05/06/11 After One Week Of No Activity The Westmore News Finially Updates Its So-Called Port Chester News Website

Edison School students plant tree and dedicate it to retiring principal Hey, Wait A Minute.....Isn't Dominic Bencivenga One Of The Guys That Former Westmore News Columnist Bart "The Bigot" Didden Said Helped Him Prepare The Two Page Racist Flyer Attacking Port Chester Hispanics? P.C. school board candidate calls for re-registering all children Forget About Dominic "I Met With Bart" Bencivenga and that racist two page flyer ..... These Kids Are Doing Something Positive For Their Community.... Students study voting patterns as part of diversity project Funded by Town of Rye and Building Community Bridges ... =================================

03/13/11 Richard And Jananne Abel Throw Former Westmore News Columnist Bart "The Bigot" Didden Under The Bus In A Hard Hitting Editorial That Tells It Like It Is

Forget About Bart Didden: Westmore News Endorses Mayor Dennis Pilla For Third Term In Port Chester

Re-elect Dennis Pilla For Mayor 

To Keep Port Chester Moving Forward

Two bright but starkly different candidates are running for mayor of Port Chester on Tuesday, Mar. 15. Both incumbent Democrat Dennis Pilla and Republican-Independence candidate Bart Didden, a village trustee since July, are motivated to do what they think is best for the village. Because of their sharply contrasting ideas on almost every issue, we need to keep them both on the Board of Trustees for a healthy balance of ideas. We therefore advocate returning Pilla, a moderate, to office for another two years. Didden, a registered Conservative, still has two years left on his term.

Since Pilla has been mayor over the past four years, the village has been going in a positive direction with a good management team, transparency in government, strong finances, a solid, comprehensive code enforcement program for the first time in the village's history, a good working relationship with neighboring communities and a forward-thinking attitude. Corruption is being routed out and the rebuilding has begun. There is no compelling reason to upset the apple cart.

The current board is comprised of strong personalities who, when they're not fighting, have had some healthy discourse on appealing the voting rights case decision and whether to use money left over from old capital projects for the purpose for which it was originally borrowed or return it to contingency are a few recent examples. Diverse opinions and healthy discussion make for good decisions. Eliminating Pilla's pragmatic voice and leaving an empty seat on the board which might not be filled until the next election in two years would be a huge mistake for the village.

Putting his career on hold and devoting all of his time to the job of mayor, Pilla has used his skills as a former management consultant to tackle the multitude of problems facing Port Chester. He took the lead on developing a downtown revitalization strategy being funded largely by grants which has only partially come to fruition. It includes new lights, trees, sidewalks, signs, trash receptacles, a facade improvement program, rezoning the central downtown district to eliminate industrial uses, enhancing the sidewalk cafe ordinance and entertainment regulations.

Pilla is also innovative, forging a first-time partnership with Purchase College and the MTA on a train bridge art project which is in the works. In addition, through his efforts, talented Purchase College graphic arts students are designing gateway signs to the village. Both of these projects will be paid for with grants and need Pilla's guidance to see them through.

Both candidates have their failings. Pilla's is a drunk driving arrest in New York City back in June 2009 for which he later apologized. That was a onetime personal issue. Didden's is the controversial 2007 flyer he authored which was deemed by the federal judge hearing the village's voting rights case to be a racial appeal. Much has been made of that flyer during this election campaign. However, it's not just the flyer and whether or not Didden apologized for it that should be considered here. It's a mindset of inclusion of all races, and we don't believe Didden has that mindset. He might be on his best behavior and trying to reach out to all segments of the community during this election campaign, but how would he treat new immigrants once in office acting as an ambassador for a village that is more than 50% Hispanic?

To Pilla, on the other hand, married to a Colombian, inclusion comes naturally, and he never fails to mention in a positive light the beautiful mosaic that is Port Chester and makes it so appealing.

Pilla has a forward-thinking attitude while Didden looks to go back to the way things were appealing the voting rights decision, for instance. Maybe that works in the short term during an election campaign but certainly not when it comes to the long-term health of the village.

We disagree with appealing the voting rights decision and wasting the taxpayers' dollars with little chance for success. We agree with Pilla that we'd be far better off negotiating with the Department of Justice to get staggered terms, for instance, than gambling on a very unsure bet.

Even though the majority of families living in the village have an income of $80,000 or less and would qualify for affordable (not low-income) housing, Didden is opposed to creating any more affordable units in Port Chester. He's even for doing away with the required 10% set-aside of affordable units within newly-constructed buildings of 10 units or more in residential zones which is currently on the books. Pilla is for changing but not eliminating what he calls an ineffective ordinance. He's for creating an incentive for developers to build affordable units rather than making it punitive and establishing an “in lieu of” fee which would go into a fund to promote single-family ownership and provide home ownership assistance. Didden's close-minded attitude could prevent the village from getting future federal Community Development Block Grants through the county which have been so important to Port Chester's forward momentum.

Village government has never been more open than it is today under the Pilla administration. The Board of Trustees, Planning Commission and Zoning Board meetings are broadcast live on cable TV and streaming live on the internet. We are concerned about the future of open government under Didden who often advocates for topics to be discussed in closed rather than open session.

Additionally, Didden has demonstrated that he won't work well with neighboring communities. He seems to have a contempt for them rather than an interest in seeing how they can work together for the benefit of each. In this day of federal and state budget cuts and a greater need than ever to share services, that attitude is short-sighted to say the least.

Pilla, on the other hand, was instrumental in getting the villages of Rye Brook and Mamaroneck and the Town of Rye to partner with Port Chester on applying for a $50,000 state Local Government Efficiency Grant to study whether to dissolve the Town of Rye. The grant was received and bids for a consultant to undertake that study are currently being sought. Even if the decision is made not to eliminate the Town, the study should be useful in identifying additional shared service opportunities across the participating communities.

Lastly, how can we elect a mayor who is unable to deal with the largest property owner in the village, downtown developer G&S Investors? Didden has been advised by village attorneys not to even discuss or vote on anything relating to G&S because of his ongoing lawsuit involving the developer. Pilla has been instrumental in that regard, encouraging G&S to do faux painting within the fake windows on the facade of its building on South Main Street, paving the way for the developer to finally improve the intersections for which it is responsible this spring, and working with G&S to help come up with a reasonable solution to the collapsing bulkhead behind Costco. Delegating such important authority to another trustee, as Didden has said he will do, is scary, especially when we don't know who that individual will be.

The Pilla administration has been the village's most productive in years even though, as the mayor himself admits, there's so much more to do. Based on his past record, Mayor Pilla deserves the chance to continue the positive momentum he has started for another two years.

PLEASE ALSO SEE:

THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2011

03/10/11 Journal News Slams Bart Didden And Endorses Mayor Dennis Pilla

On Election Day Tuesday, Port Chester Voters Should Help Put The Past Behind Them, And Re-elect A Mayor Who Knows How To Look Forward


The race for mayor in Port Chester, one of Westchester's most closely watched villages, should be no contest at all — Mayor Dennis Pilla has done that outstanding a job the last four years, and as a trustee earlier. That it is, indeed, a race may say more about the resiliency of bigotry, mainly of the thinly concealed variety, than about his stewardship. Village voters should make a plain statement Tuesday that they support smart, fiscally responsible and progressive leadership, and vote to return Pilla for a third term. The alternative, Trustee Bart Didden, really is no option at all....

================================

Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to PortChesterRoundup@gmail.com

03/10/11 Journal News Slams Bart Didden And Endorses Mayor Dennis Pilla

On Election Day Tuesday, Port Chester Voters Should Help Put The Past Behind Them, And Re-elect A Mayor Who Knows How To Look Forward

The race for mayor in Port Chester, one of Westchester's most closely watched villages, should be no contest at all — Mayor Dennis Pilla has done that outstanding a job the last four years, and as a trustee earlier. That it is, indeed, a race may say more about the resiliency of bigotry, mainly of the thinly concealed variety, than about his stewardship. Village voters should make a plain statement Tuesday that they support smart, fiscally responsible and progressive leadership, and vote to return Pilla for a third term. The alternative, Trustee Bart Didden, really is no option at all.

Democrat Pilla, who has worked in information management for major corporations, has spent the last years improving the financial picture for Port Chester, in the annual budget, reserves and capital plan; those efforts have been recognized by the ratings agency Moody's Investors Service with three upgrades — no small achievement amid economic recession. Even while serving in the political minority, Pilla has succeeded in pushing through an agenda that has promoted smarter development and planning; improved quality of life through vastly stepped-up code enforcement, a major issue in neighborhoods struggling with density and illegal apartments; and helped bolster professionalism in a village administration tainted by corruption.

Port Chester's commercial district — a vibrant mesh of big-box stores, ethnic restaurants and much more — continues to take root as a destination for those looking to try different cuisine and culture. Revitalization efforts advanced on Pilla's watch hold promise for improving the downtown core, Fox Island, and neighborhoods. All the credit certainly isn't his. Credit Pilla, however, for bringing smart ideas to the table and, time and again, reaching across neighborhoods and interests to include everyone in the discussion. Those are imperatives in Port Chester, easily one of the most diverse communities in the Lower Hudson Valley, by race, ethnicity, culture, economics and business diversification.

Even where there have been sharp differences in approach or opinion, Pilla has demonstrated an ability to lower the volume, while at once entertaining divergent views, and dispensing his own, usually smart, advice. That is progressive leadership — leadership not always in evidence on the current board, and the kind that Port Chester so richly deserves and needs. Republican challenger Didden, a village trustee since summer, is likely to disappoint on that score. He has the dismal track record — memorialized in sworn testimony — to prove it.

The owner of a village business, Didden played a leading role in the Justice Department's Voting Rights Act lawsuit against Port Chester, wherein a federal judge concluded in 2008 that the village's system for electing trustees unlawfully disenfranchised Hispanics. When the lawsuit was filed in 2007, Hispanics had never been elected to anything, despite making up about half the population. One of the proofs in such an action is whether past elections had been marred by blatant racial appeals. It was Didden who helped supply that proof — in the form of an anonymous flier sent to village residents prior to the March 2007 mayoral vote.

It complained that "The Hispanics are running the show already"; that then-mayoral candidate "Pilla will sell us out"; and said that "what (Blanca Lopez, Pilla's campaign manager and future school board trustee) cares about is only Hispanic." It implored recipients to "elect people who care about our history, heritage and what our kids will be told about us in the future." Didden, who in the court action admitted his role in disseminating the flier, has apologized. But that is hardly enough. The court case has already cost taxpayers more than $1.2 million and so much lost energy in recriminations. And the tab is growing: Didden and the board's conservative majority recently approved spending another $225,000 to appeal the mess he helped make.

Ironically, the revised election system suggested by Port Chester and OK'd by the court — so-called cumulative voting — ended up producing the most diverse village board Port Chester has ever had.

==============================
Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to PortChesterRoundup@gmail.com

03/08/11 Port Chester Democratic Committee Writes In The Journal News: Re-elect Pilla in Port Chester

Photo: Raymond And Migdalia Sculky 

Re-elect Pilla in Port Chester
Journal News - LoHud.com

With the upcoming mayoral election in the village of Port Chester, I feel compelled to express my support for one candidate who stands out in integrity, honesty and is hardworking, attributes which sadly are lacking in many political candidates today. He is our Democratic/Citizens for a Better Port Chester candidate, Mayor Dennis G. Pilla. Mayor Pilla is honest, open and did not at first publicly deny (like his opponent), then admit to writing a racist flyer (according to Justice Stephen Robinson) against Hispanic residents of the Village of Port Chester (in which my wife is one), which was used by the Department of Justice to justify and win their lawsuit against the village. Are we to be known as racists?

Mayor Pilla's opponent has tries to take credit for many of his accomplishments, as his website so claims. His opponent has also distorted and misrepresented many facts to mislead voters. This shows his opponent will do or say anything to get elected! Is this the type of person the village of Port Chester wants as mayor? We need a mayor that is honest, hardworking and results-oriented, who gets the job done and is proud to be a representative of the village of Port Chester. We need a mayor who will represent all the people all the time. We need someone such as Mayor Pilla. I urge all residents to re-elect Mayor Pilla on the Democrat or the "Citizens for a Better Port Chester" lines on March 15.

Raymond L. Sculky

=============================
Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to PortChesterRoiundup@gmail.com

03/07/11 Port Chester Lost The Voting Right Case, Because Of The Reckless Actions Of Bart Didden

Port Chester voters will go to the polls March 15 to fill the mayoral position.

Port Chester Mayor Dennis Pilla, is running for a third two-year term against challenger Extreamist TEA Party Lunatic Bart "The Bigot" Didden,

Didden joined the village board in June in the landmark election for all six Port Chester trustee seats.

This was the first election held under the cumulative voting voting system that Bart "The Bigot" Didden's racist flier created.

The Department of Justice had to prove THREE POINTS points to win the voting rights case in Port Chester.

The United States Department Of Justice argued that Port Chester's existing at-large system violated the Voting Rights Act, which protects minorities' constitutional right to equal protection under the law.

• DOJ Lawyers found that the population of 28,000 was about half Hispanic, they argued that the system prevented Hispanics from getting a representative on the six-trustee board. This proved the FIRST POINT that the DOJ needed to win the voting rights case against Port Chester.

• The Justice Department also found that no Hispanic had ever been elected trustee or mayor in the village. This proved the SECOND POINT that the DOJ needed to win the voting rights case against Port Chester.

• But the DOJ lawyers had a problem. They still had to find that there had been a racial appeal in a Port Chester election in order to make the third point that they needed to win the voting rights case. The DOJ just could not find any evidence a racial appeal was ever made in a Port Chester election. Despite at looking at over a decade of campaign literature the DOJ just could not find ONE piece of paper that ever showed that there had been a racial appeal in an election in Port Chester.

• Then Bart "The Bigot" Didden made that TWO page racist flier that attacking Blanca Lopez and Port Chester's Hispanics. This proved the THIRD POINT that the DOJ needed to win the voting rights case against Port Chester.

Bart Didden's racist flyer was followed by a trial in which U.S. District Judge Stephen C. Robinson, after hearing evidence of a litany of wrongful conduct, found the village unlawfully disenfranchised Hispanic residents. At the time the suit was filed, the village had never elected a Hispanic candidate to anything — neither to the village board nor school board — despite Hispanics making up about half the population.

Judge Robinson's also found that during the 2007 mayoral election, a blatant racial appeal was made to voters — in the form of an anonymous flier distributed to 1,000 homes — disparaging of Hispanics and crudely complaining of their influence. The one factor that had to be considered in voting rights cases.

The DOJ had to show that a Port Chester political campaign included overt or subtle racial appeals and Bart "The Bigot" Didden delivered them a two page racist flier.

Soon it was subsequently learned that the two page flier was written by Bart Didden, who is now a candidate for mayor.

Yes it is true, Bart "The Bigot" Didden's racist two page flyer gave the Department of Justice the missing piece of the voting rights case puzzle.

Now Bart "The Bigot" Didden wants to spend another $225,000 in taxpayer money — on top of the $1.2 million spent so far — to continue a community-dividing legal fight he helped create with his racist flyer.

===============================
Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to PortChesterRoundup@gmail.com

02/27/11 The Port Chester Topix News Message Board

As Seen In The Journal News: Rethink Support For Bart Didden‎

Rye Town Supervisor Joseph Carvin and Port Chester Trustee Joseph Kenner have both endorsed Republican candidate Bart Didden for mayor of Port Chester. 


Carvin, who often speaks about everyone getting along in our community and is a member of the group Building Community Bridges, has stated Didden's (past) racist flyer regarding Hispanics was not racist — it was "race-baiting." Oh, I now see the light. In Carvin's world, it's OK to endorse a race-baiter. 


As for Kenner, he has been advocating that Port Chester appeal the voting rights case ruling because, "We can remove the shameful and unwarranted stigma of the judge's ruling, which affects how others view us." 


Kenner does not seem to worry how other communities outside of Port Chester will view us if we elect a mayor who authored a racist flyer. 


A racist flyer Didden sent out anonymously, told the media he knew nothing about, and then finally told the truth only when under oath during the voting rights trial......


More at Lo-Hud.com and Topix.com.

Port Chester Topix Message Board

http://www.topix.com/city/port-chester-ny/2011/02/as-seen-in-the-journal-news-rethink-support-for-bart-didden-8206

LoHud.com - Westchester County Journal News

http://www.lohud.com/article/20110227/OPINION/102270339/-1/PHOTO-GALLERY--RYE-HS-GRADUATI/Rethink-support-Bart-Didden?odyssey=nav|head

=======================================

Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to PortChesterRoundup@gmail.com

12/25/07 - WWJD? - A Christmas Message For Imfamous Racist Bart "The Bigot" Didden Of Port Chester.

Jesus Was An Illegal Immigrant - Matthew's gospel records that Mary, Joseph, and little Jesus fled to Egypt to escape Herod's massacre of the innocents. What happened next? According to the noncanonical 'Infancy Gospels,' the child Jesus performed many miracles in Egypt before returning to Palestine.

Bart "The Bigot" Didden rails like a maniac against illegal immigrants while demonstrating his public piety by attending and supporting Church at Corpus Christi Church.

In fact, Bart "The Bigot" Didden has even accused persons of being anti-catholic at the lohud.com forums during the last Port Chester Mayoral Election.

No one in Port Chester can seem to forget Bart "The Bigot" Didden's racist two page flier that clearly intense anger toward Port Chester Hispanics.

Week after week, Bart "The Bigot" Didden's hostile anti-immigrant postings at lohud.com are very upsetting to the many Christians of Port Chester.

Didden's hostility is all the more jarring at Christmastime, when Christians around the world commemorate the birth of Christ.

You’d think that the season would bring forth an outpouring of compassion, mercy and generosity.

After all, the Bible, which conservative Christians hold out as the inerrant word of God, includes several admonitions to practice kindness toward “strangers.”

The biblical case against abortion is inferential. The Bible doesn't speak directly to the topic. It lays out some principles -- sacredness of life, humanity of the unborn -- that lead to the conclusion that abortion is not permitted. It's the same with stem cells, child tax credits, faith-based social service provisions, etc.

Immigration is different: The Bible is explicit. In the Torah, Moses commanded, "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt." The Bible is unabashedly pro-immigrant.

The argument is simple: You were immigrants in Egypt, and you didn't like being mistreated, so now that you have your own country, you should treat immigrants compassionately.

Compassionate treatment of immigrants is basically an early version of the Golden Rule: Treat people the way you used to want to be treated when you were in Egypt.

Jewish scripture, for example, speaks repeatedly of the kindness due to the “stranger” and reminds us that the people of the Bible--the Hebrews--were once despised foreigners in an alien land, Egypt.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, many verses seem to advocate a wide-armed welcome for immigrants and foreigners.

Here are a couple of examples from Leviticus:

“When a stranger dwells among you in your land, do not taunt him. The stranger who dwells with you shall be like a native among you, and you shall love him like yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt—I am the Lord, your God” (19:33-34).

“If your brother becomes impoverished and his means falter in your proximity, you shall strengthen him—stranger or resident—so that he can live with you” (25:35).

Leviticus 19:33-34: And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Maybe the Bart Didden's of the world should read a few Jewish scriptures from Exodus.

Exodus 22:21: Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 23:9: Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Or maybe Mr. Didden should give a careful reading to Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 10:19: Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

I don't know if Bart Didden has ever did one of those read the entire Bible in a year programs, but if he had he would have learned that.

King David surrounded himself with immigrants, as did his son, Solomon. The prophets spoke out on behalf of aliens frequently.

The Bible says we must not allow the aliens among us to be abused: "Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood . . . " (Jeremiah 22:3).

Would Someone Please Tell The Uniformed Racist Known As Bart "The Bigot" Didden That Jesus Christ Was An Illegal Immigrant.

The Bible Teaches Christians That Mary and Joseph took Jesus and fled to Egypt, and that Jesus was an illegal immigrant.

Yes Bart, it is true - Jesus of Nazareth was an immigrant.

When Jesus was a child, he and Mary and Joseph crossed the border to Egypt illegally. You see, they had a well-founded fear of political persecution from a Middle Eastern dictator named Herod.

Jesus Christ is clearly concerned about how the poor are treated. His teaching in Matthew 25:31–46 says that to mistreat the "stranger" is to mistreat Christ.

The writer of Hebrews tell us, "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels" (Hebrews 13:2).

And most compelling of all, when Jesus speaks to the disciples in Matthew 25 about the end times, when the Son of Man will return to judge the nations, he warns that some will receive blessings because they ministered to the strangers in their midst...

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me" (Matthew 25:34-36).

Harry Truman once said "Of course the Sermon on the Mount is the greatest of all things in the Bible, a way of life and maybe some day men will get to understand it as the real way of life."

Failure to render care and concern for these strangers in our midst is to fail in our most essential Christian duty. God is love, we are told, and every believer is equipped to share God’s love with those in need.

Surely, Bart Didden would not wish to be held accountable for misunderstanding his responsibility in this area.

Bart Didden's writing and statements not in keeping with my understanding of the Scriptures because his warped ideas would literally criminalize the Good Samaritan and probably even Jesus himself.

Most local observers agree that Port Chester is a very religious village.

By all measures of religiosity, Port Chester ranks high. Just look at the density. I don't think any other village in Westchester County has more Churches / square mile than Port Chester.

I would be willing to bet that at least 90% percent of the Port Chester's population would claim to believe in God.

Church attendance is high in the Port Chester.

With such a large number of Port Chester citizens holding religious beliefs, it is time that these beliefs are beginning to enter the debate over immigration to this village of Churches.

Is it Christian to believe that illegal aliens need to be found and deported?

Shouldn't a good Christian be welcoming and tolerant?

Most of the illegal aliens to Port Chester are of the Christian faith, doesn't that mean that they should be embraced?

What the Bart Didden fails to see is most immigrants, in fact, have enriched Port Chester, bringing brains and talent to the village.

Port Chester's wealth as a village is due, in some measure, to the contributions of immigrants from all over the globe.

It was the immigrants of Port Chester that helped build most of the churches of this village. And it it is the immigrants of Port Chester who are still organizing new churches in Port Chester.

As a Christian, Bart "The Bigot Didden should try and look at immigration this way. His brothers and sisters in Christ come in all colors, shapes, sizes and countries. His fellow Christ followers are in Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Russia — in every country on the planet, including Mexico.

Among illegal aliens Bart "The Bigot" Didden attacks
are his brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Bibles call to share the Gospel with unbelievers and worship a merciful and gracious God with believers doesn’t stop at our national borders.

The Bible says that God saves all kind of men, and all kinds of men are Bart "The Bigot" Didden's fellow inheritors of Christ’s bounty!

Would Jesus criticize public benefits such as health care for the children of illegal immigrants.

Should Bart "The Bigot" Didden welcome the stranger because his Savior was not welcomed in mainstream society?

Has Bart Didden ever thought that the teaching of 'no room at the inn' was about someone poor and marginalized and pushed off to a stable?

Someone should warn Bart Didden about “demonizing” illegal aliens.

Bart Didden must remember that they are fellow human beings.

The big fear for Bart "The Bigot" Didden should not be Hispanic Immigration to Port Chester, but the wrath of God angered by how poor immigrants are being treated.

So for those who profess, like Bart Didden, to love God and embrace Jesus and the Bible as their ethical sources, the choice seems obvious: either stop invoking them or, better yet, live up to the principles you claim.

This would entail seeing and treating so-called illegals as our brothers, sisters, neighbors, and members of our various churches –as people who are part of us–rather than a “them” to be excluded.

What Is really hypocritical about some of these unenlightened people like Bart Didden, who are obsessed with illegal immigration is the fact that many of them claim to be devout Christians.

Regardless of the situation, the Bible clearly states that "all are equal in dignity before God".

Also, from a Christian/religious perspective, the whole concept of a human being being "illegal" is absurd.

I wonder if Jesus treated people differently based on their immigration status?

Anyways, it amazing how hypocritical and unenlightened some of these people like Bart Didden can be.

Immigrants do not threaten our culture; generally, they enrich it.

People who choose this country at great risk are more likely to share its values than those who are simply born here.

Latino immigrants sign up for military service in greater proportions than native-born Americans.

My Son recently served with a young man from Panama who signed up, even before being granted citizenship, and served with great courage in combat in Iraq.

Is there's a more telling metric for love of country than the decision to put one's life on the line.

Then there is the matter of the English language.

Bart Diden once asked me, "Do you want your grandchildren to grow up speaking Spanglish?"

Sure, why not? We all grew up speaking "Franglish." Our language is a mix of French (Bart Didden's Ansestrial Home) and Anglo-Saxon that started with the Norman Conquest in 1066.

Living languages change. I can read the Latin of St. Augustine pretty much as well (or, in my case, as badly) as that of John Paul II, because Latin is a dead language.

Jesus grew up speaking "Hebrelonian," a mix of Hebrew and the Chaldean that the Jews picked up in Babylon. Didn't he turn out pretty well?

Such propaganda from Bart "The Bigot" Didden blinds the American people from seeing the image of God in undocumented immigrants.

We could go the way of Bart "The Bigot" Didden, or we (a nation of immigrants) could go the way of the God of Israel, "The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt...."

We must learn to look at the world through the lens of the Father of all children.

Again I will once again repeat for Bart Didden The Bible says God "defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing." (Deuteronomy 10:18).

Scripture says God loves all those who are in a vulnerable and helpless condition. So he commands the church to love the alien (Deuteronomy 10:19), to provide for them (Leviticus 19:10; Deuteronomy 14:29), to treat them as native-born (Leviticus 19:34), and to judge them without bias and discrimination (Deuteronomy 1:16; 24:17; 27:19). The Lord prohibits oppressing or mistreating the immigrant (Exodus 22:21; Leviticus 19:33).

Bart Didden should compare God’s teachings with his own feelings and attitudes and reflect for a moment on where he stands on this issue.

Is Bart Didden Going To Follow The Teachings Of Jesus "The Illegal Immigrant" Christ or reject his holy words of the Bible.