Indiana’s Governor (along with governors from other enlightened states like Alabama and Louisiana) is using the Paris tragedies as an excuse to exclude a small handful of Syrian refugees who were to be settled in Indiana.
These refugees are fleeing from the same psychopaths who perpetrated the atrocities in Paris –and before Paris, in Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey and several other places, although (in a topic for another day) those massacres didn’t get the U.S. media coverage that the Paris attacks generated.
Given all that, you might think that a man who wears his piety like a badge of honor, who talks about “Christian Charity” and the “generosity of Hoosiers” would embrace desperate people who’ve left their possessions behind, who have fled once-comfortable homes and once-thriving businesses and professions in a frantic effort to get away from the naked evil that is ISIS. You might think that heartbreaking photographs like the one of the dead three-year-old whose body washed ashore–photos that went viral and were hard to miss–would convey the urgency and human need of this incredible migratory flood.
You’d be wrong.
Instead of human compassion, we get grandstanding and political calculation.
Why do I think the Governor’s response would be different if the refugees were conservative Christians who looked more like us?
“Too bad we don’t have a seasonally appropriate story about middle eastern people seeking refuge only to be turned away by the heartless. . .”
And no thanks to those in media who could and perhaps should have pointed out the law early – namely states cannot refuse refugees. More important to allow fear mongering and hatred to build than tell the Emperor he has no clothes,
Pious Pence should read this: Matthew 25:31-46… Then turn in his “Christian I.D.
#truehypocritesmbh
Jeb! said Syrian Christians are ok.
Syrians aren’t part of our culture and cannot be brought here in any numbers unless exceedingly small to allow them to abandon their culture and to assimilate into ours.
The cultural Marxists want to destroy American culture to increase their own power, so thank you to Governor Pence for protecting Indiana’s culture and safety.
I know I don’t want to have to be fearful every time I go out or have to strap on my gun and other weapons just to go to a movie or the grocery store.
Obama should be impeached for deliberately trying to destroy American culture.
Mike Savage is very right when he talks about America’s need to preserve Language, Borders, Culture and that America’s enemies are trying to destroy all three.
America needs a good, strong, nationalist party to save our Language, Borders, Culture.
Has Pence forgotten that Mitch Daniels’ paternal grandparents were from Syria?
If I had ANY confidence in the federal government to properly get these refugees, I would share your outrage. But since the current administration has never exercised good judgement, I am very apprehensive about helping them in this country.
That was supposed to say “properly vet”
Unfortunately this move will score points for Pence with most Hoosiers.
Wow, I am more frightened by several of these comments than the possibility of any terrorist group.
What is the true nature of this world war with terrorism? Is it even possible to find that truth even as the seekers are lost in a maze of religiosity, fear, and nationalism? Not until we all cast aside the irrational thinking that permeates every religion, the self serving political correctness of pseudo intellectualism, and the simplistic reasoning of the uneducated will we make any headway toward global peace.
Pence is an easy target. What is not so easy is a self examination that would reveal to each our own hypocrisy and maybe open the door to the sound thinking that could lead to truth.
“Why do I think the Governor’s response would be different if the refugees were conservative Christians who looked more like us?”
Because it should be. “Conservative Christians who looked more like us” are welcome in Indiana, as they are intrinsically better people, and they will respect our Language, Borders, Culture.
Cultural Marxists need to be met head-on. These delusions need to end. Not all cultures are equal, Sheila.
Nobody is ever scared of the conservative Catholic German family down the block.
So far, here are the states protecting their residents by saying NO to Syrian refugees.
Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
Georgia
Florida
Idaho
Indiana
Illinois
Iowa
Kansas
Louisiana
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
Mississippi
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Jersey
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Wisconsin
The response is exactly what one expects from protectionist conservatives. They use the christian-speak for political cover, while their actions play to bigotry. Yes, those are the men we elected to our executive offices in many states.
“Honest To Goodness, Indiana”…WTF is wrong with your governor who espouses Christianity from every pore?
The Refugee Act of 1980, signed into law by President Jimmy Carter, comes into play here. Pence doesn’t even protect Indiana citizens whose beliefs, medical needs, financial increases or orientation are opposite his own narrow-minded views. His view regarding any issue spoken by President Obama comes as no surprise to those of us paying attention. The front page of the Star today is a Pence triumph…at least in the eyes of Pence and his followers. It is a source of shame for the rest of us. “REFUGEES REFUSED” and the companion article, “Bill seeks to balance rights” which takes us back to last summer’s fiasco regarding his RFRA and bogus “fix”. That bill should be interesting reading for all…pro and con.
The third article on the front page, “Company’s homes become crime magnets” is a reminder of Pence and Ballard’s failure to take any credible action on the abandoned homes here. Which could provide jobs rehabilitating, repairing and reusing them to house low-income residents and cut deeply into shelters used by criminals. It is probably, in actuality, a reminder to newly elected Joe Hogsett of his campaign promise to attack this issue.
The headline article on the Viewpoints page, “Paris pays price of Obama’s inaction” comes as no surprise. It was written by David Mastio, deputy editorial page editor of the USA Today, both owned by Gannett, Inc. This article will strengthen Pence’s stance on “REFUGEES REFUSED” in the minds and hearts of the Republicans running this state…running it into the ground is a closer truth if you remember our standing in national research on major issues of civil and human rights and the economic status of the majority of residents.
I proudly still have my “Pence Must Go” sign in my front yard; will keep it there until he is gone and we can begin digging out from under the shitpile his “trickle-down” platform has produced.
We could explore just admitting Christian refugees.
Gopper,
Don’t take this personally, but I’m more scared of your rhetoric and its implications than any Syrian refugee.
You never tell us anything about yourself. By the way, how long has your family been here? You talk like they must have been from some lost tribe of American Indians?
The Goober er Gooper strikes again. There isn’t much difference between his think and the thinking of the christian Germans in the 30s
Like Howard, I am sadly amazed at some of the comments here.
American “culture” and “language” is an amalgam of all our immigrant ancestors. While our language has it roots in British English (which has its’ roots in Norman and Angle/Saxon languages), American English has words from all kinds of other languages: Irish, Scot, German, Italian, Yiddish, etc., etc.
Our “culture” celebrates St. Patrick’s Day, Hallowe’en, Octoberfest, Cinqo de Mayo, Christmas (originally a northern european solstice celebration), Easter (originally a spring equinox festival), etc., etc.
Most of our ancestors came here fleeing religious persecution (like my Lutheran and Quaker ancestors), war, hunger/starvation, land loss/theft, pogroms, genocide, etc., etc.
Earlier immigrants who became Americans ( the W.A.S.P.s) complained about immigrants who brought their “culture” and “language” with them, e.g. the French Huguenots, Germans, Italians, Irish, Poles, etc., etc.
We current Americans need to remember own histories and keep our hearts and minds open because the next medical cure, technological breakthrough, scientific advance, etc. might come because of a Syrian refugee who settled here.
his thinking 😉
Dale, your liberal buzzwords don’t mean anything, anymore. You are living in a time when “racist” is diminishing as a pejorative word, as people yearn for a protector, one who advocates self-defense and cultural survival.
Millions of Americans see PEGIDA and feel a closer bond to them than to culture-destroying Marxists in the USA.
LePen, Putin, Geert Wilders, Viktor Orban are seen as heroes by millions across the world.
Marv. take this personally:
I really don’t care what you think. I think you’re lying when you say you’re scared of White, Northern European Christians.
I think you’re very angry about America’s cultural composition and are looking to tear down what America really is.
Irvin,
As you said, we need to remember that over 60% of the CHRISTIAN CHURCHES during the Nazi regime made the decision to be Nazified. Not all did. Many resisted.
Gopper,
You don’t listen real well. I didn’t say I was scared of you. I said I was scared of your rhetoric and how disastrous it is to the future of this country. That’s all.
It’s still a free country from my vantage point. Isn’t it?
Of course Sheila doesn’t find fault with the oil rich countries of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Kuwait, Qatar, et al. refusing to accept a single Syrian refugee. God forbid they be asked to accept people from neighboring countries who share a common culture and language. How about Israel, Sheila. How many refugees is Israel accepting from Syria?
Must compassion be tied to asylum? Is it not possible to establish safe havens for Syrian refugees in their own country? What about Saudi Arabia or Qatar? These two countries have accepted none to date. Qatar has the third highest GDP in the world and it’s right next door …
I have always noted the affinity between Nazism and the right wing of the Republican Party. Not until today have I seen such a blatant expression of those ideas so displayed. Shame on you, Gopper.
Found on Facebook.
Dear Republicans:
You know that nativity scene we play out every year at Christmas?
Yeah, that’s about a middle eastern couple seeking refuge.
Think about that.
This is not the administrations’ fault for not throwing enough bombs. This is about Muslims that are fighting like the Hatfields and Macoys that can’t seem to see their own stupidity. You can’t fight a sect in the 21 century with people that want to live in the 9th century, BC.
Unless the world creates a world-wide database of every person on this planet, and shares it worldwide, it will be impossible to ‘vet’ every single refugee that is fleeing their country’s war. And until the Muslims stand up and stop this madness nobody, and that goes for atheist like me or Christians or Jews or agnostics will ever be able to stop it either. The Muslims, who are the largest population of victims by far, needs to step up and stop them because the rest of us will just be viewed as discriminatory.
Aging girl,
Real good point.
Gary Welsh; perhaps Sheila is aware of Matthew 7:3 in the New Testament: “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”
Being an American and a resident of Indiana; Sheila and most of us are concerned with our part in this current situation regarding Syrian refugees. Not even President Obama can control “the oil rich countries of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Kuwait, Qatar, et al. refusing to accept a single Syrian refugee.” Or as Stephen King so aptly put it; “You can’t keep someone else’s socks pulled up.”
In the 1920s. my grandfather in Perrysville, Indiana, was active in the Hoosier KKK. He felt & spoke the same way about immigrants, especially Catholic & Jewish ones, that “GOPPER” now expresses. Those people just wouldn’t “fit in” and would disrupt our Indiana way of life.
The more things change, the more they remain the same…
Gary and Kelly —- This isn’t about how other countries are responding or how we think they should respond. It is about how many of our citizens (including many state officials) in our country are reacting. We have the Statue of Liberty, they do not .
Shame on you, Theresa.
Try standing up for America.
Same with the GOP candidates who have ‘declared war on Muslims’ with their comments of not wanting ‘Muslim’ refugees but ‘Christians’ from the middle east on the US soil. I think it is an effort to provoke Pres. Obama. Constitutionally though, do Governors have the power do deny settlement to refugees who have been admitted by the federal government?
I do agree with Sheila though, these ‘poor’ people are being persecuted. No normal person leaves their home without cause.
Mel Brooks, where are you when we need you ?
Spring Time, for Gopper and Republican’s …
(Observe an 1/8 note rest at the comma)
In corresponding with a French friend of ours, he recently indicated that he was surprised that such a great country would produce such “low level” candidates as we have. I wonder if the janitorial staff has to clean up the drool from Mr. Pence and others after they so obsequiously cater to their fearful and xenophobic base.
If nothing else the scriptures stand squarely with the stranger and the importance of welcoming the sojourner. Duval Patrick made that very clear last year when he read from the Pentateuch the command to welcome strangers, his voice breaking as he did. Sometimes the contrast between people is stunning.
Seriously, its very disturbing to read some of the above opinions.
Pence is a state official (not Federal) and has no business dictating
wether refugees will be allowed to settle in Indiana or not. Foreign
policy and Immigration are administered at the Federal level …
Another area where our Governor has embarrassed the State of
Indiana. When people ask what the definition of “Hoosier” is, should
I continue to correct them when they say it sounds like an “Ignorant
Rustic from the Sticks” or should I simply let it pass with a smile.
Not said at all in the McMega-Media is the responsibility for this tragedy. It was the Dummy (GWB), Rummy and Cheney who lit this fuse by invading Iraq. There was no ISIS that existing in Iraq or Syria before the GWB’s invasion. You remember GWB’s the Axis of Evil, which originally had Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. Later on May 6, 2002, then-Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton gave a speech entitled “Beyond the Axis of Evil”. In it he added three more nations to be grouped with the already mentioned rogue states: Cuba, Libya, and Syria. Sadly enough the current administration carried through on Libya, and attempted the same on Syria.
As a former Roman Catholic we had the concept of Penance, that is atoning for your sins. Perhaps taking in the refugees would be our National Penance. We even have some calling for a US Led Invasion, for you people I would say sign up to be the point man in a platoon in the invasion.
Remember the first thanksgiving when real Americans welcomed persecuted religious refugees to our shores?
The truth is that Islamic terrorists play way to comfortable lazy fearful American fat cats like a fiddle. They say jump we say how high. Governors like Pence ought to be given honorable terrorist status for their role supporting terrorism.
We love to spend our money bombing them but we hate to spend it saving them and ending the strife.
Why? Gopper believes that one of them might have a gun. Really?
Thanks Sheila, the last sentence in your blog post today sums it up completely.
We are virtually all immigrants in the US. Seems most of us forget that overtime. Lucky for our fore parents (not for native Americans) that native Americans didn’t have the power to ban immigrants from their territory.
It was religious refugees from British state church rule along with indentured servants and debtor prison convicts and others who came to America. It was refugees from communist rule who came to America from Cuba (Rubio and the pious Cruz who wants only Christian refugees from Syria to come here, take note). Cruz, himself of Cuban descent as is Rubio, would invite only Christian refugees from Syria into our midst. Apparently he has forgotten that Timothy McVeigh, a Christian and even a veteran, killed more Americans in Oklahoma City than the terrorists did in Paris. Based on that single statistic, Cruz should be opposed to inviting Christian refugees from Syria into our country.
Cruz is playing gutter politics with such chatter. Does he propose that Israel accept only Jewish refugees from Syria; Thailand only Buddhists; Iran only Shia muslims? Is where one goes to mosque, church or temple the new criterion for admittance, or (upon investigation) their propensity to terrorize and kill people? Would Cruz admit a killer because he/she showed up at mass every Sunday?
Who put that blowhard in charge of selecting criteria for refugee admittance? He is a fear-mongering, pandering libertarian who seems to think his reason for being is to destroy America via some sort of nihilistic rant (aka extreme positions). Democracy? What’s that? This man wants to be president? Should he succeed, stop the bus. I want off.
Louie,
“it was the Dummy (GWB), Rummy and Chaney who lit the fuse by invading Iraq”
You’re so right.
I was watching TV the other night. And a top Paris police official was being interviewed by an American reporter. The reporter asked, “How much danger are we in? The French official replied, “We’re only number 2, you’re number 1.”
God help us.
A fellow countryman of mine, many years ago wrote
an appropriate song, it’s well worth playing these days.
although, I’m sure many will ignore its message …
A well known tune by “John Lennon”
Remember when both political parties described for us voters their accomplishments to earn our trust and votes? Now Republicans have none to speak of and they’re left with only fear mongering.
And some of us fall for it.
Do we still deserve democracy?
Jewish, Muslim, and Christian religions all command people of faith to welcome and extend hospitality to strangers. Exodus 22:21: “You must not mistreat or oppress foreigners in any way. Remember, you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.” Romans 12:13: “When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.”
Governor Pence often is anxious to witness his Christian faith but has not done so for Syrian Christians and Muslims trying to escape oppression and terrorists in their homeland.
It was a pleasure to receive notice of Governor Mitch Daniels’ Syrian ancestry and his remarks in this link. http://www.politico.com/…/daniels-highlights-syrian-heritag….
I pray Governor Pence will reconsider his actions below, even though the federal government does not need state permission to locate refugees in a state.
Yes we must exercise caution to protect our security, and the U.S. does so. It’s difficult and laborious for refugees to gain admission to the U.S. It takes 18 to 24 months and one must gain approval of about 8 different U.S. governmental agencies, including the Dept. of Homeland Security. Background checks are required. If a refugee cannot pass the background check for any reason – including lack of papers – the refugee is NOT admitted to the U.S. http://www.uscis.gov/…/united-states-refugee-admissions-pro….
Louie,
It’s true that there was no ISIS that existed in Iraq or Syria before the GWB’s invasion. What beats reason is why did the world buy into the WMD nonsense that was/is the origin of the current ISIS crisis….?
A former best friend of mine, upon learning that I was
going to move to the united states 34 years ago, simply
said:
“How can you even consider going to live in the country
that killed John Lennon”
He, has not spoken to me in all this time …
I’ve decided to wear Gopper’s shaming as a badge of honor. Might even get a tee shirt that reads, “Proud to have been shamed by Gopper the Coward.”
It is Pence’s behavior in this refugee crisis that is unChristian and unAmerican.
Gopper advisory:
Let ’em in. Indoctrinate ’em to change their “Christian” names to Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and “John”. Then show ’em how to apply for jobs in the Mike Pence administration or how to clean toilets.
If anyone chooses “Jesus”, admonish him to avoid pronouncing it “Hey-suss” lest he be identified as Hispanic from another migration.
Gopper:
You point out that those on your list are heroes to millions across the globe. Perspective: there are billions of people, so your millions are < 1%; same is true in the USA. The conservative blowhards think that because they talk more and talk louder, they are recruiting others to their dying cause. It's really time for you to come out of the bomb shelter and look around at the 21st century world.