Keep your calendar clear for the evening of Tuesday, June 5th. Details to follow.
Open Thread
By Greg L | 15 April 2008 | Uncategorized | 79 Comments
Have at it…
The opinions expressed here are solely the views of the author, and not representative of the position of any organization, political party, doughnut shop, knitting guild, or waste recycling facility, but may be correctly attributed to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. If anything in the above article has offended you, please click here to receive an immediate apology.
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Don’t forget fellow Manassas Park’ers that today is the deadline for submitting the form to refute your real estate tax assessment. Mine is heading to the post office today for its post mark and contains a very well thought out and poignant letter of where I think this city is headed and why. I also enclosed 5 or 6 current comps of the area in which I live and its tremendous loss in value compared to their “assessment”. A fat lot of good it will do me since they don’t take into effect foreclosures at all or comps after December 31st 2007, but at least I am on record as being a citizen of this city that is fed up and thinks this is atrocious tax and spend behavior.
I heard on the news this a.m. that DC taxes empty properties at three times the rate of occupied properties, and that the rate may go even higher. Not a bad idea. I see lots of houses in my neighborhood that are empty and have no for sale or for rent sign up. These are former “flop houses.” If I had a conspiracy theory mentality, I’d think that their owners are waiting to see if the PWC anti-illegal initiative remains in effect. If it is overturned, they can continue expoiting 20 slave laborers instead of selling at a loss or renting to a bona fide family at market prices.
Advocator, if that theory were true, why don’t you think they are renting it to a family for a year, then kicking them out when the PWC rule of law stuff is overturned?
My personal guess is that since the economy has taken a little of a hit recently, a lot of people have done something to mess up their credit history, and now can’t buy a house even if they want one and can afford one. With the lenders tightening up, I understand that it is harder and harder for people who were previously qualified to get a house.
For what it’s worth, the number of foreclosures by zip codes (per Yahoo Real Estate):
20109 308
20110 570
20111 438
20112 130
Ouch. But then again a blind man could’ve seen this coming back in 2004.
I guess the real estate investment crowd is smiling.
Oh well.
Yeah it’s smiling thinking about all the section 8 housing that we will have to endure. Can’t wait for the secondary actions to this foreclosure crisis. I see it already in my neighborhood…
I am in the process of assisting my son complete his application for naturalization. He is a legal immigrant and permanent resident and under age 26, and registered for the Selective Service, as required by law.
USCIS is supposed to verify that any prospective applicant for citizenship, if male and a resident in the US before their 26th birthday, registered for the Selective Service. Those who did not are supposed to have their applications rejected.
http://www.sss.gov/FSbenefits.htm
I am concerned that many Democratic members of Congress are putting pressure on USCIS to waive background checks, etc. What guarantees do we have that they are verifying Selective Service registration? It seems only fair that if they want to enjoy the fruits and bounty of citizenship that they comply with all the requirements.
As well….these felons in jail on immigration detainers…are they checking their selective service status as well before deporting? Non-registration, even for illegal aliens, is up to a $250K fine and 5 years in prison. Filing charges and enforcing this regulation before deporting them might be one more deterrent.
From today’s Potomac News:
http://www.insidenova.com/isn/news/local/article/supervisors_differ_on_resolutions_effects/13801/
As I sit on my 10 acre spread in Haymarket, and my friend, KGoatherd on her spread atop Bull Run Mountain, we can tell that those of you in Manassas City, Manassas Park, and in the East end of the county are indeed racists. You are just mad that the house next door has 30 unrelated people or 5 families who aren’t of european decent. When these people can afford to move to a 10 acre 6 bedroom home in Haymarket or Bull Run Mountain, we will welcome them. If they have a taste for wine, we will invite them over to sip Chardonay on our back decks, and I will tell their children that they are beautiful and not to be scared anymore. Pobre ninos y ninas bonitas.
Article on DHS checking Social Security numbers:
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39721&dcn=todaysnews
Casanova Frankenstein said on 15 Apr 2008 at 12:42 pm:
From today’s Potomac News:
http://www.insidenova.com/isn/news/local/article/supervisors_differ_on_resolutions_effects/13801/
Maureen S. Caddigan, R-Dumfries, said she definitely thinks the [anti-illegal immigration] resolution has smudged the county’s reputation.
“We look very racist,” Caddigan said. “The people are telling us that it’s becoming racist and that’s troublesome.”
Caddigan said it took “many, many years” to earn the county’s reputation as a business-friendly environment and she would hate to see that squandered.
“I think we want people to know that we are open for business,” she said.
I couldn’t believe what I was reading when I saw this article. Is there something wrong with telling people that those of us in Prince William County that are concerned about the hiring of illegal immigrants feel good about the resolution? Do we want to be known as a county that embraces illegality? I think not. Ms. Caddigan needs to find a new job.
“The people are telling us that it’s becoming racist and that’s troublesome.”
Which people, other than the illegals themselves and their supporters, are saying the resolution is racist?
Stop trolling Almeda. We both know you don’t mean that. The instant you have 15 adult males partying next door to you, people coming and going all night long, and endless rows of white laddered work vans on your street is the instant you pick up the phone and call the police. I know it and you know it so stop with your banter. We are doing nothing more than you would do. Look at you up there on your pedestal looking down at those of us who have to endure your liberal madness. Now go away.
Ted said on 15 Apr 2008 at 1:04 pm:
“The people are telling us that it’s becoming racist and that’s troublesome.”
Which people, other than the illegals themselves and their supporters, are saying the resolution is racist?
You got it right!
Well I don’t think we are racists. To bad Caddigan spoke as she did. It just doesn’t suit her.Perhaps she doesn’t have a mess around her area?
It is interesting that we found on the Howard County Police Bulletin,3 men who were arrested for staeling cabinerty from new homes by Clark Realty Builders.One of these men was none other than the owner at 1921 York. Dr. Woodbridge.
Some of us have complained for 2 years because of the large construction vans (2),a trailer hauler and dump truck all sitting on the street.
Ms. Barg could have cared less.This is what makes it hard for our regular business people.As these people are collecting under the table.
They also built a McMansion with 3 additions and its a good bet the two caught with the owner are living in the house also.
People in Woodbridge except for the shelter and social service receipents know how rude and nasty Barg can be.
She has her nerve condeming anyone else.
Well I don’t think we are racists. To bad Caddigan spoke as she did. It just doesn’t suit her.Perhaps she doesn’t have a mess around her area?
It is interesting that we found on the Howard County Police Bulletin,3 men who were arrested for staeling cabinerty from new homes by Clark Realty Builders.One of these men was none other than the owner at 1921 York. Dr. Woodbridge.
Some of us have complained for 2 years because of the large construction vans (2),a trailer hauler and dump truck all sitting on the street.
Ms. Barg could have cared less.This is what makes it hard for our regular business people.As these people are collecting under the table.
They also built a McMansion with 3 additions and its a good bet the two caught with the owner are living in the house also.
People in Woodbridge except for the shelter and social service receipents know how rude and nasty Barg can be.
Nick:
I think they’re keeping their property vacant for a few months, hoping the Resolution will be rescinded, so they can go back to earning far more by turning it into a flop house instead of renting it to a bona fide family at market prices for a year.
PWC had plenty of ethnic diversity before the recent invasion - census figures bear that out as does reality. That is not about “Eurocentrism”.
Governor Goober is meeting this evening with Vicente Fox in Richmond (check his website). Is this allowed?
Park’d,
As has been pointed out on several other threads, it’s pretty clear that “Not Alanna” and “KGoatherd” are being sarcastic about Alanna Almeda who runs the anti-bvbl site and KGotthardt, who is the domain owner and one of her loonier regular posters. If you read “Not Alanna’s” post, it would seem that he or she is making fun of the folks who are critical of the resolution, are illegal alien apologists, yet they criticize from a position where they have not been forced to endure the same impacts that those in the cities and other parts of the county have had to endure. It’s easy to be critical, when you haven’t been impacted personally. Let’s see them be so moralistic when their neighborhoods turn to slums, their daughters get harrassed, or they are forced to park next to uninsured work-trucks being driven my unlicensed illegals.
This is WAY off topic, but of vital interest to myself and many other boaters. Please take a minute to read this post and hopefully, you’ll be persuaded to contact your congresssmen via the link provided!! And, please pass this on to any other person(s) who may also be a concerned boater.
http://www.boatblue.org/
======================================
Hello Boaters,
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has done what Margaret Podlitch (BOATUS) hoped for. Senator Boxer introduced a new, politically viable bill in the Senate to head off the onerous discharge permit system that is looming over recreational boaters.
It is time for us to urge our US Senators to support this boater-friendly bill, S. 2766, The Clean Boating Act of 2008. Write a letter, phone or send an email. Better yet, do all three.
Go to: www.boatblue.org
The link will enable you to ask your Members of Congress to support S. 2766, the Clean Boating Act read S. 2766, the Clean Boating Act of 2008 get additional information on the looming discharge permit problem.
So completely off-topic for normal BVBL fare, but I’m interested to see how readers stand on this issue.
So, some questions.
1) Do you accept evolution as the mechanism for the diversity of life?
2) Would you support teaching intelligent design in public schools?
Anonymous:
1) Yes to the diversity, but not to the ultimate origin.
2) Nope.
Anonymous:
Same response as Advocator.
New Post
Examines the History and Controversy surrounding the confederate flag
I am most disappointed in Caddigan. She has things backwards about our reputation. We are looking good. We look like people who care about our communities. That we stand up and support common sense answers to lawbreaking is commendable.
Our reputation WAS bad when we let ourselves be flooded by illegals.
Not Alanna Almeda said on 15 Apr 2008 at 12:54 pm:
I will tell their children that they are beautiful and not to be scared anymore. Pobre ninos y ninas bonitas.
TENGA MIEDO MUCHO MIEDO YA QUE SE LE CAPTURA!
MUY PRONTO!
I am insulted by Caddigan’s remarks. We are not racist, we are law abiding citizens that expect all those in this country and county to respect and obey our laws or face that consequences, the same laws that we are expected to obey. I am so tired of the Liberal non-Logic spin machine.
As a side note, I visit numbersusa every day to check for faxes to send. I have never seen so many faxes waiting for me, as I did today.
It’s freakin’ unbelievable that an elected official refers to their constituents as racists or any other derogatory term for that matter.
Did she not vote in favor of the resolution? It was unanimous, wasn’t it? Does that make her racist?
Way to get reelected. NOT!!!
We must never become complacent or apathetic again!!! Imagine what she has to say when it’s ‘off the record!!!’
Like the old saying goes: ‘If what you see is dirty, imagine what you don’t see!!’
Advocator:
You my already know, but Pope John Paul II holds the same position as you. Google “The truth cannot contradict truth”.
Caddigan sounds like a country club Republican. Is she getting $$ from the Chamber of Commerce, or what? Time to vote her out. She’s out of touch with the citizens.
Not Alanna Almeda said on 15 Apr 2008 at 12:54 pm:
“As I sit on my 10 acre spread in Haymarket, and my friend, KGoatherd on her spread atop Bull Run Mountain…”
Convenient, NAA…sounds like you both have a sufficient buffer zone that you really don’t have to worry too much about all those extreme inconveniences suffered by your fellow County residents. It’s little wonder that you feel so secure in your home that you can offer those typical pseudo-compassionate platitudes as you sit and “sip Chardonnay on (y)our back decks” and watch the rest of the County de-evolve from your perch if the Resolution actually is gutted. It’s easy to have that kind of “compassion” when you know very well that you’ll never be affected by the consequences. Those who are actually themselves affected and are still able to express that compassion are the ones deserving of respect. It’s a little difficult to take you seriously in this debate.
“If they have a taste for wine, we will invite them over to sip Chardonay on our back decks, and I will tell their children that they are beautiful and not to be scared anymore. Pobre ninos y ninas bonitas.”
If you are really serious about that compassion, Not Alanna Almeda, you would extend that invitation NOW by posting an invitation to the illegal alien community, with your real name and address, at all the locations where they would be sure to receive it…Health Department, PW Hospital Emergency Room, Social Services and, of course, all those informal day labor locations. We’ll just see how long that “compassion” lasts.
If you look at what has been written at:
http://www.bvbl.net/index.php/2008/03/25/mexicans-without-borders-defaces-manassas-again/
you will see that your actions are racist. The people that you are referring to as illegal immigrants are in fact Native Americans. They never immigrated from anywhere. We have always been here. Perhaps before you read this information your actions could be classified as unaware or uninformed but after reading it, if you persist in perusing the forced relocation of Native Americans in their own homelands then you are participating in a racist genocide of 500 years that makes Hitler look like a school kid.
There is a 500 year history of genocide against brown people. If you read what has been written you will see how your actions fit in with the racism, greed and theft of the past 500 years.
It is interesting that one of you referenced the pope since this is where the original authority came from in Europe to rape our people and land and it is all documented. Education and perspective is in order.
Indigenous Native American
The Truth Will Set You Free
AWCheney,
Do you consider yourself a Christian?
I used to work at an inner city hospital - I have personally dealth with many people who needed healthcare and health services. We did not ask their status - we helped them. That is what a Christian does when someone is sick. We also did not treat them based on their ability to pay. So, if I were to go the PW Hospital’s Emergency room, I do hope they are helping those who need healthcare. Not just the lucky ones who have health insurance.
Oh, and by the way, most of the people were not illegal immigrants - of course that could be different at PWH -
IndigenousNativeAmerican said on 15 Apr 2008 at 7:46 pm:
blah, blah, blah…..
come up with something new will you?
“TENGA MIEDO MUCHO MIEDO YA QUE SE LE CAPTURA!
MUY PRONTO!”
Yes, they are scared. The children are afraid because they are worried that their father will drive drunk, and get deported after hitting some racist white person, who will immediately call the police. They are worried that their mother get caught using someone elses social security number working at MacDonalds, and after serving some racist their double quarter-pounder with cheese meal. Then these beautiful children will have nightmares about La Migra. I’ll have to drag my toddler son up to the Mcoart building, and use him as a prop during citizens time. I have to claim to be a moderate republican even though there is no recird of me ever voting in a republican primary or participating in a republican convention. Makes me gag! Then I have to violate election laws and put up the www.removestirrup.com website. See what you racists have driven me to? Oh yes, and you have scared the children. To them I say; Pobre ninas! Pobre ninos! Que lastima. Yo soy una gringa rico liberal y me gusta las ninos sin papeles. Me esposo es Latino. Me gusta todos los personas sin papeles!
Herve, that’s not at all the issue. I always find it interesting when enablers change the subject to avoid the actual point. Is it because they don’t have the ability to reason the point so they choose to misdirect it; is it because their reading comprehension is flawed and they can’t figure out the point to begin with; or is it because they don’t have a legitimate point to make so they twist the discussion into a totally different direction and hope that, by trial and error, they can find a point that they actually have the ability to argue? So sad.
Herve:
There is no such thing as a free lunch. Think about it.
Herve:
If you want to feel better about yourself, fine. But don’t do it on my dime.
Not Alanna Almeda….why don’t you take your ten acre spread and parcel it off in to detention centers for illegal aliens while they await deportation by ICE? You could really be a good citizen and help the jail overcrowding situation in PW County. I agree with you on all your points. I find you very compassionate. You are clearly a liberal, but I like you.
yet another story demonstrating how this country NEEDS its undocumented workers!!
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/04/15/immigrant.taxes.ap/index.html
I guess IndigenousNative wants to go all the way back to the Aztecs who murdered thousands per day (human sacrifice) ripping out the hearts of their victims while still alive and sometimes noshing on them. http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/latinamerica/topics/human_scacrifice.html
Great strides have since been made by those Europeans that you so love to hate, like it or not. US citizens are a bit more civilized (though imperfect) and have created this coveted culture in much shorter time than apparently the “natives” are able to do, so much so that they risk crossing the border to live here, rather than in their indigenous south & central America.
Today is the day I submitted my tax return. This year, more than in past years, it was an especially angry submission, knowing that “illegal” immigrants who work for people who are law-breakers themselves, are not submitting and paying tax. I am paying their share for them and that does not make me very happy. They get “free” social services paid for by my tax dollars, and I do not, which makes me even more upset this tax day. I am ready to vote any government official out of office who does not come up with a way for us to determine “illegal” people from legal people, and deport those we find until none of them are left to screw me out of my tax dollars.
Anyone who is not here legally and has no intention of filing a tax return would be stupid not to claim as many exemptions as possible, for the purpose of reducing the amount of tax withheld.
Racist? Racist? I will tell you what is racist! It is those self centered, only thinking about their own kind, one way greedy elitist who refuse to put English subtitles on Telemundo or the Spanish soap opera stations so we unfortunate souls can follow along with all the action. Perhaps we could get one of the ACLU types to jump ship and file a huge lawsuit on our behalf for a change?
VATICAN ENTERS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION DEBATE
(Church criticized for funding refuge to aid border crossers)
by Chris Hawley and Sergio Solache - Apr. 16, 2008, Republic Mexico City Bureau
MEXICO CITY - The Vatican is helping to pay for construction of a shelter for Central Americans traveling to the United States, angering immigration-control advocates just as Pope Benedict XVI begins his first official U.S. visit.
The Pontifical Commission for Latin America, which reports to the pope, donated at least $20,000 in January to help erect a $120,000 building for the Brothers on the Path refuge in the southern Mexico city of Ixtepec, the Vatican confirmed Tuesday.
….. The Brothers on the Path charity owns two warehouses and adjacent land on the isthmus, where it provides food, bathrooms and a place to rest for as many as 1,000 people a night, Solalinde said…….
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/04/16/20080416pope-migrants0416.html
————
So much for Mexico’s immigration violation enforcement.
“Any good deed of the Holy Father is deserving of praise,” Monsignor Luis Flores, director of Mexico’s branch of Caritas Internacionalis, an umbrella group for Catholic charities, said in a prepared statement.
Interesting Read:
How Many Immigrants Does Vatican City Take?
By James Robb
Volume 5, Number 4 (Summer 1995)
…… Vatican City operates something like a miniature Monaco. Totally surrounded by Rome, the city-state is in no way self-sustaining. Yet it does have a large, unionized workforce, a highly professional diplomatic corps, and a fairly good cash flow (due to support from Catholic parishes).
What it does not have is any immigrants. Nor refugees. None. I tried to get the Holy See’s official point-of-view on this question by contacting its official representative in the U.S., Archbishop Agostino Cacciavillan, the papal nuncio.
http://www.thesocialcontract.com/artman2/publish/tsc0504/article_473.shtml
—–
Written in 1995 and the Vatican still strictly enforces its borders against unwanted illegal aliens and refugees.
No one should be denied emergency health care, that is for sure. However, as a very recent Emergency Room patient, what I experienced there was absolutely unbelieveable without firsthand experience.
What we once knew as the “Emergency Room” is no more. It has become more like a primary care facility, with whole families (Mom, Dad and 5 - 6 small children) in the waiting room while one child is treated for a cut finger. True emergencies, except for the most severe, wait, and in misery, endure the screamers remaining in the waiting room while the young one receives treatment.
No, no one should be denied emergency health care based upon ability to pay. At the same time, misuse of the Emergency Room for routine medical care by those who have no insurance, can’t pay, and therefore have no medical care aside from ER, is more than just a bit troublesome.
(GO TO THE WEBSITE OF….NUMBERSUSA….FAX YOUR REPRESENTATIVES ABOUT THE FOLLOWING BILLS.)
2008 marks the second term for the 110th Congress and there are many important immigration-related bills going through both the Senate and the House. These bills include:
-HR 938, a bill to end chain migration
-HR 1430, a bill to end the visa lottery (HR 4065 would also end the visa lottery)
-HR 133, a bill to reform birthright citizenship (HR 1940, HR 4192, and S 1269 would also reform birthright citizenship)
-HR 4088, the SAVE Act
Please send a fax to your Members of Congress and urge them not to forget about immigration 2008.
Visit our website to find information on the multitude of immigration bills going through Congress.
This is what happens when you try and fix the blight in a decaying neighborhood.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CSTCA/
Congress and the public are not allowed. You can bet they will not be looking out for America’s intrests.
Three Amigos Summit
Manuel Perez Rocha and Sarah Anderson | April 15, 2008
Editor: Emily Schwartz Greco
Foreign Policy In Focus
www.fpif.org
President George W. Bush will soon host what has become an annual Three Amigos Summit. The leaders of Mexico, the United States, and Canada will be gathering in New Orleans on April 21 and 22. What do you suppose is on the agenda? A rational response to immigration, perhaps? A thoughtful renegotiation of the unpopular North American Free Trade Agreement? Lessons from Canadas affordable medicines program?
No. No. And no. Rather than putting their heads together around pressing issues such as these, the three leaders will be advancing a so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). And while that may sound well and good, this initiative, begun in 2005, is unlikely to produce either security or prosperity. Thats because the partnership is only with big business.
The chief executives of Wal-Mart, Chevron, and 28 other large corporations are in on the closed-door negotiations, while members of Congress, journalists, and ordinary citizens are excluded. And the secrecy is not just around the presidential summits, but also the meetings of about 20 SPP working groups that carry on negotiations over the course of the year.
Whats on the table? Not much is public, but we do know that the executive powers of the three countries are hammering out regulatory changes that they claim do not require legislative approval. And given whos in the room, its a safe bet that these changes will favor narrow corporate interests over the public good.
The official corporate advisory body, called the North American Competitive Council (NACC), made 51 proposals to the SPP negotiators last year on issues as varied as taxation and patent rights. The NACC later boasted that all three of our governments have committed themselves to taking action on many of our recommendations.
Bad on Process and Substance
In essence, the SPP represents the privatization of policymaking. And so its not surprising that on top of the outrageously anti-democratic process, there are also strong reasons to be concerned about the substance of SPP decisions. Here are just a few:
First, at a time when the Democratic presidential candidates have kicked up a long overdue debate over NAFTA, the SPP would actually expand this flawed policy. Even though the lifting of trade and investment barriers under the trade pact failed to create the promised good, stable jobs, the SPP is further chipping away at remaining economic regulations. For example, at the last SPP summit, the three leaders announced a weakening of NAFTAs rules of origin to allow products with a lower level of national content to receive preferential tariff treatment. This will undermine domestic industries by making trade in products from third countries like China even more profitable.
Second, the SPP could exacerbate tensions over energy resources and deepen our dependence on fossil fuels. Under the guise of a North American integrated energy market, there is evidence that the U.S. government and corporations are aiming to gain greater control over its neighbors resources. One SPP agreement, for example, reflects the corporate advisors recommendations to promote energy privatization in Mexico this in spite of a massive citizens movement in that country, which has fought long and hard to prevent their nations oil industry from being handed over to global corporations. In Canada, progressive activists are up in arms over an SPP report that envisioned a fivefold increase in environmentally destructive oil production from tar sands, with most of the increase to be exported to the United States.
Third, the SPP talks are aimed at expanding the militarized U.S. security perimeter to all of North America, with disturbing implications for civil liberties. The three countries have vowed to join forces against not only external but also internal threats, and Mexico and Canada have already agreed to share vast amounts of information with the U.S. government, including the fingerprints of refugees and asylum seekers. The Bush administration is also offering Mexico a multi-billion-dollar military aid package under the Merida Initiative (also known as Plan Mexico). While the new equipment is supposedly to combat drug cartels, many organizations have expressed concerns that it may also end up being used against political dissidents and immigrants.
Progressive vs. Conservative Critiques
Although the SPP has been the target of strong criticism from progressive groups in Canada and Mexico, right-wing anti-immigrant forces have dominated the discourse in the United States. And while there is unity among critics of all political stripes when it comes to denouncing the SPPs secretive process, there are vast differences on substance.
Xenophobic groups like the Minutemen and the John Birch Society fear that the three governments are secretly plotting to erase U.S. borders and surrender its sovereignty through some sort of merger a la the European Union. In reality, the SPP vision is nearly the polar opposite of many of the founding pillars of the EU:
The EU includes political institutions, including the European Parliament, which represents all the member countries citizens. As stated above, SPP negotiators are only interested in hearing the perspectives of big business. The EU has tackled inequalities directly by transferring massive funds from richer countries to poorer countries and regions. As a result, once-poor countries like Ireland, Spain, and Portugal have become strong trading partners for the rest of the Union. By contrast, SPP negotiators are perpetuating the false assumption behind NAFTA that free markets alone will lift all boats. The aid being offered is to boost Mexicos military power, not to reduce inequalities. The EU enforces strong social and environmental standards that help ensure economic benefits are broadly shared and support sustainable development. The SPP negotiators are doing nothing to fix the extremely weak NAFTA side agreements on labor and the environment that have allowed corporations to continue to abuse workers and communities, particularly in Mexico, with impunity. Thanks to their efforts to narrow economic gaps, the EU has been able to have an internal open borders policy without destabilizing migration flows. Contrary to the anti-immigrant paranoia, the SPP negotiators are not contemplating any loosening of borders, even as a long-term goal. Instead, they aim to facilitate transit only of so-called legitimate people, while expanding border surveillance infrastructure to keep out other migrants. While the fall of the Berlin Wall symbolized the coming together of east and west Europe, the increasingly fortified wall between the United States and Mexico is a harsh sign of North Americas deep divisions.
Of course, it is important not to over-romanticize the European Union. They have their own xenophobia problems, with anti-immigrant political parties on the rise in several countries. Moreover, Europes trade policies towards developing countries are about as bad as those of the United States, and even within the EU, progressive forces are battling efforts to erode social protections.
However, the EUs internal integration model still offers some important lessons for our part of the world. And with both Democratic Presidential candidates promising to renegotiate NAFTA, this is an important moment for looking at alternative approaches.
In March, four broad-based citizens networks from all three countries, the Alliance for Responsible Trade (United States), Common Frontiers (Canada), the Mexican Action Network on Free Trade, and the Quebec Network on Hemispheric Integration produced a detailed set of proposals for NAFTAs renegotiation. Like the EU, this new NAFTA would require strong enforcement of labor rights and environmental laws. And rather than boosting military aid, it would encourage greater cooperation between our three countries to create stable livelihoods for family farmers, as well as for the small and medium businesses that provide most of our regions jobs.
If theyre really serious about security and prosperity, the Three Amigos would be discussing these types of alternatives. Instead, they are building a fortress North America in which large corporations (but not ordinary citizens) have even more power.
Manuel Perez Rocha is an Associate Fellow and Sarah Anderson is the Global Economy Project Director at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. They are both Foreign Policy In Focus contributors.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351456,00.html
In other news, looks like Tim Kaine will be out of excuses for stopping executions.
Big news just reported on FOX. ICE has raided several chicken farms throughout the U.S. in an effort to break up a ring operating in false IDs. Raids were in Tenn, WV, PA, and I can’t remember the rest of the states they mentioned. There will be a news brief in a couple of hours to report just how many workers/illegals have been arrested.
rebelreggie,
If this is so good for us, then why aren’t we in the know better yet, why isn’t the congress in the know. Seems to me, from the documentation I have read, they want to for the NAU. This is exactly what was talked about at the last of these meetings. This isn’t their first meeting and it should be publicized!!
This is just the first step, they should give the company a high fine for hiring these people. Tis won’t happen because the company will claim they do not have the ability to determine what is a false document and what isn’t. They will get off scott free!!
This is one of the items we have to accomplish for the illegal aliens to leave the US. Removing the incentive to be here. Removing the employers ability or desire to hire them. This si just the first step.
/\/\3|)iç 64 (Winner of the BVBL 40k and 50k post award) said on 16 Apr 2008 at 2:05 pm:
One small step for man, one giant step for mankind. Head ‘em up and move ‘em out!
Freedom said on 16 Apr 2008 at 7:13 am:
No one should be denied emergency health care, that is for sure. However, as a very recent Emergency Room patient, what I experienced there was absolutely unbelieveable without firsthand experience.
Just received my bill from a PWH emergency room visit. Spent six hours there waiting to been seen. $700.00 plus. That was for an x-ray, tetnus shot and an anti-biotic pill. They didn’t even look at the wound or clean it.
Junes_Reston said on 16 Apr 2008 at 6:50 am:
VATICAN ENTERS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION DEBATE
(Church criticized for funding refuge to aid border crossers)
by Chris Hawley and Sergio Solache - Apr. 16, 2008, Republic Mexico City Bureau
MEXICO CITY - The Vatican is helping to pay for construction of a shelter for Central Americans traveling to the United States, angering immigration-control advocates just as Pope Benedict XVI begins his first official U.S. visit.
What other religious denominations are funding this shelter? If you think that the Catholic Church is the only relgious group involved in supporting illegal immigrants, you are sadly mistaken.
My daughter had to have her appendix taken out. I was asked if I had insurance, I said yes. This is when the battery of tests started. The ER DR wanted to do a vaginal exam on the 17 y/o girl. I said ok even though I was 99% sure it was a hot appendix (rebound tenderness was present in the lower right quadrant, learned it is usually appendicitis from Paramedic school). He was unable to do a complete exam. They made her drink the barium for a barium swallow test. She couldn’t keep it down for the test. They did several x-rays of her. They called in the on call OB/GYN Dr to do a vaginal exam on her. She was a virgin, verified by the nurse in the room with the Dr as he broke her hymen! She screamed bloody murder, I have never heard her scream like that. Another Dr came into the room much later and I asked him what he was there for. He said the ER Dr was unable to do a complete vaginal exam on her and needed him to do one. I told him absolutely not. No one was going to poke, prod or do another test until someone got me a Dr that would do an appendicitis test. I told him he could do one on her AFTER he check her appendix. He did the rebound test and she lifted off of the gurney in so much pain, he immediately turned white and rushed out of the room. I had been telling them it was her appendix for the previous 4 &frac1/2; hours. It was almost 7 hours from the time we were in the room until they had a surgical team in place to do the procedure. She was in so much pain at the time.
The reason I relate this story is because I wonder what the treatment would have been if I had answered no to the insurance question. Would all of those tests been performed? I had to pay close to $1000.00 dollars because the insurance company did not pay for all of the tests.
Andy Rooney said on ‘60 Minutes’ a few weeks back:
I don’t think being a minority makes you a victim of anything except numbers.
The only things I can think of that are truly discriminatory are things like the United Negro College Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment Television, and Miss Black America.
Try to have things like the United Caucasian College Fund, Cloud Magazine, White Entertainment Television, or Miss White America; and see what happens… Jesse Jackson will be knocking down your door.
Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game.
I believe they are called the Boy Scouts for a reason; that is why there are no girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts!
ARE YOU LISTENING MARTHA BURKE?
I think that if you feel homosexuality is wrong, it is not a phobia, it is an opinion.
I have the right ‘NOT’ to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird, or tick me off.
When 70% of the people who get arrested are black, in cities where 70% of the population is black, that is not racial profiling; it is the Law of Probability.
I believe that if you are selling me a milkshake, a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper or a hotel room, you must do it in English! As a matter of fact, if you want to be an American citizen, you should have to speak English!
My father and grandfather didn’t die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come over and disrespect ours.
I think the police should have every right to shoot your sorry ass if you threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you can’t understand the word ‘freeze’ or ’stop’ in English, see the above lines.
I don’t think just because you were not born in this country, you are qualified for any special loan programs, government sponsored bank loans or tax breaks, etc., so you can open a hotel, coffee shop, trinket store, or any other business.
We did not go to the aid of certain foreign countries and risk our lives in wars to defend their freedoms, so that decades later they could come over here and tell us our constitution is a living document; and open to their interpretations.
I don’t hate the rich I don’t pity the poor.
I know pro wrestling is fake, but so are movies and television.
That doesn’t stop you from watching them.
I think Bill Gates has every right to keep every penny he made and continue to make more. If it ticks you off, go and invent the next operating system that’s better, and put your name on the building.
It doesn’t take a whole village to raise a child right, but it does take a parent to stand up to the kid; and smack their little behinds when necessary, and say ‘NO!’
I think tattoos and piercing are fine if you want them, but please don’t pretend they are a political statement. And, please, stay home until that new lip ring heals. I don’t want to look at your ugly infected mouth as you serve me French fries!
I am sick of ‘Political Correctness.’ I know a lot of black people, and not a single one of them was born in Africa; so how can they be ‘African-Americans’? Besides, Africa is a continent. I don’t go around saying I am a European-American because my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was from Europe. I am proud to be from America and nowhere else.
And if you don’t like my point of view, tough…
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND TO THE REPUBLIC, FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL! AMEN!
I was asked to send this on if I agree or delete if I don’t. It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a problem in having ‘In God We Trust’ on our money and having ‘God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why don’t we just tell the 14% to Shut Up, lay down and BE QUIET!!!
I agree reggie!!!
FYI:
Gun show at the VFW Post #1563 on Minnieville Road this weekend (4/19 - 4/20).
http://olddominionshows.com/gunshowsvirginia.asp?Month=4&Year=2008&#Dale%20City
Anonymous at 3:15
You have two choices: You can teach “facts” in school. Or you can teach things that are not factual in school. Here’s your delimma. There are things that are not factual (not based on fact), but are unknowable, and there are things that are not factual and fictional (made up in people’s minds).
I don’t think you want to teach fiction as truth, except in an English class to help students to write good fiction.
BUT, the problem is do you want to teach things that are not factual, but unknowable?
The answer is maybe, but they have to be presented in a classroom as “theory”. M-Theory, an attempt to better understand the structure of the universe, is based on a mathmatics and scientific research that is “unknowable” because it cannot yet be measured as a repeatable and verifiable experiment. That does not mean it does not exist, it just means we cannot yet test it and verify it as truth. Therefore it must remain “theory”.
Evolution is a fact, verifiable by experiment, every child born of 2 DNA strands from two donor parents, evolves beyond the original parents. The abilities evolve (sometimes they devolve as in two stupid people produce an even more ingorant child, with even more flawed DNA). Evolution is masured in fruit flies, and many species of organisms. Viruses evolve to beat our Anti-biotics and survive it better each time they are exposed. Dangerous bacteria have evolved to be super bugs (MSRBs). Dinosaurs evolved into birds, Reptiles and amphibians into modern day alligators, and fish into flying fish. People evolved from a more primitive form, several forms of this pre-human form, went extinct (some 16 different species), due to environmental mass extinctions several times (at least 6 in the history of the earth, and the remaining species started over. Clams have not evolved very far from their original form, neither have jellyfish, neither have worms, but fish have evoleved, not sharks, mammals have evolved the most.
WE as humans will evolve into something we are not today. What that will be will be determined by the Stresses we are introduced to. That stress is anything that will kill us in nature , before we can reproduce. If a genetic mistake results in a more successful human that can survive something that kills many himans before they have babies, then that genetic trait will pass on to following children and the new DNS strand, will dominate the population. Those that do not possess the trait will die. Many (95%) of native american indians died from smallpox, because their DNA did not protect them. They are a small population. Many others (Europeans) had DNA that protected from smallpox. Those Europeans “evolved” to have more babies with smallpox protection, than Native American Indians. Many who survived, had some form of protection and pass that protection on to their modern children. They have “evolved” beyond those who died, with the deficient DNA.
So evolution is a factual thing that can and should be taught in school, regardless of some abstract notion people interpret out of the bible that God somhoe declared that man has not evolved. He explicitly mentions no such text as the concept didn’y even exist when humans wrote th current Canon text of the bible. It is belief that prevents some religious people from accepting the truth of facts, and over and over in history they have been proven to be wrong. Galileo was persecuted by the church for proving the “fact” the the earth revolves around the sun. It is man-made doctrine that teaches people to believe in these false concepts.
The issue if intelligent design is this. Since God himself is unknowable, except through belief, and thier is no known evidence to yet support this existance as a measurable fact, it must be put in the same category as unknowable and unmeasurable. The problem is fiction is in this same category, as you cannot measure fiction, and fiction (un-truth) is unknowable because it does not exist. This is why you can never win a science argument with a religious person, even if it was fiction it cannot be proven as truth or false with any facts, only belief. And many people believe in thousands of different religions mad up my man in history, many people believe in “new age” concepts that are fictional, but cannot be proven wrong, many believe in UFOs and will sacrifice their lives to “teleport” to space ships waiting to pick them up, and many people delieve in devil worship and animal sacrifice as a way to invoke and please their false gods. So, intelligent design, could be taught in school right along with M-Theory, as long as people understood that intelligent design and the existance of an intelligent designer is a “theory” among thousands of theories, that someday with measurement and repeatable experiment, can me verified as truthful. The onlly other option is to “believe”, and I don’t think you should start teaching students to “believe” just because some teacher says so, that’s how you get David Karesh cults of false beliefs.
I think you should only teach religious belief legally in an church. That is the proper place to be teaching children beliefs. Many different churches teach many different beliefs, so you can’t force one belief down their throat in a public school setting. Do it in a private church setting where they are not captive audiances and can “choose” where they want to attend church school.
I would bet you that at least a thousand different religions have been made up in people’s minds over history and are all man-made doctrines. Why? Because humans are afraid of death. We need religion for that eternal emotional comfort. It is hard to face a life and reality of nature that just “ends”. Where do the squirrels go when they die? If they evolve to be self aware and think like we do some day (it could happen), they will make an answer up for this too. I think we need to teach belief in a church and truth in school, unless we are openly discussing and evaluating “theories” with hopes of future measurable proof, to support or deny the truth of those theories. Many people with strong beliefs are just not comfortable with “truth”
I have one belief, I believe in God. I also believe that he is able to forgive me for any concept I question, especially churchs that follow man-made doctrine and impose miserable oppressions on man-kind (like persecution over abortion and killing over abortion) as long as I do not commit the only unforgivable sin. That is the sin of non-belief in Him. He is not able or cannot allow me to co-exist with him if I commit this one sin. All else is forgiven. Works do not get you into heavean and works do not prevent you from getting into heaven. God is “unknowable” and you only “know” him through belief. All else is irrelevant and frivolus argument. Evolution does not matter it just “is” and God built it the way it is, so why try to disprove what he reveals in measurable evidence? He made it the way he wants it and it is up to us if we have the means to understand “evolution”. It is how nature works.
Teaching intelligent design in a public school is also irrelevant. Abortion is irrelevant, practicing religious rituals and mindless “laws” is irrelevant to entry into heaven. Teaching a relationship with your Father in church as the only main focus of your religious life, and the only way into heaven regardless of works is relevant. Life eternal does not happen any other way.
You can know this only with a belief and you can never prove it is true or prove it is false with “facts”.
This e-mail was forwarded to me, thought I would share it. I’m not saying that I agree or disagree with the content, but there are some good points made in it.
- LB
**********************************************************
American Suicide
Wherever you stand, please take the time to read this; it ought to scare the pants off you!
We know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Last week there was an immigration overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of America’s finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor by the name of Victor Hansen Davis talked about his latest book, ‘Mexifornia,’ explaining how immigration - both legal and illegal was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.
Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for th e destruction of the United States. He said, ‘If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let’s destroy America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that ‘An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.”
‘Here is how they do it,’ Lamm said: ‘First, to destroy America, turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country.’ History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. The historical scholar, Seymour Lipset, put it this way: ‘The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy.’ Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, and Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans.’.
Lamm went on: Second, to destroy America, ‘Invent ‘multiculturalism’ and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. Make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences. Make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due solely to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.
Third, ‘We could make the United States an ‘Hispanic Quebec’ without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: ‘The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictate d ethnocentricity and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.’
Lamm said, ‘I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in America enforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities.’
‘Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school.’
‘My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of ‘Victimology.’ I would get all minorities to think that their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population.’
‘My sixth plan for America’s downfall would include dual citizenship, and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common Language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fe ll. ‘E. Pluribus Unum’ –From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the ‘pluribus’ instead of the ‘Unum,’ we will balkanize America as surely as Kosovo.’
‘Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits; make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of ‘diversity.’ I would find a word similar to ‘heretic’ in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like ‘racist’ or ‘xenophobe’ halt discussion and debate. Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of ‘Victimology,’ I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them.’
In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silen ce followed. Finally he said,. ‘Lastly, I would censor Victor Hanson Davis’s book ‘Mexifornia.’ His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America. deserves to be destroyed, don’t read that book.’
There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Even barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate ‘diversity.’ American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America - take note of California and other states - to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell’s book ‘1984.’ In tha t story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: ‘War is peace,’ ‘Freedom is slavery,’ and ‘Ignorance is strength.’
Governor Lamm walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that our nation and the future of this great democracy is deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don’t get this immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path especially The American Dream.
**********************************************************
rebelreggie,
Thanks so much for passing on the Andy Rooney speech. Amen to all that he said.
Lamm is also the man who wrote:
“We’ve got a duty to die and get out of the way with all of our machines and artificial hearts and let the other society, our kids, build a reasonable life.” He also was pro physician-assisted suicides.
Lamm is a loose cannon. Fear mongering and scare tactics have been his standard fare.
An aside - He was a presidential candidate for the Reform Party in 1996.
http://wral.com/news/local/story/2746401/
Raleigh, N.C. — A woman injured in a head-on crash on Interstate 540 said she is angry over the prison sentence given to the driver who slammed into her.
Bettie Coates, 42, was headed home from work early on Oct. 25 when her Ford Mustang was hit head-on by a drunk driver on eastbound I-540 between Creedmoor and Six Forks roads.
“It’s been hard because before the car accident, I was very active,” she said.
After six surgeries and extensive physical therapy, Coates finally learned to walk again a month ago.
“I’m still recovering. My life will never be the same. I have rods and pins and all kinds of things throughout my entire body,” Coates said.
Eblin Fabiel Ocampo Cruz, 22, of U.S. Highway 70 West, was convicted of driving while impaired, reckless driving, failure to reduce speed and possession of a revoked license.
Coates said that while she has undergone months of pain and suffering, Cruz was sentenced this week to two years in prison. She said that is a small price to pay for what he did to her.
“I’m very angry at the sentence. I really am,” Coates said.
The sentence was not part of a plea deal; it was up to a judge. Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby said Cruz received the highest possible sentence under state guidelines.
Coates said she believes the law needs to be changed.
“I think what’s happening is they’re going in and they’re getting a slight sentence, just a slap on the wrist and they get back out and they do the same thing all over again,” she added.
Coates said that until the laws change, tragedies like hers will continue to happen.
“It’s just often that you turn the television on and you see where someone has died or someone has been hit by a drunk driver,” she said.
Court records show that Cruz was also convicted of a DWI in 2006 – his first of at least five appearances in court that year.
Cruz is an illegal immigrant. After he serves his sentence, he will be turned over to federal authorities, who will begin the deportation process.
Michael,
What “church” do you belong to? What denomination?
THIS EMAIL HAS BEEN IN CIRCULATION FOR QUITE SOME TIME NOW, BUT IT’S SOMETHING AMERICANS BETTER TAKE INTO ACCOUNT. NOTICE THE VERY LAST SENTENCE AT THE BOTTOM. IF WE DON’T DO IT RIGHT, WE MIGHT NOT GET ANOTHER CHANCE!
> Mouse Story .
> A mouse
> looked through the crack
> in the wall
> to see the farmer and his wife
> open a package.
>
> “What food
> might this contain?”
> The mouse wondered -
> he was devastated
> to discover
> it was a mousetrap.
>
> Retreating to the farmyard,
> the mouse
> proclaimed the warning.
>
> “There is a mousetrap
> in the house!
> There is a mousetrap
> in the house!”
>
> The chicken clucked
> and scratched,
> raised her head
> and said,
> “Mr. Mouse,
> I can tell
> this is a grave concern to you
> but it is of no consequence to me.
> I cannot be bothered by it.”
>
> The mouse
> turned to the pig
> and told him,
> “There is a mousetrap
> in the house!
> There is a mousetrap
> in the house!”
>
> The pig sympathized,
> but said,
> “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse,
> but there is nothing
> I can do about it but pray.
> Be assured
> you are in my prayers.”
>
> The mouse turned to the cow and said,
> “There is a mousetrap
> in the house!
> There is a mousetrap
> in the house!”
>
> The cow said,
> “Wow, Mr. Mouse.
> I’m sorry for you,
> but it’s no skin off my nose.”
>
> So, the mouse
> returned to the house,
> head down and dejected,
> to face the farmer’s mousetrap– alone.
>
> That very night
> a sound was heard
> throughout the house –
> like the sound
> of a mousetrap
> catching its prey.
>
> The farmer’s wife
> rushed to see
> what was caught.
> In the darkness,
> she did not see
> it was a venomous snake
> whose tail the trap had caught.
>
> The snake
> bit the farmer’s wife.
> The farmer
> rushed her to the hospital
> and she returned home
> with a fever.
> Everyone knows
> you treat a fever
> with fresh chicken soup,
> so the farmer took his hatchet
> to the farmyard
> for the soup’s
> main ingredient.
>
> But his wife’s sickness
> continued,
> so friends and neighbors
> came to sit with her
> around the clock.
> To feed them,
> the farmer butchered the pig.
>
> The farmer’s wife
> did not get well;
> she died.
> So many people came
> for her funeral,
> the farmer
> had the cow slaughtered
> to provide enough meat
> for all of them.
>
> The mouse looked upon it all
> from his crack in the wall
> with great sadness.
>
> So, the next time
> you hear someone
> is facing a problem
> and think it doesn’t
> concern you,
> remember –
> when one of us is threatened,
> we are all at risk.
>
> We are all involved
> in this journey
> called life.
> We must keep an eye out
> for one another
> and make an extra effort to
> encourage one another.
>
> SEND THIS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER HELPED YOU OUT
> AND LET THEM KNOW
> HOW IMPORTANT THEY ARE.
> REMEMBER:
> EACH OF US
> IS A VITAL THREAD
> IN ANOTHER PERSON’S TAPESTRY;
> OUR LIVES
> ARE WOVEN TOGETHER
> FOR A REASON.
>
> One of the best things
> to hold onto in this world
> is a friend.
>
> Amen.
>
>
If you don’t have time to do it right,
When will you have time to do it over?
WE MIGHT NOT WIN, BUT YOU CAN’T WIN WITHOUT US!
Arlington Center Offers Hope in Hard Times - washingtonpost.com
( Now you may understand why Prince Willam County,near Arlington County,has cracked down in illegals,in order to stop the flood)
In Prince William County, (illegal)immigrant communities are unraveling as foreclosures, a weak economy, a police crackdown and harsh policies to deny services to illegal immigrants kick in. In Herndon, a day labor center became such a lightning rod in the national debate about illegal immigrants that residents elected leaders who shut it down 21 months after it opened.
(Think your voice & your vote don’t make a difference?)
In Richmond, lawmakers this session pushed 130 bills, most of which failed, that would make life harder for illegal immigrants. And the record number of deportations across the United States last year, 282,000, was more than double the number from 2001.
But things are different in Arlington County.
In Arlington, where officials unanimously approved a resolution last fall welcoming all immigrants, regardless of their status, a day labor center has operated without much fanfare for eight years. And now, even in a budget crunch, officials are asking for mental health counseling for (illegal)immigrant workers.
(Glad to know no Americans living in this county have need for mental health counseling,aren’t you?)
And they’re getting it.
“Things have gotten really bad for day laborers. Many have lost their houses, their places of work. Many are exploited and not paid. And they have no way to make things better,” county mental health counselor Fernando Penaherrera said in Spanish. (Got a county employee that no habla?)
For the past month, Penaherrera has met every Wednesday with day laborers to talk about stress, anxiety, depression and substance abuse.
“Alcohol is the easiest answer for many of them,” he said. “Wherever you go, there is a 7-Eleven, and you can buy a six-pack. The situation is serious. Many are losing hope.”
The request for counseling came from Andres Tobar, executive director of the Shirlington Employment and Education Center, just off Four Mile Run.
“In the last couple years, we’ve had a more than 50 percent drop in jobs,” he told the County Board at a budget hearing. “Where we might have had 500 jobs a month, now we’re down to 230, maybe 200. We saw able men looking for work and able to meet their needs. Today, we’re finding them scraping and not able to meet the rent.” ( Go. Home.)
Many have become homeless, he said.
One recent, dreary day, men in baseball caps, paint-spattered sweat shirts and work boots milled about outside the center. Some waited in the covered shelter outside, where they scanned the streets for any people who might drive by and ask for workers for the day.
“Work?” the laborers eagerly asked every passerby. “You got work?”
Inside, men sat around talking or surfing the Internet on one of the center’s two computers, looking for news about El Salvador. Others crowded into the conference room to watch a Spanish movie on television. Many absently fingered the ID cards the center makes for them for $5, showing their names, date of birth, address and work expertise.
“We need to keep them from getting bored,” Tobar said.
The men have English-language training, job training classes and other programs. ( here’s an oddball idea-how about job training classes for…..Americans?)With so little work, the days are long. Tobar called a meeting and asked how the workers were faring. They agreed to talk about their lives on the condition that only their first names be used, as many are not in the country legally.
A man named Ramiro, wearing a blue baseball cap emblazoned with a U.S. flag, handed out his handyman card.
“There’s no work,” he said in Spanish. The 52-year-old hasn’t worked in two months. He has six children in Bolivia who are all in college. He left home five years ago to make enough money to get them through school. Now he has nothing to send.
( you made ‘em-ever think about educational costs BEFORE your pants came off?)
“I wanted a good life for my children. But now, what can I do?” he asked.
Ramiro is considering returning home, in defeat, if he doesn’t get work soon. But he doesn’t know how he’ll face his family.
One worker blamed the lack of work on the anti-immigrant mood in the country. “People are afraid to hire you if you don’t have papers,” he said.
He was quickly interrupted. “It doesn’t matter if you have papers; there isn’t work for anyone,” another said.
Another worker, clearly drunk at 9:30 in the morning,
(life can’t be too bad if he has booze funds)was roundly criticized by the others. “If you get the job, you’ll ruin it for the rest of us!” one said.
“Who would want to take a drunk to their house?” another scolded. “You’ll do a bad job and then [employers] won’t come back.”
Another worker, Balthazar, 60, left to pick up food at the food bank next door. He explained how he left a municipal government job in Lima, Peru, eight years ago so his son could attend college in the United States.
( son could have entered U.S. legally on student visa)
For a few years, Balthazar worked six or seven days a week to make that happen. Now, he said, he will do anything for work: paint, lay bricks, hang drywall, mow, landscape. Anything. But there isn’t any work. And his son has had to suspend his studies.
“I don’t know if he can continue,” Balthazar said. It’s something he worries about constantly.
“Some people are depressed,” he said. “It depends on the person. I want to keep fighting. My father was the kind of person who got up at 4 a.m. to work. I respect that. I work like that.”
Tobar said he has become increasingly concerned about the mental state of the day laborers as work has dried up. When one worker became so depressed recently that he swallowed rat poison and had to have his stomach pumped and another remarked that there was no point in trying any longer, Tobar said he had to act.
“You can see it in their faces, the depression,” Tobar said. “I don’t know what could occur with desperate people who are starving. But I do know that desperate people often take desperate measures.”
This year, Tobar called the county’s Department of Human Services and received help for mental health counseling. He was testifying recently in the hopes of keeping that counseling, as County Board members consider a proposal to cut as much as $1 million in services, including substance abuse and mental health counseling, in Arlington’s annual $925 million budget. Tobar worries that, with positions being cut, the counselors will be stretched and will have less time to come to the center to work with the laborers. The board is scheduled to vote on the final budget on Saturday.
County Board Chairman J. Walter Tejada (D) was an early supporter of the day labor center, for pragmatic and philosophical reasons.
“We have a history in Arlington of being a caring, inclusive community that values diversity. And we support people who are here trying to improve the quality of their lives in our region through hard work,” Tejada said. “There are (illegals)people looking for work and employers looking for workers. And if that activity takes place — and it will take place — the government needs to coordinate it so that it happens in some kind of orderly manner, that the needs and demands of work are met.
“We realize that this is a divisive issue in some places,” he said, “but it does not need to be.”
Although times are tight, Tejada said, the mental health of day laborers must be addressed to provide help to those who need it and to protect the community at large.
“Having a substance abuse counselor there is a proactive way of addressing the needs of the population. That’s part of what a community needs to do. We need to take care of our neediest (illegal)residents,” Tejada said. “And ultimately, when people are able to find work, we all benefit.”
Back at the center, officer manager David Benavides, a former Marine who served in Iraq, spent the morning calling employers who hadn’t paid workers to get them to pay up.
The workers are friendly with one another, using nicknames such as Potato Face, Dracula, Gloves or Perro de Lengua, “Loose Tongue,” because he gossips so much.
Benavides said that as times have gotten rough, he’s seen tough workers curled up in a corner crying. Some people borrowed thousands of dollars to pay smugglers to get them into the country. And now that they can’t pay their loans, the smugglers are harassing their families. “That’s really tough for them,” he said.
A worker who had lost his apartment and could no longer share custody of his children was ecstatic when he got a temporary job, Benavides said. He was showing off, inviting his friends for drinks.
But he drank so much that he passed out. And his friends stole his money. Now he’s homeless.
( if the article writer was aiming for my sympathy,he/she missed by several miles)
“That’s why we need a substance abuse counselor,” Benavides said. “Going through these times is very tough. But alcohol only makes it worse.”
(thought all that money was being sent back home to Rosa and his 18 starvin’ babies?)
rebelreggie said on 17 Apr 2008 at 12:51 pm:
When one worker became so depressed recently that he swallowed rat poison and had to have his stomach pumped
Probably at the local hospital ER at taxpayers expense.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7010670124
Did someone send some cajones to Canada?
Way to go Target! Finally a chain store with the kahunas to stand up to the Latino agenda! I will bet that we will see more of this since the case against Joey Vento was dropped recently - and the ruling stated it was NOT discriminating to put a sign in your place of business that states Speak English. Amazing! Now if we can just get rid of the Press 1 for English on business voice mail messages we will be moving in the right direction!
Let me make this perfectly clear. To demand people in this country learn the language of the country to become a citizen is NOT racist and is NOT discriminating. France has been adamant about that for decades! Just try going to France and expecting them to speak English - even if they KNOW English, they are proud of their language and they arent catering to any other country even if they ARE tourists.
Somehow in this country, we have turned into a population of people who are not proud of their language or their country and they seek to destroy it from within. This has been happening slowly for years now and it is finally something that cannot be ignored any longer. We should have started fighting this 20 years ago when the first Press 1 for English phone message was created.
Nothing is MORE discriminating than a country that caters ONLY to TWO languages. If they really want to be open and welcoming to other countries, not just Latin America and Mexico, then we would support ALL languages. By supporting ONLY English and Spanish, you diss the Canadians to the north who speak French. You diss the Asian immigrants. You diss the European immigrants. So why is this country so hell bent on making it a Spanish speaking country? Are there really people who would like to have us become third world Mexico because that is what will happen if you follow this path of Latinizing the US. To what end do we want to Latinize the US? Do all the big businesses want to replace the current US citizens with the third world poor Spanish speaking peoples? Because if that is not your goal, it sure would shock me!
Heres the story on Target. Be warned - when you see the words progress and struggle you can be sure the writer or group has Socialist roots. These are the key words of the insurrection in the United States. Dont be fooled!
The recent opening of a Target store in Columbia Heights in Northwest Washington, D.C., has aroused a range of emotions among community activists, local residents, and the media, from unfettered praise to cynicism and ambivalence.
One of the biggest concerns for those leery of the project is that it will permanently change the face of Columbia Heights, a diverse neighborhood with a high percentage of Spanish-speaking residents. Critics argue that even if the development benefits most people at the moment, the resulting increases in neighborhood housing prices could eventually push out some of its longest standing residents.
So, simply by stating English only it will drive people from the neighborhood? Because they dont get coddling from the local stores to continue speaking only Spanish? That would be enough to make Spanish speaking people leave? Really? Well then I cant WAIT till the entire country goes in this direction because maybe then, the Spanish only crowd will find their way back to a Spanish only country too! Waaaaah.. people dont want to bend over and take it up the ying yang from the Latinos any more.. waahh our invasion and infiltration of the US is being reversed.. waaah
Perhaps Columbia Heights would do better to invite WALMART to their neighborhood or LOWES. Im sure either of these stores would be only too happy to bend to the whims of Latinos and they would be only too happy to stick it to the English speaking majority
The other day I found myself in a local Lowes - if I could find what I needed at another store I would - but of course these chain stores dominate an area and push out all of our alternatives to them. So I am FORCED to shop at a store that displays EVERY sign in English and Spanish. The Spanish is only a wee bit smaller than the English. I thanked the store manager for allowing me to learn such Spanish terms as Salida (Exit) and Entrada (Enter) because where else can you shop for home improvement items AND learn Spanish! Now I feel prepared to shop in places like Southern Florida, Texas or California! How nice of them!
The article goes on:
But the stores decision not to include bilingual signage reflects the deeper fears of certain residents and observers: that the real question about Target and Columbia Heights gentrification isnt whether it will have short-term benefits, but rather whether, in the long run, it will severely reduce the socioeconomic and racial diversity of the neighborhood by spurring the development of more luxury and upper-class housing.
So.. heres a question. Why cant a neighborhood have racial diversity without bilingual signage? Especially when that signage would ONLY support Spanish and English? I think there are plenty of neighborhoods in the US which are rich in racial diversity and the bilingual signage is not the impetus for that. So what the author of this article REALLY means is that NOT having bilingual signage will offend the Latinos. And you know what I say to them? Im OFFENDED that you continue to demand support for YOUR language for YOUR country when you are living in OURS. Get over it already and LEARN ENGLISH like all the OTHER IMMIGRANTS!
rebelreggie said on 18 Apr 2008 at 12:08 pm:
So why is this country so hell bent on making it a Spanish speaking country? Are there really people who would like to have us become third world Mexico because that is what will happen if you follow this path of Latinizing the US.
It’s not the country that is hell bent on making it a Spanish speaking country. It’s the Latinos (both legal and illegal) that are hell bent on doing it. To assimilate would require speaking English. They prefer Spanish as they see the day that they will “rule” this country. Look at California and especially LA. La has all appearances of being a third world country.
BURLINGTON A state tax refund that was a little short led to an identity theft charge against an illegal immigrant with an alias who had been deported once before.
The Alamance County Sheriff’s Office said it received a report on April 1 from James Walker of Burlington, who told deputies that his state tax refund check was $288.12 less than he expected. That’s because the city of Raleigh had garnisheed his refund for failing to pay his water bill.
Problem was, the sheriff’s office said, Walker had no water account with the city of Raleigh. Deputies discovered that someone had used Walker’s Social Security number to obtain water service in Raleigh. Thursday morning, Raleigh police arrested a man named Jose Armando Sierra Martinez, 40, of 5110 Neuse Commons Lane, Apt. 104, Raleigh.
Deputies said they were able to determine that Martinez is Jimence Carlos Aqudelo, who was from Colombia and had been previously deported. Aqudelo has been charged with one count of felony identity theft, and he is being held in the Alamance County jail on an $8,000 bond.
Burning Issue
There is an urgent need for firefighters in the West to battle about two dozen major wildfires.
TheDenverChannel.com reports many of the new recruits are Hispanics who speak only Spanish. That means that some of the supervisors who speak only English are being laid off or demoted. In Oregon, a crew boss is required to be able to speak the language of the firefighters — even if it’s only one worker on a 20-person crew. The state says the rule is necessary for safety reasons.
So why not require the workers to speak English? The state has no clear answer.
Whatever happened to Dolph and Lafayette? They haven’t been heard from for a long time.