OK, PDQ, you're right. All law enforcement officers in the US are supposed to be polite. It makes sense - because an impolite officer can easily escalate a situation into something dangerous. The Border Patrol sends officers who are overly rough to "charm school."

But no, they do not politely ask people to go home - they apprehend them and ship them back.

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Art Brooks stated, "No illegal residents voted in the last election."

I gotta say that sounds completely unbelievable, and I wonder why Art said it. Maybe he was trying to be funny, and it didn't work. I'm sure some illegals must have voted. But then, to use data from a 1996 election to support a claim of "millions of illegal voters" in the most recent election, is also quite ludicrous.

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I guess what I'd conclude from this thread is that it is really difficult to carry on a rational discussion on the Internet, because so much hot air gets wasted refuting statements that are truly idiotic.

We could list lots of fallacious and misleading statements in just this one thread.

Let's start with the thread title, Bush Pardons Border Patrol Agents (he commuted their sentences, but did not pardon them)

"They will not vote in the next federal election while millions of illegal aliens will" is another real zinger. We have proof of 624 illegal alien votes in one congressional district in 1996.

On the other side, we have "No illegal residents voted in the last election." Aw, c'mon. There MUST have been at least a few, even though there is no proof that illegal aliens are a significant aspect of voter fraud in most districts. I'd guess that party loyalists are a far more significant source of voter fraud, especially in places like Chicago and Florida.

And then The agents are supposed to find people crossing the border and ask them politely to go back. Yeah, sure. Just like the Highway Patrol officer politely asks drivers to stop driving 90 miles and hour, and sends them merrily on their way with a friendly wave.

To top it off, we have, We don't need the exact details of this case to know that the agents were undertrained and were working under an intentionally vague game plan. Repeat what I said before: this was prosecutorial lynching. Before they go on duty, Border Patrol Agents go through several months of training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. And yes, we do need the exact details of the case to discuss it intelligently. I know it's so boring to have discussions based on facts, but that's how intelligent people are supposed to conduct a discussion.

Wouldn't it be nice if Mudcat could be different, if we could be a place where people have rational discussions based on actual facts? I guess that's why I usually stay out of the BS threads - too damn much bullshit.

-Joe-