How can you miss it?

Illegal aliens are marching in the streets demanding rights that only confer with citizenship.

The president equivocates, wanting to please everyone, wanting to be the nice guy, wanting his own agenda, which thus far he's not had the courage to state clearly, even though he knows it would be a betrayal of GOP and conservative beliefs. He is, after all, a politician – one with clearly liberal-leaning, one-world, open-border, free-trade beliefs. He's being tested now and is twisting in the wind.

Democrats, long the panderers to Hispanics for their votes and gloating that the issue is political just before important elections, are balancing uncomfortably on the fence supporting the illegals while also blathering about border security.

Both parties are doing their best to beat the other in support of what they deceptively portray as "immigrant rights."

Legitimate unions not only support the illegals, but are involved in organizing the demonstrations – they also recruit illegals for union membership.

Union leaders proudly declare they aim to shut down major cities in this country. Don't ask whose side they're on. We know.

Employers – businesses of all sizes – have caved in to the millions of illegal invaders of this country. They hire them, they claim it's not their job to check legality, they lobby to keep political protection and non-enforcement of employment laws already on the books, and they pay cheap wages, but pocket the difference when they charge the consumer.

The Roman Catholic Church uses the influence of its position not only to encourage and condone lawbreaking, but parish priests are told to disobey laws to protect illegals.

State and local governments support illegals and their demands, encouraging lawbreaking. The California Senate voted 24-13 to support the May 1 protest saying it will "educate Americans" about immigrant contributions. The mayor of San Francisco says his city won't enforce federal laws against illegals.

Politicians on every level run scared from the real border problems and pander to the illegals to win votes in upcoming elections.

Schools allow – indeed, encourage – students to cut classes to join marches and for those in class, teachers subject them to indoctrination supporting lawbreakers.

Those who long have worked for open borders and to have Mexico "take back" the American Southwest, which they call Aztlan – the "Reconquista" activists – are in their glory. Civil unrest is exactly what they want and they foment it. To them, it's the gringos who should leave the country; to them, the United States is theirs.

And so, the day is today, May 1 – when they plan to teach us – the United States – a lesson.

It's not May Day with barefoot maypole dances and flowers in your hair.

It's not the May Day with images of communist-Soviet military might – legions of soldiers, tanks and armaments in the streets – as a show of strength to the West and for the common people to show support for the government.

Today is May Day, a communist holiday, and there are people in the streets across our country.

They claim to be the common people, but they aren't. The bulk of them are illegal aliens, people in this country illegally. They have no legal right to be here, much less telling us how to run our country.

They certainly are not marching in support of the government as the Soviets did.

These people protest the government of this country because it has laws that govern the borders and how immigration is handled legally.

They demand their illegal entry be ignored. They demand they be given citizenship just because they're here.

They demand there be no restrictions on the benefits they receive when they're in this country illegally. They continue to feed on the generosity of the American people, taking their hard-earned tax money for medical care, education, food, housing, money and, yes, even justice and use of our jails and prisons.

They come here to have their babies, who then are entitled to 18 years of American generosity even though the parents are here illegally.

Pro-immigration activists say the May 1 turnout will be in the millions.

Jorge Rodriguez, a union organizer behind the earlier marches, says the goal is to shut down the cities of Los Angeles, Fresno, Tucson, Phoenix, Chicago and New York.

What does it mean? What effect will it have, not only on elected officials in government but on the real, common people of this country – real Americans, people who are here legally, whose ancestors came here legally, who obey the laws, who pay their taxes, who are generous to a fault, but who also have a sense of right and fair?

They are the people who know this theft of our country is neither right nor fair.

They know that people who demand the precious gift of citizenship in the United States of American simply because they want it on their terms, are neither deserving nor welcome.

Americans know illegals have no right to be here and have no right to demand anything. They're not part of America, no matter how many of them there are, nor how long they've been here.

The only demands that should be made are by the people of this country of their elected representatives – to follow and enforce the law, to support the sovereignty of this country, to protect American citizens and their property, to guard our borders against intruders.

In other words, the people of this country must demand that politicians do their job to keep order and to keep us (the United States) safe and secure.

It's inconceivable that when we're immersed in a long-range war against terrorism, when the face of our enemy is militant Islam, when we have no real idea of how many illegals are in this country – estimates are upward of 20 million – who they are, where they are or what they are doing, that politicians would consider free citizenship and amnesty. Has anyone noticed that Muslim groups have encouraged their members to join the immigrant protests?

Inconceivable? Yes, and shocking that it comes from all levels of government – from the president on down.

They're all selling us out.

President Bush talks a good line, but it means nothing more than let them stay, give them the bennies and ultimately, citizenship. He first called it a "guest-worker" program. Now, he's calling it a "pathway to citizenship." Who is he kidding?

A fence on the border? Never. Deportations? Impossible.

Caving in, President Bush? Or making possible what you and Mexican President Vicente Fox had in mind from the beginning?

Never forget, the two presidents were about to launch such generous programs for the illegals back in 2001 and they would have done it, too, except for those pesky Islamists who stole the headlines on 9-11.

Suddenly, it wasn't politic to talk of giving away American citizenship to illegals when we were at war with a terrorist enemy. So, illegal immigration was put on a back burner for five years.

Shame on them. Out of sight and out of mind of Washington and state capitals, the hoards of illegals swarmed the borders – thousands, every week. They trashed the countryside, destroyed property, flooded the welfare, medical and judicial systems, filled the schools and put enormous pressure on businesses.

Most politicians ignored it or excused it. The few who spoke out, such as Congressman Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., were derided and even called racist. He isn't alone, but their numbers are few.

The political, intellectual and media elite think they know better. They ignore not only the courageous politicians who speak the truth, but the people of this country – all of us – who are at the mercy of what appears to be a massive betrayal of our nation.

Sadly, even many churches are on the sellout bandwagon, particularly the Roman Catholic Church. When priests like Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles (and he's not alone) speak out in favor of the "rights" of "immigrants" and tell priests to disobey the law if there's any effort to enforce the idea that someone who jumps the border is here illegally, they're essentially supporting anarchy.

That's treading on interesting ground, especially since the Church isn't supposed to get involved in politics. Of course, he and others in the Church claim they're simply supporting the poor and needy and doing what churches do. They cloak it in the rhetoric of "peace and justice." Pity they've lost the concept of right and wrong.

"Red Roger," as many Catholics who've seen his support of leftist issues know him, conveniently ignores the difference between legal and illegal immigration. He also ignores the fact that when you're dealing with constitutional issues, and the laws of the country regarding borders and federal and state laws, you are dealing in politics. That, for the Church, is a no-no. Yet there he was in Washington talking to politicians and defending his position.

One might say he's "meddling" in politics, except for the weight such support carries, especially among the millions of uneducated and illiterate illegals who believe what their priest tells them, to say nothing of Catholics whose concept of religion is "What would Jesus do?"

The people who've been pushing this issue cut a wide swath of intent – from morally confused religious, to gutless politicians, to selfish businessmen, to immigration activists, to those who want Mexico to take back the Southwestern United States by force if necessary, to those who just hate the us and our freedoms.

Judging by the publicity, they think they're winning. But they're forgetting one thing. They haven't yet heard from real Americans.

They forget there are more legal Americans than there are illegals.

They ignore that if it weren't for legal Americans, those illegals would have nothing to gain by crossing the border.

They're here because they want what we have.

They may find out we just won't give it to them.

It's about time.