My father told me many years ago that Americans are the most gullible people in the world. This is the second article I've written with this title with different subject content. This letter deals with elections and the way people vote. ...more

November 2, 2009

On the eve of the third-year anniversary of a proposed illegal immigration ordinance that was defeated in Avon Park, the League of United Latin American Citizens is having a recognition and awards dinner. ...more

July 24, 2009

The fury of Bill O'Reilly, Lou Dobbs and other nativists in response to the news that the prime suspect wanted for the murder of Chandra Levy is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador could easily be dismissed as racism. But complicating matters is that most Americans probably agree with them. ...more

March 1, 2009

The administration has a golden opportunity to make a dent in the illegal immigration problem. That's because huge numbers of illegals here for jobs and not the "American Dream" have returned to their home countries due to lack of work. Their homelands are now hurting and may be forced to finally start taking care of their excess populations by improving infrastructure and job opportunities rather than having another generation of children dreaming of going to El Norte in order to support their desperately poor families. What the U.S. should do is step up enforcement so that those workers cannot sneak back in. Both law and order Republicans and bleeding heart Democrats would be comfortable with that; it's a win, win situation. ...more

February 24, 2009

A bill passed Wednesday would make human smuggling a third degree felony with a five-year maximum prison sentence. ...more

February 4, 2009

President Bush granted prison releases to two former U.S. Border Patrol agents whose convictions for shooting a Mexican drug dealer fueled the national debate over illegal immigration. ...more

January 19, 2009

They'll be back. Don't think for a minute that they won't. ...more

November 22, 2008

legal and illegal - it is an article of faith that vast numbers of new arrivals are fracturing American traditions, recalibrating our values and undermining our language. Spanish spoken on the streets of L.A. is, to those inclined to see it that way, evidence of something essential slipping out of our culture, or of a scary kind of reverse assimilation. Instead of becoming more like Americans, the fear is that immigrants are trying to absorb parts of this country into Latin America. ...more

September 26, 2008

One beauty of the Internet is that you can research topics of interest. So, when Phoenix Sheriff Joe Arpaio was mentioned as a good role model for our sheriff position by Sheriff Benton's challenger and his supporters, I looked him up on the net. ...more

September 14, 2008

"Should I stay or should I go." To quote the band "The Clash," illegal immigrants to Avon Park and its environs must be asking just that question. If they stay here, they risk arrest, deportation, exploitation or worse. If they go back to Mexico, they risk greater poverty, starvation, exploitation even murder by corrupt thugs, drug dealers and cops. Nice choice, eh? I recently witnessed a demonstration against illegal immigration at the intersection of US 27 and SR 64 in Avon Park. Truck drivers were honking their air horns presumably in support of the demonstrators who proudly waved American flags next to a pickup truck with a sign against illegal immigration and for drilling domestic oil. In attendance was the former mayor of Avon Park, a huge enemy of illegal immigration. I don't know him, never met him, but I've heard him speak. Nice to know paranoia is alive and well in America. ...more

September 8, 2008