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Mr Rice,

I have the feeling you might reconsider "closing the door" if any of these short list scenarios were to be directly polluting the rarified air you breathe.

1. Four families living in a house next door to you that was designed for one family.

2. The associated noise and traffic impacts from number 1, which, in addition to degrading the quality of life for those unfortunate enough to live next door to it, are making a travesty of tax payer funded city and county planning efforts on multiple levels.

3. A single mother on a formerly safe street, experiencing drive by shootings. Increase in random violent street crime generally.

4. Showing up to a neighborhood store and church you have attended and patronized since birth, with your elderly grandmother, to find it covered in gang related spray paint graffiti.

It will get worse, much worse. The formerly safe LA neighborhood I grew up in, is now seeing home invasion robberies, and gang related murders of fathers by teenagers, who ask the offender to leave their kids birthday party. This is headed our way. "Open door indeed". Pass the Kool-Aid. I am actually more afraid of living next door to people like you, who with all due respect, appear to be educated beyond your intelligence, and actually still believe that the failed experiment of multiculturalism serves anything other than the agenda of the economic elite in this country.

Kool-Aid, I have to say I was moved to true disgust by your comments in a way that, even in this day and age of creeping fascism and the arrival of Orwell's "1984", I rarely am.

I have four families living in a house designed for one in several nearby homes.

Our neighborhood experienced a drive-by shooting only a little while ago, right here in Ojai.

You blame who exactly?

In your favor (perhaps), I think I can safely say that your education does not exceed your intelligence. Please, however, do not confuse the "agenda of the economic elite" with the reality of our multicultural society. You don't need to trust me, but you might consider that this "agenda" is agnostic as to whether we are multicultural or "racially pure".

Mr. Rice et al.

Thank you for the opportunity. I appreciate your comment. Perhaps we can ALL learn something on this thread. I would like to hear more about what you found objectionable to my comment. Given that fact that your identity is in question, I trust that my anonymity will not offend. I respectfully offer the following.

I agree, the truth of so much of modern life is "disgusting". Bumper sticker wisdom suggests outrage is an appropriate response. We are in this stinking pile together, none goes into the pile, without exiting smelling of it. Problems begin when one is unable to detect ones own stench. That is called classism. Mainstream institutionalized education is a tool of the state to condition one into believing that ITS goals are YOUR goals.
http://reactor-core.org/deschooling.html

Are you one of the "lucky" ones, who has fulfilled the promise of increased leisure time, that the industrial revolution and automation was sold to you on? If so, the blood of environmental degradation may well be on your hands. Did you buy the Hitlerian lie, that work will make you free? Or, have you sunk even deeper into the trap, by assuming that information is knowledge?

Overcrowding contributes to a multitude of social and environmental ills. It has the well documented effect of causing people to sink to the ethical level of rats. I am not sure if your pronouncement of the overcrowding and violence in your neighborhood is a cry for help, or if you feel it gives you "street cred" to trumpet these tragedies that are exacerbated by overcrowding. Our city planners have worked very hard to design a city that works, and to calculate the impacts related to residential housing. They are called "single family homes" for very important reasons, By adding four families to a unit designed for one, excessive negative impacts related to the environment, traffic, noise, pollution and public services, to name a few, are created. The consequences of this is a marked degradation of life for all involved. This degradation has the result of causing those in the pile to believe that things are being done "to them" by others in the pile, this mistake ensures ones position in the pile, and distracts ones attention from the real cause of ones predicament, and bars the door to anything resembling clear thinking.

As to who to blame? That is a very good question. It will not be answered to the satisfaction of most, from the perspective of being in the "pile". One needs to step out, most do not wish to engage this level of phase shift, but, clarity is almost impossible without it. Being "disgusted" by another in the pile, is a clear sign that a phase shift is not comfortable at this time.

This society was not created in some Agnostic vacuum. Unlike Agnosticism, the architects of this societies goals are unambiguous and clearly knowable for you and I to see, one need simply to cast the slightest glance away from the pile. Its central organizing principal is materialism and expansion, with you and I seen as its resources, coupled with the natural world to further its wholesale use of the natural worlds resources, to further the goals of the economic development, that supports materialism at any cost. Hardly the unknowable tenet of agnosticism. Our style of economics requires constant expansion or contraction (failure) will occur. The Mexican border has not been secured because the lack of a steady stream of cheap labor spells death to the consumer capitalism way of life, which is immolating the planet. Unfortunately, those of us who wish to step well away from the pile, (whatever ones ethnic background) must forget the language of the pile and learn a new language, this has the effect of causing us to become unrecognizable to those still in the pile. Predictably, lack of recognition, throws the rat like ethical situation of those in the pile, into a (in the cae of a drive by shooting) a fight AND flight response. Unfortunately, and fortunately for them, our friends south of the border are next in line to take their place in the pile due to the fact that many of the people who are here legally have decided to shift phase, and more "resources" are needed. We may agree that, when one is viewed from the perspective of the ruling class, as nothing more than a natural resource, racial purity or multiculturalism is meaningless, one is simply a resource, given the commitment to the exploitation of resources, quality of life for all is degraded accordingly. May god save us ALL, regardless of our own illusions of cultural identity.

The problem that many have with "aliens" today is the volume, the numbers, and the change in many neighborhoods where the crime goes up. Ojai has certainly seen this phenomenon in play. Ojai of today is not the Ojai of my youth. Violent crime and graffiti are present today, including several break-ins to cars and buildings.

I have worked on some of the ranches of Ojai, growing up. Many of my coworkers were illegal aliens, who were the hardest working people I knew. Their culture was vibrant and inviting and they afforded me more than a glimpse of an interesting way of life, that was as salient as mine.

Though many of todays immigrants are of the same breed as those I enjoyed working with, some are representatives of the profusive criminal element that Mexican society contracts with every day in government and everywhere else in that dysfunctional society.

Get used to it, this increase in immigration, bringing the great that Mexico offers, as well as the ever increasing bad that is a major part of that dysfunctional society.

Until the United States puts serious efforts in changing how we deal with Mexico, and put real pressure on Mexico to rid itself of the corruption that riddles Mexican government, and every other aspect of Mexican society, positive and negative agents of their society will continue to come over in droves to our economy, our way of life, changing our economy, our way of life.

Most of those who come here, don't want to be here. They have no choice. It is the policy of the corrupt Mexican govt. to encourage immigration to the U.S. to relieve them of their responsibilities to improve conditions at home that would take money out of their pockets.

The U.S. Could do so much more for the people of Mexico, by building colleges and hospitals rather than giving the Mexican govt. millions in arms and cash to fight drug traffic, -the life blood of those who will be getting the money and arms- helping the Mexicans that really need it.

The Mexican national is not our enemy. His govt. is, as well as those here in ours, that have no clue of what they are doing.

Dennis, great post! I found myself in the middle of one of those marches you mentioned:
http://www.ojaipost.com/2006/05/pov_the_santa_barbara_immigran.shtml

Boy, leave it to a topic of immigration to bring out the racism and scapegoating. And yes, the anti-immigration furor is thinly veiled racism, no matter how you intellectualize it.
I grew up and lived in Los Angeles from 1960's until the 90's. Multi-culturalism only improved the experience of living in that city. As a resident and homeowner in Meiners Oaks, the latin population helps make it a lovely and livable place.

The folks that you call 'aliens' and 'illegal aliens' are the children of the people that lived on this land before you. They were shipped down to the newly bordered Mexico as a consequence of 'Manifest Destiny' which was basically a term coined by historians to whitewash and justify the brutality of stealing land and killing people.

Step out of your carefully constructed reality bubble and smell the sage.

Meiners Oaky, you are right. The whole so-called "immigration debate" is nothing more than racism and scapegoating. Its sad.

But immigration policy is a serious topic, and one that, were we a forward thinking society, we should be considering and improving. The fact is real people and real families that are here working and building and maintaining this country every day are suffering under present misguided policies, policies which divide us from our neighbors and create a permanent underclass that must fear random deportation at any time. That's no way to build a country.

Meanwhile, it is such a joke to hear the very thinly veiled racists scapegoat their supposed costs of illegal immigration. Hello? What are they protecting?

Health care? See "Sicko". We don't have universal health care, we have a privatized non-system. The supposed "costs" of illegals in our hospitals are a pittance compared to the amount of health care dollars taken away from health care every time you send in your monthly insurance premium. Get real. We could give every illegal in this country premium free health care for less than the amount of money given to cronies by this administration, and unaccounted for just in the first year of Bush's war (see http://www.antiwar.com/ips/mekay.php?articleid=3426 for an example of where this stood in 2004).

(If we tallied up the amounts that cannot be accounted for in that false war to date, I am willing to be they would be sufficient to provide full health coverage for a significant percentage of our uninsured.)

Jobs? We outsourced our manufacturing years ago to countries that pay workers less than what "illegals" come here to earn. Please.

The fact is, this country would do far better to deport the Minutemen and their ilk than the hardworking people who come here as immigrants. This whole crew of retired insurance brokers and adjusters, real estate agents and useless so-called "middle managers" that comprise the anti-immigrant, Republican shock troops brought less value to this world in their whole careers than the average illegal immigrant does in one day.

I certainly hope that my posting was not one of those described as "thinly veiled racism". Anyone who knows me, knows that's not so. But my criticism can be hard to swallow, particularly when they are true. If anyone takes issue with what I said, I would like to hear from you, after you re-read my post.

Dana and Alyeska,
goodness no,I was not referring to your post. Thoughtful discussion of immigration policy is what is needed. I was responding to the tone of kool aid which I think unfairly blames immigrants (read Mexicans) for everything from over crowding to graffiti.

Thanks for the thoughtful responses to this post. As I was recently invited to be a new author, I figured I had better make an initial contribution. I sat at the keyboard and this piece floated out. I am pleased that it raised a few responses.
As some may have gathered from my bio, I am involved in education. While I believe that the problems associated with the accommodation, assimilation, and frequent exploitation of Mexican-Americans are complex, I believe that we are dining at a sumptuous table here and there is room for everyone, especially in the classroom. Whether you stand with Mr. Kool or with those of us who have more degrees than common sense, whether you see common education as an elitist tool or a basic human right, the question is that when we have hungry young minds who come to our schools to learn, what should be our response? If that learning perpetuates the status quo, well let’s deal with that as another issue. The pedagogy of the oppressed is a worldwide issue, certainly worth visiting, but, as a teacher, when a hungry mind comes to learn, what is gained by refusing to teach it?

Looks like Ojai is joining the real world. My suggestion for a next step is for more of the folks who walk their fingers on the blogging keys to walk their bodies down to city hall and get involved in local politics, you know: think global and act local. Hey, it's fun and good for your health, and it just might do some good. - Did you know a fellow citizen submitted initiatives a year or so ago that directed the council to deal with affordable housing [you know, like four or five families to a 1000 sq. ft. house, with another in the garage and another in the RV] and chain stores? Did you know he and 50 DOES were sued for his efforts? Did you know the ACLU came to protect our rights and the city / developer / banker / lawyer cabal is still suing him with our taxpayer dollars? Did you know that on this coming Wednesday night there is a planning commission meeting which will determine Ojai's fate for generations to come? Did you know the cabal wants to change the General Plan and the whole structure of the town, and that they're slipping this by under the chains? Did you know the press is going along for the ride and most of our stalwart citizens don't give a hoot? Did you know about the HCD Trojan horse strategy? - Immigration is but one of dozens of problems / opportunities that beckon Ojai, and that they all are political, and local at that? Did you know that only eight of us bothered to show up at the last planning commission on the chain store issue, and that just us eight made a profound difference; and that the next meeting will determine whether it lasts? Passion is a good sign, whatever side of the spectrum it comes from; it's better than the deadly apathetic disease, bred from disgust and fear. What we need is a government based on love. --Love, Dennis the Leary, not Dennis the Rice man. - P.S. I'm the Menace and I think the other Dennis is the Nice man, although to my knowledge I've never met you, Dennis. Thanks for getting involved. Ojai needs every hand she can get because the storm is about to hit and those hatches need to be battened down. Man, sometimes my mouth just won't quit. I've overstayed my welcome. See 'ya around.

Thanks for an excellent article!