[altura]

I don't live in San Jose...but I do know the way.

I do live in a town in Texas where we white trash folks are the minority.

I do agree that it's a problem, has been for years and needs to be addressed.

I just don't understand the sudden panic and frantic search for someone to blame or vote for or .....

[skeeter]

I just don't understand the sudden panic and frantic search for someone to blame or vote for or ....

I've been p*ssed about the problem for years, but speaking for others perhaps there was a collective epiphany when Americans turned on their tvs a few weeks back to see tens of thousands of latinos, a good number of them illegal, in the streets having a purple-rage fit & waving foreign flags.

[arasina]

I just don't understand the sudden panic and frantic search for someone to blame or vote for or .....

It's not really sudden or even what could be called panic, altura. It has been simmering for quite a few years now and is only now coming to a boil for several reasons, IMO:

• 9/11 happened. The WOT commenced as a result. Sending troops to Afghanistan and Iraq, toppling and disposing of Saddam's regime, establishing democracies and constitutions there...all that necessitated almost full attention for the first couple of years at the very least. Oh, and then we can't forget the 'side' issue of Israel and Palestinian terrorists.
• A few significant deaths occurred that changed the political landscape: Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, Arafat.
• The fight for the Senate majority started not long into President Bush's first term. That had to be won by Republicans because of the imminent SCOTUS replacements.
• The war that must be fought against the MSM, those annoying but effective heel-nippers, is ongoing but essential. Sometimes it has even been front-burner, but most of the time it has been a matter of having the Dims constantly turn up the heat on a lot of back burners. It would take too long to list all the lies that have had to be countered, but that war has drained resources and attention that might have been spent addressing illegal immigration.
• The battles that had to be waged for the 2004 election compelled our consideration bigtime. Just remember: The Swiftboat Vets, Dan Rather, Michael Moore, etcetera and et al. Those were huge distractions and a lot of energy was spent reelecting the President who promised us those Constitutional justices on the Supreme Court.

Now we are told that great progress is being made in Afghanistan and Iraq. The WOT is being handled and we are winning. In the meantime, people who voted for President Bush (and thus for his appointees) and worked hard to ensure that he was reelected to a second term and even fought some of his outlying battles for him so he could devote himself to the more important issues...have been observing the issue of illegal immigration in their home communities.

They may have read the stories about false IDs and drivers licenses on the increase in their hometown. They may have tried to find employment and discover that they didn't get the job because they don't speak Spanish. They may have noticed their neighbors have a two-bedroom house but 15 people reside in it. They may have gone to a hospital for emergency medical care and realized how the level of service has greatly declined because the number of patients has increased but the number of payees comes nowhere near that. Those are just a few examples of major changes that have happened while our attention was elsewhere.

Yeah, now it's an election year. Yeah, oil prices are heading upward. Yeah, Roseann Roseannadanna was right..."It's always something." Unfortunately, we have MILLIONS of lawbreakers affecting our economy, our way of life, even our form of government. Yeah, I know George W. Bush is a 'compassionate' 'conservative' --- and I knew that when I voted for him. I knew he was 'compassionate' toward our neighbors to the south. But when it comes to the threat to justice and the American way, he must forgo some of that compassion and stand up for principle and our Constitution. (Let President Fox take care of protecting the people of his country.)

It is now time for President Bush to do his duty and honor his oath by protecting us from the threat to our homeland in just as forceful a way as he has been doing in the WOT.