What’s happened today?
- Filmmakers Annabel Park & Eric Byler debut on Wolf Blitzer and have CNN article.
- The County has now posted the newly modified resolution.
- BVBL continues the pursuit on Chief Deane complete with an online smack-down that has now spilled over to Virginia Virtucon. This tactic previously backfired and reminds me of the saying – ‘insanity is doing the same thing over and over with the expectation of a different result.’
- Thousands gather in cities around the Country. Hopefully we’ll have some pictures of the event in D.C.
Yeah, and Annabel and Eric have to do so much to make GL and his pals racist, huh? You know what? They look racist through ANY camera lense. You can’t hide the truth for very long.
kgo…you are truly a piece of work! Also, I have read some of the most viscious, shameful, hateful, mean-spirited, and at times threatening comments on this blog and “mom” leads the pack. Birds of a feather……
MayDay used to be a glorious celebration of the revolutionary spirit. Ah, the beautiful parades in Red Square! Now I must march amid the bovine masses, waving my Mexican flag in sad futility.
One day, we will make the white man pay….
Welcome Santa Ana lives!
Perhaps a different approach would be more productive?
On a side note, of some interest, the Santa Ana winds that blow in California might have been misnamed by the Americans, I’ve heard the most likely were the Santana Winds or Devil Winds because of the extreme heat. If you are interested more information can be found at – http://www.ocalmanac.com/Weather/we23.htm
Reading the resolution is pretty clear to me. I don’t think the spin can continue.
Also, attacking Deane must appear to be the only avenue left?
Too much work today to check out Eric and Annabel…will do so as soon as any video is up and running.
The bashing of the Police Chief is ridiculous. I don’t visit the other blog because it is so disgusting, but I can only imagine. I guess since Deane’s leadership has led to a downward trend in crime in the County…a factual statistic overlooked by these people…he is to be thrown out simply because he is a reasonable and thoughtful person…traits not inherent in “Advocator” and some of the other nuts. I’m still in absolute disbelief that ANYTHING drafted by that guy was even remotely taken seriously by elected officials. P. U.
Maribel, if you don’t like what I write, then why do you bother to read it? No one tells you to come here or to comment on what I write. Do you LIKE to get yourself annoyed?
Let me tell you something. When I found BVBL offensive, I didn’t GO THERE! Do you know why? Because I can’t stand to read that kind of stuff. GL blocked me but I had to find out second hand that he even WAS blocking me. I am not “after” BVBL for other reasons, not just being a piece of poop floating in the blogosphere. GL has crossed the virtual line into the physical, and that is a no-no.
If you find my comments offensive, well, then, that’s the way it is. I’m not cutting you down, nor am I bashing anyone on this blog. If you want to defend GL, go become his lawyer. He’s going to need one.
“I am not “after” BVBL for other reasons” I meant I am NOW after BVBL…and I mean that as in it need to be shut down.
Twin, you know what’s ironic? That people can bash the Chief of Police but get upset if you bash GL or any of his vocal buds. Does that sound surreal to anyone else here?
KGott,
Surreal, but par for the course.
Don’t pay any attention to Maribel…she is the biggest hypocrite I have ever come across in my life. She is only here enjoying a great life in America because her father came here illegally. Yet she wants no one else to have the chance her father had. How she can look at herself in the mirror is beyond me.
“How she can look at herself in the mirror is beyond me.”
Convenient eyesight problems?
: )
“Anti-BVBL” … wow, you couldn’t think of a more original name.
Los Idiotas Unidos- they are the locos who crossed the border from Mexico to the US without proper ID. Una Idiota said: “Stepping on those tracks is like sitting in a sacred space where many have prayed before you. It is like walking through Auschwitz…” These people obviously haven’t got a CLUE what went on behind the walls and barbed wires of Auschwitz. Are illegals brought here against their will? NO. Actually, they come here FREELY. Do we round them up by the thousands, treat them like cattle, and force them to toil until death? NO. Is there a Dr. Mengele performing horrendous experiments on them? NO.
The Nazis made homosexual men wear a pink triangle, the Roma and Sinti people were forced to wear a black triangle, the Nazis made the Jewish people wear a yellow star, and the list goes on. Do the BoCS, FAIR, etc. make illegals wear their colours? NOPE, but they fly El Salvador, Mexico, and other flags at their own free will. I guess it’s too much to ask them to go to Wal*Mart and buy an American flag for the country they allegedly love so much.
Notice how it says “anti-ILLEGAL.” I rest my case.
PS-
Here’s some “equality.” if BVBL “needs” to be shut down, then it would only make sense to take the rival sibling down with it. It’s the fair thing to do! 😀
Twinad,
I don’t buy the story. I just think it is one of the many multiple personalities from the trough that allows a few people to preach to the choir.
Mom rarely posts here but like everyone else, she is welcome. Mom has been known to be quite blunt and critical wherever ‘she’ goes. Actually she was more positive here than she usually is on the OTHER. Mom’s identity remains a mystery to all.
I love how admin stated at the BOCS that the Other was so full of hatred and name calling. All I can say is people who live in glass houses (even if there’s 20 of you) shouldn’t throw stones! kgotthardt is starting to destroy your ‘open discussion’ theme big time!
Lets hope all the illegals come back and then you can try your alternate approach at solving the problems in place of the Resolution. What an opportunity to prove to the nation that PWC had it all wrong. Why don’t you prove that you have better methods by getting that billboard taken care of, and then we may start paying some attention to what you’re saying. Actions speak louder than words.
SA, what do you you think about the attacks on Deane and the changes to the resolution?
I don’t have much to say about Deane. He is suppose to work for the benefit of the legal citizens, and uphold the law whatever it might be. As far as the change in the Resolution, it should end all the unnecessary fear of profiling. However, if the county starts to regress I can guarantee that the money will be found for those cameras, and the change to the Resolution undone. The people would send donations before they would live through this again. It’s either that or the only people that will be left in the county will be day laborers.
See, I find that confusing. Until Tuesday, S&S were firm on a lower/no tax increase and questioned the necessity of the cameras. Mr. Covington was firm about not increasing tax rate due to commerical impact.
I think they did realize that gutting county gov’t was not the answer but they did a complete reversal on taxes and opinion on the cameras. Unfortunately, on this, I don’t think people want to put their money into it as it is a never ending pond and right now there is very little support for this issue (financially) outside PWC.
I think the approach now is sound and if someone would think to increase or shift support to neighborhood services it would take care of issues like Park’d has mentioned and people like Lafayette have addressed on their own for the past year or so.
Keeping on the neighborhoods is good for everyone and there was no additional resource applied to that area despite requests.
I agree with keeping on the neighborhoods, but how do you accomplish this as no one has found a way to enforce housing issues without some support group claiming we’re targeting Latinos and threatening to sue. This has been an ongoing problem that is a big source of the frustrations that resulted in the Resolution as the only legal solution.
SecondAlamo,
I believe that federal and state laws prohibit some of the action that needs to be taken with housing issues. Also, the minute you start talking about how many people live in a house, you get your hand slapped. A house down the street from me had 11 kids living in it. You can’t tell people they can’t have 11 kids (although I would like to be able to say that).
I agree with Juturna about beefing up neighborhood services. We need people to be on the job when folks are at home. We are going to have a horrible time this summer with the mowing that is going to have to be done on these vacant houses. I can see 4 or 5 of them from my front door. (thus dispelling the notion that I live in a gated community) To my knowledge, neighborhood services weren’t given an extra dime. That is where change can happen.
And to answer your question, I simply don’t know. Valley Girl posted some really good suggestions here this morning. Do any of those look do-able to you?
Clarification: Before anyone asks, the family down the street with the 11 kids was anglo.
I have a better question. How does one support 11 kids? Maybe they won the lottery, but I must have taken the wrong major in college, because I couldn’t afford that.
I’ll take a look at some of the suggestions.
I reposted the suggestions from Valley Girl. We really should take a pro-active stance. It would be great if the Board could maybe form a task force, as an intermediary, when problems do arise in neighborhoods. SA makes a good point in that we don’t want to wait if issues arise again.
Valley Girl said on 1 May 2008 at 8:37 am:
A couple of ideas that worked in Loudoun –
1. presentations held at any Spanish language event (i.e. churches, school meetings, Hispanic markets, done with Zoning enforcement officials in Spanish that explains zoning laws in a straightforward, practical way. Assume that the folks that have 10 plus people in their homes will not attend but encourage peer pressure – a “pass the word along” approach, about the zoning laws and the effect that breaking them has on the whole community.
2. Drop off flyers in Spanish (BRIEF and too teh point, best with graphics) to the same effect.
3. Create neighborhood groups that include Hispanics and people of other ethnicities, that meet once a month and include a two or three person team that can drop by problem houses (perhaps notifying police in advance) to try to make contact and voice concerns as a first step, with the promise that enforcement will be on the way if the problem is not solved. I encourge training by a group such as Northern Virginia Mediation first. In some cases this training could be free.
4. Approach your zoning department as a neighborhood team, again including neighbors of various ethnicities. A group has more weight and if it is diverse it is hardly controversial.
5. neighborhood picnics and block parties, to establish positive contact and communication.
6. Offer a once a week ESL class in your home. It could be as short as 1 hour, basic level. Teaching ESL is great fun and it is wonderful to expose your kids to volunteerism. You could have a small group of two to five people. You will become a “friendly person” and your concerns about probled houses will be taken more seriously by the Spanish speaking community. A potluck dinner idea works graet and you will get some great food. If not in your own home than in a nearby church, library etc. there are many free ESL teacher training resources.
These steps take some commitment. Getting a group of people together and keeping them togther takes time, but it is worth it.
One thing that has always intersted me is teh issue of work vehicles in residential areas. can we offer alternative parking areas? On teh one hand it is an eye sore, on teh other hand it is a livelihood. Is there an empty parking lot with a shuttle bus?
We have to offer alterantives.
SecondAlamo, I would say you are right on enforcing overcrowding etc. But additionally the zoning officers have essentially refused to do any kind of investigation on anything. They follow up on a minimum basis and stop.
The above are well intentioned methods to help return our communities to ‘normal’ community standards. However, there are two major problems. First we aren’t dealing with a static population, but one that is ever increasing due to the constant border crossings. Eventually you would be overwhelmed in your efforts. Secondly I would still like to know how we can ‘enforce’ anything on those who still refuse to conform. I keep referring to the billboard as an example. We all know that in normal times that should never be allowed yet there it stands, and they want to enlarge it! Just tell me how even that can be dealt with successfully.
Those are great suggestions from Valley Girl.
There is a new business in PWC called “Home Town Greetings”. It is similar to Welcome Wagon, where they send out people to meet and greet newcomers in the neighborhood, and take them information about the area and area businesses.
Loading those packets with some good basic information and government partnering with this business to train the people they send out to communicate some basic things would be a good idea.
Our neighborhood watch is going to discuss vacant houses at the May meeting. It seems like if neighbors could look out for these places — pick up the free papers that sit there for days, pick up the tree limbs and trash … even get youth involved to mow the lawns (all with permission of the owners or banks, whatever), it would help build community.
Also, at the county’s neighborhood conference, they did a kind of a role play with the whole room full of people, asking people what their talents are, and how they could work together to make something happen. If you could bring together people for community meetings and brainstorm you could come up with solutions that are unique to that neighborhood — maybe get neighborhood services coordinators to act as facilitators, and then identify citizens who could take leadership roles.
George Mason University has a conflict resolution group. Bring together the sign owner, the neighbors, and anyone who is interested and try to work on a solution.
The sign is like an outward and visible barometer of all the hate and anger and fear bubbling up everywhere and spilling over. I’m not surprised it has expanded, larger and larger.
It will also be a signal that our community is getting healthier and healing when it does go, in the fullness of time. I pray that day is soon.
Second Alamo,
I really do not know. I never figured it out. I don’t think you pay any tax if you have that many dependents. Amazing, isn’t it? I was just always glad it was them and not me.
I think we are going to have to emphasize the neighborhoods and real fast. We are going to have a critical neighborhood situation with all the grass that is going to need mowing and bushes that need trimming. Tempers are worse in the summer.
Welcome Belle.
I remember watching a video of you speaking in front of the school board not too long ago. I presume you’re in college now. Congratulations.
By the way, great entrance.
Anti-BVBL just seems pretty appropriate for now, although surely it is morphing into something much more than solely being against BVBL.
Real quick, I’d just like to address this ‘flag issue’, do you know how many IRL(stands for Ireland) stickers I see plastered on the back of automibles, hundreds. Corey posed in front of the Royal Flag of Scotland which I believe was hanging in his government office. We had a Mexican flag flying beneath the American flag after 9/11, as a symbol of solidarity. My children are half Irish, half Mexican. My grandparents came to this Country after WWII. The climate now in PWC is such that they could wear a shirt with the Irish flag but because of sentiments like yours I would not permit them to wear a shirt with a Mexican flag. This is our heritage, we should be allowed to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day & Cinco de Mayo and the Fourth of July.
I’ll give you another example, we know a family where the father and 3 of the sons are serving in the Armed Forces. They fly a Dominican flag in their home. Would anyone suggest they aren’t patriotic enough?
“One thing that has always intersted me is teh issue of work vehicles in residential areas. can we offer alternative parking areas? On teh one hand it is an eye sore, on teh other hand it is a livelihood. Is there an empty parking lot with a shuttle bus?”
Unfortunately this solution is unworkable in this area.
First of all land is this area is far too expensive to pay for a free parking lot (who would pay for that) It is $500K for a simple church parking lot for 200 spots once you pay for the parking lot and all the site work (trees, curbs, gutters) that the county requires. ERven a gravel lot is now required to have the trees, etc. Shuttle buses are a fortune as well and that doesn’t even include the gas.
What about private lots that aren’t being used in the evening. The company still has to pay to have the lot repaved, more vehicles means more paving costs. And most work truck owners want to have their truck right in front of the house and would never leave it at a lot because all their expensive power equipment, ladders, etc is in or on the truck. If it is front of your house, you can keep an eye on it and it isn’t as likely to be broken into as in a lot with no one around.
HOAs can solve some of these problems, but the older neighborhoods, the ones most plagued by this type of problem, do not have HOAs, so they are stuck.
Okay…that was freaking surreal, Alanna! One second, I’m reading the old blog. Click to another area, and, VOILA, the whole thing changes right before my eyes!
How’d you do that ???? 🙂
I really like the bright new look. It reflects how I think about this blog: a ray of bright hope shining in an awfully dark blogosphere. The graphic design of the other blog is all about intimidation.
I’m sure you’ll have some bugs to work out since this change just happened, oh, about sixty seconds ago.
Off to browse. And thank you for all you’ve done with this blog!
It’s 1:00am, you should be in bed! I’m looking for a new template, I will be experimenting over the next couple of days so be patient.
LOL…Thursday night is HGTV must see tv for me. Now that I watched both episodes of “House Hunters”, I thought I’d check out the blog and see what you’ve all been discussing tonight.
And now it’s back to the way it was before.
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!!
Sorry for catching you when you’re weren’t expecting guests! 🙂
Admin, thank you. I cannot wait to come home 🙂
My mother hangs a mini-Panama flag on her rear-view mirror. She has a bigger one hanging in the back. We’re both from Panama, but she looks more Hispanic than I do. When the Resolution passed, I asked her if she had ever been pulled over. She said no. So I have to chuckle when I read comments from people freaking out about “racial profiling. I drive an awfully conspicuous truck when I’m home.
Anyhow, I’m not too keen on wearing a shirt with a flag on it, but that’s just me 🙂 It’s been my experience that if you go to other countries and fly, wear, etc. a different flag, the locals look at you strangely. Gosh, it’s even illegal in some places! I wouldn’t say it’s not patriotic; it just seems odd that someone resides in a country and flies a different flag, that’s all.
Hmmm, I don’t think I’ve seen any IRL stickers. The only ones I’ve seen say “OBX”.
Again, thank you.
Valley Girl and Cindy B. Thank you for your thoughtful posts. Education is the key. Letting immigrants know what the ordinances are and what is acceptable and not acceptable. When they know the rules they will abide by them. When the Vietnamese arrived, they needed to be told by a translator what was acceptable.
Second Alamo-Just in case you do not know this, law enforcement officials must protect and serve ALL residents, NOT just the “legal”.
PWC has a Neighborhood Services Handbook with common violations, and it’s printed in English and Spanish. These have proven to work in areas they’ve been distributed. They also have a newsletter. Here’s the link to Jan/Feb 2008 addition. It’s very informative.
http://www.pwcgov.org/docLibrary/PDF/007491.pdf
Good morning, oh Noble Board.
Let me talk about being blunt. I’m pretty blunt. I grew up first in a northern “yahoo” town and when I went to college, lived in pretty rough parts of the city. I’ve not had a cushy life. I’m not exactly as polished as some would like me to be, though I’m fairly well educated. But “blunt” is the least of our problems here.
I’ve spoken to many “blunt” people, and really, it’s refreshing. Blunt people don’t sling the BS. They have nothing to hide. They are themselves. In fact, I had a long conversation with that guy who said at the April 22nd meeting that the county ‘was trying to live on champagne when it needs to be on a beer diet.’ He supports the resolution because he’s had problems with his rental properties…..not with the “families” or the “Hispanics” in general but with REALLY unruly people. He said he would rent his whole property if he had Hispanics like the ones he has mostly…..they are peaceful, hard working and mind their own business. So I asked him if everyone acted like those families he likes, would he care about immigration status. He said “no. That’s their business.”
I told him he didn’t seem like a hateful person to me and I completely understood why he was angry. I also told him that the kind of behavior he was describing (in REALLY BLUNT terms that would offend most of you) was not acceptable, that we had to send a clear message it was not. We don’t always have to send clear messages through deportation. Reserve that for criminals.
So….lesson in being blunt. Nice guy, blunt, fair and honest.
If blunt offends you, don’t talk to this guy and don’t read my postings.
Understand the distinction between being blunt, being hateful, being angry, being racist, and being part of a hate or hate mongering group that treats everyone who is different poorly.
BVBL has bashed gays (or people who have “gender identity problems”), the elderly, people of different religions, and immigrants of different nationalities. That’s not blunt. That’s a serious social problem.
If BVBL gets shut down, Admin. could always change the name of this blog because you won’t see anything that I just described here. I see lots of solutions here.
And yes, I see lots of bluntness.
I don’t have much time this morning but I ran across this article on MSN and wanted to share.
Crackdown leads to drop in illegal immigration
Tighter security persuades some would-be migrants to give up sooner
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24409765
kg,
I would agree with you, your post actually seems very intelligent but I will have to say that I have seen some pretty hateful things from you (and others) on this blog. Blunt is fine, belligerent is not. You are belligerent and in doing so you cloud your point by ensuring that people get upset at you. and when admin and others come to your defense they delete other peoples posts.
if you feel you are being blunt, that’s fine. but dont try to cloud the issue here. Normally people who are sure of their attitude dont feel the need to explain themselves, you apparently do need to explain your behavior which obviously means you see some flaw in it. There is no explanation for being rude, crude and obnoxious. if you have an issue that is fine, back up it up with respectable facts, opinions or whatever. Being blunt is stupid in civilized society and it makes you look like someone of lower social status.
KG,
I can be very blunt. I work on controlling it but it doesn’t always work. I have been told that my bluntness is seen by some as rude…nah…not me;)
Yes, many folks over at the other could be described as blunt also. They are also stirred into a frenzy by a person whose goal it is to do just that. I don’t think that trying to reason with some of those angry folks is productive for us. And some of them, like your guy you talked to, probably have a reason to be angry.
Anger, however, isn’t usually the best way to solve problems. I think we need to stop engaging them. We are getting off focus and this issue is far from settled. It isn’t over by a long shot.
Just my opinion, for what thats worth. I don’t want to become one of those angry people. I saw that was happening.
Yes, thousands gathered, and you want pictures. Why were they gathered? They gather for May Day, and worldwide celebration of marxist and anarchist revolution. I think it quite telling that those here who picked up and carry the banner for Mexicans Without Borders, by continuing to defend ILLEGAL ALIENS. Yeah, I know. Many of you don’t think that marxist-socialists will ever come to power in this country. Are you all that stupid? Look at Berkely. Look at San Francisco. look who is leading the Democrat party. Look who is funding and running the majority of 527’s.
You’ve got a regular contributor who wants people arrested for political speech. She wants them arrested for wearing military clothing. She wants them arrested because they chose to exercise their Constitutionally protected right to bear arms for self-defense.
That many of you celebrate the gatherings of those who wish to destroy traditional American way-of-life is quite telling indeed.
Info only, thanks for posting a link to the county’s Neighborhood News. The clutter photos of “Things Your Neighbors Shouldn’t Have to Look At” were a lot worse than the things I saw walking my dog this morning — the worst was a shopping cart in the yard of a vacant home — but I still picked up three grocery bags of trash in a less than 2 mile radius.
Keep the solutions dialog going!
Cindy,
Good for you. Wow.
I think we need to start making lists of vacant houses in our neighborhoods. That will help with intruders, squatters, kids hanging out, etc. We can also start alerting the county about mowing and cleaning up debris.
Does anyone know anything about this?
Ed.
Marxist, socialist, anarchists, leftist? Sounds like a wild conspiracy theory. You do realize that Hispanics are KIA(Killed in Action) at a faster rate than African Americans, guess they didn’t get the memo that they should ‘destroy traditional American way-of-life.’ Hispanics make an excellent ‘fit’ with the Republican party – religious and family oriented but we’re now driving them away in droves. The Republican Party’s actions actually could force Hispanics into voting Democratic in the next Presidential election.
Love the new look!! It conveys professionalism and sophistication. 🙂
Some thoughts: Can you make the typeface a point or two bigger? And perhaps black? It looks closer to gray now. That will make it easier to read.
Thanks, and great job!!!
To Ed –
I just want to point out that this is a very diverse crowd here, in every sense.
I have never been comfortable with the marching and demanding rights approach for resolving the immigration crisis. I think that it fuels the fire and demonstrates a misunderstanding of the American ethos, an understanding of which is critical to move major change forward (just look at Obama’s handling of the Wright situation). There is a real potential for federal reform but “demanding” rights for illegal immigrants (beyond obvious human rights we all share) is a fundamentally flawed, poor strategy.
I also object to the content of the Liberty Wall, specifically the part about recent immigrants being Native Americans. The first parts of the text may be accurate representations of parts of our complicated US history, but it disregards all of the fantastically positive works by individuals and groups that have for the most part overcome those historical horrors and created a nation that is so fantastic (albeit flawed) that hundreds of thousands of people seek to come here and where we have the right to post whatever signs we want on private property.
But back to the Native American part. Recent immigrants from Latin America (with some few but notable exceptions) are almost all Meztizos, i.e. mixed Spanish and Indian, and a dozen other ethnicities on top of that (Japanese, German, African, etc.). Furthermore, they are descendents of Aztec, Maya, and Inca and other Southern American tribes, not Northern Indian tribes such as Apache, Cherokee, Sioux, etc. There are significant differences between the histories of those native Americans. I do not see any inherent rights of Indigenous people from Mexico, Central and South America in the US.
Ironically, in Latin American culture it is sadly common for “indio” to be used to describe someone as dimwitted, backwards, etc. I know of very few Latin American immigrants who describe themselves as Native Americans. The only ones I know who might do so are “activists”, and they are so often very far off ideologically from the people they purport to represent.
I just can’ think of a worse way to achieve progress in the current environment than to display that sign, though they have every right to do so. I would just hope that people know that it does not reflect a majority opinion among Latin American immigrants.
Actually, I also know some very real Indigenous people from Mexico and Central America, but they are so humble, they would never make claims like those on the Liberty Wall.
And back to a solution. There is a very succesful concept in health outreach to immigrants called the “Promatora de Salud”. It is based on traditional communities, where there is often a well respected unofficial matriarch, the “go to person” who is well respected and wise. This aspect of community is often replicated amoung immigrants in their new communites, so the approach is to identify those unofficial community leaders and train them about a health topic so that they can disperse that information to others who trust them. The same could work for neighborhood issues such as overcrowding. In this case it could be men or women, a pastor, a store owner. Anyone that is well known and regarded in the microcommunity, and preferably a small group of people. You could formally train these people as mediators and leaders in their communties who would spread the word about overt overcrowding and the concept of good neighborliness. Communities have to change from within and it has to become unacceptable amoung immigrants themselves to have an unsafe amount of people in a home, to not put in effort to keep a home looking good, and to not be a good neighbor.
Enough about the Liberty Wall. It’s all just words (and, of course we all know that “mere words cannot incite”). Those who oppose it have every right in the world to erect their own sign somewhere. What about the notorious Republican Hill? The two hills on either side of the Minneville Rd. and PW Parkway intersection? They owner is a Republican, and he allows the party’s candidates to erect giant signs during campaigns. Approach him and see if he’ll agree. Or lease space on a billboard.
Just stop whining about it already! Let the city’s zoning process play out and it will be gone soon enough. To use it as an example of everything you see wrong about this debate is ridiculous. It’s one man’s sign. His thoughts, on his property. If it’s erected illegally, it will come down.
Sure, it’s inflammatory. It’s also provocative, which is not always a bad thing.
I also think it’s a flight of fancy to make this sign somehow analogous to Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright.
Valley Girl wrote:
Absolutely! But it also needs to be pointed out that these indigenous tribes suffered much the same fate as our own Americans Indians did when the Spanish came over and colonized Mexico. The powerful ruling class in Mexico are descended from these European Spaniards. Just look at those Mexicans and Central Americans who are coming to America from their home countries. Then spend a few minutes watching Telemundo or any of the Spanish-language TV stations. Look at the actors, talk show hosts, game show contestants, news reporters and anchors. Notice anything? They are the privileged class, all of whom are descended from the Spanish.
The native tribes are discriminated and marginalized. They yield little power outside their own villages or few states where they hold a majority. They live in poverty because they have no voice.
So they come here where, as bad as it can be for them, at least they don’t have to worry about their entire village sliding down the mountain in a river of mud during the rainy season.