O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

I'm concerned about the slant in the news today and am so tired of the liberal media bias and corruption. Are we losing our perspective? Why are we not securing the borders? Exactly what IS the job of the National Guard? We've forgotten that our freedoms were bought and paid for by the blood and sweat and sacrifice of many brave men, women, soldiers, and patriots who lived in very different times than we do. It seems to me that the Obama administration spends just as much time ignoring the needs of the majority of Americans as protecting the rights of those who break our laws. Forget about terrorism for a few minutes and let's just talk about criminal activity around the country taking place at our borders; drug smuggling and abuse, kidnapping, prostitution, vandalism, and murder, for starters. The liberal progressive left are sympathetic to illegal aliens. The news media backs them up. These people have a much different vision for America than you and I grew up with. I'm not against immigration or citizenship. Is it too much to ask for them to go through the right channels to become legal? The Media Research Center did a new study and the results are disturbing: By a 12 to 1 margin, ABC, CBS, and NBC rip Arizona's new immigration law. Most reports are negative about enforcing border security and immigration laws, but positive toward those who have broken our laws and are here illegally. Explain that to one of the many American families who've had a loved one murdered by an illegal alien with a criminal record who, instead of being deported, was released from prison to go commit more crimes. This is more common than you know.

I'm not simplifying a complex issue. Let me say up front that the problem goes beyond Hispanics coming to our country to work. I don't blame them! They get free health care and entitlements. Most of them want to provide for their families and start a new life in a land of opportunity instead of oppression. I used to manage restaurants in California and many of these people are good, humble, honest, and hard working. One of the problems is the countless number of companies that hire illegals, and have been doing it for decades under Clinton, Bush, and now Obama. This is not a political party issue. It's a Cancerous American issue in more ways than one. For example, one argument is that people from Mexico will do the menial jobs that Americans won't do. Tell that to the lower class worker who was laid off or the elderly person who still needs to work because Social Security isn't meeting their needs. But I will say that American kids today are so stinking spoiled and many parents don't know how to say "no". This high tech generation doesn't know what it means to actually, "go outside and play". When I hurt my back several years ago, I tried to hire some neighborhood kids to do some raking and yard clean-up. They worked at a slow, unfocused pace for a few hours and didn't come back for days. I had to call to follow up so they'd finish the job they agreed to do. When they came back the next day, their Dad was with them and he ended up doing most of the work himself. It was a sad, eye-opening moment for me on the work ethic in our country, and more disturbing is the fact that this generation is tomorrow's voters.

When I was young, I had a paper route or two, and also worked as a dishwasher and bus boy in a local restaurant. Years later, I worked at a gym, hardware store, mowed lawns, and delivered lumber, shingles, and sheet rock. The oddest job I had was doing Summer maintenance for a funeral home. I'll leave it at that. When I moved to California from Michigan, I worked various jobs and went to school while sharing an apartment to split the rent and utilities until I could afford my own place. Kids today lack discipline. I don't see as many young people who are willing to work hard, due in part to uninvolved parents and the conditioning of our entitlement society. This generation sure seems to see America differently, not to mention what they're being taught about history. So why shouldn't illegal immigrants expect us to bend over backwards for them and grant them citizenship? Our leaders are not exactly saying, "wait a minute, protest all you want but remember what country you're now living in - this is America!" They will keep crossing our borders in high numbers and the media will trumpet their cause. (Insert your scenario here) The line of liberal thinking goes like this: since kids are going to have sex anyway, give them condoms; since teens are going to drink anyway, host a party for them and show them how to mix good drinks; since people are going to smoke pot anyway, just legalize it, since our borders are being flooded - just give them citizenship, and on and on. Maybe we'll eventually come to our senses, enforce our laws, and be proud of our heritage in America again, but I'm not holding my breath. Especially when our own government refuses to fix the problems.