Just as I

This is the last paragraph of a great piece in the NY Times today by Adam Cohen.
As the Bush administration and the religious right fight to put theology more squarely into public policy discussions, they are going to have to be ready for arguments like the ones coming out of Alabama. Many theologians argue that it is far easier to find support in the Bible for policies that help the poor than for, say, a cut in the dividend tax. If Governor Riley’s crusade succeeds this summer, Alabama may offer the nation a model for a new kind of tax system: one where the Devil is not in the details.
Being irreverently non-religious, I

On the first anniversary of my father’s death (back in the mid-80s), my mom and I visited his grave and I took the photo below. It took the photo with a simple 35mm camera, and I’ve never tinkered with it digitally. What’s here is exactly what Kodak produced — a magical moment that my mom had enlarged and hung on her wall. I couldn’t have made it come out that way if I had tried. The really weird thing is that, as we were standing by his grave that day, she wondered, aloud, what he “looks like now.” See why I like to pretend that it’s possible to make magic??

From the NY Times via www.talkleft.com, which everyone should read daily.
For decades, illegal immigrants have often flourished because officials lacked the staff, resources and political will to deport them. But since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the government has been detaining and deporting illegal immigrants from countries considered breeding grounds for terrorists.
“There’s been a major shift in our priorities,” said Jim Chaparro, acting director for interior enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security, which has subsumed the old immigration service.
[snip]
Some of those facing deportation have waited months or years for officials to process applications to legalize their status. Immigration lawyers say they believe that a substantial number of these men avoid deportation. Their clients are only illegal, the lawyers say, because of the government’s inefficiency.
[snip]
Officials acknowledged that most Arab and Muslim immigrants swept up in counterterrorism sweeps have no ties to terrorist groups. Of the 82,000 men who showed up at immigration offices, and tens of thousands more screened at airports and border crossings in the past six months, 11 have had links to terrorism.
Just imagine how future history will tell the tale of America