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  1. #1
    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    California lawmakers support `Great UnAmerican Boycott'

    http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledg ... 445466.htm

    Posted on Thu, Apr. 27, 2006

    California lawmakers support `Great American Boycott'

    BY STEVEN HARMON
    Knight Ridder Newspapers

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Some Democratic state lawmakers are planning to walk off the job Monday - just as millions of others around the country are expected to - in support of immigrants' rights.

    The Democratic-controlled Senate, on a party-line vote, approved a resolution supporting the May 1 "Great American Boycott 2006," which supporters say will serve as a warning to Congress to avoid punitive immigration reform.

    Organizers believe the boycott, in which large numbers of students also are expected to participate, will show just how vital immigrants are to America's major cities and the nation's economy.

    "These immigrants are fighting to embrace this nation," said Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys. "What a good time this is when people can express their anger, their frustration, desires, hopes and dreams, all for the purpose of becoming American. That's a good thing."

    Republicans voted unanimously against the resolution, saying it encourages lawlessness.

    "The Legislature should not be encouraging students to leave school," said Southern California Sen. Dave Cox. "And, it's irresponsible to recommend to people they leave their jobs, especially when many can lose those jobs, whether they obtained them illegally or not."

    Earlier this week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, an immigrant from Austria, implored people to avoid the boycott.

    "There are only downsides," he said. "It's bad for workers because some of them will get fired. It's bad for people who they work for because they will not have the workers scheduled to do the job. And it's bad for children if they don't go to school. The way you show that you can become a great contribution to this country and state is by going to school and being responsible."

    The resolution to support the boycott isn't supported by all Democrats. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, called on immigrants to stay on the job unless they get their employers' permission, and for children to stay in school. He refused to take up the Senate resolution, and allowed his chambers' own resolution, which would have called on Congress to support immigrants' rights, to die.

    Still, Nunez plans on flying down to Los Angeles to take part in marches, after he checks in at the Assembly Monday morning. Members are supposed to be at the Capitol on session days, which are Mondays and Thursdays.

    "When you're with thousands of your constituents and you're talking about the very issues at the forefront of their concerns," said Steve Maviglio, Nunez's deputy chief of staff, "I think you're being an effective legislator."

    Dick Ackerman, the Senate Republican minority leader from Tustin, said lawmakers should set an example by showing up to work.

    "They should be prepared to do the state's work," he said. "A boycott is not taking care of the state's work."

    Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, voted in favor of the resolution, but called on parents to urge their children to stay in school.

    Teachers should use the boycott as a way to "discuss the value, the history, the conflicts and the enrichment of our society that has come about with the waves of immigration in our time," said Torlakson, a former educator. "But we should also urge students to stay in school to underscore the value of education and use it as an opportunity to learn in a school setting."

    But, Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, who authored the resolution, said the boycott will be part of history that will one day be recounted in classrooms across the country.

    "It's one day out of 365, out of their lives," she said, "for immigrants to peacefully tell the country that we matter, we want justice."

    Rallies are planned for Monday in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose, Oakland, Concord and other cities.
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  2. #2
    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?a ... T-04-27-06

    California Senate votes to support immigration boycott

    By CLEA BENSON
    Sacramento Bee
    27-APR-06

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The state Senate on Thursday affirmed its support of a boycott of schools and jobs planned by immigration activists for Monday, even as education officials and other public figures urged California students to go to school that day.

    Senators approved a resolution officially recognizing the nationwide protest, which will include rallies in cities throughout California and the United States.

    Boycott organizers are speaking out against federal legislation that would make it a felony to be in the United States illegally and in favor of bills that would enable many immigrants to establish legal residency here.

    The protests have sparked controversy, in part because organizers are asking students to stay out of school. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and California Schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell, both Democrats, have publicly urged parents to send their children to school Monday.

    Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, opposed the resolution.

    "It is irresponsible for this Legislature to advise that students stay out of school for any reason, especially since there are viable alternatives," he said.

    Cox said students could protest during hours when they were not required to be in school.

    Senate Concurrent Resolution 113, by Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, does not specifically ask workers and students to stay home, but says the boycott "is to educate people in California and across the United States about the tremendous contribution immigrants make on a daily basis to our society and economy."

    Romero said it was important for the Senate to support the boycott.

    "I ask us to simply recognize the existence of new Americans," she said.

    The measure passed the Senate by a party-line vote of 24-13 after about 45 minutes of impassioned debate.

    Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Whittier, recalled how her grandfather came to the United States from Mexico legally in the 1940s under a guest worker program, but illegally overstayed his work permit. Though he was in the United States illegally, he was always able to find someone to hire him, she said.

    "That happened in the 1940s," Escutia said. "It still happens today in the 2000s. . . . Perhaps we ought to recognize the great American secret. We all rely on the labor of someone who is here illegally, and in essence we all become co-conspirators."

    Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, said he opposed policies that would make it easier for illegal immigrants to stay in the United States.

    "Blurring the distinction between legal and illegal immigration is an insult to the millions of legal immigrants who right now are obeying our laws, doing everything we ask of them, who are waiting in line to become Americans helplessly as millions and millions of people cut in line in front of them," he said.

    The Assembly did not vote on the resolution.



    (Distributed by Scripps-McClatchy Western Service, http://www.shns.com.)
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  3. #3

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    Yes, and that changed my mind forever about voting for democrats...God forbid that they should have a majority!!

    For me, it will be Independents or a third party.

    MJ

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