Muscatine

ORANGE  COUNTY ( CALIFORNIA ) NEWSPAPER-New Immigrants
This is a very  good letter to the editor. This woman made some good points...  
For some reason, people have difficulty structuring their  arguments when arguing against supporting the currently proposed  immigration revisions.. This lady made the argument pretty simple.  NOT printed in the Orange County Paper...................  
  
Newspapers  simply won't publish letters to the editor which they either deem  politically incorrect (read below) or which does not agree with the  philosophy they're pushing on the public. This woman wrote a great  letter to the editor that should have been published; but, with your  help it will get published via cyberspace!  
  
  
From:  "David LaBonte"
My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to  the editor of the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So,  I decided to "print" it myself by sending it out on the Internet.  Pass it along if you feel so inclined. Written in response to a  series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:  
  
Dear  Editor:
So many letter writers have based their arguments on how  this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty  because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as  those who passed through Ellis  Island  and other ports of entry.
  
Maybe  we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr.  Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of  immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all  areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off  a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some  would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground.  They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country  in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in  their new American households and some even changed their names to  blend in with their new home.
  
They  had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new  life and did everything in their power to help their children  assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free  lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had  were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to  trade for a future of prosperity.
  
Most  of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father  fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from  Germany, Italy, France and Japan . None of these 1st generation  Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had  come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the  Emperor of Japan . They were defending the United States of America  as one people.
  
When  we liberated France , no one in those villages were looking for the  French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The  people of France  saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one  country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about  picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who  they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had  sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it  meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red,  white and blue bowl.
  
And  here we are with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights  and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a  different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a  guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry,  that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the  immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve  better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in  raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon  for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be  appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving  foreign country flags.
  
And  for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty , it  happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the  immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the  United States just yet.
  
(signed)  Rosemary LaBonte 

I’m sorry, but this letter is erroneous and misguiding.
There is a reason it was not printed for public consumption.
The illusion that Ellis Island welcomed only grateful immigrants is exaggerated,
and a poor attempt to hide bigotry under patriotism to appear PC.

“…did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture”
When those huddled masses landed on American soil they went to Little Italy, China Town, and those places people of their own ethnicity gathered, just like we do as Americans.
How many of you live in a land of “one culture?”

Each group brings its own set of cultural problems. The Italians brought the Mafia, the Chinese brought Opium, the Germans brought coleslaw.

“They made learning English a primary rule”
I almost fell out of my chair on this one I laughed so hard.
Learning English was primary for some, but to say that it was a standard for even most immigrants is ludicrous. Have you ever been to New York, they still don’t know it!

“Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground.”
Duh, do you know what it was like traveling by boat in the 1900′s?!
Of course they were glad to be in America, think about where they were coming from, poverty, plague, aristocracy.

“They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture.”
Come on, what is this, a ferry tale? Has this woman ever read a history book?
Is she referring to the diseases, alcoholism, gambling and prostitution of the 1900′s?
Has this woman not seen The Godfather?

“When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans.”
The only thing the French saw was a multicultural army doing the fighting for them.

“I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900s deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations”
I’m amazed at this lady’s ability to think like an immigrant, compare two sets of immigrants and dislike immigrants all at the same time.
If this woman lived in the 1900′s she would be complaining that the new immigrants should be more like the freed slaves and blend in better. (you know I’m right)

The immigrants of Ellis island and today share more in common than most “True Americans” are willing to see or even spend 10 minutes to investigate. Try living poor in Mexico for one month and I dare you not to try and cross the border by any means possible.
In 1900 or even in 2006, every human wants to escape poverty and oppression.
Most Americans don’t know that if you speak in desent about the Mexican govement you can be put in jail.

If I moved to Oregon and lived there for 3 years and it was time for the fourth of July parade, I would be waving the flag of California and represent my home state with pride. Just like Oregon and California, Mexico is only an imaginary border apart.

And I’m sure all the Christian conservatives would agree that Jesus wanted us to live and love together on the ONE ROUND BORDERLESS PLANET he left us to watch over!

Shame on “True Americans” who shake their finger at other cultures for not being more like America. The US has more checks and balances in place to insure that this country doesn’t fall into the hands of despots and big business men trying to profit off of our economy. That way you don’t have to escape to find the kind of freedom you have here.

Damn the American idiot who claims that other countries must deal with their own problems and then claim with arrogance that we are the example for the rest of the world. The people of Iraq would call you a hypocrite.

Damn the men of this country who advocate torture and imprisonment without trial and call themselves a patriot of democracy, freedom and Christianity.
Anyone who cried when they beat Jesus in the Passion of the Christ and advocates torture, even to save his own life, is a hypocrite.
I thought we were the example?
I thought we came here to escape just those kinds of oppresive rules.
Shame on those who despise people running from oppression and then create it themselves.

Damn those who fought for the right to bear arms and claimed that right from the Constitution of the Untied States, and then spit on the rest of the freedoms the founding fathers created because the enemy does it too.

The Mexican people should, and most are, grateful for what they have.
But those rich 1% SOB’s that hire illegal labor then lie about it, (WalMart) are the ones creating immagration laws and they are the people immigrants are really protesting.
What did you think immigrants, or you, would do?
“Oh yes senior, send me back I won’t resist, I deserve to receive half of the normal living wage making your tomatoes cheaper to buy and cleaning your toilets, then get kicked out when I speak too loudly about giving an almost free lunch.”

You want the real truth? Can you handle the truth?
The reason you are paying $3 dollars a gallon for gas is because you don’t have the same courage the Mexicans have to protest!
They actually risked getting caught in the open and deported to speak their peace.
Look at you sitting on your ass bitching about “the mexican problem” and your getting hosed by big oil.
During the recent Israeli war, the prices went up because we “might” have a shortage in the middle east. Well? The war is on hold, again.
Why haven’t the prices gone down?

Oil’s Prices are traded on Politics, and Speculation.
They use almost the same machines to pump them, they mostly still come from the same place. There are more oil riggs now that at anytime in history.
Why is it still $3?
Because we are sheeple.

Ok, sorry, I went off topic and got wound up a bit.
Those that landed on Ellis Island in the 1900′s would have built an immigration station at the Mexican border not a friggin fence!
The lady that wrote this letter needs to realise that those that have immigrated have an open heart and open mind to new cultures or they wouldn’t have survived here.

I understand that lady was trying to make a point without sounding like a biggot.
She failed, that is why her letter wasn’t printed by the editor of that paper.

Mexicans that are here legally agree that everyone should go through the process of normalization, and no one should get a free lunch.
But let it go already. Who would you rather have immigrating into this country?
More Christians or radical Muslims?
Get back to church and get back to that Holy Spirit you christians keep talking about.
You are supposed to embrace our Christian brothers and sisters.
Not check their wallets for an immigration card first.
Mexican people are some of the most devout people on the planet.
What would Jesus do?
Not what you are doing, you must be aware of that.
Right, brothers?

We have bigger fish to fry people.
Almost the whole world is mad at us for one thing or another, we got to watch each others back now.
The friggin Ice caps are melting, global warming is no longer a myth, terrorists are killing our troops, our troops have to buy their own armor, gas is still $3 a gallon!
Refocus your outrage on things that make a difference, not people you think are different.

Unlike yours, here's a link.....

http://radioactv915.wordpress.com/2006/07/23/rosemary-labontes-letter-to-the-editor-makes-the-rounds/

You have insulted my grandparents.  They came here in the 1800's.  My wife's ancestors came here much earlier.  Neither hunkered down in some little Italy, little Germany or any other insular community.  They came to the midwest and hired out as farm laborers.  They saved their money, learned English, and tried to make things better for their children.  They did assimilate and thought it was good.  They accomplished a lot.  They taught me to be a good American citizen.  They also taught me that what we had here in America was unbelievably better than what they had left in the old country.  They also obeyed all the laws of the land and taught my parents and me to do the same.   You can believe all that "hate America" clap trap and race baiting if you foolishly want to.  But when you and others try to sell it to my grandchildren you'll have to fight me.  What you are doing is evil and is not good for this country.

"Has this woman not seen The Godfather?"

Now I'm beginning to understand you.  You base your beliefs on fantasies.