An American Success Story
May 31, 2007 04:36 PM | Permalink
This is an immigrant tale. It is the personal story of my family and means everything to me. However, I recognize that this story has been repeated over and over again so many times so as to be comically stereotypical. Nevertheless, it bears repeating in light of the 21st Century wave of American immigrants.
My grandfather was born an uneducated peasant in Sicily. As a young man in the early 1920’s he needed to leave his homeland in search of work to avoid starvation. He wanted to come to America like many Sicilians before him, but in 1921, the United States had passed the first immigration quotas designed to prevent the changing of American culture. Quotas were given to each nation based upon the immigration levels of 1910 -- before the start of the massive wave of Italian and Southern European immigration in the teens. Consequently, Italy had a very small quota, and my grandfather had to go to Argentina for a few years before he could come through Ellis Island as a legal immigrant.
When he finally arrived, he could not speak English, he did not have an education and did not have a skill. America was the land of opportunity, but it was not a welfare state. There was no social security. There were no food stamps. There were no unemployment benefits. If you presented yourself, sick or injured, to a hospital without the ability to pay, you could be turned away. Nevertheless, there was opportunity. My grandfather found a job as a barber. Eventually, he opened his own barbershop on Bloomfield Avenue in New Jersey -- no doubt, somewhere between Satriele’s meat market and Melfi’s doctors office. (I was never fond of his haircuts, but I was impressed by his work ethic and consistency. The floor in his barbershop was made of some type of white manufactured tile product, and over the many years my grandfather had walked around his favorite chair so many times that he had literally worn a ring all the way through the white portion of the flooring tile around that chair. It looked like something out of a Road Runner cartoon.)
He married another immigrant girl from Italy and together they had eight sons and a daughter -- Dominic, Vito, Connie, Joey, Franky, Johnny, Mikey, Tommy, and Georgie. He and my grandmother eventually learned to speak broken English, studied American civics and became naturalized American citizens. When he passed away, half of North Jersey turned out to pay their respects.
My father was my grandfather’s first born. He was born in 1939. That means that my father was born to two foreign-language speaking immigrants, and was actually learning to speak at a time when the United States was fighting a war against my grandfather’s former homeland. In fact, when my father was just 3 years old, American GI’s were invading Sicily and fighting battles in and around my grandfather’s hometown. But you know what? My father never once spoke a word of Italian (or more accurately, the Sicilian dialect my grandfather spoke). The only language my father ever spoke was English. My grandfather laid down the law upon himself and his wife -- they were not allowed to talk to their own child in their mother tongue. They forced themselves to struggle with a foreign tongue so that their child would grow up speaking the language of their adopted nation.
My father graduated from high school, volunteered for the Marines, put him self through college, married an Irish girl, became a traveling shoe salesman, had four kids (including me), and eventually became the President of the Keds Corporation. When he passed, the footwear trade papers respectfully referred to him as the “Godfather” of the shoe industry. Even though he was an ex-Marine and as American as apple pie, they compared him, with a humorous wink and nod, to a mob boss -- he was Sicilian after all.
So, excuse me if I take exception to the current wave of immigration so massive that it dwarfs the wave of which my grandfather was a part. Excuse me if I point out that the combination of open boarders with a third world neighbor and a welfare state does not make sense. Excuse me if I am insulted by bilingual education for illegal immigrants unwilling to assimilate the language and culture of this great nation.
No one is telling them to give up salsa, tortillas and mariachi music. I still eat pasta, mortadella, and provolone and I still listen to Louis Prima. Nevertheless, I hit “1” when the language option comes up.
My grandfather was born an uneducated peasant in Sicily. As a young man in the early 1920’s he needed to leave his homeland in search of work to avoid starvation. He wanted to come to America like many Sicilians before him, but in 1921, the United States had passed the first immigration quotas designed to prevent the changing of American culture. Quotas were given to each nation based upon the immigration levels of 1910 -- before the start of the massive wave of Italian and Southern European immigration in the teens. Consequently, Italy had a very small quota, and my grandfather had to go to Argentina for a few years before he could come through Ellis Island as a legal immigrant.
When he finally arrived, he could not speak English, he did not have an education and did not have a skill. America was the land of opportunity, but it was not a welfare state. There was no social security. There were no food stamps. There were no unemployment benefits. If you presented yourself, sick or injured, to a hospital without the ability to pay, you could be turned away. Nevertheless, there was opportunity. My grandfather found a job as a barber. Eventually, he opened his own barbershop on Bloomfield Avenue in New Jersey -- no doubt, somewhere between Satriele’s meat market and Melfi’s doctors office. (I was never fond of his haircuts, but I was impressed by his work ethic and consistency. The floor in his barbershop was made of some type of white manufactured tile product, and over the many years my grandfather had walked around his favorite chair so many times that he had literally worn a ring all the way through the white portion of the flooring tile around that chair. It looked like something out of a Road Runner cartoon.)
He married another immigrant girl from Italy and together they had eight sons and a daughter -- Dominic, Vito, Connie, Joey, Franky, Johnny, Mikey, Tommy, and Georgie. He and my grandmother eventually learned to speak broken English, studied American civics and became naturalized American citizens. When he passed away, half of North Jersey turned out to pay their respects.
My father was my grandfather’s first born. He was born in 1939. That means that my father was born to two foreign-language speaking immigrants, and was actually learning to speak at a time when the United States was fighting a war against my grandfather’s former homeland. In fact, when my father was just 3 years old, American GI’s were invading Sicily and fighting battles in and around my grandfather’s hometown. But you know what? My father never once spoke a word of Italian (or more accurately, the Sicilian dialect my grandfather spoke). The only language my father ever spoke was English. My grandfather laid down the law upon himself and his wife -- they were not allowed to talk to their own child in their mother tongue. They forced themselves to struggle with a foreign tongue so that their child would grow up speaking the language of their adopted nation.
My father graduated from high school, volunteered for the Marines, put him self through college, married an Irish girl, became a traveling shoe salesman, had four kids (including me), and eventually became the President of the Keds Corporation. When he passed, the footwear trade papers respectfully referred to him as the “Godfather” of the shoe industry. Even though he was an ex-Marine and as American as apple pie, they compared him, with a humorous wink and nod, to a mob boss -- he was Sicilian after all.
So, excuse me if I take exception to the current wave of immigration so massive that it dwarfs the wave of which my grandfather was a part. Excuse me if I point out that the combination of open boarders with a third world neighbor and a welfare state does not make sense. Excuse me if I am insulted by bilingual education for illegal immigrants unwilling to assimilate the language and culture of this great nation.
No one is telling them to give up salsa, tortillas and mariachi music. I still eat pasta, mortadella, and provolone and I still listen to Louis Prima. Nevertheless, I hit “1” when the language option comes up.
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How fast it can happen
May 25, 2007 01:04 PM | Permalink
In 1821, the newly independent government of Mexico hired Steven F. Austin and a few thousand Anglo Americans to do a job that ordinary Mexicans were not willing to do -- fight the Comanche and settle the wild lands of Texas. The Anglo settlers were given land at generous prices. All that they needed to do was swear an oath of allegiance to Mexico, affirm that they were Catholic, and agree to the gradual end to slavery. By 1836 (only 15 years later), those same Anglo, protestant, slave-owning settlers were rolling cannons into the Alamo and declaring independence.
Apart from the obvious economic and cultural problems with importing Mexico’s poverty problem, how wise can it be to import millions of unassimilated non-English speaking persons who have a legitimate historical grievance and claim to the land that they are occupying?
Apart from the obvious economic and cultural problems with importing Mexico’s poverty problem, how wise can it be to import millions of unassimilated non-English speaking persons who have a legitimate historical grievance and claim to the land that they are occupying?
World Bank Fraud
May 15, 2007 05:31 PM | Permalink
The purpose of the World Bank is to lend billions (as in "B", $X,000,000,000.00) of dollars to corrupt third world nations so that the funds can be siphoned off by corrupt third world politicians. Now, this dubious organization is calling for Wolfowitz' head because of $47,000 -- relative pocket change. He disclosed his relationship with a Bank employee and asked to be recused from her reassignment. Nevertheless, overruling his request to be recused, he was instructed by the Bank's ethic's committee to reassign her and compensate her for the change in positions. Now, he has "lost all credibility", because he did exactly what they said.
Let's be honest. They want his head because he is a neocon responsible for Iraq, not because of his service on the Bank. This is payback time. It certainly is not about a $47,000 raise. However, once again, he has no one to blame but himself. He should have been aware that the Euros were looking for his scalp, and when the ethics committee rejected his request to recuse himself he should have smelled a rat and proceeded with extreme caution -- or better yet flat out refused to act in a situation where he was the one to identify a conflict of interest.
Let's be honest. They want his head because he is a neocon responsible for Iraq, not because of his service on the Bank. This is payback time. It certainly is not about a $47,000 raise. However, once again, he has no one to blame but himself. He should have been aware that the Euros were looking for his scalp, and when the ethics committee rejected his request to recuse himself he should have smelled a rat and proceeded with extreme caution -- or better yet flat out refused to act in a situation where he was the one to identify a conflict of interest.
Tenet History Care
May 08, 2007 11:48 AM | Permalink
George Tenet was the director of the CIA during the two biggest intelligence failures in American history. This Clinton appointee was allowed to stay in his job after Bush took office, because Bush wanted to be a uniter, not a divider; plus Bush wanted continuity in intelligence during the transition of administrations.
A few months later, Tenet’s organization failed to connect the dots and allowed Al Qaeda to destroy the World Trade Centers -- killing 3,000 civilians.
A few years later, while assisting the Bush administration make its case for war against Iraq, he advised Bush to put all of his eggs in the WMD basket -- It was a “slam dunk” that Saddam had WMD. Bush believe his intelligence chief, and articulated the reasons for going to war by emphasizing Saddam’s stock pile of WMD and his links to terrorists. Ultimately, there were no WMD in Iraq and the international credibility of this nation (rightly or wrongly) was ruined.
Bush did not make up any of the facts he used in his rationale for war (i.e., “Bush Lied”). All this came from his Clinton appointed intelligence chief. Take a look at what Tenet told Congress in open session in February of 2003. Of course he talks about the WMD, but also look at the relationship between Iraq and terrorist organizations. Bush and Cheney did not make up a linkage that did not exist. He was just repeating what this Clinton appointee was telling him.
Now, the Iraq war is sagging in the polls, a presidential election is looming, and another Clinton is running for that office. Lo and behold, for a 4 million dollar advance, Tenet writes a piece of revisionist history. The Bush administration was fixated on Iraq and wanted to invade Iraq even though it had nothing to do with 9/11. More red meat for those wanting to smear Bush Co.
But wait a second. The facts have not changed. Those Halliburton stoogies made their decision to invade Iraq based upon the information provided to them by Tenet. Tenet was the one telling Bush that Iraq had mobile chemical labs, uranium tubes, and stockpiles of anthrax. He was the one telling Bush that Zarqawi escaped from Afghanistan, was getting medical treatment in Baghdad and setting up a training camp inside Iraqi territory south of the no fly zone. Bush took the faulty intelligence provided to him by a Clinton appointee and adopted a course of conduct that was overwhelmingly support by both houses of Congress, regardless of party.
If we were fixated on Iraq after 9/11, it was entirely because of what Tenet was saying.
UPDATE: To make his point in his book, Tenet fabricated a conversation with Richard Perle on the day after 9/11. He attributes the following quote to Perle: "Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday. They bear responsibility." Of course, Perle was in France at the time and could not get back to Washington because all the flights had been cancelled. Furthermore, Perle denies the conversation ever took place. Undeterred, Tenet claims he may have the date wrong but still asserts the conversation took place, albeit on a later date. In this Washington Post article Perle shoots back and explains the same failures of intelligence that caused Tenet to write a book with faulty facts about a conversation that could not possibly have happened, led to the intelligence failures on his watch that have so harmed US credibility.
A few months later, Tenet’s organization failed to connect the dots and allowed Al Qaeda to destroy the World Trade Centers -- killing 3,000 civilians.
A few years later, while assisting the Bush administration make its case for war against Iraq, he advised Bush to put all of his eggs in the WMD basket -- It was a “slam dunk” that Saddam had WMD. Bush believe his intelligence chief, and articulated the reasons for going to war by emphasizing Saddam’s stock pile of WMD and his links to terrorists. Ultimately, there were no WMD in Iraq and the international credibility of this nation (rightly or wrongly) was ruined.
Bush did not make up any of the facts he used in his rationale for war (i.e., “Bush Lied”). All this came from his Clinton appointed intelligence chief. Take a look at what Tenet told Congress in open session in February of 2003. Of course he talks about the WMD, but also look at the relationship between Iraq and terrorist organizations. Bush and Cheney did not make up a linkage that did not exist. He was just repeating what this Clinton appointee was telling him.
• Iraq is harboring senior members of a terrorist network led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a close associate of Usama Bin Ladin. We know Zarqawi's network was behind the poison plots in Europe that I discussed earlier as well as the assassination of a US State Department employee in Jordan.
• Iraq has in the past provided training in document forgery and bomb-making to al-Qa'ida. It also provided training in poisons and gasses to two al-Qa'ida associates; one of these associates characterized the relationship he forged with Iraqi officials as successful.
Mr. Chairman, this information is based on a solid foundation of intelligence. It comes to us from credible and reliable sources. Much of it is corroborated by multiple sources. And it is consistent with the pattern of denial and deception exhibited by Saddam Hussein over the past 12 years.
Now, the Iraq war is sagging in the polls, a presidential election is looming, and another Clinton is running for that office. Lo and behold, for a 4 million dollar advance, Tenet writes a piece of revisionist history. The Bush administration was fixated on Iraq and wanted to invade Iraq even though it had nothing to do with 9/11. More red meat for those wanting to smear Bush Co.
But wait a second. The facts have not changed. Those Halliburton stoogies made their decision to invade Iraq based upon the information provided to them by Tenet. Tenet was the one telling Bush that Iraq had mobile chemical labs, uranium tubes, and stockpiles of anthrax. He was the one telling Bush that Zarqawi escaped from Afghanistan, was getting medical treatment in Baghdad and setting up a training camp inside Iraqi territory south of the no fly zone. Bush took the faulty intelligence provided to him by a Clinton appointee and adopted a course of conduct that was overwhelmingly support by both houses of Congress, regardless of party.
If we were fixated on Iraq after 9/11, it was entirely because of what Tenet was saying.
UPDATE: To make his point in his book, Tenet fabricated a conversation with Richard Perle on the day after 9/11. He attributes the following quote to Perle: "Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday. They bear responsibility." Of course, Perle was in France at the time and could not get back to Washington because all the flights had been cancelled. Furthermore, Perle denies the conversation ever took place. Undeterred, Tenet claims he may have the date wrong but still asserts the conversation took place, albeit on a later date. In this Washington Post article Perle shoots back and explains the same failures of intelligence that caused Tenet to write a book with faulty facts about a conversation that could not possibly have happened, led to the intelligence failures on his watch that have so harmed US credibility.