Overheard, Spring 2007

"[I]f the day comes when those who truly believe in 'Chicano Power' attempt to flex their muscle, blood will flow in the streets."

JOE TURNER, head of California’s anti-immigration Save Our State group, in a Sept. 26 posting to his organization's online forum

"If you fail to exercise your right to vote, liberals and their homosexual allies will gain control… . [I]mmoral individuals [will try to] … homosexualize our children and undermine our national security."

Rev. LOU SHELDON, head of the anti-gay Traditional Values Coalition, urging voters in an Oct. 29 electronic newsletter to oppose “liberals” in the national elections

"Look at what has happened to Miami. It has become a Third World country."

U.S. Rep. TOM TANCREDO (R-Colo.), an anti-immigration hardliner, quoted Nov. 26 in an interview with WorldNetDaily, while on a visit to South Florida

"I would hate to be an immigrant in his courtroom."

MARGARET FUNG, executive director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, commenting Nov. 27 on Brooklyn, N.Y., Criminal Court Judge John Wilson, who wrote a 2006 children’s book comparing undocumented immigrants to weeds that kill flowers

"Do I care if the Sunnis and Shiites kill each other in Iraq? No. … Maybe they'll all kill each other, and then we can have a decent country in Iraq."

BILL O'REILLY on the Dec. 5 edition of Westwood One's "The Radio Factor With Bill O’Reilly"

"If American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration, there will be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran."

U.S. Rep. VIRGIL GOODE (R-Va.), in a Dec. 7 letter to constituents criticizing incoming U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the first Muslim to enter Congress, for plans to use a Koran at his swearing-in ceremony

"What you wrote was not truthful… . [T]his is not the first time you have manipulated research in pursuit of your goals."

New York University Professor CAROL GILLIGAN, in an open letter to Focus on the Family head James Dobson after the Christian Right leader mischaracterized her research on families in an anti-gay guest column published in Time magazine Dec. 10

"[T]here’s this whole subtext, as there so often is, about homosexuality."

Conservative commentator MICHAEL MEDVED, on the Dec. 11 edition of the "Focus on the Family" radio show hosted by James Dobson, attacking "Happy Feet," a new animated children's film about penguins