Illegals Today

Preferably with first class English skills. Why does Columbus, OH need a full time "Mexico Solidarity Network – Activist?" Hmmm. Solidarity. Where have we heard that term before? I was just browsing the OSU publication Que pasa (translation: wha's happening bro?) and saw this job opening for a position that reports to the "Executive Director," and "Maintains regular communication between the Commission and the vast array of Hispanic/Latino-serving community based organizations (CBO’s) statewide." I'm not sure which "commission" is referred to, but there is a link to Amnesty International for the application materials.

"The Mexico Solidarity Network struggles [oh yeah] for democracy, economic justice and human rights on both sides of the US-Mexico border [you need to try a little harder in Mexico]. Civil society must take the leading role in fomenting [we hear ya] social change by developing democratic spaces [i.e. the southwestern USA then north to Ohio] and empowered communities that are outside of party/establishment structures, but always interacting with those structures. The Mexico Solidarity Network is a grassroots-based organization [I'll bet!] dedicated to profound social change [you mean like in Russia and China in the 20th century?] that challenges existing power relationships [US government] and builds alternatives."

This isn't the only job opening with Marxist red flags (no pun intended) listed in Que Pasa, but you can check it out for yourself.

Cross posted at Collecting my Thoughts.

Labels: Franklin County, jobs, marxism, Mexico, Ohio, Ohio State University

There is an important report available on the internet titled, "Line in the Sand; Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border," prepared by the Majority Staff of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Investigations, Michael T. McCaul, Chairman.(2007?) It concludes that in order to stop the criminal activity at the border, we need:

Greater control of the border can be achieved by:

• enhancing Border Patrol resources, including expanding agent training capacity, and technical surveillance abilities;

• constructing physical barriers in vulnerable and high-threat areas;

• implementing state-of-the-art technology, cameras, sensors, radar, satellite, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to ensure maximum coverage of the Nation's Southwest border;

• making permanent the "catch and return" policy;

• expanding the use of the expedited removal policy;

• establishing additional detention bed space;

• improving partnerships and information sharing among Federal, State, and local law enforcement;

• building a secure interoperable communications network for Border Patrol and state and local law enforcement;

• mandating a comprehensive risk assessment of all Southwest border Ports of Entry and international land borders to prevent the entry of terrorist and weapons of mass destruction;

• promoting both international and domestic policies that will deter further illegal entry into the United States; and

• enhancing intelligence capabilities and information sharing with our Mexican
counterparts and improving cooperation with the Mexican government to eradicate the Cartels.

Achieve some of these goals, Mr. President, and then maybe we can talk about reforming our immigration policies. Show us you are as serious at home as you are in Iraq.

Labels: crime, drugs, Homeland Security, Mexican border

My ancestors came to the USA in the 1730s and before. Their reasons (if I understand history and genealogy) were religious freedom (Swiss Mennonites), land ownership (some religious groups in Europe were not allowed to own property) and to get away from the hated British (Scots-Irish). In another hundred years the reasons were 1) cheap sea passages, 2) food shortages and bad weather in Europe, 3) the huge tax burdens and internal customs and duties killing the little guy, and 4) cheap land.

"The bad weather of 1816, and the appalling winters of 1825-6, 1826-7, and 1829-30, the last one of the coldest ever recorded, produced real hunger. . . Then there was the tax burden. . .all Europe groaned under oppressive taxation . . . on the backs of poor peasants and tradespeople. . . By comparison, America was a paradise. Its army was 1/50th the size of Prussia's. The expense of government per capita was 10% of that in Britain. There were no tithes because there was no state church. . . There were virtually no poor. Europeans could scarcely believe their ears when told of such figures. . . No conscription. No political police. No censorship. No legalized class distinctions. . . The President's annual addresses to Congress were reprinted in many Continental newspapers until the censors suppressed them. . . But the most powerful inducement was cheap land. . . During the first 11 years of the 19th century, nearly 3,400,000 acres were sold to individual farmers in what was then the Northwest, plus another 250,000 in Ohio. . . The tendency was for the land price to come down--in the 1820s it was often as low as $1.25 an acre (the price my great grandfather paid in the 1850s in Illinois). The system worked because it was simple and corresponded to market forces. A history of the American People, by Paul Johnson, (HarperCollins, 1997) p. 289-293

Labels: 19th century