07-28-2014, 07:31 PM
What are these --- little vampire demon children? I have never seen so many adults scared of little children -- not since that Twilight Zone episode where Billy Mummy killed whoever didn't let him have his way.
Wasn't it Jesus who was supposed to have said. "Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven".
Forgive me if I decline to quake in my flip-flops over eight South American children who are staying with relatives. I think that Hawaii can assimilate them. They will grow up doing the hula and eating Kailua Pork.
Let's not be like the denizens of Murietta -- a town in what used to be known as Alta California-- who turned back a school bus full of children who endured hardship and separation from their families only to look out the window and see the rabid and frothing face of Americans whose roots in this country, if you scratch a little, are probably pretty shallow. I say that as a guy whose roots in this country run very deep and disappear into the mists of the Smoky Mountains.
The border "crisis" is not new. America has a very long border that is difficult to defend. As far back as Reagan we have been addressing the issue in a number of ways -- none of them satisfactory. Now South America is devolving into criminality and awash with gangs and guns.
These children have a right to a hearing on whether they have a legitimate claim for asylum.
The very same people who are crying because we sent Elian Gonzalez back TO HIS FATHER are now screaming that we need to send all of these children back lest they give us cooties. Please be consistent in your choice of who is entitled to a better life.
The danger here is not cooties from children. The danger is something I first noticed during Katrina, when America looked at am American city and said to itelf: "Hummm....they should have left! Why didn't they get on buses?! Look, there's a guy stealing a television! These aren't people! Don't help them!" We looked on an American city and its inhabitants as if they were creatures from another planet or hapless and unfortunate contestants on a reality show. Our official response for 7 days was "Gee -- sure looks bad. Maybe the churches will bring sandwiches".
When you start looking at fellow human beings as something other than human beings, you begin walking down a very slippery slope. You end up shooting rockets at kids on a beach as happened elsewhere just last week. These South American kids were sent on a journey here because it was though that they could find a better life here.
Let's show them life is better here, that we value our fellow human beings, that we still have an ounce of compassion and let's give them a hearing before we toss them back into the slums of South America.
The solution to the greater problem is very simple: appropriate enough money to hire enough Border Patrol Agents to do a reasonable job of protecting the borders. Don't attach strings. You want controlled access across the border? Hire agents or build enough drones to ensure that.
And let's make sure we place on administrative leave any Border Patrol Agent who is mentally unbalanced enough to accuse the government of complicity in the border problem. That's like criticizing the VA for not providing adequate health care without giving the VA the money to hire more doctors and nurses.
And, by the way, let's not pretend the problem is new or that Hawaiian shores are in imminent danger of being overrun by diseased foreign children in outriggers.
Just in case though, I will sit out on the lanai tomorrow evening with a glass of wine and I will keep my eyes open. If any child makes it to the cliff and is able to climb up it, I will, of course, stamp on his hands and send him to his doom so I won't have to be so scared all the time.
Wasn't it Jesus who was supposed to have said. "Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven".
Forgive me if I decline to quake in my flip-flops over eight South American children who are staying with relatives. I think that Hawaii can assimilate them. They will grow up doing the hula and eating Kailua Pork.
Let's not be like the denizens of Murietta -- a town in what used to be known as Alta California-- who turned back a school bus full of children who endured hardship and separation from their families only to look out the window and see the rabid and frothing face of Americans whose roots in this country, if you scratch a little, are probably pretty shallow. I say that as a guy whose roots in this country run very deep and disappear into the mists of the Smoky Mountains.
The border "crisis" is not new. America has a very long border that is difficult to defend. As far back as Reagan we have been addressing the issue in a number of ways -- none of them satisfactory. Now South America is devolving into criminality and awash with gangs and guns.
These children have a right to a hearing on whether they have a legitimate claim for asylum.
The very same people who are crying because we sent Elian Gonzalez back TO HIS FATHER are now screaming that we need to send all of these children back lest they give us cooties. Please be consistent in your choice of who is entitled to a better life.
The danger here is not cooties from children. The danger is something I first noticed during Katrina, when America looked at am American city and said to itelf: "Hummm....they should have left! Why didn't they get on buses?! Look, there's a guy stealing a television! These aren't people! Don't help them!" We looked on an American city and its inhabitants as if they were creatures from another planet or hapless and unfortunate contestants on a reality show. Our official response for 7 days was "Gee -- sure looks bad. Maybe the churches will bring sandwiches".
When you start looking at fellow human beings as something other than human beings, you begin walking down a very slippery slope. You end up shooting rockets at kids on a beach as happened elsewhere just last week. These South American kids were sent on a journey here because it was though that they could find a better life here.
Let's show them life is better here, that we value our fellow human beings, that we still have an ounce of compassion and let's give them a hearing before we toss them back into the slums of South America.
The solution to the greater problem is very simple: appropriate enough money to hire enough Border Patrol Agents to do a reasonable job of protecting the borders. Don't attach strings. You want controlled access across the border? Hire agents or build enough drones to ensure that.
And let's make sure we place on administrative leave any Border Patrol Agent who is mentally unbalanced enough to accuse the government of complicity in the border problem. That's like criticizing the VA for not providing adequate health care without giving the VA the money to hire more doctors and nurses.
And, by the way, let's not pretend the problem is new or that Hawaiian shores are in imminent danger of being overrun by diseased foreign children in outriggers.
Just in case though, I will sit out on the lanai tomorrow evening with a glass of wine and I will keep my eyes open. If any child makes it to the cliff and is able to climb up it, I will, of course, stamp on his hands and send him to his doom so I won't have to be so scared all the time.