I have a number of friends who are (or want to be) musicians. I’ve discovered that a number of musicians are needed in Mexico due to recent unexpected vacancies.
Mexican singer Zayda Pena, 28, was shot in the neck on November 30th. The next day, someone entered the hospital where Pena was recovering and shot her in the chest, killing her. Someone really wanted this woman dead. Her lyrics often focused on drug trafficking and violence. Two members of her band were also killed in the original assault.
Trumpeter Jose Aquino, 33, was found bound and beaten to death earlier this week.
Lead singer Sergio Gomez was strangled this week as well.
Singer Valentin Elizalde was killed last year.
Here’s why, according to the San Diego Union Tribune: “Some fear that singers, whether they have any links to drug cartels or not, are routinely ‘adopted’ by drug gangs, which post Internet videos showing their members torturing and executing rivals to soundtracks of popular tunes.”
So one of your songs is picked as the theme song for a gang and suddenly you are a target of all the rival gangs? Wow!
I knew their deaths couldn’t be related to their musicianship; there wasn’t a drummer in the lot!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Memo to Public Officials Nationwide
Note: This is the official response that SHOULD be given by any governmental body in the United States in response to this directive from Mexico.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon is upset by the “swaggering, macho and anti-Mexican” attitude of some politicians in the United States and has directed Mexico’s Embassies and Consulates to raise the voice of protest and enter the debate on behalf of his people.
“The key is to neutralize this strategy of confrontation and discrimination that forms part of U.S. society's mistaken perception, and be able to newly focus arguments on the complimentary aspects of our economies.”
So, when the Mexican Consul goes around your town complaining of discrimination against Mexicans, please quote these facts:
1) 31% of all LEGAL immigration comes from one country – Mexico. Even in the great migration of a century ago, no TWO countries combined made up 30% of the immigrants.
2) 56% of the ILLEGAL aliens in the United States come from one country – Mexico.
3) 71% of Mexican immigrants speak little or no English. –Assimilation problem #1
4) Only 19.8% of Mexicans have chosen to become naturalized citizens. – Assimilation problem #2
5) 57% of Mexican immigrants do not have health insurance.
6) 50.9% of Mexican immigrants use some form of welfare services, paid for by U S taxpayers.
7) Remittances back to Mexico totaled $24.3 BILLION flowing out of our economy last year.
8) The United States purchases 1.3 MILLION barrels of oil EACH DAY from Mexico at $98 a pop.
Tell the ambassador that we gave at the office. And tell him to inform El Presidente that more and more Americans are getting wise to his welfare plan of sending his unemployment, education, health care, and crime problems to the United States for us to handle.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon is upset by the “swaggering, macho and anti-Mexican” attitude of some politicians in the United States and has directed Mexico’s Embassies and Consulates to raise the voice of protest and enter the debate on behalf of his people.
“The key is to neutralize this strategy of confrontation and discrimination that forms part of U.S. society's mistaken perception, and be able to newly focus arguments on the complimentary aspects of our economies.”
So, when the Mexican Consul goes around your town complaining of discrimination against Mexicans, please quote these facts:
1) 31% of all LEGAL immigration comes from one country – Mexico. Even in the great migration of a century ago, no TWO countries combined made up 30% of the immigrants.
2) 56% of the ILLEGAL aliens in the United States come from one country – Mexico.
3) 71% of Mexican immigrants speak little or no English. –Assimilation problem #1
4) Only 19.8% of Mexicans have chosen to become naturalized citizens. – Assimilation problem #2
5) 57% of Mexican immigrants do not have health insurance.
6) 50.9% of Mexican immigrants use some form of welfare services, paid for by U S taxpayers.
7) Remittances back to Mexico totaled $24.3 BILLION flowing out of our economy last year.
8) The United States purchases 1.3 MILLION barrels of oil EACH DAY from Mexico at $98 a pop.
Tell the ambassador that we gave at the office. And tell him to inform El Presidente that more and more Americans are getting wise to his welfare plan of sending his unemployment, education, health care, and crime problems to the United States for us to handle.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Name calling
(It’s not what you think.)
I had a good laugh reading the terminology and rationale of a group studying illegals. But first, the set-up.
The term “illegal alien” actually comes from the law. United States Code, Section 8, uses “illegal alien” repeatedly.
The terminology that hurts my ears the most is “Undocumented American”, used by Sen. Harry Reid last summer.
Now, for the explanation as to why Pew Hispanic Center uses the term “unauthorized migrant.” Warning: You are going to believe I am making this up, but I am not. It appears on Page 2 of their document entitled, “Unauthorized Migrants: Numbers and Characteristics, June 14, 2005”
Here’s exactly why they prefer to call them “unauthorized migrants” rather than illegal aliens: “The term ‘unauthorized migrant’ best encompasses the population in our data because many migrants now enter the country or work using counterfeit documents and thus are not really ‘undocumented’ in the sense that they have documents, but not completely legal documents.”
For some reason that struck me as very funny.
And as a result of my personal research I have determined the fool-proof litmus test for any organization or website regarding the immigration problem. And here it is:
Those organizations that use the term “illegal alien” or (erroneously) “illegal immigrant” to describe them are anti-illegal.
Those organizations that use any other term are most likely pro-illegal.
Now, I’m going to sort through my wallet to see if I have “completely legal documents.”
I had a good laugh reading the terminology and rationale of a group studying illegals. But first, the set-up.
The term “illegal alien” actually comes from the law. United States Code, Section 8, uses “illegal alien” repeatedly.
The terminology that hurts my ears the most is “Undocumented American”, used by Sen. Harry Reid last summer.
Now, for the explanation as to why Pew Hispanic Center uses the term “unauthorized migrant.” Warning: You are going to believe I am making this up, but I am not. It appears on Page 2 of their document entitled, “Unauthorized Migrants: Numbers and Characteristics, June 14, 2005”
Here’s exactly why they prefer to call them “unauthorized migrants” rather than illegal aliens: “The term ‘unauthorized migrant’ best encompasses the population in our data because many migrants now enter the country or work using counterfeit documents and thus are not really ‘undocumented’ in the sense that they have documents, but not completely legal documents.”
For some reason that struck me as very funny.
And as a result of my personal research I have determined the fool-proof litmus test for any organization or website regarding the immigration problem. And here it is:
Those organizations that use the term “illegal alien” or (erroneously) “illegal immigrant” to describe them are anti-illegal.
Those organizations that use any other term are most likely pro-illegal.
Now, I’m going to sort through my wallet to see if I have “completely legal documents.”
The bailout
So President Bush has announced his bailout of the mortgage industry, declaring that subprime rates are frozen for five years. It won’t help everyone but it will help some. I heard the commentators on the radio during the ride home last night.
One of them explained that the government has been in the middle of mortgages for decades. Lenders get in big trouble when someone doesn’t qualify. And judges are more than willing to rule against any lender who might have turned someone down due to race or neighborhood. It is vanquishing the little guy against the big bad banker. It plays well in court.
And we really don’t have any laws about lending to people who are here illegally. Why, Illinois has a special subsidized loan program specifically for ITIN clients; that is people who do not have social security numbers. And the state knows full well that most of these borrowers are illegal aliens.
So, lenders got lax. It’s easier to say “yes” than “no”, especially if HUD is watching. In my opinion they’ve gone way overboard and the majority of the problem rests with the lenders. It is ridiculous to loan money to someone based on future income and future home value.
And when two or three families have to be included as buyers just to qualify, all sorts of bells should go off. You’ve got lenders and realtors and lawyers all in on the deals and no one could see past the commission check. I really don’t feel like using my tax dollars to help them out, do you? (I can see Dana at the White House, opening up Tony Snow’s Word documents, pressing Ctrl-F, and replacing the word “amnesty” with “bailout”…as in, “People keep calling this a bailout. It is not a bailout.”
One fellow here in Elgin was what you would call a “Full Service” lender. Luis Uribe worked for a mortgage company that I won’t name (you could look it up) and he really took care of his clients. “Uribe would manufacture I.D.s, job references and places of employment for people, some illegal immigrants, Roscher said, who couldn't qualify for a home loan with their true credit history.” (Courier News)
And when he had someone’s good numbers he would milk them for all they were worth. He would harvest their ID from legitimate mortgages, then turn around and use the papers over and over and over. And you wouldn’t even know it unless the thieves got behind in their payments.
One lady owned four houses according to her credit history and didn’t even know it. Another couple owned four extra houses as well.
Good ol’ Luis wasn’t just doing this out of the goodness of his heart. He was charging these undocumented buyers “anywhere from $1,000 to $14,000" for these papers. Well, Mr. Uribe is in custody, he entered a guilty plea, and he is awaiting sentencing. I certainly hope the case doesn’t end there. These buyers were deeply involved in the scam as well. Surely they will be prosecuted. Or will they?
One of them explained that the government has been in the middle of mortgages for decades. Lenders get in big trouble when someone doesn’t qualify. And judges are more than willing to rule against any lender who might have turned someone down due to race or neighborhood. It is vanquishing the little guy against the big bad banker. It plays well in court.
And we really don’t have any laws about lending to people who are here illegally. Why, Illinois has a special subsidized loan program specifically for ITIN clients; that is people who do not have social security numbers. And the state knows full well that most of these borrowers are illegal aliens.
So, lenders got lax. It’s easier to say “yes” than “no”, especially if HUD is watching. In my opinion they’ve gone way overboard and the majority of the problem rests with the lenders. It is ridiculous to loan money to someone based on future income and future home value.
And when two or three families have to be included as buyers just to qualify, all sorts of bells should go off. You’ve got lenders and realtors and lawyers all in on the deals and no one could see past the commission check. I really don’t feel like using my tax dollars to help them out, do you? (I can see Dana at the White House, opening up Tony Snow’s Word documents, pressing Ctrl-F, and replacing the word “amnesty” with “bailout”…as in, “People keep calling this a bailout. It is not a bailout.”
One fellow here in Elgin was what you would call a “Full Service” lender. Luis Uribe worked for a mortgage company that I won’t name (you could look it up) and he really took care of his clients. “Uribe would manufacture I.D.s, job references and places of employment for people, some illegal immigrants, Roscher said, who couldn't qualify for a home loan with their true credit history.” (Courier News)
And when he had someone’s good numbers he would milk them for all they were worth. He would harvest their ID from legitimate mortgages, then turn around and use the papers over and over and over. And you wouldn’t even know it unless the thieves got behind in their payments.
One lady owned four houses according to her credit history and didn’t even know it. Another couple owned four extra houses as well.
Good ol’ Luis wasn’t just doing this out of the goodness of his heart. He was charging these undocumented buyers “anywhere from $1,000 to $14,000" for these papers. Well, Mr. Uribe is in custody, he entered a guilty plea, and he is awaiting sentencing. I certainly hope the case doesn’t end there. These buyers were deeply involved in the scam as well. Surely they will be prosecuted. Or will they?
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
A real mess, I tell ya'
You’re going to need a scorecard to keep track of this story, but I didn’t see anything in the Chicago papers about it and thought it was important.
Two and a half years ago a 36-year-old man was kidnapped in Mexico. His mother then received a ransom note demanding a million dollars. No body was ever found.
So his mother hired private investigators to solve the case. And that led to a restaurant in Louisville where they arrested Brenda Quevedo in connection with the crime.
Immigration now has Brenda in the McHenry County Illinois Jail. (I have no idea why our government moved her 400 miles North, but I’m guessing it has something to do with space available and/or regional jurisdiction.)
She’s being held on immigration violations pending her extradition back to Mexico.
It turns out that the mother has already been instrumental in finding four other accomplices in the case. Only one more remains at large.
Gee, maybe we could hire this woman. She seems pretty effective at finding people who don’t want to be found, certainly out-performing both Mexican and US government agencies.
Two and a half years ago a 36-year-old man was kidnapped in Mexico. His mother then received a ransom note demanding a million dollars. No body was ever found.
So his mother hired private investigators to solve the case. And that led to a restaurant in Louisville where they arrested Brenda Quevedo in connection with the crime.
Immigration now has Brenda in the McHenry County Illinois Jail. (I have no idea why our government moved her 400 miles North, but I’m guessing it has something to do with space available and/or regional jurisdiction.)
She’s being held on immigration violations pending her extradition back to Mexico.
It turns out that the mother has already been instrumental in finding four other accomplices in the case. Only one more remains at large.
Gee, maybe we could hire this woman. She seems pretty effective at finding people who don’t want to be found, certainly out-performing both Mexican and US government agencies.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
What is allegiance?
Often in the debate about illegal aliens we hear the tired, old song, “They just came here to be part of the American Dream, just like millions of immigrants in the past.”
But, let’s be honest here; How do we demonstrate our love for America? We’ve circulated the Teddy Roosevelt quote about dual loyalty and point to that. I would guess that dual citizenship is not a sin, and it certainly isn’t illegal. It goes against the “Love it or leave it” philosophy, but in most cases those who hold dual citizenship are respectful of our nation.
Generally, dual citizens do it as a personal safeguard. They were born in Canada or Mexico, have lived most of their lives here, raised families, and want some insurance against changes in the immigration laws.
So how do we show we are sincere about pursuing the American Dream? Let me suggest these criteria:
1) Respect for our laws. It is a bad sign of your loyalty when the first thing you do is come here uninvited. And the second thing you do is buy fake documents so you can work here. (They don’t all do that; some of them work for cash and avoid taxation altogether.)
2) When in Rome…learn Italian. There is a new report from the Pew Hispanic Center that reveals that 71% of Mexican immigrants don’t speak English. (The percentage comes from those who say they speak English “just a little or not at all.”) 56% of Mexicans speak Spanish only at home.
3) Become a citizen. Only 19.8% of immigrants from Mexico have become naturalized citizens. (See CIS Study, “Immigrants in the United States, 2007”, page 11.) Over 52% of the two million Chinese have become citizens. Indians have 38% citizens. Filipinos become naturalized citizens at a rate of 60.3%. Taken together, this report says 39% of the foreign born from ALL nations have become citizens.
I suppose there are other “good citizen, good neighbor” indicators like paying your own way, being financially responsible (with health insurance, car insurance, and planning for your own retirement), flying the flag of your host country or no flag at all…
Evidence of all of these things and more make the “I want to be an American” statement ring hollow in the ears of the citizens.
Perhaps their demand for rights while they defy assimilation grates on us the most.
But, let’s be honest here; How do we demonstrate our love for America? We’ve circulated the Teddy Roosevelt quote about dual loyalty and point to that. I would guess that dual citizenship is not a sin, and it certainly isn’t illegal. It goes against the “Love it or leave it” philosophy, but in most cases those who hold dual citizenship are respectful of our nation.
Generally, dual citizens do it as a personal safeguard. They were born in Canada or Mexico, have lived most of their lives here, raised families, and want some insurance against changes in the immigration laws.
So how do we show we are sincere about pursuing the American Dream? Let me suggest these criteria:
1) Respect for our laws. It is a bad sign of your loyalty when the first thing you do is come here uninvited. And the second thing you do is buy fake documents so you can work here. (They don’t all do that; some of them work for cash and avoid taxation altogether.)
2) When in Rome…learn Italian. There is a new report from the Pew Hispanic Center that reveals that 71% of Mexican immigrants don’t speak English. (The percentage comes from those who say they speak English “just a little or not at all.”) 56% of Mexicans speak Spanish only at home.
3) Become a citizen. Only 19.8% of immigrants from Mexico have become naturalized citizens. (See CIS Study, “Immigrants in the United States, 2007”, page 11.) Over 52% of the two million Chinese have become citizens. Indians have 38% citizens. Filipinos become naturalized citizens at a rate of 60.3%. Taken together, this report says 39% of the foreign born from ALL nations have become citizens.
I suppose there are other “good citizen, good neighbor” indicators like paying your own way, being financially responsible (with health insurance, car insurance, and planning for your own retirement), flying the flag of your host country or no flag at all…
Evidence of all of these things and more make the “I want to be an American” statement ring hollow in the ears of the citizens.
Perhaps their demand for rights while they defy assimilation grates on us the most.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Voting in Illinois
If you’ve never seen an application for voter registration you should take a look at this sample from Illinois (in Spanish or English, of course).
http://www.elections.il.gov/VotingInformation/VoteRegForms.aspx
Now, let’s look at what you need, bare minimum to be a registered voter in the Land of Lincoln.
- A utility bill
- A name
- A mailing address
- A birth date
- A gender
Now, what is the optional information?
- An address. You can just use the handy grid, label the streets, and put a dot on the page.
- A phone number
- A photo ID
- A Social Security number
- The ability to sign your own name
If you are willing to sign that you are a citizen, that’s good enough. But you will have to show up in person at the county clerk’s office to apply, right? And they’ll check you out then, right?
Nope! Not in Illinois. You could be registered by a latino activist going door-to-door in your neighborhood or walking down the street. You could register at a rally for illegal alien rights. Or, you could just mail it in.
They won’t even check your pulse, a fine Chicago tradition.
The best part is that you don’t even need to register. My daughter has two voter cards in Illinois; one from when she went to the library and signed up and a second one from when the Secretary of State computer calculated that she had turned 18. Neat, huh?
There is a guy I met who bought a new car and used his middle initial instead of his middle name on the plate registration. Guess what? He got a new voter card in the mail. And he’d been an active registered voter in Illinois for 30 years!
They are passing them out like candy here.
Well, there was a Filipino woman in the Chicago Tribune today who got confused on some forms down at the DMV, got a voter card, voted last year, and got in trouble for it because she isn't a citizen. Poor victim.
The amazing thing in my mind is that they even enforced the law. With the whole process so loosy-goosy, who would even catch on? I mean really, how difficult would it be to commit voter fraud in this state? I say it would be simple.
And what upsets me are all the special accommodation for Hispanic voters. It was already a sore spot that we are printing ballots in Spanish. Now to make matters worse, Kane County is required to have bilingual interpreters in every polling place to answer questions.
http://www.elections.il.gov/VotingInformation/VoteRegForms.aspx
Now, let’s look at what you need, bare minimum to be a registered voter in the Land of Lincoln.
- A utility bill
- A name
- A mailing address
- A birth date
- A gender
Now, what is the optional information?
- An address. You can just use the handy grid, label the streets, and put a dot on the page.
- A phone number
- A photo ID
- A Social Security number
- The ability to sign your own name
If you are willing to sign that you are a citizen, that’s good enough. But you will have to show up in person at the county clerk’s office to apply, right? And they’ll check you out then, right?
Nope! Not in Illinois. You could be registered by a latino activist going door-to-door in your neighborhood or walking down the street. You could register at a rally for illegal alien rights. Or, you could just mail it in.
They won’t even check your pulse, a fine Chicago tradition.
The best part is that you don’t even need to register. My daughter has two voter cards in Illinois; one from when she went to the library and signed up and a second one from when the Secretary of State computer calculated that she had turned 18. Neat, huh?
There is a guy I met who bought a new car and used his middle initial instead of his middle name on the plate registration. Guess what? He got a new voter card in the mail. And he’d been an active registered voter in Illinois for 30 years!
They are passing them out like candy here.
Well, there was a Filipino woman in the Chicago Tribune today who got confused on some forms down at the DMV, got a voter card, voted last year, and got in trouble for it because she isn't a citizen. Poor victim.
The amazing thing in my mind is that they even enforced the law. With the whole process so loosy-goosy, who would even catch on? I mean really, how difficult would it be to commit voter fraud in this state? I say it would be simple.
And what upsets me are all the special accommodation for Hispanic voters. It was already a sore spot that we are printing ballots in Spanish. Now to make matters worse, Kane County is required to have bilingual interpreters in every polling place to answer questions.
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