The Emporia Gazette

1 girl dies after Mud-A-Thon accident

God bless her family and friends. You all are in our prayers.

August 1, 2010 at 9:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Religion and politics

Interesting discussion folks! Several thoughts...

1) seriouslyfolks is right in that all laws have a moral base of some kind.

2) I would go further and say that everyone has a religion of some kind. They just don't always think of it as such.

3) Church/State separation is a good thing... for Christians and others. Check out what Christians are doing in Nepal:
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12031

4) That said, it does tend to be exaggerated and misused at times by people with anti-religious agendas.

5) In most policy debates it's a moot point since there are people with religious perspectives on both sides of the issue.

6) I think most voters will look past a candidate's religious affiliation if he/she represents the values they stand for.... e.g. Evangelical Christians would support Mormon candidate Mitt Romney in 2012, even though Mormonism is often considered a cult by Bible-believing Christians.

7) Free speech and democracy go hand in hand. If our society makes church leaders, pastors, churchgoers, or even small business owners, leaders of secular not-for-profits, and others feel pressured to keep silent - it damages democracy by limiting good input into the public conversation. Christians of all stripes need to speak out.

8) Christianity is a team sport! If you don't have a church, you should go to one.

9) It's good to be around Christians who you disagree with from time to time. "Love one another" is easy to practice when you're around like-minded folk. But it gets put to the test when you're around people you're prone to disagree with... but that's how it gets stronger too.

10) The key to it is expressing differences in a Christ-like way... which is tough, but it's possible too.

July 24, 2010 at 6:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Control borders

You are absolutely correct Bill, on two fronts...
1) We have an ugly, racist history of immigration legislation... going back to the Chinese exclusion act in the 1880s, and the even more drastic Immigration act of 1917 (which was passed over Woodrow Wilson's veto.)

2) People are coming here because of economic incentive. Remove the economic incentive and you remove the problem.

Thanks for the wisdom!

July 22, 2010 at 3:12 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Bust the blight

How interesting that some people are so passionate about law & order with immigrants, but have no intention of following city codes with their own house and neighborhood.

July 2, 2010 at 5:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Excuse me folks

I'm wondering, when did Ronald Reagan conservatism become "bleeding heart" liberalism?

Even President Bush supported a pathway to citizenship. But that was before Pat Buchanan became mainstream.

July 1, 2010 at 8:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Bust the blight

I agree Phil... this is a good cause. Keep giving the call to action and in time more people will respond.

July 1, 2010 at 2:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Excuse me folks

Immigration law is necessary. But the law becomes a joke when it criminalizes normal human behaviors, like relocating for a job. Migration is as natural as eating a drinking... and our current rate of 5,000 low-skilled visas isn't going to cut it. We either need more visas or we need bigger penalties for the people who are hiring illegally.

Arizona's law is as ridiculous as it is reactive. How on earth are we going to pay to depopulate our country of 12 million people?

July 1, 2010 at 2:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

An unjust law

Not true mslater... They pay taxes. I've known several through the years. They work for companies hiring illegally, who withdraw for taxes from their paychecks (same as other legal employees).

The only difference is when it comes to filing income taxes. Illegal immigrants don't do it, and so they don't get a refund.

They're subsidizing us... not the other way around.

May 26, 2010 at 8:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

An unjust law

Good parabloe akamai.

goodoleboy and seriouslyfolks, I appreciate your emphasis on personal responsiblity and moral choices... but it's one thing to say that and it's another to be naive to the larger causes of group behavior, and the things that drive social/economic shifts - including migration. Human beings are social and economic creatures... not just individuals in a moral vacuum.

And (I repeat) it's particularly hypocritical to blame people for doing something that you and I would do as well.

It's jobs that are bringing people here - plain and simple. Get rid of the jobs and we get rid of the immigrants. The better question is, do we really want to do this? So far the answer has been no. However much the politicians may enjoy pandering to the "tough on immigrants" crowd, so far they have lacked the backbone to attack the cause.

I am not persuaded by the argument that our own folks will fill the jobs immigrants fill. Would you be interested in working 10-12 hour days picking vegetables? Cleaning up motel rooms? Doing roofs - at minimum wage?

If Americans were filling these positions we wouldn't be having this discussion.

May 26, 2010 at 8:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

An unjust law

I don't find that argument very compelling, since 1) We invited them into the house by offering them jobs, 2) They're not stealing from us but giving to us by contributing to our economy and doing jobs our people are unwilling to do, and 3) The law violation is more comparable to a speeding or parking ticket than a burglary - which raises a question:

How would you respond if the Kansas legislature gave law enforcement the authority to arrest and imprison anyone driving 5 mph over the speed limit? We'd have a similar problem with "illegal speeding" if the speed limit was 45 mph.

We're the ones who made this mess folks.

May 26, 2010 at 7:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )