Text 15239, 74 rader
Skriven 2008-05-12 05:52:32 av Bob Ackley (1:300/3)
  Kommentar till text 15156 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Unrest in France
========================
Replying to a message of Robert Bashe to Roy Witt:

 RB> Unfortunately, the same applies to you. I know what freedom is, as it
 RB> existed in the States in the 40s and 50s.

 RW>>>> I'm still as free as I was on September 10, 2001...

 RB>>> That's what you think.

 RW>> That's what I know.

 RB> As long as you live in a small town in Texas and never have any
 RB> contact with the outside world except for the Internet, you may be
 RB> right. At least subjectively.

Obviously he hasn't taken an airplane trip anyplace since then.  I will not
go *near* an airport, let alone into one.  And TSA has extended its mandate
to include some (and before too long all) railroad terminals and bus terminals
(and eventually checkpoints at every road that crosses a state line).

 RW>>>> What I see is an improvement in illegal immigration laws. If you
 RW>>>> want to come here and work, fine, but when the job is done, go
 RW>>>> home.

 RB>>> Too late, Roy. If the States had wanted that, it would have had to
 RB>>> start a couple of hundred years ago.

 RW>> You're not living here, so you have no idea what is wanted here.

 RB> Not very good in history, are you? I remembewr the Chinese laborers
 RB> who were imported to help in the California gold fields in the 1850s
 RB> and 1860s. Ever hear of Chinatown in San Fransisco? Their decendents
 RB> are there.

Actually the Chinese were brought to this country to build the Southern Pacific
Railroad line eastward from the Bay Area to meet the Union Pacific Railroad
coming west.  The two met at Promontory Point, UT, which is on the north
side of the Great Salt Lake.

 RB>>> And of course, it would not have developed as it did for lack of
 RB>>> population.

 RW>> right, it developed as it did because the government didn't allow the
 RW>> border patrol enougn money or manpower to enforce the law. Not to
 RW>> mention the people who want those illegals here to pick their fruit.

 RB> You're thinking of the 20th century.

 RW>> I'm looking all about and all I see is freedom. There's no gestapo
 RW>> roaming the streets harrassing anyone.

 RB> Stuff like that is never out in the open. Lokk at how long it took for
 RB> the secret, unauthorized wiretaps to become public.

That gestapo isn't doing that *yet*.  But INS *can* stop anybody it wants,
any time it wants, anyplace it wants and demand proof of citizenship.

Several years ago INS did grab a 15 year old HS student out of class and
shipped
him to Mexico with just the clothes on his back, no money, and would not allow
him to call anybody for help.  His parents, BTW, were in this country
*legally*.
At first INS refused to allow the kid back into this country unless both
parents
went to Mexico to get him - and then of course they wouldn't let any of them
back
in if that happened.  Due to the bad publicity, INS finally relented and let
the kid
back into the country, but his parents had to first sign a contract that they
would
not sue the US government for any damages.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+
 * Origin: Bob's Boneyard, Emerson, Iowa (1:300/3)