This is a first draft to which I hope others in the community will contribute. I reserve the right to amend my beliefs as new ideas and new information are presented. I invite everyone to share what they “believe” regarding immigration, and /or, the rising tide of extremism.
* I believe in the words of John Locke:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights”.
* I believe, that immigration, has throughout our history, and will remain, a very contentious issue
* I believe, that we have a broken immigration system that needs modern reform
* I believe, our government has a responsibility to mandate that the people who live or work here, acquire proper legal status
* I believe, the solutions must stem from fiscal responsibility (not analysis based on fear but on solid objective sources), they must be humane, and they must be reasonably enforceable, and above all, they must exemplify the true meaning of a nation built upon immigrants
* I believe, that how we frame the debate, with the words we choose, is as important as the solutions themselves
* I believe, that we are experiencing, as a nation, a time when division has once again reared its ugly head
* I believe, that certain localities, more than others in this nation, are struggling under a rapid changing demographic and that the local, state, and federal government could do more to address the concerns of those citizens
* I believe, that I do not know all the answers to immigration, but I do know, that framing the debate with fear and hate, will bring us no productive solutions
“I believe, our government has a responsibility to mandate that the people who live or work here, acquire proper legal status ”
That’s backwards logic. The responsibility has to be that they POSESS legal status, not acquire it tthrough increasingly huge waves of Amnesty.
“I believe, that how we frame the debate, with the words we choose, is as important as the solutions themselves”
The only reason we’re in this mess is because the elitists who run our government have framed the debate so falsely and obscured the self-deportation option
“I believe, that I do not know all the answers to immigration, but I do know, that framing the debate with fear and hate, will bring us no productive solutions”
Other than naive faith in goodness of things, why would you say this? Framing the debate as we have for decades with naivite and a vague sense of ‘who are we to enforce laws on poor people” has brought us to the quagmire we are in.
Ahhh, the “apologist’s creed”!!
I believe anyone who disagrees with us is a racist, a nativist, a xenophobe, a hate-monger.
I believe that minorities may violate our laws at will because they are minorities.
Add those and you’re about done!
–I believe people who are angry should diagnose their anger and then speak logically.
–I believe all human beings have the potential for good and that hatred has no place in our world or our government.
–I believe terms like “racism” should be explored and analyzed before they are used. I believe people here should read the definition.
rac·ism /ˈreɪsɪzəm/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[rey-siz-uhm] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.
3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.
–I believe illegal immigration is harmful to our nation and that we need a federal solution, not a gushing, bleeding bandaid which is what we have in this county.
–I believe justice roots itself in love and that justice will win.
–I don’t believe justice is easy to obtain. Nor do I believe justice is always gentle.
–I believe justice is coming to this county.
Elena, those are eloquently worded and indisputably evident points that any reasonable and sentient adult would not dare to contradict.
I want you to know I continue to support you. I have been AWOL of late because of the markets, plus depression over the inadequate response of the McCain campaign. Liberals, don’t bother rubbing it in. I don’t have time to respond.
I mean the word “Liberal” in the best possible sense.
I would like to applaud Elena’s statement of belief. I hope our Supervisors follow suit.
Slowpoke,
It seems you were awfully fast to adopt Mr. Duecaster’s ridiculous idea that “it’s not about legality or illegality.” Is it because of the Board’s vote on Tuesday that you now feel safe in stating the enemy is ALL minorities?
Even I know this much: the creed of the closet racist is to target only one minority at a time.
HINT: you’re only supposed to target Latinos these days.
Sister Elena is one righteous woman!
This is good common sense Elena. If only our Supervisors had the luxury of speaking this way to their constituents, but they always have to walk the fine line unfortuantely.
I’m starting to conclude the pattern of this blog is Elena or Alanna say something intelligent and forward thinking, and then some angry and hateful person comes on to show us exactly why we should be embracing intelligent and forward thinking.
And then someone comes on to challenge the angry and hateful person.
And they all hell breaks loose…
Is that about right?
What I Believe :
Our country is ahead of the curve in becoming a society of weak, decadent people out of touch with reality, in response to the ease of modern life. We rarely plan for the future and easily accept myths when truths are unpleasant to us.
Simultaneously, we have all become indoctrinated into a politically correct culture which holds “diversity” as an instant virtue and which holds a bias against white Americans. This culture evolved in some part as a reaction against racism, sexism, and general intolerance but has now taken on a mindless intertia of its own … rules are bad, dictating conduct is bad, poor people or people from other countries/cultures are good.
Consequently, some of us have lost our common sense. We want to pretend that we can allow hundreds of millions of people to enter our country illegally and that it won’t negatively impact our ability to take care of our own. We want to pretend that it won’t lead to greater numbers of uninsured and rising health care costs for the middle class and working poor. We want to pretend that we’re building a better America for our children, by importing large amounts of third-world poor people for them to compete with for jobs – wage degradation as empowerment. We want to pretend that what seems impulsively “right” to us – helping poor people to make more money – isn’t actually hurting future generations of Americans.
We want to pretend that hospitals aren’t closing and schools aren’t degrading when all objective measures show that they are, and especially in regions where illegal aliens settle in greater numbers.
Simultaneously we show our national and cultural bias by presuming that these people need to come here – that it is impossible for them to build or construct a decent society in their own homeland. So, even while we enable American corporations to undercut our minimum wage laws and pay less for labor than dignity might imply, we enable corrupt regimes in Central and South America to maintain their strangehold on power and enable the wealthy in those nations to keep doing what they’ve been doing. We move the entire continent away from strength and towards haves with spending power buying land and property, and have-nots begging for jobs which increasingly pay less.
And the rich get richer, and the poor in America increasingly lose what small leverage they had and what dignity in labor previous generations fought for. The right wing is content because money now flows from the poor and middle-class into subsidizing business owners. The left suicidally applauds because their politicians don’t really care so much about the things they’ve pretend to care about (wage equality and opportunity for our children) as they do mining a new voting bloc, which can make all the difference in this highly polarized nation. And the average middle or lower-class American really has no one looking out for them and no real choice.
Get what you can while you can because we as Americans stopped working together some time ago and we as Americans are sacrificing all that our ancestors fought for, for the sake of short-term profit based on sprawling growth and foreign investment. There was once a pretense that America was a shining beacon that could make the rest of the world want to become more like us. However, our current era is all about us selling what we have for temporal cash, and importing poverty, and becoming more like the rest of the world – overpopulated, underfunded, and with a growing disparity between those who ahve and those who don’t.
Is anyone aware of the federal agency Greg Letieq is about to obtain a political appointment to in their Office of Outreach and Diversity? I heard a rumor that he and some others of his Republican ilk are getting these appointments through the White House effort to “burrow” people before the end of the Bush regime?
“However, our current era is all about us selling what we have for temporal cash, and importing poverty, and becoming more like the rest of the world – overpopulated, underfunded, and with a growing disparity between those who ahve and those who don’t.”
Rick,you speak of America as if it were another “world” apart from the rest of the world, but like it or not, America is part of this world, Americans eat, sleep, desire, bleed and die just like the rest of the human race. For so long this country fattened it’s self up by raping the rest of the globe like unstoppable dispoiled children and now we are all going to PAY, the guilty and not guilty alike. National Apathy and ignorance has not only opened the flood gates of retribution, it has anihilated the dam. Face it Rick, the end of Anglo-centric America is here. You may see it as de-evolution, as a culteral apocalypse. I see it as just another hemisphere shift in the ascent of man.
You can lament, you can resist, you can baracade yourself and pray to God (unlikely of you) but you will never stop it. The only species that will survive the changing of America are the ones who can evolve with the changes, all others will become extinct. It’s the progression of nature. I’m sorry it disturbs you so, but in this life if you expect nothing, then you won’t be disturbed when nothing happens for you.
The American Dream was the carrot, the carrot in front of our eyes that motivated us to work harder in the Capitalist’s tread mills. We are always running, but that prize is always out of reach and all the while we are blind to the good things that we already have. Now that we begin to see the illusion of the American Dream, we look around us to protect what little we really have only to find that the slave masters took that away as well. Now we have less than our forefathers and everyone on the outside that they screwed over are knocking at the door to demand satisfaction.
From Ashes to Ashes.
From dust to dust.
Violent crimes surge after illegals invade Texas
Aliens flee strict immigration policies for friendlier Lone Star State
By Chelsea Schilling
The World Net Daily, September 17, 2008
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=75585
As if on queu:
Rick said:
“Simultaneously, we have all become indoctrinated into a politically correct culture which holds “diversity” as an instant virtue and which holds a bias against white Americans.”
Then Rod says:
“For so long this country fattened it’s self up by raping the rest of the globe like unstoppable dispoiled children and now we are all going to PAY”
Hilarious!
Actually, I agree with Rod. Imagine our audacity to think we should be keeping the fruit of our labors. When we work hard for what we have we’re OBVIOUSLY raping some 3rd world country in doing so.
Amen Rod!!!
I think you guys should get one of the BOCS sympathetic to your cause to appoint Rod to the human services committee. Then as reciprocity for all the raping you have obviously partaken in as slaves to capitalism, you can give up your segregated spreads in Haymarket and live a truly virtuous and “evolved” life.
I say we all give all our capitlistic endeavors TO Rod for redistribution. Rid us of that evil before the great reckoning.
Not Greg L.
Thanks for the hint! OK!
KG,
We DO have a federal solution….what we do NOT have is adequate enforcement.
If there is another Federal Solution, it should be to adopt Mexico’s immigration policies to the letter (that which benefits the goose…) Now THEY have an immigration policy we could all be proud of!
The Federal solution is the allow enough immigrants and workers to come here to meet our labor needs. We have to do it, people, or else our economy suffers even more than it is now, as the labor shortage we are currently suffering worsens. Baby boomers will retire, compounding the fact that as families move into the middle class, they are not sending their children into the work force in the teen years, and as more people (hopefully) go to college.
Immigrants come here and start at the bottom and follow the same cycle moving into the middle class. It’s good for them, and it’s crucial for us.
Just please forget what country people come from, don’t worry about what people look like. You don’t have to be a certain race or religion to be an American. We are Americans because of ideals that we believe in, like the one that Elena begins with above. These latest immigrants will be every bit as American as we are in a single generation. And we should welcome that.
We need them.
I believe……………………… you should all move to Mexico. Then we’d both be happy! Problem solved.
Rod welcome back! Things are looking up in PWC. Greg is self-destructing, the Supervisors are standing on their own two feet. Standing together across party lines. It was a small victory, but a significant one that a handful of citizens were able to awaken the Board to something they didn’t realize, and might affect the future well-being of the county.
Where are the nurses, nurses’ aides, hospital and nursing home staff going to come from as the population ages? Where are the landscaping crews to tend to yards Seniors can no longer maintain going to come from? If you think that the supply is readily available among the native population, you’re living in lala-land.
NGL,
Your theory sounds good only if the influx is halted and the second generation assimilates. The problem is that with continuous influx there will always be millions of first generation people to deal with. I asked this question once before, and no one had an answer, but if they are needed, and they have left, then why aren’t non-Hispanic businesses closing? Help wanted signs are the norm. Going out of business in droves isn’t.
Censored,
I drive through lala land every work day. Every block has a ‘La’ something business name. Most are slowly closing.
I believe people should take an active role in supporting or challenging their government (federal, stae, and local). This year will prove to be a particularly interesting one for us voters!
By the way. What is it with people selling used tires? That’s something I’ve never seen until the Southern visitors arrived. Used tires! I mean if you can’t even afford a cheap pair of new tires, then you shouldn’t own a car. Talk about depressing our standard of living. How about a few dozen more pawn shops to round out the decline! If people don’t own anything of value, then what are they pawning? Stolen goods maybe? Think about it.
This is for anyone who fears a majority minority America, not just Second Alamo:
If we want the economy to grow, we need more workers to do the work. I didn’t go that far in economics, but workers are an important part of production, I know that much.
You just have to forget about what they look like and what language they speak when they first come here. I know you can get out over it. You accepted the Civil Rights movement eventually, didn’t you? African Americans can use the same drinking fountains now, but what have you really lost? And by the way, it’s not THAT bad to be a minority. If and when the day comes when white people are 49%, it’s not like we’re going to, I don’t know what you think will happen. But we won’t be mean to you. Promise.
When there is no clear majority in the U.S. the government will finally belong to the people, because there will be no way for unscrupulous political strategists to turn the majorities against minorities for political gain.
Notice how they never try to pass a law that targets a group of people that is more than 12 percent of the population and is known to vote in decent numbers?
Don’t you want to see your politicians stop doing that to gays, Blacks, Muslims, Hispanics, thinking this is the best way to win elections, by serving white constituents who have to be TOLD to be afraid and angry of minorities but aren’t normally that way?
For the Senate election in 2006 you were supposed to be afraid of gays, remember. They’re marriages might somehow create trouble on the home front for you in your heterosexual marriages. Where is all the hysteria now?
It’s not there because no one is drumming it up.
But don’t you want the politicians to stop playing you like a yo-yo? That’s the whole thing about McCarthy by the way, and why Gospel Greg is such a good comparison. Find a target, stoke the fear, and tell the voters that only you can protect them and the other party can’t.
What if, instead of sitting around thinking of ways to make you angry and afraid, our politicians thought of ways to make your life better?
SecondAlamo,
There are so many stereotypes that you are spewing that I almost laugh but then I realize that you’re serious which is rather sobering. Anyways, I did respond to your previous question, and my answer went something like this – currently we are in an economic downturn, but you have to acknowledge that the building development in Northern Virginia over the past 7 years can be in a great part attributed to the availability of this labor force.
Gloria, I really doubt that. If Bush has ever heard of Gospel Greg, I’m sure he thinks he’s a racist with a really warped sense of the teaching of Jesus.
NGL,
You have to be kidding me. I think they wouild all get along just famously.
Hee Hawww guffaw
Ok Ok, but what about the used tires thing?
Alanna,
If we got people from Mexico to build our houses over the last 7 years, then what makes you think we couldn’t have gotten workers from the surrounding nearby states. The reason the workers were from South of the border is because they worked for less. The same reason people have been hiring them to this very day. It isn’t because there aren’t US workers available it’s because they’re cheap! Verizon is still getting their ditches dug only now instead of 12 Mexicans with shovels it’s a few US workers with heavy equipment. I know, because I watched the change over take place in my development.
I believe that we are all created equal.
I believe two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally
different.
I believe that certificates on the wall does not make one a decent human being.
I believe that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are,
but we are responsible for what we say , what we do and how we treat others.
I believe in the plan God has created for me and the power of words to defeat violence and hatred.
I believe in the good of all humankind and treating everyone with dignity and respect regardless of race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity or culture.
I believe in being my brother’s keeper
I believe that good will always overcome evil.
And I believe in a God who has made EVERYONE different with unique qualities that distinguish us from others
I believe that this country was founded and built on the back of immigrants and I am blessed to live with the privilege of my grandparents hard work. If not for their courageous journey to this country – Where would I be?
I believe in justice and equality for ALL, not a selected few.
I believe in the Constitution of the United States that gives all inalienable rights
Marie,
The only problem I have with your list is that when an injustice is done by a minority to a member of the majority, then it is excused or treated differently. How come if we’re all equal? Equal is in the eye of the beholder…………or what neighborhood you’re from.
Dime, in case you didn’t see my reply to you on the last thread…
Dime,
Thanks for agreeing to meet me. How do you want to arrange this? Could I meet you at the study circle? Or how about on Tuesday at McCoart evening session?
Hey, which one of you is the artist? You know what I’m referring to!
SA
Maybe that is how you view equality. I do not see it that way. It does not matter where one lives, now much money one has, what credentials one has, if one lives in a house or in a box in the woods-we are all equal. None is better none is lesser.
It is true everyone has a different value system if that is what you are saying. Like I said two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally
different.
Marie,
I’m agreeing with you on the subject of equality, but being white it doesn’t feel that way. Every racial group except whites can have exclusionary organizations etc. How is that equal, which brings me to my first statement.
SA,
The County had better than full employment, the Country had historic low unemployment, in fact the best in 40 years. Where again were we finding the workers? In North Carolina? South Carolina, Florida, Georgia? Give me a state and I’ll research their unemployment rates.
I believe and know that my grandfather entered this country as a teen. I believe and know that his 14 year old self worked in the coal mines in PA. I believe and know that he made his way to NYC. I believe and know that he apprenticed himself as a baker to my great grandfather. I believe and know my grandfather married the bakers daughter. I believe and know that my grandfather joined the WWII effort to secure his Citizenship, and he got it. I KNOW that he came home damaged, I know that he took to drink, I know his family in NYC set him free b/c he could not deal with the deaths of his family in Hungary, and I know he died in Yonkers in 1984. What I don’t know…where he was buried, what he looked like, did he even know I was born, what he did in the military (A thru H burned up after WWII).
SecondAlamo, 18. September 2008, 18:10
SecondAlamo:
Ref the used tires……The used tire stores have been around for 17 plus years on Route 1 and another one in Triangle. Ive been here for 40 years and seen lots of changes…..the “used tire thing” was not as a result of the southern visitors….
DB,
You should be able to get his military record. Say you are his next of kin and you can get the information. It is housed in more than one source I believe. I can understand you wanting to know.
DB
Try the attached link.
http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1
It is the Department of Veterans Affairs grave locator service.
MH,
the records in Louiville burned up. All patrons from A to H had their records destroyed in the fire soon after WWII. All I have is his SSN and place of death…Yonkers. Nothing more. All military records are gone.
SecondAlamo,
You wrote, “who’s the artist?” And I don’t know what you’re talking about. Could you explain?
I’m new here. And I’m trying to piece together story. I’m baffled that Robert Doocaster is advising the county government. He frightens me and I’m a big guy.
Do you know this man personally? Does he have a human side? Why does he talk like he is being choked?
Thank you for so many wonderful “I believe” statements everyone!
SA,
Come on, really, you want us to move to Mexico?! Even though you irritate me somtimes, O.K. most of the time, I sense that you are a good person, misguided, but still a good person 🙂
Elena,
Could we work on organizing a community forum in which we can all meet and talk with each other and with government officials and Supervisors?
It doesn’t seem like there’s been any official community forum. A real face-to-face dialogue. Why hasn’t this happened? It seems like a no brainer. There is something very strange going on in Prince William.
It seems like Greg has written his own obituary.
http://www.bvbl.net/index.php/2008/09/18/how-stupid-do-they-think-i-am/
He knows these are his last days. His hyperventilating obsession with 9500 Liberty project sounds like screechy death rattle emitted into a silent and uncaring cyperspace.
Goodbye, Greg. We’re sending you back with love.
I believe that one day Marty, Mike and Wally will finally decide they would rather choose being a decent human being over being a “good” Republican. And they will be applauded and rewarded by the citizens of the county.
We are in desperate need of leadership, not political scheming, influence and misguided loyalty.
I believe that more and more people will come forward to express their outrage over not only Duecaster’s appointment, but the entire direction of the county.
Thanks again, Elena. You are a shining example of a responsible and caring citizen.
Second Alamo,
You said, “Every racial group except whites can have exclusionary organizations etc.”
I HAVE to disagree with you, there. We Caucasians have our own fully or virtually exclusive organizations…we are just much more specific about the group of Caucasians.
The following is a list of just a small number of organizations which are either fully or virtually racially exclusive:
*Daughters of the American Revolution (as recently as 1984, someone was denied membership based on their race, even when they could prove their lineage.)
*The Mayflower Society
*Association of Italian-American Charities
*Polish-American Congress
*National Italian-American Foundation (which labels itself an advocacy group for Italian-Americans, and claims it has interest in raising their national prominence)
*Daughters of Erin (Irish-American)
There are countless, COUNTLESS other specifically Caucasian/mostly Caucasian groups like the ones I have listed. They offer scholarships, membership, networking, and advocacy to Caucasians who meet very specific ethnic criteria.
Some may argue that there may be some members of races other than Caucasian in these groups. You could even say that not all of these groups have an exclusionary rules in their bylaws (but it is sometimes unwritten). However, this is also true of groups made up of African-Americans, Asians, and Latinos. About a year ago, I was asked to join a Black Educators group, and I am as white as can be! I was proud to help at the various charitable events they hosted that benefitted ALL people.
Fellow white people, I think it’s HIGH time we stopped living in a haze of perceived persecution.
BTW, I am very glad to see rod posting here again. Love your work!
AnonForNow,
hee hee…”sending you back with love.” TOO GOOD…LMAO!!!
OK, it’s late and I have to go. One more thing, though. It could be the lack of sleeping causing hallucinations, but I get the jist that GL and some of his posters think studying in a group goes against democracy. Really? REALLY? This line of thinking doesn’t seem absolutely INSANE to anyone over there?