In the sixties you brought us together on some of the realities of the Viet Nam War.

Your you, so there is a chance of you doing it again on what is happening with Illegal immigration.

I'm not sure how you feel about the situation but where ever you stand there is much that need to be shared with the people of the world.

It is effecting many of us here in California. We are being driven from our jobs and our homes. Our wages are falling. Many that try to abide by the laws are being driven out of business by the lawless.

It will either be them that join us in obeying the law or us that join them in the lawlessness. How else can we compete?

The middle class is paying for their own taxes, medical and social services and the criminals in business have us paying the taxes, medical and social services for their illegal labor.

We have housing prices that have been driven up by people that have been willing to out borrow each other and run up the prices much like we did in the thirties with the stock market. We all no how well and happy people were as long as the stock prices rose.

We are in dire straights and the problems are not isolated to the United States.

Did you ever have children? There is enough to sing about to keep a whole little row of ducks busy.


Carson

Woody seems to have had a position.....he wrote "Deportees".

I don't think where a celebrity stands on an issue is necessarily helpful or any of our business...what's more important is where your California legislators stand on issues you're concerned with...because that's where changes can be made. Find out what THEIR opinion is on the issues...and vote 'em out of office if you don't like their answers.
We used to live in the Los Angeles area...we left for better schools for our kids, better jobs, and a community we felt we could live in and support without great resentment.

"As I went walking
I saw a sign there
One sign was painted
Said 'No Trespassing'
And on the other side
It didn't say nothing
That side was made for you and me"
--Woody Guthrie

The lyrics sound like a song about the times after the criminals in business had the criminals in the government bring in illegal labor for them.

There was a time in America when if we truly needed workers we brought in honest people from all over the world to help. They taught us many things and maybe us them. Many returned home to share what they learned and new people had a chance to come.

There was a tiny portion of illegal labor back then and some of the raids seemed more like rescue missions.


Carson

P.S. The media still seems to focus its broadcast on what serves the criminals in the government and business.



Lyrics by Woody Guthrie
Music by Martin Hoffman

The crops are all in and the peaches are rotting
The oranges are piled in their cresote dumps
They're flying you back to the Mexico border
To pay all your money to wade back again

My father's own father, he wanted that river
They took all the money he made in his life
My brothers and sisters come working the fruit trees
And they rode the truck till they took down and died

CHORUS
Good-bye to my Juan, good-bye Rosalita
Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maris
You won't have a name when you ride the big air-plane
And all they will call you will be deportees.

Some of us are illega, and others not wanted
Our work contract's out and we have to move on
But it's six hundred miles to that Mexican border
They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like theives.

We died in your hills, we died in your deserts
We died in your valleys and died on your plains
We died 'neath your trees and we died in your bushes
Both sides of the river, we died just the same.

CHORUS

A sky plane caught fire over Los Gatos canyon
Like a fireball of lightning, it shook all our hills
Who are all these friends, all scattered like dry leaves?
The radio says they are just deportees.

Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards?
Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit?
To fall like dry leaves to rot on my topsoil
And be called by no name except deportees?

http://www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/alices.shtml

You are right sue. How he feels is none of my business. Maybe I expressed my situation wrong. I didn't really expect an answer and I hoped I worded things openly enough to give him his freedom in having his freedom.

Many of us are in contact with our legislators. They listen but they don't obey. When the election time comes around the big money seems to have things set up and we are given the choice of voting for either one of their people. I don't think they even care which one we chose. They have both been equally bought off. The media rarely covers, We the Peoples" candidates.

I'm sorry you had to flee but many of us understand. The government came into the schools when I was about twelve and brainwashed us that the children we were about to have were unwanted because the population was growing to fast. The same hand seems to have been holding open the floodgates for the invasion, now that I look back. Many of us find ourselves now surrounded by illegal aliens instead of children and grandchildren.

If we don't make a stand against our officials we will find ourselves fleeing over and over again.

Now may be the time to stand up for the United States of America and return it to a democratic republic by the majority and not by a minority.


Carson

P.S. I grew up in San Diego, California so I sort of know what you went through, but then again not really. In San Diego back then we had US Border Patrol Agents that controlled a strip along the border nearly a hundred miles wide. I'm not sure just how wide that strip is now but I'm now living on the other side in Fremont, California (near Los Gatos). It is easy to see that once they have crossed the line they are considered home free.

Still you are right, we need to get through to those responsible.

I agree with Sue, if you have a certain disagreement with your elected official, then you need to let them know. The more people let them know, the more they have to listen. I've contacted the elected officials in my area when I thought I needed to and got responses from them.

I think immigration is a tricky issue for us, because most of us come from immigrant families. (unless of course you're Native American) So it's a pot calling the kettle black kind of thing. Those people who come here illigally are looking for the same things other immigrant families looked for in the past. During the potato famine the Irish were looked upon as Mexicans are being looked upon now. so if you're in favor of toughening up the border situation are you in favor of kicking out other ethnic groups who came here in times of trouble?

I've got a lot of ideas!

But, I'm not stuck on any one. We could pick a date after which everyone who came to the continent without permission from those already here would have to go back. How about, 1998, or 1965 or 1820, or maybe 1620 or even 1492. One date makes about as much sense as any other date to me.

My other idea is to build a wall. But the border now is way too long. So my idea is to bring Mexico and all it's states into the United States, and maybe a few little countries farther south. The more southern we go, the shorter the border will be. Let's face it, they want to come up to us because we're there (we need stuff done). So, if we had more of us living there, they wouldn't have to go so far to get to us.

The other idea is to do away with the income tax and just tax stuff you buy. Then everyone who bought stuff would be paying taxes - even criminals and money launderers buy stuff, let alone people who buy stuff to eat or clothes to wear.

The other idea is to deport all the employers and all the corporate executives and their stock holders who are responsible, and who profit from hiring illegal workers.

So, as I said... These are some of my ideas.

Be careful with those original thoughts and ideas adg. Somebody started a draft Arlo for president thing over in moose friends and if you keep articulating original thoughts like that, it might pick up speed!


This problem as it exists has been fueled by both the right and the left to a large extent. Many in the left looking to allow more folks in for humanitarian reasons, and many on the right to exploit the cheap labor.
It has also been allowed to grow due to a government asleep at the wheel. With an estimated 12 million or so illegals in the country, the government has admitted that it is way past the tipping point and now is an unmanagable problem. There is no going back, only going forward at this stage. As sort of a centrist on this issue, I'm for allowing managable immigration to the extent our infrastucture will allow, but I recognize that there have to be limits. It would seem that pragmatism and not idealism from either side will be the long term solution.

Arlo, the world needs more people like you. That post was excellent.

I'd vote for those!

I've had some ideas myself. One was to have them return to their home counties and build prisons for our criminals in the government.

It is a very difficult subject. Maybe to much so for another, "Alice's Restaurant".

Then again so where the times then. It was a magical the way the the nation woke up to what was happening and came together. We grew a voice and achieve a new freedom and respect for each other. It was songs like yours that helped make it happen.

If the government would enforce the laws we have we could all remain silent. They keep reinventing the same laws and only implement the amnesty and gravy parts for the illegal aliens. They never do get around to the enforcement parts of the laws.

It would be nice if we could just awaken like we did before and peaceably be heard again. I hope you can think of a way to help.

This is not just a problem here but is effecting many countries of the world.

Ideas are just ideas until they become opinions.

We have too many laws now as it is. Many go unenforced, many get enforced too much. The policies of those in power determine much of this. And those policies are often the property of the special interests and the powerful, bought and sold like chattel.

Respectfully Carson, although I do see this issue to be a problem and have some negative impact on the financial and infrastructure components of our society, it isn't an issue that has the weight of Vietnam or Iraq.

Over here the govt is having to bring in immigrants, legally, to do stuff like work in the abbitors, restaurants, etc, (and even doctors as there is a shortage). Even some of these legal immigants get exploited and treated like s*** by people here. My response is "Well if they don't do it, because people don't want to lower themselves (thats their way of thinking not mine) whole towns will close down because they rely on the abbitors.

I mean could you imagine what would happen if they all left the US?
Who's gonna go pick all the produce while being poisoned by pesticides?


I remember a few years back when I was staying in a small hotel in San Francisco. I was in the lift and a couple of cleaners (from south of the boarder) were in there and also some snooty people.

Well you should have seen the way the snooty people looked at me and my daughter when we struck up a conversation with the cleaners!

Hey, if one picks the right date, you all might be able to free yourself from George W. and friends.