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I was embarrassed by my government this past weekend (4/23 and 4/24). I sat there and couldn't believe what I was seeing. I hoped I was dreaming but I wasn't. I could hear Canadians laughing at us. I was ashamed.
It started when the INS pulled up to the Gonzalez home in Miami at 5:15 am Saturday and continued when I saw the picture of the agent with the gun and finally ended with the talk on the Sunday Morning talk shows. It doesn't seem it will get better anytime soon.
I was embarrassed by the reaction of the Gonzalez supporters, the Mayor of Miami, and Republican Congressional leaders.
The Gonzalez family defied a legal order to turn over Elian to his father and then cried to anyone who listened that the INS retrieving the boy by force was unamerican. This is a Nation of laws and if you wish not to follow the laws or think they are wrong there are specific actions you can take. Holding a child and preventing him from being with his parent is against the law. The Uncle and and his daughter are lucky they aren't in jail. When one parent interferes with custody of a child, the penalty is jail time.
They now claim that they were betrayed because the Justice Department didn't fall for the common stall tactics they tried to use. They are free to go back to Cuba if they feel they can't live in this country any longer.
The fact remains that Elian had a father who was living and the law and common sense are clear. He had to be turned over to the father.
The Mayor of Miami, Joe Carollo, arrived after 6 am and made sure he made remarks to every network at the scene. He made the following comment:
"An angry Miami Mayor Joe Carollo made the rounds denouncing the government. On NBC, he called the agents 'thugs.' On CNN, he said it was one of the most shameful acts he had ever seen.
'What they did here was a crime,' Carollo said on CBS. 'Tell the country that these are atheists. They don't believe in God ... I felt that I could not trust our government any longer."
The part where he calls the agents Atheists was funny enough since it made Christians out to be outlaws, but the comment about not trusting "our government" was ironic since he is part of the government. That and the fact that the Miami Police had removed the barricades to allow the INS to drive up to the house made his remarks silly.
At worst Carollo is a plain liar (as some politicians are) and at best a hypocrite.
The biggest embarrassment in this incident came from Right Wing Poster Boy Rep. Tom Delay, R-Texas. He sat before the microphones in the House television studio and lied to the American people when he claimed the INS agents raided the house without a proper warrant.
Why do the Republicans insist on giving me a reason NOT to vote for their party? The current leadership of Lott, House Speaker Hastert, and Delay are the worst we have had in dozens of years. They are so blinded by their outright hatred of the current administration that keep putting their foot in their mouths. In this case, they swallowed their entire leg.
Yes, I was embarrassed to see our Republican leaders act like 6 year old children.
