Several thoughts ....

one, I see the poem as a caricature ... reality that has been humorously skewed and viewed in a fun-house mirror distortion ... a sort of Don Rickles style bit of wackiness.

two, it is only "racial" or "hate-filled" if we take it seriously ... no reasonable person could actually believe it to be indicative of all hispanics ...

three, off the comedicsubject of the poem and on the serious issue of the immigrants to this country that are the ancestors of all of us ... there is a big difference between legal immigration and illegals ... this or any country cannot simply throw open it's borders and accept all comers on an undiscerning basis ... that will lead to chaos and anarchy as sure as night follows day .. legal immigration, including the judicious granting of political asylum is a good and proper thing and it is THAT immigration on which this nation was founded and from which it will derive continued strength ...

What Steve said. The only issue I have with the poem is this,why is it that all of the poems,sayings etc always seem to lampoon Mexicans? I have seen this poem on other cigar BB's. As a 1st generation Mexican-American and having been subjected to racism to varying degrees at every level of my life,starting in Elementary school by teachers no less,I see these poems as a thinly disguised veil to underlying politcal views. X

X-Dude! Hell I'm quater Polish! Don't think I've heard my share of Polock Jokes? Welcome to America...LOL or is it LOL I forget...LOL Get over it!

OK JJ,I'm done,but next time,I'll spell my posts v e r y slowly for your benefit,LOL. BTW,my wife is Polish-German,so go figure. I guess what ticked me off is the"send this to every American taxpayer you know". X

X, I agree the "send to every American taxpayer" ending was offensive. My wife is a dark-skinned Naturalized American and she's been paying taxes since she got here. I think the unspoken assumption of the poem is that if one looks or speaks differently, they must be here illegaly. I live in South Texas, so I'm around Hispanics, documented, citizens, undocumented. Some of them may take advantage of the system, but by and large they work very hard doing jobs the gringo doesn't want to. I worked in the health care field and there were more poor white people trying to ride the medicaid gravy train (as well as worker's comp) than Hispanics. Steve, your point about separating legal and illegal immigration is a good one, but in the border states, it's a fait accompli so I think we have to concentrate on how we deal with it.

I think the poem is about illegal aliens coming to America and sponging off the hard working Americans. What there isn't enough people sponging off me now I got to pay for leeches in other countries too? I don't have a problem with people of different nationalities, ethnic background, whatever. I have a problem with people doing nothing and getting paid for it. And that is the root of this poem plain and simple. I don't think it is anti anything except anti illegal alien.

I have a problem with people of any race, color or creed that come here to "sponge" or the ones who decide to live off of the Government tit with NO intention of bettering their position or their families!

The poem is of a racist nature, but so is a lot of other comedy and humor we watch on televison and in the movies! Look at the hoopla Barbershop stirred up among black leaders in this country! We need to be more understanding and not so quick to judge! A lot of hardworking Americans speak with accents and that doesn't mean they are terrorist or somekind of leech!

I believe part of the reason for GWB's popularity is that he has been successful in convincing Hispanic Americans that he has their best interest at heart and not just pandering for their votes!

Charlie

Plabonte- Gimmee a break. There are exponentially more Americans "sponging" off of you (thanks to an inherently corrupt "legal" tax system) via entitlements than there are poor immigrants coming into our country to toil in our fields and kitchens.
Don't fall so easily into the "blame" game.

And again I remind all that we came to this land "illegally" in the first place. Expand your thoughts!

I agree with you Jeffersonn that there are American sponges as well. I don't like them anymore. But you know what this poem isn't about them. It is about illegal aliens. If you read my post I complained (something I do quite well) about all the sponges here as well.

I don't have a problem with poeple imigrating to the US. As I originally stated I have a problem with people immigrating here I-L-L-E-G-A-L-L-Y.

Also, please don't assume things about me and my family that you have no knowledge about. My family moved here LEGALLY from Canada.

If this was a poem about an illegal drug dealer I suppose if I spoke against drug dealers I would also be playing the "blame game" because I didn't understand why they were doing the act?

Seems the Liberal-minded folks are trying to spin this into a discussion about hatred of all hispanics. Why?

It CLEARLY states in the title that it's about ILLEGAL aliens.
If I said I hated the Mafia, would I be accused of hating Italians?
As for Americans using loopholes and tax evasion tactics, there's a huge difference: Those folks add to our economy and tax base. If they break the laws then they should be prosecuted and jailed. There is no comparison. Giving "less" than what is expected is not the same as getting something for nothing.

Lazy people with low work ethics come from all ethnic backgrounds ... in the fun-house mirror caricature poem, there are many groups that could be substituted for the Hispanics ... similarly, one can readily identify people with superior work ethics in all those same groups ...

In what now seems like a prior lifetime, I worked for a manufacturer of high-end wooden business furniture ... all of the desks, credenzas, etc were hand made and hand finished, a very labor-intensive process. One of the biggest continuing headaches at this particular company was manpower ... finding reliable or even semi-reliable people willing to perform the laborious tasks involved was more than a little difficult ...

as in many workplaces, when an opening developed, replacements often came in the form of referrals from one of our workers ... since the majority of our reliable, willing workers were Hispanic, their neighbors, friends, cousins, brothers and sisters that they referred were also Hispanic ... over a period of time, our workforce grew to approximately 500 people, approximately 80% of whom were Hispanic and more than 90% of their number had either a forged greed card or none at all.

Periodic raids by "La Migre" resulted in a few days of unanticipated vacation time while our workers, who were taken back to Mexico on buses, found their way back to the US and back to work.

12 the people who worked for me were Hispanic, 2 were Vietnamese refugees and 2 were "Anglos" ... of the 12, 7 were illegals ... those 7 and the two Vietnamese were by far the best workers in my department while one of the Anglos had one of the lowest work ethics of anyone I've ever been associated with.

I bet there are hard working drug dealers on the street too.

Although I can sympathize with your story Steve it doesn't erase the fact that they are here illegally and that makes me mad.

BUT, at least they were here working (and working hard from the sounds of it) and not looking for a handout.

Most illegals, in my observation, are actually far more willing to work than our native born folks ... there are lots of hands being held out by "I'm-too-lazy-to-work" and "they-OWE-me-because..." groups, but very few by immigrants, whether legal or otherwise ...

I'm as opposed to "hand-outs" as anyone could be and am simply amazed that the wonderful City of San Francisco has somehow believed that the solution to homeless beggars on the streets is to give them all shopping carts and a $400 per month welfare check ... of couse, as you might imagine, word gets around and the homeless from other areas find their way here to take a ride on THAT gravy train ... they even take the commute train from outlying areas to The City for "payday" ...

"Safety net" programs are worthwhile, desireable and necessary for the overall good of society ... unemployment insurance is something any of us could need sometime and there are women with children who need shelters to escape batterers or because something has happened to their "provider" and they have no viable option ...

Many indigents belong in mental institutions and should be put there, but IMO, the rest should be put to work and the handouts stopped ...

If I can put up with the:

Blonde stereotype - no, we're not all fake and stupid...

Woman stereotype - no, we're not all nagging, fake and stupid...

German descent stereotype - no, we're not all Nazi's...

Irish descent stereotype - no, we're not all poor red headed bums and angry...

Cherokee descent stereotype - (not that I LOOK like an Indian and I'm NOT PC with the Native American crap) we're not all whiskey drinkin' fools out to scalp you...

Stay at home mom stereotype - no, we're not all that boring and actually wear make-up and nice clothes and don't always drive an SUV...

Cigar smoker stereotype - no, we're not all arrogant, outspoken, political windbags...

And so on...ok, so maybe I actually AM all of those and then some...my point is this: No one PC group can really be lumped into any ONE catergory. I know better. You know better. Get over it. You are smarter and stronger than that! A joke is a joke is a joke. And if we can't poke fun of people, places, and things...then think of the sad state things really would be in.

Did I forget to mention that I'm also an aging-white-honky-cracka-bitch? We is what we is...unless one is personally (and I do mean personally to the point), we all need to quit the bitchin'...

I meant to say PERSONALLY ATTACKED in that last sentence...must be my blondeness showing through again, LOL! Or maybe it's a Southern California thing, like fer sure man, ya know?

actually

I think Steve just got muged. He started to type and just dropped off.

Steve are you ok?!?!

e, your aging-white-honkey-cracka-bitchiness is why we love you.

I'm fine ... e-Chick had said that it was a "Southern California thing, like fer sure man, ya know?" ... I answered her, saying "actually" like because it actually is, man .. fer sure!

Try calling a Calif company and ask for an executive who's unavailable ... you'll hear his so-called executive assistant tell you "actually, he's not in" or "actually, he's in a meeting" ... I play with them and ask "actually?" ... they don't bat an eyelash before saying "yes" ... sometimes I ask "so, do I understand that sometimes you tell people he's not in, but he actually IS?" ... this confuses them ... actually.

Es posible que estan Mexicanos aqui, no?

No yo.

I'm an American, dammit! I'm at least 3rd generation. My poor Eastern European trash ancestors immigrated to this country fair and square. They only lived on handouts for a while...lived 10 or 15 to a room. Slept in shifts while others worked.

Here in the land of 80% hispanics. I see a different kind. Not very many on welfare here. A lot of my co-workers (cops) are 2nd generation farm worker.

Many hard workers (farm laborers) doing jobs that are below what a poor starving white man would even do to eat and shelter himself. Poor white trash here, will live off the Government before they would even try to pick peaches in 110 degree weather.

By the way, the term "American" refers to everyone from Barrow Alaska to Tierra Del Fuego. My friends in Costa Rica work and pay taxes and are therefore tax paying Americans. At least that's what they will say when a gringo call himself American.