Thread: Look at this Opinion Article in the North County Times!

Oh Please, more stupid arguments. Except me making an illegal lane change doesn't cost the tax payer nearly as much as illegal immigration! Please write the North County Times about this lame article...concernedmother, did you read this?

Tips for talking to an illegal immigrant

By: Mark Hineline - Commentary

Hispanics in North County, once all but invisible, have become highly visible this week. Many non-Hispanic residents of the region may be wondering what to do about this new and ---- for some ---- most unwelcome visibility.

I have an answer. If you should come upon someone of Mexican heritage on the sidewalk, say, "Good morning." Unless it's afternoon. Then say, "Good afternoon."

That person you meet on the street is not "the immigration issue." He or she is a person. Just one person.


"The immigration issue" is bigger than both of you. Behaving as though one does not live in a civilized society will not solve it.

But, you say, that person on the sidewalk is illegal, a criminal. You don't think criminals deserve the same respect as other people.

To that argument, I have but one reply: Have you driven a car on our freeways lately? Or through a school zone when children are present? Ours is not a society that is fastidious about upholding the law.

If you have exceeded speed limits on freeways or surface streets, you broke the law. If you have created a right-turn lane at an intersection where there is none, you have behaved illegally. If you have ever had a couple of drinks with friends and then driven home, as carefully as you possibly could, there is a high probability that you have behaved illegally.

Go into a Home Depot and glance at the shoppers there. Many of them are preparing to violate building codes, often in complete ignorance of those codes.

But let's say that you have done none of these things. You always drive the speed limit. You've never created a right-turn lane for yourself. You applied for a permit when you replaced the broken garbage disposal under your kitchen sink. You've never broken a law.

Even then, if you made a habit ---- or a virtue ---- of not consorting with lawbreakers, never treating illegals with respect, you would have few friends.

Now, I am not making an argument for lawlessness. Far from it. I would like very much to live in a world in which all laws were reasonable for all people at all times, a world in which few people broke those laws and those who did got their comeuppance.

But that world is not North San Diego County. Not the North County that I experience daily.

There is no excuse for treating another human being disrespectfully. No religion excuses it. No theory of self-governance or civic morality makes it virtuous. No philosophical system provides a justification for it. Treating another human being with disrespect is inexcusable.

If you want our immigration laws enforced, or reformed, write to your senators and congressman. But when you are out on the sidewalks of North County, and you come across a person you suspect may be in this country illegally, there is only one way to behave.

If it's morning, say, "Good morning." After the stroke of noon, say, "Good afternoon."

Escondido resident Mark Hineline writes a column on science and nature for the North County Times' Science and Technology section.

Throw the sanctimonious liberal a bone

O! Deliver me.!! When I lived foreign..if the US did something they didn't like..they took it out on Americans in their area. When the US sold some rockets to Israel...we didn't know about that at all...but a guy in a car deliberately tried to run me down..

We were LEGAL there...!!!!!

So don't tell me how to treat ILLEGAL people in my area. I'll do as I want.

RR

His arguement is so ridiculous. The illegal aliens don't break the law just once, or maybe twice or even three times. They break the law each and minute that they remain here illegally. To remain here, they need a job, so they illegally find a job from an employer who is breaking the law by hiring them. The illegal alien most likely, used forged or fake documents to get that job. By buying those fake documents, they supported the forger, who is also a criminal. If they are driving on our streets without a valid license, they are breaking our laws again. The law breaking never ceases for an illegal alien, until they leave our country.

How about a link to this article, so we can write the paper and give them a piece of our mind.

Pinto Bean

To behave friendly and cordially to someone who has just committed or is committing an act that you believe is wrong condones that act.

If you witness someone speeding through a school zone and endangering a bunch of kids, is the correct response to smile and give a friendly wave to the person?

I do agree with one thing though, the ICE folks should be respectful when they say, "Good morning, sir, you have 15 minutes to gather your belongings and board the deportation bus waiting outside".

Oh yeah, I read it. Didn't think it was worth posting. Pure garbage!! I am a very civil person and am not rude to anyone unless they provoke it. Lately, though, I've been giving illegals the eye when I walk by. I just can't help it. Haven't heard much about what's going on today around town. Wonder if the rain spoiled their plans? You know how Mexicans--I mean Californians are about rain.

Here is the link to the North County Times Article. It was from yesterday's paper.


http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/03 ... 115823.txt