i didn¥t mean to hurt your feelings, but wanted to express my belief, that it might be a oppurtunity to translate your anthem, to make its rather emotional content accessible to everyone.

During official ceremonies the language should of course stay “the original”.

(quote promoguy)
I wouldn’t expect you to know the words as I didn’t even when I lived there.
(unquote promoguy)

I am unsure if your “there” refers to the U.S.A.,
in this case you should probably question your participation in a discussion about your own anthem,
or to Germany, what would explain why you quoted a mistakable chunck of the first verse of the former german anthem, which was sung until the end of
WW II, when this verse was prohibited.

@topic
i understand the fear many people feel towards foreigners but, who if not the U.S.A. should have the space and the wealth to cope with immigrants.
I am going to follow the discussion with great interest.

“Great point… however, unless you honestly believe that we can actually stop illegal aliens from entering the country, its rather moot.”

We can’t stop murder either, might as well legalize it. Next time a coworker irks you, just blow his head off. Smart thinking.

Snippet:

“Maybe we should start calling ourselves:

“Pro-Mexican-Economy-The-Primary-Export-of-which-is-Something-Other-Than-People-Seeking-a-non-Sucky-Life” advocates.”

Excellent point (really, not ironically like my 1st response here). This is the true root of the problem. Don’t have any easy answers at my fingertips, though.

DanM: “Illegal immigrants are much more likely to break the law”

These two observations are not mutually inconsistent. I have long felt that most illegals come here for the same reasons our ancestors did – to make a better life for themselves and their families. And I suspect it is only a small proportion (encouraged by native-born leftists ala ANSWER) that worry about reestablishing “Aztlan”.

But with 10 million illegals, it doesn’t take a large proportion to create a lot of (other) lawbreaking, and if you come here illegally you’re an outlaw right off the bat. A couple months ago I visited NYC and went to Ellis Island. I found out that every single person who came through there was given an medical exam and an interview asking why they wanted to immigrate to the US. With millions in transit this was certainly perfunctory to some extent but everyone was given a very clear message that they were expected to become law-abiding Americans. Not a message I see heavily emphasized in today’s demonstrations.

In short, we need immigration – *legal* immigration. Not to mention the need to monitor our borders in the wake of 9/11.

First, like GaryK, my community has changed dramatically, but over a slightly longer timeframe, say 25 years. I would estimate that Dallas/Ft. Worth has close to one million illegal migrants. It is so overwhelming, I like to tell people up North I am from Mexico.

Incidentally, I travelled through towns in Oklahoma recently, and happened to notice many local kids working in the fast food restaurants. My immediate thought was, “Just wait 10 years, and these places will be completely different”. Almost all menial jobs and 100% of construction jobs will be taken over by illegal migrants.

This human tidal wave is creeping north, so the sleeping people further away from the border will be in for a rude awakening fairly soon.

Second, by researching on the internet, I have learned the complicity of the Mexican government is appalling. Government officials and elites at the highest levels are actively supporting this huge exodus of their underclass to the United States. Their lobbying effort appears to be the sole purpose of their existence. What’s even worse is the success they are having.

Third, I have a burning question. Why should we passively accept one-half the current population of Mexico to colonize the USA over a 40 year period?

I am begging anyone and everyone who reads this site to research this issue further, and then educate your family and friends. The MSM is not keeping us informed.

Maybe we should start calling ourselves:

“Pro-Mexican-Economy-The-Primary-Export-of-which-is-Something-Other-Than-People-Seeking-a-non-Sucky-Life” advocates.

Kinda clunkly, I know, but a start?

Went to the SFW in Manassas, VA recently and was hit up in the parking lot by a young Hispanic women with a baby in a stroller, didn’t get a chance to read the 3 X 5 card she brandished. Two days prior to this, in the same parking lot, an apparently well-fed middle aged Hispanic woman, who I believe I have fended off once or twice before, hands me the obligatory 3×5 card “I have four children.” I go inside and try to find onions but, they have been moved yet again to make room for more vegetables that Hispanics like. Turned onto Sudley Road, the main drag, alert for the many groups of Hispanic teenagers and mothers with children in tow who now cross in the middle of the block. Went to Home Despot and luckily did not encounter the Hispanic panhandler who works this parking lot, his 3×5 begins “I am deaf…” Our taxes are among the highest in the country, we have social services up the wazoo and these guys are asking me for money?

We moved out from Fairfax county to this area almost 8 years ago for the somewhat slower pace of life, more affordable housing and a lower crime rate. When we moved here there were no panhandlers, Hispanic or otherwise, no groups of teenagers hanging out on corners, no dollar stores, no check cashing shops, no rough characters mooching around making Manassas look like Nuevo Laredo. Last time we tried to get care for an injury at the local hospital’s emergency room, it was jammed with many Hispanics with lots of children, families who are mostly uninsured, to judge from the $700,000 bill for uninsured patients that the hospital reported it paid last year. We left after waiting 3 hours; we never got to see a doctor.

Eight years ago the local paper’s crime page used to cover an inch or so, listing mostly small time crimes, now it’s more often half the page,and more of the crimes are violent and/or involve drugs and many of the names are Hispanic. Over the last two years or so there have been several bloody MS-13 attacks at the Mall and elewhere with machetes being the weapon of choice. The lead story in a recent local paper concerned the trial of two Hispanics, both illegals, for the murder of a third Hispanic man, also an illegal, in an MS-13 killing. We now have a rag-tag group of loiterers at the local Giant. They found a body dumped behind this Giant about 6 months ago: I’m sure these developments are just great for business. Two prostitution operations which, according to the local paper, “catered to Hispanics only,” were raided in formerly nice residential areas of Manassas this year alone. Also this year, the head of the Manassas school system, now swamped by Hispanic children, was mysteriously and abruptly forced out with the only reason given being that he was, as the paper put it, not as receptive as he should be to teaching English to non-native speakers.

This doesn’t feel like immigration, it feels like an invasion.

It is not that simple. Let me put it this way:

Most illegals are not immigrants, rather they are illegal aliens. Most (80% or more) are here to work and get money to send back home or take back home with them when they return, not to become citizens. As such the pay they receive here is a significantly greater than what they could get in their homeland. Up to fifty times as much. Illegal aliens are, by and large, paid sub-market wages and rarely receive benefits here (not all, but most).

So say we cut their already sub-market pay here. Cut it to the point where it is equivalent, in their homeland dollars, to an amount that is sub-market in their homeland. How many would take the jobs here if they paid sub-market homeland equivalent wages? Answer: None.

And you would be every bit as wrong in describing the illegal alien workers who refused to take those jobs as lazy or any of the other terms that are now used to describe American workers? It is economics, not race, creed, or national origin.

That is the situation American workers are facing due to the artificial depression of wages caused by the large supply of labor that is willing and able to accept sub-market wages.

As we are a capitalist economy, if the cheap labor pool went away, supply and demand would adjust – and contrary to the propaganda that some mistakenly believe, the world would not end. Businesses would do what they are supposed to in capitalist economy and either pay wages high enough to attract workers, use technology and mechanization to alleviate the labor shortage, or go out of business.

That is supply and demand working at its essence. The economy would adjust, more Americans would be working and receiving wages and benefits based on what the market will support. Some businesses would go under, others would rise up to meet the changing need. That is what our economy is all about. If you donít believe that, then explain why we are not all working in buggy whip factories today.

As of right now though, employers that hire illegal aliens are receiving unfair advantages through what is effectively a government ‘program’ to provide them with a labor pool whose sub-market wages are artificially maintained and not subject to the same wage and benefit pressures as other labor pools in the bigger economy.

Left alone our economy would adjust and if there is enough demand for products and services in those areas that were once subsidized by our government’s deliberate inaction on illegal immigration, those segments of the economy will thrive, if demand is not high enough to support those segments they will go away.

And that is exactly how it should be.