Sunday morning @ 1st Church

Have a little time beteween services. I was trying to find on-line photos to include with this post but nothing appropriate seemed to catch my eye. There are other topics that interest me besides the controversy surrounding illegal immigration. Right now, though it seems a subject much ballyhooed in the press. The subject did peak my interest in the history of my family though. There was much talk of "we are all immigrants" in the summer of 2001 here in River City. The Governor was promotng his plan for our future. "New Iowans" he called them. His plan was for three model cities. These cities would be provided with $50,000 in seed money to develope welcoming programs for these "New Iowans". It would invlove streamling home ownership, education, banking, and so on. The idea was to make the transition to living here as smooth and welcoming as possible for these "New Iowans". The thing about this was, though,all the brochures and so on were to be published in spanish. The police and fire departments were to be given grants to learn spanish. What the heck is going on here Governor. The problem is wages. We spend tax dollars to educate our children in our schools and colleges. After graduation they need to relocate to find decent employment, and you want us to spend more tax money to make these people who are replacing our children feel welcome? There were a number of townhall meetings where he heard the opposition to his scheme, and it was stopped in it's tracks. That was in July. In September everything changed. Now it is not quite so politically incorrect to insist on boder control. In point of fact it is becoming more patriotic to believe our way of life is woth protecting.....

Well, well home again....In any case when I became active in protesting this "New Iowans" program there was much made of "We are ALL immigrants". However I don't agree with that. I don't agree with that at all. I know some are newer arrivals to this country than others. But it is my belief the argument "We are ALL immigrants" is not relevant. The problem is NOT immigration. It is ILLEGAL immigration. Where the Governor and I disagreed with the most was he was seeming to ignore the "Original Iowans" in his scramble to attract new ones. I am one of the "Original Iowans". As is my father, as are my children, as are their children.

We can be a very generous, open and welcoming community without turning our back on our own to welcome those who truth be told do not belong here in the first place. As a young soldier I was stationed in Northern Italy. Not many Americans in Northern Italy so if I wanted to talk with someone different I needed to speak Italian. Which I did. Probably not the best at it, but I didn't expect them to learn english to cater to me. When my wife needed to spend a week in Il Ospedale Civile di Pordenone I took a week's leave so I could interpret for her. I did not expect them to learn english to treat her. And I paid my bill when we left.

Back to the "we are all immigrants" nonsense. It got me interested in tracking my family history. What I discovered really surprised me. I new that my gramdfather was born in Nora Springs. His father was born in South Dakota, his grandfather was born in Indiana. What I had thought prior to my genealogical foray was that grampa Peter, my grandfather's great grandfather had come from Scotland. What I learned was grampa Peter was born in Ohio and his father was born "about 1770 in Pennsylavania". At what point do we cease being "immigrants". My family has lived in this country for over 236 years. We have been Americans since before American was free from British rule. My grandfathers moved west as this nation expanded and wrestled a world power from wilderness. There was no welfare for them. They worked or starved. There was no free education, they either paid their teachers or went to work. There were no emergency rooms for free health care. If they got sick they would either pay for their healthcare or not get well.

I believe I am not the only person who has history here. There are many of us. In addition to those of us whose ancestry goes back generations there are those among us who have immigrated legally, played by the rules and waited in line. Well it has been a real long day. There is still a moat to care for. The drawbridge needs repairs, and the guards think they need a day off....