Once a Domestic, not ALWAYS a Domestic!

I am happy to tell you about two women that I personally know. One is Edith and the other is Kinga. The former is a vibrant, forty-ish Czech legal immigrant. The other is a bit younger and from Poland, also legally. It was hard for them to get documented to come here. They do not know one another, and they have never met. They are both naturalized American citizens. They have been here less than 10 years. One of the ladies has a friend who runs a companion sort of company to hers.

Edith and Kinga started cleaning houses with a friend or two. They slaved, saved and prospered. They spent endless hours learning English and practicing with anyone and everyone they could. Each started her own business...again more paperwork, no cheating, no using the "system", no welfare. Each lady today is doing very well. Their businesses thrive. They employ many other people and use their knowledge to help other NEWCOMERS assimilate into the American culture, while preserving the essence and particular nuances of their own. The guy who has the companion business does windows, carpets, and exterior maintenance. He is fairly priced. They FILE THEIR TAXES. They work hard, too. They are successful.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THESE LEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND THOSE WHO REFUSE TO BE (LEGAL)? I think it's just plain old orneriness for many. A thought process that is sort of like: "Well, there are millions of US, and who is actually going to STOP us?

At several major tourist attractions in various parts of the U.S., Polish college kids come over here to work for the summer. It is all very legal. At the end of August, they go back to Poland. Their English is phenomenal. They are goodnatured, pleasant to speak to, and excellent at the customer service they provide. The key issue here is that they are "guest" workers and they "go back home" when the vacation/tourist season is over.

What I am going to do is this - I will advise my congresspersons and senators that if the immigration bill is diluted, I will not vote for their candidates. I will not re-elect THEM! I have the power of the VOTE!

If the bill passes all watered down, then I will lobby INTENSELY for MORE EUROPEANS and VIETNAMESE and KOREANS and other immigrants to come on in (legally). The country needs them to offset the cowards who came in through dishonesty. I don't care HOW BADLY those wanted to be here. So do LOTS of people thousands of miles away who are willing to go through the right channels to get here. My family is among those who couldn't make the "quota" years ago. It didn't matter that we were ready to sponsor cousins and uncles, that we had a house for them, that we would be responsible for them financially. The U.S. wouldn't let them in. Ultimately, they made it over very LATE in life and the "dream" they had just couldn't happen in the way they had hoped. Nonetheless, they made good lives here and loved the U.S.A.

Lastly, if on Monday all the hispanic businesses are, in fact, going to be closed, it will be a huge "day without a Mexican" for them, rather than for those who do NOT support this nonsense. I don't understand why they don't want other Mexicans to shop at Mexican stores. That doesn't sound too clever or effective to me.

So the illegals and their buddies are going to take May 1st off. A day to stay home. That means NOTHING. Why not do it for 7 - 10 - 15 or 30 days? Now, THAT would be ACTION! Then we could observe the seriousness of their protest.

How to Voice Your Displeasure and Other Thoughts

Okay, everyone! I need to let you know that it is imperative that you support the folks who are STAYING OPEN FOR BUSINESS on May 1. This means you call them or go to their store and SAY SO!

In my area, the Ralphs supermarket is voicing their "SUPPORT FOR WORKERS IN THIS SENSITIVE IMMIGRATION ISSUE"! I called the headquarters and told them that their public statement uses the word "immigration". In fact this is so NOT about immigration - but about ILLEGAL immigration. NO ONE on that side of the issue wants to use the word ILLEGAL. So, I simply said I would not shop at Ralphs any more.

I then went to the store I usually shop at to see the manager, who I know. I told him essentially the same thing. He clearly understood, appreciated my candor and explanation and we are still on friendly terms. He even agrees with me. But here is the problem... All who DISAGREE with the boycott should SAY SO. We cannot behave like the regular citizens of Germany in the early years of WWII and Nazism. Many Germans did not agree with THEIR own government's philosophy. They just remained silent as the pathetic 3rd Reich marched over countries, peoples, lives. They remained silent while millions were tortured, killed, imprisoned.

Although this is obviously NOT any bit as serious, the point is that citizens MUST STAND UP FOR WHAT IS RIGHT. This is not to take away from hard work that illegals may do. This is not to hold a wholesale condemnation of any ethnic group. It is the Mexicans themselves who are choosing to call it a MEXICAN issue. I wonder how they will feel when people like me DEMAND that Native American be given MORE respect, when Poles and Italians and others are ENCOURAGED to come in through Mexico and/or Canada. Why not? If it's open territory, let the games begin.

The Mexicans do NOT own our National Anthem. The Mexican flag is NEVER to be flown higher than the U.S. flag in any U.S. environment (i.e., United States itself, U.S. airliners, U.S. ships, U.S. territories, and so forth). If the Mexican or any other flag means THAT MUCH to a person or to a group, then you should wish to be loyal to IT and to all that IT represents... It represents oppression to other persons who try to become naturalized Mexican citizens; it represents a president and political system more rife with corruption than most others (admittedly so by its own participants), it represents a dispassionate upper class who keep "la raza" down on the farm, so to speak. SO, if you LOVE your Mexican flag, then go back and fly it proudly and work, even unto revolution, to correct the country's flaws. This is what Hidalgo did. Do you not know that Mexican history? Are the Mexicans who are flying that "aguila" above our "Stars & Stripes" unaware of this? Or have they become a group that is satisfied with usurping the hard work of others, lacking the courage, fortitude, guts and yes, the HUEVOS to effect change in THE COUNTRY THEY RUN FROM! ?

The Mexican culture and history are filled with passion, war, bloodshed, appeasement, alliances, bravery, fools and heroes from many lands and cultures. They were ruled by Spaniards and a French emperor. The Mexican dictators executed priests and those who sought democracy (Father Miguel Pro and others during Obregon's despotic leadership). So now they discount all of that to run to the U.S. to fly that now pathetic aguila, unable to stand up and make changes on the soil where their illustrious history and culture lie dormant and anemic, dying sadly in the provincia where those ancestors once stood their ground for freedom. "El Grito" was not "Si, se puede". Learn history or repeat it...as was once said. The United States tolerates, welcomes, thrives on IMMIGRATION. It is the ILLEGAL part that is rejected, Mexican or OTHERWISE!

MY immigrant family served proudly in WWII Pacific Theatre, Korea, Vietnamese conflict. I was raised in the U.S., Mexico and Europe. I believe I am a "citoyenne du monde". I respect the laws of the land in which I find myself. I am a citizen legally of the United States. I fly NO OTHER than the U.S. flag!

Viva los Estados Unidos de Norteamerica! Orgullosos, honestos y legales!
Viva i Stati Uniti! Orgogliosi, onesti e legali!

Another Viewpoint from a Renowned American!

I respectfully urge you to read the following well thought out statement, even as the May 1 boycott falls in tatters around the feet of the sorrowful "protest" group. By the way, in Mexico, illegal immigration is a felony. Only 15,000 persons have been granted citizenship in that country. I believe that the PROTESTS ought to be occurring on the Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City.
Enjoy this: http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/thomassowell/2006/03/29/191639.html

Jose Can You See...

that our flag is red, white and blue - not red white and green?
An interested poster here said that Europeans were never exposed to such treatment. In so stating the poster reveals a gross lack of knowledge of immigration history in this country. The Irish, the Italians, the Poles and all who came during their respective "wave" faced phenomenal deprivation, NO jobs offered, restricted housing, and much more. No support for medical care or education or any of the myriad services offered to today's illegal immigrants. These legal immigrants also couldn't just travel "south" to "go home" whenever the mood struck. They were an ocean away and thousands of miles.
When you use the word "latino" please remember that the original "latino" comes from Italy, the derivative being "latin". But I would urge this poster to study the policy or immigration history including the McKerron-Walter Act (quotas) and the U.S. entry officials' penchant for name-changing the entering foreigners' surnames that occurred at Ellis Island. Legally, many Europeans who couldn't get into the U.S. went instead to Caracas, Venezuela - Vera Cruz, Mexico and Australia.
We who are first-generation Europeans understand what the words, "spic, dago, mick, frog, pollock, squint, slope, kraut, bohunk, greaseball", etc. mean. Signs in those early days (and commonplace well into the early '60s) openly proclaimed, "No WOPs" or "No Dagoes or Kikes".

I am NOT opposed to enriching the fabric of American life with new immigrants - but LEGAL ONES! Why is that so difficult to accept? I lived in Mexico for many years of my life - in childhood. I am an interpreter-translator of romance languages.
I love Mexico. My Mexican-American friends resent the illegal nonsense. Puerto Ricans are American citizens. They vote, they work! No problem! Tons of other folks of Hispanic origins are here LEGALLY! They are NOT the issue.

Read the Mexican Constitution. Look at what IT says. It took my boss there - a former presidente of the country, MONTHS to attain a permit for me.

It is simply NOT true that no one would eat fruit were it not for Mexican labor. Actually they DO a great job at all they do. But they are NOT staying here to be fruit pickers for your gringo lifestyle. I think those who think it's great to legalize them all are the most bigoted of all because you obviously want an endless stream of garderners, domestic workers, fruit and vegetable pickers, janitors, etc. They do NOT work for $6.75. They work for much more. The casual labor one can pick up on various street corners cost $10 per hour and UP. Many of the fruit pickers are unionized.

I think that many have good hearts in their desire to support the hispanic illegal immigrants. They simply are somewhat myopic when it comes to who does the work in many other states. In Vermont they have no idea what this REALLY means. Go to an "In & Out" burger place. They pay MORE to their employees (usually high school or college kids and fluent English speakers) and the burgers are actually CHEAPER than the BK and McD places. Those jobs were designed as transition jobs for highschool kids, etc.

By the way, folks, my 60 year old friend started her bread-baking job yesterday. (She was a Res. Supervisor for American Airlines for 24 years) She spent the last 7 years caring for her aging/ill mother. Anyway she arrived at 4:30 a.m. to start her 5 a.m. shift. (Pay is $7.00 per hour but she gets health insurance - Wow!)
Her NON-ENGLISH speaking kitchen boss wouldn't let her in because he didn't know who she was and DOESN'T SPEAK ENGLISH. But he FINALLY let her in at 4:55a.m. when he realized that the mature lady walking around in the dark parking lot on the cell phone was speaking to him. Then, after repeatedly saying "no hablo ingles", he relented and unlocked the door. I KNOW that SOMEONE had to speak enough ingles for him to get hired. What in the heck is GOING ON? Why don't all of the "over 50 baby boomers" who have given up careers to care for others start whining and complaining??? Because that is NOT WHAT WE DO! We were taught to dig in, keep our heads down and take care of ourselves. Oh GEEEEEE, I am SO mad.

It took much political clout and connection for me to get my working papers in Mexico. So, for me, this is NOT about color, but about LAW. What is good for the Mexicans therefore has to be good for the Polish, the Italians, the Canadians, Swedes, Russians, and the whole world of those who wish to immigrate to the U.S.A.
I am sick of it all! At least learn to speak some English!

How can you vote if you don't understand enough English to learn different opinions on a voting issue or candidate!? Most Hispanic periodicals and commentators give ONE opinion ONLY.

Anyway, how much would those of you who support ALL ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION want for your work, services, etc. in PESOS? When I heard that a friend's church was really supporting the illegals, to the point that they are to HELP them remain here in ANY way, I suggested that they put 10 or 20 PESOS in the collection basket instead of 10 or 20 DOLLARS. Hmmmmmm!

Notice of a "counter-protest" GO SHOPPING on MAY 1

Yes, all of us, except the Native Americans, came here from somewhere
else. However, in our modern history 95% of our ancestors came here
legally, after much labor, hope, sacrifice and left their own
homelands to start over. They left much behind and knew the
relevance of assimilating into the new culture.
They brought many good things: their foods, many traditions, etc.,
but they had, after all, come to America to begin anew.
They learned ENGLISH - at least they insisted that their CHILDREN
learn it. They EMBRACED American ideals and systems wholeheartedly.
They begged for NOTHING. They were offered NOTHING. Yet they stayed
and endured and became the fabric of American culture and ideals.

Those who have come to our shores illegally have been (and European
illegals are STILL) shipped back to their country of origin. My own
family could not get here even with sponsorship, money in the bank, a
job offer, other family and so forth. There was a quota for various
countries. So they didn't get to come here -- PERIOD. We didn't
tell them to sneak in through any other way.

Now those who wish to legalize that which is illegal want to have "no
shopping on MAY 1" day. Good. Most of that money is not spent here
anyway, it is sent back to family in another country. The drain from
our economy to educate and provide medical care for illegal
immigration offsets ANY value from what they may spend.

I have friends of 58-65 years old who want to work and feel LUCKY to
get a job paying $7 per hour. No matter how talented they are, they
can't get hired at the kind of money they were making in their
careers. They had to lose other work because they are caregiving for
aged/ill parents, grandkids whose divorced parents are working, and
so forth. But NO ONE is offering them jobs with higher salaries.

Let's take care of our house before we start welcoming any more
"guests". This illegal immigration is no more than the guest who
came to dinner -- and never left.

So SHOP ON MAY FIRST. BUY what you need on THAT day. Do groceries,
clothes, ALL OF IT on May 1.