By Ben Stein on 4.14.06 @ 10:02AM
A few respectful thoughts here at Passover and Easter.
A few respectful thoughts here at Passover and Easter:
1.) I notice that the liberals within the Catholic Church are a
big part of the organizing brains and muscle behind the huge
illegal immigrant rallies in cities across the U.S. They are
arguing that it is unkind and un-Christian to want to arrest people
who have entered America illegally. They also fear prosecution if
aiders and abettors are criminalized since they aid and abet
illegal immigrants.
This is fine, and obviously a man does not sign away his First
Amendment rights if he takes orders. But isn't this obviously
Church interference in legal and political matters? How come this
church involvement with the huge political issue of illegal
immigration is fine and dandy -- but involvement by conservative
members of the Catholic faith in trying to save the lives of the
unborn, the sick, and the deformed is a dangerous intrusion over
the "wall" between church and state? How can illegal immigration be
considered a bigger moral issue than the killing of tens of
millions of the unborn who are totally innocent of any crime? The
hypocrisy of the left on this issue is staggering.
2.) In this same area, I see demonstrators marching in the
illegal immigrant demonstrations carrying Mexican flags. I think
they have this right under the Constitution. But it is sickening,
literally nauseating. They leave Mexico to work and build a better
life here -- then they want Mexico to do a conquista of
this country and turn it back into the same poor, confused nation
Mexico is.
The fact that we are taking in millions of people, some of whom
obviously want to take large parts of America back into Mexico, is
terrifying. It is a far bigger threat than Iraq. I hope Mr. Bush
has a plan about how to deal with it aside from endless appeasement
of a movement which has many fine people but some extremely
dangerous ones as well.
3.) As everyone has seen, Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of
Government has published a scathing anti-Semitic attack on Israel
and its friends in the U.S. -- Jews, Evangelicals, anyone who
believes the most persecuted minority in history deserves a home.
Naturally, this article has drawn criticism for factual errors and
for its crude anti-Semitism.
Harvard's response is that at a university, all points of view
should be heard. But what about Larry Summers, outgoing President
of Harvard? Why was he not allowed even to question why women are
not well represented among top scientists? Why was he not allowed
to even question grade inflation at Harvard, where the average
grade is an A? Why was he not allowed to even discuss with black
Professor Cornel West the bizarre fact that West spent a large part
of his time at Harvard producing a rap disc? Why was Summers not
allowed to even question the anti-Israel bias of some of the
faculty at Harvard and the insane idea of punishing Israel by
selling stock in companies that do business with Israel...because
Israel wants to defend itself?
Free speech for the haters and the Ivy League Klansmen with
degrees, censure and humiliation for the real friends of free
speech. Veritas -- the Harvard motto -- indeed. Veritas, and a
hearty chorus of the Horst Wessel Song.
4.) I have a wonderful sister who is a health fanatic. She is
older than I am but looks much younger. She exercises all day and
sometimes she asks me what exercise I do. Well, my silly exercise
is to swim for about an hour a day. But my real exercise, that
truly keeps me fit, is to get on my knees each morning and each
night and thank God for waking up in America, and to thank God for
the men and women who wear the uniform in Iraq and Afghanistan and
everywhere else they serve, the veterans, and their families, who
offer up their lives for me and my wife -- total strangers to them.
Or maybe not strangers at all. Maybe brothers and sisters in a love
deeper than those of us in the luxury of civilian life can ever
understand. They are the salt of the earth, and we need them,
because if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted?
Each one of them at every camp and base everywhere is precious.
Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer
living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He also writes "Ben Stein's
Diary" in every issue of The American Spectator. You can
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topics:
Business, Constitution, Law, Iraq, Israel, Immigration
