Thread: Restaurant executive promoting immigration coalition

Restaurant executive promoting immigration coalition
Story Discussion BY ART HOVEY / Posted: Friday, September 18, 2009 4:30 am | (3) Comments

Over a long career that he ended as a rear admiral, Jim Partington heard the deafening roar of Navy jets off the coast of Vietnam.

Now the executive director of the Nebraska Restaurant Association is listening to the debate over immigration reform and finding it almost as overpowering.

"I think the level of noise has just gotten too high," he told a League of Women Voters audience in Lincoln on Thursday.

Partington would like to lower the volume. He also has a more specific goal: He wants to form a Nebraska coalition of business leaders, academics and others to counter the emotion surrounding immigration reform.

It's important to understand the pros and cons, he told about 50 luncheon listeners, "but at least let's get a rationale debate going."

"If we don't want immigration, we're going to have a stagnant economy."

From a Nebraska perspective, 50 percent of the population growth from 2000 to 2008 was of Hispanic origin. And demographics translate to economic development.

In a more practical vein, he conceded that a highly restrictive version of immigration reform "would affect the restaurant industry quite severely."

In an interview after his hour-long presentation, Partington readily acknowledged the coalition isn't a reality yet.

Nor does he have a specific endorsement from members of the association at either the state or national level to promote such goals as increasing the number of visas for legal immigration or creating a national identification card.

"They are very interested in comprehensive immigration reform," he said.

At the state level, "I expect to reach that point" of a coalition within in a year. He wants it to be one that emphasizes education over political lobbying.

When the time came for questions after Partington's remarks, it seemed apparent there's no such thing as an audience without reservations about where immigration reform might go.

Deb Andrews, who's back in Lincoln after living in Portland, Ore., for several years, said she found it "very disconcerting" to see Hispanic demonstrators waving Mexican flags during a reform rally in Portland.

Diana McNeil clearly had misgivings about penalty-free amnesty for 12 million or more people already living in the United States without legal status.

"If I broke the law," McNeil said, "I would have to answer for that.

"I don't think you can ever get it away from being political, because it is political."

Partington said reform should include some sort of penalty for illegal entry.

However, "it shouldn't be too onerous and we shouldn't be sending them back to their country of origin."

When it comes to rational debate, he said, "we should take this out of the realm of politicians who use it as a wedge issue against each other."

Securing borders is an important part of that debate, Partington said, but he sees making that the top priority as the politically correct approach.

"The truth is if we don't have a legal way for people to come across the border. ... We're not going to get control of our international borders."

Another sign of strong and conflicting feelings about immigration in Nebraska is an ongoing battle over a proposed ordinance in Fremont that failed by one vote at a City Council meeting last year.

As summarized Thursday by City Administrator Bob Hartwig, the failed ordinance "relates to harboring, hiring or renting to illegal aliens."

It is now before the Nebraska Court of Appeals.

Hartwig isn't sure what would happen next, regardless of how the court rules.

"Anything is possible now," he said. "I wouldn't even try to give options for the future."

Reach Art Hovey at ahovey@journalstar.com.




http://journalstar.com/news/local/govt- ... 03286.html

The same economic stimulation results can be obtained from migration rather than immigration. Mr. Partington go send recruiters to hire in Michigan.

How could this guy serve our nation in Nam and then betray us just to promote his profit margin? Why can't employers see the connection between hiring illegals and hurting the American people?

Originally Posted by ELE

Why can't employers see the connection between hiring illegals and hurting the American people?

It doesn't show up in their bottom line!

"If we don't want immigration, we're going to have a stagnant economy."

So displacing more Americans (the consumers of the world) with visitors that never leave and illegals is going to make the economy boom? And the Restaurant Association, huh? They will fire their minimum-wage workers and hire cheap illegals in a heartbeat. So what happens to the restaurants that do no see any more customers because the Americans keep losing jobs? They close!
This guy must have eaten too many grilled scorpions in Asia, because it seems it wiped out his basic arithmetic skills.

See this? Right wing, conservative, military people can be just as shameful money grubbers and supporters of dangerous policies as liberals, If this guy is a retired rear admiral you know that he is getting a substantial pension at taxpayers expense, but he wants more, I have met other people like him: retired military on pensions that get into other similar money making schemes and in cahoots with money wasting liberal politicians. I knew one ret. rear admiral that was also a retired judge and a high paid attorney and real estate investor, to boot.

It's amazing how many people in this country are still clueless and completely ignorant to the detrimental impact illegal immigration, particularly from Latin American countries have had and continue to have on this nation.

These are the same people who would live in a house infested with termites, seeing evidence of their detruction here and there, but completely denying that there is a problem until the entire structure collapses all around them and then demand to know why something wasn't done about those termites sooner!

Evidently organizations such as ALIPAC are not reaching enough people to educate them to what is REALLY happening behind the scenes to destroy this country. There must be a way to make a louder noise about this.

This is Ted Kennedy's legacy to all Americans who don't have the privilege of living in heavily guarded "compounds" away from the real world and who don't have the privileges of not having to wade through these illegal masses to get health care for themselves or their families, get a decent education, compete for jobs or just get services that were intended for LEGAL residents and citizens of this country only! That fool had the audacity to lie and say that his legislation for opening up the flood gates to rampant immigration from third world countries wouldn't change the structure of this country or negatively effect our values, culture and customs....he was dead wrong and then he had the audacity to go along with supporting and encouraging ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. Well, it didn't effect HIS way of life. He was able to keep himself and his privileged family AWAY from the negative effects and outcome of his idiotic, irresponsible legislation which was probably written and conceived under the influence and foggy haze of an alcoholic binge! Thanks Ted, for your hand in destroying the very country your brothers gave their lives for!

JBParrothead: I am spreading the word everywhere I go. I have handouts with ALIPAC and NumbersUSA on them. I have William Gheen and ALIPAC linked to my facebook so my friends see in now and then. I email those who email me and selected friends get emails from me of ALIPAC to keep them learning.

I think I remember someone has to hear a statement 10 times before they react....

Don't get discouraged, we are doing a bit better than last year....

-- to date , most economists do not have any solutions, anywhere, anyhow,for a non-growth economic plan. They never had, and people like Rear Admiral Partington have joined them in their specious reasoning. If you follow his logic to the end--all peoples without work , in the world , will come to America. We burgeon up to a population of 1 billion. We have more people at work than ever before. More homes will have been built, more money will be in the bank. Corporations will have greater sales, in America, than ever before.

Unintended consquences-- more American citizens lose their jobs to newcomers who will accept any pay for any job. The overseas markets shrink incredibly. The sales goals will have to be attained more within the borders of America than ever before. The influx of low skilled people lowers the standard of living for all Americans. Third world countries remain third world forever as the citizens emigrate rather than invest and build in their own countries. Those countries with great natural resources such as oil, diamonds, have an elite population that benefits more as their low skilled people leave and take their educational, medical and living expense needs to America. Cities that have encountered resource draining, such as Atlanta in its drought, overpopulate the resources of the area. They build in an uncontrolled frenzy of a boom era, but when the next natural resource shortage comes , it comes with an inability to repair it. If 4 million people are too many for a dry season, just imagine what 10 million will do to any city when that happens.

So, the other side of this growth, Partington has a very successful restaurant business. He builds three more of them. The cash is rolling in. American citizens are not the ones who eat there though. Their jobs have gone or they have been replaced by the new population. Sure, fewer people can afford to eat out, but with so many more people, there is, temporarily, a large audience for his business. The new people vote in officials of the same ethnic background as them. Why not, Pertington and company have caused the immigration to far exceed the assimilation rate. The elites in the third world countries have more money to spend, but far fewer people there with money--the demand audience shrinks. No matter how rich you are, you cannot be in two places at once, you can only eat one meal at at time, watch only so much video at a time. We wind up with a totally different country than the republic our forefathers gave us.

Meantime, the folks with the money to eat at Partington's comes from the H1B folks and that type who come here and make a decent salary while displacing Americans who held those jobs, An example $45,000 a year programmers who displace $55-65,000 a year Americans.

I will be gone. My grandchildren will be the victims of this illogical, unreasoned greed through growth. They will not be as well off as we have been. We are rapidly sinking in the depths iof profit and greed at ANY expense. Even the expense of the freedom of American citizens.

How long and how far does this quest for growth go? How many people must we bring here before the income requirements of the Partingtons is slaked?? The day is nearing when people like him and the executives of the US Chamber of Commerce will be living behind the walls of their wealthy compounds as America goes to perdition for their personal gain.

God send us a new generation of economists who can provide a healthy economy with controlled growth. Send us a new population of leaders whose thirst for the "good things" of life does not blind them to the needs and well being of the citizens of their country.

I am not a Socialist or a Communist. I believe people need to stand on their own two legs and make of themselves all that they want or all that they can. I want alimited government and quite like Diogenes, I want an honest man.

Originally Posted by vmonkey56

JBParrothead: I am spreading the word everywhere I go. I have handouts with ALIPAC and NumbersUSA on them. I have William Gheen and ALIPAC linked to my facebook so my friends see in now and then. I email those who email me and selected friends get emails from me of ALIPAC to keep them learning.

I think I remember someone has to hear a statement 10 times before they react....

Don't get discouraged, we are doing a bit better than last year....

I have done many of the same things you have done to spread the word and try to educate and it still doesn't seem to be enough. There are so many people who ARE aware, but DON'T want to hear about it or talk about it because they say WE are powerless and nothing will change or stop this snowball and make it roll back UP the hill! They give up without a fight....and see no point in trying to fight what these criminal organizations and corporations are doing to this country, using illegal immigration as their weapon of choice!

William Gheen is putting up a valiant fight, taking the slings and arrows of the highly financially subsidized opposition in stride and I applaude him for that! But aren't there any more young heroes, representatives of freedom and justice to stand shoulder to shoulder with him? Have ALL the young American men been so chemically and mentally neutered that they have no desire to stand up for what's right?

It's sad to see that the majority of men and women who are trying to make a stand are in wheelchairs, sporting a cane or a walker and have graying hair if they have hair at all! If this current younger generation had been called up during WWII, we'd be reading, writing and speaking in Japanese in this country right now. Spanish is bad enough and should be a wake up call that we're losing our country and culture as we speak in and are seperated by foreign tongues in a country once united by language and culture!