Bush's plan to restore food stamps and social services to immigrants while he doles out corporate welfare, billions to
defense, billions to Afghanistan, billions to Pakistan, etc., while offers huge tax refunds for his rich friends, and while his Republican cronies shred evidence of his and Cheney's connections to Enron, sticks in my craw and is a slap in the face
to the 40 million Americans struggling in the nightmare that is the dirty and shameful secret of America's impoverished,
gagged and bound Third World.

As a destitute and sick, white (get that Rush?) singlemother, who's worked all of her life, but was driven into abject
poverty and poor health by a millionaire deadbeat who's left the country, and like the 40 million Americans waiting months
and even years for "assistance" like the paltry $545 SSI, or for social security benefits, food stamps, housing or medical assistance, I've been eeking out a rock to bleeding bone bare survival under deplorably inhumanely meager federal and
state crumbs while jerks likeBush and the rich Republican Party dole out billions to foreign countries and corporate welfare
and "give away food stamps and social services to foreign immigrants and foreigners", adding insult to injury to me and
40 million others like me, the most vulnerable of Americans.

Why? Because it serves corporate interests to keep a largepopulation of the immigrant and American poor on an unconscionably low minimum wage so that Bush and greedy corporations (big farms, manufacturing, growers, fast food chains, packers, megastores like Walmart, etc) can pocket the mostprofit (money) for their grossly overpaid upper management and greedystockholders while putting the rest of this huge financial burden to support immigrants and the American working poor on the backs of the middle class taxpayer, instead of where it belongs: on the rich corporations that employ them and keep them trapped in poverty.

           Bush and his administration need to raise the minimum wage to at least $9.00 an hour.  (By the way for those of you
who don't know, $9.00 an hour is only $360 a week, then less taxes, means that  "take home pay" for the working poor is maybe $280 a week. Can you support yourself and family in adecent and humane way, pay shelter, food and medical on $1,120 a month, $14,000 a year? The answer is no. So don't expect another fellow American to do it, either.
There's an organization that's trying to raise it from $5.15 to a buck. Few organizations want to join it because it is so
laughable, but if you want to: contact Keri Kasalonis at the Coalition on Human Needs at klkasalonis@chn.org (preferred), or at 202-785-0791 (fax) or202-736-5884 (phone). Please include your organization name as it should appearin the letter
and your contact information (name, email address, and phone number).  Additional background informationabout the
minimum wage, including the current status of the proposed increase, can be found on CHN's web site at: http://www.chn.org/minimumwage/  or see:
 
Issue Brief on the Minimum Wage

Current Legislation
 
Senate Bill 964 (Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA): May 26, 2001)

           It's very easy for Bush to "grant" food stamps and social services to impoverished immigrants, largely Mexicans, because he's is in bed with another wealthy politician, Vincente Fox, (Mexico's president).  Bush is only interested in
"looking humane" to Mexicans and corporate America when in actuality, Bush is only  looking to feed, house and provide
social services to the immigrant poor so that his rich corporate friends and their money hungry stockholders don't have to
pay a living wage, yes that's you greedy stockholder friend, by keeping minimum wage at an indecent and unconscionable $5.15 while having the middle class pay the taxes that subsidize housing, food, and medical care for these impoverished immigrants who have no business coming here impoverished in the first place and who add to our financial and social
services burdens while sucking up benefits from and most rightly due to the American poor. Give us a break!

           If Bush wants to put foreign immigrants back on social services and foodstamps, housing, Medicaid, etc, then he'd better be prepared to spend billions to increase the welfare, foodstamps, housing, education and healthcare for the 40
million sick and impoverished American citizens who are already here fighting over crumbs at the bottom of our so called
"great society".
 
On the same level with Reagan, Bush is probably one of America's dumbest, most ill informed, uneducated and inarticulate cowboy presidents in history, so he and the Republican party should commit to memory the following figures:
there are 13 MILLION AMERICAN CHILDREN living below poverty and those dear children have approximately 7.5 MILLION AMERICAN DESTITUTE PARENTS. These children will grow up in 10-20 years and have more children
living below poverty.  We have 12 MILLION AMERICAN HOMELESS without humane, personal shelter, food,
medical care and without any security whatsoever, many of whom are incapable of caring for themselves or working and
who desperately need institutionalization for addiction and for the mental illness they had before or have developed as a
result of being homeless. But institutions for the mental ill were closed down by Republicans ( was it Nixon or Reagan?)
when they turned out on the streets hundreds of thousands of vulnerable MENTALLY ILL AMERICANS. We also have
an additional 8 MILLION ELDERLY AMERICANS who've worked and paid taxes all their lives also livingbelow poverty. That's at least 40 million people in this country many of them veterans at this moment living below poverty. (US census
figures rounded off)
 
If we don't learn and make changes from September 11th,  we are going to pay a horrific price.
--It is time to STOP the insanity of sending out billions in foreign aid, and start, instead, to provide billions in aid
for our own impoverished 40 million Americans.
--It is time to STOP feeding and providing health care to foreigners abroad or immigrants in the US until we have
first taken care of our own suffering, impoverished and homeless Americans.
--It is time to STOP the ignorance of this abhorrent minimum wage of $5.15 cents an hour and demand and raise
minimum wage to a respectable wage of $9.00 an hour, not accept another crumb that is a slap in the face to every impoverished American.
--It is time to STOP doling out handouts in the billions for American corporate welfare and to every Third World
country who we'd like as "friends of democracy" but who haven't the guts to fight for it, who haven't worked for
our respect and assistance or demonstrated that they won't attack their neighbors, like Pakistan has been doing for
over 30 years against our long time and good friend, India. If these so called "friends of democracy" don't behave
and don't stop aggressing against their neighbors, then cut them off from the billions of dollars in foreign aid that Bush
wants to dole out. Let foreigners fight for, work and organize their own economic stability and democracies, like we did.
----It is time to STOP the insanity and drop the stupid, archaic, overly sentimental and idealized bs of welcoming the
huddle masses, the poor, the tired.
----It is time to CLOSE our borders to anyone but a select few and those few should be the best educated, the best
prepared financially and culturally to contribute to our society and to our economy. This is the best country in the world,
and we should have the highest standards, not the lowest.  We've got serious problems taking care of 40 million
impoverished Americans.

Let's, instead, look to other countries' wiser immigration models, like Canada's which generally doesn't permit foreigners to immigrate unless their professional services are needed or unless they are healthy and have enough wealth to sustain themselves indefinitely and/or have enough wealth to establish businesses that'll stimulate their economy and employ Canadian citizens.
We need to model immigration reform similar to other countries who accept only the best who have been well screened.
We don't need anymore poor immigrants who need foodstamps and social services for heaven's sake!

--It is time to STOP being the world's biggest tit.  We are the greatest country in the world and yet we have this stupid
and self-destructive notion of accepting almost anybody who comes here to work or because they have a relative, many
of whom cannot support themselves. What kind of insanity is this when we have so many suffering and impoverished
American citizens already?

--It is time to reform what the bounds and responsibility of freedom of speech entails. If foreigners living here preach vile
hatred towards America and foment acts of violence or terror, then they are speaking treason. Deport them to the countries
of their birth, period, without millions in court costs, and get the h-ll out Al-Arian and all lying, two faced, jerks like you who are suddenly talking out of the other sides of your mouths so you can remain here to keep spewing your filthy garbage
designed to destroy American lives. Otherwise, Al-Arian and clones, if you are going to abuse our freedoms, then don't
come here, don't have your clone babies, take our jobs, our education and abuse our freedoms to destroy our people
and our way of life. Get the h-ll out and go back to the rocks that you crawled out from!

I speak from the bottom of the blackest pit that is called poverty, and I can tell you that most of the 40 million, largely
voiceless, impoverished Americans who don't have the time, opportunities or education, who are defeated, disenfranchised, demoralized, pissed off and don't vote for the lesser of two evils because they are overwhelmed from battling poverty everyday, feel just like I do. Take care of Impoverished Americans First before giving away foodstamps and social
services to immigrants, billions in foreign aid, and billions in corporate bailouts. America has reached its full capacity
of taking in the poor, tired, hungry and huddle masses.  When Bush has had to wait in 3 hour lines at a Salvation Army
in freezing, blowing snow, behind hordes of immigrants and foreigners, many of whom have phony ID's, just to fight it
out over a canned ham or a used bicycle at Christmas like I and other impoverished Americans have done for years,
then let Bush and the self-serving rich corporations who employ these immigrants at $5.15 minimum wage, pickup
the meal tickets for their dirt cheap immigrant and foreign labor. When Bush and Republicans put their focus on IMPOVERISHED AMERICANS FIRST instead of lining the pockets of corporate board members and greedy
stockholders by employing immigrants and by keeping minimum wage abhorrently low, and when Bush and Republicans
wipe out poverty, hunger, and homelessness among AMERICANS FIRST without selling us down the river into the
hands of the missionary and racist zealots of the Religious Right, then we can afford to be the bleeding heart of the
whole world in taking care of foreigners, whether they are immigrants or living abroad. AMERICANS COME FIRST!
No more handouts to immigrants and foreigners. Wait in line.

Sincerely,
D. M. Bader
Tampa