Yeppers, the Weekend is So Ooover.

El Jefe is back from a four-day weekend: Royal Standard now flying again over the palace in beautiful downtown Ciudad El Jefe. Posting will no doubt resume presently, as soon as El Jefe has caught up on his secret police reports, and mundane matters like working.

The weekend is soooo over. (Sigh).

Boy Bags "Son of Hogzilla"

When out there prowling in the bushes, and the briars and the brambles this weekend, be careful. Be verrry, verrry careful, cause Hogzilla may be on the prowl, as 11-year old Jamison Stone, of Pickensville, Alabama, found out last 3 May.

The original "Hogzilla" was a famous wild hog, killed near Alapaha, Georgia in 2004. The size of Hogzilla grew in the telling: as his fame spread, "Hogzilla" became a monstrous walking side of bacon of truly epic proportions. "Son of Hogzilla" carries on this tradition: "Son of Hogzilla" was a 1,051 pound wild hog -- over nine feet long. "Think hams as big as car tires" the AP article said.

But the mighty "Hogzilla" was no match for Master Stone. The redoubtable sixth grader dispatched the humongous hog with nine rounds from his trusty .50 caliber pistol -- finishing the great beast off after a three-hour chase through the woods with one round, delivered point blank. Sounds like a regular "Ultimate Showdown." (I've been itching to work that link into something -- hat tip: The Heir).

Now "Son of Hogzilla" belongs to legend, and no doubt he too will become more ginormous with each telling. Good to know they still make tough kiddos in El Jefe's home state of Alabama.

Have a great weekend.

UPDATE (2 June). Sometimes, good stories are less good than they appear. (Hat tip: T).

Iraq, Impeachment, El Jefe the Monarchist

The Democrats have given in for the moment on Iraq war funding, dropping from the war spending bill provisions ordering troops home from Iraq this fall. Congress enacted this revised bill yesterday: Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Obama voting against it. According to Senator Clinton: "I fully support our troops" but the bill (always a but with those people) "fails to compel the President to give our troops a new strategy in Iraq."

Of course, what the Senator means by a "new strategy" is enough cutting and running to appease the Lefty netroots, but not enough to appear too rabid-Left to be elected President.

What will the Democrats do ? They cannot give their netroots base what it so much wants (defeat in Iraq) -- at least not now: not till they've gulled us, the unwashed and hopelessly un-urban, uneducated, and unsophisticated -- into entrusting them with 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. So they're holding their collective noses, and voting for war funding: trying to appease the hard left with promises that, as Damascus Nancy says "[t]his debate will go on."

Meanwhile, until the debate goes their way, the Democrats must, must, must find some red meat to throw their supporters -- lest they be castigated as sell-outs. Then campaign contributions would fall, and Democrats would find themselves more under siege than ever from angry Lefties.

They'll have another chance on Iraq in September, but what to do this summer ? It all comes back to Bush -- unpopular and vulnerable. Time for impeachment hearings. No, there's no cause for impeachment -- but that hardly matters. It's politically necessary for the Democrats, so hearings, at least, will happen.

Here's a not unconnected thought for the day, cribbed from C.S. Lewis via (of course), The Monarchist website:

Monarchy can easily be debunked, but watch the faces, mark well the debunkers. These are the men whose taproot in Eden has been cut: whom no rumour of the polyphony, the dance, can reach - men to whom pebbles laid in a row are more beautiful than an arch. Yet even if they desire mere equality they cannot reach it. Where men are forbidden to honour a king they honour millionaires, athletes or film stars instead: even famous prostitutes or gangsters. For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison

Watching the solons play political games with war, combined with the approach of a presidential election never fails to make me reflect on the virtues of a monarchy, or at least, to lament what the modern media age has meant to republican government. Relentless pandering to the lowest common denominator; the inability of government to function because of the need to respond to the political handlers; the reduction of everything to spin. Politics is just war by other means.

Caw !

El Jefe is normally a reasonably happy-go-lucky sort of fellow, and things are normally pretty cool in Cuidad El Jefe, land of happily productive workers, peasants, and secret police, and an occasional feudal overlord (c'est moi), all meeting their Five Year Plan goals. But I just asked somebody in my office if I had a gianormous vulture on my shoulder.

It's just been one damn thing after another, so it's probably a big, ugly, smelly, vulture. closely resembling all the obnoxious people I've ever and never met. Hmmmm, now that you mention it, it does look a bit like a Stop-and-Go clerk. Say, is that Mad Jad ?

No such luck. Blogging will resume when morale improves.

Vive le président Sarko !

At last, some good news from Europe. The new French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, has appointed Dr. Bernard Kouchner, (until the 19th a Socialist) -- Foreign Minister. (Hat tip: Austin Bay Blog). The Quay d'Orsay's new occupant was Minister for Health and Humanitarian Action in the last Socialist government; but -- more interestingly, and importantly -- Dr. Kouchner backed the US invasion of Iraq, unlike the former President, the unlamented Jacques Chirac.

The Times says that the Parti Socialiste responded to President Sarkozy's display of bipartisanship by expelling Dr. Kouchner from the party and denouncing him as a "traitor." PS leader François Hollande, (domestic partner of President Sarko's defeated rival Sego), declared that Dr. Kouchner, by accepting the appointment, is guilty of engaging in ". . .a personal adventure in becoming one more minister in a right-wing government."

As an aside, such statements and actions cast doubt on the continued efficacy of republican government: if bipartisanship does not exist (most especially in foreign policy); if working with duly elected opponents is "treason," then all politics is simply war by other means. If blowhards like M. Hollande are not careful, the resemblance will someday be even more pronounced.

At any rate the appointment is interesting, and undoubtedly indicates interest by the new President in better relations with the US and UK, although some conservatives expecting the arrival of a new Nirvana in US/French relations are definitely going to be disappointed. Hopefully, though, we see a real effort from the US side towards improving relations.

The manner in which President Sarkozy is going about forming his government also calls for some comment. The position of Prime Minister under the Fifth Republic is very weak, but the new Prime Minister, François Fillon, appears to have even less influence on these matters than is normally the case. By the way, M. Fillon is another intriguing appointment: an advisor to the President during the campaign, he has a reputation as an Anglophile -- as well he might, given his wife is from Wales. But M. Fillion is not assembling the government: instead, President Sarkozy looks to be running everything.

No mistake, though, this is some good news. The right people are upset. In the inimitable words of Colonel Bay: "Touche’. Too-effin-che’. Magnifique."

Elgar's Birthday

Simon Heffer, writing in the Daily Telegraph, reminds us of the approaching sesquicentennial, on 2 June, of the birth of Sir Edward Elgar, Bart. Sir Edward is among my favorite composers, only edged out slightly by Mozart. Elgar, as Mr. Heffer says "wrote the soundtrack" of the British Empire. Elgar had an extraordinary career "[w]ithin 25 years, he had gone from conducting the band of a lunatic asylum to being knighted by Edward VII."

Elgar's Symphony No. 2 in E-flat major (Op. 63) is a hauntingly beautiful piece of music: one of my two or three personal favorites. When out driving or alone, I often set this piece's 4th movement "Moderateo e maestoso" to play repeatedly.

I have always thought it amazing how particular pieces of music can become associated with particular passages in life, or memories, usually connected with when one was first exposed to the music. Elgar's Symphony No. 1 in A-flat major (Op. 35) is like that for me. Whenever I hear it, I'm taken back to when I first left college and started out in the real world, and all that this meant, good and bad (and classified). In any case, don't miss the 4th movement ("Lento-Allegro") of this piece.

My favorite work of Sir Edward's is his Coronation March, (Op. 65) (1911). This work, just under eleven minutes long, was prepared for the coronation of King George V on 22 June 1911, when the British Empire was at its absolute apogee. Strange music for a coronation -- although it sounds exaltant and uplifting in places, it is full of shadows and foreboding, as well it might be. Apocalypse was but a few years away -- one murderer's bullets heralding the collapse of civilization and the death of Elgar's world. So many of King George's relatives would lose their thrones, or in some cases, their lives -- as would so many of the attendees and well-wishers that day in June.

What Makes Some People Tick ?

The government of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez is giving the US actor Danny Glover 18 million dollars to make a film about the Haitian rebel Toussaint L'Ouverture and his revolt against the French and Spanish in the early 1800's. Mons. L'Ouverture was double-crossed by the French, arrested and transported to France; dying there in a prison in the Jura Mountains in 1803.

Whatever one thinks about Mons. L'Ouverture and his rebellion: Dictator Chavez, the proper object of rebellion and imprisonment if ever there was one -- is making his gift to Mr. Glover with malice aforethought. According to The Guardian, the aforementioned tinpot hopes that his gift will ". . .sprinkle Hollywood stardust on his effort to mobilise world public opinion against imperialism and western oppression." All this is going on, mind you, while Chavez muzzles what's left of a free press in Venezuela.

Now buying a movie is a good move on the Dictator's part and it's obvious why he would make it. It's always good policy to have actors and similar idiots on one's side when one's putative enemies are bigger and stronger in hard power terms. Mr. Chavez is the enemy too: he accuses the Americans of plotting invasion; calls the President of the United States a "devil" in the United Nations; gives financial aid and rhetorical support to America's enemies, including Iran.

As I say, it's obvious why Mr. Chavez would do this -- and it's a good move for him. Were I in his shoes, I would be more aggressive with such projects, in fact: sprinkling Hollywood stardust should be easy for him as long as he parrots the appropriate leftist slogans on cue; is nice to visiting professors of the goateed Birkenstock set, as well as the odd actor with his or her paramour of the week; and generous with the checkbook. Meanwhile he can jail who he wants as far as the Stardust and the professors are concerned -- after all, he's on the Right Side.

Chavez, I can understand. He's out for power, and he's pursuing whatever state policies he thinks are appropriate to establish his regime of Justice and Enlightenment or whatever he -- and all those who are wise while residing in range of his police -- might call it. Chavez is a Venezuelan and a foreigner, and hopefully sooner, rather than later, he will get his. Chavez, though he's a foreign enemy, is a rational actor, who plays politics with the best. But Mr. Glover, born in San Francisco, California, USA, and people like him, I totally cannot begin to fathom.

Lazy Weekend

El Jefe has no serious post this morning, mostly because he was lazy this weekend, rusticating on his country estates. SWMBO and the Heir stayed in Ciudad El Jefe, and the Great One cruised out to the country Saturday afternoon to engage in important activities like weed-wacking and driving the pick-up. Kept hoping some of my cottonmouth friends would show up to get blasted, but no such luck: they minded their own business, keeping me to mine.

Had a perfectly splendid afternoon on Saturday sitting out by the pond with my book, and having a ginormous steak for dinner (with some decent merlot). Came back to the world on Sunday and had dinner with the neighbors.

On to less agreeable subjects: I see that Peter Brown, writing at Real Clear Politics, has a column this morning entitled "Obama: Uniter or Just a Liberal ?" The piece is worth reading, but since St. Barak of Obama has recently enjoyed an ADA rating of 100, I find the question a silly one, even rhetorically.

No, I Don't Care That She Got Booed. . .

. . .I just wanted a good excuse, or any excuse that I could find to link to The Superficial and its Pamela Anderson pics. Who cares if the idiots in Cannes booed ?

Cruel Necessity ?

Samuel “Sandy” Berger (a/k/a “Sandy Burglar”) National Security Adviser in the Clinton White House, is giving up his license to practice law, according to the Washington Times. (Hat tip: Belmont Club, and Instapundit).

In 2005, Mr. Berger was convicted (on a guilty plea) of removing documents from the National Archives, while preparing to testify before the 9/11 Commission. As far as we know, five documents were involved -- five classified copies of a report covering Clinton administration handling of the unsuccessful 2000 millennium attack plot. Mr. Burger destroyed three copies of this document with scissors -- two were recovered. Mr. Burger was fined $50,000 and sentenced to 100 hours of community service – and ordered to undergo a polygraph examination if the Justice Department asked him to – which it didn’t.

Mr. Burger made at least two earlier visits to the Archives in 2002 and 2003, but the Justice Department, according to Republican congressman Thomas M. Davis, III was “incurious” about these trips, during which Mr. Berger may have had access to uninventoried documents. Apparently, Mr. Berger's little visits seriously disturbed the Archive curators. Glad they bothered somebody.

Why isn’t anybody – the Justice Department, the Media, the Congress --- a little more curious ? Can you imagine the firestorm if Berger had served in a Republican administration ?

And now, he's walking away from the bar license: throwing away the product of probably three-plus years of law school (that's Harvard Law School, in this case) without a fight. “I have decided to voluntarily relinquish my license” the Times quotes Mr. Berger as saying. . .”I am very sorry for what I did, and I deeply apologize.” Fine, but what's going on here ? I have some knowledge of what it takes to get a bar license, and I cannot imagine willingly agreeing to surrender it. . .unless cruel necessity absolutely compelled it.

Why is Sandy Burglar rolling over for this ? What on Earth could make Mr. Berger, of his own accord, surrender that piece of paper? Here's one answer: according to the Washington Times: “In giving up his license, Mr. Burger avoids being cross-examined by the Board on Bar Counsel, where he risked further disclosure of specific details of his theft.”

What is Mr. Berger hiding ? Who, or what, is he protecting ?

Nope, I Didn't Watch the Debates. . .

I confess...I did not watch the Republican debate the other night: much less the Democratic debate awhile back. Friends of mine are astonished, and wonder if I'm under the weather.

No, I'm not under the weather, I'm just not very interested. What the politicians should do, I know right well: what they'll actually do, only God can tell. In any case, it's too early to listen to this business, and I don't generally start paying attention till the weak sisters -- i.e. the candidates with no money or organization -- start dropping out.

Also, I generally find retail politics and vote-shilling boring beyond belief. I'm extremely interested in policy, and in what candidates for public office actually think and write and believe -- but you'll get none of that on television. All that we see on the idiot box is a show featuring carefully scripted and marketed pabulum, precisely calculated and calibrated to appeal to whatever group of voters the handlers find most interesting at present. The only interest is in watching for gotcha moments. In truth I find it deeply repulsive: the more I see of election season, the more I think monarchy has a lot to be said for it.

Regiment Without Its Prince

The British Army Chief of Staff, Sir Richard Dannatt, has decided that H.R.H. Prince Henry of Wales will not accompany his regiment, the Household Cavalry, when it deploys to Iraq. No doubt Sir Richard has his reasons, and Cornet Wales must follow his orders, but Prince Harry should do some wire-pulling.

France, Falwell

In Paris, Jacques Chicac has finally left the Palais de l'Élysée: he is no longer Président de la République, Co- Prince of Andorra or Grand-Maître de l'Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur. The new occupant of the beautiful Élysée, and holder of all those splendid, rather monarchial, offices, Nicolas Sarkozy, is in Berlin visiting the Germans. The Daily Telegraph story linked above has an excellent photograph of the new President trooping the line of the infantry, band and colour party of the Garde Républicaine. I hope the new President enjoys his fête: his job will bring him little enough joy, and much heartache.

Meanwhile, the good Mons. Chirac’s immunity from prosecution expires in a month. I have always thought this immunity while in office was an intelligent feature of French law, if only because it prevents the trial by scandal so beloved of the American press and opposition politicians here: the better to transact the public's business. But when time in office is concluded: so is the immunity, and Mons. Chirac has some problems left over from his time as mayor of Paris from 1977-1995. Given President Sarkozy’s raft of problems, Mons. Chirac's retirement might possibly be more interesting than he thinks. Bon voyage Jacques.

Closer to home, Jerry Falwell has died. Undoubtedly, Reverend Falwell did much good work, including the founding of Liberty University. I never listened much to his public pronouncements: no more than I would much listen to the pontifications of a politician on God or religion. But I certainly don’t think Reverend Falwell, nor his family, deserved the venom projected in his direction -- nobody does. I confess that, if anything, I thought better of the Reverend Falwell because of some who declared themselves his enemies. But the final verdict on Falwell, as on all of us, will be rendered elsewhere, by He who disposes of all things properly. R.I.P.

The National Guard

It's pathetic to listen to the maneuverings of the politicians, complaining about the deployment of the National Guard leaving them short-handed to manage disasters. The solons act as if the National Guard were some sort of organization primarily tasked with disaster relief.

Trust the vote-panderers to get things arse-end first. Given the desire of so many, mostly Leftist politicians to make points against the President after Hurricane Katrina, I suppose this is to be expected. But the National Guard is a vital component of the US Armed Forces, tasked with defense of the Nation and support of US foreign policy. That is its primary mission, and the Guard assists with disaster relief to the extent it does not prejudice its other missions.

The Democrats view foreign and military policy as yet another branch of social work, so their attitude is understandable, if stupid. Yet another reason, if more were needed, why Democrats are not to be trusted on matters of national importance. It is profoundly disheartening, however, to see Republicans as members of this ill-starred chorus. This is not the mindset that made our country a great power.

The Armed Forces are at war. The rest of us are at the mall.

Things to Think On. . .

I'm a little busy today, so I'll leave you some reading assignments, and some things to think on.

I commend to your attention Andrew C. McCarthy's fine piece on President Bush's triumph and defeat in the Iraq policy debate over at National Review Online. (Hat tip: TigerHawk). President Bush is getting his policy preferences adopted: but has failed utterly at conveying their necessity and merit to the American people. Yes, anybody this side of witless idiocy should be able to see the importance of winning the war; but, as Mr. McCarthy says:

. . .In a just war, you have to remind people why the cause is just, why the sacrifices are worth it. You can’t focus, myopically, on Iraqi “democracy” — something Americans simply don’t care that much about — while your not-so-loyal opposition, day after withering day, delegitimizes the casus belli. . .

When the domestic enemies of our effort spend every day assiduously destroying support for the war -- it is necessary for the President to go over their heads, and participate, daily, in encouraging support for the war. Alas, President Bush is, unfortunately, among the most inarticulate occupants of the Presidential chair in modern memory. The Great Communicator, he ain't. As Mr. McCarthy and TigerHawk point out, the Question before the House is this:

If we leave now, we lose. It’s that simple. We make a prophet of bin Laden, who has been saying all along that we’d quit once things got tough. We embolden the enemy, swell its recruitment, inflate its funding, and guarantee that suppressing it, after the inevitable next wave of attacks against us, will cost many, many more American lives.

(emphasis supplied)

Read the whole thing.

We also need to think on the kind of war we are fighting, and the kind of war we are willing to fight. John Dillin, in the Christian Science Monitor, points out that we aren't pursuing, in Iraq or anyplace else -- anything like "Total War." As Mr. Dillin says: "America and Britain didn't win WWII by building playgrounds and schools and setting up local governments. They won by pounding the other side into dust." Mr. Dillin suggests that the answer to why we don't wage war with everything we've got is a "moral ambiguity" in the minds of our leaders about whether we really need to win this war.

The political or social inability of the US to pursue total war, for total victory, deprives the US of the ability to use its best assets -- sheer economic and military weight. The constraints of "Fourth Generation War" -- a form of conflict more political than military, negates these assets. Since 1945, no great power, with the possible exception of Britain in Northern Ireland, has prevailed in an insurgency type conflict. Have a look at Colonel T. X. Hammes (USMC's) article on the evolution of "Fourth Generation Warfare" originally published in Military Review, over at Defense and the National Interest.

Given the political composition of Congress, the failure of the administration to even try to mobilize public opinion in its favor, and the approach of the election, I must confess that I am not very optimistic about the future. The "come home America" peacenik crowd -- the bulk of whose useful idiot members really think the world will sit quietly by and let us swill oil like so much Coca-Cola -- are going to have their day, at least for a time. But there are other actors in the field, who will act to ensure that our defeat is not limited to losing a doubtfully popular war in Iraq -- it is going to have worldwide implications, none of which are going to be good. More on that another time.

What Palestinian Kids are Watching. . .

It sure ain't Spongebob. While Hamas is definitely a Mickey Mouse operation, somehow I don't see the Disney empire suing these people for copyright/trademark infringement.

700, Carbeques, Dialogues

This is evidently post number 700 on this thing. Wow, check it out. No wonder it takes me forever to find old stuff.

El Jefe is blogatorily under-the-weather today, down with an attack of writer's block. All kinds of things going on in the world, such as carbeques in Paris, (Sarko up, Sego down). Parti Socialiste leader François Hollande says this has to stop immédiatement. M. Hollande, besides being Sego's rival for Socialist Party leadership, is also her "life partner" with whom she has four children. That's even weirder than Bill and Hillary. The bedroom conversations in the Hollande/Royal ménage must be tres interessant, n'est pas ?

Meanwhile, back at the château, foreign Islamic wackos apparently wanted to kill soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey. Fortunately, the plot was discovered: because a shop owner asked to put a video on DVD became concerned at images of young men "shooting assault weapons at a firing range. . .while calling for jihad and shouting in Arabic 'Allah Akbar'. . ." and alerted the FBI. That does sound like a dead giveaway to me.

One of the suspects worked at a nearby pizza parlor that made deliveries to the Fort. Apparently he was planning, one fine day soon, to deliver something more than extra pepperoni.

Meanwhile, while the crazies are getting jobs at local pizza parlors to case nearby forts, we have western peace activists in Cairo at an anti-zionism conference having a sit-down with Hamas and Hezbollah (hat tip: Lasso of Truth). According to the National Post (Canada), in an article dated today, 1,500 delegates from the Middle East, Europe, the Americas and the Republic of Korea attended the late March-early April conference.

The purpose of the meeting, sponsored, inter alia, by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, was to ". . .forge 'an international alliance against imperialism and Zionism.'" But Sid Lacombe, "coordinator" of something called the "Canadian Peace Alliance" says that people who accuse these dupes (er, excuse me, activists) of abetting terrorism are wrong: that the peacenik attendance at this conference is about "dialogue and clarity" and "meeting with people who have experienced war over the course of the last few years."

Gotta love that Lefty demand for "dialogue." Here's the kind of dialogue our own Lefties are accustomed to engaging in. . .

Anyway, as to the Cairo conference: too bad we couldn't have "coordinated" delivery of a few aerial, high-explosive smart bomb pepperoni pizzas from 40,000 feet during the conference's plenary session. Now that would have been the kind of dialogue and clarity that would assure the peaceniks a real experience.

La Royal or Les émeutes ?

French Parti Socialiste presidential candidate Ségolène Royal says that if voters choose her center-right rival, UMP (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire), Nicolas Sarkozy, over her, in Sunday's presidential election, they would be making a "dangerous choice."

"It is my responsibility today to alert people to the risk of [his] candidature with regards to the violence and brutality that would be unleashed in the country [if he won]." Mme. Royal went on to say she thought there would be actual violence if M. Sarkozy won.

Wow, La Royal or les émeutes (riots), eh ? Is Madame Royal making a prophecy ? Or is that kind of talk something else. . .like a threat ? That's some strong language. Possibly it's because a poll today gives M. Sarkozy 54.5 percent of the vote compared to Mme. Royal's 45.5.

Either way, no fun for the winner. The French president is, constitutionally speaking, the strongest leader in the West. The President has the effective powers of a monarch, but the winner of this election will be in the difficult position of telling the French people that their welfare state is nearly bankrupt. I don't think the French are ready to hear that yet.

Yeppers, It's Morning. . .

Yes, another splendid morning in Cuidad El Jefe. The Great One -- awakened at the civilized hour of 11 a.m. by his comely Mindy Farrar-lookalike mistress (or does she look like Anna Nicole Smith ?) greats the world with much satisfaction -- smirking with the knowledge that the names of the two lookalikes are going to drive Google hits on this site up, up, up. . .

All is indeed well with the world, El Jefe concludes, perusing his favorite reading: the Security Police reports. The Ciudad El Jefe arms factories are going flat out (defensive weapons, of course -- except when they're not), for his vast armies of goombas. The Ciudad El Jefe press is the freest in the world, and the censors keep it that way. The parliament is not in session -- but who needs it anyway ? The workers and peasants are happy and productive -- the Organs of State Security make sure of that.

A decadently huge breakfast on the palace's outdoor gallery, served by El Jefe's faithful major domo, Fritz, (complete with monocle, tails, gold watch fob, a supercilious air, und der accent). Some black, black coffee, an omelet and mimosas. Servants and ever loyal, ever vigilant guards (complete with Chicago Pianos) prowl around. Life is good.

But what's that buzzing ? Helas, the alarm clock brings El Jefe back to the real world, as SWMBO tells him to get his, er, posterior, out of bed and get to work. Probably a good plan. Hope your day is a good one.

Rights for Aliens

They have tied the world in a tether,
They have bought over God with a fee;
While three men hold together,
The kingdoms are less by three. . .

Let our flag run out straight in the wind!
The old red shall be floated again
When the ranks that are thin shall be thinned,
When the names that were twenty are ten. . .

Algernon Swinburne, "A Song in Time of Order. 1852." Poems and Ballads, First Series. The Poems of Algernon Charles Swinburne. 6 vols. London: Chatto, 1904. 1: xxxi-296, (available via the internet at The Swinburne Project).

While I by no means support, as some evidently do, mass deportations of all illegal aliens in the USA (despite the fact they are here illegally) -- I do find the demonstrations held today, and last year, on behalf of illegal alien "rights" utterly repulsive.

Americans are not barbarians, and I am certain that most of us would not support needless cruelty to persons who have come to our country seeking a better life for their families. I cannot fathom conditions being so horrible that I would voluntarily flee my country for a foreign place, but I would do it to feed my family.

That said, I certainly believe, and I know that millions of Americans do also -- that American citizenship means something precious and special, that is not for everyone. I believe in the concept of nationality. America is not the world employer of last resort. The borders and the flag exist, and are worth defending. A solution to the alien issue must be found, but to talk of rights for persons here illegally is a solecism in terms and an outrage.