It's amazing that our own policy about taking in undocumented immigrants has become so staunch during the very period that our war mongering has forced a far worse situation on another country. America seems politically obsessed with narrow definitions of morality, but our international and domestic policies throw morals by almost any standard completely out the window.
In medieval times the swan was symbollic of hypocricy because the elegant bird sports gleaming white feathers over a pitch black skin. Perhaps the swan can replace the bald eagel when we've driven it into extinction.
This isn't the 'I hate America' rant that progressives get accused of, by the way, but comes from a man who cries at the impassioned 'I love America' speeches in old Capra films. I believe hardily in what is good about us - I just see it falling under the wheels of a new machine.

I take great offense at your stigmatizing of Swans. They are a most gorgeous bird. The Bald Eagle represents strength. Instead of putting down our native wildlife, I suggest that you can name some humans to make your point without offending bird lovers. For shame.

Swansen, please direct your complaints about the use of the swan as a symbol of hypocricy to:
Medieval Lore
2310 Getoverit Plaza
Yourani Diot, England 4Z7 G5T

Perhaps there was a very small group of hateful people in the dark ages who hated swans. But since then we had the age of reason. The best known story about a swan is The Ugly Duckling fable. The story centers around a duckling who is mistreated until it becomes evident he is a swan and is accepted into the habitat. He was mistreated because real ducklings are, according to many, more attractive than a cygnet, yet cygnets become swans, which are very attractive creatures. Swans are often a symbol of love or fidelity, because of their long-lasting monogamist relationships. See the famous swan-related operas Lohengrin and Parsifal. Today five flying swans are the symbol of the Nordic Countries and the whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus) is the national bird of Finland. Swans are revered in many religions and cultures, especially Hinduism.

I'm going to assume for the moment that Paul Miller meant no offense. He has a long history of intelligent and thoughtful posts on this blog.

Swansen, I do have to agree with you and extend it to all other species. Whenever humans attempt to insult a human by comparison with another species, it is invariably the other species that is being insulted. I doubt we can find any bird or animal to use as a symbol of what we've become.

Getting back to the point at hand here though, I think the Lou Reed lyrics about the Statue of Bigotry have been more characteristic of this country of late. "Give me your hungry, your tired, your poor, I'll piss on 'em. That's what the statue of bigotry says." I hope I quoted that adequately from memory. It may be imperfect.

I think it's true that we have long since forgotten that the immigration into this country is one of the things that made it great, when it was great.

Misanthropic Scott, I couldn't help but be flippant on this post because I refuse to be taken to task for having knowledge of a medieval concept. Afterall, to use an animal symbollically in tapestry and art to make a point about your monarch or overlord is not the same as having a discriminatory dislike for the animal itself. I did not post nor do I think it's true that when the king pissed the people off, they went swan hunting. The fact that fat people are called pigs doesn't insult the pig - pigs are stout because that is their makeup. Likewise, a swan does sport white feathers over black skin. I think it is a fabulous symbol for the idea of hypocrisy and that it is foolish and misses the point by a landslide to allow the mention of the animal to supercede its message. Specifically, while Swansen's second comment suggests someone with a genuine opinion, he first seemed like someone trolling [I mean 'Swansen' - come on.]

The fact that fat people are called pigs does not insult the pigs. The fact that male chauvinists are called pigs does. Typically, non-insulting comments do not insult the animal.

However, consider the complimentary expression “clever as a fox”. Now, I imagine some poor fox saying, “Humans: a) walk in front of buses b) drink and drive and c) send email from crackberries while driving. If I’m only as smart as a human, I better find that yellow road to the wizard and get me a brain before some coyote makes Purina Coyote Chow out of me!!”

Still though, It seems unlikely that swans are actually reading this blog to get upset. You might want to be more careful about African gray parrots, all species of dolphins including killer whales, elephants, all of the great apes, and any other species that may be learning to read a computer screen or use a keyboard. (Almost forgot sperm whales, what are they doing with a 20 lb brain?)

As for Swansen, I wouldn’t assume that all bloggers that choose a new alias for each post are necessarily trolls. In fact, I think the pun is too intelligent for a troll. And another thing, what do both of us have against trolls since we’ve both recently insulted them??!!? (Oh well, they're mythical creatures, like god, and thus cannot take offense.)

BTW, polar bears also have beautiful creamy yellow/white fur on top of beautiful black skin. The hairs, actually clear and fiber-optic-like, transmit the light and heat to the black skin to help keep them warm.

The fact that fat people are called pigs does not insult the pigs. The fact that male chauvinists are called pigs does. Typically, non-insulting comments do not insult the animal.

However, consider the complimentary expression “clever as a fox”. Now, I imagine some poor fox saying, “Humans: a) walk in front of buses b) drink and drive and c) send email from crackberries while driving. If I’m only as smart as a human, I better find that yellow road to the wizard and get me a brain before some coyote makes Purina Coyote Chow out of me!!”

Still though, It seems unlikely that swans are actually reading this blog to get upset. You might want to be more careful about African gray parrots, all species of dolphins including killer whales, elephants, all of the great apes, and any other species that may be learning to read a computer screen or use a keyboard. (Almost forgot sperm whales, what are they doing with a 20 lb brain?)

As for Swansen, I wouldn’t assume that all bloggers that choose a new alias for each post are necessarily trolls. In fact, I think the pun is too intelligent for a troll. And another thing, what do both of us have against trolls since we’ve both recently insulted them??!!? (Oh well, they're mythical creatures, like god, and thus cannot take offense.)

BTW, polar bears also have beautiful creamy yellow/white fur on top of beautiful black skin. The hairs, actually clear and fiber-optic-like, transmit the light and heat to the black skin to help keep them warm.

Misanthropic Scott, are you a zoologist? No snark. It's just that having read so many of your posts, I'm glad they often contain interesting information about the animal kingdom. [Is animal kingdom the correct term these days - to my adult ears, not having used or written down that phrase in a long time, 'animal kingdom' seems corny and like something that a smart alec scientist would have disproven a long time ago.] The little kernels of knowledge are the reward at the end of a serious of hate-mongering comments. [I always say the one prejudice I have is against bigots - kind of ironic. And should explain my sometimes impatience with mean minded trolls - the human variety, as you wish.]

I'm a geek (computer programmer). I happen to have some outside interests. Wildlife viewing and photography are probably the biggest. I’ve been on safari style trips, to Africa, South America, Antarctica, the Canadian Arctic, New Zealand, etc., and have learned from numerous guides. I also read a lot of Natural History magazine, books on animal behavior and brains, and even just the information in the field guides.

I’m also very interested in biological evolution, including our own, and cosmology. So, I guess I’ve been lucky that programming has allowed me the time and money to pursue these interests, especially the travel, on my time off.

Animal kingdom is probably still an acceptable term. I personally don’t use it much and just refer to animals. Perhaps that comes from knowing that animals are not the kings of the planet. I have a bit of a different way of viewing things based partly on my own warped brain and partly on the reading I’ve done. Since bacteria account for the vast majority of the species on the planet, and even more than 50% of the total biomass of the planet, I believe there has been only one age of life on this planet, the age of bacteria. They are the true kings.

The 7000 refugees that Bush wants to bring into the US will be subject to a lot of vetting before they even make it to an interview with a refugee officer. In all probability many more will come to the US in some other manner and file for asylum, where they will still be closely vetted, but will be able stay here and work while waiting for the process to be completed. Just about anyone who can prove that they did any work for the US or any of the coalition forces would likely receive asylum. At the very end of the New Yorker article is this telling little exchange:

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I asked Firas why he hadn’t tried to get a visa to the United States. “And what would I do with it?” he said.

“Ask for asylum.”

“Do you think they would give me an asylum in the U.S.? Never.”

“Why?”

“For the U.S. to give an asylum for an Iraqi, it means they have failed in Iraq.”

This wasn’t entirely true. Recently, Iraqis who made it to America have begun filing petitions for asylum, and, because they undoubtedly face a reasonable fear of harm back home, a few of them have been accepted. A much larger number of Iraqis are still waiting to learn their fates: U.S.A.I.D. employees who jumped ship on training trips to Washington; Fulbright scholars who have been informed by the State Department that they have to go back to Iraq after their two- or three-year scholarships end, even if a job or another degree program is available to them in America. The U.S. government, for which Firas worked for three and a half years, had given him ample reason to believe that he could never become an American. Still, if he had somehow made it here, there is a chance that he could have stayed.

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The asylum corps of Citizenship and Immigration Services have, over the past decade and a half, established a reasonable record of deciding claims on a nonpolitical basis.