February 28, 2007
A state legislator whose district is home to thousands of Caribbean immigrants wants to ban the term "illegal alien" from the state's official documents."I personally find the word 'alien' offensive when applied to individuals, especially to children," said Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami. "An alien to me is someone from out of space."
She has introduced a bill providing that: "A state agency or official may not use the term 'illegal alien' in an official document of the state." There would be no penalty for using the words.
In Miami-Dade County, Wilson said, "we don't say 'alien,' we say 'immigrant.'"
She said she encountered the situation when trying to pass a bill allowing children of foreigners to get in-state tuition at colleges and universities. Wilson, who directs a dropout prevention and education program in Miami, said she politely asks witnesses at public hearings on such issues not to use the term.
"There are students in our schools whose parents are trying to become citizens and we shouldn't label them," she said. "They are immigrants, through no fault of their own, not aliens."
Actually, you idiot, they are aliens, as the word means “one who is not a citizen of a place.†By your own explanation of who you seek to protect, you make it clear that they are, in fact, aliens, and that you are simply trying to debase the English language in the name of political correctness.
But if you would like, I would support legislation changing the proper term ti “border-jumping immigration criminal†– just for clarity’s sake.
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A state legislator whose district is home to thousands of Caribbean immigrants wants to ban the term "illegal alien" from the state's official documents."I personally find the word 'alien' offensive when applied to individuals, especially to children," said Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami. "An alien to me is someone from out of space."
She has introduced a bill providing that: "A state agency or official may not use the term 'illegal alien' in an official document of the state." There would be no penalty for using the words.
In Miami-Dade County, Wilson said, "we don't say 'alien,' we say 'immigrant.'"
She said she encountered the situation when trying to pass a bill allowing children of foreigners to get in-state tuition at colleges and universities. Wilson, who directs a dropout prevention and education program in Miami, said she politely asks witnesses at public hearings on such issues not to use the term.
"There are students in our schools whose parents are trying to become citizens and we shouldn't label them," she said. "They are immigrants, through no fault of their own, not aliens."
Actually, you idiot, they are aliens, as the word means “one who is not a citizen of a place.” By your own explanation of who you seek to protect, you make it clear that they are, in fact, aliens, and that you are simply trying to debase the English language in the name of political correctness.
But if you would like, I would support legislation changing the proper term ti “border-jumping immigration criminal” – just for clarity’s sake.
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, and 
), and
For more than a decade, the Kesbehs lived in Houston without proper documents, relying on the family's business selling American flags and other banners to get by.Like millions of others from around the world, the Palestinians were in the United States illegally. They paid taxes, sent their children to school and tried not to be noticed.
Then, as pressure mounted on Muslims after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Kesbehs were found out, two members of the family were detained, and the whole clan was deported. They were sent to Jordan, a country the seven children barely knew.
They live in a cramped, cold apartment in Amman, the capital, where they rely primarily on the income generated by Noor Kesbeh, the eldest daughter, who has found steady work at, of all places, the U.S. Embassy.
Enterprising American dreamers or lawbreakers? Hardworking folk who should be welcomed back, or opportunists? Either way, the Kesbehs are desperate to return to the United States if they can find a way to do so legally.
The answer is clear – they are lawbreakers and opportunists. However, if they can legally get back in the country, they will be welcome in my book.
But as for all the hardships in the article, my response is simple – tough shit. That is part of the price you pay for your crimes.
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For more than a decade, the Kesbehs lived in Houston without proper documents, relying on the family's business selling American flags and other banners to get by.Like millions of others from around the world, the Palestinians were in the United States illegally. They paid taxes, sent their children to school and tried not to be noticed.
Then, as pressure mounted on Muslims after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Kesbehs were found out, two members of the family were detained, and the whole clan was deported. They were sent to Jordan, a country the seven children barely knew.
They live in a cramped, cold apartment in Amman, the capital, where they rely primarily on the income generated by Noor Kesbeh, the eldest daughter, who has found steady work at, of all places, the U.S. Embassy.
Enterprising American dreamers or lawbreakers? Hardworking folk who should be welcomed back, or opportunists? Either way, the Kesbehs are desperate to return to the United States if they can find a way to do so legally.
The answer is clear – they are lawbreakers and opportunists. However, if they can legally get back in the country, they will be welcome in my book.
But as for all the hardships in the article, my response is simple – tough shit. That is part of the price you pay for your crimes.
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February 19, 2007
Fear has gripped immigrant families across the country as federal agents raid neighborhoods, work sites and jails in a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration.Tens of thousands of people have been rounded up over the past several months, and many more are afraid to leave home, answer a knock on the door or leave their children alone in fear they might be next. Churches and community groups are stepping in with legal advice and financial aid for families split up or left without an income because of the sweeps.
"My kids are asking me, 'Why is this happening, mommy? Why did they take uncle away?'," said Dinora Sanchez, whose uncle was taken by immigration officials in January while riding his bike to a construction job in this low-income city northeast of San Francisco. "I'm afraid. There are no explanations I can give them."
Yes, there is an answer that this woman could give to her children – your uncle broke the law and has to face the consequences of his illegal behavior. That is what you would say had he committed a robbery or a murder – why not this offense as well? Could it be that doing so would force the kids to ask other questions – like “Isn’t breaking the law wrong?” So rather than teach the children respect for the law, immigrants like Dinora Sanchez teach their children that law-breaking is acceptable and the enforcement of laws is a racist, oppressive scheme by the government against people with the wrong skin-tone or ethnic heritage.
Ultimately, immigration raids ought to frighten those breaking immigration laws. Indeed, it ought to scare them so much that they return to their country of origin and seek to enter the country legally
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February 18, 2007
Among the statuesque saguaro cactuses in the desert south of this old mining town lies the remnant of a crime scene that federal authorities say signals a troubling and escalated level of violence associated with the human smuggling trade.
* * * It is not clear whether this attack was the work of rival smugglers, extremist vigilantes or what are known in Spanish slang here as bajadores-- crews of bandits who steal human cargo throughout southern Arizona and from Phoenix stash houses to extort ransom from their families in Latin America or the United States. What is unusual, said Alonzo Peña, the new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent in charge of Arizona, is the recent frequency of the violence, the fact these incidents resulted in deaths and that they occurred in the desert, where the crime scenes are hard to find within the thousands of acres of sand and brush.
"There's more and more sophisticated, high-powered assault-type weapons being used . . . and there are back-to-back incidents," Peña said.
Smuggling violence has increased in Arizona during the past six months, the byproduct of a clampdown by federal immigration authorities, Peña said. The U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona remains the busiest illegal entry point in the country, but the increased concentration of Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops stationed there during the past year has made it harder to cross.
These human smugglers are nothing more than latter-day slavers. It is time to take treat them as such -- and that means also ratcheting up border security to make it harder and less-profitable to continue this trade in human flesh.
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February 17, 2007
Almost a year ago, hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers and their families slipped out from the shadows of American life and walked boldly in daylight through Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago, New York and other cities. “We Are America,” their banners cried. The crowds, determined but peaceful, swelled into an immense sea. The nation was momentarily stunned.A lot has happened since then. The country has summoned great energy to confront the immigration problem, but most of it has been misplaced, crudely and unevenly applied. It seeks not to solve the conundrum of a broken immigration system, but to subdue, in a million ways, the vulnerable men and women who are part of it. Government at all levels is working to keep unwanted immigrants in their place — on the other side of the border, in detention or in fear, toiling silently in the underground economy without recourse to the laws and protections the native-born expect.
Oh, yes -- the problem is clearly all of us evil Americans who want our borders respected and our laws enforced. The problem isn't, if you live in the ritzy neighborhoods inhabited by denizens of the NY Times newsrooms and editorial offices, the border-jumping immigration criminals. It is the fact taht the American government is responding to what the American people say they want. Because you see -- the American people are not America, the illegals are.
The editorial then goes on through the litany of "evils" engaged in by the American government and people over the last year -- stricter enforcement of our borders, efforts by state and local government to see discourage illegal immigration and its associated negative impact on communities, fast-track deportation proceedings for those who have no right to be in America in the first place, tracking of immigration criminals and compiling a database on them, increased immigration fees and "the rise of hate" (like the KKK, long the paramilitary wing of the DemocratICK Party, has ever needed a reason to propagate its malignant views). In short, the paper makes it clear that it is much more supportive of lawbreakers than lawmakers and the citizens they respond to.
Which leads, of course, to the bleeding of the hearts of the entire editorial board.
Hopelessly fixated on toughness, the immigration debate has lost its balance, overlooking the humanity of the immigrant. There is a starkly diminished understanding that hospitality for the stranger is part of the American ethos, and that as much as we claim to be a nation of immigrants, we have thwarted them at every turn. We must do better.The new year began with renewed optimism for the chances of sensible immigration reform in Washington. The hope is justified, but time is short and real change will still require boldness and courage. Citizenship must be the key to reform. The idea of an earned path to citizenship for illegal immigrants was missing from President BushÂ’s State of the Union address this year, though he has continued to say his usual favorable words about reform. The new Democratic Congress and moderate Republicans cannot be afraid to stand up to the anti-amnesty demagogues and lead Mr. Bush to a solution.
Enforcement of laws cannot be ignored. Punish immigrants who enter illegally, make them pay back taxes and fines, restrict their ability to get work through deceit and false identities. But open a path to their full inclusion in the life of this country.
The alternative — the path of immigrant exploitation, of harassment without hope — will only repeat the ways the country has shamed itself at countless points in its history.
Oh, yes, that's right -- anyone who disagrees with the NY Times is a hate-filled demagogue out to exploit and harass the poor, hopeless illegals who are the victim of a desire to protect America's sovereignty and enforce America's laws. Anyone with a position to the right of the NY Times simply needs to be ignored as irrelevant by the "responsible" acolytes of illegal immigration rights -- because it is the illegals and their needs that should have priority, not the will of the American people. At least in the left-wing mindset of the NY Times.
But, as usual, the NY Times has it wrong in their fundamental premise about illegal immigrants who jump our border in violation of our laws and sovereignty.
They are NOT America.
We, the People of the United States are America-- and we want secure borders now.
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February 14, 2007
Brushing aside human rights complaints, the White House on Tuesday defended the use of a converted jail in Central Texas to detain families facing deportation – a facility where mothers and children are kept behind razor wire and clothed in prisonlike garb."It's difficult to find facilities," said Tony Snow, President Bush's press secretary, dismissing the suggestion that a less restrictive environment would be more appropriate.
"In the past, children had been separated from their families," he said. "What we're actually trying to do is to keep them together."
Detainees wear navy uniforms that come in sizes small enough to fit a newborn.
The 512-bed T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility, just northeast of Austin, opened in May – a response to complaints about the so-called "catch-and-release" policy that let illegal immigrants from countries other than Mexico remain free pending hearings set weeks or months later.Refugee advocates and civil rights groups complain that the detention center, run by Corrections Corporation of America, a company that specializes in private prisons, remains very much a prison. And they say such a setting is inappropriate for families. The 8-by-8 cells always are unlocked but have only narrow slits for windows.
Well too, freakinÂ’ bad! Jail is what happens when you break the law.
But what are the actual conditions/services provided?
Gary Mead, assistant director for the detention and removal operations at ICE, led a news media tour Friday and emphasized that children receive five hours of schooling each day, have access to a computer lab and gym, and get good medical care, despite complaints to the contrary.Most of the detainees are Latin Americans from countries other than Mexico, though the center, in Taylor, Texas, drew much of its notoriety as home to three Dallas-area Palestinian families in recent months. One of those families was deported to Jordan. The others were recently released.
In other words, these folks are receiving decent treatment, with adequate provision made for the children. The other option is to place the children in foster care pending the outcome of status hearings, with the parents to remain locked up in a much more restrictive facility. But then the advocates for the criminal aliens would be complaining about the separation of parents from their children, wouldnÂ’t they?
Of course, maybe that foster care idea isn’t a bad one. Indeed, it would be a good way of ensuring that the most appropriate course of action be taken when parents are deported – their parental rights to their children born in the United States could be terminated upon the issuance of a deportation order and the children declared immediately eligible for adoption by their foster families. That would certainly solve the anchor baby problem, and make illegal immigration to this country a much less attractive option for millions of border-jumpers.
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No Dentist Left Behind My dentist is great! He sends me reminders so I don't forget checkups. He uses the latest techniques based on research. He never hurts me, and I've got all my teeth.
When I ran into him the other day, I was eager to see if he'd heard about the new state program. I knew he'd think it was great.
"Did you hear about the new state program to measure effectiveness of dentists with their young patients?" I said.
"No," he said. He didn't seem too thrilled. "How will they do that?"
"It's quite simple," I said. "They will just count the number of cavities each patient has at age 10, 14, and 18 and average that to determine a dentist's rating. Dentists will be rated as excellent, good, average, below average, and unsatisfactory. That way parents will know which are the best dentists. The plan will also encourage the less effective dentists to get better," I said. "Poor dentists who don't improve could lose their licenses to practice."
"That's terrible," he said.
"What? That's not a good attitude," I said. "Don't you think we should try to improve children's dental health in this state?"
"Sure I do," he said, "but that's not a fair way to determine who is practicing good dentistry."
"Why not?" I said. "It makes perfect sense to me."
"Well, it's so obvious," he said. "Don't you see that dentists don't all work with the same clientele, and that much depends on things we can't control? For example, I work in a rural area with a high percentage of patients from deprived homes, while some of my colleagues work in upper middle-class neighborhoods. Many of the parents I work with don't bring their children to see me until there is some kind of problem, and I don't get to do much preventive work. Also many of the parents I serve let their kids eat way too much candy from an early age, unlike more educated parents who understand the relationship between sugar and decay. To top it all off, so many of my clients have well water which is untreated and has no fluoride in it. Do you have any idea how much
difference early use of fluoride can make?""It sounds like you're making excuses," I said. "I can't believe that you, my dentist, would be so defensive. After all, you do a great job, and you needn't fear a little accountability."
"I am not being defensive!" he said. "My best patients are as good as anyone's, my work is as good as anyone's, but my average cavity count is going to be higher than a lot of other dentists because I chose to work where I am needed most."
"Don't' get touchy," I said.
"Touchy?" he said. His face had turned red, and from the way he was clenching and unclenching his jaws, I was afraid he was going to damage his teeth. "Try furious! In a system like this, I will end up being rated average, below average, or worse. The few educated patients I have who see these ratings may believe this so-called rating is an actual measure of my ability and proficiency as a dentist. They may leave me, and I'll be
left with only the most needy patients. And my cavity average score will get even worse. On top of that, how will I attract good dental hygienists and other excellent dentists to my practice if it is labeled below average?""I think you are overreacting," I said. "'Complaining, excuse-making and stonewalling won't improve dental health'...I am quoting from a leading member of the DOC," I noted.
"What's the DOC?" he asked.
"It's the Dental Oversight Committee," I said, "a group made up of mostly lay persons to make sure dentistry in this state gets improved."
"Spare me," he said, "I can't believe this. Reasonable people won't buy it," he said hopefully.
The program sounded reasonable to me, so I asked, "How else would you measure good dentistry?"
"Come watch me work," he said. "Observe my processes."
"That's too complicated, expensive and time- consuming," I said. "Cavities are the bottom line, and you can't argue with the bottom line. It's an absolute measure."
"That's what I'm afraid my parents and prospective patients will think. This can't be happening," he said despairingly.
"Now, now," I said, "don't despair. The state will help you some."
"How?" he asked.
"If you receive a poor rating, they'll send a dentist who is rated excellent to help straighten you out," I said brightly.
"You mean," he said, "they'll send a dentist with a wealthy clientele to show me how to work on severe juvenile dental problems with which I have probably had much more experience? BIG HELP!"
"There you go again," I said. "You aren't acting professionally at all."
"You don't get it," he said. "Doing this would be like grading schools and teachers on an average score made on a test of children's progress with no regard to influences outside the school, the home, the community served and stuff like that. Why would they do something so unfair to dentists? No one would ever think of doing that to schools."
I just shook my head sadly, but he had brightened. "I'm going to write my representatives and senators," he said. "I'll use the school analogy. Surely they will see the point."
He walked off with that look of hope mixed with fear and suppressed anger that I, a teacher, see in the mirror so often lately.
If you don't understand why educators resent the recent federal NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT, this may help. If you do understand, you'll enjoy this analogy, which was forwarded by John S. Taylor, Superintendent of Schools for the Lancaster County, PA, School District. Be a friend to a teacher and pass this on.
Frankly, I couldn’t have said it any better myself – when one works with human beings and not widgets, there are a whole host of factors beyond one’s control that impact outcomes. Expecting success every time just isn’t practical, no matter how much it is desired.
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February 13, 2007
The National Football League refused to include a print ad recruiting U.S. Border Patrol agents in its 2007 official Super Bowl program because they were uncomfortable with "the sensitive political nature" of the spot, according to a league spokesman.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the Border Patrol, had offered to pay for the advertisment, which was part of a campaign to boost the number of agents by 18,000. But money wasn't the issue, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told ABC News.
The ad "was specific to border patrol and mentioned terrorists," he said. "The game was in Miami, where [immigration] is a sensitive political issue...[it] made us a little bit uncomfortable."
Too bad that a sport for men has been taken over by PC weenies running the league office.
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