And to think people want to move to the suburbs to live in McMansions to escape this. I just don't understand. Andrea - I actually think I have a story to top yours but I will not go into it now.......... because this is about hostas, right?

Andrea said: "He finally whipped down a side street and slowed down and Josh jumped off."

Did Josh land in a pile of hostas? Or perhaps some companion plants such as heuchera? Inquiring minds do need to know - please!

Teresa

WOW!! God was watching over your DH for certain! I'm so thankful he is okay. God knows who that creep is, He says, "what a man sows he also reaps", so it may not be today, but he will get his!

We've got so many illegals here it isn't funny. I served on a grand jury and 85% of the cases were related to illegals, either assualt (mostly on their girlfriends, none of the cases were married, just living and having children here in the States), drugs, alcohol or robbery. The overflow of illegals is at crisis proportions, its causing emergency rooms to shut down, schools are overburdened (they don't even force the children to speak English!), my taxes pay for their "right to seek counsel" when they're arrested...they're smart enough to know that if they quit,"the system" will pay for an attorney for them.

People should start cutting their own lawns, bussing their own tables, and yes (Senator McCain) I'll pick my own lettuce. Do we really need 12 million illegals here to pick produce?? And even if they're doing jobs no one else wants to do, they're not paying taxes, they're making a lot more than a CITIZEN doing the job would make. SHAME ON US FOR OUR GREED!!! I work with folks that are here legally, and love them. They pay taxes and want to be assimilated into our culture, they're not leeches sapping the life blood out of middle class Americans!!!! Sigh, now I'm all revved up.

I'll stop, but again I'm glad your DH is okay.

I hope your husband is ok. We also have a high number of illegals here, especially in my school. The kids we have are generally very nice kids. They learn English fairly quickly and their families try to be involved in school even if they don't speak English. I have elementary and preschool students. They do leave here around Christmas and don't come back until it warms up, with no school in between that time (they also tend to forget English in that time). In Green Bay, which is a half and hour away, they are having more and more very violent crimes committed and then they flee the state.

playinmud, AMEN! You said it all.

ademink, glad your DH is ok.

OMG Andrea!

Thank God your DH is okay. I can't even imagine! We have very few illegals living in my home town, but there are a lot of landscapers and house cleaning services that I often wonder about the employees.

A propos of this topic, someone sent me this email a few days ago, and though it is only "partly true" according to Snopes, it is still worth taking a look at the link...

Alexa

Here is a link that might be useful: Official Language Vote

Hmmm, Lautenberg D-NJ voted against it. Figures. That's what I hate about NJ, its a flaming liberal state.

A wealthy woman was kidnapped this summer by a day laborer...he walked into her garage pointed a gun at her, took her to a barn at another location he knew and left her bound up there. She escaped and fled to a home and the police got the guy. He was going to hold her for ransome. Thank the Lord he didn't kill her!!! These kinds of things are happening more and more, when are we going to wake up?

Oh no, I'm on a soap box again...so sorry.

PIM

wow...well, the point of this thread wasn't to bash illegal aliens. :) I have mixed feelings on the issue but can say that I think incidents like this are the exception rather than the rule.

Ademink, I'm so glad your husband is ok.

Diann

I think what's great about this side of the forum is we can 'stray' on a thread, giving our thoughts and opinions.
After all, isn't that what we'd do if we were all sitting down in someones kitchen over coffee? Everyone is different and have different opinions. I personally enjoy reading about the different opinions. Makes the world go around, right?

I'm not bashing legal immigrants...or people that want to enjoy the wonders of this country. I just wish they'd come here legally and follow the rules like we're forced to.

Think about it...they're afforded more rights than we are. They don't go to jail for not paying taxes, but the minute I decide not to pay Uncle Sam, I know they'd be after me for tax evasion. They get free hospital/doctor care, free legal counsel, kids go to school for free, etc. I have to pay for all of these perks.

Anyway I know this wasn't your intent, it just strikes a nerve because of what I see in the local municipalities.

I am very glad your DH is okay.

Ademink, First I want to say that I am SO happy your dh is all right, sure could have turned out different and I'm glad it did not. Sorry he had to go through it, but he made it through it and that is the most important part. Give him an extra hug from me.

Second, I'm not so sure illegal bashing is the proper word for some of the feelings here. Here is how I see it.

This country was based on imagrants, we are all decendants of these imagrants, personally, I am of English and Scottish heiritage. And I do believe our doors should remain open, that is what this country is based on.

BUT..........

But for those who are willing to become citizens, pay taxes, and live under the same rules we must live under. If they are not willing to do this, then show them the border. Stop making it so easy for illegals to live here and actually get better treatment than many of the citizen who slave away at a full time job to make a life for themselves. Don't speak Spanish in our schools, make them learn our language if they want the benifit of the educational system our tax money pays for.

Part of our countries wonder is the diversity of cultures that have merged. And keep your culture, but if you want to live here, do it legally, if you have nothing to hide, you can do it. And that is also an important point, 'if you have nothing to hide'. I welcome all decent people regardless of heiritage, decent being the key word.

Climbing off my soap box, lol.

Thanks for summing it up Choco!

Oh, I am in only really quickly to check you folks out, but I just want to say I am so thankful your "Josh" was okay, afterall! How scary, and how abruptly life can make sudden turns!!!

I have to rush back to my friend who had radical foot surgery today! She and her husband were so certain they could get her from the car to their house without help and I KNEW that wouldn't be the case! She CANNOT put any pressure on her foot AT ALL, and between her hubby, mine and myself she almost did and almost passed out! They had to bring a chair out for her to sit on till she could recover and then continue on! I am very worried about how she is going to deal with this for 6 weeks, so we're going back over to probably stay the night and I will certainly be there alot off and on, mostly "on" for the next few days!!!

Take care and have fun for me till I can pop back in quickly!!

That sums it up,very well Choc! My grandparents on my father's side came here from Italy in the late 1800's,and they had to learn English,just like all the other Europians. Do you know that there places in Miami,where they don't even speak English? And why is everything printed in English and Spanish in this country? I agree with everything you said,about the diversity in this country. Who among us can say they are Indian,the only native American? Nuff' said! Phil

What part of the word "illegal" doesn't this government understand? If you or I do anything "illegal" we will be fined or go to jail. What's wrong with that picture?
I personally believe in putting the military along the border. Or maybe an electric fence hooked up to 220 v?
Now that would be a deterrent! Oops, my ultra, ultra right wing opinions are coming out. I'll try to control my tongue, or rather my fingers. lol

Ademink, how's your husband today?

When the government starts punishing those places that hire illegals the problem will diminish. If you have the threat of putting someone in jail for a year or two for hiring an illegal it will discourage hiring them. And make it apply to both the manager that hires and the head of the company that looks the other way. The illegals are here because there is a demand for people that will work in appalling unsafe conditions for low wages. Clean up the working conditions, make it safe, and pay a living wage and you won't have a demand for illegals. Don't blame the illegals for coming, they are looking to provide a better life for their family and there are people here willing to exploit that.

Diann

They all need to be sent back where they come from and stay there. IMHO

Sassy wrote: What part of the word "illegal" doesn't this government understand?

When children aren't safe on capital hill I think we have bigger things to worry about. And to think others in Washington knew about the inappropriate behavior and let it continue.....

I'd better not get started!

Teresa

Diann, he's totally fine, thanks for asking!

Playing the devil's advocate here re: the illegal aliens, I can say this much:

If I were living in the conditions and poverty that many live in down in Mexico (have seen it first-hand many times) and had to provide for my family...would I sneak across the border and do what it takes to survive?

Probably.

Ok, start the tomato-throwing. LOL

This summer on a show called 30 Days which is produced my Morgan Spurlock (he did that movie Super Size Me) they had a man who does voluntary border patrol live with a family of illegal aliens for a month. During part of this time he actually went down to Mexico to see where they had lived before sneaking over the border. Let's just say he had a whole new prespective about illegal aliens. The house, if you can call it that, had no roof, no running water, electricity, etc. The family was currently living in a one bedroom apartment in California (mom, dad, and three kids). Like I said above, the kids we have at my school are very nice, and their parents are a lot of times more involved in school, even though they don't speak English, than most of our other parents. So I won't be throwing any tomatoes at you Andrea!! I do think we need to do something to control our border problem, and I also think it's the Mexican government that needs to do something more to help their own people.

Andrea, thank God your husband is OK. It could have been a catastrophic event in your lives. I shudder to think of all that could have happened.

Choc summed up my thoughts on illegal. I can't improve upon what she said.

It's obviously not a simple problem with a simple solution, but, heck let's see SOME progress for crying out loud!

As a teenager I used to live 20 miles from the border and been down to Mexico many times. I've seen how the people down there live, the shacks, no water, no electricity.

My kinfolk are appalachian (hillbillies), as a kid I used to spend some of my summers with them and they lived in shacks down hollers in WV, no water, no electric. The difference is they never stole a thing from anyone to make a better life for themselves.

I just got off the phone with my mother who lives in So. Calif. She was telling me how she doesn't know how she's going to pay for her $800 per month medicine without selling her home. She then said, "Those illegals come over here and get everything for free." This is crazy!

I blame our government for not doing something about it.
We have fences around our prisons to keep people that do illegal things inside, why can't we build a fence along the border to keep people who do illegal thing out? Granted, it would cost a fortune, but it would pay for itself in the long run.

I also blame the Mexican government for not doing something to control their own people. I'm sure we aid them, maybe we should stop the flow of money to them until they do some policing of their people. The Mexican government obviously doesn't want to do anything.

If everyone comes here we'll all be living in shacks with no water or electricity.

I am going to add another opinion here since it was brought up.

Many illegals come here to make a better life for themselves and their children because their own government is doing nothing to help them. And again, that is what this country is based on, I have a little Irish in me, so many of this countries Irish came over because they were starving in the great potoatoe famine.

That being said.

Yes come over to make a better life for yourself and your children, but DO IT LEGALLY!!!! This country is known to welcome and becoming a citizen is not all that hard. Again, if you have nothing to hide, prove yourself a decent person, you can become a citizen.