At the height of the Swine Flu panic, a curious connection began to emerge: a rhetorical line was drawn between the outbreak of flu and illegal immigrants.  An interesting article in the Minnesota Independent has outlined the connection well, and is worth the read.  And it wasn’t just professional media hysterics like Michael Savage or Glenn Beck who were leading the charge; according to the article in the Independent, a Democrat from New York, Rep. Eric Massa, began pushing to have the borders with Mexico closed.

We all remember that in the days after September 11, 2001, it became physically dangerous to be, or even to appear to be, a Muslim in this country.  Such prejudices, once publicly unleashed and given some modicum of respectability or reasonableness, become very hard to reverse.  (I would welcome comments from Muslims and Arabs in this country, or anyone else who even appears to be…