Thursday, August 18, 2005

Sugarcoating A Crime

I am confused by something. I was watching Hannity and Colmes earlier. Sean Hannity was in El Paso, Texas with the border patrol and the Minutemen. The topic of the show was, obviously, border security. My confusion is in the different terms used to describe people who sneak across the border. Sean Hannity calls them illegal aliens. Alan Colmes calls them undocumented immigrants.

Let's stop with the euphemisms, OK? There are no undocumented immigrants. An immigrant is someone who comes here by applying for the right. As such, they are documented throughout the immigration process. The people caught by the infrared cameras bypassing the rules and breaking our laws may very well be undocumented, but they are NOT immigrants. They are illegal aliens.

Mr. Colmes, my ancestors came to the United States from Germany in the 1870's and from Italy in 1906. They followed the rules and obeyed the laws. They learned the language, contributed to society, paid taxes, and fought in our wars with distinction. THEY, sir, were immigrants. Do not insult their memory or their honor by grouping them with people who show blatant disrespect for our country. Do not slander them by elevating criminals to their level just because you find the truth too distasteful to speak.

Get a backbone, sir. You would call the Minutemen criminals before you would call the illegal aliens the same. What is wrong with you?

Saturday, August 06, 2005

A Reason to Explore - Our Very Existence

For those who thought my blog was only political...surprise. I am an engineer. I spend each working day like all engineers...improving yesterday's technology and creating tomorrow's. When the MSM disparages, misrepresents, over emphasizes the bad or just plain screws it up regarding science and technology, the hairs on the back of my neck rise up.

Media scare tactics and gloom-and-doom tirades are the bane of my existence. They can kill progress fast because at best, they only tell partial truths. Unfortunately, the press loves junk science because it sells. As with all subjects, they feel whole story...the truth...just isn't always as interesting or worth telling.

Every now and then, someone from outside the MSM gets it right. The link below is one such case. It is an essay by Dr. Robert Zubrin, formerly of NASA, now a leading proponent of increasing our manned exploration of space, and making Mars the next destination. I have read this before, but am doing so again in the wake of the latest shuttle mission and the press hungrily looking for the chinks in NASA's armor.

A New Martian Frontier: Recapturing the Soul of America

Please do read it and comment. All the whiners and cowards and nay-sayers out there - especially in the MSM - who want to shut off funding to NASA don't, won't or can't see the point...or don't care. We need this - our continued vibrancy and existence as a nation and species depend on it. Anyway...I digress too much...just have a look.

I will be talking more about science and technology in the future, too. Don't worry, though...politics and history are still passions...and they'll still be discussed here.