RH: Russian Pentecostal immigrants aren't temps...they've stayed & 2 the best o'my knowledge, the adults are NOT working/contributing members of society, at least not out here!! They are just living off the fat of the land, the donations of the churches' system, and welfare. In otherwords, I observe the majority of the adults "working the system" instead of working IN and FOR the system like the rest of us have to do.
I share your concern that immigrants such as these (former???) communists now permanent "visitors" believe that the "USA/state owes THEM" and not the other way around. They just don't GET it!!!
Their teenagers, are a totally different breed.
2 examples:
I had 2 of them trying to sell me McDonalds Hamburgers in their drive-through at 2 different windows...It's hard enough to hear through those durned "speaker boxes" McDonald's uses, but to have to decipher 2 all meat patties, special sauce, lettuce on a sesame seed bun" through Russian dialect was just tooooooooooo much...
In fact, when I got to the second window to pay for my FINALLY understood order to the first teen-ager, the SECOND young'un asked for the money in English and then started jabbering in Russian I presume for the benefit of the young woman @ the first drive-through window. I heard her say, "Nyet!" And I made a comment asking why was she telling me "Nyet" just to see what she'd say... She immediately turned beeeeet red, got flustered and said, "You know this word?" I said yes. Then she wanted to know if I knew other Russian as well, to which I said ALSO said yes, and she really went off into a cackling spell.
Example 2: We've also been through a situation where a local Russian youngman, not even 18 yet, murdered another Russian teenager, in a 4some brawl here locally in the last few months. It took the men/women in blue, the court system, the jail space, the whole 9 yards, and we still haven't heard the end of it.
Even though "rescue/relocation" is good and admirable in situations, and I fully believe the "church" has honorable intentions,
instantly transplanted people comes with more than "economic dislocations" to the local populace looking for work such as yourself. Inexpensive housing also dries up overnight, so do local grocery store
shelves w/bargains, and the line they make at the post office arguing to get some other "free service" while I'm waiting to buy one lousy stamp for a last minute letter...well, it sets this ole prospector's teeth on edge.
More open air markets have started appearing here, and because they are untrained and unemployed, they usually mill around outside of them as well, making it darn near impossible for others who would like to purchase inexpensive fresh fruit and veggies to even get by let alone "get INTO" the open air booths to do business for their families as well.
No matter how old we get, learning to share is a lifelong problem, especially for the immigrant who hasn't had enough to survive, let alone share. That mindset is very VERY tough to change, as anyone who has tried to teach their own kids to share with others will vouch.
We have to buy hamburgers from them, jail them, prosecute them, house them, give them whatever they want because we "owe it too them", etc.
Well, I'm sorry, but I don't "owe" them anything but a chance to do what I do. They don't get more chances, or better chances or cheaper chances...they just get an "equal chance." And we better make progress figuring this one out, because here comes the next wave of religious immigrants whose president declared them unfit to live in the home of their chosing just because they worshipped gold from left to right instead of the accepted way of right to left.
America has ALWAYS had trouble with her borders...and her immigrants.
Liberty stands beside the open door allright,
but now with an INSTANT cup of coffee in one hand and a welfare check in the other.
Somehow, the blindfold has been taken off of Justice, and been slipped around our eyes, blinding US both to our own political messes we have for leaders, as well as our making Lady Liberty politically correct now, i.e., she doesn't seem to care WHO she's serving coffee to.
....regardless of whether they be Russians in Portland to Seattle, our healthy share of Viet Namese thanks to Catholic charities, Cambodians, Ti's, Mexicans in South California, or Cubans in south Florida. And I'll admit another "prejudice" while I'm at it: I twist a little everytime we have some foreign brat who was some foreign potentates' bastard offspring, and was sent here to Harvard in order to go back home and make the world a better place where THEY came from...and then find them popping up on our CNBC telling us how we should be "investing our money..." etc. Thank you Paine Webber, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, etc...Don't we have any bright men and women from Harvard that DIDN'T come from India or Pakistan or Timbucktu that need a job and can do the Television Schtick???
And Mark Bartlett wants to ship out ole cranky, CANADIAN Hutch to AMERICA?
NO THANKS!!!
I'm obviously a "person/work" in progress, and I'll admit it. BUT if we, the "native" squeaky wheels don't squeek loudly occasionally, there will never be any grease applied nor the system changed to make it level, AGAIN, for all, including those who are already here and need cheap shelter, food, clothing, jobs, AND 29c Wednesday, McDonalds' HAMBURGERS!!!
O/49r |
