OMISSION







That's all it took. One word. The operative word. And that word is/was ILLEGAL. Slap that in front of immigration law and Arizona has it right. Our state is not against Hispanics or any other nationality. We're all, I hope, against illegality.





But politicizing as it is distorts and divides. That is what Senate bill 1070 is doing. Nationwide the media wants to paint Arizonans as Wild West bigots. Gun toting, of course. The fact is that the Hispanic citizens have enriched out state so much. Their culture has been embraced without patronization. What I mean in this context is that it's a great blend or melding of twin cultures. Not so in many instances when those immigrating want and expect their new country to be like their old country.





Many in our society reject the values of their own country and try to Europeanize our country, for example. Yes, I'm talking about socialization of government. Including health care. I'm talking about negotiating from a strong position to one that weakens our country. Nuclear weapon reduction is another example. Outsourcing jobs so much that there are fewer and fewer factories in American. The list goes on and on.

But then again, so do I. So get back to the animus of this entry. Illegality is the key. Not nationality. How many of all of us have relatives that came to this country from another? But most did it through the legal process. If there's criticism, that's where it should fall. Expedite the process to citizenship. Hire more people to give it a jump start. Heaven knows we've made enough new government jobs in the name of stimulus, but we've left out some key areas. This is one.

Do I support SB 1070? I sure do. But never think I favor one group of people wanting to become citizens over another.

As far as racial profiling goes, please get over it. I've felt the sting of discrimination based on my dark color on more than one occasion. In fact, the first words out of our current next door neighbor to me were "Do you speak English?"



Is that the same as showing "papers"? What kinds of papers are opponents talking about? A passport? A driver's license? A credit card? Those aren't papers and yes, I've been asked to show all three. It didn't take long. It doesn't offend.

And I've had my baggage looked at numerous times at the airport. Again, it's not a big deal.
If it's for increased safety, then go for it. Same with illegal immigration.