The Three Readings

Hopefully this will work because the last few times I've gone to post on here, it gave me crap. The issue of immigration does not interest me in the slightest, so my thoughts on the readings are going to be quite lack-luster.

Powell/Garcia "PA City Puts Illegal Immigrants on Notice"
I did not like how this one was written, so it was a little hard to stay focused on it. I thought it was interesting how the Barletta guy basically based all of his opinions and "profound observations" on a simple act of crime that just so happened to involve 4 illegals. It just seems like a bunch of bull to me.

Scully "When the Melting Pot Boils Over"
I liked the way this one was written and I thought it had much more detailed coverage of the Hazelton issues. I agree with the lawsuit that was being made, saying that dealing with illegals is a FEDERAL job, not a town's job, and that Barletta has overstepped his bounds. I found it interesting how within the town Barletta received 9,500 signs of support and only 230 of opposition. It was nice to hear a familiar name (Rick Santorum) in the article... when I read it I thought, "Hey, I know that guy!" and I didn't feel as lost.

Nunberg "Lingo Jingo"
This one was sooooo boring that I did not even bother to attempt to finish it. I also thought it was highly repetitive. I will agree though that I have noticed over time our nation's need for "English-only." America has been suppressing the language of minorites for ages now to create one major language. As much as I support speaking the language of the country you are living in, I also think that people should be able to speak their own language when appropriate. Suppressing language is suppressing culture. The one thing that I actually liked about this article was the tid bit about shady statistics. How the hell can 32 million Americans not be proficient at English when only 18 million immigrants have come in FIVE years??? That just seems wiggidy wack.

While skimming over these articles I did notice a few things. It seems to be a common misconception that when people speak a different language, they are illegals. This is not true! There are plenty of legal immigrants that speak different languages, and plenty of citizens. In the first 2 articles immigrants and crime seemed to be the main theme. Once again, egotistical Americans are assuming that foreigners are bad and are bringing the crime, because "we are better than that." Crime is always going to be there, whether it is committed by citizens or foreigners, so people should stop playing the blame game. And that's my two cents.