May 1st Immigration Protests

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Photo Sharing Un Dia Sin Inmigrantes, “A Day Without Immigrants”. I’m sorry for those of you in big cities that had huge inconveniences from these disturbances, but I must say that for the most part, I believe Reno, NV fared fairly well. MyWay.com had published an article prior to this hyped up day that proclaimed: “There will be 2 to 3 million people hitting the streets in Los Angeles alone. We're going to close down Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Tucson, Phoenix, Fresno," said Jorge Rodriguez, a union official who helped organize earlier rallies credited with rattling Congress as it debates the issue." It would appear according to news stories I heard today that only 500,000 people demonstrated in LA…(like that’s a few). “We want full amnesty, full legalization for anybody who is here (illegally)," Rodriguez said. "That is the message that is going to be played out across the country on May 1.” I think according to his averages, the day flopped, although in many cities it was a huge mess. In Reno, there were more than 5000 that protested, and in Elko, NV about 300 protested. It cracked me up the different ways our three local TV stations covered the news. Nevada is holding on to its “Good ‘Ole Boy and Wild Wild West” status by a thin thread since so many thousand people from the “People’s (Liberal) Republic of California” have moved here. Years ago, Nevada would have rounded them all up and sent them out if they were illegal. Today, you can obviously see the political correctness in the way the news was covered. While none of our stations really stated an opinion (surprisingly Channel 2 closest to it, and I usually rate them last) the news was covered really differently by each channel. Video Hosting - Upload Video - Photo Sharing KOLO TV Channel 8 in Reno I believe had the best story. They reported that American flags were prominent 20-1 in the display. Verbal exchanges were exchanged among some, but no violence was reported. These were the “sayings” that came from today’s march… “Don’t panic, we’re just Hispanic” “When pilgrims came to the USA, did they have green cards?” Video Hosting - Upload Video - Photo Sharing KRNV TV Channel 4 in Reno had the shortest story, but had a nice video to go with it. They mentioned that an estimated 150,000 immigrants live in Reno and that after today’s march a candlelight vigil is scheduled for this evening. When watching the video I was most disappointed to find that the last casino I worked for in this city before opening my own company seemed to totally support the efforts. This establishment’s human resource director totally swallowed the politically correct pill to state that they were proud to have so many immigrant workers (by the way most are legal and I support them too) and that about 100 of 1600 employees were not at work (mind you if 100 from every large casino in Reno left, that’s a LOT). They boasted of pride that the vast majority of those that were not at work made prior arrangements to be gone, and managers proudly stepped up to fill in. I guarantee if I would have wanted a day off to protest something white, or anything at all during the time I worked for them, they would have laughed at me. Candlelight vigils are for deaths and sad things, and I think it’s appropriate. It’s damn sad that our streets and good candles are going to be wasted for this effort for illegal immigrants. Video Hosting - Upload Video - Photo Sharing KTVN TV, Channel 2 in Reno had the most conservative view of the “pilgrimage”, and reported what small portion of the dark side that might have existed. They came up with the title statement of this post, and posted the only details of verbal exchanges between protesters. They mentioned an exchange between marchers and the leader of the SOS – “Save Our States-Save Our Sovereignty” group. It amazed me that even though the local news took a truly generic view of the matter. Channel 8 that had the best story, had a politically correct generic photo. Channel 4 had the only true photo of the march, and the most conservative station Channel 2 also chose a banner photo for their story. I believe even Fox News understated today’s march. However, they had the very best photo from Chicago. (Fox was my title photo). Nobody wants to be “that guy” that publicly states the damn truth. The illegal immigrants should be rounded up and put on a bus back to their home country, no matter what that country is. The hard working immigrants that do it correctly and become citizens and go through the process properly should be publicly praised and named by name and made good examples. The Minutemen should build their wall, and we should treat good immigrants like gold the same way we treat native citizens. I would like to also mention that as a small mom and pop business, I only have one Native American and one Hispanic employee, but I made it a point today to go and shake the hand of my Hispanic employee and state that with the crazy things going on today in our Nation, that it was a pleasure to have him at work today. He works hard and is one of us.