Sneaking in to Disneyland

Yesterday, President Obama made a big mess. He just told illegal aliens that they can stay without fear of being deported. And then he had the nerve to say that he was doing this because he just wanted to work with Congress and for them to send him a bill to sign.

Uh... what?

Why now, Mr. President? If you are really serious about working with Congress to pass immigration reform, you would wait until the newly elected Congress takes office in January. Or you would have done this when your party had control of the House and Senate.

You say you only want to deport the "criminals," but you seem to ignore the fact that ALL of these people have broken our laws by entering into our country illegally, which makes them ALL criminals.

As the son of a LEGAL immigrant who did it the right way and worked hard to do so, I take great offense at this, President Barack Obama.

When my kids asked me awhile back about illegal "immigrants," I put it into terms they could understand: We went to Disneyland last year. We paid (and paid dearly) to go there. We bought our tickets and went through the gates. We are like legal immigrants and citizens of the United States.

Illegals are people who may pay to get to Anaheim, but then they sneak over the wall of Disneyland because they just want to provide a better time for their family. They ride the same rides we ride, eat the same food and have the same fun we do. But they broke the rules to get in.

Now, what if the Disney corporation decided to say "it's okay if you sneak in - we won't kick you out. In fact, go ahead and go to the front of the line. AND you get free food and drinks while you're here, too."

How would YOU feel if you paid to go to Disneyland and someone who wasn't even supposed to be there got to cut in line in front of you, time after time, after time?

Even kids can understand that it's not right and that it would be very frustrating.

It's pretty much the same with illegals.

Open It Up

From the Washington Examiner:

Even though isolated barricades with "closed" signs remained on the National Mall on Tuesday, the setup for the immigration reform rally said otherwise. 

A giant stage with lights and an "Immigration Reform Now" banner was set up in the center of the mall, along with three large portable screens. 

On one side of the mall, more than 100 porta potties were set up for protesters who will attend the rally today. 

As several groups of musicians performed sound checks, a lone National Park Service employee arrived to survey the scene, but referred me to the Park Service communications office and left when I asked her why she was called into work today. 

As the Washington Examiner reported Monday, rally organizers said that they would be allowed by the NPS to carry out their protest under their First Amendment rights.

I say let them protest. Since when do you need permission from the government to protest the government?

That said, I think that the barring of public places - especially national parks and open-air monuments - during the government "shutdown" is government stupidity beyond belief and typical of the kind of thinking that creates wasteful government spending in the first place.

If it doesn't usually cost any money to run something - and now suddenly barring access to that thing DOES cost money - how is that doing anyone any good?

Why Aren't You Speaking English?

From KTRH:
(http://youtu.be/MoR3qLgL_uU is you're seeing this on YouTube.)

During committee testimony this week in Austin, a Texas senator interrupted a Spanish speaker telling him he should "be speaking in English" during a committee hearing.

Antolin Aguirre of the Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition was testifying against Senate Bill 9 that would help crack down on illegal immigrants in Texas. Aguirre spoke through an interpreter even though he had been in the U.S. since 1988.

What a jackass.

What Immigration Problem?

Legal!

Congratulations to my Aunt, who has been studying very hard and will today take her exam to become a citizen of the United States. She lives on the Swiss/French border and has been going through the immigration process for the past few months.

It's people like her - immigrating legally - following the rules and doing things the way they should be done that make the United States a great place to live. It's also because of people like her and like my dad, who immigrated here legally and became a citizen back in the '70s, that I am utterly opposed to illegal immigrants and to people who break our laws and sneak across our borders "for a better life."

I love this video by Bill Whittle. It pretty much sums up exactly how I feel about the subject.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnTus_i2aZI)

So congrats to Aunt Hala today on taking the next - and possibly hardest - step to becoming a citizen of the greatest nation on the face of the earth: The United States of America.

Making Them Deal With It

From WOAI.com:

This should get their attention.

A measure filed by State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) would allow any law enforcement agency that has custody of an illegal immigrant to take the illegal to 'the office of a U.S. Senator or Representative' and leave them there.

1200 WOAI news reports the measure also allows county sheriff's deputies or city police officers to 'request an agent or employee of the United States Senator or United States Representative to sign a document acknowledging the release or discharge of the illegal immigrant at the senator's or representative's office.

I got a chance to hear about the proposal firsthand a few weeks ago when the Washington County Leadership group that I'm in met with Representative Kolkhorst in Austin. At the time, she said that she was still working on the legislation, but I knew that when she filed it it that I'd be mentioning it here. What I didn't expect was to see it on the Drudge Report.

I love the idea behind it. It's not intended toward our local Congressman, Michael McCaul, who is staunchly anti-illegal immigration. Instead, it's aimed at those Congressmen (and women) from other parts of the state - and I'm looking at you Gene Green and Shelia Jackson Lee- who have their heads in the sand about the drain on resources illegal immigration is.

By requiring illegal aliens to b dropped off at a Representative or Senator's office, it forces them to deal with the issue directly instead of insisting that it's a state issue. In other words, it literally brings the issue home.

Brilliant. Lois Kolkhorst for governor, anyone?

And So It Begins... Again.

Austin officials vote to boycott Arizona

From KHOU:

The Austin City Council has voted to cut
business and travel ties with Arizona to protest the state's new
law targeting illegal immigrants.
A unanimous council vote adopted the resolution proposed by
council member Mike Martinez. The Austin American-Statesman reports
the resolution calls for an end to all city business travel to
Arizona. Exceptions are travel for police investigations, providing
humanitarian aid or to protect Austin residents health and safety.
But council member Bill Spelman, a co-sponsor of the resolution,
says this will not mean "a dramatic shift in the city's
policies."
City Controller Diana Thomas says Austin has no contracts with
nor investments in the state of Arizona. Also, 48 city employees
took 20 business trips to Arizona over the past year at a cost of
$47,908.

And in other news, the Mayor and City Council of Destructoville have vowed to boycott Austin for supporting illegal immigration. Luckily, Round Rock and Pflugerville are still on the approved travel list, though...

On Cinco de Mayo

From the Houston Chronicle:

With a brutal drug war still raging in the Mexican border towns of Reynosa and Ciudad Juarez, and now the fear of a strict immigration bill in Arizona that makes it a crime to not carry immigration documents, you might think Mexicans would look forward to something worth celebrating, like Cinco de Mayo. But for most Mexicans today is just another Wednesday, or el miércoles, the third day of the week.

Though many people in the U.S. regard this date as a celebration of Mexico's independence, in truth, Cinco de Mayo marks the Battle of Puebla and the Mexican army's defeat of a much larger and better-equipped French army attempting to conquer its weakened government. The victory was short-lived, as the French took over the country a year later and remained in power for the next three years. The battle itself reportedly lasted only from dawn to early evening on May 5, 1861. Compared to Mexico's fight for independence against the Spanish empire, a struggle that lasted for more than 10 years, or the U.S.-Mexico War, which led to the defeated nation losing two-thirds of its territory — including those areas now known as Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California — the Battle of Puebla was little more than a skirmish in the country's long and bloody history. Today in Mexico, Cinco de Mayo will be commemorated primarily in the state of Puebla and recognized during a small ceremony in the capitol.

The holiday, which has never really been much of one in Mexico, crossed over to this side of the border in the 1950s and 1960s, as civil rights activists were attempting to build harmony between the two countries and cultures. The date gained more attention in the 1980s when marketers, particularly beer companies, saw this as a perfect opportunity to capitalize on the celebratory nature of the holiday.

Be careful. Bastille Day is coming. Don't be caught wearing an American flag t-shirt on July 14th.

May 5 - The Day It's Not Okay to Be an American

From the NY Daily News:

A handful of California students got an unexpected lesson at their high school this week: Don't wear your stars and stripes on Cinco de Mayo.

Five Morgan Hill, California students were asked to take off their American flag bandannas and turn their T-shirts inside out after students complained, according to NBC news in San Francisco.

Many members of Live Oak High School's large Mexican-American student population that felt it was offensive for the students to wear the American flag on a day that's supposed to celebrate Mexican heritage.

When the boys refused to take off their flag t-shirts and bandannas, they were ordered to go to the principal's office.

"They said we could wear it on any other day," Live Oak student Daniel Galli said, "but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it's supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it today."

Note to morons in California: Conco de Mayo is a holiday publicized by the Corona beer company in order to sell beer, not to "celebrate Mexican heritage." Check the wikipedia page, which says this: "The holiday, which has been celebrated in California continuously since 1863, is virtually ignored in Mexico."

And since when does one expressing pride in one's own country somehow cheapen the pride someone else feels for , I guess, their home country?

Thanks to Matt, who obviously wants my head to explode, for sending this along.

McCain Gets it Wrong (again)

As reported yesterday on Daring Fireball:

Republicans vs. the Bill of Rights. John McCain:

It would have been a serious mistake to have read the suspect in the attempted Times Square car bombing his Miranda rights, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday.

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.):

“Did they Mirandize him? I know he’s an American citizen but still,” King said.

Don’t forget “independent” Joe Lieberman.

Gruber linked this piece at the Washington Monthly.

What makes this maddening is that McCain and King seem to be saying that the police should have arrested this guy and held him until such time as his citizenship could be determined (which, in the case of a foreign national or a terrorist) might take some time. But this guy was an American citizen, albeit a new one. And citizens of the United State have rights.

I think that the standard should be this: if someone is arrested on United States soil, they should be treated as a citizen and assumed to be so until they are proven to be otherwise. Now that requires asking the citizenship question that liberals and illegal immigration advocates are so opposed to. But if applied uniformly to everyone, it is fair to both citizens and illegals.

Oh, and McCain and King should be drummed out of office for advocating that a citizen's basic rights not be respected. This kind of crap is the very reason that conservatives are so fed up with Congress and especially with so-called Republicans who purport to be representing us. True conservatives are about liberty and freedom and justice. This issue illustrates all three and what we've been saying for years - McCain is wrong on all them important issues.