Fish...Barrel...BANG!

Also by way of Interested Participant is the story of Diana Ponce, who is going on a hunger strike to protest discrimination against Hispanics by the Minute Man Project.



We at The Idiom figure that we are looking at a 3 to 4 year hunger strike.

OK, cheap laugh we know. But anyone stupid enough as Ms. Ponce not to realize how this is going to play in the media deserves to get laughed at. Ponce's choice of tactics is not going to gain her much sympathy. Picket, donate to an organization, write your congressman... anything else but a hunger strike. *sheesh*

May we also suggest a "chair strike" for Ms. Ponce? That she'll get off her ass and on a treadmill and not stop walking until all the illegal immigrants who want to walk across the border can do so?

And just what is the big deal with the Minute Man Project anyway? When we first heard of them we thought "Oh great. A bunch of rednecks with guns going out to stir up trouble." Even President Bush is calling them "vigilantes."

But, at least according to their web page, their organization merely monitors the border and reports people sneaking across to the border patrol:

When intruders are spotted, [U.S. Border Patrol] USBP agents will be summoned by cell phone. The MMProject communication center should also be notified at this time via cell phone or pre-established short wave radio systems that will be available on April 1. The intruders will be followed until USBP shows up to intercept and apprehend them.

No "hostile" confrontation with intruders will be allowed. The MMProject participants will only "spot and report", the USBP takes it from there.

That's not vigilantism, that's f*cking civic responsibility!

If you see someone breaking in to your neighbor's house, it's not your job to go over there and confront him. But it's your duty to call the police.

As long as the Minutemen aren't trying to usurp executive authority, Kid Various has no idea why anyone should object to the project.

Well actually, he knows why certain people object, because the Minutemen are a bunch of conservative, know-nothing rednecks who are displaying their cultural chauvinism and offending the sensibilities of the elite class.

Well screw them.

And Kid Various is a proponent of nearly open borders. It should be a lot easier to immigrate to the USA than it already is. Certainly for the nations of the "Industrialized World." (What, are we afraid that we're going to be swamped by a wave of migratory Australians?) But don't try to argue that it's the right of Mexicans to break the law by illegally entering the U.S. That won't fly for several reasons:

• It's unfair to legal immigrants who have navigated the Byzantine and ridiculous immigration system, sometimes devoting years of their lives and thousands of dollars for the chance to become an American citizen.
  
• It's unfair to American workers to look the other way while a huge source of underground labor, whom employers owe nothing to, supplants them.
  
• In the age of September 11^th it is simply unacceptable from a security standpoint to have a large, unmonitored border through which anyone can pass.
  

We should drastically revamp our immigration laws and make it easier for people to come here from all over the world. We should welcome the labor of people who want to come here to work and contribute to our society. But it has to be done through a process. There are people that we want to keep out, most notably criminals and terrorists. And if people like the Minutemen are willing to donate their time and effort on a large scale "neighborhood watch", Kid Various says, "Thank you for your support..."

PS: From the Minute Man Project page:

If you are susceptible to "road rage", or "hot temper" syndromes, then this volunteer work is not for you. Any such acts will seriously jeopardize the goal of the MMProject and bring unwanted ridicule to its efforts to assist the USBP.

Sorry Mr. Surly...No Mexicans for you! Come back...one year!