I make no apologies for the thoughts expressed in this blog.  I'm just trying to get my reader (cause one is usually all there is, lol) to think about the issues I raise here.


      Having been born and raised in Texas, Mexico, and the wonderful folks who hail from that great country, have always been a big part of my life.  Those "Texicans" I grew up with were generally of the hard working, hard-playing, family oriented type and I counted myself lucky, and still do, to call a whole passel of them my friends.  But we who were born in this country, and those of us who worked hard and followed all the rules to become citizens, now have a huge and nasty problem.  Yes, I'll say it out loud, even though it's completely frowned upon to do so.  Illegal aliens.  Now don't get me wrong here.  I know that even though the vast majority of the illegals now in this country come from south of the border, there are still some here illegally from all parts of the globe.  The scariest thing about this problem is, of course, the possibility that some of these people are terrorists, or are working FOR terrorists.  But that's not the major issue.  The major issue is that all of these folks, whether they be from Mexico or Guatamala, or Poland or Timbuktu, are breaking the laws of the country they profess to want to live in.
    Now I understand completely the urge to provide your family with a better way of life, who DOESN'T understand that?  But that brings us right down to the central issue of this debate as far as I am concerned....if my family needs food, and I go down to the local A & P or to Mom and Pop's Grocery and load up a cart and just walk out with it without paying, what's going to happen to me?  You know damn well what's going to happen.  I'm going to be spending my next vacation in the Crossbar Hilton.  But wait a second!!  How is this right??  Why is it any different for me to take food my family needs, break the law to improve their lot in life so to speak, than it is for people to come to this country illegally and live here without permission to better their family?  It's all breaking the law isn't it?  You're damned right it is.  And now they're wanting to pass some sort of idiotic law providing medical care and an education for the children of these people, these, well lets just say it, these criminals.  Hey, why stop with the illegals??  Why not extend this plan to the kids of all the murderers, rapists, car thieves and muggers that are in prison right now?  Hey, a criminal is a criminal.  You can try to justify it by saying "Oh, they aren't hurting anybody though...what they're doing isn't really breaking the law."  Horse poop!  They are breaking the law just as surely as a person would be if he up and decided one morning to take his deer rifle out to one of the overpasses over I-35 for a little target practice on the passing motorists.  I won't even enter into a meaningful discussion on this problem with the folks I know until they first admit that these people are breaking the immigration laws.  And one thing I know for sure, in the United States of America, a law is a law is a law.  
    The people who are in this country illegally should be arrested, and if it's their first offense, sent back to wherever they came from with a stern warning about breaking our laws.  If they are caught again, it should be a MANDATORY six to twelve months in jail with an appropriate fine, and if they are caught a third time, it should be a mandatory 2 to 5 years in prison.  Oh my!!  You say that's being too hard on these poor poor people?  Hey, why don't you try going into THEIR country illegally, and it doesn't matter what country that happens to be, and see what happens to YOU.  Yeah, there are some countries around the world that if you get caught within their borders without proper papers, you won't see the light of day again for TEN FREAKIN' YEARS, and that's if you're lucky.  If you're not born with luck of the Irish, you could wind up being blindfolded and smoking your last cigarette.  Think about that for a minute.  And then ask yourself this...how do the naturalized citizens of our country, those who have come here, followed the rules and have had the thrill of taking the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the greatest country in the world, how do they feel about these people now getting the same rights and privileges simply by being here.  That is a travesty, not to mention an injustice.  It's high time we start taking care of Americans, and let the rest of the world take care of itself.