Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Border agents 24 hours from prison for doing their job

Border Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean are just 24 hours
from reporting to federal prison to serve 11 and 12 years for
their attempt to apprehend an illegal alien drug smuggler.

Last week, Ron De Jong and I had the privilege of meeting
Jose Compean and his wife while presenting 225,000 petitions
to members of Congress on Capitol Hill. The Compeans expressed
their heartfelt thanks for everything you have done in signing
this petition, making phone calls, faxes, etc.
Would you take up their cause again today and make yet
another round of phone calls?
Here is a list of calls:
The White House: 202-456-1414
Justice Department: 202-514-2001
Washington Sen. Cantwell (202) 224-3441
Washington Sen. Murray (202) 224-2621

The only official word from the White House came through
Spokesman Tony Snow last week who gave no indication that
the President is considering taking action.

There is so much at stake here, first for these two agents
and their families who have already paid such a high price,
and secondly for our nation.

In the minds of millions of Americans, if these men go to
jail this President will have sided with an illegal
alien drug smuggler instead of the men and
women who are literally standing on the wall
protecting our nation's borders.

For photos from our delivery, my interview with Agent Ramos
and other resources, go here:
http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?u=1272&rid=12052401

By the way, we've added another 25,000 petition signers since our
delivery to Congress just a few days ago! Citizen outrage
continues to build. If you have friends who want to take action,
urge them to sign the petition here:
http://www.grassfire.org/142/petition.asp?PID=12052401

Thank you for the stand you are taking.

Steve Elliott, President
Grassfire.org Alliance

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Students barred from bus for speaking English

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (AP) -- A school bus driver let Rachel Armstrong's three children board the bus Monday morning, but he warned them that he wouldn't give them a ride home that afternoon, nor could they ever ride his route again.
The problem: Armstrong's 10-year-old twin girls and 8-year-old son speak English. The driver told them the route had been designated for non-English speakers only.
Armstrong said Wednesday that she got a call from a worried daughter who didn't know how she was going to get home. "She thought they had done something wrong," she said.
So a furious Armstrong had to leave work early to pick up her stranded kids from Phalen Lake Elementary School.
It turns out the bus route was meant to serve one of the district's three language academies. Phalen Lake's academy is for Hmong kids learning English, and the academies all have separate bus routes to keep their students together.
The district decided to begin enforcing the separate routes Monday -- but didn't tell the Armstrong family.
School administrators apologized but didn't agree to let Armstrong's children keep riding the bus, as they'd been doing all year.
"It is our responsibility to ensure the safety of these kids and we made a mistake," said Dayna Kennedy, a spokeswoman for the district. "The kids should have gotten home that day."
The Armstrongs also learned that when they moved last year, they landed outside of Phalen's attendance area. Armstrong said she was told her kids would have to transfer if they wanted to keep riding a bus, "or I'd have to find my own way to get them to school."
Armstrong said she arrived home Wednesday to find a message from the principal on her answering machine.
"She would prefer them to stay there rather than leave, and she would like to work on some kind of resolution," Armstrong said.
A simple solution, she said, would be to let her daughters keep riding the bus.
"It's so simple, but they want to come with the red tape and everything," she said. "As long as the kids get to school, that should be the main point."

Link to Original Story

Ridiculous! Are we Americans really aliens of our own land? - Raphael