QuiGon

The ultra-liberal Boston Globe has an article today about how happy local Brazilians are that their soccer team is doing so well in the World Cup. My favorite quote comes from young Pedro Resende, who says: "Everybody gets happy when your country is winning something."

Gee, Pedro, if Brazil is "your country" then what the heck are you doing in Framingham..? See, people like Pedro will come to America and gladly take our money and free health care, but never let it be forgotten that they hate our country and will never adapt to being an American. Rather they are trying to turn America into whatever cesspool they came from.

Some will call me a bigot for my remarks, but don't shoot the messenger. I guess I just don't want to see the United States become a third world country (are there any latino countries that aren't considered Third World..?) but what do you expect when you import tens of millions of empoverished Latinos..? So why do we think the United States will be any different...? How much longer are we Americans going to freely subsidize the poorest of the poor of the Western Hemisphere..? Where's the part in the Constitution that says one of the purposes of government is to give a hand out to every illegal Mexican, Brazilian, Guatamalan, Haitian, etc, that happens to get past our ridiculously insecure border..?

Oh, and I'll bet you dollars to donuts that Pedro doesn't have his citizenship papers either, but that's just hunch. It's probably 50/50.

dryheat44

If you were to move to Dallas, would you become a Cowboys fan? Why not, you live there? To remain a fan of the Patriots would be wrong. They would have every right to run you out of Texas.

If you were to move to Spain, would you root for Spain to win the World Cup? Why not? You live there. To root for the USA would be treasonous.

Not only is your post bigoted, it isn't even logical. There's a lot of Americans who's ancestors are from Holland, Japan, Iran, Ukraine, Portugal, etc. Why shouldn't those people support those countries is something as trivial as a soccer match?

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When it's third and 10, you can have the milk drinkers and I'll take the whiskey drinkers every time. -- R.I.P. Max McGee

patsfan13

A football team is one thing. My mom and fathers grandparents came from Ireland. They didn't think Ireland was their country, the saw themselves as Americans.

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"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."

QuiGon

OK. The lameness of that analogy demonstrates the weakness of your argument.
See, that's the point. I would not ever move to Spain because I love my country and I love being where I am right now. But if I ever decided to voluntarily leave America for a better life elsewhere then I would do everything I possibly could do adapt to my new country including learn their language, learn their customs and I would proudly support my new homeland in international competition. I would never move to some other country and raise my old country's colors over and above the hosts who have generously taken me in.
Sorry, but I haven't seen any Rising Suns, Union Jacks or Dutch Windmills flying around Framingham and Marlborough these past 3 weeks.

dryheat44

Dude, it's a soccer match.

My father was born in Greece, came here when he was 17. He roots for Greece in soccer matches and the Olympics. He served in the U.S. army in Viet Nam, and is a US citizen. He pays his taxes, and we spoke English in the house growing up. He roots for the Patriots and the Bruins.

Seriously, what's your point? Root for the U.S. or get out?

Is it an illegal immigration issue? Fine, 99% of this board agrees that we need to tighten up our immigration practices. Is it a welfare issue? Is it the possibility of Spanish as another official language?

All of these are legit arguments that most people here will agree with you on. But using the World Cup as a basis for your argument is stupid.

Yes, you never want to move outside the U.S. That's wonderful. It's because we have it good here. A college-age man or woman from Brazil, where the minimum wage is two dollars a day doesn't share your insulated perspective that the country you were born in is the best place to live.

So what's your point?

__________________
When it's third and 10, you can have the milk drinkers and I'll take the whiskey drinkers every time. -- R.I.P. Max McGee

QuiGon

In this instance it is a soccer match. But these symptoms are very representative of so much that is wrong with the immigration policies of the United States.
Then may God bless your father for doing it the right way. See, ultimately this isn't about who you root for in a soccer match. This is about hundreds of thousands of people coming into our country illegally, usurping our resources, giving nothing in return, refusing to assimilate and showing nothing but contempt for their adopted homeland.
My ultimate point is that illegal immigration will do more to damage our country than any other issue facing us today. This is because we are creating a country that is completely divided against itself. How can a country survive when you have to face language barriers on a regular basis..? A subtext to this point is I am sick of seeing more Brazilian, Puerto Rican and Mexican flags when I drive from Waltham to Framingham to Marlborough than I do American flags.

But I guess that just makes me a bigot. Silly me. I always thought the United States of America belonged to Americans but it really belongs to any and every illegal that decides to raise his colors here.

PatsFanInEaglesLand

Your first comment is just plain stupid............................ considering you support such people like Ramsey Clark, Cindy Sheehan, Cythia McKinney and John Conyers all democrat bigots.

But you right about your second comment, my wife is Canadian and she loves her home country and also her new one(well 13 years), but will root for Canada in such things as Olympics or other sporting events, so what should I do kick her out of that house for that?

dryheat44

Again, most people here would agree with your larger points of cracking down on illegal aliens and stop bending over backwards to accomodate Spanish speakers. Including myself.

But to blast all Latin Americans in this country for rooting for a country besides the US in a soccer tournament is misguided. I mean, the guy quoted could have been a student. He might work here (Pedro Martinez would probably be rooting for the Dominican Republic if they were in it), Could have been on vacation visiting family. May have even lived here all his life. But because Pedro is celebrating a Brazil win, it's somehow an excuse to blast Latin Americans as being lazy, dirty, animals looking for a free ride.

THAT'S why it's a bigoted response.

__________________
When it's third and 10, you can have the milk drinkers and I'll take the whiskey drinkers every time. -- R.I.P. Max McGee

Patters

Maybe Pedro's Brazilian.

QuiGon

See here's your problem: You're responding to your interpretation of my remarks but not to what I actually said.

Please tell me where I called Latin Americans "lazy, dirty animals looking for a free ride". Whoops..!! You can't..!!

But that was a nice try at putting words in my mouth. (Actually, it kinda really wasn't).

Addendum: This is actually a very good case study at why you just can't argue with liberals.
What I said: "Gee, I don't want America to turn into a 3rd World Country"
What he heard: "Latin Americans are being lazy, dirty, animals looking for a free ride..!!"