The new English is the National Language bill passed last night by the Senate, is just another example of our Government wasting our money, and their time...

The bill appears to be nothing but symbolism and pandering by the Republican controlled Senate to their conservative base, while doing little to actually do anything. I have mixed emotions about the whole English as the official language thing. I live in a Country where Spanish is the language. EVERYTHING is in Spanish and NO effort is made by the government to accomodate non-spanish speakers.

In recent weeks I have spent a fortune certifying and having "officially translated," certain documents my son needs for his schooling. Unlike many Americans, I made an effort to learn Spanish when I came here to live, and I don't complain about the need to understand the language in order to do business or live. I have little sympathy for those who come to the United States and expect to have services in their native tongue. Services should be provided, but at a fee like in most other countries.

I also believe STRONGLY that immigrants MUST learn English, especially as part of a residency or citizenship requirement.

Don't you just love the priorities of the Mexican Government?

Mexican officials worry the crackdown will lead to more deaths. Since Washington toughened security in Texas and California in 1994, migrants have flooded Arizona's hard-to-patrol desert and deaths have spiked. Migrant groups estimate 500 people died trying to cross the border in 2005. The Border Patrol reported 473 deaths in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.

In Ciudad Juarez, Julieta Nunez Gonzalez, local representative of the Mexican government's National Immigration Institute, said Tuesday she will ask the government to send its migrant protection force, known as Grupo Beta, to more remote sections of the border.

Sending the National Guard "will not stop the flow of migrants, to the contrary, it will probably go up," as people try to get into the U.S. in the hope that they could benefit from a possible amnesty program, Nunez said.

Bush you go boy! Looks like the illegal immigration movement got a lot out of your speech last night. Now they have the stones to threaten to sue the U.S. over protecting our own borders?

Looks like Bush failed to please even his greatest supporters tonight.

"President Bush doesn't have many chances left to salvage his second term. After tonight, he might not have any."

Hindrocket

"President Bush is continuing the homeland security dog-and-pony charade in his quest to deliver a massive "guest worker"/amnesty plan to the open-borders lobby. A few weeks ago, Bush's Department of Homeland Security put on a bogus performance of Get Tough Theater with a series of politically timed immigration raids...which, as I predicted, simply resulted in more catch and release of illegal aliens nationwide.

This new last-minute stunt to sprinkle National Guard troops on the border--temporarily, of course, to appease Mexican President Vicente Fox--is more transparent than the Scotch tape used to hold together our dilapidated border fences. (That's only a slight exaggeration.)

For all the new tough talk, these additional troops will be barred from actually doing what needs to be done: guarding the border. President Bush is already bowing and scraping to Mexico over the plan before he's even officially announced it."

Malkin

"There were really no surprises in tonight's presidential address. The same old rhetoric he has been spewing for the past 5 years of not being able to deport illegal aliens, making them legal and rather than build a wall we'll spend 50 times as much on technology that has proven worthless.

I'll post a more in depth entry soon, but one thing I was personally offended by -- and any legal resident or veteran should be -- was Bush's story about a soldier of Mexican descent, Guadalupe Denogean, that was wounded in Iraq. He starts the speech off that this issue should not be dealt with in an emotional way and then he spends the entire speech talking about illegal alien families and how poor they are and legal residents who join the military like Guadalupe Denogean and how he wanted to gain citizenship.

Guadalupe Denogean chose a legal path to citizenship. He served in the military, as do millions of US citizens. To somehow make the immigration issue about the war in Iraq and veterans that have been wounded is shameful."

Digger

"Bush needed to throw some red meat to the staunch anti-illegal-immigration elements, but he decided to cheap out. The meat he found was all fat and gristle, so it tastes good and will keep some chewing for a while, but it will ultimately prove frustrating, unsatisfying, and downright unhealthy. His grand initiative is full of sound and fury, but signifying nothing."
Jay Tea

The Base aint at all happy... Do you believe in Karma?

I am going to write a piece on this, perhaps tonight or tomorrow. But I found three excellent takes on the issue of Black American's take on the illegal immigration issue:

Captains Quarters

Outside the Beltway

and

Black Prof

Read all three pieces...

I am going to really sink my teeth into this one later. My bottom line response is that Black's can not afford to support illegal immigration, for a variety of reasons.

While civil rights for all human beings, should be a priority for all of us, and especially minorities, choosing our battles is important. I grew up in Los Angeles. I went to school in Los Angeles. My first true love was an illegal immigrant from Mexico. My relationship with her exposed me to both the commonalities of our struggle and the differences. There are big issues between the Latino and Black communities, chief among them are the struggle for the same limited pool of resources, whether those resources are decent schooling for our children, or jobs for the low skilled worker. Competition for jobs is a key factor. Fair competition, for a decent wage and benefits, is all anyone can ask for. When the playing field is skewed by illegals who will work for slave wages, lower skilled workers lose. This is a simplification of the issue, and does not do it justice, but it is part of what I feel. I have a business meeting tonight, but will touch on this later. Read the above links, for some very good points...

UPDATE: Okay, I promised I would write more on this, and my day is over so lets see if I can feed the sharks a bit:

First, this picture, which makes me about as angry as Michelle Malkin! LOL!

Just joking on the Michelle thing, but let me make a point, that is an important one... The argument portrayed in the above picture is Bullshit, unless it was being made by Native Americans. Mexicans are not Native Americans, and even the ones who are... the ancestors of the Mayan and Aztec tribes, to my knowledge never settled anywhere further north than the Rio Grand. As for the ancestors of the conquistadores... You lost a war, get the fuck over it.

Jay Tea has done a good job in comments to this post, expressing most of my views. As a black man who lived through the civil rights struggle in America, I can say quite honestly that the only part of the immigration struggle I identify with is that people have a right to be treated as human beings. These people are not. From the Coyotes who rape their women and steal their money, to the greedy employers in the United States who exploit them, including many so called Progressives and Liberals who talk the talk, but treat their illegal nannies and maids like slaves. Human beings deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. But to the illegal aliens who cross the U.S. border illegally and then have the cajones to march demanding rights which they were not born to or earned, I have little in the way of pitty. You broke U.S. laws, knowingly... You are a CRIMINAL, just like any other, and should be treated as such.

What I find morally repugnant, is that you claim the mantle of the civil rights movement, and you protest in American Streets, where you know you will be protected by law enforcement, when you did not have the balls to protest in your own country for better economic conditions... You do not have the moral courage to face the dogs and firehoses and brutallity that my people did. So you come to America, where despite everything, many of you chose to look down on Los Negroes... Your country (Mexico in this case), prints stamps demeaning those of African Blood. Many of you, despite working for slave wages, still look down on Blacks, some of whom wont work for the same wages. The wages you help to artificially lower.

But I regress, what irks me the most are those who would compare this to our struggle. We are citizens. We earned the rights we had to fight for, and we were born in the U.S. Our sons and daughters are put away for life, sometimes for the smallest crimes. Our schools are overcrowded and made more so by your influx. The less capable among us are denied an opportunity to earn a living wage because you will live 15 to a house and accept less than minimum wage. And those noble immigrants who chose to earn the right to be in the U.S. have their own struggle and sacrifice belittled by those of you who chose to disrespect the process.

America is Not New Mexico. Alaska is not New Russia and Louisianna is not New France. Through wars, purchases and yes genocide in the case of Native Americans, The United States has grown and prospered. I live in Latin America, and I can tell you that the biggest issue I have with most of my Latin American friends, is that they would rather envy America than emulate it's success. Legalizing drugs in Mexico has taken a higher priority for Vincente Fox, than providing jobs for his people. Your issue is with him, and the leaders of every other Latin American country to contributes to the influx of illegal aliens. Might I sugesst that you take your protests to the streets of Mexico City and San Salvadore...

In contrast to Michelle's typically provocative images, Pajamas Media has some interesting photos and commentary up from yesterdays massive demonstrations. Being an Angeleno, I kind of wish I had been in Los Angeles myself yesterday. The fact that the free immigration community has been able to mobilize the kind of numbers they have(estimated at over a Million yesterday), is phenomenal. But the bottom line is that it is WRONG.

This is one subject where I stand shoulder to shoulder with some on the Right. THE LAW IS THE LAW. Change it, or obey it. Waving Che pictures and Mexican flags, is NOT the way to get the American people on your side. And immigration advocates may be creating a backlash that they will regret. I have a Latino soul. I went to school in East Los Angeles. My first love was an immigrant (illegal) from Mexico, and I live in a Latin American Country. It would be difficult to find someone as sympathetic to the plight of Latin American immigrants as myself, but there is a process and it must be obeyed!

The process to become a Costa Rican resident or citizen is just as difficult, if not more so, as the process for American residency or citizenship. As a guest in Costa Rica, I do not have the option to disobey Costa Rican law. It strikes me as insulting that so many people would long for the benefits of living in the United States and then so blatantly disregard our laws. I have neither the patience for it, nor compassion for such ideals. Baldilocks has a poll going about the issue. One commenter wrote:

Nobody seems to ask the obvious question:

How many workers - in various qualifications and skills - does our economy need?

If immigration quotas are set below that value, there will continue to be a problem with illegals.

Another relevant question: at what rate can we absorb and culturally assimilate people?

Bottom line: this is not, not NOT a question of "entitlements" or victimology politics. Every sovereign nation has the right - and in our days, the obligation - to regulate its borders.

There is no such thing as being too strict with those who infiltrate our border. They should receive no services, have no rights, and be deported.

On the other hand, immigration policy has to match the economic realities and allow the workers we need - whether they're Dutch computer programmers or Mexican cleaning ladies - to enter our country, and if they wish, become citizens.

(italics mine)

That position most closely reflects my own. The problem lies in having a REAL immigration policy and enforcing it. We have neither a policy, nor enforcement. If we did, there would have been no march yesterday.

The National Anthem is meant to be sung in English, and I personally find this insulting. And to have our national anthem sung by a freak and convicted accomplice to child molestation, is even more of an outrage. I happen to agree with Bush 100% on this one.

As peaceful as Costa Rican people are, I think that they would run my ass out of Costa Rica on a rail, if I conducted myself like some Latinos are acting in the U.S. right now. Residency and Citizenship, wherever you live in the world, is a priveledge, not a Right!