From the HAYS DAILY NEWS

[Planning]

From the HAYS DAILY NEWS

by R. W. Yeager Norton, Ks.


We need to show more sympathy for these people.
They travel miles in the heat, they risk their lives crossing a border,
they don't get paid enough wages, they do jobs that others won't do or
are afraid to do, they live in crowed conditions among a people who
speak a different language, they rarely see their families, and they
face adversity all day every day.
I'm not talking about illegal Mexicans, I'm talking about our troops.
Doesn't it seem strange that the Democrats are willing to lavish all
kinds of social benefits on illegals, but don't support our troops and
are now threatening to defund them?

Please pass this on, this is worth the short time it takes to read it

[Planning]

>
> Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the
> OrangeCountyRegister:
>
>
>
> Dear Editor:
>
> So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is
made
> up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down
the
> Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being
treated
> the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of
> entry.
>
> Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people
like Mr.
> Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of
> immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all
areas of
> Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and
> stand
> in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get
down on
> their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to
uphold
> the
> laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made
> learning
> English a primary rule in their new American households, and some
even
> changed their names to blend in with their new home.
>
> They had waved goodbye to their birth place to give their children a
new
> life, and did everything in their power to help their children
assimilate
> into one culture.
>
> Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor
laws to
> protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had
> brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity. Most of their
> children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought
along
> side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy,
France
> and Japan. None of these first generation Americans ever gave any
thought
> about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans
> fighting
> Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan
> And here we are in 2007 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the
same
> rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a
> different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a
> guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry,
that's not
> what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants
who
> landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that
for
> all
> the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to
create
> a
> land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a
better
> life.
> I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example
by
> those waving foreign country flags.
>
> And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it
> happens
> to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill.
I
> wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.
> (signed) Rosemary LaBonte
>
> P. S. Pass this on to everyone you know!!!

[jlpskydive]

Those are great.

[pigpen]

Wait! I thought minorities & illegals aliens were supposed to get a free ride.

[bullseye]

Thank you planning.

[86thecat]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the immigrants entering through Ellis Island do it LEGALLY ???

[bullseye]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the immigrants entering through Ellis Island do it LEGALLY ???

Yep, they did, but "most" of them in the last few years haven't. The legal ones are not the problem.

[SteelCore]

Link:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/newimmigrants.asp

Highlights:

This piece provides an apt illustration of the phenomenon that one can find in nearly every culture, in every era, a group of people who firmly believe that their civilization once experienced a golden age in which social conditions were much better (if not perfect), and modern society is an increasingly worsening corruption of that arcadian past.

The trend continues today, as we commonly see responses to social, political, or economic issues that attempt to contrast the present with earlier eras, to hearken back to times when such problems were significantly amerliorated or simply did not exist. Generally such reactions don't ring true, referring not to the way things really used to be, but to idealized, mythical visions of the past couched in absolute terms. So it is with this letter, which attempts to contrast the "modern immigrant" with immigrants of a century ago, finding the former sadly lacking by comparison. As usual, it references a black-and-white past that never existed.