New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez took office in part based on her hard stance against illegal aliens. After being given 1930 Census records by reporters, however, she has now acknowledged that her grandparents illegally came to the USA from Mexico. In the meantime, another family member of President Obama has been arrested as an illegal alien.
The Republican Martinez led the fight to repeal what she has called “the dangerous practice” of granting driver’s licenses to undocumented migrants to “protect the people of New Mexico.”
Martinez’s acknowledged the new evidence on a radio show and admitted for the first time that “I know they arrived without documents, especially my father’s father.”
After riding out a controversy over the illegal status of his aunt (who was allowed to stay in the United States despite violating past orders), President Barack Obama has been informed that an uncle has been arrested as an illegal alien. To make matters worse, Obama Onyango, who also has a driver’s license, has a history of drunk driving. Obama’s uncle was released “quietly” from custody despite his illegal status and record.
While President Obama is hardly responsible for such relatives (particularly on the side of his father who effectively abandoned him as a child), these stories are likely to magnify the immigration debate. The White House seems to be embracing such a debate in an appeal to the Hispanic community, but I think this can only hurt Obama further in the polls.
Source: USA Today
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/09/09/315743/rick-perrys-newest-fan-birther-queen-orly-taitz/
I had read somewhere on this blog that you worked for the Republicans. And since you do, maybe your call could make all of the difference.
Darwin He is not my rep, and these Texas reps with huge republican majorities in their districts don’t pay any attention to the opposition. That’s my experience.
Sounds like Lamar Smith is stating his opinion. He is after all an elected Representative. If you have a problem with his position email him and tell him so, better yet, why don’t you call him and tell his office how much you disapprove of his position. Seems like a logical approach to me.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/lamar_smith_obamas_backdoor_amnesty_benefits_drunk-driving_illegal_immigrants_like_his_uncle.php?ref=fpb Another Texas teabagger politician weighs in.
Mr. Patrick, FFL, everyone,
What then are the solutions?
mespo727272
1, September 9, 2011 at 1:03 pm
Hypo meet crite.
——————————————————————-
Exactly!
Hilarious.
No one makes a point quite like you do.
Thanks.
Nate:
Thanks for the thoughts. My take is we can feel as guilty as we want about the past, and some well-placed guilt might just up our humility quotient, which I think the USA as a group is in seriously short supply.
But to my way of thinking, it’s a tad tweaked on the logic meter, to surmise that uncontrolled migration of any single society, must be allowed, because it is “less worse” than the sins of our fathers – deemed “Mortal” – while slipping across a schizophrenic border appears “venial,” in comparison.
To allow an uncontrolled flood of millions – folks with medical needs; language deficiencies; cultural shock and metro-glut; an inordinate volume of crime – to continue unabated – is the definition of group-think denial of reality, in my humble opinion. And I would guess much of it is as politically driven as much of what we see on the far-right.
To those of us who have spent our adult lives responding to 911 calls, the distortions caused by floods – as opposed to light rain – could not be more obvious. And these distortions are every bit as cruel as turning a blind eye to folks who simply want to better their lives.
As the soon-to-be drowned fisherman said while his boat flipped ass-over-teakettle down Niagara Falls:
“You know, I’ve always love the water. I’m thinking the problem here might be the volume.”
House chairman: Obama uncle’s got ‘backdoor amnesty’
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said Friday that President Obama’s half-uncle, an illegal immigrant who was picked up but has reportedly been released from jail, appears to have benefited from the new “backdoor amnesty” the administration announced last month.
“It appears there is a double standard — one for President Obama’s family and one for everyone else,” Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican, said. “Last year, President Obama’s illegal immigrant aunt was granted asylum and now his illegal immigrant uncle has been released from [the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency] custody, even though he was arrested by authorities for drunk driving.”
Mr. Smith said the case will be the first “test case” for a new Homeland Security policy announced last month that gives immigration authorities more discretion to let illegal immigrants go, rather than pursue efforts to deport them.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/9/house-chairman-obama-uncles-got-backdoor-amnesty/
Attorneys for a law firm in Oaxaca, Mexico Tuesday announced plans to file a lawsuit against Mexico City seeking reparations for the past use of slave labor.
The lawsuit claims slaves captured by the Aztec ruler Ahuitzotl, who engineered a successful military campaign in Oaxaca in the late 15th century, built the foundations for Mexico City and that ancestors of those slaves should receive compensation from the city.
“Were it not for the wrongful enslavement of our people, Mexico City would be nothing more than a teeming, Third-World cesspool”, said attorney Enrique Cortez, a partner in the law firm DeLeon, Cortez and Balboa “It’s time somebody said ‘we’re sorry.'”
Modern day Mexico City is built upon the ruins of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, which archeologists variously describe as a small, agricultural village, prior to the Aztec conquests of the mid-1400s.
Historians say many of the prisoners taken by the Aztecs during the Oaxaca campaign were used for human sacrifices, but others were spared and enslaved for the purpose of building a road system and an aqueduct to supply water for the region’s farmers.
At its height, Tenochtitlan was home to as many as 300,000 people, roughly the population of metropolitan Wichita, Kan.
“It’s reprehensible that slave labor would be used to advance this sort of urban sprawl,” said Cortez. “Reparations to the ancestors of these slaves is the only thing that can make them whole.”
Cortez said the lawsuit would seek unspecified damages for a class of plaintiffs that included dozens of Oaxacans.
Mexico City Municipal Counsel Emilio Montalban offered little comment on the lawsuit, but said the plaintiffs “ought to be joyous to know their ancestors did not have their living hearts cut from their chests,” which was a common practice among the Aztecs.
“To say that building an aqueduct is a worse fate than watching a shaman cut out your heart while tied to an altar is the height of arrogance,” said Montalban. “This lawsuit is nothing more than frivolous, legal fantasy.”
But Cortez argued that enslavement by the Aztecs constituted “a violence more destructive than being tossed into a Toltec fire,” and noted that slaves taken from Oaxaca were routinely denied access to telpuchcalli , the schools in which boys were taught Aztec religion and history, as well as the arts of warfare.
While the legal merits of the case are uncertain, some observers think the court action could have ramifications that extend beyond the question of slavery in 15th century Mexico.
“I see real potential problems here for some of Mexico’s premiere corporations,” said Jorge Cabrera-Estevez, executive director of the Mexican Bar Association. “If this goes forward and the ‘at-least-we-didn’t-cut-out-their-hearts’ defense is successful, there’s some real exposure for some big players down here.”
Specifically, Cabrera-Estevez mentioned the Hidalgo Mining Corporation, which has quarried obsidian in central Mexico for centuries.
Archeologists have determined that Aztec priests utilized obsidian knives to remove the hearts of humans earmarked for sacrifice, using the tool to make an incision beneath the ribcage to facilitate removal of the still-beating heart.
It’s not certain whether Hidalgo supplied any of the obsidian used in performing the ritual sacrifices.
“Sure, it was legal to cut out hearts back then, but that doesn’t mean these obsidian knife manufacturers and mining companies shouldn’t be held to a proper moral standard, even if it is 500 years later,” said Cabrera-Estevez.
> It’s no longer 1930 and the situations are completely different.
> My dad was in Mexico in the 1920s.
> I am largely against illegal immigration today.
So the difference in the situation is that your family is now resident? After your arrival, we should block anyone else coming?
Hypo meet crite.
Almost forgot to mention the China-fication of Tibet.
Dabuh,
Remember Billy Carter registering as a foreign agent of the Libyan government and promoting Billy Beer
Of course there was Neil Bush and the Silverado Savings and Loan during the 1980s’ Savings and Loan crisis.
And then Bill Clinton’s pardon for his brother Roger’s drug conviction after Roger had served the entire sentence more than a decade earlier. Roger Clinton would be charged with drunk driving and disorderly conduct in an unrelated incident within a year of the pardon
The list of Presidents’ screwed up relatives goes on and on ….
Obama’s uncle quietly released from jail.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/09/09/obamas_uncle_quietly_released_from_jail/?p1=Local_Links
Officials released President Obama’s uncle from Plymouth County jail yesterday after holding him for more than two weeks on an immigration detainer for violating an order to return to his native Kenya in 1992.
US officials refused to disclose any other information about Onyango Obama, who remained in the United States undetected until Framingham police arrested him Aug. 24 on drunken driving and other charges.
Yesterday, federal immigration officials refused to say whether the 67-year-old Framingham resident posted bond, whether they are keeping track of his whereabouts, or even whether they are still seeking his deportation, raising questions about public accountability in the case.
Illegal immigration seems to have worked quite well for New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez. On one hand her undocumented grandfather made her citizenship possible while on the other, undocumented future grandfathers gave her an issue to run against and helped her gain the governorship.
This is America, honey, work the system!
Another thing…
I recently moved to Flagstaff, Arizona from you neck of suburbia. I wanted to pursue one of my particular passions, snowboarding, while continuing my studies at the university here.
The most prominent feature here is an extinct volcano that rises 12,500 feet, a feature that is sacred to the huge native American population inhabiting the area. The ski resort on the mountain takes up a very small part of it, 1% or so if memory serves me right. And yet, it has been tangled up in courts for nearly a decade simply because it exists, fought tooth and nail by the natives. The resort was just recently approved rights by the court to make artificial snow using reclaimed water (this is Arizona after all), an issue that has the natives seeing red.
One of the more common bumper stickers around here shows a picture of a native American [Indian] face outfitted with feathers and all, and the words “fighting terrorism since 1492”.
Internally, I’ve given up my desires to have artificial snow for the resort in order to give them what they want. But I know in my heart that they’re engaged in a losing battle, one that started in 1492 and hasn’t ended 500+ years later.