Nice piece by David Brooks today on immigration ("Immigrants to Be Proud Of," NYT, 30 March 2006). All sorts of arguments about how Hispanic families tend to be--relatively speaking--paragons of family values.

My arguments tend to be more grubby. Hispanic immigrants do the 3D jobs a lot--as in, dirty, dangerous and difficult. They earn every year upwards of a half trillion in wages. They spend over 90 percent here in the States and sent a mere fraction to families back home, yielding a cash flow that, in Latin America alone, is roughly ten times what America sends the entire Gap annually in Official Developmental Aid.

How's that for connectivity? And "families to warm a conservative's heart."

Brooks' hidden agenda? "To persuade the evangelical leaders in the tall grass to stop hiding on this issue," to "believe what Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas believes: that a balanced immigration bill is consistent with conservative values."

Thanks to an assist from Larry Kudlow, Steve DeAngelis and I are schedued to sit down with the senator during one of my upcoming trips to DC. We'll be talking about economic connetivity, shrinking the Gap, and how to make Development-in-a-Box real.

Exciting stuff, intriguing guy I find myself standing alongside on a few big issues near to my heart.