On this Fourth of July, where we celebrate our Independence, it's nice to reflect back on the blessings we have being a citizen of this great country.
A friend passed on to me a quiz set up using 20 of the questions used in the citizenship test. Try it.
Just curious....did you pass? For those who were born citizens, did it make you glad you didn't have to take the test?
-Colonel Steve
Atty Gen Roy Cooper in North Carolina has advised that it is illegal to admit illegals to college.
This may come as a no-brainer for those of us with common sense but obviously not for some in the education or political realm. Last year, the system's attorney said they could not bar illegals. Even officials from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement told them they were free to decide whether to admit them or not. The governor of North Carolina thinks they should admit illegals and is not happy with Cooper's recommendation. This sounds like it might involve a lot of money for the state, right? According to www.charlotte.com, "Community College System officials said that a survey showed that only 112 of 297,000 students were illegals. The University of North Carolina system says 27 of the 200,000 students are here illegally."
How can anyone think it is ok to treat illegal immigrants like they are citizens?
There is a lot of discussion about ways to reduce pollution, overcrowding, and saving fuel usage. Perhaps if it wasn't so advantageous to come to this country illegally we would have less problems in these areas also.
I am all for bringing people to this country legally. Let's not make it advantageous to break the law.
Good job Atty. Gen. Cooper! Smart man!
-Lady Colonel
Last week the Courier-Journal reported on Mayor Abramson's warning that Louisville's city tax revenue is expected to be $9.6 million short. Due to this shortfall, the city will be implementing a hiring freeze.
One potential place for future cost savings just might be in the proposal to limit city services to illegal immigrants. Sure, federal law requires certain services to be performed regardless of citizenship status, such as "a grade-school education, emergency health care, certain immunizations, and emergency food and disaster relief." But opponents of any cutbacks on services to illegal immigrants are arguing that immigration is a federal issue, not a local issue.
Aren't city finances a local issue? How much are we spending in providing city services to those breaking the law? If the local government checks my status to tax my property, why can't they check status to spend those tax dollars? How much are those here illegally contributing to that same city revenue?
Just curious.
-Colonel Steve
I saw this interesting statistic that there are 31 states and a federal district that require a visa in hand before issuing a driver's license. Sounds hopeful to those of us really seeking tough immigration reform. That is, until I noticed that these 31 states and 1 district are all the divisions of Mexico.
This same government of Mexico has fought similar restrictions in the U.S.
Mexico's Foreign Relations Secretariat declined to comment on the controversy this week, but the Mexican government has fought U.S. restrictions on licenses in the past.
In 2004, the former Mexican consul in New York, Arturo Sarukhan, called such rules "a policy without a purpose" during a hearing in the New York State Assembly.
Since I can't get a driver's license in Mexico without a legal Mexican visa, why should "un-documented" immigrants from there get one in the U.S.?
(HT: Texas Rainmaker)
-Colonel Steve
On the immigration front, we're seeing state and local governments pick up where the federal government is dropping the ball. Starting at midnight, November 1st, Oklahoma is now playing it tough with illegal immigrants. (HT: Blogmeister USA and Hot Air). The law is requiring the following:
*Illegal aliens may NOT receive public assistance
*Anyone arrested for a felony or drinking and driving will have citizenship verified
*Illegal to transfer to transfer or harbor illegal aliens
*Public employers must register with a program to verify immigration status of all employees
Great idea, Oklahoma!
Closer to home, we have the Metro Council bill being presented by Doug Hawkins (see here and here). In the more liberal area of Louisville, I suspect this is going to create a big stink both in the media and on the council itself. But truthfully, it shouldn't.
The issue boils down to the one word - illegal. I am the product of previous immigrants coming to the U.S. LEGALLY. Many of them in my ancestry (German) didn't speak English, but picked it up so they could do business here. Today, several generations later, I personally know only a very few words of German...just enough to get around the autobahn. But I continue the legacy of speaking the language needed to do business.
By allowing much of the illegal immigration to go unabated, I personally take it as an insult to those like my great-grandfather. Those like him worked hard, saved and skimped, to come over with all the needed paperwork in hand. By doing this, he left his great and great-great grandkids (numbering like 75 of us) a legacy of hard work and respect of the law.
Don't forget liberals, as we invite these immigrants across the border without the needed paperwork, we are also breeding contempt of our legal system. These will be the first folks breaking any new laws being put into the law books. Laws written by both conservatives AND liberals.
-Colonel Steve
One of the issues that in my opinion should be one of the top issues is immigration. As in illegal immigration and border fences with Mexico.
On the fence part of the issue - where it's built, it works. A new 3 mile section near Columbus New Mexico and Palomas Mexico is doing exactly what it was built to do.
"You hear it all the time: Fences don't work. Fences don't work," said Mark Winder, a transplanted New Englander and part-time deputy sheriff who lives on a small ranch outside Columbus, N.M., where a 3-mile stretch of wall was completed in August. "I live 2½ miles from the border, and the fence is working."
Many merchants agree in Palomas, once a sleepy farm town, now a booming haven for smugglers.
"The fence has destroyed the economy here," said Fabiola Cuellar, a hardware-store clerk on the main street of Palomas who used to sell supplies to the throngs heading north from here. "Things are going back to the way they were before."
As usual, different polls seem to give different answers as to what people think on illegal immigration. However, as Congress found out with the last set of immigration bills, people do care strongly about this issue. Folks like Hillary need to nail down their many opinions on the issue.
(HT: Wizbang)
-Colonel Steve
Recent Comments