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Politics : World Affairs Discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (3547)	1/27/2004 2:49:49 PM
From: lorne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3959

Would this mean that most of the increase took place during the clinton administration? Mexican-illegals flow rises 66% in 12 years Report from Fox government finds number of annual border hoppers now at 1 million January 26, 2004 A report from a Mexican government agency released today says the number of Mexicans entering the U.S. illegally increased by 66 percent from 1990 to 2002. According to the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur, the study was conducted by the National Population Council, or Conapo. It found the number of illegals coming from Mexico each year now exceeds 1 million. The report says about one-third of those who enter illegally, 390,000 annually, achieve their goal of staying in the U.S. Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports the number of Mexicans living in the United States went from 4.3 million in 1994 to 9.5 million in 2002, according to U.S. estimates. It is estimated Mexicans in the U.S. sent approximately $12 billion back to Mexico last year. The new Mexican report comes as Americans debate the merits of a proposal by President Bush to legalize millions of illegal aliens working in the U.S. His plan also would establish a process for bringing new immigrants into the country under a temporary-worker program. worldnetdaily.com

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (3547)	1/28/2004 3:41:00 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3959

Talking of a European perspective.... Meanwhile: Europeans are not cowards. It's that we know war. Fletcher Crossman IHT Wednesday, January 28, 2004 Mt. PLEASANT, South Carolina Listening to Richard Perle on the radio recently was a little hard for a European like me. Perle, a former chairman of the Defense Policy Board, stated that European nations "do not have the most courageous of instincts," with the implication that America has to intervene in international affairs because Europeans are afraid to. Perle's comments take place against a chorus of similar sentiments to be heard on America's airwaves in recent months. An average listener would be forgiven for believing that Europeans are a cowardly bunch of ungrateful wimps, whose anti-American bombast is a merely a cover for their complicity with evil regimes. It may be true. But as a European myself - I'm from Britain - it doesn't feel true. And I wonder if our cultural disconnect comes from two very different experiences of war. Let's be clear: Europeans don't run away from war. Even the most fleeting look at our history will tell you that we love war, we want war, we will find almost any excuse for a war. In 1914 young men from all across Europe jauntily marched off to start yet another one, with flags waving and patriotic songs playing. Young men from my country marched in the knowledge that they represented the greatest nation on Earth, an economic powerhouse, a country blessed by God. Any of this sounding familiar? Barely one of those men could have clearly explained what the war was about, it was enough that they were fighting for freedom, and against oppression. Fast forward five years. 1919. A whole generation of young men - over 8.5 million - wiped out in the most disgusting war the world had ever seen. Economies collapsed, vast regions were blighted. No longer was anyone playing patriotic songs. Now poets like Wilfred Owen were bitterly decrying "the old lie" that it is an honorable thing to die for your country. Who was the enemy, anyway? Was it those pathetic, blood-stained bodies strewn across the opposing trenches, or the fat, cigar-smoking politicians that ordered us into this nightmare? This feeling has never been totally expunged from the European psyche. However clear-cut the rationale sounds at the start of a war, the reality always results in atrocities, injustices and moral ambiguity. Within a few short years we were forced into a World War II, and this time there was none of the flag-waving; instead there was a stunned gasp of: "Are we really going through all this again?" And this time it was worse. Our cities were flattened, a genocide was committed, a whole civilization was brought to its knees. But World War II was mercifully different for America. Despite its debilitating losses - and its astonishing selflessness in prioritizing the European theater ahead of its own mission in the Pacific - America emerged from the devastation in a pre-eminent position, its infrastructure intact. Culturally, politically and economically, America stood like a gleaming Colossus above an impoverished world. If America had believed that by use of force, Good could prevail over Evil, then it had been proved right. War had saved Freedom and defeated Tyranny. And this is now burned into the American psyche in much the same way that cynicism is for the European. America is the brave young soldier, with shining eyes and a firm jaw, marching towards a battle that will make the world a better place. Europe is the bitter old veteran sitting on the sidewalk, his medals collecting dust somewhere, shaking his head knowingly as the young soldier marches by. Both views are valid and both are forged in the furnace of experience. America has the power and inclination to promote justice in the world, and Richard Perle may indeed be right: Perhaps Europeans don't have the most courageous of instincts. Not anymore. They still live in the shadow of two unthinkable wars, and have learnt that patriotism and courageous instincts have too often resulted in corruption, destruction and death. The writer, an English teacher, previously worked as a radio and television journalist in Britain. iht.com

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (3547)	1/28/2004 5:59:24 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 3959

Top Secret -- Operation Jail Them All The Israelization of the U.S. --a tentative debriefing: 11-14-2002 Checkpoint system links all minorities together in struggle Students' Movement for Justice Contributing Organization The Detroit Free Press announced yesterday that the Federal Government will start implementing random checkpoints in the metro-Detroit area. The injustice that the Palestinians see in the occupied territories, are finally coming home to roost. What will Latinos, African-Americans, Arab-Americans and other minorities do as this law will target them for drugs, violation of probation, and links to terrorism? This is the continuation of the government using the war on terrorism as a screen to go after minorities in this country. African-Americans have been in the middle of a war against racist and brutal police departments around the country. In California the random checkpoint strategy is already in use to catch illegal immigrants. Of course, the word "random" is only political correctness to keep civil rights groups at bay. In reality most of the people that will be pulled over will be people with a Middle Eastern, African-American, or Latino look. Now it is the turn of Arab-Americans to take a beating from a country that has generalized them as terrorist suspects. This is one more tie that binds minorities of this country together - oppression at home. Many minorities have run away from oppression in their native lands (largely due to U.S.-backed dictators), but now all minorities find it at their doorstep. As oppressed people, these minorities (including lower class whites) must realize the situation will only get worse if they do not organize, and mobilize into a unified bloc - only then will the government give this segment of society its due respect. There is no doubt there must be great fear running through these communities as another article in the Detroit Free Press said the government's role in monitoring is "massive, extraordinary network - with undercover agents infiltrating Arab and Muslim communities, street informants feeding information to investigators, and cooperative, but wary, community leaders acting as cultural guides into the local Arab world." This is the democracy we live in. It is only a democracy of convenience, which can be dissolved at the whim of the ruling party - Republicans. They have made it clear that they will impede economic and social progress for minorities at all cost, even if it involves being hypocritical to the very Constitution our forefathers wrote during the birth of this nation. However, minorities and Americans of European descent cannot sit back and let a rerun of the detention camps take place. We must organize, mobilize and take action. So far there are thoughts and discussions of protests in Detroit. But will these protestors be the same old gang of activists? Or will everyday citizens finally step in and take control of their own destinies? The views represented here reflect those of the individual writers, and not necessarily of The South End, The Student Newspaper Publication Board or Wayne State University. southend.wayne.edu