OK folks-- I'll say from the start-- this one ain't going to be pretty. You have been warned.

I'll even clarify it- if strong language and stronger opinion insult your sensitivities, you need to go read something else. NOW.

For the three of you still with me: As a prior disclaimer- I'd like to state that I have NO problem at all with immigration-- so long as it's legal. This country is here to help folks better themselves <as long as they're willing to do the work and not sit on their ass and expect to suckle the government teet>. However- those who don't follow the rules <illegal immigration, don't work and are able, etc> are, IMNSHO, a waste of skin and oxygen.

So basically- someone is going to call me a racist, a xenophobe, and any manner of other kneejerk catchphrases. So be it. I must be striking rather close to their home with my opining....

This said <damn PC crap, anyway>:

I went to get gas in my XJ earlier <90 Cherokee, basically a beater, I acquired it in shape that junkyards have refused o deal with and have worked my ass off to get it to where it is, doing all the work myself. I have easily 120 hours of my sweat equity in it. It's MY blood on the chassis, not some hired gun's> and as I made the last turn before the station a late-model Ford pickup truck <with no lights on, at 9pm> cuts in front of me. I tried to swerve, but he contacted my right front tire well enough that his rear end slid to the right and my entire front end shuddered- my tire actually attempting to walk up the bed of his pickup <my tires are 33X12.50X15" mud tires, and stick out a good 4" on the sides as I have removed the stock flares in favor for putting Bushwhacker flares on after having to cut some of the sheetmetal away to clear with my minimal lift>. He looked DIRECTLY at me and my truck, and there's no way in hell he could have mistaken that he'd not hit me. Close enough that I can see that he's Mexican <shorter than me judging from the way he was sitting, brown skin, black hair, and the obligatory conchos all over the interior of his truck, along with a mexican flag in the rear window. But hey- I'm just guessing, and being "racist", remember?>

What did he do when he looked directly at me, noticing we'd collided?

Throttled that motherfucker UP, and got the hell out of Dodge.

So- at this point, being observant of several context clues and more than a little capable of putting data together, I have to presume the following:

1) he's here illegally
2) he doesn't have a license
3) he doesn't have automobile insurance

The 3 are not unrelated. Sorry folks-- but let's face it-- in Charleston SC if you see someone of South American origin, it's a damn safe bet that:

- they're not here legally.

- Because of that, If you see them driving, they don't have a license

- because of the first two points, they don't have insurance <I will say, however, that SC has had about a 30% non-compliance rate with mandatory auto insurance for several decades now- so it's not just a Hispanic thing.

But wait- it gets better...

So I pull into the Exxon, since I saw a Police Officer in the lane across from the Exxon working a barricade <lots of road construction, and evidently those orange barrels everywhere aren't enough to clue us idiot civvies in to the need to merge into the other lane- oh no-- we've got to pay Barney Fife to sit on his ass in the cruiser with strobes on all night>. This is in fact, the requirement of law. If you're in an accident, remove your vehicle from the flow of traffic if possible, and call in The Man. So I did.

He's not 30 meters from this whole scene, and I laid on my horn as it happened. He HAD to have seen it, let's say. My horn is "a little loud" shall we say.... it came out of a 78 Kenworth. It's probably damn near illegal, to be honest. No way in hell he could possibly have NOT heard it.

So I yell to him <as there was light traffic about>: Officer-- I've just been involved in a hit and run. Several times. He pretends to not hear me. Right....

Disgusted at the uniform-wearer, I inspect my damage. A little scuffing on my tire, a pushed-in front fender, and a broken turn signal lense. I have the lense thanks to a friend who's putting a Rover D90 front clip on his XJ <don't ask- he's an odd duck> and the fender can probably be pulled out. Still, at this point it's the principle of the thing.

Went in to pay for my gas and the clerk tells me that the guy was just in there asking for directions to the Red Roof Inn. I head that way, calmly, to see what's the deal- maybe he really didn't see me <again I refer you to the fact he looked me straight in the fucking eye, and couldn't possibly not have heard that horn>. The driver is nowhere to be seen, but I found the vehicle.

Oh yes-- I found the vehicle. It's a brand-new Ford F350, still with dealer plates <conveniently enough, out of state. Not sure of the legality of that one>. It's wearing a nice Super-Swamper-inspired tattoo from the back of the driver's door all the way aft... cab and bed. 2 major dents, and enough smaller ones and scratches to make sure that the body man's family east steak for a month. It's a company by the name of A1A roofing or something like that- out of Florida. I should have taken the number down but at this point I know I have no damage to really concern myself about, and I can tell the Ferd took the brunt of it. Had I not been lifted and widened I would have faired a lot worse.

Needless to say, I'm going to get to work on my bumper hard tomorrow. Also, I'm going to add those endcaps I've been considering, that will extend flush to the outside of the tire width.

But more importantly than my vehicle:

I'm sick to death of these damned businessmen who knowingly let illegals work here just because they work cheap. Sure, they're not becoming rocket scientists and taking those jobs away from Americans- but there's plenty of folks out of work now who would be happy to have those manual labor jobs painting houses or roofing houses <I was in fact, one of them from 7 January 2002- 16 September 2002. The IT slump took my job <along with politics which will occur when you work with PARTICULARLY catty, backstabbing people> During this time I put out no less than 700 resumes, with 30 replies and countless interviews- so don't lump me in with the "sit on my ass and collect UE" crowd>.

I am sick to death of politicians who preach security for the homeland, and out of the other side of their face cajole the Mexican government by not enforcing stricter immigration control... thereby reserving for themselves the illegal imigrant vote. YES. Illegals vote-- look at Rep. Laura Sanchez' scandal a few years back <may have the name a bit off, memory sucks> < link here: http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentD...ay.asp?aid=4609 > Now- don't get me wrong, I think Bush is doing a good job-- but he's the one I refer to when I make the above statements- and he's NOT the only one.

I am sick to death of having to order my fucking Happy Meal in SPANISH in Charleston SC. No, I am not kidding.

I am sick to death of having to pay extra taxes so folks who came to live in the US- whether legally or not- can have all government documents and signage in their native language. Folks- this is the Great American Melting Pot. So start melting in. I don't expect- or even want!- folks from outside the US to completely turn their backs on their heritage. This is what makes us great. But when you move here, you are no longer a Hispanic-American, an African-American, a Chinese-American, or any of a score of hyphenated-Americans. LEARN the language so that when the officer yells "stop or I'll shoot" or "get down" to get the line of fire of a fleeing perp clear, you know to get the fuck down NOW. By all means teach your children your native tongue... but teach them their adopted tongue, too. Just today I was in Advanced auto parts locally, and had to get one of the coutner guys who is bilingual to read somethig to me to identify a part on a diagram. I felt like a blithering idiot having to do so-- but noone cares about that, as I am The Great White Opressor.

I am sick to death of having to pay outrageous insurance rates so folks who don't pay taxes, insurance, or even for their gas sometimes, can continue to execute their "right to drive". Folks- it's NOT a right, it's a privelege. Your rights are appointed in the Bill of Rights-- and not one of them says a thing about engaging in 4-wheeled reckless abandon.

Well- that's about it for now. I fully expect to be chastised for this. So be it. I'm not editing crap- I presume the filters will catch the saltier bits, much as I hate them. I took the measure of warning folks in the descrip and first line. They made their choice.

Can't say that I disagree with you b.k. No license and no insurance is not common here at all in Manitoba. However, I too, am more than miffed with shitty attitudes of any whereby they abbrogate my rights, because they have a bug up their ass for whatever reason. Each country and province has their own particular problems and issues. Sorry for your crappy day.

Man, that sounded like a rotten day, indeed. Good to know that you escaped unharmed. From the way that you described the accident, it could have been much worse. What you said was not unreasonable, nor did it sound especially hate-ridden. Just glad to see that your truck was the only thing that was damaged.

Well gents-- thanks for the votes of confidence.

I'm glad to see someone understands and doesn't take me immediately as some NRA-member, gun-lovin', far-right, immigrant-hatin', Bible-thumping <oh that's funny!> Republican type.

Point of fact.. and there's no other way for me to say this: "Some of my best friends are Hispanic". If that doesn't pigeonhole me in with the above, I don't know what will.

However-- it's completely true. Antonio Garza from my days in RMRL. Great guy, and a Mexican national who gained his citizenship, IIRC. Rick at Advanced. Ricky G at work. Numerous others. All great guys.

You want to come to the US, and do so legally? Let me know how I may help.

You want to come to my country illegally, and continue to break the law? I fully support militarizing the border. After my boys in the US Army send a few rounds downrange, you'll get the message.

These are trying times in numerous ways. Those who would do us harm in numerous ways have no trouble at all infiltratign our borders. It is high time to do something about it. I seem to recall reading something about "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. " sometime during my education.....

Maybe I'm just misinterpreting it?

folks: this is not my thread alone: post your rants as well.....

All I can say BK is that it's the same old cycle that has been going on in this country and many, many others for eons. We had the same thing happen with our immigration with others waves of people. Especially our coal and railroad industry at the turn of the century. We've seen it here lately in the computer industry. And there are always a lot of low skill/low wage jobs.
When times were good no one was complaining.
When times are bad, what had previously been a not-so great job, starts looking better all the time.
Citizens and businesses are all willing to bend a rule or turn a blind eye when it is to their advantage.

This is one of the few issues that I don't have much of an opinion on.
I just haven't looked at it hard enough.
As for the language issue, again, no biggie.

If you want to look where the issue is hot, you just have to look to California.
I wouldn't be surprised if 4X4 piped in on the issue. As I think they have a similar situation in Texas.
Anyone from Florida?

What I hope I never have to see, is our country with such stringent borders, that I don?t feel free anymore. Like I'm behind a wall.

I hear what you're saying-- and I agree for the most part- but I strongly disagree on the language issue.

This is an english-speaking country. How can you possibly hope to integrate into a country without knowing the language? I wouldn't dream of moving to Spain, for example, because I don't speak the language.

I know it's happened before. However, in that age there was not the glut of social programs present which are currently taxed <strained> enough without folks who don't contribute to the tax base along for the ride.

What REALLY got my ire up about the subject is the way the sorry SOB had no qualms whatsoever about running after damaging MY property. It's not so much an "illegal alien" thing as a "sorry shiftless sack of sh!t" thing.

:sigh: anyway- I vented, and it served it's purpose. I too look forward to hearing 4X4 weigh in on the subject-- even if it ends up being "Phil, you're a dumbass".

- after all- what better mark of a true friend than knowing they're allowed to smck you when you're being an idiot?

No way your a dumbass b.k. I agree 110% about the language thing. I have absolutely no problem with immigrants of the legal variety (my father was one), but c'mon, learn the freakin' language. I always joke with my friends about what I would do if I was king/president/emperor. In this case I believe in strict immigration policies, and a five year plan for immigrants. If you are not moving towards becoming a naturalized citizen, which includes reading and writing English, within five years - start packing your bags.

I find it very aggravating that my daughter isrequiredto take 4 years of a foreign language to graduate high school, yet immigrants are catered to in their native language with our tax dollars.