulletin might give them a rhetorical edge. Sometimes this is legitimate—the Newtown massacre clearly convinced President Obama to mount a passionate push for gun control—and sometimes it’s a stretch.”
Yes, it “convinced’ President Obama because he knew he could use it for fear-mongering and guilt…and whose to say that the Republicans aren’t similarly “convinced” that there is a legitimate nexus in the Boston Marathon case, whether there is or not? No, the Democrats manufacturing a links is reasonable, and the Republicans doing the same–admittedly even worse–is “a stretch.”
I really dislike Kurtz. His pose of being objective is phony, and he doesn’t even try very hard any more.
I really like “head-rollingly stupid.”
Since some news has emerged about the Boston bombers purchasing fireworks for components for the bombs, I will not be surprised one bit if there is a move at the federal level to ban fireworks sales to all but the most rigorously government-licensed and -regulated professional pyrotechnics experts. If just one child’s life or limb can be saved…
A correction, Dzhokhar was not born in Russia, he was born in Kyrgrzstan, a country in central Asia.
Also, Reid said they were from Chechnya, but they have never lived there, although Tamerlan did visit there last year.
“In the late nineteenth century, the majority part of what is today Kyrgyzstan was ceded to Russia through two treaties between China (then Qing Dynasty) and Russia. The territory, then known in Russian as “Kirgizia”, was formally incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1876… Displays in the former Lenin Museum (now part of the National Museum) celebrated Kyrgyzstan’s membership in the Soviet Union. Soviet power was initially established in the region in 1919, and the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast was created within the Russian SFSR (the phrase Kara-Kirghiz was used until the mid-1920s by the Russians to distinguish them from the Kazakhs, who were also referred to as Kirghiz). On 5 December 1936, the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic was established as a full republic of the Soviet Union.”
From Wikipedia. I think under the circumstances, “Russian” is close enough. I can’t spell Kyrgrzstan.
Russian is only close enough for those who didn’t know the difference between Russia and the USSR.
O.K. I confess studying geography is one of my favourite pastimes along with history and science. But I was completely useless at English at school and I since then I have only got worse at it.
I will therefore confess that in Trivial Pursuit, Geography was my Achilles heel
Only if the media and the electorate allow the first party to get away with it- let alone reward the first party.
Ah, Immigration. Quite possibly the one “crisis” that will never reign in a 100% agreement with the American public. We seem so eager to involve ourselves in other countries “wars” that we completely ignore the extreme “crisis” of the “invasion” of this country. While we are so eager to “teach” foreign students even to the point of financial aid (rarely paid back) there is really no checks and balances in place. We have over 15,000 foreign “students” that have failed to report to the designated college(s). After several restrictive laws and billions of dollars for more “policing” I doubt that will prevent more “radicals” from crawling out of the woodwork. There will be no immigration package that will meet with my approval until they close the borders and install the necessary and proper check-in process. We lack accountability and once it was a standard.
I’m sure they’ll be jumping to look for your approval. Between now and the time Congress ceases to be incompetent, I’m sure there will be a magic wand we can wave to completely close the borders and isolate ourselves from the world. I’m also sure we’ll be able to install tracking chips in every single person who applies for a green card so we can absolutely be sure they go to their designated places.
The entire concept of making immigration illegal is mind-boggling to me. It’s impossible to enforce, and uses billions of dollars worth of government resources trying to build fences, organize patrols, and check ships. And for all those resources we don’t get anything more than increased crime and massive human suffering.
People can trumpet about amnesty, and disingenuously suggest that people apply for legal immigration, but the truth is that we give out far too few visas and accept too few new citizens, and our process takes decades and a great deal of money to complete ‘legally’. Because our system is still rooted in the nativism of the late 19th century, many applicants will die before they ever see a visa, either because of arcane rules designed to force them to jump through hoops, or because their local authorities impose more burdens and try to exact bribes. Many might not even realize that what they are doing is illegal.
Sure, we can build more fences and hire more ICE agents, and huff and puff and try to blow Mexico down, but in the end all we will have to show for it is a permanent, desperate underclass who will turn to crime just to support their families.
Ah, but the reason we have so many few legal immigrant spots is because we leave room open for the illegal immigrants. Every few years, we seem to have massive amnesty programs. Bill Clinton granted citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants, reducing the number of legal immigrants possible. We count the vast numbers of illegal immigrants into our immigration policy, so it only allows a scant few spaces left for those who follow the rules.
In my line of work, I have seen many people try to become American citizens legally. They spend years filling out paperwork, going to INS, and enduring humiliating questions about their personal lives. Most of these people earned doctorates at US universities in needed specialties, but were forced to take their US taxpayer-financed skills back to their countries of origins and use them for things like developing nuclear weapons to use against US (this happened to an Iranian physicist I knew). I have never seen permanent US residency or US citizenship approved without the intervention of a US Congressman. I have seen 6 cases where the person was finally approved after their Congressman got involved. The five who were unable to pull such strings were sent packing (two of them were married to American citizens). If you try to follow the rules, you will be punished. If you cheat, you will be rewarded. That is the current system and it looks like most people are upset that it doesn’t reward the cheaters enough.