This editorial appeared in the liberal pro-illegal alien Charlotte Observer newspaper on Monday, July 2. It made my blood boil. Please join me in ripping the newspapers editors for publishing this garbage and conducting a personal attack on Senator Dole. Please write a scathing rebuke to this nonsense at opinion@charlotteobserver.com or fax at 704-358-5022

Also, please send a copy of your response to this absurd edorial babble to Senator Dole to let her know she has many friends and supporters, not only in NC but around the country. Sen. Dole can be reached via e-mail at:
http://dole.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAc ... ontactForm

If you have the time or inclination, please give her office staffers a call at:
Washington: (202) 224-6342
Raleigh, NC: (919) 856-4630
to express your support and gratitude.

Charlotte Observer, The (NC)
July 2, 2007
Section: MAIN
Edition: ONE-THREE
Page: 12A

FAILURE IN THE SENATE
IMMIGRATION BILL'S DEMISE ASSURES CHAOTIC STATUS QUO
Observer Staff - Editorial

Many North Carolinians agree with Sen. Elizabeth Dole's opposition to offering illegal immigrants a path to lawful status. Just as many agree the nation needs greater proof the Mexican border will be made secure.
Yet Sen. Dole did not act in the state's interest when she led the conservative opposition that helped kill a decent overhaul of the nation's broken immigration system. Sen. Dole, along with Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., let down their Carolinas constituents when they helped slam the door on that legislation in the U.S. Senate.

The bill wasn't perfect. But it would have ended the chaotic status quo - a welcome step for the Carolinas, where as many as 400,000 illegal immigrants live.
Those three senators took a disappointing hard line on lawful status and border security, issues that called for practical compromise, not rigid ideology. Contrast that to the leadership shown by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who offered crucial amendments that provided funding for border security and middle ground on guest worker wages.
Opponents such as Sen. Dole stirred up deep emotions by calling the bill's path to citizenship for illegal immigrants "amnesty." But it was not. The provision required fines, fees and other steps before offering any hope of citizenship - a fair, realistic approach.
Critics' rhetoric about border security was off key, too. Sen. Graham's amendment would have guaranteed $4.4 billion a year for guards, technology and barricades.
It's unlikely there will be a serious effort to fix immigration policy until after the 2008 election. Meanwhile, the problems will get worse. Here's what Americans can expect in the two to three years before Congress takes up this issue again:
At least an additional million illegal immigrants will likely arrive.
More employers will hire more illegal immigrants and exploit them by paying rock-bottom wages and ignoring worker safety laws.
Companies that need foreign workers and want to bring them here legally won't have a means to do that in sufficient numbers.
We'll still have an unsecured border, one patrolled without extensive electronic surveillance and without additional border guards.
The bill's failure makes it especially difficult for immigration centers such as Charlotte, since an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the nation will remain in a shadow world. They perform work that's vital to the economy, yet live an ambiguous existence, making assimilation, education and law enforcement much, much harder.
Immigration is a federal issue, yet its effects are felt locally. That means this bill's demise is a hollow victory for opponents such as Sen. Dole. Making life harder for the communities you represent is nothing to brag about.

To send the newspaper your comments on the poppycock, they can be e-mailed to: opinion@charlotteobserver.com

NOTE: To give you the nefarious mindset that stalks the editorial staff at many of our country's newspapers, the Charlotte Observer is owned by the McClatchy Company whose headquarters is in Sacramento, CA. They have established their "California Values" throughout the country. McClatchy Co. owns 31 daily newspapers in 15 states, with the highest concentration of ownership in the far west (5 in California and 5 in Washington state) and the southeast (with 5 in SC, 2 in NC, 2 in GA and 3 in FL). The Raleigh News and Observer, owned by McClatchy, has also published scathing criticism against Sen. Dole in editorials . Seems that to be hired on as staff or editor at a McClatchy Co. newspaper, a condition of employment is to be a supporter of open borders and amnesty to illegal aliens!