On Monday I reported this:


“No federal law prohibits North Carolina from admitting illegal immigrants to its colleges and universities, officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said today [May 9, 2008]. The statement from federal officials contradicts a letter sent this week by the office of state Attorney General Roy Cooper."


College O.K. for Illegal Immigrants  É here


Now in a complete turn-around, North Carolina will no longer allow undocumented or illegal immigrants to attend their community colleges.

"I don't think its fair," student Patrick Chen said. "Everyone deserves a right to education."


Oh, really, Mr. Chen? 

Since when do illegal immigrants have a "right" to a college education?

Student Daniel McCauley disagrees. "I think that if you are illegal, you shouldn't be allowed to go to school because it takes away from the people that are here that are us citizens."

Well, at least you're a more intelligent college student, Daniel...

And, not surprisingly, of course, we have, what else?  "Outrage"


"In Raleigh, at El Pueblo, an advocacy group for Hispanics, community leaders are outraged."

"No, there is nothing at all from the federal government saying that a school cannot permit a student paying out of state tuition go to school," one leader said.

The state attorney general disagrees a passed down new guidelines to the state's 58 community colleges. The new rule went into effect Tuesday.

That means students graduating from high school, who are illegally in the U.S., will not be admitted.

Undocumented students can attend any of the 16 public universities. The problem is most can't afford the out of state tuition and they are not eligible for state or federal financial aid.

So, why don't student's apply for citizenship? Some say its a lengthy and expensive process."

A lengthy process?

Yes...becoming a citizen of the United States of America doesn't happen overnight.

It never has, and it probably never will.

But immigrants have been becoming American citizens the proper way for decades.....

And it is a proud moment for those who have followed the process and can now say the are Americans.

Expensive?

I've never heard that one before.

College is expensive, though.


See an interview of students at

Wake Technical Community College and advocacy group El Pueblo   É  here

and read an article from the Guardian.co.uk

 
North Carolina Bans Illegal Immigrants from Community Colleges         É  here

 

After reading the story I am going to link you to, I know from past experience there will be differing views among my readers.

So be it.

I’m clear on my views.

This is a story about government surveillance. 

It begins off the coast of Washington State, near the city of Bellingham, where federal agents are monitoring terrorist activity that could possibly come in off of ferry runs.

But this is off of an interstate highway, and they are monitoring the area for nuclear “dirty bombs.”

The article doesn’t say so, but for them to be monitoring specifically for this activity, you would think there has to have been some tip-off somewhere along the line….but back to the story.

They are monitoring activity using highly sensitive radiation detectors. 

On this day, in the article, a car goes by at 70 miles per hour and the detector goes off with a warning.

They chase the driver, pull over the car, do questioning, do a search, and what do the find? 

They find radiation, alright….but as my title suggests, it is a pet.

The owner's cat had cancer and had undergone radiation treatment several days earlier.

Now, I think….how cool is that...we could detect radiation from a cancer treatment?   In a cat?

Look what we can do!

The article states something to that degree, also.

I say, keep it up and do what you have to do to prevent terrorism in the U.S.

We have already caught two terrorists on our soil, before they did the damage they intended to do, which you will also read about. 

The writer will end his article with a quote from a Washington, San Juan County Councilman, Kevin Ranker, who says “I think it’s fair to say many people up here have been left wondering just what kind of country it is they’ re living in.”

Well, Kevin Ranker…I think we are living in a wonderful country.

And I would like to keep it that way. 

I know it would be an inconvenience to be stopped by an FBI agent because I had radiation in my car.

I’m sure most people would be scared and angry about it at first.

But later, I’m sure you would feel reassured that if that had been a “dirty bomb” heading to San Juan, you would be safe. 

God Bless America.



Here’s the story from the Seattle Times

ø  Watch out, you’re being watched   ÷  here

Tent City in Phoenix, AZ



If you are in Phoenix, Arizona...don't break the law.

And if you are an illegal immigrant, maybe you just better avoid Arizona altogether.

You may be be familiar with Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known as "America's toughest Sheriff."

And that he is.

He's the one who runs that tent city jail.

He makes all of the male inmates wear pink underclothes and eat food that's not quite fresh.

They sleep outside, in tents, all year round, no matter what the weather.

Arpaio is tough on illegal immigrants too.



"Arpaio finds creative ways to arrest illegal immigrants — using state law intended on human smuggling to charge them with smuggling themselves — something no one else in the state has attempted."

And once arrested, they learn English.

Sheriff Arpaio is in trouble with the public quite often because of his methods.

But it's thought he will be re-elected again, for the fifth time, in November.

Read about America's toughest sheriff and his stance on illegal immigrants on npr.org

America's Toughest Sheriff Takes On Immigration   å  here

The Red Queen lecturing Alice, by John Tenniel

Red Queen's race

The Red Queen's race is an incident that appears in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass and involves the Red Queen, a representation of a Queen in chess, and Alice constantly running but remaining in the same spot."Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, "you'd generally get to somewhere else — if you run very fast for a long time, as we've been doing."

"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


I’ll only address the Red Queen’s Race this one time.  Amazingly, its example can be paralleled with countless life circumstances.  Among them….jobs, economic growth, and taxes. 

Here we are, well into the age of technology (yes, the information age – you must read this) finding that jobs here in the U.S. are disappearing and being outsourced to other countries.  At the same time, the cost of living is going up at a steady pace and we have less purchasing power.  The average citizen is running as fast as he can to stay in the same place he used to be.

Taxes….excessive government spending….tax the average citizen to near death….tax businesses until they leave the country.  Then, find cheap labor where those products are now being made.  Give us more to buy…then, we end up buying more.   So, we need to work more and we become multi-income families.  College students attend college longer and live home longer.  Marriage and family (if any) has been put off until the thirties or later. 

The government offers a multitude of social benefits, from our taxes, for those who are not as well off as those of us who are running as fast as we can to stay in the same place…. and most who are offered, take advantage of those benefits.  Most immigrants using benefits, who are working, make low wages.   This includes illegal immigrants.

There is talk of raising the minimum wage, which, in the end, will just cut jobs, raise prices, and make multi-income families have to work even harder when the cost of living goes up, yet again.  Increasing services to the public…increasing taxes…expanding our government….that’s what makes the race continue….

Currently, the pitch from Obama, Clinton and McCain is in support of virtual fencing to protect the border.  When, after the election, the dialogue reverts back to illegal immigrants being given amnesty, and if that becomes a reality, with more social services bestowed upon possibly 12 million illegal immigrants living in our country….

How much faster will we have to run to keep up then?

Government red tape at its finest.

I know we are bogged down since 9-11 with the passport issue and every other issue regarding paperwork when it comes to keeping our "homeland" safe.

But if you don't have enough government employees to process the paperwork of immigrants...

Then hire more, rather than give in and risk our safety.

How about skimming some of the floaters off of the top, in Administration, who aren't needed so we have some extra funding.



This, from Washington....


"In a major policy shift aimed at reducing a ballooning immigration backlog, Homeland Security is preparing to grant permanent residency to tens of thousands of applicants before the FBI completes a required background check.


Those eligible are immigrants whose fingerprints have cleared the FBI database of criminal convictions and arrests, but whose names have not yet cleared the FBI's criminal or intelligence files after six months of waiting.

The immigrants who are granted permanent status, more commonly known as getting their green cards, will be expected eventually to clear the FBI's name check. If they don't, their legal status will be revoked and they'll be deported."

Read the entire article from ajc.com

More Immigrants to Get Green Card Before Full Review   à here

Does your Presidential candidate support citizenship for illegal immigrants?

Support the border fence?

Do you know how the candidates stand on the DREAM ACT?

The DREAM ACT:  The legislation would allow illegal immigrants who came here as children, have lived here at least five years and have graduated from high school to get on a path to citizenship if they enroll in college or the military for two years.

Look here to read Presidential Candidates Weigh in on Immigration

AND ....

Just a click away takes you to an amazing "slider" tool to find that candidate who fits your immigration stance.  

It's designed by the Houston Chronicle. Try it!


FIND YOUR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ON IMMIGRATION ISSUES


Are you "unglued" about any immigration issues"

What do you think of the candidate slider?  Pretty cool, huh?

 

The ongoing debate of licenses for illegal immigrants:


Gov. Spitzer Surrenders on License Fight
"Lost in the posturing is the fact that eight other states - Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington - currently do not require drivers to prove legal status in order to obtain a license." AP, Nov. 14, 2007.

Obama Stands By Support For Spitzer Plan
"Sen. Barack Obama, D-Il, is standing by his support for granting driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, even after Gov. Eliot Spitzer, D-NY, abandoned the proposal amidst rising political opposition." Sam Stein, Huffington Post, Nov. 14, 2007.   

 GOP split on Repeal of Real ID"Congressional Republicans are scrambling to defuse the political time bomb they created in 2005 when they allowed states to issue driver's licenses to illegal aliens — but a key Republican and author of the Real ID Act says their new bill is unconstitutional." Washington Times,
Nov. 14, 2007.

Oregon License Rules Tighten
"Gov. Ted Kulongoski plans to issue an executive order today that he says would "dramatically tighten" restrictions on Oregon driver's licenses and make it far more difficult for illegal immigrants to get one." Oregonian, Nov. 16, 2007.     


What do you think about Drivers Licenses for Illegal Immigrants?

 

"Unglued????"  All I'm going to say for now is ....  I'm not anti-immigrant .... I'm anti-illegal.  So for me it's a NO for the drivers licenses.  And I don't care if they can't buy insurance, learn the rules of the road, or are having transportation troubles.  I don't care if it would bring them into the mainstream and "lift them up."  

THEY ARE ILLEGAL!

I do care about the other power that drivers licenses may  give to illegal immigrants. 
The first possibly being ILLEGAL VOTING.
 

Oh, wait .... do our voting ballots come in Spanish?