TANCREDO’S LATEST: Continuing his crusade to get our immigration laws enforced, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R.-Colo.) wrote to Denver Acting District Director Michael Comfort of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) on October 21. "It is widely reported in the Denver public media and by many eyewitnesses that there are long lines of people outside the Mexican Consulate in Denver, especially on Saturday mornings," he said. "Many of these people are there for the express purpose of obtaining what is known as a Matricula Consular. As you know, this is an identity card issued by the government of Mexico. The only reason for needing a Matricula Consular is if you are in the United States illegally. . . . It is true that the INS cannot interfere with Mexican nationals entering the Mexican Consulate. I am not suggesting that you do that. However, INS policy clearly permits you to question people as they exit the property when there is a probable cause for doing so. . . . Thus, it is clear that INS agents can legally question individuals and then detain those deemed to be unlawfully residing in the United States."
JEAN BIN LADEN? Some political campaigns are willing to take bold risks in order to win. Take freshman Sen. Jean Carnahan (D.-Mo.), for example, who recently compared herself to Osama bin Laden in order to gain sympathy. Carnahan is now running behind, in no small part due to President Bush’s visits on behalf of her Republican challenger, former Rep. Jim Talent. Carnahan expressed frustration over the President’s role in the election in an interview on CNN when she blurted out that she is "the No. 1 target of the White House," and that because the Bush Administration "can’t get Osama bin Laden, they’re going to get me." Missouri Republicans branded the remarks "despicable." Talent was more gracious. "I’m sure most Missourians would accept a quick apology from Mrs. Carnahan," he said. If Carnahan loses, her seat will be taken by Talent immediately and not in January when the rest of this year’s elected senators are sworn in. This means that Republicans would have the majority in the Senate for at least a month during the now-planned lame-duck session.
BAGHDAD BABS: Singer and geopolitical expert Barbra Streisand referred to Saddam Hussein as an "Iranian dictator" on her website last week-the latest in a series of gaffes by the singer and sometime actress who likes to offer advice to leading Democratic policymakers. On a portion of her site called "Truth Alert," Streisand defended herself from a political ad being run against Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D.-N.Y.). The spot, bought by Republican/Conservative candidate Marilyn O’Grady, says in part: "Barbra Streisand defends Saddam Hussein and then rips George Bush as a frightening dictator. The Post calls her Baghdad Babs, but Carolyn McCarthy calls her a contributor." Streisand’s website, in turn, criticized O’Grady for "misrepresenting Ms. Streisand’s deep opposition to the Iranian dictator."
THAT’LL SHOW HIM: "I think Mohammed was a terrorist," said Jerry Falwell in a CBS interview. Citing Mohammed’s universally accepted life story, in which the Muslim prophet spread his religion with war and the sword, Falwell continued: "I read enough by both Muslims and non-Muslims [to decide] that he was a violent man, a man of war." As though to prove Falwell right, Mohsen Shabestari, spokesman for Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared about Falwell, "The death of that man is a religious duty." Shabestari was kind enough to say that Falwell’s "case should not be tied to the Christian community."
AN UGLY MYTH: James Lacey, writing in the October 14 New York Post, puts the lie to the myth that minorities and the poor do most of the dying in combat. "Rep. Charles Rangel (D.-N.Y.) made the claim again just last week, saying he opposed the anti-Iraq resolution because the military is largely made up of black, Hispanic and poor whites who join for economic reasons," wrote Lacey. "This myth began in the Vietnam era. But it’s a total fabrication. Minorities did not die in disproportionate numbers in Vietnam or in any conflict thereafter. And since 1966, the exact opposite has mainly been the case." Lacey explains that blacks represented 12.5% of the deaths in Vietnam, 13.1% of the U.S. population and almost 11% of U.S. forces in Vietnam. Whites-including Hispanics-were 88.4% of those who served in Vietnam and 86.3% of those who died there.
