May 1st General Strike and Boycott/ 1 May Paro General

I'm so glad you're going, Liz. Give a cheer for me. I'll be there in spirit.

Now if we could just get other law breaking elements to come out to the street and identify themselves, law enforcement would be a piece of cake. Identifying who is hiring illegals will be trivial on May 1st. A list of companies shut down by the absence of illegals will provide notification for where raids should be conducted by the INS. Thanks.

I'm thinking there should be a protest for drug dealer's rights, and may be a take a gang member to work day. Come on out. Show everyone who you are. We appreciate it.

Illegal residence in Mexico is a felony. When will this group be protesting there? I'd like to record that march on video. Let me know when a location and date is scheduled.

Well, it will be an interesting day I'm sure. You're right though. It won't impact my life in any significant way. And of course there are always unintended consequences.

Of course, you're not trying to put words in my mouth. You wouldn't use such an irrational and lazy argument tactic, I'm sure. You might want to read the post again as it doesn't mention a people. It refers to a government and it's law. If you equate all illegals in the US with only Mexicans, then the question of race is one that you might ponder for yourself.

My country is struggling with corruption, war and a disregard for the laws that have until recently allowed peoples to join in forming a union which respects the law. The country is headed by leadership that has done much damage. This issue is a tactic in societial and voter disharmony.

The Republicans benefit at the ballot box when the nation is divided. So they've carelessly set us opposed to one another with the use of moral, ethical and social issues. They've create conflict for the purpose of disunity in the opposition party and left those conflicts unresolved to simmer and stew. The potential for chaos is building. I'm worried about my country. There is so much attention placed upon those things which separate us that it's becoming more difficult to recall what unites us.

Issues used to divide us and prevent us from uniting on the more critical national issues like the shifting economy, the environment and war are easy enough to list.

1)Abortion
2)Religion
3)Gay Marriage
4)Illegal immigration

Our divison allowed Bush a second term. Playing the country like an instrument, Republican strategists have called to issue our beliefs, set them in conflict and walked away. Dangerous business if you ask me.

As to criminality, coming here is not where the illegal behavior ends for those who start illegally. Those coming for work must purchase forged documents, commit fraud and/or falisfy documents themselves to work illegally. So it's not a simple matter of merely crossing the border. Any of those acts would land you and I in jail. Further, 30% of the US prison population came to the US illegally. You want to break the law? Go ahead. Just be prepared for the consequences, such as, losing your job, being deported or maybe going to jail.

I'm terribly disappointed in US citizens who don't realize that rewarding illegal behavior is against the fundamentals of a nation state founded on the principle of law. How do you explain to the immigrants who have waited sometimes for 10 years to come to the US legally that some can break the law and come ahead of them? A friend of mine waited 7 years to enter the US legally from Lebanon.

As for responsibility, we have the responsibility to hold our law makers accountable for policy. The citizens of the US are not required to bribe or otherwise pay off the citizens of another country who have chosen to abdicate their own responsibilities and flee here.

You suggest that "we" in the US should be responsible and change our own country for those who have not been responsible and changed their own countries. Mexico is corrupt. That explains the plight of its citizens more than the policies of the US which have included forgiveness of debt and the $50 Billion in the 1990s to stablize the peso. Those loans were paid back in full.

To suggest that the US is wholely responsible for Mexico's woes is merely inaccurate. And such a focus is to play handily the Republican game of distraction.

I'm struggling with trying to understand a peripheral issue - though I am open to hearing that it's beside the point. Can someone please explain to me why "we" are not also going after employers of illegal immigrants? From my local paper this morning:

Some big businesses are shutting down operations, corporate spokesmen said: Six of 14 Perdue Farms plants will close; Gallo Wines in Sonoma, Calif., is giving its 150 employees the day off; Tyson Foods, the world's largest meat producer, will shut five of its nine beef plants and four of six pork plants.

If our gov't is so key to crack down on these workers, could they not penalize the folks who are so eager to employ them? We're not talking Modest Joe's House Painting here, we're talking TYSON FOODS.

Understand this is not my position. In my attempt to grasp the underlying issues, it seems to me this critical component of the illegal worker discussion is AWOL.

Nerd's Eye View