This Week in the Mercury
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Politics Bizarro Letter of the Day
Posted by Amy J. Ruiz on Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 12:11 AM
Note the subject line:
From: C.K. Holton
Subject: cesar chavez Ave.Madame:
I cannot, for the life of me see how you can condone ANYTHING these ILLEGAL ALIENS do while they are in this country ILLEGALLY. What has happened to OBEYING THE LAW??. The fact is these people are in this country ILLEGALLY has been swept under the rug. If they really want to come here, why don't they follow the laws of the country THEY ARE IN ILLEGALLY ?? What has happened to your mental facilities, or are you so damn liberal that the law only pertains to the people that work to pay the taxes these people are only too glad to soak up via all the social programs that were meant to help people that pay the bills.
I cannot believe you have ANY sympathy for these ILLEGAL ALIENS. Have you used so many chemicals that your reality has been totally skewed or what ??
You have to realize that if the ILLEGAL ALIENS have the luxury of picking and choosing which laws they will obey, then I as an American citizen can also pick and choose which laws I choose to ignore. WAKE UP GIRL-- if this continues all of us will soon be living in the UNITED STATES OF MEXICO. THEN YOU WILL REALIZE HOW IT FEELS TO BE A "SECOND CLASS PERSON". If you have so much sympathy for the ILLEGALS, I suggest you move to mexico and improve things so they will STAY HOME.
totally confused, C.K. Holton
Talk about totally confused. (But perhaps it's the "many chemicals"? They've apparently toyed with my "mental facilities.") I wrote back:
Your subject line is Cesar Chavez Ave--what does that have to do with people's immigration status? Chavez was born in Arizona.
We'll see if C.K. responds...
Commenting was not available when this article was originally published.
1
it's "they" syndrome. you know you're a racist when you're talking about an entire color of people as "they".
the prominent advocates for cesar chavez boulevard (like tom potter) are all legal citizens of the united states of america.
the prominent advocates for cesar chavez boulevard (like tom potter) are all legal citizens of the united states of america.
2
I am so sick of people yelling "racist" when ever we refer to people being here in the United States ILLEGALLY! Get another argument to defend those criminals that you defend.
3
I love being so uptight about ILLEGAL IN ALL CAPS. As if we aren't ALL here illegally. Been to a Navajo reservation lately? Pretty fucking emo. Who are these insane people who are so hysterically upset about illegal immigrants? We should make it easier to become a citizen, then there wouldn't be so many ILLEGAL IN ALL CAPS ALIENS apparently bothering all these freakishly angry Americans who hate everybody.
4
"yellow daisy" et al. People call you racist about your sentiments because you are racist. Let's face it, deep down you aren't envisioning hoards of undocumented British folks crossing into this country. You are just conveniently hiding behind the law to justify how you really feel about Mexican people. That doesn't make you a bad person however. Having a little fear of people that are different than you is pretty natural , it's also pretty natural to be a little scared of heightened competition in these uncertain economic times. My advice to you is come to terms with your biases, make an effort to really get to know some undocumented folks, and decide for yourself if the people you're talking with are really "criminals", or just ordinary people trying to achieve the same American dream that the rest of us feel entitled to.
5
Crossing the border without permission is illegal but so is jaywalking, tax fraud and offseason hunting, and I'm guessing none of these issues get you quite as incensed as the idea that THESE PEOPLE are coming to our fair country and doing whatever it is you think they're doing. And that, yellow daisy, is racist (or xenophobic if you want to go upscale). So you're going to have to come up with a better argument to defend yourself against the charge of racism.
6
Something needs to be done about our immigration policy because we do need Mexican labor, they need the work/money desperately, and yes, some bad apples come along with the crowd. If we had a REASONABLE immigration policy (like the one we have with Canada) we would have more control over the bad apples and we wouldn't need to waste money chasing down "illegal aliens."
And...it's not like Americans by dint of being Americans are dedicated to conformity to the law. Do you smoke pot? Do you go over the speed limit? Never double parked or overstayed your time in a parking spot? Do you do a little shaving on your taxes. Well, all that stuff is ILLEGAL.
If someone is here illegally to pick apples, strawberries, or zucchinis, I worry less about them than the guy who drives 40 MPH through a school zone.
And...it's not like Americans by dint of being Americans are dedicated to conformity to the law. Do you smoke pot? Do you go over the speed limit? Never double parked or overstayed your time in a parking spot? Do you do a little shaving on your taxes. Well, all that stuff is ILLEGAL.
If someone is here illegally to pick apples, strawberries, or zucchinis, I worry less about them than the guy who drives 40 MPH through a school zone.
7
Illegal immigration must be eliminated. We are in a recession. Millions of Americans are losing their homes and jobs. Gas and food are sky high and families struggle to exist. Illegal immigration drives wages down and drains resources meant for citizens. Why do we have immigration laws? To protect the citizens of the host country and our economy. Every country has immigration laws they enforce, the US is no different. The US allows over 2 million legal immigrants annually, more than any other nation. Another million illegal immigrants also immigrate here annually. Besides the fiscal impact, look at the problem with supporting this massive population. Competition for schools, drinking water, utilities, housing, hospitals, and jobs. What is the upside, cheap labor for businesses? If you are in business and your competition uses cheap illegal labor, how do you compete? Either you hire illegals or go out of business. As for guest worker programs, we already have 10 guest worker programs in the US. Agriculture guest workers are unlimited, they can hire as many as needed. The guest worker program they want is amnesty. Pass another amnesty and you'll have another 40 million illegal aliens here for sure. If you are here illegally, go home and come back legally or not at all. There is no argument that can justify illegal immigration.
10
Stephen said it will without using CAPS. Defend the border to keep out criminals and drugs. Enforce the existing laws. Improve wages. Recapture the lost tax revenue to help pay down BushCo's debt. Fix the immigration laws. We need to address some facts: the US took a chunk of Mexico away. Mexicans have and will always be a major part of our society, as will the Spanish language. Get used to it.
11
The only Moran I know, Erin, appears to have a brain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Moran
It's my sincere belief that she loves USA just as much as Chachi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Moran
It's my sincere belief that she loves USA just as much as Chachi.
12
Do all of you like your moderately inexpensive produce? Stop all ILLEGAL ALIENS and see just how expensive that produce gets. Why? Because ILLEGALS pick the vast majority of it. That lovely Oregon wine many of us enjoy, the grapes are most often picked by ILLEGALS.
Fuel costs have driven up the price of everything lately, but you ain't seen nothin' until you have to pay AMERICAN CITIZENS to pick produce.
So all you people bitching about the ILLEGALS, think about it the next time you have a salad, apple, or glass of domestic wine.
Import the produce from other countries, globalization you say! I say untreated sewer water used for irrigation. That's what happens in poor countries that export produce to us.
Fuel costs have driven up the price of everything lately, but you ain't seen nothin' until you have to pay AMERICAN CITIZENS to pick produce.
So all you people bitching about the ILLEGALS, think about it the next time you have a salad, apple, or glass of domestic wine.
Import the produce from other countries, globalization you say! I say untreated sewer water used for irrigation. That's what happens in poor countries that export produce to us.
14
Sippin' -
I would love to agree with you except all the Organic Produce from Trader Joe's is CHEAP and from Mexico, picked by LEGAL Mexicans. Not that I recommend buying that crap, Organic doesn't = high quality.
I would love to agree with you except all the Organic Produce from Trader Joe's is CHEAP and from Mexico, picked by LEGAL Mexicans. Not that I recommend buying that crap, Organic doesn't = high quality.
15
I'm Mexican-American, dual citizenship + parents ilegally crossed the border for work. So much of the "globalization", privatization of natural and local recources, have totally crapped Latin America's land.
We could talk about the Brazilian forests that are quickly becoming extinct to make your new whatever.
Or we could talk about the shitty water (due to American factories built on Mexican side of border) that poor people drink (some people can't afford Vitamin Water everytime they get thirsty). Dozens of cases in Tijuana have sprung up where newborn babies are born brainless (mushy substance) because of the once ok now toxic water.
It was bad enough the Spaniards killed 95% of the Mexican population (24 million people) in less than 100 years for gold and to claim power. But I suppose since Mexicans don't have enough political or $ power those facts aren't laid out clearly in our minds.
It's not as if the Mexican immigrants are taking GOOD jobs, they are just doing what they can to get by it seems. $10/hour to remove rubblish clean construction sites? Go ahead racist, take your job back.
We could talk about the Brazilian forests that are quickly becoming extinct to make your new whatever.
Or we could talk about the shitty water (due to American factories built on Mexican side of border) that poor people drink (some people can't afford Vitamin Water everytime they get thirsty). Dozens of cases in Tijuana have sprung up where newborn babies are born brainless (mushy substance) because of the once ok now toxic water.
It was bad enough the Spaniards killed 95% of the Mexican population (24 million people) in less than 100 years for gold and to claim power. But I suppose since Mexicans don't have enough political or $ power those facts aren't laid out clearly in our minds.
It's not as if the Mexican immigrants are taking GOOD jobs, they are just doing what they can to get by it seems. $10/hour to remove rubblish clean construction sites? Go ahead racist, take your job back.
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