he, he, ok I'll stop.

Sirimba has posted the thoughts of Jack Kemp on this immigration bill. He believes America can be a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. I tend to agree with him.

UPDATE: Idealism?

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Some thoughts about Ronald Reagan and Immigration courtesy of the Cato Institute.

In the many eulogies to Ronald Reagan since his passing, virtually all acknowledge his role in defeating Soviet communism and reviving America's self-confidence. But another aspect of Reagan's record that should not be forgotten was his commitment to keeping America open to trade and immigration.

Reagan's vision of an America open to commerce and peaceful, hardworking immigrants contradicts the anti-trade and anti-immigration views espoused by Lou Dobbs, Bill O'Reilly, Pat Buchanan, Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, and many others who claim to speak for the conservative causes Reagan largely defined.
...

At a ceremony at Ellis Island in 1982, he spoke movingly of immigrants who "possessed a determination that with hard work and freedom, they would live a better life and their children even more so." As with trade, Reagan's record on immigration was mixed. He signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which included stepped up border enforcement and sanctions against employers who knowingly hire illegal workers. But that legislation also legalized 2.8 million undocumented workers. More immigrants entered the United States legally under President Reagan's watch than under any previous U.S. president since Teddy Roosevelt.
...

Like President George W. Bush today, Reagan had the good sense and compassion to see illegal immigrants not as criminals but as human beings striving to build better lives through honest work. In a radio address in 1977, he noted that apples were rotting on trees in New England because no Americans were willing to pick them. "It makes one wonder about the illegal alien fuss. Are great numbers of our unemployed really victims of the illegal alien invasion or are those illegal tourists actually doing work our own people won't do?" Reagan asked. "One thing is certain in this hungry world; no regulation or law should be allowed if it results in crops rotting in the fields for lack of harvesters."
...

In his farewell address to the nation in January 1989, Reagan beautifully wove his view of free trade and immigration into his vision of a free society: "I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and heart to get here."

Compare Reagan's hopeful, expansive, and inclusive view of America with the dour, crabbed, and exclusive view that characterizes certain conservatives who would claim his mantle. Their view of the world could not be more alien to the spirit of Ronald Reagan.

Jay Nordlinger has a sad and cautionary tale to tell in today's Impromptus about Chinese dissident Charles Lee, a member of Falun Gong who was in the Chinese gulag for years. Here's an excerpt from his interview with Mr. Lee:

I asked him whether he thought he would die, at any time during the three-year ordeal. He said, "Yes. There was constant pressure. Constant pressure." He likened his experience to that of Prometheus, whom Zeus chained to a rock: Prometheus had his liver eaten out every day. Authorities at the prison had a sweet message for Dr. Lee: "We will make living worse for you than dying." Reports Dr. Lee, "They were very good at mental torture," as well as physical. "Some people mention the concept of 'the genocide of souls' — they kill your soul. They let you become a nobody."

When you read it, mentally replace the names and place names with a Cuban reference. The same horror is happening in Cuba and has been happening for almost forty-eight years now. Don't buy the platitude that we defeated Communism; it' alive and well in too many places around our sad world.

Photo by Joe Papp.

So, what's going on?