cartersdad: What amazes me is that polling is something like 80% of america is against this bill. Yet both parties are still trying to push it through.

I can kind of see where congress and the Prez are coming from. We've framed the issue of border security in really extreme terms, war on terror, national security, etc. If that's really what is important to you then the answer should be clear, quit chasing the small fries and concentrate on people who are actually dangerous. The problem is that the way we've framed the issue isn't how we actually want the issue taken care of. 80% of America is more concerned with getting rid of the annoying, poor, job stealing, petty thieving, Spanish speaking Mexicans than they are with stopping terrorism. The two priorities aren't mutually exclusive, but they're damn close.

cartersdad: I disagree. I think mainly we want control of the border. We don't want people Mexicans coming and going as they please.

Fixed that for you. We don't seem to have these concerns over our far less secure northern border. Securing our borders and controlling the Mexicans are two distinct issues. The American people want the latter, but they've cloaked it in the former. Congress is trying to accomplish the former and for whatever reason are not acknowledging that it's just a pretense for the latter.

whyarefartslumpy: We will when 10-20 million Canooks come pouring over our border.

But see that's what I mean. Congress is acting as though this is a matter of vital national security. That the Mexican boarder is an open invitation for terrorists and hard core murderers and drug dealers. So they're doing something they think will address that problem by saying to hell with the small time violators, lets focus our attention on people who are intent on actually doing real damage to this nation. The American people though are looking at this as a "we have to control the 10-20 million [racial, ethnic, or national origin slur] pouring into our country." That is a totally different issue from securing our borders and it requires a totally different treatment.