When opening my email today I was surprised to find a little gem from a friend I thought would know better. In essence, it was a petition that sought to gather about 1,000 signatures at which point it was supposed to be forwarded to the White House and presumably the President’s desk. The cause was illegal immigration and the granting of social services and social security benefits to non-citizens. The wording itself left something to be desired (in my opinion) and read like this:

Social Security Changes
It does not matter if you personally like or dislike Bush. You need to sign this petition and flood his e-mail box with e-mails that tell him that, even if the House passes this bill, he needs to veto it. It is already impossible to live on Social Security alone. If the government gives benefits to "illegal" aliens who have never contributed, where does that leave those of us who have paid into Social Security all our working lives?

As stated below, the Senate voted this week to allow "illegal" aliens access to Social Security benefits. Attached is an opportunity to sign a petition that requires citizenship for eligibility to that social service. You can Agree or Delete. Instructions are below. If you don't forward the petition and just stop it, we will lose all these names. If you do not want to sign it, please just forward it to everyone you know.

Dear Mr. President:
We, the undersigned, protest the bill that the Senate voted upon recently which would allow illegal aliens to access our Social Security. We demand that you and all Congressional Representatives require citizenship as a prerequisite for social services in the United States. We further demand that there not be any amnesty given to illegals, NO free services, no funding, and no payments to and for illegal immigrants. We are fed up with the lack of action about this matter and are tired of "paying" for services to illegals!

What makes this such a heartbreaker is the fact that it showcases the division the United States is experiencing at the hands of the legislative, judiciary and also executive branches of government, each of which fails to uphold its time honored responsibilities. Special orders forbid police officers from ascertaining the immigration status of a detained crime suspect while Los Angeles’ Mayor Villaraigosa – whose philandering is earning him headlines of his own – is an ardent supporter of illegal immigration by both his associations and visibility at pro-amnesty rallies. Shouting “we clean your toilets” he does precious little to address the frustration and anger that is building up in the population in and around the City of Angels that sees record numbers of illegal immigration related crimes and a preventable overload on social institutions.

To be continued!