One of the many things distracting state legislators from dealing with school finance is courtesy of Rep. Becky Hutchins, R-Holton. She so badly wants to get rid of the 2004 immigrant in-state tuition law that she keeps tacking her proposed repeal, already rejected earlier this month in the House, onto other bills. “Sometimes persistence pays off,” she said. And sometimes lawmakers just need to take “no” for an answer.
Hutchins’ obsession, of course, is part of a larger one in the GOP nationally. In a congressional hearing last week on legislation meant to deal honestly with unchecked immigration, Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., lashed out at the “send them all back” Republicans. “That, to me, is not a realistic approach to a real problem,” he said. “There are a lot of people on talk radio in the morning, noon and night talking about this while these folks are out there working.” Or, in the case of Kansas’ commonsense tuition law, trying to better themselves in college.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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27 Comments
“And sometimes lawmakers just need to take “no” for an answer.”
Rhonda, what the hell is the matter with you? Dont you know the three rules of the GOP?
1. Being a republican means NEVER taking “no” for an answer.
We heard last year that if the hate amendment didnt pass the legislature, they would just keep bringing it up until it did. EVEN IF THEY NEEDED A SPECIAL SESSION FOR SCHOOL FINANCE!!
2. Being a republican means you never have to say you are sorry. Or admit you made a mistake.
See: preznit bush on social security reform, or the medicare drug program. OR IRAQ!!!
3. The courts are always wrong.
The only way to stop them from DOING THEIR JOB is to legislate away all the checks and balance powers of the judiciary.
Oh, I guess there is one more rule.
When all else fails you must CONTROL DIEBOLD!!
Or see #3….
I’m with you Rep. Becky Hutchins !
“trying to better themselves” my a$$, they just want a free ride at the Kansas tax payer’s expense.
Uh Rhonda?
They are here illegally.
Rhonda? Are there other illegal activities or behaviors that you or Linsey Graham decry efforts to mitigate?
See, in state tuition is a BENEFIT. You don’t give BENEFITS to people doing an illegal thing. That only encourages more people to do that illegal thing.
But hey, I guess illegal is pretty irellevant huh. You know like when 75,000 illegal aliens march in Chicago to defend their right to be illegal! Where were the buses and trucks and IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS to take these folks back where they belong?
I loves me some immigration!
No other issue so reliably splits the GOP into its nationalist, flat earth wing (Ian Santiago) and its capitalist, internationalist side (Joe Williams). I love watching them operate at cross purposes.
“Can this marriage be saved?!?” GREAT stuff.
Uh JR…
“Rhonda? Are there other illegal activities or behaviors that you or Linsey Graham decry efforts to mitigate?”
JR, how about bush’s wiretapping without warrents?
Funny how the enforcement changes depending on who likes or dislikes the law.
Or the lawbreaker.
Yeah CF, just ask joe if businesses should be punished for hiring illegals.
Once again, it isnt the law, it is the LAWBREAKER we form our opinions around.
It’s my understanding that the majority of the “illegals” getting instate tuition were minor children at the time of their crossing the border. I think that if they have been here over 10 years and graduated from a high school then instate tuition should be granted. I can’t imagine parents leaving behind their children for many years in a poverty situation so the adults can get jobs. It’s not fair to the children to suffer for their parents choices.But I think that it would be beneficial to the situation if they were applying for citizenship or visas.
Julie, I believe the law requires the recipients to make qualified efforts toward eventual citizenships.
The offspring of illegals have no right to automatic citizrnship. In fact, all those who came here illegally should be forever barred from obtaining legal status!
Viva La Raza Blanco!!
Thanks Roo!
Ian,Why should ALL illegals be barred from legal status? It’s my understanding that all children born in the US are considered citizens – whether or not their parents are.
I’m not baiting – I just want to know where you’re coming from on this issue.
So, the 14th Amendment state that anyone born or naturalized within United States are automatically a citizen. Does it include US Territories? What is the definition of US proper, is it 50 states plus one (DC) only? And what is the correct status of people living in the Territories, such as Guam? Or people born on foreign military bases?
A child born of a US citizen then it is also a US citizen or if a child is born within the borders of the US. At least that’s what I remember from school.
Um, we’re not talking about people born here, we’re talking about the children of people who are breaking the law. I don’t buy into the view that children of illegal ailens are somehow without fault. They’re here illegally and they know it. If somebody robbed your neighbor and dropped the money in your yard, would you be justified to keep it? You weren’t the one who committed the robbery.
I have no problem with people who emmigrate to this country legally. I have a HUGE problem with border-jumpers. How can we talk about security in this country when we can’t even secure our borders?
So you want a 7 year old to say “No Mommy I can’t go with you ’cause it’s illegal. I’ll stay here with people that I don’t know until you’re a vaild citizen?”
I can’t even go in the bathroom (let alone the grocery store) without my 3 year old wanting to go too. :)
Some strategist framed this debate very well. To call them children of illegal aliens is technically true. However the vast majority of people in college are what you would normally call an adult, as in over the age of 18. Hence they are illegal aliens.
We have to stop this “they are just trying to better themselves” nonsense. So are armed robbers, prostitutes and drug dealers are just trying to make a living. All are breaking the law. If we fail to uphold our laws the republic falls. If you don’t want them to be criminals I suggest you run for office and change the law.
Quit picking on the Mexicans! Sure they are here illegally but they would not be if you folks were not begging them to come over and do your crappy jobs for you. You people can’t have it both ways- if you want the Mexicans to go home, quit hiring them and do your own crappy work.
Anybody born in the 50 states or a US posession such as Puerto Rico is a US citizen by birth whether or not either parent is of legal status. And it is not just Mexicans that come here and have babies. Canadians do it too.
Julie,
Anchor babies have no right to automatic citizenship and those who have been rewarded should be retroactively stripped of their citizenship.
“The 14th Amendment was added to the Constitution as part of the post Civil War reforms aimed at addressing injustices to African Americans. It states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States” and was crafted so that state governments could never deny citizenship to anyone born in the United States. However, when the amendment was crafted, the United States had no immigration policy, and thus the authors saw no need to state explicitly, what they believed was understood. The phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” was intended to exclude from automatic citizenship American-born persons whose allegiance to the United States was not complete. In the case of illegal aliens who are temporarily or unlawfully in the United States, because their native country has a claim of allegiance to the child, the completeness of the allegiance to the United States is impaired and logically precludes automatic citizenship.
“Every Person born within the limits of the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural law and national law a citizen of the United States. This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons.Senator Jacob Howard, Co-author of the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, 1866″http://www.americanpatrol.com/REFERENCE/anchorbaby_FAIR.html
V.L.R.B!!
To dig further into the matter, if puertoriqeños are US citizens, why can’t they vote in national elections, or fully represented in the Congress? how about the DC residents?
I come for visit, get treated regal,So I stay, who care I illegal?
I cross border, poor and broke,Take bus, see employment folk.Nice man treat me good in there,Say I need to see welfare.
Welfare say, “You come no more,We send cash right to your door.”Welfare checks, they make you wealthy,Medicaid it keep you healthy!
By and by, I got plenty money,Thanks to you, American dummy.Write to friends in motherland,Tell them come as fast as you can.
They come in rags and Chebby trucks,I buy big house with welfare bucks.They come here, we live together,More welfare checks, it gets better!
Fourteen families they moving in,But neighbor’s patience wearing thin.Finally, white guy moves away,Now I buy his house, and then I say,
“Find more aliens for house to rent.”And in the yard I put a tent.Send for family (they just trash),But they, too, draw the welfare cash!
Everything is mucho good,And soon we own the neighborhood.We have hobby–it’s called breeding,Welfare pay for baby feeding.
Kids need dentist? Wife need pills?We get free! We got no bills!American crazy! He pay all year,To keep welfare running here.
We think America darn good place!Too darn good for the white man race.If they no like us, they can go,Got lots of room in Mexico.
Ian,Thank you for responding to my question.
Noooooo! Not more Wingnut doggerel!
Rom Lewis, if you’re going to inflict racist Vogon poetry on us, at least have the integrity to do so using verses you’ve written yourself.
http://www.kron.com/Global/story.asp?S=855279
Now they protest. They are illegal and should be treated as such.Come to my country and become a citizen and I welcome you wth open arms. Sneak into my country as a theif in the night and I will trach you as such.If you are an not here legally, you have no rights!
Sentor Brownback gets his way along with Ted Kennedy and Spector they all will be legal soon.The vets who died for this Country gets the Raw end again,Thanks Sam! Our little School here is paying close to 135.000.00 a year for teachers who teach the Illegals kids.Across the State thats a lot of money.Call Sam and tell him No Amnesty for anyone Or open the Cell doors and allow Americans to go free too. NO Discrimation.
Editor’s note: A 2004 speech on the dangers of multiculturalism in the United Stated titled “I Have a Plan to Destroy America”, became famous after being frequently forwarded as an email. With the immigration debate again heating up, it is time to revisit the speech. Reprinted with permission.)
We know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Recently there was an immigration overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of American’s finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor by the name of Victor Davis Hansen talked about his latest book, Mexifornia, explaining how immigration – both legal and illegal was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.
Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States. He said, “If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let’s destroy America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that ‘An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.’”
“Here is how they do it,” Lamm said:
“First, to destroy America, turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country.” History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. The historical scholar, Seymour Lipset, put it this way: ‘The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy.’ Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, and Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans.”
Lamm went on: Second, to destroy America, “Invent ‘multiculturalism’ and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences. I would make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due solely to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.
Third, “We could make the United States an ‘Hispanic Quebec’ without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: ‘The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentricity and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.’ Lamm said, “I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in America enforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities.”
“Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high. school.”
“My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of ‘Victimology.’ I would get all minorities to think that their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population.”
“My sixth plan for America’s downfall would include dual citizenship, and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other – that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. E. Pluribus Unum — From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the ‘pluribus’. Instead of the ‘Unum,’ we will balkanize America as surely as Kosovo.”
“Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits; make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of ‘diversity.’ I would find a word similar to ‘heretic’ in the 16th century – that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like ‘racist’ or ‘xenophobe’ halt discussion and debate. Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of ‘Victimology,’ I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them.”
In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed. Finally he said, “Lastly, I would censor Victor Davis Hanson’s book, Mexifornia. His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don’t read that book.”
There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Even barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate ‘diversity.’ American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America – take note of California and other states – to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell’s book, 1984. In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: “War is peace,” “Freedom is slavery,” and “Ignorance is strength.”
Governor Lamm walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that the future of our great nation is deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don’t get this immigration monster stopped quickly, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path, especially The American Dream.
Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States, much like the Philippines was circa 1898. The status of the Puerto Rican is therefore not the same as an “alien,” however because his is not an independent country but a commonwealth of the U.S. ALL Puerto Ricans can legally travel to and from the U.S. mainland without the need of a passport, and vice versa, an American citizen can travel to Puerto Rico without the need of a passport and is not subject to processing by immigration. As the Philippines goes, any Philippine citizen that served in the USAFFE (United States Armed Forces Far East) was granted with immediate dual Philippine and American citizenship upon which said serviceman was given U.S. military pension and the option of choosing which citizenship he would adopt when he reached the “age of majority” of 18 years of age. After WWII, the U.S. government gave the Philippine commonwealth the option of becoming either an independent sovereign country, or the 51st state of the union!!! After 1945, the Philippine government was given sovereignty after the last U.S. Governor-General left the islands to the first president of the Third Philippine Republic.