I have a friend down in Houston who writes a column for several publications, and last Sunday one of his appeared in this paper about the southern border of the United States.

He goes by A. C. Volper and he is a powerful writer.

He titled it &uot;Illegal Immigration or Invasion.&uot; If you didn’t read it, you should. If you are against illegal immigration it is a must read. You won’t find anything like it in any other media.

It reminded me of Henry Ford, who back in the ‘30s brought out his version of the automobile. Like the Mexican invasion did, he started out small; but over time, grew to huge proportions, driving other automakers out of business. (You get my point?) He got so big so fast he had difficulty finding and keeping enough employees.

In those years there was a steady flow of emigrants coming to America from many countries. His unique solution to his employee problem was to pay better wages than anyone else … on one condition.

No matter what country they were from, they had to attend his &uot;school&uot; to become a worker in his Highland and Dearborn, Mich., plants.

First, they had to dress like Americans and forgo their usual garb; their culture had to become the American culture. They had to learn the English language, respect our flag, and work toward becoming an American citizen within a reasonable time.

He allowed no nonsense, worked them hard, usually at a monotonous job. But he didn’t have to worry about whether or not they were legal immigrants … in those days we were in control of our borders. That was back when Canada was begging for immigrants, but they wanted to be here.

During those years, there wasn’t a lot of industry because not much had been invented. But millions of hopefuls in other countries believed the golden goose was in America and the shipping industry’s biggest business was shipping people.

They poured off the boats, some finding relatives or friends, others finding nothing but hope. Many had certain skills and found a place to exercise them, while others brought only their muscles and the desire work with them. Not much of that muscle stuff going around nowadays.

And that fact leaves much work here for the &uot;invaders&uot; from Mexico, and points south, using that wide-open country as a trail to our porous southern gateways. So many, that crooked entrepreneurs establish human smuggling businesses with huge profits and high death rates.

If our politicians in congress were interested in anything but guaranteeing themselves votes, they could solve our border problems. But I wouldn’t advise using Mexican workers as security guards. One statement by Volper you must all think about seriously … the national newspaper of Mexico, Excelsior, wrote: &uot;The American Southwest seems to be slowly returning to the jurisdiction of Mexico without firing a shot.&uot; Apparently there is much to fear because it has not stopped there. But nothing seems to worry our politicians

Vegetarians may have the edge

Many columns ago I pointed out the approaching danger from avian flu. Now the papers are full of frightening information.

People are stockpiling antibiotic soap, facemasks, canned food, home air cleaners, and beginning to think about how to go shopping without touching anything or anyone.

Pet birds are being freed, bird purchases have nearly stopped, and some worrywarts have stopped feeding wild birds. We could put antibiotic soap in the birdbaths.

You’ll have no difficulty staying home as much as possible … gas will hit three bucks a gallon before the first American bird bites the dust.

And if you think beef is expensive now, wait until the very first dead chicken or turkey makes the six o’clock news. It’s a good time to be a vegetarian in Suffolk.

Contact the author at pocklington@suffolknewsherald.com