More on Virgil Goode's America

For about an hour last night, I listened to a man named Koche tell a story about growing up in Communist Yugoslavia, attempting to escape and ending up spending two years in a prison where guards relieved stress by beating prisoners. Koche was 17 when he entered that prison.

He was 19 when he was released and he spent two years after that bouncing from country to country before finally landing in the United States, courtesy of a sponsor and a church group. He was amazed when he got here, he said, because for the first time in his life, "I was free."

There were tears in his eyes when he got to that point in his story.

Makes you feel good, doesn't it? Proud to be an American.

See if the following quote makes you feel the same way.

We need to stop illegal immigration totally and reduce legal immigration and end the diversity visas policy pushed hard by President Clinton and allowing many persons from the Middle East to come to this country.

I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America....

That's from Virgil Goode, whose job title is "U.S. Representative."

I was reminded of that quote this morning -- it comes from a letter Goode sent to a constituent -- after reading this item from a Muslim American named Cenk Uygur. He wrote in response to Goode -- and 41 other U.S. Representatives -- voting "present" this week on a resolution honoring the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

(Also among those voting "present" was U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes. He and Goode were the only members of Virginia's delegation to vote "present." The others all voted yes, Democrats and Republicans alike.)

"I am an American," Uygur wrote.

"If American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office," Goode wrote. To see his letter, click here.

Virgil Goode is up for re-election in 2008. I hope there's a lot of proud Americans in his district.