ABSENT VOICES: Immigration reform legislation generally makes its way through the House and Senate Judiciary committees. But two House Judiciary leaders were curiously silent about President Bush's immigration plan when it was announced January 7. A spokesman for House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis.) said that the congressman was traveling overseas and had no comment or statement to make on the President's plan. A spokesman for Judiciary's immigration subcommittee chairman, Rep. John Hostettler (R.-Ind.), said the day after Bush's speech that his boss was not then prepared to speak publicly about the plan. Both men are considered immigration hawks. But Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah) sounded positive. "I commend President Bush for this constructive step toward important and, frankly, overdue immigration reform. . .," he said in a statement. "We are a nation of immigrants and must let common sense, fairness and tradition help guide our immigration policy, and extend a welcoming hand to those whose presence will benefit our nation and our economy."
END MATRICULA: The movement to ban the acceptance of matricula consular cards, issued by foreign governments such as that of Mexico in order to facilitate illegal immigration into this country, continues to grow. "When an American citizen applies for any form of bank account in the United States, the financial institution can usually access enough data to verify their identity with a high degree of confidence," said a statement from the office of Rep. Scott Garrett (R.-N.J.) on January 12. "This is not the case with people from countries where records of identification may be sparse and hard to access, such as in Mexico." Garrett has introduced HR 3674, the Financial Customer Identification Verification Improvement Act, "which will prohibit the use of identification cards issued by foreign governments, including matricula consular cards, for purposes of verifying the identity of a person who opens an account at a financial institution."
IRAQ'S WMDS? Talon News reported January 12 that Danish troops discovered chemical weapons in Iraq on January 9. "Danish troops Friday discovered what is believed to be mustard gas or some other form of blistering agent inside a cache of 36 aging warheads near the town of Al Quarnah, just north of Basra, where some 400 Danish soldiers are stationed," reported the news service. "Lt. Nikolaj Groen, spokesman for the Danish Defense Command, told Talon News, 'I can confirm that 36 mortar shells, with what is believed to be a blister gas, have been found by Danish forces in Iraq.'" However, the weapons might have fallen into disrepair, said another officer, who added, "I think they may have been forgotten."
WOMEN IN COMBAT: There is a videotape of two American female POWs that hasn't gotten much air play. "You may have missed seeing this haunting vision of two American women, Pvt. Jessica Lynch and her friend Pvt. Lori Piestewa, which NBC News and MSNBC fleetingly aired on December 30," wrote Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness (CMR), on January 7. "The videotape was reportedly taken shortly after the violent ambush of the 507th Maintenance Unit on March 23, 2003, but it was not aired by Al Jazeera or made public until now. . . . Bandages frame the battered faces of the two female captives, and an Iraqi man roughly twists the head of Lori Piestewa so that the swollen, discolored features of her lips and face are more visible to the camera." Lynch was rescued but Piestewa died. CMR has a petition against women in combat at www.americansforthemilitary.com.
NOT INBORN: Even the Washington Post seems to be buying into the position that people are not necessarily born homosexual, but choose to be that way. A "Style" section piece January 4 discussed the growing trend of high school girls' experimenting with lesbianism or bisexuality. "Social scientists say that 5% to 7% of young people are gay or lesbian, and that teenagers are starting at younger ages to have same-sex sexual experiences: 13 for boys, 15 for girls. But those figures don't begin to tell the full story about today's girls because girls, more often than boys, experiment with their sexuality and resist being placed in any particular group." The Post quoted one person as saying that although older homosexual rights activists don't like the breakdown of the "born gay" theory, "Identity labels are over."
