Humanists vs Nativists

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE article that today mentioned UMX and the dialogue online about immigration provides a model of balance in reporting.

Well, perhaps not total balance.

In fact, they give ALI-PAC, “a conservative group whose Web campaign helped derail Immigration reform legislation in Congress last year by prompting thousands of faxes, e-mails and phone calls to legislators” the middle word, the last word, the power to frame the debate online, and more than one direct quote.

“Derailing Immigration reform legislation.” I’m going to let that soak in for a second. Remember, they are proud of doing this.

Kyle, at Citizen Orange wasn’t quoted. The reporter (quite amiable) spoke with me for ten to fifteen minutes, and didn’t quote a thing I said—even though Kyle and I were named as two “pro-migrant” sites in the second paragraph of the article. I am glad they quoted Jackie at icirr.org (here is the new site).

ALI-PAC is quoted by the Chicago Tribune and allowed to conclude and frame the dialogue online as “You’ve got [militant Latinos] posting ‘Kill all whites’ and you’ve got white nationals over there posting ‘Kill all browns.’ It’s out of control. It’s crazy.”

Wow. They really ARE the voice of moderation, aren’t they? These sanity-minded “conservative” sites. We’re so lucky ALI-PAC is so respected in the mainstream press. No wonder they are given so much weight in the Tribune’s story.

And now the mainstream press is positioning UMX and Citizen Orange as opposites to sites such as ALI-PAC. And so the battle lines are drawn.

Well, let’s look into that.

What do sites like Citizen Orange and UMX (and icirr.org and The Sanctuary and Xicanopwr.com and zuky.net and Latino Politico) have in common?

Human rights for all! Humane consideration for ALL, despite document status. We are for the end of exploitation of the weak and the poor and the unrecognized. We want to give them a fair and legal process; we respect their needs as well as our needs as well as those of the environment. We understand we owe many of them for our economy. Were they all to vanish, we’d plunge into a depression and be missing many services and foods we take for granted. We of the SanctuarySphere are concerned about the hungry and mistreated and scared mothers and children and the poor who are caught in a trap, wedged in an abyss between labor’s demands, their own needs and wants, racist and nativist hate, and the government’s apathy. We advocate a generous, humanist self-aware approach that understands the connection between eating and farming and economy and health and equality and positivity and all our paths, which must by necessity run toward the same destination.

It’s not exactly “Kill Whitey,” but it is what bolsters and informs the “Pro-Migrant” approach.

What lies on the other pole, according to the Chicago Tribune? ALI-PAC.

And what does a site like ALI-PAC espouse?

Well, today the posts bear titles like Lets push for a new flag law, Diversity is strength…and backwardness!, Indians from India: Suddenly they all over?, and Michelle Obama and Louis Farrakhan Take On Whitey. So I’m not sure what they are all about.

Maybe we should delve into some posts.

In Illinois, children are eligible for All Kids, regardless of their immigration status, if they live in the state, are 18 years or younger and meet certain insurance requirements. While the state is lawfully obligated to ask an All Kids applicant for proof of citizenship, children can be enrolled in the program without showing those documents.

Is that typical government BS, or what? You have to ask for proof of citizenship, but it doesn’t have to be provided in order to receive the taxpayer-funded benefit.

—UB – ALIPAC Titan, If it Looks Like Crap and Smells Like Crap…

Okay, so far so good. That is opposite my stance. I am more concerned with a child’s health should there be a need to consider medical attention, than I am with their citizenship status. Why? The same reason I am concerned with a rotten tooth sitting amongst healthy ones. You better take care of it, or the rot will grow. Or maybe it’s because I don’t want anything to do with helping a sick person or a child suffer needlessly.

But the tooth analogy won’t work with the people who support sites like ALI-PAC. Their brains are operating in a different fashion. These people think that imaginary lines on maps cordon off health and economy and environmental flow. And their brains operate in this way because they are comfortable with a worldview that refuses to be expansive in scope or consideration. Because they are scared and behind their “patriotism” is fear and a small mindset that is more greedy than it is wise.

Whether or NOT this is true, the reality for ME is that I WON’T take all the blame for the black, brown, yellow, or red man’s problems just because I am WHITE!

Random quote from the masters of moderation and balance, alipac.us.

—

Yes, something IS happening! Despite the malice and racism of the illegals and their supporters, MORE American flags are popping up EVERYWHERE in illegal-alien refuge city Dallas, TX! On cars, trucks, in stores, businesses, restaurants, churches, you NAME it! And, more PEOPLE are carrying American flags in their purses, bags, backpacks, wheelchairs, even BABY strollers! I ALWAYS have Old Glory with me when I protest for our persecuted fellow patriots Ramos and Compean!

—joazinha – I Saw A Sight That Warmed My Heart

Remember. These people see “Old Glory” sort of in the way that they see garlic to vampires. They think that “ALIENZ” hate America, and “open borders” sites as they call “the enemy,” UMX and Citizen Orange are “anti-American.” So in their minds, the presence of an American Flag = Anti-migrant sentiment. I know. It’s cute!

I just thought of something..during my twenty year tenure in construction, working on high rises, everytime we ‘topped out a building’, we had a ‘topping out’ party and mounted a king-size American flag up on the top floor or roof no matter what the number of floors were. It could be three or sixty three, it didn’t matter. But I haven’t seen too many American flaga on these buildings anymore and I attribute that to the fact that it’s the hispanics who are not true to Amercia who are workning on these high rises.

—Rockfish- I Saw A Sight That Warmed My Heart

Oh wow! He had a thought!

And I had a crimp in my empathy organ just watching the epiphany go down. You know what? I’m all about warming your heart, lover. So dig this:

OOoOOOoO NoOoooOes! PARADOX!!!! Immigrants with Old Glory????? You mean….they don’t want to tear down America and give it back to Mexico??? They are NOT analogous to “Islamofascists”?

Hoo boy.

So the ALI-PAC site uses a lot of talk of the Lord and Prayer and such, but they react to a humane agenda with fear and greed. What a fascinating religion they must employ!

For example, here is Frank Sharry, “executive director of America’s Voice, a Washington-based strategy group for Immigration reform” speaking about the Internet in the context of pro-human-rights activism.

“It’s just such a potent tool,” said Sharry, whose staff has been meeting with political Web firms to devise a national strategy. “Over time, what we’d love to see happen is have bloggers who swarm the way anti-immigrant bloggers do and, eventually, challenge lawmakers to act and debate strategy and policy.”

Sounds pretty American, eh? Using channels of law, advocating strategy and debate of policy! Abraham Lincoln himself would be proud of such an agenda. And what is the America-loving, God-loving ALI-PAC’s reaction?

To all such pro-migrant ambitions, Gheen and other conservatives say: Bring it on. “We are light-years ahead of the competition,” said Gheen, a former political consultant …

Wow! And that’s what all good Americans want, right? A bunch of people that are so fast they can race ahead of humanity on the well-greased wheels of hypocrisy and affect laws that leave empathy and morality in the dust.

Such as ALI-PAC’s steadfast boycott of a single link to grassfire.org, a site that would normally be allies with them, as they both stand against human rights for non-documented people. But grassfire.org committed the sin of using the signatures gathered on ALI-PAC to support the Cornyn-Kyl bill.

Why is this such a sin to ALI-PAC? Because, according to “W” (the self proclaimed “ALIPAC President or Administrator”) the bill “contained both a Guest Worker bill and a biometric mandatory national ID for all Americans.”

On the same page, member “Tarantulas” (whose icon is of a smiling Ronald Reagan) takes exception.

Okay, there seems to be some confusion and misdirection here, so let’s get things straight. First of all, the non-RINO Senator from Arizona is Jon Kyl (our other Senator is the RINO John McCain). His name is not “Kyle” so let’s get that straight right away and not make that mistake again.

Next, let’s talk about the bill that Senators Kyl and Cornyn (from Texas) introduced. I heard it described some time ago, and I don’t have a link to the actual bill, but as I recall it required that we close our borders completely before anything else was done. After the border was closed, there was an internal enforcement program to make sure that companies did not hire illegals. And after all that was accomplished, there was a guest worker program.

ALIPAC replies:

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:46 am Post subject:
Tarantulas,

We already have several Guest Worker Programs and due to the non enforcement of our laws many of those “guests’ are staying permanently.

The Cornyn / Kyle bill has a lot of enforcement jargon in it, but then states that illegal aliens can cross the border to Mexico, fill out some forms and come right back. Walla! There goes your illegal immigration problem. They are all LEGAL poof! There goes the USA too!

Just like that, what the supposed worldwide terror boogeyman can’t even accomplish. One “poof” and now “there goes the USA.” Wow. No wonder they are so enamored of walls and fences! That’s a fragile worldview.

ALIPAC goes on.

That bill also called for a mandatory biometric Social Security card ID for all Americans.

Bad bill.

No amnesty, no guest worker, illegals go home! It is the ONLY way we can stop millions more from coming illegally.

No army and no wall will stop them unless we send them running out instead of in.

W

It’s the voice of authority, eh? Except…”Tarantulas” doesn’t think so.

This is what happens when rumors get started. It doesn’t take long before no one knows the truth. So let’s look at the bill. It’s called the “Comprehensive Enforcement and Immigration Reform Act of 2005,” and it’s a 134-page Adobe Acrobat document.

And then much quoting and refutation is performed. But of course, that’s not enough for ALIPAC. Because ALIPAC fears “they” will be “rewarded” by the slightest consideration for their work or their children or their hunger or health or anything except immediate punishment and deportation. And you know. Rewards make the world go Poof.

So clearly the members of ALI-PAC don’t even know what they are all about or what the law is, or how to spell “Kyl” or what provisions are of a bill. And even if a law is so harsh and punitive as to—

Require at least 250 new Border Patrol agents every year from 2006-2010, and 25 million dollars every year to transport aliens

Page 5 – Appropriate 500 million dollars a year from 2006-2010 to buy UAVs, cameras, poles, sensors, and other high tech stuff to control the border.

Page 5 – Appropriate another 500 million dollars a year from 2006-2010 to build roads, vehicle barriers, and facilities along the border.

Page 6 – Appropriate 10 million dollars a year from 2006-2010 to implement “expedited removal procedures” at the southern border. …

Page 7 – Appropriate 5 million dollars a year from 2006-2010 to train border protection officers in document fraud detection, and gives them access to a forensic document laboratory.

Page 8 – Require every document issued by Homeland Security that identifies aliens to be machine-readable, tamper-resistant, and to incorporate a biometric identifier.

Page 9 – Refuse any alien who cannot provide biometric data entry to the country. And refuse to let any alien leave the country without providing biometric data.

And even

Page 76 – Establishes the rules for admission of temporary workers to the US. Requires proof that the alien can perform the work, proof that the alien has a job offer, a $500 fee for processing the application, a medical exam including immunization records, a criminal background check, a waiver of judicial appeal of immigration status and any right to contest a removal action.

Page 81 – Establishes that the period of admission under the program is two years. It can’t be extended, the alien can’t reenter the country for a year after he leaves, and the total admission period for the program can’t exceed six years. …

Page 83 – Requires each temporary worker to maintain a residence in his home country that he has no intention of abandoning, and requires him to be present in his home country for at least 7 days in a row every year (that’s a good idea since it requires them to leave and return annually so they’ll have to go through the biometric ID procedure).

Page 88 – Says that a spouse or child of a temporary worker can only enter the country for a period of 30 days if they’re not a temporary worker too.

Because that is still “rewarding them.” And unacceptable!

What kind of Americans are these that claim to care for a God and yet not for families being whole?

What kind of Americans are these that take such joy in hanging flags while at the same time spreading lies that divide the different peoples in our nation?

What kind of Americans are these that can frame the debate online as ” [militant Latinos] posting ‘Kill all whites’” and “white nationals over there posting ‘Kill all browns’” and yet be given the most thoughtful and high-impact positioning in an article by the Chicago-Tribune?

Does the Chicago Tribune imagine it is furthering an intelligent and helpful dialogue with this article? Is the position of the Chicago Tribune that a child in need of medical attention should be frisked for papers? Is it now “mainstream” for fences and walls and fear to blind us to one of the most inspiring American icons to exist, Lady Liberty? And to make us forget that it is never a fence or a laser-aimed gunsight or biometric ID card that makes a nation worth dying for, worth working for, worth living in. It is ideals like sheltering the weak and weary “refuse” who walk hundreds of miles or who swim or stowaway to find freedom. People less fortunate than you and I.

If you remove the magnanimous heart from the hulking body of this powerful country, you have nothing but a rusting ghost, ready to fall in upon itself.