Results tagged “immigration” from The Daily Nugget

At least that's what the Bush Administration thinks. Bush signed a bill today that authorizes the building of 700 miles of fencing along the Mexican border, a border that is actually 2,100 miles long. What he didn't mention is that the measure signed doesn't fund the project, which nobody, including the President, knows how much will ultimately cost. Ridiculous.

The Bush Administration apparently didn't get the memo on the fact that walls typically don't work at protecting national borders. It didn't work for China against Mongol invaders (it was too expensive to finish and Mongols could "go around" it), it didn't work in Berlin (shooting people on sight was the major deterrent there), it doesn't work in Israel (except to inspire more suicide bombings), and it won't work here.

Since funding for this project is not likely to ever happen, the signing of this bill is just pre-election posturing by the Bush Administration in trying to garner ultra-conservative Republican borders that want the fence. Meanwhile, they are alienating conservative Republicans that think that a fence is an unnecessary expense and a bad idea. Whatever.

As I walked to work at around 10:30AM, I got a chance to see about 4,000 immigrant marchers gathered at Yerba Buena Gardens behind the Metreon. There was a Mayan dance troupe dancing for the crowd accompanied with music and chanting. It was definitely a festival atmosphere as they prepared to head to the Embarcadero to start marching to the Civic Center. Sadly, I didn't have a camera on me (this is a Chronicle photo by Frederic Larson).

As I walked around the crowd on Mission Street due to the large overflow I saw ex-mayor Willie Brown. As always he was decked out in a three piece suite and wearing a hat. He must have been hot as hell because it was sunny and almost 80F degrees today. In any case, he seemed totally incognito as he walked through the crowd, since many of the marchers probably had no idea who he was. He was alone, no entourage, no bodyguards, just checking out the scene. Perhaps he was hoping to be interviewed by reporters about his stance on the issue, who knows?

After I was in my building, which is on Second Street between Mission and Market streets, you could hear the group from Yerba Buena heading to the Embarcadero to Market Street. Later, as they marched down Market, you could hear the marchers from the 11th floor! I went outside to check it out for a bit. It was amazing to see what had to have been about 30,000 strong marching down Market. Not since the Iraq war protests back three years ago have I seen that many people marching in the city. It was an awesome sight to see them be so organized.

The illegal immigrants are an economic force to be reckoned with for sure. I certainly hope that an amicable solution can be reached where these individuals can pay taxes, vote, and pay back for the social services that some of them are already using. Losing them would definitely have an adverse impact to the California economy, since they make up 7 percent of the population. We'll see what happens.

"Nuestro Himno," the Spanish-speaking version of "The Star Spangled Banner" which means "Our Anthem," is causing a stir and sparking a national debate about freedom of speech, national identity, and immigrant rights. There are mixed reactions from the song that vary from elation to utter indignation. The reactions stem from the fact that it is not a straight translation of the English version, because it has to rhyme, and because its release coincides with a planned May 1 national boycott in support of immigration reforms.

Surely, we should all be proud that we live in a country where we are free to make any version of the national anthem that we see fit. "The Star Spangled Banner" is in the public domain and the music can be played on an accordion, a bassoon, an electric guitar or anything else anyone wants. Additionally, words for the music can be written or rewritten at will by anyone in any language. It is called freedom and we should all embrace it. However, some see this Spanish-speaking anthem as a threat to our national identity.

The truth is that no matter how many versions of "The Star Spangled Banner" are made, there is only one national anthem in the United States. We should all be secure in knowing that there likely will never be a congressional action to change the national anthem. For example, even though Canada has two official languages and there are English and French versions of "O Canada" the English version is the official version of the song.

That being said, even if this Spanish-speaking version of "The Star Spangled Banner" is officially recognized by congress two hundred years from now when the official languages of the United States are English, Spanish, and Chinese, or a mixture of the three like in Blade Runner, the English version will likely still be the official version.

Over 500,000 people marched in downtown Los Angeles today to protest a proposed federal crackdown on illegal immigration. The demonstrators oppose legislation passed by the U.S. House that would make it a felony to be in the U.S. illegally. By many accounts, this is the largest protest peaceful protest in the city's history. This doesn't count the Watts Riots or the Rodney King Riots. Those may have been larger overall, but those "protests" were anything but peaceful.

In Denver, Colorado, more than 50,000 people protested downtown Saturday, according to police who had expected only a few thousand. Phoenix was similarly surprised Friday when an estimated 20,000 people gathered for one of the biggest demonstrations in city history, and more than 10,000 marched in Milwaukee on Thursday. Thankfully none of the protests held all over the United States on this issue errupted in violence, although few sporadic arrests were made, but that's to be expected.