In The Durham News portion of the print version of The News & Observer today, I find that Durham’s messed-up priorities continue.
[Note: It’s so hard to find Durham news on the News & Observer‘s web site that I just gave up, so there is no link to the two stories referenced below.]
The City Council wasted more time discussing a boycott of Arizona, protesting an entirely reasonable and prudent immigration law that seeks to stop a flood of illegal immigration at its border with Mexico. As usual, the Durham City Council, which loves meaningless gestures it views as symbolic, presumes to know what’s best for a state nearly 2,000 miles away, based on skewed news reports of the contents of the Arizona law.
Only one voice of reason seems present at the council table. I’m talking about Eugene Brown, who seems to be trying to explain, in nice words, that his colleagues shouldn’t be wasting any time on this ridiculous measure pushed by the ever-aggrieved Human Relations Commission and other local left-wingers. But Brown is too polite to use those words. Instead, he said:
“What they are doing is not going to solve anything,” Brown said. “It may make some of us feel good, but when the cheering stops, the same problems will be there. The federal government is still sitting on their hands. It is the politics of gesture, and we have more than enough to do than to deal with it.”
He counter-proposed a resolution to ask the feds to fix our “broken immigration system.” Unfortunately, for most of the bleeding hearts on the council that means “don’t enforce the immigration laws.”
We’ll know on Monday what this enlightened group comes up with.
Meanwhile, on the same front page of The Durham News is this headline: “Crime surges in first quarter.” It’s a one-column headline, as opposed to the five-column headline on the immigration debate story. That tells you as much about the N&O’s priorities as it does the priorities of the City Council. Here’s the wonderful news in that story:
The year got off to a violent start, with increases in murder, robbery and aggravated assault over the first quarter of 2009.
And yet the city fathers spend their time worrying about what Nathaniel Goetz, chairman of the city Human Relations Commission, claimed would send a vital message to Arizona. Perpetual agitator Tema Okun echoed the “make a strong statement” view. But, hey, Nathaniel and Tema, listen to Brown and forget about sending a vital message to Arizona. How about sending a vital message to Durham citizens that you care about increases in murders, rapes and robberies right here in your own city?
Now that would be good human relations.
