This is an absolute travesty. Isn't it bad enouugh that we are going broke giving free medical care and a multitude of other free services to people that are here ILLEGALLY? I have no problem helping LEGAL immigrants. This law doesn't do that. It's a slap in the face to those that follow the rules and wait in line to get into this country.

Oh MV... have you no heart?

Kidding, of course. I agree with you.

This is where the bleeding-heart liberal in me draws the line. Oh, and that silly High Speed Rail Brown is so enamored with actually caused me to break ranks for the first time EVER and vote for Meg Whitman - a republican! We're so doomed.

The analysis shows the illegal immigrants are unlikely to ever benefit from this legislation. It appears to put them in queue behind CA residents, but perhaps before non-residents or even legal immigrants.

But, if you want to be outraged, I suggest you look at AB353 which was signed into law this weekend. Unlicensed drivers now get a wink and a nod when stopped. It's no longer a misdemeanor to drive without a license. One no longer risks getting their car impounded when caught.

If that's the direction the legislature wishes to move, they should go all the way and allow them to obtain driver licenses. At least that way illegals would have to demonstrate their knowledge of the rules of the road and their driving skills. Illegals could be insured. Society would have something to "take away" if they racked up too many points on their records.

The DREAM Act is symbolic, but of little consequence. The real ongoing costs to society are in healthcare, public school education, and the court system.

Well, again Menlo Voter is worried about people making this area broke because of laws helping ailing aliens?...onomo...no.
Question.....do people know the nationalities of the majority of the physicians and nurses of the staff at Stanford or any major hospitals across the nation...like Cleveland, Mayo Clinic,the DeBakey center in Texas (in fact, most Texas hospitals?)the Ronald Reagan wing at UCLA? Check them out and how they differ especially in Texas which has a LOT of illegal aliens working without proper papers? As for the employees of local citizenry, like maids,nannies, gardeners,and longtime house cleaners? Are you all paying them the legal wages and for how many years and do they have citizenship or speak English? Do you make the proper deductions and report their wages on your taxes? I can only speak of having visited Stanford to see a sick friend (not S.Jobs) and noticed that the skin color of most of the employees were not Caucasians.
Does M.V. and the other folk not worry about THEM? Do the employees make money and pay health insurance and do they get treatment before the insured like yourselves? TRAVESTY! IF such stuff is going on right here in your area? My, but you are all aparently living in a place which is fraught with crumbling values. In no time, you,M.V. will be broke at this rate!I think you and POGO and the bleeding heart liberal lady ought to stick together and try and right the situation...Make sure you employ LEGAL ALIENS if you have help around the house. There are organizations who will find you, otherwise.
Finally, just what do you plan on doing to right this?

Mr. Gordon:

I could care less what color the doctors and nurses are at Stanford. I can assure you that they all have papers. An institution the size of Stanford cannot afford to hire illegals.

I do not hire illegals. Never have and never will. Anyone that works for me has to present ID and a social security number and fill out and I9. If the SSN gets kicked back, so does that employee. And yes, it makes it damn hard to make a living since I'm competing with many that have no compunction against hiring illegals.

So much ignorance...

Has everybody in Sacramento lost their senses? What a travesty against the good citizens of California. Why should we be paying for the results of a faulty Fed immigration policy? The b leeding herst sin Sacramento have gone to far- throw all of them out.

Wouldn't it be great, similar to marijuana laws, if the Federal Govt stepped in and once the undocumented are locted....DEPORT THEM?
It is Illegal to support the undocumented (ILLEGALS!) This society IS doomed.

I always thought I was a liberal until I moved to the Bay Area. This type of legislation goes beyond freedom right through the looking glass into the surreal world. It's one thing to throw the immigration mess back to the Feds to sort out and in the meantime make education and BASIC healthcare available regardless of status because it is in the best interest of society. But FINANCIAL AID on top of that??? Jerry Brown killed off a few too many brain cells in his experimental youth.

People all over the world have dreams, but the citizenry of California cannot support them all and enable them to be fulfilled. The DREAM ACT is indeed a travesty, providing scarce financial aid resources to people who are here ILLEGALLY. Yes, I am sure they have legitimate hopes and dreams, but we cannot and should not provide them financial aid when our own legal residents lack higher education opportunities as college becomes increasingly unaffordable. Furthermore, Mr. Gordon, you show your incredible arrogance and prejudices by blatantly assuming that all people of color you encounter at Stanford Hospital are here illegally. SHAME!!!

Compare and contrast:

Brown: "It's crucial that we invest in every child that lives and is born in this state. Signing this Dream Act is another piece of investment in people because people drives the culture, the economy"

This blog: "This society IS doomed." "The b leeding herst sin Sacramento have gone to far- throw all of them out." "We're so doomed."

One side sure is running a little fearful and scared. The other is moving our great country forward, as we have in the past.

The fearful sure do yell a lot.

Yup. Just like when the evil Italians took over entire neighborhoods and brought their crime.

And the evil Irish and their boose.

Before that the evil Germans and their beer. (see quote below)

Before that, other immigrants.

All the way back to those folks that complained about the immigrants in 1492.

Deport them all?

Instead, let's deport the well known Liberals who support the Dream Act: Colin Powell, Mitt (before flip-flopping) Meaghan McCain, Rick Perry, Jon Huntsman, the Southern Baptist Convention, John Kyl (in 2007), John McCain (before flip-flopping) John Cornyn (2006, before flip-flopping) and so many more (yes, before flip-flopping.)

And some dude called Dubya.

In 2007, these Wild Eyed Liberals VOTED for it before turning into the party of No: Bob Bennett (R-UT), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Susan Collins (R-ME), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX), Richard Lugar (R-IN), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). Web Link

Other support for such a dastardly idea like educating children in our great country? These fine folks:

# National Education Association
# American Association of Community Colleges
# Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities
# National Parent Teacher Association
# National Association for College Admissions Counseling


Alternative: Sharron Angle’s political ads vilifying Latinos as gangsters.

That's an electoral winner!

Just ask Meg who wasted tens of millions on Latino station ads and then lost all those votes because she opposed a basically Bush idea.

Supporting the Dream Act doesn't really harm republicans - it didn't even hurt Reagan to be the only president to provide AMNESTY.

Lastly: You so called "nativists" are on the side of a founding father:

" Why should the Palatine boors be suffered to swarm into our settlements and, by herding together, establish their language and manners to the exclusion of ours? Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a colony of aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us, instead of our Anglifying them."

That was Ben Franklin, of course. But don't worry your (very) little hearts, though...

He was wrong, too.

Note that since California's revenues are below the softball projections earlier in the year, costs & fees for UC will be going up.

Gov. Brown's Dream: Education costs rise for everyone in California except illegal aliens who get a reduced rate.

This Is ridiculous, no wonder our state is out of money. Let's take care of American citizens first
.
It is a travestly.

Compare and contrast:

You're argument might hold water if the italians, irish and germans you referenced had entered the country ILLEGALLY. Nope, most all of them came through Ellis Island and had papers and PERMISSION to be here. People like you always try to paint this issue as "anti-imigrant." It's not. It's anti-ILLEGAL immigrant. Get it?

All I can say is that as a AMERICAN CITIZEN, and A CALIFORNIA resident, I want my tax dollars to pay for other AMERICAN CITIZENS and CA Residents. Our country is in a financial crisis, our state CA is even worse off. I just want some [Portion removed] priority. AMERICANS FIRST. Currently, I can't think of one benefits or priviledge I get as a US Citizen and CA resident that isn't also extended to every other person in the world, (once they arrive in the US) whether legal or illegal. If other countries were set up this way, people would be flocking to them, instead they come here, to a country that's in tremendous debt, a housing market crisis, and a stagnent unemployment rate, and no economic growth. What could sound appealing about that? We must be offering something other countries don't. HMM what could it be? Grants, money, health care, education while in prision....

"It's not. It's anti-ILLEGAL immigrant."

No, it is not. The Dream Act is about the kids that were dragged here or born here: "It's crucial that we invest in every child that lives and is born in this state. Signing this Dream Act is another piece of investment in people because people drives the culture, the economy"

The illegal immigrant issue is a different issue and is actually mis-named. It is correctly called the Illegal Employer issue.

The illegal employer issue is easy to fix, but the pro-business party refuses to do anything about illegal employers who employ immigrants.

Throw the CEO's of ADM or Tyson Foods into federal prison for a night for each illegal they hire instead of an American.

Throw a Walton into the federal pokey for a night for every illegal employed by a contracted cleaning crew in a WalMart.

Bring INS back and have them drive though West Menlo and Atherton on weekday mornings and card gardeners. Fine the homeowners.

Jobs for illegals would dry up instantly. No more attraction for illegals.

Jobs for Americans become plentiful.

Of course, Americans prefer a living wage, so costs go up.

The pro-business party wants to save you a couple bucks a month on your gardening bill. So live with it and let's educate their kids.

"The pro-business party wants to save you a couple bucks a month on your gardening bill. So live with it and let's educate their kids."

Not being a member of the "pro business party" whatever that is, I say let's not reward people who are here illegaly. I don't hire illegals so I have no problem with the government going after those that do. Unfortunately, that is only part of the draw. The other part is the free education, free medical care, welfare, etc., etc., etc. When those are stopped as well as drying up the jobs only then will the illegal imigrant magnet be shut off.

Compare: one other thing. If they were born here they are automatically citizens so the dream act wouldn't apply to them any way.

The major draw is jobs. Few are risking their life and money to cross just for a shot at foodstamps.

We need strict compliance by employers to not hire undocumented workers, or toss them in jail.

That's the magnet.

Not just agri-business or large corporations: "In Los Angeles, 61 percent of the cutting and sewing shops don’t give their workers even minimum wages or overtime. In New York, 65 percent don’t provide minimum wages or overtime. In other words, the vast majority of cutting and sewing shops in America s largest cities are … sweatshops. "

First, spare me the imagery of loading buses with crying families and deporting people who came here illegally. We didn't "import" anyone with buses and we don't have to deport them, either.

They came here for jobs. It is difficult to survive in their home country - be it Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, China, India or Russia - and they came here looking for a brighter future. If you dry up their ability to get jobs, they will go home the same way they came.

Like Menlo Voter, I do not hire undocumented workers. It is true that I have to trust some of the contractors that I occasionally use in the course of my business, but our contract with them insists on it. We routinely audit our suppliers to ensure compliance.

If you don't see a problem with providing financial incentives to people here illegally, the next time you find a burglar in your home, be sure to invite him to stay for dinner. Or better yet, offer to send him to college.

Imagery:

"First, spare me the imagery of loading buses with crying families and deporting people who came here illegally. We didn't "import" anyone with buses and we don't have to deport them, either."

"...the next time you find a burglar in your home, be sure to invite him to stay for dinner. Or better yet, offer to send him to college."

Facts:

"If you dry up their ability to get jobs, they will go home the same way they came."

Enforce the law.

Yes, I agree.

Throw a few employers in jail and those jobs will dry up quickly. Actually, this happened in Southern California some years ago when INS (it's name back then) raided and arrested employers in the pallet-production industry. No workers showed up at any of the companies for WEEKS.

Keep it simple, Enforce the laws period. I do not support the Dream Act.

Start supporting American Citizens Now.

I find the drivers license law more interesting, actually, than the issue discussed on this thread. But the whole anchor baby issue is troubling, especially during tough economic times. I know I'm surrounded by immigrants here illegally where I live & they come across as very hard workers who care little about assimilating. As a female, I've waaaay too many negative interactions w/the males of that population to feel sympathetic towards them. I don't want to lack empathy toward them, especially the children, but I gotta ask: What about legal immigrants, like my spouse? What about young citizens here who need & deserve assistance w/their educations? Is there room, financially, for the *legal* populations to get the aid that they need?

Finally, a couple of observations: The legal immigrants I know care more about assimilating, which is important - it drives the desire to learn the language, the laws & the customs here. That said, a good number of illegal immigrants here do speak English, & come from Europe. Please don't think that all illegal immigrants are Spanish speaking. Also, my spouse is extremely aware of his limited rights here as a non-resident legal alien - as it should be. He doesn't take the opportunities here for granted & his thoughtful, informed criticisms of the US are respectful & useful. He can proudly contribute to the US while building his career - those are important from both a legal & business standpoint.

Compare and Contrast;
kindly check your links more thoroughly next time -- Federal DREAM Act of 2007 S.2205 is not the same as the California Dream Act of 2011 (AB130 and AB131)

your weblink was for cloture ... ie to bring bill S.2205 to a vote

moreover, S.2205 specifically barred scholarships and grants, it allowed only loans only under sections B,C,D & E in title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 S.2205 details are here
Web Link

title IV of Higher Education Act is here: Web Link

You are correct, Hmmm, that another law signed by our "esteemed" Governor just yesterday also tilts the scale unfairly in favor of ILLEGAL immigrants: AB353, also proposed by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo of Los Angeles. This piece of legislation prohibits police from arresting unlicensed drivers and impounding their cars when these people are stopped at drunk driving checkpoints, if the only offense is driving without a license. This means that illegal aliens, who cannot obtain driver's licenses, can now freely drive without one! They cannot be arrested for driving unlicensed and their illegally used vehicles cannot be taken from them. What a great boon for public safety in California! What a great incentive for illegals to further flout the laws of this state! It is obvious to me that Jerry Brown does not work for the voters of this state, but for the illegal immigrant lobby. He should be impeached.

I have more of a problem w/the car thing, I admit. Driving is a privilege, not a right. Does this car law enforce an undocumented driver having the necessary insurance? In other words, if one of us is hit by someone here illegally, is that driver more or less likely - or neither - to have insurance based on this law?

Sorry to thread hijack. What makes sense to me about the Dream Act is that we're already educating these kids, investing in them, so why not go all the way so that they can better contribute to the state & invest back in it via their hard work & future accomplishments? I'm not trying to argue w/anyone here - I really am asking the question. That asked, where in the heck is the money gonna come from?

> That asked, where in the heck is the money gonna come from?

Got a mirror?

Mr. Davis, will the mirror trick double our money? I guess "They Do It With Mirrors" is more than a Miss Marple title.

We should consider rationing health care to obese people who speak out against government aid.