One of the sites I follow on Facebook is about my hometown of Manitowoc, WI. I learn so much about the history and the stories of the town in which I grew up. Actually we lived in 'the country' which meant outside the city limits but not by that much that we were necessarily rural, as if it matters. Some of the recent 'threads' on the site have been about the old days of the County Fair being held in town, at, of all places, the Fairgrounds!
Some of the participants on the site were telling about the terrible polio scare in the same year I was born, and that a young girl died from it. The County Fair was very poorly attended that year due to this 'scare' but those who braved it enjoyed having the place to themselves. I remember as a child standing in line at the police station in our Sunday clothes to get a sugar cube with polio medication in it. Polio and other diseases which used to take lives have been eradicated in the US thanks to the development of vaccines and other treatments, and thanks to God for allowing their development.
Now, we have the fear of those formerly eradicated childhood and adult diseases finding their way back into our lives. If you are watching the national news shows (I understand some of the broadcast networks aren't covering this as much) you know about the crisis along the Southern border with illegals being dropped off. The people being 'dumped' in the US are mainly kids, those under the age of 18, who serve as 'anchors' for their families to join them. Somehow a message went out in the countries to the south of Mexico, the central American nations, that the US had open borders. How those parents can put little kids on a bus and send them thousands of miles away by themselves is beyond me.
The facilities where the illegals are showing up and being held 'for processing' have insufficient means for caring for the kids and adults that are flowing in. How this is happening, why the buses or the modes of transport aren't being prevented to pass the checkpoints or whatever they are?? At first photos of the environment were being allowed out but now are prohibited from being shown. If there are no pictures, then it's not really happening, right? Reports are that there is a good deal of sickness being dealt with along with food shortages, lack of bathroom facilities, and yes, shower facilities. Showers might be new to many of these people, especially to the little children traveling alone who aren't even going to know how to do this. What a mess!
In the movie, "The Godfather II", in flashback-style, young Vito Andolini is shown running away from the 'mafia' in his home town in Sicily and boarding a steamer bound for the US. He was about 10 years old doing this, seemingly without a escort. In fact, when being processed at Ellis Island, it came out that his name was Vito from Corleone, and he ended up with that as his last name! The language barrier, the great numbers of emigrants, and his age allowed for this to happen. What also happened during his physical check-up was the discovery that he had small pox and had to remain on the Island for three months in a cell-like room until he was healed. He was sponsored/adopted by another Sicilian family who finished raising him.
Now, what's happening in the border towns in TX, AZ, and NM is people are being stacked almost like cord wood, mixed all together with poor sanitation facilities. Most, if any of these people, especially the children, have had no immunizations or other medical attention in the countries from which they came. Now, the medical folks tending these illegals are forbidden to discuss what they are seeing and finding for fear of arrest. This does not sound right to me, not in America (North America, I should say!). It reminds me of what happened in Northern Europe in the 1930's...
The facilities where the illegals are showing up and being held 'for processing' have insufficient means for caring for the kids and adults that are flowing in. How this is happening, why the buses or the modes of transport aren't being prevented to pass the checkpoints or whatever they are?? At first photos of the environment were being allowed out but now are prohibited from being shown. If there are no pictures, then it's not really happening, right? Reports are that there is a good deal of sickness being dealt with along with food shortages, lack of bathroom facilities, and yes, shower facilities. Showers might be new to many of these people, especially to the little children traveling alone who aren't even going to know how to do this. What a mess!
In the movie, "The Godfather II", in flashback-style, young Vito Andolini is shown running away from the 'mafia' in his home town in Sicily and boarding a steamer bound for the US. He was about 10 years old doing this, seemingly without a escort. In fact, when being processed at Ellis Island, it came out that his name was Vito from Corleone, and he ended up with that as his last name! The language barrier, the great numbers of emigrants, and his age allowed for this to happen. What also happened during his physical check-up was the discovery that he had small pox and had to remain on the Island for three months in a cell-like room until he was healed. He was sponsored/adopted by another Sicilian family who finished raising him.
Now, what's happening in the border towns in TX, AZ, and NM is people are being stacked almost like cord wood, mixed all together with poor sanitation facilities. Most, if any of these people, especially the children, have had no immunizations or other medical attention in the countries from which they came. Now, the medical folks tending these illegals are forbidden to discuss what they are seeing and finding for fear of arrest. This does not sound right to me, not in America (North America, I should say!). It reminds me of what happened in Northern Europe in the 1930's...
When the photos were still being allowed at the detention centers, I was struck by the little faces of those kids, my heart went out to them, as it should. This is not their fault but that of the governments involved. There is fear and concern that the kids might be used for ugly purposes so they are thought to be safer here. That may be true but this is so not the way to do it. If they weren't sick when they arrived, they will be in those traveling and living conditions.
Their 'deportation' from their own countries was not unanticipated by ours because as early as January this year employment opportunities were posted on gov't sites looking for escorts for the underage illegal immigrants.
While this is entirely out of order and should not be happening, I know personally one radio hosts' philanthropic arm reaching out with food, water, toiletries, and supplies for infants and little ones. This is just a big, fat mess, and not by accident, which is so disturbing. They are expecting about 100,000 such illegals arriving at our borders and the poor agents supposedly protecting the borders are busy doing diaper duty. The arrivals have a memorized or written script with 'key words' in it which would grant them 'asylum' here.
It will be interesting to see how the various Federal and State departments decide to handle this mess and get it straightened out before they have riots on their hands. The last thing our nation needs are more people being supported by programs which are already struggling to meet the truly needy. The system will be collapsed, as has been predicted or even planned to have happen. I pray this is not the case.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/07/02/medical-staff-warned-keep-quiet-about-illegal-immigrants-or-face-arrest/?sc=573297105347906271
It will be interesting to see how the various Federal and State departments decide to handle this mess and get it straightened out before they have riots on their hands. The last thing our nation needs are more people being supported by programs which are already struggling to meet the truly needy. The system will be collapsed, as has been predicted or even planned to have happen. I pray this is not the case.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/07/02/medical-staff-warned-keep-quiet-about-illegal-immigrants-or-face-arrest/?sc=573297105347906271
