I thought I'd heard just about everything, but this one takes the cake!
An Argentinean artist named Judi Werthein has designed tennis shoes that have three functions: works of art, fashion statements and – get ready now – assistance for illegals to cross the border!
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Picture it: High-top shoes in the red, white and green colors of the Mexican flag, and in the back, a drawing of the patron saint of migrants. From the shoelaces dangle a compass and flashlight. There's a map of the border on the removable insole and a pocket in the tongue to hold money or pills.
Werthein told the Associated Press that she moved legally to New York in 1997 and introduced the shoes at art exhibition last August. Apparently they were a real hit, raising $40,000 in donations to produce 1,000 pairs of the shoes. She got $5,000 plus expenses.
Some of the shoes are for sale in chic boutiques for $215 a pair, but Werthein is giving the bulk of them away in Mexico. After handing out 50 pairs at one migrant shelter in Tijuana, she told the men "Good luck! You are all very courageous."
She says the shoes are the migrants most important piece of clothing. "If people are going to cross anyway, at least this will make it safer."
At another border location, she emptied an SUV-load of shoes, giving them to people waiting to jump the border. A number of those men said they had jobs waiting for them in Santa Ana, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver and other cities.
Clearly, these were not people just sneaking in and making a go of it. They were organized.
For people with more money than brains, the shoes are "art pieces," which they display in their homes. One woman says the shoes portray "a reality that we don't like to look at."
It seems they remind "collectors" how guilty they should feel about being rich.
Apparently, she also didn't notice that the shoes were made in China for $17 a pair. Not a bad markup to the boutique price – no specifics as to the price charged to art patrons.
It makes you wonder why, if they have such compassion for poor Mexicans, they didn't have the shoes made in a Mexican factory? Then again, where is their compassion for the slave labor in Chinese factories?
Oh, I'm sorry. There I go being logical again.
Since I'm being logical, why is Werthein and those helping her, getting away with aiding and abetting federal law breakers?
Federal immigration laws are quite specific – essentially, foreigners must follow procedures to be in this country legally. People who jump the borders are, by the very nature of what they've done, federal lawbreakers.
Wouldn't you think that people, American citizens – or anyone else – who help foreigners to get across our borders illegally would be complicit in the illegal entry crime and be themselves guilty of breaking the law? How about aiding and abetting a crime? Wouldn't you think that authorities would do something?
We know there are religious groups and so-called "immigrant rights groups" in border states which provide safe haven, medical assistance, housing and transportation for illegals. Some provide water stations and caches of food and personal items for the illegals as they make their way across rugged mountains and deserts.
Apparently, it's one of those "What Would Jesus Do?" moments for these people who are confusing religious charity with outright and flagrant lawbreaking.
Why do I think that Jesus wouldn't like that – moneychangers in the Temple and all that.
Of course, you've never heard of any of those "religious" people seeing the inside of a jail cell, although that's exactly where they should be.
Add to that, the sanctuary cities and church sites that declare themselves to be
"safe houses," as it were, for illegals who avail themselves of the benefits of freedoms in this country, while at the same time being guilty of a felony.
We're also confronted with the ludicrous situation of police, schools, hospitals and other authorities being forbidden to even inquire about immigrant status.
Then you have the Mexican government giving classes and written materials with instructions on how to cross the border and survive on the U.S. side. They've also provided emergency supply kits complete with birth-control and sanitary supplies.
Doesn't it strike you as odd that so blatant a move by one country to enable the illegal passage of its own citizens into another country is virtually ignored by the "other country"?
By the way, that "other" country is us – the United States. We accept this betrayal by Mexico and continue to modify our laws and accommodate Mexican demands about their citizens who are here illegally.
Some may call us a patsy. It wouldn't be far from the truth.
It couldn't get more stupid – could it?
Then again, consider: In October, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told a Senate hearing that all illegals in this country will be deported without exception and great progress can be made in less than a year.
Wow!
Then, a few weeks later, in November, he said such deportations are "just not possible" and besides it would cost billions and billions of dollars.
So much for that.
Is he stupid – or are we?