Villaraigosa v. Bloomberg
Noted:
Manhattan housing prices at record high - AP
Home prices at lowest levels in three years - LA Daily News
Manhattan housing prices at record high - AP
The median price -- the midway point between the highest and lowest sales prices -- rose to $850,000, up 6.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the Prudential report.
Home prices at lowest levels in three years - LA Daily News
The Valley's condo market took a similar hit. Sales plunged 50percent, to 141 transactions, and the median price dipped 4.1percent, or $16,000, from a year ago, to $384,100.
Labels: los angeles politics, mayor antonio villaraigosa, real estate development
Posted by Joseph F. Mailander @ 1/03/2008 10:32:00 AM
41 Comments:
Economists: Odds of recession rising.
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
several subprimaries are going on, as well: Obama vs. Edwards for the position of chief challenger to Clinton, John McCain vs. Rudy Giuliani for the right to wear the "moderate" Republican mantle and Fred Thompson vs. oblivion for the right to stay in the race.
11:05 am,
What are the ecomomists saying about "stagflation?"
You have oil prices rising; inflation worse than discussed at the end of '07 (in my opinion). Could that be why gold is rising? Most people choose to ignore the writing on the wall, even after the worst New Years stock market opening in decades.
Regarding the several subprimaries that are going on,
Specifically, the "Fred Thompson vs. oblivion for the right to stay in the race."
I am starting to perceive a machination exerting it's endeavor against poor Fred, connivance and treachery! Masons - New World Order - Area 51 - Space Creatures - Nazis - Satan - Sun Worship - Skull and Bones - and possibly doctors and Saturn (likely not the cars but who knows?). They're all involved!!!
Offered that choice, I'd stick with Mayor V.
Villar looks like Minnie Mouse in pants!
Toyota Passes Ford for No. 2 in US Sales.
I think the straight story — particularly, though not only, in the case of an Obama victory — will overwhelm the expectations questions. But the (rational) decision to ride the optimism after the Register poll means that if Obama fails to pull it out, there will be a somewhat more intense sense of disappointment.
Poor Fred is suffering from slim jim withdrawals which is an insidious affliction. Huckabee is also starting to shw symptoms due to cold turkey slim jim deprivation.
Even though Huizar takes credit for stopping the Vernon Power plant mess and he didnt' get involved until the church started getting publicity it was actually Perry who got the council to support stopping it.
07-0002-S73
CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION (PERRY - GARCETTI) relative to the development of the proposed 914-megawatt power plant in Vernon
COUNCIL SUPPORTS RESOLUTION TO TAKE A STAND AGAINST VERNON POWER PLANT: Councilwoman Jan Perry Reaffirms Commitment to Environmental Justice
Los Angeles—The Los Angeles City Council supported a resolution today spearheaded by Councilwoman Jan Perry to take an official stand against the proposed City of Vernon power plant. The resolution was also amended to authorize the City Attorney to intervene in the licensing proceedings before the California Energy Commission.
read what Huizar takes credit for in his press release on the same day.
COUNCILMEMBER JOSE HUIZAR RECEIVES FULL COUNCIL APPROVAL IN EFFORT (Dec. 5, 2007) TO OPPOSE NEW POWER PLANT IN THE CITY OF VERNON
LOS ANGELES – Councilmember José Huizar received unanimous support from members of City Council today in his effort to oppose the construction of a new power plant in the City of Vernon.
Unbelievable!!!
Ganging up on Hillary
Cheryl Talbert attended Thursday's Romney's morning speech to employees of Principal Financial Group in Des Moines and said that as a moderate Republican, she likes him and Arizona Sen. John McCain. But she planned to attend a Democratic caucus, in what she called a "defensive move" against a Clinton presidency.
"I'm going to vote for Obama, as an anti-Hillary vote," she said, "and I have two friends doing the same thing."
Caucuses begin at 7 p.m. - 8 p.m. EST.
Santiago,
It sounds incredible and at the same time so frightening that most people choose to ignore it. They bury their heads in the sand like an ostrich; they don’t see it so it doesn’t exist until is too late. But there are many other people who are starting to see the manipulations of the puppet master and many more courageous people who are talking and educating people, some will grasp the truth and others won’t. We have to overcome the puppet master’s agenda and it’s control on our minds and our lives.
Visit prisonplanet.com
What’s new about Edwards? Well, he represents the rise of a potent force in American society, the trial lawyers, using the courts in our litigious society as an agent of economic justice. That’s new.
Right. Nothing new about Edwards and everything is too new about Obama. I hope Hillary gives Obama a nice seat so that he can be prepared to win in '16.
Wouldn't 8 PM Eastern time be 5 PM here? Where does that 7 PM come from?
Antonio Villaraigosa = Better Mayor than Bloomberg.
Boys and girls, 5 days until the New Hampshire primary.
While the caucuses are hailed as a shining example of participatory democracy, only about 6 per cent of the electorate takes part, with voters being mainly white and elderly.
Critics complain the caucuses give Iowa a corrupting influence over US politics by encouraging presidential hopefuls to pander to the interests of its agricultural industry – particularly by supporting the use of ethanol as a fuel source and defending farm subsidies.
Iowa has held caucuses – local political meetings named after a Native American tribal gathering – for 160 years. But it was not until 1972, when the caucuses moved to January, that the state became known for its first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest.
Anonymous said...
This is our Government at its best. It doesn’t matter how anyone slices the pie there is NO ACCOUNTABILITY in our city, county, state and federal government. Here’s a letter written from a California school teacher.
This English teacher has phrased it the best I've seen yet Tomatoes and Cheap Labor
CHEAP TOMATOES?
This should make everyone think, be you Democrat, Republican or
Independent.
"As you listen to the news about the student protests over illegal
immigration, there are some things that you should be aware of:
I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a
large southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower socioeconomic and income levels.
Most of the schools you are hearing about, South Gate High, Bell Gardens, Huntington Park , etc., where these students are protesting, are also Title 1 schools.
Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and free lunch program.
When I say free breakfast, I'm not talking a glass of milk and roll --but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)
I estimate that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO have cell phones. The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)
I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department or risk losing funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything; my budget was already substantial. I ended up buying new computers for the computer learning center, half of which, one month later, have been carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)
I have had to intervene several times for young and substitute teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students here in the country less then 3 months who raised so much hell with the female teachers, calling them "Putas" whores and throwing things that the teachers were in tears.
Free medical, free education, free food, day care etc., etc, etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled to not only be in this country but to demand rights, privileges and entitlements?
To those who want to point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society because they LIKE their gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes: spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the TRUE costs.
Higher insurance, medical facilities closing, higher medical costs, more crime, lower standards of education in our schools, overcrowding, new diseases etc., etc, etc. For me, I'll pay more for tomatoes.
We need to wake up. The guest worker program will be a disaster because we won't have the guts to enforce it Does anyone in their right mind really think they will voluntarily leave and return?
It does, however, have everything to do with culture: A third-world culture that does not value education, that accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by 15 and that refuses to assimilate , and an American culture that has become so weak
and worried about " politically correctness" that we don't have the will to do anything about it.
If this makes your blood boil, as it did mine, forward this to everyone you know.
CHEAP LABOR? Isn't that what the whole immigration issue is about?
Business doesn't want to pay a decent wage.
Consumers don't want expensive produce.
Government will tell you Americans don't want the jobs.
But the bottom line is cheap labor. The phrase "cheap labor" is a myth, a farce, and a lie. There is no such thing as "cheap labor."
Take, for example, an illegal alien with a wife and five children He takes a job for $5.00 or 6.00/hour. At that wage, with six dependents, he pays no
income tax, yet at the end of the year, if he files an Income Tax Return, he gets an "earned income credit" of up to $3,200 free.
He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent.
He qualifies for food stamps.
He qualifies for free (no deductible, no co-pay) health care.
His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school.
He requires bilingual teachers and books.
He qualifies for relief from high energy bills.
If they are or become, aged, blind or disabled, they qualify for
SSI. Once qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicare. All of this is at our) taxpayer's expense
He doesn't worry about car insurance, life insurance, or
homeowners insurance.
Taxpayers provide Spanish language signs, bulletins and printed
material.
He and his family receive the equivalent of $20.00 to $30.00/hour in benefits.
Working Americans are lucky to have $5.00 or $6.00/hour left after paying their bills and his.
The American taxpayers also pay for increased crime, graffiti and
trash clean-up.
Cheap labor? YEAH RIGHT! Wake up people!
THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS WE SHOULD BE ADDRESSING TO THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES FOR EITHER PARTY. AND WHEN THEY LIE TO US AND DON'T DO AS THEY SAY, WE SHOULD REPLACE THEM AT ONCE!
THIS HAS GOT TO BE PASSED ALONG TO AS MANY AS POSSIBLE OR WE WILL ALL GO DOWN THE DRAIN BECAUSE A FEW DON'T CARE. Anonymous said...
10:20-You are a racist, asinine, misinformed bullshitter. You run no budget of half a million dollars for anything. How could you? You're retarded.
10:20 - Take, for example, an illegal alien with a wife and five children He takes a job for $5.00 or 6.00/hour. At that wage, with six dependents, he pays no
income tax, yet at the end of the year, if he files an Income Tax Return, he gets an "earned income credit" of up to $3,200 free.
Me: How does an illegal IMMIGRANT file an Income Tax Return?
10:20 - He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent.
Me: Not true. Not unless they care children who are legal citizens. A very small percentage qualify.
10:20 - He qualifies for food stamps.
Me: Does not. Again, not unless there are legal children who live in the house.
10:20 - He qualifies for free (no deductible, no co-pay) health care.
Me: Now your stupidity is mind boggling. I won't even dignify this bullshit with a response. Imagine that! Nobody can get good health insurance right now but those illegal immigrants. Sure.
10:20 (heartless ass): His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school.
Me: Silly us. We should let kids starve. You are such an ass.
10:20 - He requires bilingual teachers and books.
Me: Not in LAUSD, so take your complaints that don't pertain to Los Angeles City politics to the city you have a problem with. It's not LAUSD. They only do immersion. There is NO requiring of bilingual teachers or books.
10:20 - He qualifies for relief from high energy bills.
Me: Liar again. You made that up.
10:20 - If they are or become, aged, blind or disabled, they qualify for SSI. Once qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicare. All of this is at our) taxpayer's expense
Me: Where do you get all this bad information? Jerry Springer? VICA? Those nut job people who are watching the border because the rednecks feel it is their "duty"?
10:20 - He doesn't worry about car insurance, life insurance, or
homeowners insurance.
Me: I could prove you to be the liar you are here. Besides, I know many, many white people who couldn't care less about insurance.
Go join those loser Minutemen.
Santiago,
Do you have a good menudo reipe, I have some mayates coming over for lunch, I want the mayates to enjoy a bowl of menudo.
Here is the original 4:25 PM,
Be more original next time, you are birds of similar plumage. Doth your plagiarizing meant to bespeak resolution? Your comportment with Mayor Sam and others on his blog has been a completely malignant experience. Why do you act like a demented monkey?
Original is from 2006.
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/charleston-sc/TMVF12H2LI27EQ27H
Doug, Charleston, South Carolina
Jul 8, 2006
Subject: Consider Cheap Tomatoes
Subject: Fw: Consider Cheap Tomatoes
This email is from a retired gentleman whose wife is a teacher in the
Riverside, CA area, and has been for many, many years. The attached is
first hand knowledge...
"As you all listen to the news about the student protests over illegal
immigration there are some things that you should be aware of. As most of
you know my wife is in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department
at large southern California high school, which is designated a Title 1
school, meaning that its students average lower socio-economic and income
levels. Most of th e schools you are hearing about, South Gate High, Bell
Gardens, Huntington Park, etc. where these students are protesting, are also
Title 1 schools.
My wife tells me that 100% of the students in her school and other Title 1
schools are on the free breakfast, free lunch program. When I say free
breakfast I'm not talking a glass of milk and roll....but a full breakfast
and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud. The
waste of this food is monumental, with tra ys a nd trays of it being dumped in
the trash uneaten.
She estimates that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least
moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO have cell phones.
The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant
girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the
inconvenience of having to arrange for baby-sitters or having family watch
their kids.
She was ordered to spend $700,000 on her department or risk losing funding
for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything; her
budget was already substantial. She ended up buying new computers for their
computer learning center; half of which, one month later, have been carved
with graffiti by the appreciative students who
obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America.
She has had to intervene several times for young and substitute teachers
whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students here in the country
less then 3 months who raised so much hell with the female teachers, calling
them "Putas" (whores) and throwing things that the teachers were in tears.
Free medical, free education, free food, day care etc., etc., etc. Is it
any wonder they feel entitled to not only be in this country but to demand
rights, privileges and entitlements?
To my bleeding-heart friends who want to point out how much these illegal
immigrants contribute to our society because they LIKE their gardener and
housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes:spend some time in the
real world of illegal immigration and see the TRUE costs. Higher insurance,
Medical facilities closing, higher medical costs,
more crime, lower standards of education in our schools, overcrowding, new
diseases etc., etc., etc. For me, I'll pay more for tomatoes.
We need to wake up. The guest worker program will be a disaster because we
won't have the guts to enforce it. Does anyone in their right mind really
think they will leave and return voluntarily?
Bloomberg vs Villaraigosa:
Ed Boks was the Director of Animal Services in New York. He did a bad job so Bloomberg fired him... then Villaraigosa hired him. Villaraigosa didn't bother to check out his history. Someone in New York told me that Bloomberg pokes fun of Villaraigosa for hiring his rejected dog catcher.
Mayor Sam's Sister City is no longer the Home of Los Angeles Politics. Shame on you MayorSam now what you need stories from New York to run your blog? MayorSam blog is deeply tainted with blue. MayorSam has betrayed our faith.
Oh no...just got a call from Michael Hunt because he heard there is a Barack Obabma rally at City Hall on Friday, and he wanted to remind everyone that the Venice Beach ordinance needs to be settled, and doesn't mind waiting in Chambers with the Obama crowd.
Even Matt and ZD cringe at the thought, and feel that City Council is heading toward wrapping up this whole Venice , anyway.
So Mike's willing to chill and let Matt head down to Chambers to see how the Venice deal is going, in anticipation of next week.
After all, Mike's goal is to get back on the beach...not push this first amendment issue.
Just a Reminder:
Sources: Ex-Wife of Pardoned Fugitive Gave $400,000 to Clinton Library
Friday, Feb. 09, 2001
By MICHAEL WEISSKOPF
The former wife of fugitive financier Marc Rich contributed about $400,000 to the Clinton presidential library, legal sources tell TIME. This revelation is likely to deepen suspicions of congressional investigators looking into the controversial pardon given to Rich by President Clinton — that Denise Rich's financing of Clinton political and personal projects influenced his decision to give amnesty to her ex-husband.
Denise Rich's generosity aroused the suspicion of Republican investigators from the moment Clinton pardoned her ex-husband of 1983 charges that he evaded $48 million in taxes and engaged in illegal oil sales with Iran. She gave over $1 million to Democratic campaigns in the Clinton era and at least $70,000 to Hillary Clinton's U.S. Senate race as well as $10,000 to the President's legal defense fund.
See photo of Hillary Clinton and Denise Rich at an Awards Luncheon in 1999
Visit link for complete article.
TIME IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CNN:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,98756,00.html
Villaraigosa v. Bloomberg
From day one, Villar has been picking Bloomberg's brain! He has spent mucho taxpayer $$$ running off to NYC to meet with Bloomberg. Villar does not have ONE original idea in that empty cavity where the brain should reside!!!
Villar is kissing Bloomberg's ass in order to get the VP spot in case Bloomberg should run as an Independent!
Villar is stupid enough to think he is "Manhattanizing" downtown L.A.!!!! The stupid fool actually thinks L.A. is another Manhattan!!!
I doubt very much if Mecha Boy ever visited the Big D prior to slithering into the mayor's office!
And, oh yeah...watch for Villar to copy Bloomberg's three trick pony for LAUSD...PAYING students and their families to attend school, get library cards, do homework, etc. Only difference is Bloomberg is not using taxpayer money; it's all privately funded!
January 03, 2008 4:25 PM
Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and free lunch program.
When I say free breakfast, I'm not talking a glass of milk and roll --but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)
About 75% or more DO have cell phones. They will be charged with a$20.00 per mont tax...who pays it? IF EACH CHILD CAN AFFORD $20.00 A MONTH FOR THE PHONE WHY CANT THEY PAY $20.00 PER MONTH FOR FOOD?
The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)IF EACH CHILD CAN AFFORD TO GET SCREWED; WHY DO WE PAY TO FOR PROPOGATION OF THE LA RAZA?
Business doesn't want to pay a decent wage.
10:20-You are a racist, asinine, misinformed bullshitter. You run no budget of half a million dollars for anything. How could you? You're retarded.
10:20 - Take, for example, an illegal alien with a wife and five children He takes a job for $5.00 or 6.00/hour. At that wage, with six dependents, he pays no
income tax, yet at the end of the year, if he files an Income Tax Return, he gets an "earned income credit" of up to $3,200 free.
Me: How does an illegal IMMIGRANT file an Income Tax Return?
THE BELIEVER: The same way a Prostitute does, you dont have to be a citizen to pay Federal taxes, everyone who makes money MUST PAY FEDERAL TAXES.
10:20 - He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent.
Me: Not true. Not unless they care children who are legal citizens. A very small percentage qualify.
The Believer: Being born in this country makes the children eligible for subsidized rent, and the more kids the more money.
10:20 - He qualifies for food stamps.
Me: Does not. Again, not unless there are legal children who live in the house.
The Believer: Being born in this country makes the children eligible for subsidized food, and the more kids the more money
10:20 - He qualifies for free (no deductible, no co-pay) health care.
Me: Now your stupidity is mind boggling. I won't even dignify this bullshit with a response. Imagine that! Nobody can get good health insurance right now but those illegal immigrants. Sure.
The Believer: EVERYONE GOES TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM. NO ONE IS TURNED AWAY. NO ONE IS REQUIRED TO PAY. Being born in this country makes the children eligible for subsidized HEALTH.
10:20 (heartless ass): His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school.
Me: Silly us. We should let kids starve. You are such an ass.
The Believer: Being born in this country makes the children eligible for subsidized food, BUT WHY SHOULD I PAY TAXES TO FEED ANCHOR CHILDREN.
10:20 - He requires bilingual teachers and books.
Me: Not in LAUSD, so take your complaints that don't pertain to Los Angeles City politics to the city you have a problem with. It's not LAUSD. They only do immersion. There is NO requiring of bilingual teachers or books.
LAUSD HAS TRANSLATORS FOR PARENTS OF CHILDREN WHO REFUSE TO SPEAK ENGLISH, BUT DEMAND SERVICES, EVEN THOUGH THE PARENTS ARE NOT CITIZENS.
10:20 - He qualifies for relief from high energy bills.
Me: Liar again. You made that up.
THE BELIEVER - If you dont make a lot of money many people qualify for relief from high energy bills. I DO.
10:20 - If they are or become, aged, blind or disabled, they qualify for SSI. Once qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicare. All of this is at our) taxpayer's expense
Me: Where do you get all this bad information? Jerry Springer? VICA? Those nut job people who are watching the border because the rednecks feel it is their "duty"?
The Believer: Any citizen who becomes, aged, blind or disabled, may qualify for SSI. Once qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicare. Also can recieve SS, if you are a legal immigrant over 62 years who just arrived to the country can receive $1,500 per month plus $504.00 domicile benefit, even if they never worked in the US. I DONT KNOW OF ANY CITIZEN WHO HAS PAID 50 YEARS INTO SS AND RECEIVES $2,104.00 A MONTH!
10:20 - He doesn't worry about car insurance, life insurance, or
homeowners insurance.
Me: I could prove you to be the liar you are here. Besides, I know many, many white people who couldn't care less about insurance.
THE BELIEVER- I worry about insurance, but I dont have any because I cant afford it.
I think YOU HAVE A LOT TO LEARN!
Yeah, we don't need no stinkin' New Yawkas here. Blue people, go away.
This blog is the red state/ white trash and brown nut version of CNN.
Pay to Play!
If you don't like it buy your own senator.
If Tony V. is ever as successful as Bloomberg at shoring up the median price of housing, we'll all be living in cardboard boxes here.
I am talking out of experience and not hearsay:
The woman was born here, her parents took her back to Mexico as an infant, she married had her children and after she became old and an invalid she returned with her husband and granddaughter to the U. S. She has received all the benefits of her citizenship, although she does not speak English or has ever contributed to this country in any shape or form.
Second couple both of them illegal, have a child that was born here. The woman goes to General Hospital whenever she needs medical treatment. She knows the ins and outs of the system. She has had operations and knows she does not have to give her real name to get medical help, so she never has to pay for these services. My son on the other hand an American citizen does not have medical insurance, so when he needed an operation he went to the General Hospital and had to pay for his bill.
My friend after nine years working for a company cleaning offices has been laid-off with the pretext there is not enough work and she and others have been replaced by illegals that get paid the minimum wage.
One think that we all need to understand is that we cannot continue to have open borders. We, all of us are paying a high price. Allowing more people to come is crowding us, is suffocating us. The more people we allow to come, the more use of our resources. All of us need to understand that is not our responsibility to support illegal people.
Those of you who talk for illegals are not doing them a favor; you need to concentrate your efforts on the Mexican politicians, they need to be responsible for their citizens. They need to provide more jobs and a better way of life so their citizens can progress and have a better future. This is where the problem exists in their corrupted politicians. Mexico is a wonderful and beautiful country with great resources, but the corruption of those politicians that bleed their citizens is unconscionable. Mexican citizens would rather stay in their country, with their families, if they could just have a decent job to provide for their needs. Who wants to go to a foreign country where one does not know the language or customs and one is not welcome and have to feel like a criminal.
You have a valid point about getting influential Mexicans to influence reforms in Mexico to keep people at home there (and Guatemala, Columbia, etc.) instead of sending us their poorest and least educated to drag down our system == and deprive their homeland of potentially useful people. I wish Alarcon, Huizar and the rest did this -- just as they all pass resolutions to condemn Turkey, the Iraq war, want to impeach Bush and Cheney and all that stuff -- instead of just giving the Mexican consular officials plaques and declaring (as Alarcon did just a month ago during some Latin world health conference, which of course we're the center of in his mind) that it's OUR duty in the US to provide free healthcare to all the citizens of Mexico and Latin America, too. Outrageous.
These people must understand that L A and California are a part of the United States, not Latin America.
They must respect the immigration laws and culture and history of the US, not demand that hard-working legal residents subsidize the entire Mexican and Central American world because the politicians and oligarchs down there are too greedy to. They use our noble idealisms and freedoms against us.
12:36 a.m.
Well said!
But if we don't get rid of ALL of the Mexican 'politicians' in this city...starting with Villar....we will NEVER return to normalcy. We have to face the fact that people like Nunez, Villar, Alarcon, etc, etc, etc. are anti-American and will not be happy until L.A. is 100% Mexican! They don't want to eliminate corruption in Mexico...it wouldn't serve them well!
7:21 PM
I think YOU HAVE A LOT TO LEARN.
That original post was posted right here back in October. Your version isn't the one that was posted here. The person then responded to the outrageously racist piece of crap about how the letter was "supposedly written by a teacher". Now you're saying that it was from a teacher's husband.
I'm sorry you are so poor that you resent immigrants so much.
That doesn't give you the right to spread false information. And you are.
I think you're all stupid for thinking that all of the illegal immigrants are Mexican. Or even Hispanic for that matter.
Look at the Chinese, the Russians and the Armenians. They're out there sucking up your resources also.
7:37 p.m.
PULLEEEEZE!!!! Who said all illegals were Mexican or Central American??? There a a few others...but 90% of the illegals in L.A. ARE Mexican and Central American.
And 80% of illegals in the rest of the US ARE MEXICANS AND CENTRAL AMERICANS!!!!
And you will never see the Japanese, Chinese, Germans, Italians, French, English, Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, Middle Easterners, Jews, Hungarians, Tagalongs, Cantonese, Bulgarians, Iraqis, Afghanis, Vietmanese, Koreans, Taiwan, Thailanders, Scots, Turks...
OR ANYONE ELSE MARCHING IN THE STREETS AND DEMANDING THEIR "RIGHTS"
It's the G.D. MEXICANS!!!!
Don't get me started!!!!!
Get a grip on things and wake up and smell the burritos!!!!
10:51 p.m., YOU wake up and cram the burrito up your anal canal where it belongs.
The Right Road to America?
By Amy Chua, Washington Post, 12/16/07
If you don’t speak Spanish, Miami really can feel like a foreign country. In any restaurant, the conversation at the next table is more likely to be Spanish than English. And Miami’s population is only 65 percent Hispanic. El Paso is 76 percent Latino. Flushing, N.Y., is 60 percent immigrant, mainly Chinese.
Chinatowns and Little Italys have long been part of America’s urban landscape, but would it be all right to have entire U.S. cities where most people spoke and did business in Chinese, Spanish or even Arabic? Are too many Third World, non-English-speaking immigrants destroying our national identity?
For some Americans, even asking such questions is racist. At the other end of the spectrum, the conservative talk show host Bill O’Reilly fulminates against floods of immigrants who threaten to change America’s "complexion" and replace what he calls the "white Christian male power structure."
But for the large majority in between, Democrats and Republicans alike, these questions are painful, with no easy answers. At some level, most of us cherish our legacy as a nation of immigrants. But are all immigrants really equally likely to make good Americans? Are we, as the Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington warns, in danger of losing our core values and devolving "into a loose confederation of ethnic, racial, cultural, and political groups, with little or nothing in common apart from their location in the territory of what had been the United States of America"?
My parents arrived in the United States in 1961, so poor that they couldn’t afford heat their first winter. I grew up speaking only Chinese at home (for every English word accidentally uttered, my sister and I got one whack of the chopsticks). Today, my father is a professor at Berkeley, and I’m a professor at Yale Law School. As the daughter of immigrants, a grateful beneficiary of America’s tolerance and opportunity, I could not be more pro-immigrant.
Nevertheless, I think Huntington has a point.
Around the world today, nations face violence and instability as a result of their increasing pluralism and diversity. Across Europe, immigration has resulted in unassimilated, largely Muslim enclaves that are hotbeds of unrest and even terrorism. The riots in France last month were just the latest manifestation. With Muslims poised to become a majority in Amsterdam and elsewhere within a decade, major West European cities could undergo a profound transformation. Not surprisingly, virulent anti-immigration parties are on the rise.
Not long ago, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union disintegrated when their national identities proved too weak to bind together diverse peoples. Iraq is the latest example of how crucial national identity is. So far, it has found no overarching identity strong enough to unite its Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis.
The United States is in no danger of imminent disintegration. But this is because it has been so successful, at least since the Civil War, in forging a national identity strong enough to hold together its widely divergent communities. We should not take this unifying identity for granted. The greatest empire in history, ancient Rome, collapsed when its cultural and political glue dissolved, and peoples who had long thought of themselves as Romans turned against the empire. In part, this fragmentation occurred because of a massive influx of immigrants from a very different culture. The "barbarians" who sacked Rome were Germanic immigrants who never fully assimilated.
Does this mean that it’s time for the United States to shut its borders and reassert its "white, Christian" identity and what Huntington calls its Anglo-Saxon, Protestant "core values"?
No. The anti-immigration camp makes at least two critical mistakes.
First, it neglects the indispensable role that immigrants have played in building American wealth and power. In the 19th century, the United States would never have become an industrial and agricultural powerhouse without the millions of poor Irish, Polish, Italian and other newcomers who mined coal, laid rail and milled steel. European immigrants led to the United States’ winning the race for the atomic bomb. Today, American leadership in the Digital Revolution — so central to our military and economic preeminence — owes an enormous debt to immigrant contributions. Andrew Grove (cofounder of Intel), Vinod Khosla (Sun Microsystems) and Sergey Brin (Google) are immigrants. Between 1995 and 2005, 52 percent of Silicon Valley start-ups had one key immigrant founder. And Vikram S. Pundit’s appointment to the helm of CitiGroup last Tuesday means that 14 chief executives of Fortune 100 companies are foreign-born.
The United States is in a fierce global competition to attract the world’s best high-tech scientists and engineers — most of whom are not white Christians. Just this past summer, Microsoft opened a large new software development center in Canada, in part because of the difficulty of obtaining U.S. visas for foreign engineers.
Second, anti-immigration talking heads forget that their own scapegoating vitriol will, if anything, drive immigrants farther from the U.S. mainstream. One reason we don’t have Europe’s enclaves is our unique success in forging an ethnically and religiously neutral national identity, uniting individuals of all backgrounds. This is America’s glue, and people like Huntington and O’Reilly unwittingly imperil it.
Nevertheless, immigration naysayers also have a point.
America’s glue can be subverted by too much tolerance. Immigration advocates are too often guilty of an uncritical political correctness that avoids hard questions about national identity and imposes no obligations on immigrants. For these well-meaning idealists, there is no such thing as too much diversity.
The right thing for the United States to do — and the best way to keep Americans in favor of immigration — is to take national identity seriously while maintaining our heritage as a land of opportunity. U.S. immigration policy should be tolerant but also tough. Here are five suggestions:
Overhaul admission priorities. Since 1965, the chief admission criterion has been family reunification. This was a welcome replacement for the ethnically discriminatory quota system that preceded it. But once the brothers and sisters of a current U.S. resident get in, they can sponsor their own extended families. In 2006, more than 800,000 immigrants were admitted on this basis. By contrast, only about 70,000 immigrants were admitted on the basis of employment skills, with an additional 65,000 temporary visas granted to highly skilled workers.
This is backwards. Apart from nuclear families (spouse, minor children, possibly parents), the special preference for family members should be drastically reduced. As soon as my father got citizenship, his relatives in the Philippines asked him to sponsor them. Soon, his mother, brother, sister and sister-in-law were also U.S. citizens or permanent residents. This was nice for my family, but frankly there was nothing especially fair about it. Instead, the immigration system should reward ability and be keyed to the country’s labor needs — skilled or unskilled, technological or agricultural. In particular, we should significantly increase the number of visas for highly skilled workers, putting them on a fast track for citizenship.
Make English the official national language. A common language is critical to cohesion and national identity in an ethnically diverse society. Americans of all backgrounds should be encouraged to speak more languages — I’ve forced my own daughters to learn Mandarin (minus the threat of chopsticks) — but offering Spanish-language public education to Spanish-speaking children is the wrong kind of indulgence. "Native language education" should be overhauled, and more stringent English proficiency requirements for citizenship should be set up.
Immigrants must embrace the nation’s civic virtues. It took my parents years to see the importance of participating in the larger community. When I was in third grade, my mother signed me up for Girl Scouts. I think she liked the uniforms and merit badges, but when I told her that I was picking up trash and visiting soup kitchens, she was horrified.
For many immigrants, only family matters. Even when immigrants get involved in politics, they tend to focus on protecting their own and protesting discrimination. That they can do so is one of the great virtues of U.S. democracy. But a mindset based solely on taking care of your own factionalizes our society.
Like all Americans, immigrants have a responsibility to contribute to the social fabric. It’s up to each immigrant community to fight off an enclave mentality and give back to their new country. It’s not healthy for Chinese to hire only Chinese, or Koreans only Koreans. By contrast, the free health clinic set up by Muslim Americans in Los Angeles — serving the entire poor community —is a model to emulate. Immigrants are integrated at the moment when they realize that their success is inextricably intertwined with everyone else’s.
Enforce the law. Illegal immigration, along with terrorism, is the chief cause of today’s anti-immigration backlash. It is also inconsistent with the rule of law, which, as any immigrant from a developing country will tell you, is a critical aspect of U.S. national identity. But if we’re serious about this problem, we need to enforce the law against not only illegal aliens, but also those who hire them. It’s the worst of all worlds to allow U.S. employers who hire illegal aliens — thus keeping the flow of illegal workers coming — to break the law while demonizing the aliens as lawbreakers. An Arizona law set to take effect on Jan. 1 will tighten the screws on employers who hire undocumented workers, but this issue can’t be left up to a single state.
Make the United States an equal-opportunity immigration magnet. That the 11 million to 20 million illegal immigrants are 80 percent Mexican and Central American is itself a problem. This is emphatically not for the reason Huntington gives — that Hispanics supposedly don’t share America’s core values. But if the U.S. immigration system is to reflect and further our ethnically neutral identity, it must itself be ethnically neutral, offering equal opportunity to Sudanese, Estonians, Burmese and so on. The starkly disproportionate ratio of Latinos — reflecting geographical fortuity and a large measure of law-breaking — is inconsistent with this principle.
Immigrants who turn their backs on American values don’t deserve to be here. But those of us who turn our backs on immigrants misunderstand the secret of America’s success and what it means to be American.
Amy Chua, a professor at Yale Law School, is the author of "Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance — And Why They Fall."
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