Hello All:

Just got off the phone with William, the president of this organization, and have to say, and impressive and sincere individual.

In speaking with him, I realized many here do not really know me, might even wonder where I am coming from...to that end, thought I would take a few minutes to introduce myself to the crowd.

I'm the proverbial country boy here living in the big city of New York. I am fifty years young, and live in the city of Peekskill, which is a Northern suberb of New York city. I spent 20 years of my adult life as a potter and sculptor, a major portion of that time living in the beautiful hills of Southern Ohio that lead up into the Blue Ridge Mountain Range of West Virginia. I shall avoid the temptation of how I ended up making such a drastic life change other to to state it had everything to do with meeeting a wonderful woman on the internet who I have now been married to for going on six years.

Illegal immigration immediately impacts me, it is an issue near and dear to my heart. As a small business person struggling to make ends meet I find myself constantly competeing with and illegal work force that brings a pricing structure to my industry I simply cannot compete with short of hiring illegals and becoming a criminal myself...not and enviable position for a hard working American to be put in.

On a more personal level, my wife and I have the misfortune of having two homes in our neighborhood that have been bought by absentee landlords who rent to illegals. Trust me, it is not a pretty situation on every level. We've woke up in the middle of the night for a snack only to go down to our kitchen to find out there were illegal aliens sitting in our back yard, in our lawn furniture drinking, we've had illegal aliens celebrating some Catholic religious ceremony involving the Virgin Mary drunkenly urinating outside on our front yard, showing a total disrespect for our laws and dignity here in America. I could go on, but sure many of you know the experience, have lived the experience yourself.

How did I stumble on the name of Pinto Bean...I have two twin political blogs that you can find on the web with a search of Beltway Pinto Bean. I wanted something unique and catchy, something that had and image associated with, and so the name...as is often the case, you become associated with your brand, and Beltway Pinto Beans saw me become the Pinto Bean. I like to think of myself as a ribald, radical on the edge liberal conservative hippie throw back who is incapable of taking a moderate view on almost every issue...I either totally support something, or totally oppose it, but never settle for a middle of the road position.

I look forward to meeting many of you, and hopefully working closely with a few of you as we try to grapple with this very disturbing issue. In the meantime, I'd encourage EACH OF YOU to consider making a donation to this wonderful organization, as they NEED SOME HELP. I've pledged money to a march on Washington, and will keep that pledge, but I also realize organizations have day in and day out needs that require money coming through the door...to that end, as a new member I made a contribution today, and hope each of you will do the same. If each of us could even donate ten dollars, we'd TRIPLE the organization budget from last year...surely we each can find ten dollars?

Pinto Bean