Last week I was home sick for two days with flu like symptoms, so of course my thoughts roamed to the swine flu outbreak in Mexico.

I had enough symptoms that I was considering getting checked, but only some, and since all of my symptoms were generally minor and non specific, I decided to ride it out.

I feel better, thanks.

But the swine flu topic itself has gone in several wacky directions, and that’s where my thoughts are today.

First of all, I am not happy with how our nation’s leaders are responding.  While many countries are canceling flights from Mexico, we are effectively doing nothing.   Yes that concerns me a lot, but what really bothers me is the complete lack of sense about why.

President Obama had this to say about closing the border to Mexico:

7 years after 9/11 gave us a reality check of our vulnerability against attack, the greatest security threat, an essentially wide open border, has yet to be fixed.

The efforts to address it as a serious question continue to get bogged down in foolish details.

The matter is simple, we are all for immigration, we just want to see that immigrations structured in such a way that we can screen out undesirable people.  Conversely, many immigrants feel the need of desire to bypass that structure, perhaps feeling they are the ones we might not desire.  Others not willing to wait the time required to do it legally do so illegally.

Regardless of the details, the simple fact is that our borders offer little security.

So building a fence seemed the minimum effort to take to at least show the appearance of security.

Harry Reid disagrees.  He wants us to reconsider the effort to secure the border, and his reasons for doing so are interesting.  Per Michelle Malkin:

The Geno’s story I posted last night brought some interesting comments, and frankly I just cannot let them go.

I have posted three blogs on the subject, and the same person left a comment on two.  The fact is the comments went from liberal dogma to racism and insult, so I think it only fair to respond in full.  I responded to the first one personally as well as on the blog, but Shelli posted additional comments after the fact.  So, in order of appearance, here is Shelli, with my rebuttal.

Odd however that Shelli is apparently Canadian (Ontario).  So her outrage is totally bogus on a national level.

Shelli’s first comment was on my initial story from Jun 2006. 

Many of these posts are filled with ignorance and bigotry. I can’t help but laugh at the comment about assymilating into “our” culture. First of all, America is diverse with numerous cultures - so which culture, do you propose we all assymilate into?

An end to the saga of Geno’s in Philedelphia that I blogged on back in 2006.

‘Speak English’ Signs OK at Philly Shop

The owner of a famous cheesesteak shop did not discriminate when he posted signs asking customers to speak English, a city panel ruled Wednesday.

In a 2-1 vote, a Commission on Human Relations panel found that two signs at Geno’s Steaks telling customers, “This is America: WHEN ORDERING ‘PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH,’” do not violate the city’s Fair Practices Ordinance.

…

Commissioners Roxanne E. Covington and Burt Siegel voted to dismiss the complaint, finding that the sign does not communicate that business will be “refused, withheld or denied.”

In a dissenting opinion, Commissioner Joseph J. Centeno said he thought the signs did discourage some customers.

Score one for common sense.   Congrats to Joe.  Now, hopefully, some nutbag doesn’t file a civil suit for getting his feelings bruised.

Previously:

• Support Geno’s and a small business owner’s rights
• Geno’s under civil rights probe

Via The Corner:

On the Internet as of sometime this afternoon, Fred Thompson’s closing argument to the people of Iowa.

Whereas Romney is saturating the airwaves with attack ads, Thompson pays the voters the courtesy of speaking calmly, and in detail—the video runs to just over 15 minutes. Why should the good Republicans of Iowa support Thompson? Because, the candidate argues, he can win.

YouTube video below:

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I posted an article a few days ago about Manuel Jesus Cordova, and how his decision to take the moral high road and save the life of a kid cost him his bid to come here illegally.

It mentioned in passing that he was coming here to work to support 2 families, which I gather was two women and the children he fathered by each.  Admirable on its face, but why come here? 

Well, simply put, he can make enough money here to do it.  The question is, how?  And the answer is that he lives small and works hard. 

This brings us into the whole jobs we won’t do argument, that illegals are harder working and more willing to work low paying menial jobs, to the extent that they will come here illegally to do so.

A friend, Connie, sent me this link to a blog by a radio host, who takes exception to that premise:

http://760kfmb.com/rick_blog/?p=15

FAT LAZY AMERICAN -VS- HARD WORKING ILLEGALS

CBS has done a poll on the problem of illegal immigration in the United States.

I was reading up on Ken Schram’s commentaries and I ran across two he did about Manuel Jesus Cordova.  In them, he detailed the story of this guys deportation and how the conservatives were essentially cold hearted bastards.

While his comments are grossly over generalized, he is essentially correct.  It is the anti illegal immigration people, which is not exclusively conservatives who are being a bit short sighted, but besides that, though it galls me, I agree with him.

The story starts in Mexico where Manual began his trek to enter the USA illegally.  After walking for two days he came across a 9 year old boy.  The boy, Christopher Buztheitner, had been in a car accident where his mother was killed.  Stranded, he was wandering looking for help when it found him, in the form of Manuel.

Manuel had a choice.  He was a relatively short walk to freedom, and he could have left the boy, who could have died.

He chose a higher path.  He stayed, gave the boy his sweater and fed him, then built a campfire, and as the boy slept, kept watch over him throughout the night.  They were found there by hunters late the next day.

One area of assured controversy between liberals and conservatives is on Flag Burning.  Your average progressive liberal defends it as free speech while most conservatives find it offensive and many want to ban it.

So when says he is going to burn a flag on the steps of the Capital in Olympia, you would expect many on the left to support his free speech.  But since this is a Mexican flag, the criticism are many.

Permit unlikely for flag burning

Tacoma man wants to burn a Mexican flag on the steps of the state Capitol in Olympia — a move sure to spark controversy and maybe a sanction for polluting.

Yep.  In Olympia, the primary reason they are denying his permit is because of pollution.  I personally wonder if they would care if it was a US flag.

Nick Bradford said he’s upset with the failure of the federal government to secure the borders against illegal crossings and wants the state to do more to crack down on illegal immigrants. He wants to stage a rally at the Capitol in January, when lawmakers return for session.

Via Hot Air:

Smells like … victory.

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has decided to abandon a plan to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, officials familiar with the decision told The Associated Press Tuesday night…

The governor’s office signaled to New York lawmakers Tuesday that Spitzer will say at the meeting that he is shelving the plan and that immigration is a federal issue to be handled by Washington, according to congressional aides who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because no formal announcement had been made.

..

About 70 percent of New Yorkers oppose the license plan, according to a Siena College poll of 625 registered state voters released Tuesday. The poll, conducted Nov. 5-8, had a sampling margin of 3.9 percentage points.

70 percent in a state bluer than the oceans. I can’t wait to see what this chastening does to the Democrats’ plank on amnesty during the campaign. Thanks, Spitz!

And now, Hillary, who waffled three ways from Tuesday on this issue, is making a stand:

She has had a rough week I would say.  She imploded into mediocrity in the debate a few nights ago when she clearly would not take a consistent position on Illegal Immigrants and drivers licenses.  In the first video, presidential long shot John Edwards uses footage from the debate to show her inconsistency.

In the second, SNL, who will lampoon anyone, has a good time with her at a halloween party, with some good digs by special guest Obama.

Enjoy.

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