When a soldier falls, it is obviously a searing event for the spouse, the children, the parents, the community. The death of a combat soldier is a tragedy. But it is a unique tragedy—one deeply infused with meaning, and honor. And yes, glory.

Today the mainstream media and the liberal cultural elites in America will make much of the losses our servicemen have suffered in the conflict in Iraq. They will do so with an agenda and with a near complete inability to grasp the code of honor and sacrifice by which men at arms live. And die.

They don’t get it.

Which makes it all the more vital that the families which produced these fallen heroes and suffered their loss, know that we do.

Each family has in their possession a folded American flag—one that graced the casket that carried their loved one home. So, on this day I’ll raise my flag high above my house. There it will fly as a silent token of my profound respect and thanks.

God bless and comfort you.

 

 As mentioned in the previous post, cheerleaders for this immigration “reform” bill tell us we need to bring millions and millions of people who illegally slipped into this country “out of the shadows” so they can be better assimilated into American culture, just as the waves of immigrants that came through Ellis Island were in the previous century.

This assertion rests upon two unspoken presuppositions, (and therefore stands or falls based upon the their validity). These underlying assumptions are:

1. A large majority of these illegals want to become flag-waving, tax-paying, English-speaking Americans.
2. And that a significant number are likely to become such.

 Anyone who asserts the truth of assumption #1 is either dishonest or massively immune to overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The May Day pro-illegal-immigration marches of the last two years have been filled with second and third-generation illegals waving Mexican flags.

Read Victor David Hanson’s excellent though appalling Mexifornia: A State of Becoming, or Pat Buchanan’s State of Emergency and you’ll get a feel for just how delusional this assertion is.

 So how about assumption #2? How likely is it that the past and future waves of illegals streaming across our borders will even take the most basic and vital step in the assimilation process, that is, learning English?

As the facilitators say, “Let’s explore that for a moment.”

I have basic digital cable here at my house. Time-Warner cable currently offers no fewer than 14 Spanish language channels, and for a few bucks more, I could add the Latino tier and get 14 more. Of course almost every channel on the dial offers Spanish laguange captioning. Close to a fourth of the channels on my radio dial here in Dallas are now Spanish language with more converting all the time. 

A lot of public signage now carries both English and Spanish, as does most product packaging. Nearly every commercial voicemail tree I encounter begins by asking me if I prefer English or Spanish. Voting ballots are now offered in Spanish as well.

You get the point. The need or incentive for any Spanish-speaking immigrant (even legal ones) to learn English is rapidly approaching zero. And immigrants that don’t learn English will not assimilate. Period.

I was chatting with a few of my neighbors yesterday at a backyard reception. They had young children in the local public elementary school, all of whom were enrolled in the school’s new “Spanish Immersion Program.” These little kids with Irish and Scottish surnames are now receiving all their core classes in Spanish only. I listened in stunned silence as a question formed in my mind: 

Who is really being assimilated here?

One of the arguments constistently put forth by the advocates of large scale, unselective immigration (illegal and otherwise) is that immigrants from Mexico and Central America will eventually assimilate into American culture—just as previous generations of Germans, Irish, Czechs, Chinese, Vietnamese and others have done so willingly and completely.

Poke a pro-immigration “reform” politician with a sharp stick these days and instead of saying “ouch,” they blurt out a story about their tired, poor immigrant grandparents who were part of a huddled mass yearning to breathe free. Invariably, Lady Liberty, Ellis Island, the American Dream and, occasionally, Yentl are invoked. The next sound you hear is an assertion that all today’s smuggled-in, undocumented, law-flouting, Western-Union-money-sending-back-home-to-Mexico, no-income-tax-paying, social-services-straining, huddled masses want is the same thing.

But is that accurate? I’ll address that question in Part 2 of this post, but for now I commend to you (and especially to any recent immigrants reading this) Roger Clegg’s ten practical keys to smooth assimilation“:

1. Don’t disparage anyone else’s race or ethnicity;
2. respect women;
3. learn to speak English;
4. be polite;
5. don’t break the law;
6. don’t have children out of wedlock;
7. don’t demand anything because of your race, ethnicity, or sex;
8. don’t view working and studying hard as “acting white”;
9. don’t hold historical grudges;
10. and be proud of being an American.

Sure, we all know people whose ancestors probably came over with the Vikings who ignore about half of these rules. But it doesn’t change the fact that any new arrival that follows them will have put him or herself on a fast track to following the example of all those immigrants of yesteryear that are now being invoked with such vigor.

A stream of illegal immigrants from “countries of interest” (nations marked as seedbeds of terrorism) are crossing our Southern border. How do they get here?

This interactive presentation graphic has the answers regarding this underground railroad for terrorists. (From an excellent investigative series by Todd Bensman of the San Antonio Express News.

This goes to the heart of what is so maddening about this current immigration bill. It treats legalizing the 12 million+ illegals already in the country as if it is the truly urgent problem, while offering questionable and token and watered-down and begrudging efforts at securing our borders.

Let’s secure the borders then see how things go for, oh, five or six years. Then let’s have a discussion about bringing illegal immigrants “out of the shadows.”

I’m not sure why I love this kind of thing but. . . I love this kind of thing. It is tons of NASA schematic diagrams from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo Programs. (You know, the fake ones that didn’t really happen.)

The space inside this Mercury capsule looks roughly equivalent to what I’d have if I crawled under my desk. (again)

Okay, I’m going to lay off Senator McCain for a bit. But his Mr. Furious impression in that Senate committee meeting the other day got me thinking.

It served as an interesting contrast to the minor surge of blogospheric joviality that ensued when Mitt Romney was heard using the term “golly” as a substitute for something more, shall we say, course.  NRO’s “The Corner” spent a good part of two days having fun with Romney’s golly-izing. See here, here, here, here , here and here.

I swore off of swearing in sixth or seventh grade. Back when me and my friends were all on the heady cusp of puberty, we had all started swearing like sailorscommenters at the Huffington Post to show how grown up we were becoming.

Then I took a hard look at the adults in my life.

I looked at the lives of the men I knew who used foul language indiscriminately and automatically and compared them to the lives of the men in my world who I had never heard utter an off-color word. I liked what I saw in the lives of the latter group much better. Furthermore, I had an embryonic faith in God and with it, a growing sense that I cared what God thought about my life and my actions.

Thus, at the tender age of 12, I washed out my own mouth with figurative soap and embarked on a lifetime of faux swearing. (Yes, let the mockery and derision from the f-bomb dropping hordes that inhabit the shadows of the comment threads at the Democratic Underground commence. I wear your scorn like a freaking badge of honor.)

Nevertheless, there is something about the human brain’s wiring for language that seems to demand a way to express strong emotion. It is simply not possible to not say anything when you drop a shot put on your pinky toe. So, with all that in view, I now offer you my list of favorite substitute cuss phrases. Some are my creation, others I have adopted from others (I’ll try to give credit where credit is due.):

DAH!’s Little Golden Book of Swear Substitutes Continue reading →

“Myspace to Share Data on Sex Offenders”  Apparently this move is designed to provide a counter-balance to their existing service—Allowing Sex Offenders to Share Data on Teens.

A Dean Barnett post is always worth your time. But photoshopped art on this one makes it doubly tasty.

A Dean Barnett post is always worth your time. But photoshopped art on this one makes it doubly tasty.