I live in Colorado, Tancredo's home state.  
That said, I am pleased to report that I am not represented by this clown in Congress.  He's a jerk.

And I say that with all due respect.  

Tancredo is a one-trick pony.  His favorite three issues are, in this order: illegal immigration, illegal immigration, and illegal immigration.  

Did I mention that Tancredo has also shown himself to be very passionate about the issue of illegal immigration?

Not that our sadly dysfunctional immigration policies in this country don't need to be fixed.  They do.  But Tancredo's policies seem to be driven largely by his xenophobia rather than rational concepts of reform.  Believe me, this is not the guy you want trying to implement immigration reform.

But his environmental record is inspiring, eh?  I mean, the dude supported the Healthy Forests Initiative [sic], for God's sake.  This clearly marks him as one who is passionate about environmental protection.  (Um, right?)

Tancredo represents a district which, if I can grossly overgeneralize, is more interested in low taxes, large roomy houses, and large roomy cars for their family with 2.6 kids than anything else.  (Although, while Tancredo's constituents don't like to pay taxes, they don't seem to complain about all the taxpayer largesse that flows into their district via multi-million-dollar defense contracts with missle-builder Lockheed-Martin.  I guess "sucking off of the gommint teat" is all in the eye of the beholder, eh?).

As much as I dislike Tancredo, I will make the one concession: massive immigration into the United States is, to a large extent, an environmental issue that the U.S. needs to come to terms with.  

This statement may not conform to the politically-correct dogma of the left, but it is clear that population growth in the U.S. is a major cause -- if not the major cause -- of environmental degradation.  I don't care whether that growth results from native reproduction, from immigration from Scandanavia, or from immigration from Mexico.  As soon as possible, it's got to be slowed and, ultimately, reversed.  Otherwise there will be little 'wild' left to save in North America.

Current projections are that the population of Colorado will double (double!) within something like 30 years.  Yipes.  That means twice as many people building homes in rural and semi-wild forest areas, twice as many people mountain-biking the foothills near Denver and Grand Junction, twice as many hikers in the backcountry, twice as much traffic on our highways.  I see the wild areas of my state disappearing before my eyes, year by year.  In a single generation.  It's not a pretty sight.  Never mind what things will look like in 'seven generations' -- that concept is simply too depressing to contemplate.

So, I'm all for immigration reform.  But that reform needs to be sensitive to those who are already here and are ready to work hard.  And it needs to make the businesses that exploit cheap immigrant labor responsible for their self-serving actions, rather than focus only the immigrants who get caught in the crossfire.

Unfortunately, Tancredo's approach achieves neither.  To be true to his heart, maybe Tancredo should take his family back to the Old Country in Italy, and leave North America to the native North Americans ...

Need I remind readers that Tancredo actually suggested we Bomb Mecca and Medina?  There's nothing green about that!!!  There's nothing sensible about that!!!  This man is a fascist.

In response to GonzoDon's lengthy, yet unenlightening comment, I see Tom Tancredo as this country's only hope with respect to many issues:  immigration, security, education, trade, taxes, economy and sovereignty!   It continues to amaze me when seemingly educated adults resort to name-calling and labeling when posting comments for the world to see.  

I, for one, can't imagine where G. picked up the term "one trick pony" - it's so original and full of meaning! In defense of Congressman Tancredo, using his logic,  I'd have to label every other presidential candidate as "one flipping male donkey".  

G. is correct is stating that our illegal immigration problem must be solved and those who employ illegals should be held accountable.  Tom Tancredo focuses on employer sanctions nearly every time he discusses immigration reform.  Yet I do NOT agree with G. that we need to be sensitive to those (illegals) who are already here and working hard.  Need I remind G. every one of those who entered our country illegally or overstayed their visas, knew they were doing so UNLAWFULLY!  Not one of them is sensitive to my rights as a law-abiding citizen.  Not one of them is sensitive to our nation's constitution and laws.  Not one of them is sensitive to American workers who find their wages being suppressed because of cheap, imported and illegal labor!

Tom Tancredo has the courage to attack this problem as it should be, from all directions and as most American WANT it to be: build the fence, fine employers who hire illegals, end birthright citizenship to babies born here of illegal parents, end sanctuary cities and states, stop handing out benefits to non-citizens and make illegal immigrants go back home, get in line and wait their turns to become a U.S. citizen.

Personally, I don't know much about Tom Tancredo's house or neighborhood, but, as a teacher, I'm sure he did NOT get paid for the job he did!  And I can only imagine he doesn't quite live as high on the hill as Romney with his $250million, Giuliani with his $18-70million, Edwards with his $30million and the Clintons with their $10-50 million.  GonzoDon, perhaps you should extend your bashing to some of those candidates, as well.

Zarconi :  If you're going to take the time to post a comment, at least take the time to make sure you post enough information to include the entire context of which you are posting.  Congressman Tancredo was asked - if terrorists attacked several U.S. cities with nuclear weapons, what would you do?  Tancredo's response: after determining that it WAS the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, you COULD take out their holy cities, as an act of deterrence.  

You question Tancredo's response as being "sensible".
What word would you use to describe the scenario of our cities being hit by nuclear devices?  

I have to admit that I did not read this article.  That is because I am from Colorado and I know Tancredo well enough to know that no matter what he says about the environment, he's still a douche bag.  Seriously.

I notice that Tom Tancredo, (like many other people), defends the construction of an ecologically destructive barrier on the U.S.-Mexico border by pointing out that illegal immigrants (and their garbage) degrade the environment.  To me, this is tantamount to saying that we must destroy wilderness areas along the border in order to save them.  
     I'm not saying that there isn't a problem-I'm saying that we don't need a "remedy" that's worse thank the "disease".  Would we try to treat a case of gout by amputating the patient's feet?  I don't think so.

When Tom Tancredo speaks, his words have a clear resemblance to mine... as I bullshit my way through an essay during a test I forgot to study for.  Tom, please... stop.  You're an embarrassment to everyone.