This Is Gonna Leave A Mark

Yep, I can see where this is heading.

British music producer Adam Kidron says that when he came up with the idea of a Spanish-language version of the U.S. national anthem, he saw it as an ode to the millions of immigrants seeking a better life.

But in the week since Kidron announced the song _ which features artists such as Wyclef Jean, hip-hop star Pitbull and Puerto Rican singers Carlos Ponce and Olga Tanon _ it has been the target of a fierce backlash.

"Would the French accept people singing the La Marseillaise in English as a sign of French patriotism? Of course not," said Mark Krikorian, head of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that supports tighter immigration controls.

And it isn't going to be pretty. This isn't 1968. They aren't former slaves, they aren't even citizens. People are going to get pissed.

May 1 protest aims to "close" cities

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pro-immigration activists say a national boycott and marches planned for May 1 will flood U.S. streets with millions of Latinos to demand amnesty for illegal immigrants and shake the ground under Congress as it debates reform.

Such a massive turnout could make for the largest protests since the civil rights era of the 1960s, though not all Latinos -- nor their leaders -- were comfortable with such militancy, fearing a backlash in Middle America.

"There will be 2 to 3 million people hitting the streets in Los Angeles alone. We're going to close down Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Tucson, Phoenix, Fresno," said Jorge Rodriguez, a union official who helped organize earlier rallies credited with rattling Congress as it debates the issue.

Comments

[gahrie]

1) The "bilingual" national anthem is an outrage. The supporters are claiming that we misunderstand, this is how the new immigrants are showing their patriotism. I (and most Americans) respond...You don't understand, Americans show their patriotism by singing the National Anthem that represents all of us....the one we already have in English.

This is just one more instance of militant Hispanics refusing to assimilate.

2) I doubt that the organizers of the boycott will get the turnout they are expecting. If they do however, it will have exactly the opposite effect as what they are expecting. You can kick the American people in the teeth for only so long before they finally get pissed off.

[tracker]

Jorge Rodriquez, a 'union official' is, clearly, advocating, aiding, abetting, encouraging a traitorous act of war against the United States of America, in a time of war, or has everyone forgotten?

This is nothing less than monsterous. The jerk should be arrested and incarcerated for his actions.

If nothing else, if this bogus 'protest' is held anywhere in the USA on the 1st of May, the military should be in place, ready to respond, to war initiated by the el presidente of mexico, and carried out within this country by the illegal aliens already here. 11 million? 20 million? No one knows, but they are clearly on the side of Osama
and Al Queda...they certainly do not merit consideration for eventual citizenship. What an OUTRAGE!

[hobo]

The idea that "[militant] Hispanics refuse to assimilate" is becoming a tragic mistake in the intelligent thought process. These (those) people are not refusing to assimilate; just the opposite, really. The ones who bypass the legal processes to get here, do so for economic reasons, literally a virtual act of desperation to survive and they regularly send money home to families who are so destitute, a 4-paned window with all panes intact is a blessing. I have lived and worked around the illegal border crossers for many years and have seen the way they work and when they are paid through a payroll system, they pay taxes like the rest of us. One thing I will grant them is a tremendous respect for their courage and their faith to their families. There have been many who have eventually gone on to earn high school equivalency diplomas and even college degrees and their kids become great citizens along with the package. As I write this, I can't help but compare them to the African Americans who have been in this country for a very long time and who continue to cling to the idea that society owes them and they have people like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan who continue to encourage them to expect handouts and special programs that places them in jobs and college programs for which they are under qualified. I can't recall the publication (really, I'm sorry), but a few years ago there was a story about entrance qualifications to various medical schools and a couple had a special entrance program for blacks that allowed them to enter with a B average while all else had to jump through standard stringent academic hoops.

While I don't condone that there are many in this country who bypassed the standard entry system, I'm not going to lose any sleep over the issue because in the long run, the problem will become resolved with out my help even if it were offered. In closing, let me assure you that there are some very conservative Hispanics out here; many who are much more intolerable than the white mainstream liberals who support and promote social programs that continue to breed dependency on society.

Come May 1st, I'll probably stay home to avoid the crowds. I even avoid shopping around Christmas time.

[gahrie]

You need to look up the word "assimilate". It has nothing to do with how hard people work.

[rwilymz]

"I have lived and worked around the illegal border crossers for many years and have seen the way they work and when they are paid through a payroll system, they pay taxes like the rest of us."

Most illegal labor is illegal because it is cash-only, and from which payroll taxes are not taken. Agricultural day labor, for instance.

Now, the illegals who work for Walmart cleaning toilets? They pay taxes. But because they are paid under minimum wage, the taxes are deducted accordingly, and the taxes they pay are a pittance.

"I can't help but compare them to the African Americans who have been in this country for a very long time and who continue to cling to the idea that society owes them ..."

I've noticed that as well, and while I think Vicente Fox is a socialist drip who's actually holding the door open on his own citizens' northern exit, he was absolutely correct in saying that Mexicans will do jobs other Americans won't.

But that said, a huge portion of the Mexicans here do no jobs at all, and instead move here for our welfare umbrella and send *that* money home.

The analogy I always use is this: if a homeless guy breaks into your house because it's warm and you have food in the fridge, what should we be doing with him? The only [serious] options offered to date have been:
1] accuse him of stealing the silver and throw him in jail; or
2] give him the guest room, the spare car keys and sign him up on your medical plan.

Is that the best we can come up with?

[KayCee]

gahrie, you have said everything I would have said, much more eloquently than I could have, so thank you. I agree completely - The "bilingual" national anthem is an outrage!

[Fausta]

And who came up with the idea of a "bilingual" version?
A Brit! http://badhairblog.blogspot.com/2006/04/sing-it-in-english.html

[MrsLevy]

My grandparents sang the anthem in Norwegian, German and Dutch. That didn't stop them from fighting for America in WWI, or their children from fighting for America in WWII.

It's the words that count, not the language.

MrsLevy

[aurora]

The Republicans already used "stop hippies from burning the US flag" and "stop gay people from getting married". Now it's time to rally the base and "stop mexkins from singing our songs!" in the run-up to the 2006 elections. Oh, and the tax-n-spend libruls are for big government. That too.

[rwilymz]

"It's the words that count, not the language."

True enough.

I've got no real problem with the national anathema being sung in a foreign language; I've got a problem interspersing the Spanish phrases of the song with English bitches and gripes about immigration policy.

This song, done in this way, is not an attempt to show love for the US and "damn, I'm glad to be here where I can find a job"; it's "you OWE it to me to take me, and because you made it so hard, I'm going to do nothing but grumble and complain".

That we can do without.

Like the pro-immigrant rallies where the Mexicans, so glad to be here, are carrying Mexican flags and chanting anti-US slogans. Um... hombritos... if you want to be here, then at least *pretend* you want to be *here*. Say something nice and carry the US flag, por favor.

Gracias.

[rwilymz]

"The Republicans already used ... "stop gay people from getting married"."

So did the Democrats. No one's hands are clean on that.

[Steve Sailer]

It turns out the song's producer Adam Kidron is not Hispanic at all. Indeed, he's from a very interesting family. He was born in England, where his father, Michael Kidron, was a famous Marxist theoretician and his uncle, the late "Tony Cliff," was the leader of the largest Trotskyite party in Britain, the Socialist Workers Party or SWP.

There's a lot of amusing information on Kidron's background at:

http://isteve.blogspot.com/2006/04/who-is-adam-kidron-man-behind-nuestro.html

[cheerleader babe]

ofia accueille un forum du business bulgaro-israelien, organise par la Chambre de commerce et dÒindustrie de Bulgarie. La delegation israelienne comprend des representants de dix compagnies des secteurs des prestations financieres, des hautes technologies, des prestations juridiques et de consulting, de lÒagriculture, de lÒagroalimentaire et des telecommunications.

[euroteensxxx]

I've pretty much been doing nothing worth mentioning. I haven't gotten anything done today. I haven't been up to much , but oh well. I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen, but so it goes. Pfft.

[xxx street asian]

I haven't been up to anything. My mind is like an empty room, but such is life. Maybe tomorrow. Today was a loss, but eh.

[gay dome]

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