BLAIR, BLARNEY AND BORDER CROSSINGS

A couple of our friends forwarded to me a statement supposedly spoken by Tony Blair, that supported the United States. It included a religious message about Jesus dying to make us holy and GIs dying to make us free. I decided to research this and found out that Blair had made a statement like this, but without the reference to Jesus.

Here is what Blair said, (as confirmed here: BLAIR QUOTE )

"First, we should remain the closest ally of the US, and as allies influence them to continue broadening their agenda. We are the ally of the US not because they are powerful, but because we share their values. I am not surprised by anti-Americanism; but it is a foolish indulgence. For all their faults and all nations have them, the US are a force for good; they have liberal and democratic traditions of which any nation can be proud. I sometimes think it is a good rule of thumb to ask of a country: are people trying to get into it or out of it? It's not a bad guide to what sort of country it is."

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It seems to me that the gentleman makes a good point. In time, Bush will be gone, and maybe America will return again to better policies more likely to make us attractive to other peoples. Meanwhile, it does seem to be true that the U.S. has many more Pull Factors than Push Factors, and our borders are busy with new arrivals. That must signify something about us, and surely that's good. So, Tony, thanks for the compliment. We hope to deserve it.

But then, there is the matter of hijacking the Blair statement in order to spread a little propaganda. Seems to me this crosses a border into the land of fraud.

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ON A RELATED SUBJECT, when I was in Assisi, I took this picture of an olive grove. In some groves, pickers were working. The guide explained that olives must be picked by hand. Unfortunately, even though olives and olive oil are critical commodities for the Italian table and for the Italian balance-of-payments, not very many Italians wish to pick the crop any more. Schools are often given a holiday in order to get the youngsters to help. Many people from other countries want to come in and do the job. Some are legal, some are not. And yet, Italians generally don't want all these newcomers knocking on the gates. It's the same sort of dichotomy that the U.S. lives with, and it's the contradicition which free and prosperous societies everywhere have, from Japan to England.