front page this morning

Utah County GOP delegate links illegal immigration to Satan

By Deborah Bulkeley
Deseret Morning News

The devil is sticking his pitchfork into the nation's immigration politics.
At least that's what one of Utah County's Republican delegates thinks.
Don Larsen, a district chairman, has submitted a resolution equating illegal immigration to "Satan's plan to destroy the U.S. by stealth invasion" for debate at Saturday's Utah County Republican Party Convention.
Referring to a plan by the devil for a "New World Order ... as predicted in the Scriptures," the resolution calls for the Utah County Republican Party to support "closing the national borders to illegal immigration to prevent the destruction of the U.S. by stealth invasion."
In part, the resolution states, "There are ways to destroy a nation other than with bombs or bullets. The mostly quiet and unspectacular invasion of illegal immigrants does not focus the attention of the nation the way open warfare does but is all the more insidious for its stealth and innocuousness."
Larsen did not immediately return Deseret Morning News phone calls for comment.
"I don't think you'd find very many Republicans to suggest that the devil is involved in the immigration issue," said Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo, who is serving as convention chairman. "I don't think you'll find much support for that sentiment."
Bramble said the resolution is the only such proposal that was submitted before the deadline to be debated at this year's convention. It's at the end of the agenda, and Bramble said sometimes it's hard to find a quorum of delegates at the end of the day.
However, Bramble — who in 2005 sponsored a then-controversial measure to replace drivers' licenses of illegal immigrants with driving privilege cards that can't be used as state identification — said the resolution could be brought up.
If that happens, Bramble said, it likely would spark a discussion among delegates about how they'd like to see the party handle the issue of immigration.
"I think you'd find the majority of Republicans, and frankly the majority of Democrats, saying illegal immigration is not healthy for this country, the immigration system is broken and Congress has been an abject failure," he said. "The debate is how to address illegal immigration in the country, what is an acceptable proposal for a solution."
Joe Hunter, chief of staff for Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, declined comment on the resolution. Cannon, whose district includes Utah County, has been drawn into primary battles on two occasions because of his vocal support for comprehensive immigration reform.
One of Cannon's key critics, Mike Sizer, a convention delegate and spokesman for the anti-illegal immigration group Utahns for Immigration Reform and Enforcement, said, "The vast, vast majority of the delegates are very logical. They are concerned about the issue. They don't want amnesty. ... I've never heard of (illegal immigration) as far as Satan's plan."

article can be found at http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660215179,00.html
*****

Quite the conspiracy coming out of the one from the right wing there, eh?

graves of public places

We've heard of high school shootings. It's not so hard to picture when you take into account out of proportion teenage angst added with some kid's negative environment. Today's news was hard to identify with because when I think of a university I think of a controlled atmosphere where matured minds are plenty and welcome. At Virginia Tech, the death toll made it up to 33 people.

There is only so much the rest of us can say about our reactions. Big events like these always seem like movies, but then again we are all watching it on t.v. lounging on the sofa. In the end it can affect us but we still can turn off the television. I've been trying to focus on this as a serious event and not just walk away and forget it with the next day. As much as it's natural to feel that it has nothing to do with me, it was something that may as well of happened across the world, I want to do my best to see it as a reality. Because some people can't just turn it off.

I imed a friend about it earlier all we could say were adjectives like "horrible" "terrible" and "unimaginable". It all felt so quaint to say. The newscasts showed the school's colorless buildings along with light slow falling snow which did something to seal the image for me. It even appeared to be a transformed environment. It's hard to grasp that a man would kill multiple people, people he never had a reason to hate.

After seeing the lives lost today, I was surprised by the tears that came and held a small vigil on my own. There are just some events that make you see little humanity in the world for a small amount of time. Discussing it helped, in these situations there are no easy answers. Especially since a murderer is also a victim, one can only guess at the instability he was facing. My deepest sympathies go out to all in the Roanoke communities.