by Rose Pedenko and Tanya Simon

In the neo-gothic 16^th century tale of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo presented a story set in and around the City of Paris, which involved a beautiful gypsy girl, Esmeralda (who was given sanctuary behind the doors of Notre Dame for the crime of murder, which she did not commit); an impious priest (the actual murderer), an impoverished playwright, and the mainly poor populace. The protagonist in the story was the deaf and grotesque Quasimodo, the ringer of bells at the great cathedral. It was Quasimodo who provided sanctuary to the gypsy girl .

Jump forward 400 years and the same bells are tolling, not in Paris, but in the United States.

It has become an eerily familiar scenario: the City of Los Angeles is now the teeming, thriving metropolis, and Esmeralda is embodied in illegal immigrant, Elvira Arellano. The deaf-to-the-protesting-Americans Ding-a-Ling: Mayor Antonio “Quasimodo” Villar — L.A. ’s resident King of Fools. It is our unremarkable Mayor who, in defiance of federal law, offers sanctuary to illegals coming from south of the border, and publicly panders to them without a shred of shame.

Persons who have pushed across our borders looking for “the Mexican Dream” (i.e., remaining a Mexican National but reaping all the benefits of American citizenship) have created havoc amongst the legal, taxpaying U.S. populace.

Specifically, a woman by the name of Elvira Arellano, a Mexican citizen, was recently arrested in Los Angeles and re-deported to Mexico for stealing the Social Security number of an unsuspecting American. And what was her punishment? Elvira was not thrown into a prison cell — she was sent back to her home country. For American taxpayers, her arrest and multiple deportations were not inexpensive affairs.

As reported, Elvira had already been in the U.S. for nearly ten years (and in that time never bothered to learn the English language). She knew enough, however, to become pregnant and, in 1999, gave birth to a fresh-minted Anchor Baby. Fatherless, Saul Arellano is being sheltered by the pastor and his family at a Methodist church in Chicago . In addition to his sanctuary, “ Master”Arellano is receiving a free education and free medical treatment courtesy of American taxpayers . Elvira has made it apparent that she intends to use this illegitimate child as a weapon to further fuel her outrageous demands—that the United States of America change its immigration laws with respect to illegal aliens.

What is at the core of this person’s demands? She expects the U.S. Government to accommodate her, Little Lord Fauntlerellano, and the millions of illegals just like her. Elvira, not unlike another famous character, Endora, wishes to POOF! — grant them legal status and citizenship without having to go through the required due process. Adding insult to the taxpayer cost of her presence and deportations, this woman had the unmitigated gall to raise her voice to the media, proclaiming: “the United States is the one that broke the law first.”

How preposterous! This self-centered illegal alien is issuing demands that are no different than if an American citizen were to illegally cross from the U.S. into Canada and call for Canadians to forthwith change their laws to accommodate illegal Americans.

It doesn’t begin and end with Arellano. “ Sanctuary City ” mayors and clergymen who harbor lawbreakers, and who accuse anyone against illegal immigration of being racists, should be brought up to speed when it comes to codified law. We are not living in the Middle Ages, during which time “church sanctuary” was established by the state to aid lawbreakers. That sanctuary was abolished nearly 300 years ago, and modern penal codes do not recognize or condone the practice. Perhaps our “Frollo,” the Reverend Walter Coleman, should be arrested for aiding and abetting a fugitive from justice. To drive the point home even more deeply, the Methodist Church (and any other organized religious body) should suffer the loss of their Internal Revenue Tax-Exempt status for harboring criminals. Something must be done to prevent this from happening again…and again and again.

Elvira Arellano, and the millions of others like her, must be made aware (via interpreter of course) of the following: Persons who wish to come to America and become legal U.S. citizens should first learn about and honor the existing rules of law. Procedures include sponsorship, application, waiting periods, payment of fees, interviews, health check and, passing a test in English. This is what leads to an oath of allegiance to these United States, and ultimately, citizenship.

Moreover, for those others who enter our country illegally, it should be made mordantly clear that marches and rallies in which our laws are mocked, spat upon and condemned do not, and never will, effect sympathy or understanding from Americans (and to the children and grandchildren of former immigrants to America). They patiently stood by the law and became citizens honorably.

Lawbreakers will meet a wall of resistance — the same wall our Congress collided with in June when an inflamed citizenry beat back the headstrong and misguided ambition of President Bush, and U.S. senators and congresspersons who attempted to bridge legal with “illegal.”

By Lance Thompson

Time is running out in Iraq . Panic has set in. Desperate measures will have to be taken to salvage a hopeless situation. Especially if you’re a Democrat.

As coalition and Iraqi forces kill and capture terrorists and their leaders, as massive coalition offensives secure larger and larger swaths of the country, as even anti-war bulwarks like The New York Times admit that the war is winnable, the Democrats who have been proclaiming that we couldn’t win sound increasingly divorced from reality. As good news mounts, their stock plummets.

Next month, General David Petraeus , the results-oriented commander of the multi-national force in Iraq , will report to Congress on progress in the war. The Democrats (and some faint-hearted Republicans), who have done all they can to legislate a surrender and pull-out, fear that the general’s report will reflect the positive results we read about each day–terrorists killed and captured, al Qaeda leaders killed and captured, dangerous provinces made safe, Iraqi civilians reporting and identifying insurgents.

The Democrats have two choices. First, they can discredit General Petraeus and his report, focus on the bad news, and still claim that the war is unwinnable, even as we’re winning it. This, however, will be increasingly untenable, leaving them in the same position as “Baghdad Bob,” the Iraqi information officer, who stated that Iraqi forces held impregnable fortifications in Baghdad even as Iraqi soldiers fled American tanks in the background.

The Democrats’ more likely choice is to slowly sidle over from the “We can’t win this,” to the “I supported the troops” side. As victory becomes more certain, end-the-war advocates will become less vocal, less visible, and eventually, less committed to their convictions. If victory becomes inevitable, they will abandon those convictions completely.

This strategy is epitomized by John Kerry ’s famous proclamation, “I voted for the war before I voted against it.” Defeatist Democrats will fashion their own versions of this double talk as the war news gets better, especially if they are Democrats aiming for the White House.

Hillary Clinton built a strong record on defense in her first Senate term, serving on the armed services committee, voting to authorize the use of military force in Iraq , supporting the war despite controversy--right up until polls told her that it was costing her support among the base. Then she joined the give-it-up crowd, vowing to end the war, complaining that she was misled about the war, and criticizing the conduct of the war.

Expect similar redirections from Barak “Let’s Hit Pakistan” Obama. Boasting on his web site that he’s been “consistently against the war,” he rode the wave of anti-war fervor to a prominent position in the polls, then sought to burnish his foreign policy image by suggesting an attack on Pakistan . Like most Democrats, he fails to support the war we’re engaged in, but strongly supports any war that doesn’t currently exist.

John Edwards , long an advocate of cutting and running, is well known for pinballing from one Daily Kos talking point to the next. He dances effortlessly to the tune of the far left web sites. Thus, as news from Iraq improves, don’t be surprised if Edwards pirouettes from dove to hawk, and calls Bush timid for not nuking Iran .

Perpetual undeclared candidate Al Gore may have been smartest of all on this issue. Instead of weighing in on the war that threatens Western civilization, he tilted against climate change–a vague, ethereal enemy that affords its adversary the convenience of never having to engage in a decisive battle. No matter how great or how limited the efforts in the war against weather, there will be no embarrassing setbacks or metrics to show progress or the lack thereof. It is the equivalent of monitoring a college course–no grades, no exams, no need to do anything but show up.

Non-candidate Democrats in Congress will have a tougher time nuancing their ways out of the defeat-at-any-cost mob. Senate majority leader Harry Reid’s and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s relentless campaign to seize the commander-in-chief duties from the executive branch failed, despite numerous attempts. Their goal was to make it impossible for the war to continue, and to force the withdrawal of our troops from the face of an enemy whose main goal is to force the withdrawal of our troops. Nonetheless, in the face of encouraging reports from the front, Reid and Pelosi will distance themselves from undermining the war effort and claim that they never stopped supporting the troops engaged in it.

They say success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan. The Democrats will try to be the adoptive parents of victory in Iraq . But American voters, sensing achievable victory, won’t give credit to those who fought so hard to prevent it.

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Lance Thompson lives in Idaho with his wife and daughter.