1. The primary purpose of U.S. immigration policy is to benefit the citizens of the United States not all those the impoverished, disease-infested, crime-ridden neighborhoods of the world who might wish to come here.
2. Since immigration policy can profoundly shape a country, it should be set by deliberate actions, not by accident or acquiescence, with careful consideration to ensure that it does not adversely affect the quality of life of American citizens and their communities.
3. Immigration policy should be based on and adhere to the rule of law. Immigration laws must be enforced consistently and uniformly throughout the United States.
4. Non-citizens enter the United States as guests and must obey the rules governing their entry. The U.S. government must track the entry, stay, and departure of all visa-holders to ensure that they comply fully with the terms of their visas, or to remove them if they fail to comply.
5. The borders of the United States must be physically secured at the earliest possible time. An effective barrier to the illegal entry of both aliens and contraband is vital to U.S. security.
6. Those responsible for facilitating illegal immigration shall be sought, arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law and shall forfeit any profits from such activity. This applies to smugglers and traffickers of people, as well as to those involved in the production, procurement, distribution, or use of fraudulent or counterfeit documents.
7. U.S. employers shall be given a simple and streamlined process to determine whether employees are legally eligible to work. Employers who obey the law shall be protected both from liability and from unfair competition by those who violate immigration law. The violators shall be subject to fines and taxes in excess of what they would have paid to employ U.S. citizens and legal residents for the same work.
8. Those who enter or remain in the United States in violation of the law shall be detained and removed expeditiously. Illegal aliens shall not accrue any benefit, including U.S. citizenship, as a result of their illegal entry or presence in the United States.
9. No federal, state or local entity shall reward individuals for violating immigration laws by granting public benefits or services, or by issuing or accepting any form of identification, or by providing any other assistance that facilitates unlawful presence or employment in this country. All federal and law enforcement agencies shall cooperate fully with federal immigration authorities, and shall report to such authorities any information they receive indicating that an individual may have violated immigration laws.
10. Illegal aliens currently in the United States may be afforded a one-time opportunity to leave the United States without penalty and seek permission to reenter legally if they qualify under existing law. Those who do not take advantage of this opportunity will be removed and permanently barred from returning.
11. Birthright citizenship should be granted only to those children born in the U.S. who have at least one parent who is a citizen. Birthright citizenship should be conferred only when a child reaches the age of 21 or when he or she enlists in the armed forces for not less than four years.
12. Illegal aliens who are removed must take all minor children with them regardless of their citizenship or be charged with child abuse.
13. Any policy that grants blanket legalization to illegal aliens that permits them to remain and work in the U.S. is defined as amnesty.
14. A national objective of a stable population with a soft landing for our economy should be adopted by congress to be achieved within 20 years.
15. Immigration should be constrained by the needs for skilled labor with preference given to those who speak English.
16. Immigration and tax policies must be designed to enable the achievement of a stable population and a reduction in the U.S total annual production of green house gases.
17. Chain immigration must be eliminated. Relatives and spouses must apply for legal immigration as a family unit and must counted against the overall immigration quota.
18. Immigration policies must exclude any applicants with beliefs inimical to American democratic ideals and those who adhere to religious dogma or law which advocates violence against other religious adherents or the abrogation of human right for any U.S. citizens.
19. Population-driven economic growth is unsustainable in the long run and will increase environmental destruction and climate change.
20. In the 21st century, it is morally wrong for one people to displace,dispossess, subjugate,or exterminate another people or culture as we and the Spaniards and countless others have tended to do in the past to the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
21. The natural resources of the U.S. and the world are not inexhaustible and that fact should govern our population and immigration policies.
22. It is extraordinarily selfish of all concerned with population and environmental policies to allow species like the magnificent polar bear become extinct.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Hostile Neighbors
Another consideration in the collapse of societies is the existence of hostile neighbors who covet the wealth, jobs and standard of living of adjacent communities. Relations with neighboring societies may be characterized as friendly by diplomats and other government officials but the reality may be quite different. France and Germany, our post WW II allies, took on a noticeably frigid demeanor toward our country when the U.S. involvement in Iraq interfered with their interests in the area.
Similarly, although our relations with Mexico are often characterized by government officials as "friendly" and although Mexico may be our largest trading partner, this obscures some relevant facts. One of the cardinal sins in diplomacy is to interfere in the internal affairs of another country. When that happens, it creates a basic distrust and a cooling of the friendly atmosphere that might otherwise prevail. When Mexico's leaders publicly try to influence our immigration and trade policies they step over the line. When Mexico refuses to enforce its northern border and encourages illegal border penetrations, those are not the acts of a friendly nation. Mexico's interest and motivation are clear: the multi-billion dollar remittances from its citizens working in the U.S. and the relief it enjoys from the pressures of the impoverished people whom it is able to dump in America's backyard. It, and its apologists, justify this by pointing out the continuing supply of hard working labor it provides. But most see beyond this charade and see the unwanted changes it is producing in our country where whole cities have become entirely Mexican.
A society may be able to fend off its enemies as long as it remains strong. Poland was able to hold its neighbor, Germany, at bay for a certain time frame but its western provinces were eventually infiltrated by the Germans and school instruction in any language other than German was prohibited. After World War I, a plebiscite was held in that area to determine the preference of the people regarding which country they wanted to be a part of. Germany succeeded in stacking the deck through its "push" immigration policies and ended up with all of Silesia except the easternmost half of Upper Silesia which was awarded to Poland. Of course, neither country was happy with this outcome and as a result this became one of the factors that led to WW II.
The U.S. like Poland is being infiltrated by foreign cultures. They and their progeny are responsible for all of the population growth and increased resource depletion experienced in this century and the last half of the preceding one. Will the result be the same as it was for Poland? The chances are quite good that will be the case. Bankrupt California is one indicator of what the future holds in store. Although the change may be peaceful this time, it will nevertheless imperil the culture, language and institutions of America and perhaps even the foundations of Western civilization in its American manifestation.
Is a plebiscite in our future? Will many decide 50 or 100 years from now that they prefer to join their brethren in a Mexican Union or simply separate into the Estados Unidos de Aztlan. Whichever course they choose would not be unprecedented. Kosovo's separation from Serbia is only the most recent example. The real shame about all this is that 600,000 men will have died in vain in the Civil War to preserve the union.
Similarly, although our relations with Mexico are often characterized by government officials as "friendly" and although Mexico may be our largest trading partner, this obscures some relevant facts. One of the cardinal sins in diplomacy is to interfere in the internal affairs of another country. When that happens, it creates a basic distrust and a cooling of the friendly atmosphere that might otherwise prevail. When Mexico's leaders publicly try to influence our immigration and trade policies they step over the line. When Mexico refuses to enforce its northern border and encourages illegal border penetrations, those are not the acts of a friendly nation. Mexico's interest and motivation are clear: the multi-billion dollar remittances from its citizens working in the U.S. and the relief it enjoys from the pressures of the impoverished people whom it is able to dump in America's backyard. It, and its apologists, justify this by pointing out the continuing supply of hard working labor it provides. But most see beyond this charade and see the unwanted changes it is producing in our country where whole cities have become entirely Mexican.
A society may be able to fend off its enemies as long as it remains strong. Poland was able to hold its neighbor, Germany, at bay for a certain time frame but its western provinces were eventually infiltrated by the Germans and school instruction in any language other than German was prohibited. After World War I, a plebiscite was held in that area to determine the preference of the people regarding which country they wanted to be a part of. Germany succeeded in stacking the deck through its "push" immigration policies and ended up with all of Silesia except the easternmost half of Upper Silesia which was awarded to Poland. Of course, neither country was happy with this outcome and as a result this became one of the factors that led to WW II.
The U.S. like Poland is being infiltrated by foreign cultures. They and their progeny are responsible for all of the population growth and increased resource depletion experienced in this century and the last half of the preceding one. Will the result be the same as it was for Poland? The chances are quite good that will be the case. Bankrupt California is one indicator of what the future holds in store. Although the change may be peaceful this time, it will nevertheless imperil the culture, language and institutions of America and perhaps even the foundations of Western civilization in its American manifestation.
Is a plebiscite in our future? Will many decide 50 or 100 years from now that they prefer to join their brethren in a Mexican Union or simply separate into the Estados Unidos de Aztlan. Whichever course they choose would not be unprecedented. Kosovo's separation from Serbia is only the most recent example. The real shame about all this is that 600,000 men will have died in vain in the Civil War to preserve the union.
Collapse
Historically speaking, the collapse of societies as often been the result of environmental problems: deforestation, soil destruction, overhunting, overfishing, introduction of foreign species, human population growth, and the increased per capita impact of people. People's impact increases when they demand more of the products that affect the environment like multiple cars, TVs, air conditioners and even food. Damaging the environment makes us morally culpable. This concern is not some racist pretext advanced by citizens to deny entry to illegal aliens or legal immigrants of a different culture. It is a legitimate concern about the environment.
The natural resources of the U.S. and the world seemed inexhaustibly abundant to our forefathers and indeed they have been sufficient to sustain our society for more than two centuries. But the signs of incipient depletion become more obvious every day. Food prices are skyrocketing because of the demands of other countries for U.S. agricultural products, the tension between biomass for alternative energy purposes and the need for the same arable land to produce food, and, of course, the prices of the petroleum products needed to keep farm machinery operating.
Concern about these matters is not a sign of morally-culpable, blind or conscious selfishness or restrictionist sentiment, as some like to claim. It is wrongheaded and dangerous to invoke such pejorative and ad hominem expressions when the evidence is there for every intelligent person to see. It is disgusting that even some environmental organizations like the Sierra Club have yet to recognize that the biggest threat to the environment is people, too many of them. Unfettered population growth will easily exceed or overshadow any technical efforts to reduce pollution.
It is morally wrong for one people to supplant, dispossess, subjugate or exterminate another people as we, the Spaniards and countless others did to indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere. Is it happening again in the U.S. in the form of immigration's unarmed invasion?
We may be able to survive temporarily, in our self-inflicted resource depletion unless climate change produces a further resource depletion and if that caused by population growth is brought under control through secure borders, internal enforcement to create disincentives to future border violations, a dramatic reduction in the legal immigration quotas, an end to chain immigrations, and some reasonable limits on birthright citizenship.
(Some of these ideas and words are paraphrased from "Collapse" by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Dr. Jared Diamond.)
The natural resources of the U.S. and the world seemed inexhaustibly abundant to our forefathers and indeed they have been sufficient to sustain our society for more than two centuries. But the signs of incipient depletion become more obvious every day. Food prices are skyrocketing because of the demands of other countries for U.S. agricultural products, the tension between biomass for alternative energy purposes and the need for the same arable land to produce food, and, of course, the prices of the petroleum products needed to keep farm machinery operating.
Concern about these matters is not a sign of morally-culpable, blind or conscious selfishness or restrictionist sentiment, as some like to claim. It is wrongheaded and dangerous to invoke such pejorative and ad hominem expressions when the evidence is there for every intelligent person to see. It is disgusting that even some environmental organizations like the Sierra Club have yet to recognize that the biggest threat to the environment is people, too many of them. Unfettered population growth will easily exceed or overshadow any technical efforts to reduce pollution.
It is morally wrong for one people to supplant, dispossess, subjugate or exterminate another people as we, the Spaniards and countless others did to indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere. Is it happening again in the U.S. in the form of immigration's unarmed invasion?
We may be able to survive temporarily, in our self-inflicted resource depletion unless climate change produces a further resource depletion and if that caused by population growth is brought under control through secure borders, internal enforcement to create disincentives to future border violations, a dramatic reduction in the legal immigration quotas, an end to chain immigrations, and some reasonable limits on birthright citizenship.
(Some of these ideas and words are paraphrased from "Collapse" by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Dr. Jared Diamond.)
Penalties for Illegal Entry
Politicians like to point out that the mass legalization of illegal aliens would not be an amnesty because they would impose certain penalties like: payment of back taxes and /or a fine, the acquisition of a knowledge of civics and English, and then a return to the back of the queue for regular immigration status. With the possible exception of the fine, assuming it could be collected, none of the other items can be considered a penalty. They represent simple compliance with the law.
Allowing illegal aliens to stay and work (the object of their illegality) is a sufficient offset to any fine that might be imposed and collected. In fact, the fine could just as well be characterized as a work permit fee since that is what they get in the trade.
Going to the back of the line is meaningless unless the illegals are required to return to their homelands and remain there until their visa or immigration status is approved. A much more meaningful idea would be to insist that since they entered our country illegally they can never become citizens. Most illegals would find this completely acceptable if it was coupled with some sort of work permit that allowed them to stay without fear of deportation. Citizenship should always be reserved for those who enter our country legally.
Allowing illegal aliens to stay and work (the object of their illegality) is a sufficient offset to any fine that might be imposed and collected. In fact, the fine could just as well be characterized as a work permit fee since that is what they get in the trade.
Going to the back of the line is meaningless unless the illegals are required to return to their homelands and remain there until their visa or immigration status is approved. A much more meaningful idea would be to insist that since they entered our country illegally they can never become citizens. Most illegals would find this completely acceptable if it was coupled with some sort of work permit that allowed them to stay without fear of deportation. Citizenship should always be reserved for those who enter our country legally.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
An Analogy
Bird food for thought!
I bought a bird feeder. I hung
it on my back porch and filled
it with seed. What a beauty of
a bird feeder it is, as I filled it
lovingly with seed. Within a
week we had hundreds of birds
taking advantage of the
continuous flow of free and
easily accessible food.
But then the birds started
building nests in the boards
of the patio, above the table,
and next to the barbecue.
Then came the poop. It was
everywhere: on the patio tile,
the chairs, the table ..
everywhere!
Then some of the birds
turned mean. They would
dive bomb me and try to
peck me even though I had
fed them out of my own
pocket.
And others birds were
boisterous and loud. They
sat on the feeder and
squawked and screamed at
all hours of the day and night
and demanded that I fill it
when it got low on food.
After a while, I couldn't even
sit on my own back porch
anymore. So I took down the
bird feeder and in three days
the birds were gone. I cleaned
up their mess and took down
the many nests they had built
all over the patio.
Soon, the back yard was like
it used to be ... quiet, serene
and no one demanding their
rights to a free meal.
Now let's see .
Our government gives out
free food, subsidized housing,
free medical care, and free
education and allows anyone
born here to be an automatic
citizen.
Then the illegals came by the
tens of thousands. Suddenly
our taxes went up to pay for
free services; small apartments
are housing 5 families; you
have to wait 6 hours to be seen
by an emergency room doctor;
your child's 2nd grade class is
behind other schools because
over half the class doesn't speak
English.
Corn Flakes now come in a
bilingual box; I have to
'press one' to hear my bank
talk to me in English, and
people waving flags other
than ' Old Glory ' are
squawking and screaming
in the streets, demanding
more rights and free liberties.
Just my opinion, but maybe
it's time for the government
to take down the bird feeder.
Do you agree,; if not,
continue cleaning up the poop!
I bought a bird feeder. I hung
it on my back porch and filled
it with seed. What a beauty of
a bird feeder it is, as I filled it
lovingly with seed. Within a
week we had hundreds of birds
taking advantage of the
continuous flow of free and
easily accessible food.
But then the birds started
building nests in the boards
of the patio, above the table,
and next to the barbecue.
Then came the poop. It was
everywhere: on the patio tile,
the chairs, the table ..
everywhere!
Then some of the birds
turned mean. They would
dive bomb me and try to
peck me even though I had
fed them out of my own
pocket.
And others birds were
boisterous and loud. They
sat on the feeder and
squawked and screamed at
all hours of the day and night
and demanded that I fill it
when it got low on food.
After a while, I couldn't even
sit on my own back porch
anymore. So I took down the
bird feeder and in three days
the birds were gone. I cleaned
up their mess and took down
the many nests they had built
all over the patio.
Soon, the back yard was like
it used to be ... quiet, serene
and no one demanding their
rights to a free meal.
Now let's see .
Our government gives out
free food, subsidized housing,
free medical care, and free
education and allows anyone
born here to be an automatic
citizen.
Then the illegals came by the
tens of thousands. Suddenly
our taxes went up to pay for
free services; small apartments
are housing 5 families; you
have to wait 6 hours to be seen
by an emergency room doctor;
your child's 2nd grade class is
behind other schools because
over half the class doesn't speak
English.
Corn Flakes now come in a
bilingual box; I have to
'press one' to hear my bank
talk to me in English, and
people waving flags other
than ' Old Glory ' are
squawking and screaming
in the streets, demanding
more rights and free liberties.
Just my opinion, but maybe
it's time for the government
to take down the bird feeder.
Do you agree,; if not,
continue cleaning up the poop!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
The German View of the U.S. Election
Internal Enforcement is Essential to Border Security
People have to face reality, too, when it comes to laying blame—and taking responsibility—for the immigration problem. Although illegal aliens broke the law entering the country or failing to leave when their visas expired, this merely indicates that our borders are not secure enough. So let's just say accountability for the problem can be shared and move on to solutions. Everyone agrees we need to stop the inflow of immigrants with better border control, whether with walls or technology or both, and that we must try to expel all convicted felons.
There is no question that the presence of 12-20 million illegal aliens in this country is a shared responsibility. There are many employers who should have been jailed, many bureaucrats and administrator who should have been fired, and maybe some at the top should have been impeached.
Almost everyone agrees we need to stop the inflow of illegal aliens with better border control, whether with walls or technology or both, and that we must try to expel all convicted felons. Both should be top priorities. To support those priorities the government needs to design a process that moves illegals out of our country and back to their homelands. We don't know the precise details of how private enterprise could be used to accomplish this goal.
What we do know is that those who have entered our country illegally should never be eligible for a pathway to citizenship. It doesn't make any difference whether they are required to pay a $5,000 fine or a $25,000 one. They should never be rewarded by being allowed to become citizens even if they are prepared to wait many years to become citizens.
Every cheap labor and immigration advocate always winds up their arguments by saying we need to secure the borders and deport all the real criminals who hide among the illegal aliens. Both tasks are extremely difficult to accomplish. Despite the best efforts of the Border Patrol in the Tucson, Arizona region some 400,000 illegals manage to cross the border every year, more than a 1,000 a day. And these are just the ones who are apprehended. With that kind of volume and the attraction of a better life in America, what are the chances violations can be stopped solely with better border control. Conventional means are clearly not enough. Anyone who thinks so is living in a dream world.
So how do we stop border violations before another tragedy strikes the U.S.. Obviously this requires a multi-faceted approach and significant changes in procedures and the rules of engagement. Major improvements in border infrastructure and increases in staffing are a given or sine qua non. Procedures have to be changed so that those apprehended can be put to work on border improvements while their cases are being adjudicated. If they are repatriated, they must be admonished that if they return they will be treated as repeat offenders and sentenced to not less than two years at hard labor for the first repeat offense and five years for any subsequent offenses.
In spite of an apparent change in the "catch and release" policy, illegals apprehended near the border are usually given the choice of seeing an immigration judge or simply returning back across the border, only to be back in the U.S. 24 hours later. Clearly that policy is not working. It must be changed so that no one is allowed to simply reverse his border violation without penalty. Some time working on border improvements before they are deported might be a start.
Systematic, regular apprehension, detention and repatriation of a significant percentage of the illegals through internal enforcement is essential to border security. If an illegal thinks that once he escapes the immediate area of the border he is home free, other border security measures will continue to be ineffective. Those who think otherwise are being disingenuous.
Finally the suggestion that we can separate the hardened criminals among the illegals from the larger problem of all of the illegals defies belief. Perhaps we can get the miscreants to sew a scarlet letter C on their clothing so we can easily identify those who would do us harm and deal quickly and decisively with them. These criminals above all the others have no regard for borders and will be back in the U.S. before the ink has dried on their deportation orders. No one has produced a thoughtful solution to the problem of ridding our country of the criminal elements among the illegals. Lip service won't do it. Words won't do it!
There is no question that the presence of 12-20 million illegal aliens in this country is a shared responsibility. There are many employers who should have been jailed, many bureaucrats and administrator who should have been fired, and maybe some at the top should have been impeached.
Almost everyone agrees we need to stop the inflow of illegal aliens with better border control, whether with walls or technology or both, and that we must try to expel all convicted felons. Both should be top priorities. To support those priorities the government needs to design a process that moves illegals out of our country and back to their homelands. We don't know the precise details of how private enterprise could be used to accomplish this goal.
What we do know is that those who have entered our country illegally should never be eligible for a pathway to citizenship. It doesn't make any difference whether they are required to pay a $5,000 fine or a $25,000 one. They should never be rewarded by being allowed to become citizens even if they are prepared to wait many years to become citizens.
Every cheap labor and immigration advocate always winds up their arguments by saying we need to secure the borders and deport all the real criminals who hide among the illegal aliens. Both tasks are extremely difficult to accomplish. Despite the best efforts of the Border Patrol in the Tucson, Arizona region some 400,000 illegals manage to cross the border every year, more than a 1,000 a day. And these are just the ones who are apprehended. With that kind of volume and the attraction of a better life in America, what are the chances violations can be stopped solely with better border control. Conventional means are clearly not enough. Anyone who thinks so is living in a dream world.
So how do we stop border violations before another tragedy strikes the U.S.. Obviously this requires a multi-faceted approach and significant changes in procedures and the rules of engagement. Major improvements in border infrastructure and increases in staffing are a given or sine qua non. Procedures have to be changed so that those apprehended can be put to work on border improvements while their cases are being adjudicated. If they are repatriated, they must be admonished that if they return they will be treated as repeat offenders and sentenced to not less than two years at hard labor for the first repeat offense and five years for any subsequent offenses.
In spite of an apparent change in the "catch and release" policy, illegals apprehended near the border are usually given the choice of seeing an immigration judge or simply returning back across the border, only to be back in the U.S. 24 hours later. Clearly that policy is not working. It must be changed so that no one is allowed to simply reverse his border violation without penalty. Some time working on border improvements before they are deported might be a start.
Systematic, regular apprehension, detention and repatriation of a significant percentage of the illegals through internal enforcement is essential to border security. If an illegal thinks that once he escapes the immediate area of the border he is home free, other border security measures will continue to be ineffective. Those who think otherwise are being disingenuous.
Finally the suggestion that we can separate the hardened criminals among the illegals from the larger problem of all of the illegals defies belief. Perhaps we can get the miscreants to sew a scarlet letter C on their clothing so we can easily identify those who would do us harm and deal quickly and decisively with them. These criminals above all the others have no regard for borders and will be back in the U.S. before the ink has dried on their deportation orders. No one has produced a thoughtful solution to the problem of ridding our country of the criminal elements among the illegals. Lip service won't do it. Words won't do it!
Can Do
Some suggest there is no way this country can send millions of people back where they came from. They say we can't even figure out a way to renew drivers' licenses at the local DMV without making normal citizens feel homicidal. That's clearly hyperbole. The government may have a hard time managing logistics but private enterprise does not. The job gets done of the people responsible get their walking papers.
As mentioned earlier, the Allies did it after WW II in less than a year. We don’t have to be in such a hurry but we must begin. If this job were to be put up for competitive bids by private enterprise with appropriate rules of engagement, the effort would soon be underway and the message would be clear to the illegals that it would be just a matter of time before it would be their turn. Nothing would epitomize more an American can-do attitude than this approach to a serious national problem. It's surprising that a successful business men and women don't see this.
As mentioned earlier, the Allies did it after WW II in less than a year. We don’t have to be in such a hurry but we must begin. If this job were to be put up for competitive bids by private enterprise with appropriate rules of engagement, the effort would soon be underway and the message would be clear to the illegals that it would be just a matter of time before it would be their turn. Nothing would epitomize more an American can-do attitude than this approach to a serious national problem. It's surprising that a successful business men and women don't see this.
Feasibility of Repatriation
Writers have suggested that immigration isn't just a n economic issue. It's a managerial one, and any plan that suggests the U.S. deport illegal workers violates one of management's cardinal rules: You have to face reality. Forget the notion that illegals will suddenly heed "the law of the land" and pack their bags. With the better life America provides, "that ain't happening". Which leaves deportation.
The reason that “…ain’t happening” is because so many misguided and myopic employers and politicians are unwilling to make it happen, not for sound managerial reasons but because of the desire for cheap labor on the one hand and because of political expediency on the other. That is the reality we need to face -- the power of big business and immigration lobbyists to divert our attention from what we need to do. We often hear that it is not feasible to repatriate 12-20 million illegal aliens. That idea is dead wrong. The reality is that a similar-sized repatriation has already been demonstrated in 1945-6 when eight million ethnic Germans were repatriated back to the heartland of Germany from the eastern territories. If we have the will to force our politicians to pay attention, it is feasible to begin to repatriate a significant percentage of the illegal aliens in the U.S..
It is strange that big business seems to be suggesting that even if we were to turn this job over to private enterprise, it could not be done at no cost to the government with all costs and a profit recovered from the illegals, their families, their employers and even their homeland governments. Is this the can do attitude of American private enterprise that built our country?
No one expects all illegals to unilaterally pack their bags and leave merely to come into compliance with the law. But what sort of incentive would they have to stay if there was a systematic and comprehensive apprehension, detention and repatriation program that made it clear that we would use all means at our disposal, beginning with duplicate and mismatch social security numbers, to locate the illegals and begin the process of returning them to their homelands? I think many would get the message and start making plans for returning to their homelands on their own, in spite of the temporary better life America provides. If employers are faced with significant penalties, jobs for illegals would soon dry up and there would be yet another reason for them to think in terms of using whatever assets they may have acquired so far and be on their way home.
Deportation is somewhat of a pejorative term so I prefer to use the term repatriation because it implies a more benign approach in which first time offenders are held harmless except for the costs of returning home. It also better suggests that they really didn't belong here in the first place.
The reason that “…ain’t happening” is because so many misguided and myopic employers and politicians are unwilling to make it happen, not for sound managerial reasons but because of the desire for cheap labor on the one hand and because of political expediency on the other. That is the reality we need to face -- the power of big business and immigration lobbyists to divert our attention from what we need to do. We often hear that it is not feasible to repatriate 12-20 million illegal aliens. That idea is dead wrong. The reality is that a similar-sized repatriation has already been demonstrated in 1945-6 when eight million ethnic Germans were repatriated back to the heartland of Germany from the eastern territories. If we have the will to force our politicians to pay attention, it is feasible to begin to repatriate a significant percentage of the illegal aliens in the U.S..
It is strange that big business seems to be suggesting that even if we were to turn this job over to private enterprise, it could not be done at no cost to the government with all costs and a profit recovered from the illegals, their families, their employers and even their homeland governments. Is this the can do attitude of American private enterprise that built our country?
No one expects all illegals to unilaterally pack their bags and leave merely to come into compliance with the law. But what sort of incentive would they have to stay if there was a systematic and comprehensive apprehension, detention and repatriation program that made it clear that we would use all means at our disposal, beginning with duplicate and mismatch social security numbers, to locate the illegals and begin the process of returning them to their homelands? I think many would get the message and start making plans for returning to their homelands on their own, in spite of the temporary better life America provides. If employers are faced with significant penalties, jobs for illegals would soon dry up and there would be yet another reason for them to think in terms of using whatever assets they may have acquired so far and be on their way home.
Deportation is somewhat of a pejorative term so I prefer to use the term repatriation because it implies a more benign approach in which first time offenders are held harmless except for the costs of returning home. It also better suggests that they really didn't belong here in the first place.
High Tech Foreigners
Some say “…current immigration policy kicks out too many foreigners, in the U.S. on student visas, after they finish their educations. The irony is that most of them hunger to put their science and technology backgrounds to work either launching companies in America or working at one of the country's high-tech companies. The implication here is that we should allow any foreigner who has technical skills to stay in this country regardless of the domestic supply of such talent. The least we should do is make sure talented citizens not only have a chance to earn advanced degrees but to expect that they will be given a hiring preference over foreign degree holders who wish to remain here beyond their visa expiration dates.
Changing People's Minds About Illegals
Government estimates say there are around 12-20 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. Perhaps only 6-10 million of them hold jobs. It has been suggested that losing these workers would erode the viability of the countless industries that rely on them to fill the least attractive of jobs. It may well be that that there are jobs that do not attract Americans in sufficient numbers at the wages industries are willing to pay. However, according to elementary economics, a labor shortage would drive up wages for those jobs until they are filled by willing workers. The problem is that industries are not paying the full cost of foreign workers. They offload much of the cost on the unsuspecting taxpayer. How attractive would these foreign workers be if their employers were required to provide full family health care insurance coverage for them? I guarantee you the employers would see things in a different light. Likewise, if a living wage were to be determined by local unions in concert with the Department of Labor based on historical trends beginning back in the 1950s, as adjusted for inflation, and if employers were required to pay this wage to both foreign and domestic workers, they would again see the value of illegal aliens and immigrants in general in a different light.
Character and Personality
Some people think we are making the issue of illegal aliens insanely complicated and political. But we are right do so because the long term future of America and even that of Western civilization is at stake. H.L. Mencken once made the observation: “A home is not a mere transient shelter: its essence lies in the personalities of the people who live in it.” Much the same could be said for one’s country. Its essence lies in the character of its people. We can then ask what is the nature of those who are entering this country illegally? We can judge their personality and character based on their collective failure to correct the problems in their own countries so they could find jobs and support their families. They are failures and they are transplanting their failures to the U.S., increasing the poverty level and draining the Medicaid and social services budgers.
Work may well be the primary motivation of illegal aliens but the long term consequences of their presence are never discussed. One need only visit a few barrios in Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, and South Texas to learn what we are in for if we allow corporate greed and the desire for cheap labor to engulf our nation and dictate our immigration policies. The realistic terms: Mexico Norte, Mexifornia, Mexas, Mexazona and even Mexachusetts are often used derisively but not without cause. The changes occurring in those states and others are the reasons why people want secure borders.
Mencken also observed that: "There is always a well-known solution to every human problem--neat, plausible, and wrong." It is not that people are making this issue insanely complicated, it is that others are oversimplifying and suggesting all we need to do is grant a blanket amnesty to illegal aliens, implicitly creating an incentive for another flood of illegals. Amnesty is tantamount to throwing open the borders and letting in whoever is willing to work the cheapest.
Work may well be the primary motivation of illegal aliens but the long term consequences of their presence are never discussed. One need only visit a few barrios in Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, and South Texas to learn what we are in for if we allow corporate greed and the desire for cheap labor to engulf our nation and dictate our immigration policies. The realistic terms: Mexico Norte, Mexifornia, Mexas, Mexazona and even Mexachusetts are often used derisively but not without cause. The changes occurring in those states and others are the reasons why people want secure borders.
Mencken also observed that: "There is always a well-known solution to every human problem--neat, plausible, and wrong." It is not that people are making this issue insanely complicated, it is that others are oversimplifying and suggesting all we need to do is grant a blanket amnesty to illegal aliens, implicitly creating an incentive for another flood of illegals. Amnesty is tantamount to throwing open the borders and letting in whoever is willing to work the cheapest.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Simpistic One-Liners
1. The environment has to be balanced against the economy.
2. Technology will solve our problems.
3. There really isn't a world food problem; there is already enough food; we only need to solve the transportation problem to be able to distribute food to the places that need it.
4. The world's food problem is already being solved by the green revolution with its new high-yield varieties of rice and other crops, or else it will be solved by genetically modified crops or bovine growth hormone.
5. If we exhaust one resource, we can always switch to some other resource meeting the same need.
6. As measured by common sense indicators such as human lifespan, health, and wealth (in economists' terms, per-capita gross national product), conditions have been getting better for many decades.
7. Just look around you: the grass is still green, there is plenty of food in the supermarkets, clean water still flows from the taps, and there is absolutely no sign of imminent collapse.
8. Look at how many times in the past the gloom-and-doom predictions of fear mongering environmentalists and Malthusians have proved to be wrong. Why should we believe them this time?
9. The world can accommodate human population growth indefinitely.
10. The more people, the better, because more people mean more inventions and ultimately more wealth.
11. Environmental concerns are a luxury affordable just by affluent First World yuppies who have no business telling desperate Third World citizens and illegal aliens what they should be doing.
12. If environmental problems become desperate, it will some time far off in the future after I die, and I can't take them seriously.
13. There is a big difference between modern societies and those that collapsed or failed in the past, so we can't straightforwardly apply the lessons of history.
14. What can I, as an individual, do when the world is really being shaped by unstoppable powerful juggernauts of governments and businesses.
"Collapse" by Pulitzer Prize Winner Dr. Jared Diamond
2. Technology will solve our problems.
3. There really isn't a world food problem; there is already enough food; we only need to solve the transportation problem to be able to distribute food to the places that need it.
4. The world's food problem is already being solved by the green revolution with its new high-yield varieties of rice and other crops, or else it will be solved by genetically modified crops or bovine growth hormone.
5. If we exhaust one resource, we can always switch to some other resource meeting the same need.
6. As measured by common sense indicators such as human lifespan, health, and wealth (in economists' terms, per-capita gross national product), conditions have been getting better for many decades.
7. Just look around you: the grass is still green, there is plenty of food in the supermarkets, clean water still flows from the taps, and there is absolutely no sign of imminent collapse.
8. Look at how many times in the past the gloom-and-doom predictions of fear mongering environmentalists and Malthusians have proved to be wrong. Why should we believe them this time?
9. The world can accommodate human population growth indefinitely.
10. The more people, the better, because more people mean more inventions and ultimately more wealth.
11. Environmental concerns are a luxury affordable just by affluent First World yuppies who have no business telling desperate Third World citizens and illegal aliens what they should be doing.
12. If environmental problems become desperate, it will some time far off in the future after I die, and I can't take them seriously.
13. There is a big difference between modern societies and those that collapsed or failed in the past, so we can't straightforwardly apply the lessons of history.
14. What can I, as an individual, do when the world is really being shaped by unstoppable powerful juggernauts of governments and businesses.
"Collapse" by Pulitzer Prize Winner Dr. Jared Diamond
Monday, February 18, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
What if 20 Million Illegal Aliens Vacated America?
Tina Griego, journalist for the Denver Rocky Mountain News wrote a column titled, "Mexican Visitor's Lament" -- 10/25/07.
She interviewed Mexican journalist Evangelina Hernandez while visiting Denver last week. Hernandez said, "They (illegal aliens) pay rent, buy groceries, buy clothes...What Happens to your country's economy if 20 million people go away?" That's a good question; it deserves an answer.
Over 80 percent of Americans demand secured borders and illegal migration stopped.
But what would happen if all 20 million or more vacated America? The answers may surprise you.
In California, if 3.5 million illegal aliens moved back to Mexico, it would leave an extra $10.2 billion to spend on overloaded school systems, bankrupt hospitals and overrun prisons. It would leave highways cleaner, safer and less congested. Everyone could understand one another as English became the dominant language again.
In Colorado, 500,000 illegal migrants, plus their 300,000 kids and grand-kids - would move back 'home', mostly to Mexico. That would save Coloradans an estimated $2 billion (other experts say $7 billion) annually in taxes that pay for schooling, medical, social-services and incarceration costs. It means 12,000 gang members would vanish out of Denver alone.
Colorado would save more than $20 million in prison costs, and the terror that those 7,300 alien criminals set upon local citizens. Denver Officer Don Young and hundreds of Colorado victims would not have suffered death, accidents, rapes and other crimes by illegals.
Denver Public Schools would not suffer a 67 percent drop-out/flunk-out rate because of thousands of illegal alien students speaking 41 different languages. At least 200,000 vehicles would vanish from our gridlocked cities in Colorado.
Denver's four percent unemployment rate would vanish as our working poor would gain jobs at a living wage.
In Florida, 1.5 million illegals would return the Sunshine State back to America, the rule of law, and English.
In Chicago, Illinois, 2.1 million illegals would free up hospitals, schools, prisons and highways for a safer, cleaner and more crime-free experience.
If 20 million illegal aliens returned 'home', the U.S. economy would return to the rule of law. Employers would hire legal American citizens at a living wage. Everyone would pay their fair share of taxes because they wouldn't be working off the books. That would result in an additional $401 billion in IRS income taxes collected annually, and an equal amount for local, state and city coffers.
No more push '1' for Spanish or '2' for English. No more confusion in American schools that now must contend with over 100 languages that degrade the educational system for American kids. Our overcrowded schools would lose more than two million illegal alien kids at a cost of billions in ESL and free breakfasts and lunches.
We would lose 500,000 illegal criminal alien inmates at a cost of more than $1.6 billion annually. That includes 15,000 MS-13 gang members who distribute $130 billion in drugs annually would vacate our country.
In cities like L.A., 20,000 members of the '18th Street Gang' would vanish from our nation. No more Mexican forgery gangs for ID theft from Americans! No more foreign rapists and child molesters!
Losing more than 20 million people would clear up our crowded highways and gridlock. Cleaner air and less drinking and driving American deaths by illegal aliens!
America's economy is drained. Taxpayers are harmed. Employers get rich. Over $80 billion annually wouldn't return to the aliens' home countries by cash transfers. Illegal migrants earned half that money untaxed, which further drains America's economy - which currently suffers an $8.7 trillion debt.
At least 400,000 anchor babies would not be born in our country, costing us $109 billion per year per cycle. At least 86 hospitals in California, Georgia and Florida would still be operating instead of being bankrupt out of existence because illegals pay nothing via the EMTOLA Act.
Americans wouldn't suffer thousands of TB and hepatitis cases rampant in our country -- brought in by illegals unscreened at our borders.
Our cities would see 20 million less people driving, polluting and grid locking our cities. It would also put the 'progressives' on the horns of a dilemma; illegal aliens and their families cause 11 percent of our greenhouse gases.
Over one million of Mexico's poorest citizens now live inside and along our border from Brownsville, Texas to San Diego, California in what the New York Times called, "colonias" or new neighborhoods. Trouble is, those living areas resemble Bombay and Calcutta with grinding poverty, filth, diseases, drugs, crimes, no sanitation and worse. They live without sewage, clean water, streets, electricity, roads or any kind of sanitation. The New York Times reported them to be America's new "Third World" inside our own country. Within 20 years, at their current growth rate, they expect 20 million residents of those colonias. (One who has seen them personally in Texas and Arizona said, It's sickening beyond anything you can imagine.") By enforcing our laws, we could repatriate them back to Mexico.
We should invite 20 million aliens to go home, fix their own countries and/or make a better life. We already invite a million people into our country legally -- more than all other countries combined annually. We cannot and must not allow anarchy at our borders, more anarchy within our borders and growing lawlessness at every level in our nation. It's time to stand up for our country, our culture, our civilization and our way of life.
Interesting Statistics
Here are 14 reasons illegal aliens should vacate America, and I hope they are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them:
1. $11 billion to $22 billion dollars are spent each year on welfare to illegal aliens. http://tinyurl.com/zob77
2. $2.2 billion dollars are spent each year on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
3. $2.5 billion dollars are spent each year on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
4. $12 billion dollars are spent each year on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
5. $17 billion dollars are spent each year for education for the American-born
children of illegals.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
6. $3 Million Dollars PER DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
7. 30% percent of all federal prison inmates are illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
8. $90 billion dollars are spent each year on illegal aliens for welfare & social services by the American taxpayers. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html
9. $200 billion dollars per year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html
11. During the year 2005, there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our southern border with as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from terrorist countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroine, and marijuana crossed into the U.S. from the southern border. http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
12. The National Policy Institute estimates that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion, or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.
http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/publications.php?b=deportation
13. In 2006, illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin.
http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm
14. The dark side of illegal immigration: Nearly one million sex crimes are committed by illegal immigrants in the United States.
http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml
The total cost is a whopping $338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR!
She interviewed Mexican journalist Evangelina Hernandez while visiting Denver last week. Hernandez said, "They (illegal aliens) pay rent, buy groceries, buy clothes...What Happens to your country's economy if 20 million people go away?" That's a good question; it deserves an answer.
Over 80 percent of Americans demand secured borders and illegal migration stopped.
But what would happen if all 20 million or more vacated America? The answers may surprise you.
In California, if 3.5 million illegal aliens moved back to Mexico, it would leave an extra $10.2 billion to spend on overloaded school systems, bankrupt hospitals and overrun prisons. It would leave highways cleaner, safer and less congested. Everyone could understand one another as English became the dominant language again.
In Colorado, 500,000 illegal migrants, plus their 300,000 kids and grand-kids - would move back 'home', mostly to Mexico. That would save Coloradans an estimated $2 billion (other experts say $7 billion) annually in taxes that pay for schooling, medical, social-services and incarceration costs. It means 12,000 gang members would vanish out of Denver alone.
Colorado would save more than $20 million in prison costs, and the terror that those 7,300 alien criminals set upon local citizens. Denver Officer Don Young and hundreds of Colorado victims would not have suffered death, accidents, rapes and other crimes by illegals.
Denver Public Schools would not suffer a 67 percent drop-out/flunk-out rate because of thousands of illegal alien students speaking 41 different languages. At least 200,000 vehicles would vanish from our gridlocked cities in Colorado.
Denver's four percent unemployment rate would vanish as our working poor would gain jobs at a living wage.
In Florida, 1.5 million illegals would return the Sunshine State back to America, the rule of law, and English.
In Chicago, Illinois, 2.1 million illegals would free up hospitals, schools, prisons and highways for a safer, cleaner and more crime-free experience.
If 20 million illegal aliens returned 'home', the U.S. economy would return to the rule of law. Employers would hire legal American citizens at a living wage. Everyone would pay their fair share of taxes because they wouldn't be working off the books. That would result in an additional $401 billion in IRS income taxes collected annually, and an equal amount for local, state and city coffers.
No more push '1' for Spanish or '2' for English. No more confusion in American schools that now must contend with over 100 languages that degrade the educational system for American kids. Our overcrowded schools would lose more than two million illegal alien kids at a cost of billions in ESL and free breakfasts and lunches.
We would lose 500,000 illegal criminal alien inmates at a cost of more than $1.6 billion annually. That includes 15,000 MS-13 gang members who distribute $130 billion in drugs annually would vacate our country.
In cities like L.A., 20,000 members of the '18th Street Gang' would vanish from our nation. No more Mexican forgery gangs for ID theft from Americans! No more foreign rapists and child molesters!
Losing more than 20 million people would clear up our crowded highways and gridlock. Cleaner air and less drinking and driving American deaths by illegal aliens!
America's economy is drained. Taxpayers are harmed. Employers get rich. Over $80 billion annually wouldn't return to the aliens' home countries by cash transfers. Illegal migrants earned half that money untaxed, which further drains America's economy - which currently suffers an $8.7 trillion debt.
At least 400,000 anchor babies would not be born in our country, costing us $109 billion per year per cycle. At least 86 hospitals in California, Georgia and Florida would still be operating instead of being bankrupt out of existence because illegals pay nothing via the EMTOLA Act.
Americans wouldn't suffer thousands of TB and hepatitis cases rampant in our country -- brought in by illegals unscreened at our borders.
Our cities would see 20 million less people driving, polluting and grid locking our cities. It would also put the 'progressives' on the horns of a dilemma; illegal aliens and their families cause 11 percent of our greenhouse gases.
Over one million of Mexico's poorest citizens now live inside and along our border from Brownsville, Texas to San Diego, California in what the New York Times called, "colonias" or new neighborhoods. Trouble is, those living areas resemble Bombay and Calcutta with grinding poverty, filth, diseases, drugs, crimes, no sanitation and worse. They live without sewage, clean water, streets, electricity, roads or any kind of sanitation. The New York Times reported them to be America's new "Third World" inside our own country. Within 20 years, at their current growth rate, they expect 20 million residents of those colonias. (One who has seen them personally in Texas and Arizona said, It's sickening beyond anything you can imagine.") By enforcing our laws, we could repatriate them back to Mexico.
We should invite 20 million aliens to go home, fix their own countries and/or make a better life. We already invite a million people into our country legally -- more than all other countries combined annually. We cannot and must not allow anarchy at our borders, more anarchy within our borders and growing lawlessness at every level in our nation. It's time to stand up for our country, our culture, our civilization and our way of life.
Interesting Statistics
Here are 14 reasons illegal aliens should vacate America, and I hope they are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them:
1. $11 billion to $22 billion dollars are spent each year on welfare to illegal aliens. http://tinyurl.com/zob77
2. $2.2 billion dollars are spent each year on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
3. $2.5 billion dollars are spent each year on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
4. $12 billion dollars are spent each year on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
5. $17 billion dollars are spent each year for education for the American-born
children of illegals.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
6. $3 Million Dollars PER DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
7. 30% percent of all federal prison inmates are illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
8. $90 billion dollars are spent each year on illegal aliens for welfare & social services by the American taxpayers. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html
9. $200 billion dollars per year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html
11. During the year 2005, there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our southern border with as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from terrorist countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroine, and marijuana crossed into the U.S. from the southern border. http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
12. The National Policy Institute estimates that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion, or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.
http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/publications.php?b=deportation
13. In 2006, illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin.
http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm
14. The dark side of illegal immigration: Nearly one million sex crimes are committed by illegal immigrants in the United States.
http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml
The total cost is a whopping $338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR!
Low Skill Immigrants and Retirees Represent a Large Cost to Government Coffers
Lessons from the U.S. suggest that the fiscal cost or gain on the average immigrant is small, while the picture is more dramatic if conditions of age and education [are taken into account] - young, high-skilled immigrants are expected to make large net contributions to government coffers, while low-skilled immigrants and retirees represent large cost (Lee and Miller, 1997, and Storesletten, 2000). The U.S. differs substantially from other Western countries, however. The U.S. has a small public sector (22% of GDP), low taxes, low unemployment, and a relatively limited social insurance system. Moreover non-refugee immigrants have quite restricted access to social insurance during the first years after arrival. In contrast, European welfare states feature large public sectors (on average 41%of GDP), high taxes, high unemployment, and generous social insurance.
Cost of Unskilled Immigrants
Cost of Unskilled Immigrants
Some Young Muslims Believe in Suicide Bombings
US Muslims are on average high skill but15% of young Muslim men and women in the US believe that suicide bombings against civilians are often justified. This is almost exactly the same figure as Europe (France 19%, Germany 13%). Now if you believed that 15% of the immigrants you admitted had this view, how many of them would you admit?
Bombings
Bombings
Friday, February 15, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Boy Meets Coyote on the Slopes
Colorado boy meets coyote on the slopes while snowboarding. The coyote chewed on his snowboard a little and then tried his parka. Mother in the meantime is taking a picture but finally got others to help scare the animal away.
Friday, February 8, 2008
H.CON. RES. 11 introduced by Mr. Serrano
The above resolution is entitled the "English Plus Resolution. Provision (5) requires the recognition of "... the importance of multilingualism to vital American interests and individual rights" and seeks to encourage opposition to 'English-Only' measures and, and other restrictionist language measures.
This provision is just the opposite of what most people consider to be vital to American interests -- a common unifying language for a diverse culture. Mr. Serrano is a traitor and has only one thing in mind -- official bilingualism leading to Mexico Norte. I guess "restrictionist" has become the new buzz word of some Hispanics.
This provision is just the opposite of what most people consider to be vital to American interests -- a common unifying language for a diverse culture. Mr. Serrano is a traitor and has only one thing in mind -- official bilingualism leading to Mexico Norte. I guess "restrictionist" has become the new buzz word of some Hispanics.
Friday, February 1, 2008
MORMONS IN CONGRESS
There are currently 16 Mormons serving in Congress. Four are Democrats: Sen. Harry Reid from Nevada, Rep. Jim Matheson of Utah, Rep. Tom Udall of New Mexico, and Eni Faleomavaega, a nonvoting delegate from American Samoa. The remaining dozen are Republicans: Sens. Hatch, Bennett, Mike Crapo of Idaho and Gordon Smith of Oregon; Reps. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Chris Cannon and Jim Hansen of Utah, John Doolittle, Wally Herger and Buck McKeon of California, Ernest Istook of Oklahoma and Mike Simpson of Idaho.
This being the case one has to wonder why they weren't mentioned when Mitt Romney was being questioned about his faith or more importantly why the subject came up at all. Is this a sub rosa McCain strategy? Another of his dirty tricks?
This being the case one has to wonder why they weren't mentioned when Mitt Romney was being questioned about his faith or more importantly why the subject came up at all. Is this a sub rosa McCain strategy? Another of his dirty tricks?
THE GARBAGE TRUCK RULE
How often do you let other people's nonsense change your mood? Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss, or an insensitive employee ruin your day? Unless you're the Terminator, for an instant you're probably set back on your heels. However, the mark of a successful person is how quickly she/he can get back her/his focus on what's important.
Five years ago I learned this lesson. I learned it in the back of a taxicab in Indianapolis. Here's what happened: I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Indianapolis Airport. We were driving in the right lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed onhis brakes, skidded, and missed the other car's back end by just inches!
The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean he was friendly.
So, I said, "Why did you do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."
Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. And if you let them, they'll dump it on you. When someone wants to dump on you, don't take it personally. You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. You’ll
be happy you did.
So this was it: The "Law of the Garbage Truck." I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people: at work, at home, on the streets? It was that day I said, "I'm not going to do it anymore."
I began to see garbage trucks. Like in the movie "The Sixth Sense," the little boy said, "I see Dead People." Well, now "I see Garbage Trucks." I see the load they're carrying. I see them coming to drop it off. And like my Taxi Driver, I don't make it a personal thing; I just smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.
Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting. Good parents know that they have to welcome their children home from school with hugs and kisses. Leaders and parents know that they have to be fully present, and at their best for the people they care about.
The bottom line is that successful people do not let Garbage Trucks take over their day. What about you? What would happen in your life, starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by?
You'll be happier. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so... Love the people who treat you right. Believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, TAKE IT! If it changes your life, LET IT! Nobody said it would be easy...They
just promised it would be worth it!
Five years ago I learned this lesson. I learned it in the back of a taxicab in Indianapolis. Here's what happened: I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Indianapolis Airport. We were driving in the right lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed onhis brakes, skidded, and missed the other car's back end by just inches!
The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean he was friendly.
So, I said, "Why did you do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."
Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. And if you let them, they'll dump it on you. When someone wants to dump on you, don't take it personally. You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. You’ll
be happy you did.
So this was it: The "Law of the Garbage Truck." I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people: at work, at home, on the streets? It was that day I said, "I'm not going to do it anymore."
I began to see garbage trucks. Like in the movie "The Sixth Sense," the little boy said, "I see Dead People." Well, now "I see Garbage Trucks." I see the load they're carrying. I see them coming to drop it off. And like my Taxi Driver, I don't make it a personal thing; I just smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.
Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting. Good parents know that they have to welcome their children home from school with hugs and kisses. Leaders and parents know that they have to be fully present, and at their best for the people they care about.
The bottom line is that successful people do not let Garbage Trucks take over their day. What about you? What would happen in your life, starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by?
You'll be happier. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so... Love the people who treat you right. Believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, TAKE IT! If it changes your life, LET IT! Nobody said it would be easy...They
just promised it would be worth it!
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