I am due for an eye exam, and quite frankly, these old glasses are not doing the best job after uncountable hours in front of this computer screen–so I am asking VDARE readers for some assistance. I am missing something that surely must be right in front of me and I just don’t see it.

I am looking at the official Website of the Governor of California. I see the “issues and policies” tab on the top, but I can’t find “immigration”.

When I click on the tab , I see the link to Budget, Crime Victims’ Rights , Disaster Preparedness , Economy , Education , Energy , Environment , Fire Season 2006 , Health Care , Heat Safety , Levees and Floods, Military, Prison Reform, Strategic Growth plan…and Workman’s Compensation.

In the state that many believe to be all but lost to illegal immigration and the racist radicals who promote that crime, I don’t see an “illegal immigration” category.

Not that most VDARE readers can’t easily connect illegal immigration to the categories listed, but someone, please, send me a note explaining where to look for the illegal immigration category on Arnold’s site.

I know it must be there somewhere. Right?

I do see a reference to it on his re-election site . An editorial supporting amnesty from the San Diego Tribune.

Maybe with new glasses I can find the Español version of the Gov’s official Website. I see it clearly on the re-election site.

Huh. Darn glasses.

Check out the locations of the 21 scheduled field hearings planned around the country for August, and see whether any is within driving distance. The hearings are great potential “teaching moments,” as they say in ed-speak, and the more citizens who show up to educate the press and the legislators, the better.

The following list is from Rep Gingrey’s helpful blog.

HOUSE ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE
Las Cruces, NM on August 3rd - How can Congress best protect the integrity of the federal voting process by combating election fraud and eliminating non-citizen voting?
Phoenix, AZ on August 3rd - How effective are state policies like Arizona’s Proposition 200, which requires voters to provide evidence of citizenship, at combating election fraud?

JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
San Diego, CA on August 2nd - How do illegal immigrants impact the costs of healthcare, local education, and other social services, and would these costs increase under Reid-Kennedy immigration bill?
El Paso, TX on August 17th - What is the financial impact of illegal immigration on communities along the U. S. border, and could these costs rise under the Reid-Kennedy bill? What is the impact on efforts to extend a border security fence under the Reid-Kennedy bill’s requirements regarding consultation with the Mexican Government? Will efforts to limit illegal immigration be inhibited by the Reid-Kennedy bill’s provisions relating to local law enforcement?
Concord, NH on August 24th - How do illegal immigrants impact the costs of healthcare, local education, and other social services, and would these costs increase under Reid-Kennedy immigration bill? What is the societal impact of the Reid-Kennedy bill’s grant of amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants?
Upstate New York on August 25th - What are the current risks of terrorists, narcotics smugglers, and human traffickers infiltrating the United States, and what role do secure identification documents play in limiting those risks? Does the Reid-Kennedy bill undermine efforts to limit those risks?
Evansville, IN on August 29th - How are U. S. workers impacted, and potentially displaced, by the Reid-Kennedy bill?
Dubuque, IA on September 1st - Do the Reid-Kennedy bill’s amnesty provisions repeat the mistakes of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986?

ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE
Selfridge Air National Guard Base, MI on August 1st - What are the unique challenges for the Department of Defense in supporting border enforcement along the Northern Border?
Yuma Marine Corps Air Station, AZ on August 2nd - What are the operational and training impacts of a porous border on military bases along the border?

HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE
Bellingham, WA on August 8th - What are the border infrastructure successes since passage of the REAL ID Act and the 9/11 Commission Implementation Act, and what challenges still exist?
Austin, TX on August 17th - What are the criminal consequences of illegal immigration along the Southern Border?

SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE
Sierra Vista, AZ on August 17th - What is the state of technical surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities for monitoring the efforts of terrorists and drug cartels to infiltrate American soil through the Southern Border?
Grand Rapids, MI on August 23rd - What is the threat to the United States from Islamic extremists who abuse the legal immigration system?

EDUCATION & THE WORKFORCE COMMITTEE
Plano, TX on July 31st - Does the Reid-Kennedy bill weaken employment verification systems, making it easier for illegal immigrants to find work inside American borders?
Gainesville, GA on August 14th - What is the impact on American workers and businesses of the Reid-Kennedy bill’s provisions mandating Davis-Bacon wage rates for guest-workers?

ENERGY AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE
Nashville, TN on August 10th - What is the impact of the Reid-Kennedy bill’s amnesty provisions on the healthcare delivery system and for individual American taxpayers?
Dalton, GA on August 15th - What is the impact of the Reid-Kennedy bill’s amnesty provisions on the healthcare delivery system and for individual American taxpayers?

GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE
San Diego, CA on August 14th - What is the impact on state and local governments, in terms of both societal costs such as policing and direct government costs such as health care and welfare benefits, of illegal immigration? Would the Reid-Kennedy bill impose huge unfunded mandates on state and local governments?

RESOURCES COMMITTEE
Santee, CA on August 5th - What efforts need to be undertaken to prevent federal public lands from being harmed as they are used as a pathway for illegal immigration? Does the Reid-Kennedy bill compromise our federal lands?
Hamilton, MT on August 28th - What efforts need to be undertaken to secure the federal lands along the Northern Border to prevent drug trafficking and other illegal activities? Could the Reid-Kennedy bill make these efforts more difficult?

ABC News reported Wednesday that the House descended into “emotional rhetoric” instead of civilized discussion, when a proposal to make English the official language of the U.S. arose. (Hispanic Lawmaker Blasts House Proposal to Make English the Nation’s Official Language, by Suzanne Gamboa)

Rep. Ruben Hinojosa , a Democrat from Texas, claimed that after being spanked as a schoolboy who broke the rules by speaking Spanish in school, he recognizes the proposal as “code for offical discrimination.”

By contrast, Mauro Mujica, U.S. English Inc. board chairman, says (and rightly so) that “the American people decidedly do not want us to become an English-optional nation.”

Earlier this month, however, the House voted to continue printing ballots in more languages than just English, under the Voting Rights Act.

So my sister was vacationing in San Diego this past week and stepped into a Ralph’s grocery store to grab a few things.

Standing in line, Jen noticed that she was the only non-Hispanic person there.

You know how Ralph’s has those Club Card things where members get a discount on certain items etc.? Well, as the six women in front of my sister in line reached the front, the cashier (also Hispanic) would say “Do you have a Ralph’s Club Card?”

All of the women said no and the cashier simply pulled out a dummy card and swiped it through the machine enabling these women to enjoy the discounted pricing without joining the Club. She made happy little remarks (in Spanish) such as “Ooh, you saved 18 dollars!”

Then it was my sister’s turn…

The cashier said (in a rather exasperated voice…gone was the cheerful Spanish dialogue) “Do you have a Ralph’s Club Card?”

My sister said no and the cashier said “You really should get one…the total is…”

(At this point in the story, as Jen was telling it, I cringed and wondered how many people my sister ate alive over the incident–you would have to know her…slapping these kind of people around for her is a bit of a hobby. You should see what she does to non-handicapped people who park in a handicap slot…two words: not pretty!)

Jen looked at the cashier and said “You’re joking, right? You aren’t going to give me the same discount I just watched you give to the six women in front of me?”

The cashier said “You have to be a member. If you want to join you have to…”

My sister exploded on this woman! “I don’t think so, toots” she said. “Let me keep it simple for you, let’s go find your manager and have a little chat because I guarantee I can say discrimination faster than you can say please don’t fire me, ok?”

The cashier didn’t get it.

Jen said “Six Hispanic women get the discount–the one white woman does not…does my four year-old need to teach you how to play connect-the-dots? Give me the discount or things are going to get ugly.”

The cashier complied and my sister left Ralph’s grocery store having saved roughly two dollars and vowing to never shop at Ralph’s again.

I didn’t ask my sister but knowing her, I imagine there were also a few phone calls to La Migra…I think she keeps them on speed dial.

India is tightening its immigration laws, in an effort to protect its low-skilled emigrants. (India Planning Stricter Immigration Laws, DailyIndia.com)

About five million Indian workers have moved to Gulf countries, a majority of whom work as contract labourers.

The purpose of the measures are twofold: not only does it protect the laborers from exploitation by “unscrupulous agents” and “dubious firms“, but it also takes steps to secure higher wages and living conditions for those who find work abroad.

If only Mexico cared so much about its own people.