The American Spectator

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Al Qaeda's Spotter

6.30.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 3 of 7)

Quin, excellent column about a young man who sounds impressive. It's absolutely great to hear that there are some up-and-coming conservatives in the Republican Party.

Of late, I have been so disappointed in our Congressional Republican "Leadership," for their lack of intestinal fortitude in confronting the numerous inane, wrong-headed and dangerous activities of the current Congressional majority.

We have a considerable number of polls in this country that constantly trumpet the fact that Americans feel the country is headed in the wrong direction. Not once has any polling organization, to my knowledge, asked the question: "Why do you feel that way?"

Anyone who looks at the approval ratings of the current President (a good man, but too much of a gentleman to win in a dirty fight), and our Congress (rightfully, even lower than the President's) should have no problem understanding why Americans feel uneasy. There isn't any American leader out there who is willing to "knee him in the gut, and punch him in the nose," to win. Our enemies don't intend to fight 'fair.' Why do we insist on fighting them with our hands tied behind our back?

Maybe the next generation of politicians will see the rise of some true leaders, who can get the country back on course, without our having to "First, kill all the lawyers."
-- R. Goodson
Vero Beach, Florida

It seems to me that a core of individual conservative legislators is starting to coalesce into something we "limited government" types will be enormously proud of in the years to come.

I believe this core includes, and will soon include: Sean Parnell, Tom McClintock, Steve Scalise, Jeff Flake, John Shadegg, Barbara Cubin, John Linder, Mike Pence, Marsha Blackburn, Jeb Hensarling, Paul Ryan, and Rob Wittman. The majority of this "core" dozen are "young guns" and will be around for quite a while. Others (John and John) are of the "seasoned" variety and can provide true conservative guidance that only comes from years of experience. All (except for John Linder) are members of the RSC. And we'll have to give John a big pass on that one since he is the recurring sponsor of HR 25.

That said, these folks represent the future for conservative ideals in the House of Representatives. Taking Quin's eloquent bio of Mr. Scalise into account, I see no reason why this group can't expand into a true conservative majority in the not-too-distant future.
-- Owen H. Carneal, Jr.
Yorktown, Virginia

Sounds like the person we need to run for Governor in 2012. Run Steve run!!!!!!!
-- Michael Eby

ON THE SCENE
Re: Erin Wildermuth's Out of Amsterdam:

I have to challenge Erin Wildermuth. She is wrong in her conclusion that Europeans are not against immigration or Islam per se. It is exactly Islam and Muslim immigration we are against, as we learn more about the Koran, and especially its call for Muslims to migrate to countries of the infidels and how they're to behave in order to win the trust of the population and then how to strive to qualify for influential positions, all with the specific named end purpose of Islam to be able to take over control. Do all the immigrants have this in mind? Of course not. But neither did the Germans expect to start a world war, when they voted for Hitler, nor did the common Russian long for a Soviet, but they did get it in spite of that in both cases no God was involved, not even a massive belief in the goals. Experience with such overtaking achieved since the Koran was written has perfected the tactics to such a degree, that Islam already after a few decades has got a strong foothold in all of Europe, also in the northern parts, that never have had any experience with Islam before, which of course has been exploited. So far the Koran's advice has been followed by the letter.

Wildermuth is right, though, in writing that we have to get our knowledge from the net. There is plenty there. Let me point out just a single one: www.islam-watch.org.
-- Arild Ejsing
Danish people's pensioner

As far as it goes, Erin Wildermuth has provided a modest tableau of changes, both imminent and already taken, by the leaders of several Western European nations in dealing with their problems created by illegal immigration. Such as it is, her article emphasizes what is being done to deal with this issue among the major countries where such problems, especially those created by mass Muslim immigration, have required politicians to take a stand. What she has left out, such as the implications of the defeat of Ken "the Red" Livingston as Mayor of London, or the election of Gianni Alemann as Mayor of Rome, the first non-Socialist in more than 50 years to hold that post, who actively seeks to remove all illegal aliens from "the eternal city," as well as what can be added to her reportage, would better complete the picture, and paint a more realistic portrait of how some nations of Western Europe intend to proceed in avoiding the path toward becoming "Eurabia."

Of all the countries that Wildermuth describes in her story, there is, in my judgment, no more active and pointed effort to deal with the problem than in Italy. Although Italy does not have the numbers of immigrants, especially Muslims, that France has, or the level of violence initiated by these immigrants, or their children, as in England or the Netherlands, the sense that Muslim and Eastern European illegal immigration was destroying the fabric and unity of Italian society has been evident for more than a decade. But as Wildermuth pointed out, the flash point usually came with the increase in personal violence: in Italy, the cause celebre was the murder by bludgeoning of Giovanna Reggiano, the wife of an Italian admiral, in her home in Rome by a Rumanian illegal immigrant. That murder shocked the nation.

It is a stretch, but not by much, to say that Reggiano's murder was the sole reason the Socialist government, which had done precious little to address the issue, fell, and replaced by a Center-Right coalition that intends to confront squarely the problems created by illegal immigration, because as Wildermuth briefly notes, the difference is the meteoric rise of the Lega del Nord, or Northern League. Headed by Umberto Bossi, who, when I served in the U.S. Embassy in Rome, was considered a "madman," and who for more than 20 years has decried the lax attitude of Italian governments in dealing with this issue. On a practical level, what is decidedly different is that of the 22 governmental positions in the cabinet of the (4th) Berlusconi government, Northern League officials hold only two, but they are the key to dealing with illegal immigration: Roberto Maroni is Minister of the Interior, or chief law enforcer of the nation, and Bossi, Minister without Portfolio, who will deal with federal affairs, not the least of which is how the nation will deal with illegal immigration. No other current government in Western Europe is so positioned to deal with this contentious issue as is the current Italian leadership. Will they succeed?

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