A Justified Rant on Immigration Fibs

http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2006/01/hyping-fear-as-texas-congressmen-tell.html Over the years I’ve reluctantly come to agree with Nietzche’s assertion that conviction is a greater enemy to truth than lies. But lies don’t help. I’m already sick of the phony “immigrants as terrorists” meme our Texas Congressmen are promoting out in the world. First it was Republican John Culberson lying to Fox News announcing that Al Quaeda members had been caught crossing the border in Hudspeth County. (“First,” Osama said, “we’ll knock down the World Trade Center. Then we’ll take Salt Flat.”) That got hyped for a week, then the retraction was basically a blurb by comparison. Then last Sunday, the Austin Statesman repeated without attribution the unfounded charge that the Salvadoran youth gang MS-13 is a “terrorist” group. (“New breed of street gang spreads through Texas, US: MS-13 viewed as terrorists by feds,” Jan. 22) Despite the headline, no federal official was quoted in the article making such a claim. So where did it come from? Well, Democratic Congressman Solomon Ortiz told the same unfounded fib to a House Committee last year. The first time I saw the allegation was in the Beaumont Enterprise (“Gang’s number growing” Dec. 4, 2005), but they at least had the courtesy to source the charges, and to debunk them. For more, click the link above.KJ