My remarks on cheap labour were not meant to encourage immigra-phobia.

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor Etc. has become a sour joke when you look at actual current U.S. immigration policies and trends--and assimilating was not exactly the approach your ancestors and mine took to the native civilization that was thriving on this continent when the Europeans got here. Quite the contrary

Carping about people retaining their culture and an interest in their homeland, however imperfect it may have been, is not something I have much patience with. We're here because of an interest in folk music, Ernie--for which the first requirement is that you have to know something about your folk.

Willie-O