Chang-Diaz was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1980 and first flew aboard STS-61-C in 1986. Subsequent missions include STS-34 (1989), STS-46 (1992), STS-60 (1994), STS-75 (1996), STS-91 (1998), and STS-111 (2002). During STS-111, he performed three EVAs with Philippe Perrin as part of the construction of the International Space Station. He was also director of the Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center from 1993 to 2005. Chang-Diaz retired from NASA in 2005.

Dan,
Amen to your comment about the racism.

Yeah, see that’s the part you don’t get, none of these guys are on the “right road,” they just talk a lot about the road.

They talk about border enforcement and they talk about enforcing the law…but it’s all about the illegal immigrants. You have to hit both sides, you have to enforce the law against those here illegally and you have to enforce the law against the employers who hire them.

There’s no enforcement against the employers, none. And the only program proposed so far to crack-down on employers came from the Bush Administration. The Republicans are just as dirty on this as are the Democrats. You know why? They all take money from big business and the people who rely on cheap immigrant labor.

And as for your comment that you don’t care where McDonnell gets his money, well, you must not understand very much about the way the system works. It should be ALL you care about. These people are bought and paid for, period.

The politicians have been taking money from businesses and doing them a favor by never proposing legislation to crack down on employers. Don’t believe me? Do the research, even the most outspoken anti-illegal immigration heroes (Sessions and DeMint for example) never utter a word about cracking down on businesses. Nor do they ever offer legislation that would hold employers accountable. You know why? They take money from Smithfield, Tyson and Swift & Co who ALL rely on illegal immigrant labor.

The politicians have created this mess becuase they’re protecting their number one interest: big business.

NJH

And to make matters worse, some of your neighbors support them and their intrusion on your life…

A good start, but the author forgot to include the part where the homeowner is called a racist when he tries to kick them out or deny them anything.

“Welcome neighbor-

If you don’t get the whole illegal immigration issue, I will try to make it really simple for you to follow along with. The story goes like this:

One sunny Saturday you and your family left home to take a short weekend trip to the mountains. You packed the car, got the dog and all the kids and the wife got into the big SUV to head out to the mountains for a fun weekend away from the rat race. Little did you know that one of the kids left the front door ajar and it left your home open to anyone who came by.

Saturday morning Jose his wife (Maria, expecting in one month), there 3 children- Felix (2) Jose Jr.(4) Martha(6), Martha’s sister Yvonne and her boyfriend Jesus(Ex-Con, convicted felon) are driving down your street looking at garage sales when Jose notices your front door is ajar. Jose pulls the van up the driveway, and gets out to inspect the door; Jose looks through the 8” opening in the front door to see if anybody is in the home. Jose notices that there seems to be nobody watching the front door, and that the house seems to be empty at the time. Jose goes into the home, noticing how large and well maintained the home is he thinks that this could be a very nice place for him and his family to stay. Going to the van, he tells his family that they are going to stay here for a while until they get settled, and the family unloads their items from the van into the home.

After spending a few minutes taking inventory of the home, and its possibilities for housing the family, Jose has Maria and Martha go to the kitchen and prepare lunch for the family from the food in the refrigerator and pantry. The family sits down at your dinning table and feasts on the food you bought to feed your family last weekend at the market.

You and your family are having a wonderful time in the mountains, and thinking of staying an additional few days, or maybe coming back in 2 weeks for another trip.

As the afternoon progresses, the new inhabitants of your home are making themselves right at home in your house, enjoying your lifestyle that you worked 40 years to obtain, swimming in your pool, the kids are playing with your children’s toys, and Yvonne and her boyfriend are upstairs taking a “Nap” in your oldest daughters bedroom! Jose is sipping a cool beer from your outdoor entertainment center while watching the soccer game via PPV satellite TV. Jose goes to the garage, and opens the garage door and moves the van into the garage, so as to not raise any suspicion in the neighborhood about a beat up old van being parked in such a nice area!

Jose and Maria’s children are enjoying the pool, and everyone is happy they came to California instead of Utah where Jesus’ brother lives with 10 other family members in a 2-bedroom apartment.

Afternoon comes and goes, and the family takes to the house as if it were their own, each child took there own bedroom from you children, and the guest room was taken by Yvonne & Jesus, your master bedroom now has Jose & Maria taking a shower in your bathroom, and cleaning up for dinner.

During dinner (that was also prepared from the food in your home) the new family discusses the plans for the next days, Sunday they will all go to the local church to give thanks for such a fine home to stay in and for such generous people to leave the door of there home open for Jose and his family. Then they will take a short trip to the local park where the children will play with other children of there own nationality and you will mix with others who speak there native tongue. On Sunday afternoon plans will be made for Monday, Jose & Jesus will have to be at the Home Depot day labor area early to get work for the day, and Maria will need to be at the bus to take it to file for support from your county & city for free services, and to get the children enrolled into school, free text books, and free breakfast & lunch programs that you also pay for. After those chores are done, Maria will make a stop at the local food-basket for 3 bags of free groceries, then make her way back to the bus to catch the next available bust back to here new found home! Later that night she will go to the emergency room for a check-up on her new arrival that is soon to become a US Citizen (At your expense also).

Meanwhile, Yvonne will remain at home, here job is to locate all of your identifying documents, passports, insurance policies, birth certificates, credit card information, anything that can be used to get additional credit in your names, and help them establish themselves in a community or to make purchases of items that they may want.

Yvonne makes a haul, you left home with the key in the safe, and all of your personal information is now in the hands of Yvonne! She makes her way to the computer and looks at your “Favorites” settings, she notices that you have your banking online, you pay your bills online, you purchase many things from eBay, ubid, overstocked, LLBean, Target, Wal-Mart, Sears, Crate & Barrel, American airlines and the list goes on and on…one word “Ca-ching!”

As Sunday afternoon arrives, you and your family decide to pack it in for the weekend and make the trip back home, packing up all the kids, toys, the dog and suitcases the family heads down the mountain for home!

Driving down your street, you feel proud to of obtained the American dream, and you have been able to provide a good stable place to raise your family. You pull into your drive way and pop the garage door, only to find an old Grey van inside! You enter the home from the garage door slowly and find an entire family of people living in your home! What is going on here is running through your mind, where did these people come from, and why are they here in my house? Jose sits up from your favorite reclining chair and attempts to introduce himself in his very broken English, and makes an attempt to introduce his family to yours. Yvonne then steps up since she has a better handle of the English language, and says to you that they are glad that your family will be hosting them during there stay here in America until they can get settled on there own!

WHAT? You say! Hosting you here in our home? You have to be kidding! Yvonne says, no, actually we are demanding that you house us here, feed us, and take care of our children, educate them in your schools, teach them English, give us free medical assistance when we need it, provide work for our men, create all government documents in our native language, give us free legal services from your community, assist us with food for our children and make your hospitals take care of us even though we do not have any medical insurance.

Did an iron frying pan just hit you up side the head? , Or are you dreaming? How can this be happening? What did I do to deserve this?

Sure enough, this is what is happening across America, not in these terms, but as a parody this shows how Illegals take over what they want, and we give it to them because we are afraid to offend anyone, and it is not political correct to tell them this is wrong! Since 1986, the laws on immigration have not been enforced, and have actually contributed to this mess we are in today.

Well America, wake up! It is time to take a stance on these issues, either you are for open borders and uncontrolled immigration, OR you are for enforcing the laws of the land and controlling immigration!

You decide the choice is yours! The future is in your choice today 3rd world country or America as it should be?”

I really don’t care where McDonnell gets his money from, if he’s on the right road. I see him doing more for this effort, even though his office is limited in its power to address this problem, than the elected federal representatives who should be doing something, like Wolf, Davis, Warner, and the Webbster. Hell, he’s written a 5-page letter to Jorge. Wolf’s was just a twofer.

http://www.examiner.com/a-919107~Firms_that_hire_undocumented_workers_could_lose_business_under_proposals.html

“County contractors would have to certify that all of their employees are legal U.S. residents to do business with the county under proposals the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors debated Tuesday.

Developers who want to build homes or commercial parks could also be required to declare their workers are legal, Supervisor Mick Staton said during the debate.

If businesses are found to be hiring illegal immigrants, they could lose contracts or development permits, under the proposals.”

I don’t seriously expect this proposal the solve the problem. It will stop some contractors from hirings illegals. It will give others pause. For some it will be business as usual. But it’s a start.

At the least, it will reduce the number of jobs given to illegals. While a mutli-pronged approach is needed to deal with the illegal alien problem, I believe going after the contractors is most effective. When the jobs dry up, the illegals will go home.

RE McDonnell… What is new? That is standard operating practice for politicians in America. Bullshit your way into office and let it be know - very quickly - you are for sale.

The blame for this lies solely with the republicans. Reagan started this and under the 100% gop dominance - WH, senate, house and majority of governors - it has flourished. The left is not helping - at all - but it is Bush’s administration that keeps the border wide open, and enforcement at zip.

Thanks, Hutchinson, Ridge, Chertoff, Meyers - you all are doin a hell of a job.

“If you guys really care about the hiring of illegal workers, you should be less partisan and stop blaming the Democrats/liberals for everything.”

Funny, the words “Democrat”, “liberal”, and “Republican” don’t seem to appear anywhere in this post or thread until you brought it up.

At least with the Democrats (who are much more open about their support for immigrant labor) are being honest with their consituents. The Republicans? They’re duping every single one of you.

Bob McDonnell, the Virginia’s very own AG for example, has taken $67,000 from Smithfield Foods (who has been busted repeatedly for hiring illegal workers) in the last three years. From over at Raising Kaine:

Bob McDonnell: Big-Time Immigration Hypocrite! (+)
by: Lowell
Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 07:04:14 AM EDT

[subscribe]

Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell, also known as “our hero,” has come to our rescue once again, this time with a letter “calling on the federal government to immediately act to combat the growing criminal illegal immigration problem in the United States.” Well, finally, NOW we’ll get action! Ha.
Seriously, though, I have no problem with Bob McDonnell writing to George W. Bush and asking him about “years of debate and inaction by the Congress and President” — on the Republicans’ watch , let us all note — and demanding action on illegal immigration. There’s only one problem, and that’s Bob McDonnell himself. It turns out, according to the ever-helpful VPAP, that McDonnell has been a huge cash recipient from companies that employ illegal immigrants and which have been busted for doing the same. For instance:

*Smithfield Foods gave Bob McDonnell $27,843 in 2004-2005.
*Smithfield Foods gave Bob McDonnell $20,000 in 2006.
*Smithfield Foods gave Bob McDonnell $20,000 in 2007.

Just to remind everyone, Smithfield Foods has been and continues to be a major employer of illegal immigrants. For more on this, see here and here and of course here. Yet McDonnell has taken over $67,000 (!!!) from Smithfield.

In sum, Bob McDonnell with one hand takes wads of cash from companies like Smithfield that hire illegal immigrants, then with the other writes a letter demanding action on…you guessed it, illegal immigrants! It would be hilarious if it weren’t so pathetically hypocritical.

As Albo Must Go wrote about Dave Albo, “what does our hero do when a big Virginia corporation (Smithfield Foods) that actually employs undocumented workers comes with its checkbook?”

To paraphrase Albo Must Go’s conclusion to all this:

RETURN THE MONEY, MR. ATTORNEY GENERAL - ALL OF IT

P.S. It’s certainly not just Smithfield; McDonnell also receives hundreds of thousands of dollars from the real estate and construction industry, one of the largest employers of illegal immigrants in the United States. For more on where McDonnell gets his money, see here.