RepublicanWitch

The speech & reaction… May 15, 2006

I don't know what people were expecting, but I'm surprised at the amount of anger coming from the conservative side tonight.

First off,  the extra security at the borders, with both National Guard and more Border Patrol agents, is a good first step.  Combine old-fashioned manpower with the high-tech (unmanned aircraft for surveillance) and you've helped staunch the flow.

Second, go after the employers who turn a blind eye to who they're hiring. I'd like to see them hit where it hurts-in the pockets, so it's not worth it to hire an illegal, when it'll cost them more in the long run.  Make it harder for employers to hire illegals, and there won't be the incentive for them to come over.

I also liked the emphasis he put on learning English.  Yes, most of us are descended from parents or grandparents who gave up everything for the opportunity to come here.  And they learned the language, and more importantly, made sure their children learned the language and became "Americanized".  The ":politically-correct" diversity dingbats lament that as a loss of culture, but the greatest society on earth, this one, was born of it. 

I'm not crazy about the guest-worker program – I think it'll be a nightmare to keep track of, but I understand the reasoning behind it.

I realize this didn't go far enough to please some people, but these are good first steps-we can't expect the last 30 or so years of  non-enforcement to be corrected overnight.  I just don't get the hysteria from several conservative bloggers – it's almost getting to the point where it's hard to tell whether I'm reading posts at the DemocraticUnderground or posts on my "must-read" blogroll.

There are, fortunately, cooler heads out there – The Anchoress, as usual, has nailed it.

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The illegal immigration problem will not be solved… April 27, 2006

…until there is a major restructuring of the Mexican government.  Like many of the governments in Central America and Africa, for example, the politicians are lining their pockets while their people suffer. (Fidel?  I'm lookin' at you, too.)

Just look at this report, and remember it next time some politician wants to throw more of your hard-earned tax money at the problem.

H/T: Drink This

It’s the Star Spangled Banner, and it’s in ENGLISH, damn it! April 24, 2006

It's a good thing I've got low blood pressure, 'cause this story would kill me:

Latino pop stars record bilingual 'Star Spangled Banner'

April 21, 2006, 10:16 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) _ Mexican pop diva Gloria Trevi, Puerto Rican reggaeton star Don Omar and other Latino artists have recorded a bilingual version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" in a show of support for migrants in the United States.

The Latino-oriented record label Urban Box Office (UBO) said Friday it will put the new Spanish-English version of the U.S. national anthem on the market Monday to coincide with the U.S. Senate's restarting debate on immigration legislation.

"We decided to re-record 'The Star-Spangled Banner' to show our solidarity with the undocumented migrants," said UBO President Adam Kidron. "Today we are Americans and 'The-Star Spangled Banner' represents everything to us."

The recording, dubbed "Nuestro Himno" or "Our Anthem," is set to "urban Latino rhythms" but respects the song's traditional structure, UBO said in a news release. Each artist decided whether to sing in Spanish or English.

The record will be sold for $10, with a portion going to Washington-based National Capital Immigration Coalition, UBO said. Other artists on the record are Ivy Queen, Reik, Voz a Voz, Franco De Vita and Kalimba.

Congressional debate over immigration bills proposing everything from toughened border security to the legalization of all 11 million undocumented migrants in America have triggered huge demonstrations across the United States in recent weeks. Activists are also urging work and school boycotts May 1 in what's being called "A Day Without Immigrants."

Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.

Now, let me get this straight.  You take the Star Spangled Banner, jazz up the music, sing it in another language,  and presto! it's now yours?  Like breaking into someones home, taking what you want, saying "It's mine now" makes it yours? Or, you know, sneaking into a country makes it yours?

How long before the Spanish version of this song is played at public events?  We already have to choose English as an option when calling just about any company or government agency.  Will this be next?

Another thing?  "A Day Without Immigrants" is misleading.  Not all immigrants are illegal.  Many actually do follow the rules, and this legislation has nothing to do with them.  Just about all of us are here because someone, whether 200 years ago or 100 or last month came here to make a better life.  It should be called "A Day Without ILLEGAL BORDER-CROSSING SOCIAL-SERVICES-DRAINING Immigrants."   And I'd gladly take a day, week, month, year, whatever. 

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Back from Austin… April 15, 2006

Spent the last week in Austin, Texas, where my husband attended a business meeting.  Wandered around on Monday, not realizing that it was the "big" protest day for illegal aliens.

Walking from the UT campus to the Texas State History Museum, we noticed the NBC News truck, as well as the Fox7 truck parked in front of the Capitol and a helicopter flying overhead.  At that point, we realized that they were waiting for the protests to start – the news media were the only people there.

While we were riding the local trolley a litle while later, traffic was stopped by police to allow protesters to march by.  At this point, there couldn't have been more than about 100. 

Later that afternoon, we decided to take a stroll on Congress, toward the Capitol building (there's not much else to do in Austin after a few days, unless you drink heavily, play "count the crazies", or want a new tattoo each day, but that's another story), and realized that there were quite a few Spanish-speaking people heading in the same direction. 

When we arrived at the Capitol building, the protest was in full swing.  There were a bunch of American students leading the chants, and a group of Hispanics joining in.  Many of the Hispanics attending the rally were wearing T-shirts from a local radio station, and most seemed to just be there with their families standing around holding signs and flags.  It was mostly the American students with flyers going through the crowd, chanting and encouraging others to join in.

We stayed for a while, until a hippie wannabe young man tried to hand me a flyer about an upcoming protest supporting the Sheehag.  He didn't seem interested in hearing my opinion of her, so he went off to find more moonbats mindless sheep others of a like-mind. The protesters were then to march back down Congress. 

At that point, we estimated there were about 1,000 people there, and maybe (a very big stretch) another thousand still on the street.  No way did 10,000 attend, although The Austin American-Statesman claims that number.  Maybe they counted the media in that number, who were there all day waiting for the big story.  Guess they had to justify spending all that time standing around.