[url]www.contracostatimes.com/news/leads/stories_one/census_20010806.htm[/url]

"During the past decade, California has achieved levels of multiculturalism and housing scarcity unparalleled in any other part of the country."

"The housing shortage has hit while a record influx of immigrants has changed the makeup and cultural orientation of many households."

"The numbers show about a quarter of state residents -- by far the highest percentage of any state -- were born outside the country to parents who were not U.S. citizens. About 55 percent of foreign-born residents were born in Latin America; 34 percent were born in Asia."

"The prevalence of non-natives has had an impact on how Californians communicate with one another, the figures show."

"Nearly 40 percent of state residents speak a language other than English at home, again the highest percentage in the country by far."

"About 26 percent of households statewide speak Spanish at home, third in the nation behind New Mexico and Texas, and more than 9 percent speak an Asian or a Pacific Island language at home, far surpassing rates in any other state except Hawaii."

[b]"The state's English-based mainstream is giving way to separate societies built around distinct immigrant communities with their own languages and lifestyles, he said."[/b]

"Recent Mexican immigrants are living three to a bedroom and watching Spanish-language television while making virtually no contact with white homeowners just a few blocks away, Chacon said."

[b]"Immigrant assimilation into the mainstream seems to have stalled, Chacon said."

"When you have such a large percentage of the population coming from countries where English is not the first language and without functioning democracies, you have the possibility of people feeling really disconnected from the institutions of their new country and angry in their new homes," Chacon said."[/b]

"Some 40 percent of adults who speak Spanish at home don't speak English at all or don't speak it well, the numbers show."

Balkanization anyone?

And yet some people have remorse for the illegal Mexican immigrants crossing the line and dying in N.Mexico's deserts.  Close the damn borders, *poof* problem solved - no people coming in, none of them dying.

But that's not very "sensitive", and my opinion bears no weight in the media because of its insensitivity to non-English speaking Mexicans wanting to come into the country.  I guess if I decided to move to Taiwan, their gov't should feel pity for me and help me learn their customs and languages - all through the help of the native's paychecks of course.

But of course, I don't want to get on a rant here...
[img]www.auburn.edu/~littlcb/new jew.jpg[/img]

Huhh?
Bring em on
I live in the area where ALL the VietNamese were brought,Many Cammys and Laos and in the last 5 years we have had a gob of "Mexicans" come in because of the poultry plants,
You guys eat the chicken.They are generally honest,work hard and pay their bills.We do request they bring interpreters to the clinic and hospital.
cpermd
ps Longest I ever typed

Just returned from 12 days in Calif. and each time I go I see it firsthand. One of the greatest tradegies to me is the overpopulation of a once beautiful state. Although I am from the East coast there is no doubt that Calif. is a naturally beautiful land  with a most diverse landscape from its coastline, deserts and the mighty Sierra mountains.A shame there are now so many millions of humans crowding a once sublime land.

Of course The media plays it up as the "poor minorities" being racially discriminated against, it makes me mad--IF they would just speak English ALL the time I might feel a little different about it.

Post from cpermd -

Yeah, like we didn't eat chicken before the Tide washed in.

I'll have to have a bumper sticker made up to register my opposition to the opened floodgates-

[size=4][b]IF I HAD KNOWN ALL THIS WAS GONNA HAPPEN, I'D HAVE PLUCKED MY OWN DAMN CHICKEN![/b][/size=4][:D]

Eric The(ThankYou,ThankYouVeryMuch)Hun[>]:)]

Try to convince a Libertarian that.  They  seem to be under the impression that illegal immigrants help the U.S.

Recent immigrants are not assimilated in the same fashion as was the case at the turn of the 20th century, where immigrants felt guilt, if not shame, for not speaking the language. They were motivated to learn English and the customs of their new home. Today we see large numbers of immigrants who hate this nation outright and are here simply to better their financial state. There is nothing wrong with financial gain being the primary motivation for immigration, however I do have a problem with those who refuse to learn the language or despise us. They should stay home.

In any case, if immigrants are not assimilated these days, Balkanization is the logical next step. Myself and some others agree the goal of the state is to disarm CA residents before the next race riot takes place. They do not want another Koreatown situation like in LA. The way things are looking, the next major economic downturn is the likely time for the next riot.

[imbroglio mode on]
But they are doing it for our own good...
[imbroglio mode off]

What, you wanna stitch your own damn clothing, empty your own damn garbage pails, pick your own damn broccoli, and cut your own damn lawn?

Don't get me wrong, I very much dislike the way the situation is being handled right now.  It's a mess.  But those people provide cheap labor in categories that no American is willing to fill -- at least not at the price level that other Americans are willing to pay for the work.

When I go to a fast-food place now, it's one American manager overseeing a whole bunch of Mexican illegals.  American high-school kids refuse to take "burger flipping" jobs any more -- they don't need the work, their mommies and daddies provide them with their TV-in-their-bedroom, their Sony PS2, and enough money to buy a reasonable amount of pot to smoke.  Even if the parents didn't give the kids everything they could possibly want, the parents don't want the kids to be flipping burgers either.

Much less picking broccoli, sewing cheap shirts in a "sweatshop" for ten hours a day, doing janitorial labor, or even that mainstay of Americana, mowing lawns.