[sarcasm]

bttt

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[A. Pole]

Very little immigration is of skilled personnel. Besides, it is precisely because of advances in global communications that we do not have to allow people to move to the U.S. to take advantage of their talents and benefit from their contributions.

We do not need skilled people. We are going to be a service based economy, don't you remember?

[VU4G10]

yeah yeah .. whatever

[JustPiper]

Ah EW your on top of things today. I am so burnt!

This is a good place for my after action counter protest report, one word ARGH!

Should have known it would be rough, our train was delayed for 30 min. going down there! Massive trouble by O'Hare -shrug-

We get there at 10AM and must be already 1,000 of them. I was so lucky that the first speaker I heard was Guitierrez, the troublemaking aldercritter!

The group I met up with was already setup, only a handful at first. We were behind fenced barriers across from the rally. We had screaming meemies that looked like gangbangers and then actual bandito's no kidding! Had hoods on and masks pulled up to their eyes!

Police presence was surprisingly minimal!

So those banditos keep screaming obscentities and threats at us and really singled out my 16 yr old, Kinetic, for some reason and she was simply holding an American flag!

Lemme tellya, they were just coming with signs like cockroaches! They were actually pretty civil and of course loud! Then a speaker gets up who was on the March with MLK!
And had this snappy speech about how this is just like that! I wanted to vomit.

We did have gorgeous weather here today and many pictures were taken of my poster. I wore jeans with stars all over them,an cap with American buttons, a glittered USA tanktop and had rwb stripes on my eyelids and 3 tears falling down my left eye in rwb.

Soon a few more folx came, totaling about a dozen and thats when I began to wonder about the group. Their haircuts, their style, their posters. Turns out we are smack in the middle of a damn white supremacist group!!!
Hateful towards everyone including FR!

New we were in trouble within five minutes when the Feds were taking their pictures and I told my daughter Great, been an honest citizen all my life and bam! Now I'm in the Fed database!

So we got the hell outta there! Went by some cops for a bit who I explained our situation to. I said what is my choice here, hmmmmmmm, Mexican or White racists (both were black ;) and we had alot of great laughs!

But I am disappointed for I had index cards of talking points and there was much media coverage at the Fed Bldg.
And most of the time the speaker's spoke Spanish.

I'll tellya Freeper's it broke my heart to listen to all their demands and see their solidarity, Our fight is cut out for us!

Go Cubbies ;)

[ETERNAL WARMING]

Brought this over from LP:

Title: IMMIGRANTS on tour to fight for EQUAL RIGHTS: FREEDOM BUS RIDES, organized by unions with an eye on potential members, will travel to Washington, D.C. and New York City for rallies.
Source: The Miami Herald (Miami, Florida)
URL Source: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/6871627.htm? template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Published: Sep 27, 2003
Author: Richard Brand
Post Date: 2003-09-27 22:52:48 by blackhorse

---

Posted on Sat, Sep. 27, 2003


MIAMI Immigrants on tour to fight for equal rights 'Freedom bus' rides, organized by unions with an eye on potential members, will travel to Washington, D.C., and New York City for rallies. BY RICHARD BRAND rbrand@herald.com

The ''freedom bus rides'' departing this morning from downtown Miami and other cities across America are being billed as protests for undocumented immigrant workers' rights.

But they are as much about the labor unions that have organized the campaign, reaching out to a constituency once regarded as a threat.

Following the method of the 1960s freedom bus riders who crisscrossed America seeking civil rights for blacks, the riders from Florida will travel across the South for eight days on their way to Washington, D.C., and New York City for rallies. They are criticizing President Bush's immigration policies, demanding the right to reunite families split by immigration laws, protection of workers' rights regardless of legal status and creation of a more streamlined process to legalize immigrants.

''When you come in here, they don't treat you well,'' said Marie Sylvain, 47, who came from Haiti by boat 22 years ago, leaving her children behind. She is riding on the bus to demand reunification of immigrant families.

The rides, which have been organized by a coalition of labor unions and immigrant rights groups, underscore a recent shift in policy by unions in favor of immigrants.

For decades, most unions sought tighter immigration restrictions out of fear that a flood of low-income workers would reduce wages of members. Those same unions are now embracing an estimated nine million undocumented immigrants across the country as a new pool for recruitment.

The shift comes at a time when union rolls and political clout are declining, largely because of reductions in the number of blue-collar manufacturing jobs that once formed a union power base.

''They're struggling to organize, and this plays into expanding their union membership,'' said Harry Katz, a professor at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. ``In that sense, it's self-serving.''

The major policy reversal became official in February 2000 when the AFL-CIO, which serves an an umbrella organization for many unions, reversed its historic anti-immigration stance.

The bus rides show that new pro-immigrant policy being put into action. Some union leaders say they hope it translates into more clout at the ballot box.

''If more undocumented workers became voters, we'd see a dramatic shift in public policy,'' said Monica Russo, president of the Service Employees International Union's Florida chapter, one of the Miami bus organizers.

One of the riders will be Rose Assinthe, a healthcare worker at a nursing home who is a member of the Service Employees International Union.

She has taken two weeks of unpaid vacation to make the trip.

''In the United States, we have to fight for everything,'' said Assinthe, a Haitian immigrant. ``I am going to Washington to tell our story, and let people know what we go through.''

While the freedom ride organizers say that the buses will carry undocumented workers, fewer than 10 of the 60 riders on the Miami bus are undocumented.

The majority are union leaders, union members and documented immigrants.

Organizers would not identify the undocumented workers before the ride out of concern that publication of their names could result in legal troubles.

Two weeks ago, riders on the Miami bus were instructed not to reveal their immigration status -- undocumented or otherwise -- to news reporters or even to fellow riders.

All riders were also required to sign a waiver saying they understood the ``risks related to immigration matters.''

The waiver, a copy of which was obtained by The Herald, released organizers from liability if participants are deported.

Organizers say they are worried about protests against the bus, saying hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan have promised a ''rolling blockade'' to slow passage through Florida.

But the most formidable opposition may come in Washington, where some policymakers and pundits have criticized the bus rides as a ploy to reward illegal behavior.

''Any event that advertises the participation of illegal aliens ought to be raided, and the illegal aliens deported,'' said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates tighter restrictions on immigrants.

Buses are also departing this week from Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston, Chicago, Minneapolis and Boston.

The Miami bus on the ''Road to Citizenship'' will make stops in five states along the way to Washington to highlight issues specific to immigrants in the region.

[FITZ]

The distinction between legal and illegal immigrants is increasingly blurred by programs such as the amnesty

I think what is probably more important are immigrants requiring handout programs like food stamps and welfare ---- legal or illegal versus those immigrants who are self-reliant. Add in those who deal in stolen and document fraud and other serious crimes ---- legal or illegal versus those immigrants who otherwise respect the laws here.

There are some hard-working non-violent illegals who are better than many of the legals including those previously amnestied soaking up the welfare.

[ETERNAL WARMING]

Need the names of your homeboys for tomorrows action? Go to numbersusa.com. You can check their voting records and fax them for free if you wish.

[anymouse]

Where the h@ll is INS?!!

[Victoria_R]

I went to Senator Craig's office in Boise, Idaho and complained about the "Freedom Ride", in-state tuition rates for illegals, and driver's licenses for illegals, since Craig wants to grant "amnesty" to illegal aliens that work in agriculture and has co-sponsored a bill for in-state tuition for illegals.

The poor interns and office workers looked rather stunned after I got done. I only asked them: "Where were they when my civil rights were violated when my driver's license was pulled without due process?", "Where was my cut rate tuition when I went to college?", "Where's my job that I've been looking for the last 2 years?"

They really get uncomfortable when you ask how to become an illegal alien so you can get free stuff.

[JustPiper]

Would you please add Daily Thread Admin? This will be ongoing for the next week.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Very important issue. Bump!

[JustPiper]

From an Article on WND by our very own Freeper Kyle Williams!

Bush's bum strategy
Posted: September 27, 2003


"What about domestic policy," you ask. Well, from what I see, President Bush's work on his domestic agenda has been at least a few bars under a success. Sure, the tax cut was awesome and … ? The fact is that he's gotten beat up on the home front.

Back to the new tone of Washington: This has been the factor that has held the president back in policy setting – unless, of course, he really set out to be so liberal from the beginning. It's simple; he wanted to gain friends and respect in D.C., but that didn't work out.

President Bush isn't stupid, so he knows whether his strategy is working – and the new tone has never worked. It looks like all he's doing is avoiding controversy whenever possible to gain political capital.

Thus, I'm beginning to wonder what all his political capital had been saved for – maybe it's just going to rot away. Either this next year is going to be a year that Bush will take strong stands (and such controversy isn't likely in an election year) or he's going to float along and waste his position of authority and possibly go down in the books as a one-term, moderate president – like his dad.

President Bush is no longer unbeatable and the chances of him losing are growing. According to an NCB-Wall Street Journal poll, President Bush's approval ratings have dipped to the lowest his administration has ever seen: 49 percent.

Moreover, according to the latest polling from Newsweek, 43 percent of registered voters say they'd vote for Clark or lean toward Clark, compared to 47 percent who'd vote for Bush or lean toward Bush.

Excluding the tax cut, Bush has all but ignored his conservative base with his new tone with the liberals in D.C. – and it might have worked, but it didn't. He sucked up to the liberal leadership, and they stabbed him in the back.

President Bush has been able to try out his new tone in Washington in the second half of this year, and the success has been less than grand. While it may seem logical to avoid controversy, he has alienated the base that elected him – conservatives. With conservatives unhappy and his so-called "friends" bashing him daily, Bush and his political geniuses need to figure something out.

What they need to figure out is this: A line has been drawn. He either must return to a conservative base or commit to a liberal base.

[CPT Clay]

Good read

[JustPiper]

CL please ping the Illinois Freepers, the bus could be headed their way.The Chgo Trib is one we are not suppose to post, so I will post exerpts from the paper about the March:

9-28
`Freedom ride' seeks new rights for immigrants
By William Grady

Thousands gathered in downtown Chicago on Saturday to cheer as about 180 Chicago-area residents set off on a nationwide "freedom ride" for immigrant workers that is intended to echo the civil-rights movement of the 1960s.

Three of the four buses from Chicago left for Michigan on a relatively direct trip to Washington and New York City. The fourth bus will wind its way through Illinois, with stops in Rockford, Springfield, Carbondale and other Downstate cities before turning east.

Graciela Contreras, a coordinator for Hispanic ministry for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.
(Shows the Catholics are backing this)

many representing unions and community and religious groups--who plan to join in meetings Wednesday and Thursday with members of Congress and a rally next Saturday in New York.(more backers)

The freedom ride is part of a nationwide campaign begun by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union to promote the legalization of undocumented workers
(THIS says it all! How does one join a union if they are ILLEGAL?!)

In Chicago, the rally at the Federal Plaza in the Loop attracted people from unions and groups such as ACORN, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and the Illinois Hunger Coalition. It also featured politicians such as U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Illinois Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) and Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White.
(2 more for the SELLOUT list!) Acorn ran the streets of downtown Chgo. Saturday with their little yello signs!)

"It's time that we fix our broken immigration laws," said Dan Schlademan, a vice president and organizing director of the Service Employees International, whose members include the janitors who clean buildings in Chicago and the suburbs. "They pay taxes. They're here because they want to take care of their families and there's nothing wrong with that."

A small group of counter-demonstrators, one carrying a flag with a swastika, protested from across Dearborn Street.

TaDA!

[JustPiper]

We all agree on one thing here this has got to stop and we have an overwhelming job ahead of us.

If we break it down to the 50 states and get help from Freepers in each, we can do this better.

What I am proposing is study your state and politicians, media etc. Make a list for us of their names and organizations etc. We need to also find possible donors for OUR bus ride to DC for a weekend valley and those willing to contribute. We need politicians that back us on those buses.

So please compile your list and post it on this thread so we know the SELLOUTS and our ALLIES!!!

[honeygrl]

I got an email about this from Rock The Vote encouraging people to support it. That tells me I should definitely be against it before even knowing details. LOL If you go to the IWFR website, you can view a flyer where they are trying to get Unions legalized for "immigrants" saying that "immigrants" frequently get threatened by employers saying they will call INS if they try to form a union and they think they have a right to form one anyway. The way it sounds, they want unions for illegals.

[Jim Robinson]

REMINDER: Profanity, racism, threats of violence, etc, are NOT welcome on FR and will NOT be tolerated.
Jim

[MD_Willington_1976]

This whole subject gets me choked (MAD) I have been living in the USA legally, for almost 4 years now paying taxes, contributing to the national and local economy, obeying the laws (AKA being a good citizen & supporting the country).

My wife and I are not refugees, we do not require any special treatment, we are both college educated, and we do not expect any handouts from the local or federal government.

But..because the government considers us Non-Immigrant Aliens we are not able to obtain citizenship...

How come some (excuse my rudeness) Illegally entering, ass-backward, non-english speaking, looking for a hand-out & free ride BUM can get recognition as an Immigrant Alien when everyone damn well knows that they will be a burden on a local and federal level until they can get their crap together...

BTW I have friends here in the USA from all over the world..the thing is, they entered this country Legally.

Ok I am done ranting...for now

[JustPiper]

Would you please delete Freedom Ride from this title, this is now just activst protesting for the illegals?