Hi Maria,
If you are looking for the truth, you have come to the right web site. Bart is correct, the email that you wrote in about is total hog snot. As a rule, never trust an anonymous email because they are written that way so the author cannot get sued if they are caught lying.
That immigration email has been circulating in various forms since January 2008, supposedly written by “a teacher” in various states, including Florida, California and Oregon.
You can view information about the email here: http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/is_a_letter_from_an_anonymous_teacher.html
And here: http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/pellgrant.asp
The pieces at the above links contain links to more information about CARIBE, WAIT and other things mentioned in the email. FactCheck.org and Snopes.com are great fact-checking resources for those chain emails and just about anything else.
Now that you’ll be armed and dangerous with facts and the truth, give the right-wingers hell at the water cooler!
Greg
Orlando Independent Examiner
Just an aside question, are there any parts of Florida that aren’t “red”?
Greg, I’ve heard from people from there that Miami-Dade County and whatever county Ft. Myers is in aren’t ‘red,’ if that helps.
Incidentally, this letter reminds me of an incident that happened a few months ago. A friend of mine, but one who has absorbed the right-wing anti-immigrant nonsense from her family, was resentful about having to wait in line at a hospital behind some people who spoke only Spanish. I wondered if she would feel just as resentful if they were Swedish or German, like her parentage. Would she be so bitter and impatient if her white German-speaking great-grandfather was waiting in line ahead of her for treatment? Would she grumble about him learning English or using taxpayer-funded public resources? I think not.
BTW, I don’t think she’s really a racist, but, like many, she’s been confused by her family and other Fox News-viewers at work, as well as emails such as this one, into an emotional reaction to this immigration issue as the economy worsens — the attitude might be summed up as, ‘WTF! They are getting more than I am and I’m a hard-working citizen!’ (Of course, she had no way of knowing if the people in line ahead of her were citizens or not, nor if they were employed.) I don’t think she ever considered it logically or framed the situation using her own immigrant ancestors instead of Hispanics.
Comment by RS Janes — May 7, 2010 @ 4:54 am