OH, SAY, CAN YOU SEE, BY THE DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT, MEXICANS SNEAKING ACROSS THE BORDER, AN INCOMING TIDE

The day is breeaking, do you see it?
In the light of the dawn?
What we so acclaimed at nightfall?
Its stars, its stripes, flew yesterday
In the fierce battle in a sign of victory,
The glow of battle, in step with liberty
At night they said: "it's being defended!"

Oh say! The voice of your starry beauty
is still unfolding
Over the land of the free
The sacred flag?

Some of you may recognize the above lines as the English translation of Verse 1 and the Chorus of NUESTRO HIMNO (Our Anthem), the latest Spanish version of our national anthem. This mangled STAR SPANGLED BANNER should be seen as a deliberate affront to our nation and to those who fought and died under the flag of the United States of America in battles at Gettysburg, Argonne, Normandie, Iwo Jima, in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq.

There is nothing wrong in translating our national anthem into other languages as long as the translation is as close as possible to the lyrics in our STAR SPANGLED BANNER. In fact, on various occasions over the years, our anthem has been translated into German, Latin, Spanish, and even Yiddish, but in each of those instances the lyrics of Francis Scott Key were translated as closely as possible. NUESTRO HIMNO, on the other hand, is nothing but a mangled desecration of THE STAR BANGLED BANNER which points out a big problem - THERE ARE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN OUR NATION WHO CANNOT OR WILL NOT SPEAK ENGLISH, AND WHOSE ALLEGIANCE IS TO AND WILL REMAIN WITH THE COUNTRY OF THEIR ORIGIN. There's a joke going around now which goes something like this: A recent poll of Americans on immigration shows that 4% had no opinion, 43% say that illegal immigration is a serious problem, and 53% say "no comprende, no hable ingles."

The Senate was considering a bill making English the official language of the United States. This bill would also have prohibited the printing of government materials, including voting ballots, in a foreign language, and it would have ended the funding for bilingual education. When the political correctness critics and Senator Harry Reid, the Democrats' minority leader, made the ridiculous assertion that this proposed legislation was racist, an amendment watered it down by declaring English to be the "common and unifying language of America," and by leaving in place bilingual ballots and bilingual education. Hell, we already know that English is our common and unifying language. George Will, the respected conservative columnist, argues against bilingual ballots because Americans expect that those who seek citizenship "can read the nation's founding documents (the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution) and laws, and can comprehend the political discourse (in English) that precedes the casting of ballots."

Tucker Carlson, an MSNBC commentator, believes that in our culture only the English language holds our nation together, not race, religion or nationality. He points to the divisiveness and separation movements in Canada and Belgium, where two or more languages are officially recognized. While most estimates put the number of illegals in this country at 11 million, I agree with those who believe the number is closer to 20 million. The overwhelming majority of those are Latinos, but there are also an unknown number of illegals from Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and the West Indies in this country. It is my opinion that the massive influx of Mexicans and Central Americans across our southern border constitutes the greatest threat to the unity of the United States since the Civil War. If this tide of illegal immigration continues, Spanish will be the language spoken by a majority of people in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California. When that happens, the United States will experience the same separation movement in those states as in Canada, where many people in the French speaking provinces want to secede from that nation's English speaking provinces.

The key to illegal immigration is JOBS and if we stopped employing illegals, they would stop coming. But, let's be honest. BIENVENIDOS A LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS ! While we say we are against illegal immigration and resent anyone speaking in a foreign language around us, we love to hire illegals as domestics, to do our yard work, pick our fruits and vegetables, for construction work, to pick up our trash, work in our restaurants, and for many other kinds of unskilled, semi-skilled and even skilled work. Why? Because these folks provide us with a source of CHEAP LABOR. So, is it going to be HOLA or ADIOS? Hola - A number of our cities, including conservative Dallas, have proclaimed themselves to be SAFETY ZONES for illegal immigrants, while many cities have established and are funding day labor shelters for illegals, and their police are under orders NOT TO ENFORCE our immigration laws. Hola - With all federal immigration detention facilities full, most illegals apprehended by the Border Patrol are processed and, upon THEIR PROMISE to appear for a deportation hearing at a later date, ARE RELEASED, never to be seen again. No adios - There is no way that we can, or even want to, deport several million hard working people who provide us with cheap labor. No adios - Most Americans, even the jobless, will not do manual labor, so Manuel, por favor stay, gracias amigo! Ron Reagan, another MSNBC commentator and son of the late President Ronald Reagan, states that as long as we have a THIRD WORLD COUNTRY (MEXICO) ON OUR BORDER and we are willing to hire its citizens, they will keep sneaking across the border, seeking a better way of life for themselves or for their loved ones back home, no matter what kind of fences or walls we may put in place to keep them out. And for its part, Mexico strongly opposes any kind of border barrier, undoubtably because once in the U.S., the illegals will join their compatriots in sending billions of dollars back to their homeland.

Before you get the wrong idea, let me make it crystal clear that I am not against immigration. This country is made up of immigrants and their descendants. My parents and I came to the United States from Germany in 1936. I was placed in the first grade in school, instead of in the fourth grade, because I could not speak any English. There was no bilingual education, but I picked up enough English in a few months so that I was advanced to the grade for my age group. My father, a professional manager in Germany, operated an elevator in a New York office building until he learned enough English to obtain a better paying job. Right after Pearl Harbor, my father, who had been wounded while fighting with the German army during WWI, tried to enlist in the United States army, but he was rejected because of his age. We obtained our citizenship in 1943 and ten months later, on my 17th birthday, I enlisted in the army. I served in the Pacific where my unit included a number of non-citizens, most of them from Mexico, who had entered this country legally, spoke English, and volunteered to fight with our armed forces. Immigrants from all over the world, including those from Mexico and Central America, have made major contributions to this country in the fields of medicine, science, education, and business, and many have given their lives while serving in our armed forces. For these reasons, I believe that it is downright UN-AMERICAN to be against immigration. But, I am opposed to immigration of people who come here by sneaking across the border, who continue to maintain allegiance to the country of their origin, and if left unchecked, will establish their native tongue as the predominant language in America's southern border states.

Now that we have millions of Spanish speaking illegals in this country, it is not surprising that this group, backed by the established Latino community, has a lot of clout. Their numbers have led to the watering down of the English-only amendment to a meaningless reaffirmation proposal in the Senate. Cities with a large population of illegals have built day labor shelters for them and have prohibited the police from enforcing any immigration laws. When the San Jose major league soccer team relocated to Houston, it was renamed Houston 1836. April 21, 1836, happens to be the date on which a small force of Texans won their independence by defeating the Mexican army in the Battle of San Jacinto. While the team insisted that "1836" referred to the year that Houston was founded, the city's Mexican community was so offended that the name of the team was changed to Houston Dynamo.

It is obvious that, by and large, the Spanish speaking community's allegiance is to Mexico, not to the United States. For many, U. S. citizinship is merely a means for remaining in this country. The public celebration of Cinco de Mayo in this country is a display of their true allegiance. They have mangled the Star Spangled Banner by completly changing Francis Scott Key's lyrics. Their title, Nuestro Himno, suggests that it is their anthem, not the anthem of the United States. And, with "The sacred flag?" might they really be referring to the flag of Mexico?