to borrow Virginia Postrel's typology...properly, I hope.

Two instances of the battle over immigration in the U.S., both of which cause me to lose a little faith in my fellow man, at least the stasist portion of them.

1: Vigilantes on the Mexican border are being virtually assailed with a website sit-in.

We call on you sisters and brothers from all over the world who oppose the MinuteMen Project and in the name of the 3,500 women, men and children who have died crossing into "The Land of Liberty" since 1994 to join the Electronic Disturbance Theatre action on May 27th, 28th and 29th, 2005 to engage in a Virtual Sit-In on the MinuteMen website during their "Unite to Fight" Summit.

Swarm website, Minutemen website, via Bruce Sterling.

2: The Gold Star Mothers, an organisation for mothers of U.S servicemen killed in action, is denying membership to a mother, born in the Phillippines, who has lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years and is a permanent resident.

Washington Post: Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.) said the group should change its rules immediately. He said the Gold Star Mothers' decision smacks of xenophobia and is in contrast to what Anthony Lagman fought and died for.

A past president of the mothers group, Dorothy Oxendine of Farmingdale, Long Island, said: "There's no discrimination in a national cemetery. There's no discrimination when they get killed side by side. So how can we discriminate against a mother?" Oxendine, the former president, said she is sure the general membership would approve a rules change if the board did.

I'm particularly disgusted by the glib comment of the current organisation president, Ann Herd, who was so moved by Lagman's sacrifice that she commented "There's nothing we can do because that's what our organization says: You have to be an American citizen....We can't go changing the rules every time the wind blows." via Guardian.

Welcome to Memorial Day weekend in the international twenty-first century. Just make sure you stay on your side of the fence, or the small minds will get you....

Filed in: immigration, stasist, dynamist, culture, politics