Read this: The LP's press release advocating a government crack-down on the borders to stop the swine flu epidemic. As one commenter put it: Holy crap. So much for the LP being “Republican-Lite” - they’re now aiming for “More Republican Than Thou”. Ironically, I appear to have written my own response to this knee-jerk, fear-oriented view of immigration in the first two weeks of this blog's existence. Since my traffic then was about 25 people ... a week ... I suspect few of you have ever seen it. I called it Immigration, dough-nuts, and the eucharist: my conundrum , and I'm going to repost the bulk of it in rebuttal to the hostile nativism being promulgated by the faux libertarians at national: At church I often end up sitting across from some very nice people who work in the Wilmington area as house cleaners, landscapers, or construction workers. They are Hispanic, and many if not most of them are either—choose your politically identifying label—illegal immigrants or un...

This is how a Libertarian (at least my kind of Libertarian) answers the question of immigration and citizenship . I am not going to excerpt the entire editorial, because it is too well-written to cut up into pieces . It is possibly the best piece on this issue that I have read all year. That being said, it's also going to piss off a lot of people--and it should. What I have learned about Dr Michael Munger--more as a man than as candidate for Governor of North Carolina--is that he subscribes the ancient and honorable creed of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison : I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. . . . I am in earnest -- I will not equivocate -- I will not excuse -- I will not retreat a single inch -- AND I WILL BE HEARD . With luck I will be able to go to North Carolina on October 15 and watch him show Bev Perdue and Pat McCrory what happens when career politicians run into a citizen with a conscience and real ideas.

A short take of Dr Michael Munger (in his capacity as Chair of Political Science at Duke University, not Libertarian candidate for Governor of North Carolina) discussing immigration and the presidential election with a colleague: Again, as I watch this, I'm pretty sure I understand why Bev Perdue and Pat McCrory don't want to debate him. [courtesy Kids Prefer Cheese ]

From The Curvature : Juana Villegas DeLaPaz, identified as an illegal alien, was taken into custody by the Berry Hill Police Department (in the Nashville TN area), just as she went into labor... ...under armed guard handcuffed to by her wrist and ankle to a hospital bed. When she arrived at the hospital, the nurse asked the accompanying officer to step outside while Villegas DeLaPaz changed into her hospital gown - he refused, forcing Villegas DeLaPaz to unclothe before him. Then she was shackled on her legs whenever she went to the bathroom. The nurse asked that the shackles be removed because she wanted Villegas DeLaPaz to be able to clean up after childbirth and do other hygiene to prevent infection. Again, the attending officer refused. Her newborn was taken from her and did not receive needed breast milk for several days. She was re-jailed and denied a breast pump to express her milk. Nurses attending her were crying. She could not sleep in the jail because of the intense pain fr...

One of the pillars of Phi Alpha Iota fraternity is Bernardo O'Higgins . O'Higgins liberated with San Martin and Bolivar, Chile from colonial Spanish rule. We used to have his pure silver medal of St. George, I used to wear it to my classes in college- but I gave it to a girl at college. Luckily, she still has it in her counseling office in Philadelphia. Anyway, his story is part of my family story and explains why I am always harping about Latin America and Jeffersonian Pan-Americanism so I am happy to share his song with you.....

... is that they usually make a lot of sense. Real World Libertarian has two recent posts that are a case in point. Jim first points out that all the arch-conservative anti-McCain hoopla doesn't make much sense from where he sits, even if (or especially if) the subject is immigration: Well I am going to disappoint and upset most of my US friends on the net and support McCain, a difficult decision, but one, which had to be made in the face of the ANCIR and other racist groups attack on him. Sure immigration is a difficult issue to deal with and some hard decisions have to be made, especially in view of the sheer numbers of illegals in the US. However when I see calls for all of them to be booted out immediately, it becomes obvious that many of the proponents come from La La Land or somewhere close to it. The sheer impractability of it is breathtaking in its stupidity. Just how the hell do you take 12 million people out of a country in a period as short as six months as some advoca...

This so-called symposium on illegal immigration conducted by FrontpageMag.com exemplifies the difficulty in having a genuine dialogue about the issue. It's not a real symposium of different views, but three co-authors shilling for their new book. So you're not going to find anybody raising different opinions during the discussion. Those authors mix carefully cherry-picked statistics with supposedly representative anecdotes to reach a conclusion not limited to illegal immigrants. According to Manhattan Institute fellow Heather McDonald: While many immigrants continue to thrive and to enrich our country, too many from the second and third generation of Hispanics are developing behaviors that will fray the social fabric and cost taxpayers millions in welfare and criminal justice outlays. The entire piece is aimed at presenting the image of thoughtful scholars in deep consideration of a serious national problem. The reality, when you wade through it all, is that here we have th...