from my friend in New York

ORANGE COUNTY ( CALIFORNIA ) NEWSPAPER
This is a very good letter to the editor. This woman made some good points.
For some reason, people have difficulty structuring their arguments when
arguing against supporting the currently proposed immigration revisions.
This lady made the argument pretty simple. NOT printed in the Orange County Paper...................

Newspapers simply won't publish letters to the editor which they either deem politically incorrect (read below) or which does not agree with the
philosophy they're pushing on the public. This woman wrote a great letter to
the editor that should have been published; but, with your help it will get
published via cyberspace!
New Immigrants
From: "David LaBonte"
My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC Register
which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to "print" it myself by
sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so inclined.

Dave LaBonte (signed)

Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange
County Register:

Dear Editor:
So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made
up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the
Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated
the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.
Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr.
Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of
immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of
Europe to come to the United States , people had to get off a ship and stand
in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new
life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate
into one culture.

Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to
protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had
brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity. Most of their
children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along
side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy, France and Japan . None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of America as one people. When we liberated France , no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are in 2006 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same
rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a
different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a
guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not
what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who
landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all
the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a
land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life.  I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by
those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens
to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I
wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

(signed) Rosemary LaBonte

KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING. FOR THE WRONG THINGS TO PREVAIL THE RIGHTFUL
MAJORITY NEEDS TO REMAIN COMPLACENT AND QUIET!! LET THIS NEVER HAPPEN!!

I hope this letter gets read by millions of people all across the nation!!

Iditarod The Last Great Race

Click on the Title to Link to the Official Website for the Race to Nome, women and men and their athletic dogs mushing 1049 miles. At the Official Website look to the right hand sidebar. There you will find a Link to Iditarod Tracker live GPS! It's a test program by ION/Earth. Only a handful of the 96 Competitors this year agreed to wear/carry the GPS device. One of those mushers is Martin Buser, one of my faves. Martin's son, Rohn, is doing the Race this year, his first Iditarod.

DeeDee Jonrowe is back. Susan Butcher was the first woman to race, Libby Riddles was the first to win and DeeDee is also one of the top women pioneers in what had been a sport for men only.

DeeDee survived breast cancer and NO ONE is gonna make fun of her bright pink leads and dog harnesses!

The real Athletes in this Race are the Dogs, who love to run and work. 

The Race Officially begins at 2p.m. Alaska Time, Sunday March 2. That would be 6 p.m. East Coast Time. It's a four hour time difference between Alaska and East Coast.

This is a truly Alaskan Sport, the Iditarod, yet now we have mushers from all over the Lower 48, from all over the World! 

More News to come, just check out the Link in the Title.

MaryAlice