Political casserole: I have not carried on about future middle class economic woes because it is what people want to hear- (which is the conservative contention the second anyone mentions anything bad about the economy). No sense in not telling the crew the ship is sinking. I don't think the American ship is sinking, at least not yet. However, I will not simply tell people what they want to hear. The last time I actually did so was when I was 12 and told my mom that I liked this casserole that I didn’t like in order to spare her feelings. I then think she made that same hot dish once each month for the next two. The fact that the casserole offended senses I didn’t even know I had was a clue that telling even innocent lies is a counter-productive approach to inter-personal relations. She was not the party responsible, as she did not over or under cook the meal. I am not a fan of onions and peas, so chances are pretty good I won’t like a concoction that attempts to mask the consistency, appearance, or flavor of either, even if chocolate, peanut butter and caramel are the only other ingredients. Politics is like casserole- many throw in what they believe are good ingredients for a recipe we concoct in our head and expect others to swallow it. If you are a die-hard republican or a die-hard democrat and serve me up ALL of what you've been eating, I will spit it back in your face. Some casseroles, like plenty of issues, are spicy, some are beefy, some are energizing which feature an ingredient like elbow macaroni and some are downright onionous, in that they are many-layered, like a typical casserole, and plenty nasty if you don’t happen to like onions/the compromise your party relents to after changing the recipe. Am I still talking about onions?
That’s offensive: People loathe being offended and seek an apology when they have been; some seek to be offended. In order for things to change politically, in order for any issue to be resolved, I may be wholly necessary that the first thing to do is to offend the hell out of people who blindly worship at the altar of either of the political parties, which isn’t a violation of the categorical imperative or J.S. Mill’s contention about individual freedom if you restrict your efforts to shaming the ignorant into submission. Massaging their ego and giving them an aural participation trophy, granting them the right to their own opinion, which debilitates progress on the issues, has been tried- in youth sports in the last two decades, and where politics is generally concerned. Then, who should rule? Get back to me on that after I finish apologizing to people who have rarely held jobs, watch the Library Access channel, have rarely driven a vehicle outside of their own county and know no more about the real world than that Kendra chick on “Girls Next Door.” Self- I am sorry.
Anarchy- It has begun!: All over the world there is an inter-species war at hand and the animals are losing. I have been sneaking in comments here and there, disavowing my aggression towards certain animals in each of my columns, often mocking animals and assigning many a medical malady, hopefully for comic effect. Seems I have started a war between people and animals that could have disastrous results. Joseph Pullitzer and William Randolph Hearst would be so proud. Serves the animals right for stepping out of line, or deigning to finish second at the Kentucky Derby, for the runner-up in that race- Eight Belles was euthanized on the track for being the first loser. Kidding, the horse was actually put down for agreeing with the Budweiser frogs about something I am not at liberty to discuss, given the treaty we people signed with the cold-blooded reptile contingent of the Animal party. Word is the horse was put down for breaking its own leg (riiiight!) and boy were the insurrectionists against the human cause known as PETA upset about that. PETA is choosing to focus on the whippings horses receive in races and ought to put their full powers into protesting the animal v. human war crime of stud-farmers who take hundreds of thousands for inbreeding thoroughbreds for speed, which sacrifices strength. Consider these animal v. human encounters- shark attacks, man throwing cat against wall, coyotes clamping onto an infant’s skull and attempting to drag it into the woods so that we fight back; also consider these stories:
Ar, Ar, Ar: Sea lions were shot dead because our allies, apparently the salmon, were being eaten in mass quantities- Associated Press, May 5, 2008- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24457199/ “Sea Lions Found Shot Dead on Columbia River.”
Big ones: Take a look at this collection of pictures courtesy of Newsweek- http://www.newsweek.com/id/42379>1=43002. They show a number of animals- a cat, fish, rabbit, roach, squid and hog, etc. beefing up for what must be a planned animal offensive against us. Luckily, they were all detained for questioning and while we had them in our sights, we let them go . . . just like with Osama Bin Laden. Hopefully these animals will never get as organized as the smiley-faced killer. My neighbor tried to tell me that there was some newly formed animal sumo-wrestling league. I almost bought it until he told me there was an aquatic division. Then I did buy it after a heavyweight, a seal, tried to “mess” with a penguin . . .
“Seal Tries Sex with Penguin: First Known Example of Sex Attempt Between Mammal, Other Vertebrate.” (See- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24585481/ a Live Science article written by none other than Charles Q. Choi). Choi writes: “The hapless bird of unknown sex struggled, rapidly flapping its flippers and attempting to stand and flee, without luck.” Now I know how I would feel if Queen Latifah tried to have sex with me. The story indicates that the perpetrator- er, seal, is an elephant seal. Well, Choi writes that “this seems to be the first known example of a sexual escapade between a mammal and another kind of vertebrate” (excepting all of the farmers who have taken a run at sheep). If that is to be believed then how was such a creature as an elephant seal derived? Did it merely hyphenate its name like some hybrid-driving, granola-eating elementary school teacher, who had grown over-fond of her maiden name? Perhaps seals have, in the past, attempted to sexually abuse elephants, to mixed results in the procreation area. When asked for a comment, the seal who apparently had grown tired of the unrequited love of a dolphin, said that the penguin had led him on. The penguin, which refused an on camera interview, simply held up its flippers in a way that led observers to believe he was critiquing the size of the seal’s penis. Either that, or the last march of that penguin, after it was violated, will lead it first to the flightless bird emergency room, necessitating the use of a rape kit- (I sure hope the penguin is not an illegal penguin- see parts 22-27). Or maybe the penguin, who just wanted to put the event behind him, was referring to the size of the krill it had most recently consumed. This story gives a new meaning to the phrase- “flipping the bird.” The rationale for the encounter from a scientific perspective is that the seal originally intended to eat the penguin, but seeing as it was the end of mating season, perhaps the sexually frustrated seal “channeled into its sex drive.” Thankfully, penguins were not made available to me during my pre-connubial lean times. A penguin’s waddle is very, very sexy. How I could go on . . .
I love a good stop sign: The mayor of Oak Lawn, Illinois, who had a hand in allowing cute phrases to follow the word “STOP” on the signs of his fair city, apparently has the IQ of a bovine, which is actually an insult to bovine everywhere. We humans know that cows are the Switzerland of the geo-political animal war; everyone loves a good bovine pacifist- especially tucked carefully between a whole wheat bun, doused with ketchup and served with fries. At any rate, Oak Lawn’s fine mayor decided that removing the distracting stop sign addenda, such as- STOP- “and smell the roses” was a good idea because the “signs violated the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices” . . . and that “the city could have lost federally funded projects.” The acronym for Illinois’ Department of Transportation- IDOT . . . the well-placed addition of the third vowel in that acronym would punctuate the story well. The Associated Press article- “No More ‘Love’ in Stop Signs, State Says,” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24425735/ tells the whole story. Ok, that story wasn’t so much about animals per say, but rumor has it that there was a deer crossing sign not a quarter mile from at least one of the enhanced stop signs. Usually the most guilty are those that have the most to gain.
Joe Camel: Finally, “Man Arrested for Allegedly Punching Camel.” Naturally, the man did so, having been dared by a friend at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. No word yet on whether it was a double dare or if this was some form of animal assault roulette where the next step would have been the darer upping the ante by agreeing to flick a duck on the beak. Perhaps it was a bacterian camel . . . a gut bacterian camel.* Charles Q. Choi has been assigned to follow the story- (see part 27). Follow the complete story- just Google- camels and pugilism. Maybe the guy just didn’t like the fact that a cigarette company’s mascot could put so many lives in danger simply by being cool. These animals are subtle, sneaky creatures. See- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24474349/.
Ok, on with the show . . .
Introduction to issues 101: Political issues are the food of the attentive masses. Never has so much time been wasted in discussion as when politics is the subject, often enough by people who do not know what the hell they are talking about. Hell, I've spent 28 posts proving I don't know anything about politics. Issues such as campaign finance reform, immigration, taxation, free trade, military spending, education and social aid programs (social security, Welfare, Medicare), etc. are what feed my anxiety about the potential future middle class economic woes. All is well in our country according to the republicans, excepting that the democrats keep stealing all their money; all is lost in our country according to the democrats, excepting that the republicans make too much money. Neither statement is true. But I think it is important for each party to vehemently continue to be frustrated with the other so that none of the issues I will list next time will ever be resolved, for them to continue to offer platitudes, to lie to the voters, and to intellectualize the issues without resolving any of them. This was more comically expressed in Jon Stewart’s book- “America”:
“The Republican Party is the party of nostalgia. It seeks to return America to a simpler, more innocent and moral past that never actually existed. The Democrats are utopians. They seek to create an America so fair and non-judgmental that life becomes an unbearable series of apologies. Together, the two parties function like giant down comforters, allowing the candidates to disappear into the enveloping softness, protecting them from exposure to the harsh weather of independent thought.” (pg. 107)
The “harsh weather of [I]ndependent thought.” Quite right.
Through the Mill: Another John put essentially the same sentiment more succinctly, though without mentioning our two major political parties- “In all intellectual debates, both sides tend to be correct in what they affirm, and wrong in what they deny.” This man’s name was John Stuart Mill. Hm. While I agree, and do not believe that I argue from a position of absolute knowledge, I would like to Photoshop a volume knob and on/off switch on people who blindly follow the mandate of either of the two major political parties, after playing back to them their own opinions of course. I wouldn’t want to censor anyone. Thing is, those critical of people like me, who are in earnest in their demand for political party alternatives probably think that MapQuest is the only place to go for directions.
Milton Friedman: Plenty of citizens, politicians and economic specialists have been aligned more closely with one political party, only to switch allegiances at one point in their lives, once they have expanded upon their knowledge base and can better stand new, unrecognizable BS of the other party rather than the old familiar BS toward which they were initially drawn. A serial-dating crab takes the same approach- divesting itself of the old shell for the new one, sometimes hoping to avoid romantic entanglements with a lobster that became overly attached after just one fling; a crab’s instinctive nature is distinguished from a human’s reactionary political stances in that the crab has actually grown, which necessitated the exchange of shells. Politics, after all, is a shell game. The late Milton Friedman was an individual who changed sides, having stood with F.D.R. during the New Deal era, but who later became more conservative. He falls under the economic specialist category I mention above. Now, I don’t know enough about economics to dismiss even half of what he wrote and would defer to him on many economic matters. The first thing I would have corrected him on is the title of his most well-known book- “Capitalism and Freedom.” If his intention was to demonstrate in what ways capitalism might lead to freedom, in that our government would become more decentralized and with that, the people would enjoy more liberty- I would beg to differ. By “freedom,” having read the book- Friedman means democracy- that those who enjoy the reality of capitalism will in turn find that America’s brand of democracy could work pretty well- if every single entitlement program were wiped from the minds of liberals and that there would be virtually no regulation of free-trade. My contention is that we are not now, nor have we ever really lived under a democratic government- and I wrote as much in part 22. I wrote that capitalism is working fairly well; capitalism wouldn’t be working so well for the rich if democracy weren’t working so poorly for the indigent. Our brand of democracy clearly does not deserve the name- unless we change the definition. “Democracy” is a Greek word- they probably wouldn’t mind. I provided definitions for the words oligarchy and democracy and left it up to the reader to decide under which type of government business in the United States has always been conducted.
George Bush’s monopoly: Our current president would put the issue more succinctly still. The American people might hear these words coming out of the president’s mouth: “I’m a uniter, not a divider.” Our resident backward speech technicians who record the speeches of others and play them backward looking for clues into what important personages might be hiding in their spoken words, found that the president said this: “My politicians do monopolate the people.” I touched on the odds makers/politicians (see parts 12-14) running our government who, either accidentally, or with euphoric complicity, seem like a well-oiled machine of collusion, checking and balancing us to death and ensuring that we quibble amongst ourselves defending and attacking each other. What we ought to do is combine forces which would signal the ruination of the oligarchy that has been in place these 219 years (since the Constitution was fully ratified). Until we decide to do that, each party can plausibly deny that the stalemate the American people have been treated to is accidental. Course, I am being a bit fecicous. Jefferson and Madison made several inroads into the political power structure, checking the Federalists, just not enough for me to notice. More on that below.
Invisible hand: Over two-hundred years ago Adam Smith wrote a book, “The Wealth of Nations,” which was far more groundbreaking than Friedman’s. Perhaps the most quotable line from Smith’s over 900 page economic yarn is the invisible hand line which appears in a Janus-like long paragraph. I believe the most pertinent words from this paragraph are these:
“By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he [each individual laborer] intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was not part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.”
The issue of free trade: Sometimes people might wish to employ the invisible hand to smack me across the face, given my irreverence, but many have sought to apply Smith's "invisible hand" analogy in ways that he had not intended. Its application should be restricted to thoughts on foreign trade as it equates to industry, capitalism, etc. Having learned this, dozens of people who know me are scrambling to determine if Smith ever made use of an invisible foot metaphor that’s application was more far-reaching. Wikipedia tells me that Smith’s use of the “invisible hand” metaphor is rather for the purpose of natural inclination and not a social mechanism. I can see using it to make the logical leap- seeking to apply it to the survival of the economic fittest, ala social Darwinism. My contention however will remain that though private market forces and the laws of supply and demand are always at play in the free market, the prices on necessary costs are rising far more steeply than payroll increases for the middle class- something that Smith was ill-equipped to comment on in 1776. Until corporate tax loopholes are closed and the government and corporations are held responsible for taking advantage of the dearth of free market laws and illogical free-trade practices, we will have a problem.** The natural connection to free-trade would lead us to the topics of taxation, necessary costs, prices on medicine, co-sourcing and immigration (for free-trade includes the ability of corporations to employ cheaper wage labor) to the benefit of corporations and the detriment of any class of people, including the rich (think competition for wages and lost jobs, and consider that a portion of a doctor’s MRI duties could be off-shored- Google it!). Again, prove to me that the benefit of cheaper products, given the controllable cost outlay of corporations for outsourced labor overrides the loss the same people paying for those goods are losing in their paychecks when wage and job competition is entered into the equation. Health care is up 52% the past six years, and college tuition is up 5-7% most any year and has risen each of the past 26 years (Schumer, part 18). It so happens that the publication of Smith’s “Nations” was overshadowed, at least in this country, by the slightly more important issue, that same year, of gaining our national independence from Britain. The right to trade freely without being burdened with excessive taxes was just one of the Colonist’s complaints. Colonials like John Hancock were called smugglers for circumventing British tax laws without their being represented in the home country. Things have come full circle- with Colonial Americans having found fault with what they were denied and contemporary Americans beginning to find fault with what proponents of unregulated free-trade allow.
Invisible hand alright: So, as I clarified what Smith meant by the “invisible hand” metaphor, I will bastardize his intention just like everyone else. We have two invisible hands working in this country. These hands are working unbeknownst to us- to some of us. If only the workings of democrats and republicans in government were as transparent as their efforts at winning votes, (playing pool, holding babies, adopting speech impediments while at an American stutterers conference), we wouldn’t have so many pundits and talk-show hosts having to defend them. Conservative talk-show hosts can defend the motivations of their political party and continue to say that there is no proof that the parties act to the detriment of the public in concert, which somehow is adjudged by pundits as slightly better than both parties acting falsely accidentally. I would chastise a liberal talk-show host but they are so awfully hard to find. It seems to me, that the old cliché- "the right hand [the republicans] doesn’t know what the left hand [the democrats] is doing" (and vice versa), at least in the case of politics, isn’t true. They both are all too familiar with what the other is doing. That being said, considering that we are not privy to any number of things, we are being ill-treated by two invisible hands that are far more guilty when put in motion as when they inconceivably remain at rest. The old cliché, - “Idle hands do the devil’s work” is a cliché I don’t have space to get into, but its manifest influence on the state of the country compared to the left hand v. right hand cliché is one quarter the problem when it comes to political intention and intervention; the actions of a murderer get all the headlines while the inaction of someone who willfully denies to act to save a life is back page news by comparison.
Some examples: 1) the republicans are getting nailed for keeping us in a war the public is becoming increasingly against, though plenty of democrats were initially for the war (action); 2) the democrats are largely skating for continuing to allow the abuse of the Welfare system (inaction); 3) it is likely that both parties are to blame for a ridiculously unregulated free-trade policy (inaction); 4) both parties are failing us for not having enacted meaningful immigration legislation (inaction); 5) further campaign finance reform (in addition to McCain-Feingold) may never become a reality because of both parties; 6) the democrats allow the subjection of our culture and values because of a minority's right never to feel violated, even when their expectations are completely unreasonable (both action and inaction, considering some of the legislation that has and has not been passed protecting the rights of naturalized citizens). Note: These are the general practices of both parties, though individual members might differ from their party now and again. So, while action may get more headlines, inaction can be just as troubling. Someone remind me again, which is the party of Jefferson and Andrew Jackson and which is the party of Hamilton and Lincoln- because I am all kinds of lost.
The good and bad: Politicians have also done a number of decent, acceptable, necessary things. However, I do not believe that the good and the bad done by elected officials are in any way near equal. I am not alone in holding that view. I do not often hide in the comfort of numbers and am hesitant of the reason of mob majorities. I am not alone in my concern for the role of the public in matters of issue resolution. In a recent Citizens League survey where the perceptions of both citizens and public officials were considered- 27.2% of the general public thought there was ample opportunity for their view to be heard, contrasted with 75.6% of public officials claiming a citizen has a right to be heard. I would side with the public officials- although not to the tune of 75.6%. The problem is not whether a citizen can be heard but whether a collection of them are listened to. I am pretty sure my daughter hears me when I ask that she bring her plate to the sink, but her deciding against that course is a pretty sure indication that she hasn’t listened to me. The survey, printed on the OP5 page of the Opinion Exchange section of the Minneapolis Star Tribune on May 11, 2008 indicates the results of only five questions from that survey. One of the questions which seems to me to be absent from these reprinted results would concern how often the public and public officials believe the public’s desires are taken into consideration by the officials. I’ll probably bring this up later, as it goes a long way in determining why incumbents are so often re-elected to office.
Resolve to do nothing: I would not expect that a government populated with natural adversaries could solve all of the issues I hope to list comprehensively next time. Given the intricacy of the issues, the pig-headedness of each political party, the moral high ground each affects, and the pompous dismissal of dissenting opinions, because everyone knows better than the next guy, there are just too many variables to overcome. What I would expect is that maybe just one of the issues could be resolved, just one; that is not unreasonable. I wouldn’t be satisfied with just one, but it would be a start. Please treat just one of the issues like a Six Flags camel rather than continuing to treat us like that elephant seal treated the penguin.
Founding fathers, sons of liberty: Everyone knows of the word “factions” who has done any reading of American history, particularly of the early years of American politics. This was probably what the founding fathers feared most as having an impact on the auspices of government. Money is that which divides people into factions to begin with, because it is the property with enough flexibility and power to bring us, given that we have enough of it, just about any other piece of property we might be inclined to own- especially if we are the governor of N.Y. and only want to “own” something for a few hours (i.e. Eliot Spitzer). I am sure that the Jeffersonians would have chided the Federalists in this manner way back in the 1780s:
“Come on, come on, lovin’ for the money.
Come on, come on, listen to the money talk
Come on, come on, lovin’ for the money,
Come on, come on, listen to the money talk” (AC/DC cannot possibly claim full copyright on these lyrics)
But instead they were ruled by the droll, assuming, Big Bad Wolf known as Alexander Hamilton who had many things to say about representative government, virtue and wealth- among them are these words:
“It is a harsh doctrine, that men grow wicked in proportion as they improve and enlighten their minds. Experience has by no means justified us in the supposition, that there is more virtue in one class of men than another. Look through the rich and the poor of the community; the learned and the ignorant. Where does virtue predominate? The difference indeed consists, not in the quantity but kind of vices, which are incident to the various classes; and here the advantage of character belongs to the wealthy. Their vices are probably more favorable to the prosperity of the state, than those of the indigent; and partake less of moral depravity.”***
No wonder Aaron Burr shot and killed this guy. Where a poor man will steal your wallet, or your car, a rich man will steal your soul and too often does so within months of your having elected him. I have argued for years that alcohol allows people the luxury to act as if they were blameless, though if their sober intentions were known we would not assume the consumption of alcohol was their biggest problem. Men drunk on money are far more dangerous than those who have never had much of it, because the latter has never had as much to lose. To put it another way- a poor man with a match can do less damage than a rich man with a flamethrower- course, the evil that rich men might do could be wholly dependent on how far they can throw a flame such as a sexually confused elephant seal.
Half right: About half of what Hamilton spoke on that day, of which the above quoted words were included, was just fine. But he was more often in the right when speaking about man’s proclivities generally and not so much when he imagined a representative’s potential specific intentions. Hamilton attempted to dismiss a representative’s ambitions. Nice try. Essentially, he felt that a smaller number of representatives were suitable for a large number of people within any given state, despite the number of differences that can be found between one portion of a state and another. He rightly contends that there ought to be “the most intimate conformity between the views of the representative and his constituent,” but contradicts himself by saying that a rich man’s vices are preferable to a poor man’s. A guy has a better chance of convincing Elaine Benes that he is sponge-worthy than that sneak Hamilton had of buttering up those he intended to lull into favoring the type of monarchical and aristocratic government of which Americans had just ridded themselves. What’s that- the American government has been run by rich landowners since its political inception over 230 years ago. Huh, better trim those side-burns boys . . . Seinfeld reference.
Rich man, poor man: A rich man representing a state of poor men is a fairly predictable precondition for misrepresentation and was completely at odds with the Jeffersonian view of a smaller federal government and a nation of farmers. It is possible that the rich can serve the needs of the poor, but perhaps better in the private (by donating canned goods and volunteering for Habitat for Humanity) than in the public eye (when lifestyles may be affected by pension funds and tax brackets). Hamilton writes: “As riches increase and accumulate in few hands; as luxury prevails in society; virtue will be in a greater degree considered as only a graceful appendage of wealth . . .” An appendage of wealth with an invisible hand whereby the rich might reach with over-exuberance in the pursuit of more wealth at the expense of the poor. Hamilton, at one point, disavows knowing the definition of the word “aristocracy” and asks “Where do we find men elevated to a perpetual rank above their fellow citizens . . . ?” The answer: in politics- where the money is. Sheeesh. This is a man, just like any other son of liberty that read Aristotle and the Greeks and Cicero and the Romans and was quite familiar with the philosophy of Montesquieu, John Locke and Isaac Newton. In reading some of Hamilton’s work, it does not appear he was all that capable of expressing himself sarcastically and as an expert pamphleteer successfully obtained for the rich, according to him, their rightful place at the head of our government, though he would have us believe the rich are more benevolent than the poor. It was no different then as now. The economic stratification of millions of people is an acceptable hazard of capitalism. Unfortunately, Hamilton’s agents of wealth prevailed, despite the best intentions of Jefferson and Madison. The rich more moral than the poor? Hamilton would have the nerve to attempt to assuage the pain of bronchitis by describing to a patient the merits of the sweet misery of the onset of pneumonia; quite a charmer. I think John Adams accused him of having a Type-A personality; if you spilled mutton on his frock coat he would probably have placed you in irons; if he were a citizen of New Delhi he would have participated in a display of snake charming . . . he would have been the snake.
Rebuttal Mr. Madison: James Madison is recognized as the father of the Constitution (ah, so we have him to blame). Couldn't he have snuck in just one phrase about how mutable his intentions with its contents might have been? Madison also helped pen about thirty of the Federalist Papers, which were written in order to convince the colonies to ratify the Constitution. He offered his opinions on how to suffer through the inevitability of political parties and how to handle a difference of interests among them . . . by continually attacking the other side. Oh, how we’ve grown since then. He was a gifted writer and statesman, who like many other gifted writers and statesmen, is convinced that his own side is true and his opponent’s is false. He spent his words critiquing the natures of the Federalist and Republican parties and noted the undeniable differences between them. Unfortunately, he did not spend as many words on what a citizen might do and think in a society where both parties are essentially the same. With that, we could use his help these days. Much more of Madison is worth quoting than this: “The great objects [of combating political parties] should be to combat the evil . . . 2. By withholding unnecessary opportunities from a few, to increase the inequality of property, by an immoderate, and especially unmerited, accumulation of riches 3. By the silent operation of laws, which, without violating the rights of property, reduce extreme wealth towards a state of mediocrity, and raise extreme indigence towards a state of comfort.” ****
Critique of Madison: 1) this could not be done without “violating the rights of property,” for once someone owns something they become very aware of its having been removed from their possession; 2) it should not be done, because by-and-large, someone who owns something has worked for what they have obtained; 3) the definitions and interpretations of words such as “unnecessary” “immoderate” “unmerited” “extreme wealth” and “comfort,” (words with which Hamilton might pretend to be unfamiliar) are always inadequately defined according to those that lose what they had previously owned, or stand to gain what another could lose. One single mother called into a radio program a few months ago and complained that she had to pay the same price for canned goods at the grocery store than her well-off dual-income neighbors- nonsense! 4) All Llamas are afraid of the dark. I would never promote the Robin Hood mentality of taking from the rich to give to the poor until all government wasted money is identified and properly reallocated and this of course includes economic boondoggles of both the conservatives (ex. Military) and democrats (ex. Welfare). The remainder of Madison’s thoughts on parties, in this offering alone, is well worth quoting, but I have a length limit and I have another Jon Stewart quote to get in. Madison was quite a prodigious writer. I am sure he at one time referred to Llamas as the Wal-Mart of camels; the man seemed to think of nearly everything . . . excepting the fact that there would be a time when both parties were essentially the same. (Hint- I am referring to the present time.)
Madison v. Hamilton: Madison and Hamilton worked together to convince the states to ratify the Constitution, each writing numerous articles that comprise the Federalist Papers, published serially in the late 1780s. In the 1790s they were on opposing sides of the political influence of public opinion v. the political elite debate. We do have citizens who participate in politics (Madison’s hope), but in far too many cases our contributions are negligible, compared to the machine of politics (Hamilton’s desire). Unfortunately, Jefferson’s and Madison’s Democratic-Republican efforts to keep the power in the hands of the voting public were about as ineffectual as the white crayon as the color to be used to best color in the outline of your average cartoon character in any coloring book ever manufactured. Madison, the Republican,***** had this to say of the Federalist Party of Hamilton, today’s democrats and republicans:
“those, who from particular interest, from natural temper, or from the habits of life, are more partial to the opulent than to the other classes of society, and having debauched themselves into a persuasion that mankind are incapable of governing themselves, it follows with them, of course, that government can be carried on only by the pageantry of rank, the influence of money and emoluments, and the terror of military force . . . [and the wealthy hope] that the government itself may by degrees be narrowed into fewer hands, and approximated to an hereditary form.”****** (See Richard Hofstadter’s, “The Idea of a Party System: The Rise of Legitimate Opposition in the United States, 1780-1840” chapter three- a good background source)
Related thought: Canada has four major political parties and while I am not qualified to comment on the legitimacy of the least of them- (the Green Party gained 4.5% of the popular vote in the 2006 Parliamentary Elections, while still being unable to grab one seat), I do think that is something to shoot for. I believe that additional parties will be just as beholden to money, corporations, campaign finance contributions, lobbyists and special interest groups, but it is a start. Just as I don’t believe that the immigration issue can be resolved by adopting just one solution, neither can any of our issues be resolved without enabling other progressively moderate viewpoints to be accepted by the majority- of people- not of elected officials. I don’t believe the desire for additional political parties can be dismissed because it has never seemed to work. It can work, if a number of issues in concert are amended to meet the needs of the many rather than the few. Someone wrote to me that the Independents don’t have a chance because they stand alone. I would rather be a well-informed solitary member of an ill-defined political party than a sheepish bore in the march of ineptitude, being led into the city of Sacrafice-ville by two parties that stand to gain by your loss and stand to lose with your gain. The republican and democratic political shepherds are outsourcing the futures of middle class kids to the highest bidders, so forgive me if my political leanings dictate that I pretty much stand my ground. This was more comically expressed by - Jon Stewart- (not that Mill guy- the guy from the Daily Show):
“Each party has a platform, a . . . menu of beliefs making up its worldview. The candidate can choose one of the two platforms, but remember – no substitutions. For example, do you support universal health care? Then you must also want a ban on assault weapons. Pro-limited government? Congratulations, you are also anti-abortion. Luckily, all human opinion falls neatly into one of the two clearly defined camps. Thus, the two-party system elegantly reflects the bichromatic rainbow that is American political thought.” (pg. 108)
I would rather stand pat and stand alone in protest having seen that the masses are blind to the nature of change and who rule out the idea of punching a camel in the face just for the hell of it. Be careful of the suspected martyrdom of miniature pinschers and the pariah-ness of prison inmates that might risk escape, in order to curry favor (or sympathy) by risking their lives for a shot at freedom from a New Orleans prison though a once-sighted, shy black bear, not employed by the prison, may be roaming the woods acting as the final obstacle to the freedom of men. (See “Driver Kills Dog, then Sues Owners for Damage,” Associated Press, May 8, 2008- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24530214 and “Inmates Think Twice about Escaping from Here,” Associated Press, May 5, 2008- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/24472774/ respectively.
Other notable evidence of an animal insurrection: “Beetlemania at Pennsylvania Post Office” (http://www.msnbc.com/id/24631558/, Associated Press, May 14, 2008)- short story: “Customs agents seized more than two dozen giant beetles—some the size of a child’s hand—from an overseas package after postal workers heard the insects making scratching noises.” AND “Ants Swarm over Houston, Fouling Electronics: ‘Crazy Raspberry Ants’ emerging by the Billions with Onset of Humid Season” (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24620246/, Associated Press, May 14, 2008)- short story: “voracious swarming ants that apparently arrived in Texas aboard a cargo ship are invading homes and yards across the Houston area.” Perhaps I’ve been taking pot shots at animals, birds, and insects for a reason, for their continued, violent, sinister planning to take over the world. So we respond by having a red neck throw a cat against the wall http://www.topix.com/city/st-paul-mn/2008/05/st-paul-man-arrested-for-killing-girlfriends-kitten. This from the state department- “U.S. Lists Polar Bear as Threatened Species.” Yes, we have resorted to threatening polar bears. Apparently we are keeping lists of which animal species we threaten. When will it end? Not here- look at this list of “Exhibited Animal Attacks”- . . . http://www.api4animals.org/popups/a1a_exhibited_animal_incidents.php. I think Dorothy (from the Wizard of Oz) was onto something- “Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my.” Perhaps if I can get this version of yellow journalism going, (people v. animals) this will have the same effect as the sinking of the USS Maine had on the Spanish-American War. We cannot give up without a fight.
* Yes, I know, it is actually spelled Bactrian- just taking creative license.
** While this example may not directly fall under the broad heading of free trade or NAFTA agreements, the Close Brothers, who still are not identified in the story, are taking advantage of the current tax laws to avoid paying Medicare and Social Security taxes. See- “U.S. Defense Contractors Seek Off-Shore Havens,” Associated Press, May 7, 2008- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24510512/. This is just another example of America’s largest corporation, the military, taking advantage of the American taxpayers, and all kinds of shell companies trying to “circumvent U.S. law.” For surely, surely, we wouldn’t need to pay in as much tax should loose ends such as these get tied up- to the tune of “about $846 million in revenue over 10 years” or more. The article also addresses the widespread nature of this tax haven mess, including how defense contractor groups attempt to justify how tighter controls will cost them money in a competitive global marketplace. Huh, that sounds like capitalism to me; if we can’t regulate free-trade (generally), the housing market, the oil industry, or aggressive bikers who think they own the road, you may have to lower some of your prices. Start getting some of your uninspected steel from China, and perhaps that would lower the prices of your bids which would make you more competitive. Google- “cheap steel from China” and eventually you will figure it out.
*** Hamilton made the address on June 21, 1788 to the New York Ratifying Convention, where members of the state government of New York gathered to discuss potential ratification of the Constitution. See- http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch13s38.html.
**** Just do a search on- “In every political society, parties are unavoidable.” If you get hooked on Madison, it will not be because of his thoughts on “Population and Emigration.” Don’t read that one out in nature where you may fall victim to selective narcolepsy and be subject to an attack by a wren, robin or giant frog, especially should they be jealous of your not having muscle compartment syndrome or an inconsistent urinary stream- like them.
***** Many have put forth the view that Jefferson and Madison Republicans are actually modern day democrats. I see no such resemblance to modern day democrats, who attend to the desires of the public no more frequently than do modern day republicans, who would traditionally have been considered the former Federalists.
****** “A Candid State of Parties,” James Madison, National Gazette, September 26, 1792.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Middle Class Part 27: Immigration concluded- Gut Bacteria, Welfare, Taxpayer Funded Islamic School and the National ID Card
Again, this is a long installment. I would have liked to have concluded with my findings, as I have collected a great many reports, studies, articles and sets of comments on the sub-topic of immigration as it concerns the effect on the middle class. In order to do that, I will be leaving out my conclusions and some additional material that would fit well here. Instead, I will include it in the book form of this overall topic. No one would publish what I have written, so I plan on doing so myself in order to give those people who haven’t read my words in this format the opportunity to not read my words in another. For a couple of months, I have taken for granted two things- that I have virtually no readers and that any readers I do have should consider each post as a chapter in a proposed book, which certainly will not allay the feeling that reading the number of words I have written is an arduous task.
Anyone who has taken the time to check in on my progress hoping that I would just stop writing, would write something about sports, current events, aggressive bikers, fly-fishing or Beano, state that I am long-winded, and perhaps would say they need to employ a GPS system to arrive at my point, or stubbornly maintain that I have no point. Sure, my writing style is convoluted, intense, sometimes misguided and derivative, redundant and tangential (i.e. rambling). There is no but there- those people are right. Many things occur to me in connection with many other things and it would seem that I deliver a series of sentences like Jackson Pollack (famous drip-paint artist) splattered paint on the canvas. I won't claim that I always know what I toss on the page will look exactly as I had planned, like Pollack, but what I do toss out there is very hard to dismiss.
Before beginning to abandon the sub-topic of immigration, and its effect on the middle class, I thought I would provide yet another link to a vacuous article which summarizes some scientifically obtained, yet useless, data:
“Cultural Differences Found in Pee”: How many times must Charles Q. Choi of Live Science, (April 21, 2008) have busted out laughing trying to construct serious sentences describing some fairly useless scientific results. His lead paragraph is this: “Pee from more than 4,000 volunteers shows that people from different nations often have spectacularly different metabolisms.” You just can't make this stuff up; ok, you could . . . and I have, but this is a real story. Apparently the biological chemist from London who conducted the study didn’t give Choi a more scientific name to refer to stomach chemicals than “gut bacteria.” Seriously- “gut bacteria.” If that is as technical as you are going to get, you might as well, as a serious journalist, slip in a faux quotation from I.P. Freely and adopt the pseudonym- Johann Sebastian Bok Choy. Only weathermen are more worthless to science than the people that put together that study (a biological chemist among them- ooh, big shot) and probably garnered federal budget money in order to do it. Read all of the comedy for yourself at (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24241623). If you are the guy writing about gut bacteria- what is next- writing an article on an 8th-grader, hopeful of becoming a zoologist, talking about the fornication particulars of the armadillo that he swears on his honor, precede their smelly presenting ritual with a series of cackles and clucks that played backward is proof that the shelled weasel actually tells his mate in armadillan that he is about to get some shell. That is some foreplay. Mr. Choi, I wrote better papers in the fourth grade when I copied the contents of my report on Washington state from the Encyclopedia Britannica, before adopting a writing style that would confound George Hegel.
Still: Perhaps there is some merit to the study. If there is any way to combine the utility of the National Identification card (see #7 below) and the EPS pregnancy test we could completely resolve America’s national problem of illegal immigration. The card would contain a strip that suspected terrorists, illegal immigrants, and suspected Chinese businessmen looking to offer American corporations stock buyout packages, would be asked to relieve themselves on in points of entry all over the country. If a plus sign were returned, we would know that they were illegal immigrants, terrorists or diminutive NAFTA supporters, because their gut bacteria would commingle with the chemical compound present on that portion of the card.
List continued: With that- here is the remainder of my list begun last time on the best of the rest articles on immigration I have collected over the course of the last year:
7) The headline- “Security at What Cost?: National ID system is not worth the $23 Billion Price Tag”: Bruce Schneier, Minneapolis Star Tribune’s opinion exchange section February 24, 2008- http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/15891037.html
The story: A hard to forge national/Real ID card which would require “all states to conform to common and more stringent rules for issuing driver’s licenses.” Schneier’s main problem with the national identification card (NIC) is the cost, both financially ($23 billion) and from an inconvenience standpoint. His other issues with the NIC- complexity, (someone will still be able to successfully forge it in time), lost cards, the human element of people being responsible for checking IDs of potential illegals or terrorists who may become bored into a false sense of security. The even bigger problems, Schneier contends, is an instantaneously accessible set of 50 linked databases- “Computer scientists don’t know how to keep a database of this magnitude secure, whether from outside hackers or the thousands of insiders authorized to access it.” The baseline of initially considering that everyone is a criminal and then further being lulled into the sometimes innacurate judgment of profiling based on certain nationalities, ages, or appearance may also be a problem, to summarize Schneier’s concerns. Schneier writes- “as soon as you divide people into two categories—more trusted and less trusted—you create a third, and very dangerous, category: untrustworthy people whom we have no reason to mistrust.”
Further comments: There is a colloquial saying, which I imagine is common to a number of the fifty states that would adopt the NIC- “whole hog.” It could be used as a mantra for someone investing everything they’ve got in an endeavor, in athletics, financial investment, war, the attempt to attract a mate- perhaps of the armadillo persuasion. Whole hog = risk everything. “All in” is the updated version always used when some unsuspecting card player puts all of his money into the pot in Texas Hold ‘em just prior to getting river’d by someone with a full house. Thing is, American problem solvers think big, and consider the best case scenario and manipulate the variables so that the most resources might achieve the most ideal ends. Immigration is an issue where this has never been the case. Why invest $23 billion instituting a nationwide national identification card that has no guarantee of helping the American cause of minimizing the affects on the country of illegal immigration, among other things. Why not conduct a pilot program? Select five states, some with a heavy illegal immigrant burden and some states with relatively little influx by comparison- (California, Texas, Wyoming, Colorado and South Carolina for example).* Instituting this measure may have an affect on other states illegals know are not included in this pilot and so authorities and citizens in those states would need to be further versed on rules of engagement given this likelihood. So, rather than spending $23 billion and finding that REAL ID wouldn’t work, we, as a nation spend $9 billion and those who guarantee that it won’t work and those who guarantee that it will can both tone down their ignorance on the matter. But at least it will have been tried. However, it stands a much better chance of working with a fortified wall and increased border control support. There is not a silver bullet solution to this problem and it is likely that many checks might need to be put in place to curb the scourge of illegal immigration. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, look at what Indiana Jones had to go through just to remove a gold idol from the cave. Now, if this approach could only be tried on the issue of global warming and urinary footprint detection methods (the new carbon footprint), we could put a couple dozen conservative talk-show hosts, nationwide, off the air. Schneier, oh expert of official documentation as it equates to securing this country against the risk of invasion- you have any solutions, or do you just think up reasons of why we shouldn’t do things? We spend billions on ridiculously proposed and passed legislation every year- what’s $9 billion for a National Identification Card pilot program?
Additional further comments: http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd355.htm, Devvy Kidd, April 7, 2008. Kidd writes that Dobbs defends any bill that comes out of congress, including the national ID laws. To be fair, Dobbs does seem reactionary in his assessment of the justice congress seems to sometimes cavalierly mete out. Kidd writes- “For one reason, the [Real ID] law was crammed into a South Asian tsunami relief bill, with no debate in either house of Congress. For another, it's an unfunded mandate that passes around $25 billion in costs to states." People against this measure often sight the 10th Amendment to the Constitution and that REAL ID is an unfunded mandate. I’ll address the former of those complaints in the book. The latter complaint can be dismissed by the federal government funding it. Where is the money going to come from- see part 9- government waste. We stop wasting money on social aid programs and on the wasteful (not all, not even most) military projects, and we would have plenty of funding.
Also see: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24351798/ “Supreme Court Upholds Voter ID Law,” Associated Press, May 1, 2008- “There is little history in Indiana of either in-person voter fraud—of the sort the law was designed to thwart—or voters being inconvenienced by the law’s requirements.” So, this decision is neither a loss for the democrats nor a victory for the republicans. Unless liberals were seeking to illegally desire for illegal immigrants to vote secretly, this decision should not be a setback to uncompromised elections.
8) The headline: “Drivers Losing Five Days a Year to Traffic Jams”: Associated Press, September 18, 2007- (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20829879)-
The story: “Drivers waste nearly an entire work week each year sitting in traffic on the way to and from their jobs . . . ‘We’ve used up the capacity that had been bequeathed to us by a previous generation, and we haven’t replaced it’ . . . The study estimates that drivers wasted 2.9 billion gallons of fuel while sitting in traffic. That’s about 26 gallons a year per driver.” I wonder if we can determine the type of gut bacteria that resides in the average tank of gas to determine if the driver of that vehicle is of Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Irish, Swedish or Italian descent. I wonder if conducting the world-renowned, highly respected “gut bacteria” study twenty years ago would have revealed that the Yugo was actually mass-produced in Mississippi.
Further comments: To be honest, this is just an indulgence and has little to do with immigration compared to the other stories I have commented on, particularly because the census data indicates that “About three-quarters of all commuters drive alone to work,” which I would concede, many illegal and legal immigrants probably wouldn’t do. Immigrants of whatever legality probably live close enough to work not to have to drive at all, but far enough away from the emergency room of the local hospital to have to drive without a license and insurance (see parts 23-26). Will the second and third generation immigrants fit that mold, will they not desire to have and own a car, irregardless of whether they insure it? As we know, there are plenty of American-born people driving without insurance. And that is the point- our AMERICAN problems, all of them, are not resolved by bringing more human variables into the country. The “Atlanta metropolitan area added 890,000 people from 2000 to 2006.” I am positive that number is not due to an increase in the American fertility rate of whites and blacks; this is easily proven by a google search- or see part 26 #6. I have driven in Atlanta- their rush hour is about six hours long. The very formal Charles Q. Choi, as differentiated from all of the other Charles Choi’s writing articles about urine is planning on writing a follow-up article about traffic congestion as it relates to population increases. However, word is he just finished co-writing this article- “Scientists Decode Brain Farts,” also by Live Science, April 21, 2008 (http://www.msnbc.com/id/24245365/wid/11915773?GT1=31037). Choi likely did not want the “credit” associated with such high-profile assignments, for he did not want to be author-typecast as someone who contributed heavily to the always popular Swiftian genre of scatological humor. Next, Choi will be looking into the behavior of wiener dogs with post-nasal drip that spit snot out of their throats and how that relates to their overall disaffected standing in the society of elongated canine.
9) The headline- “2007 National Survey of Latinos: As Illegal Immigration Issue Heats Up, Hispanics Feel a Chill”: Pew Hispanic Center, December 19, 2007- http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?reportID=84
The story: “. . . federal, state and local governments have pressed forward with hundreds of new enforcement bills, regulations and procedures—including stepped up deportations, more workplace raids, and restrictions on access to driver’s licenses and other government services and benefits. The survey finds that Hispanics oppose these enforcement measures, often by lopsided margins. Three quarters (75%) disapprove of workplace raids; some 79% prefer that local police not take an active role in identifying illegal immigrants; and some 55% disapprove of states checking for immigration status before issuing driver’s licenses. By contrast, non-Hispanics are much more supportive of all these policies . . .” Shocking! “Hispanics generally see illegal immigrants as a plus.” (Note: the Pew survey appears to address just the opinions of Latinos and not Americans). “Nearly eight-in-ten respondents . . . say they are very (45%) or somewhat (33%) confident that Hispanic children growing up now will have better jobs and more money than they have.” I wonder what would so encourage them- perhaps the contents of #s 1, 2, 4 and 5 from last time. Really, how long will it be before a Hispanic-exclusive school opens in Minnesota (see #11 below), California, Texas or say . . . in Oregon- www.youtube.com/watch?v=53A2jpDqV3w tells of Oregon crew chief firefighters losing their jobs to those who speak Spanish. If just one firefighter out of 20 speaks only Spanish the crew chief is either laid-off or demoted. The state, the reporter says, has no answer on why it wouldn’t require the Spanish speaking workers/subordinate firefighters to speak English. If just 1 of 20 speaks Spanish, should the 19 other firefighters lose their leader. I don’t know how liberal a state Oregon generally is, but something seems amiss.
Further comments: Given the news that the “nation’s largest minority group (Hispanics) comprising about 15.5% of the U.S. population might have a problem with laws and measures designed to keep, or get them out of our country, is about as predictable as a conservative finding fault with Thorstein Veblen’s theories on “conspicuous leisure.” Sorry . . . it is about as shocking as a zoologist determining that a porcupine with renal lymphoma is best matched with a chemotherapist turtle who likes to hug and would make the best friends among the commonwealth of animals. Latinos disapprove of supposedly increased efforts designed to check illegal immigration almost as much as rival comedians despised the idea that they lost the initial Last Comic Standing title to Dat Phan. Silly, insecure comedians; they’re almost as needy as writers.
10) The headline- “Are Taxpayers Footing Bill for Islamic School in Minnesota?”: Katherine Kersten, Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 9, 2008, Section B, pages 1 and 11.
The story: TIZA is a K-8 charter school in Inver Grove Heights, MN, that addresses the educational needs of about 300 children from mostly low-income Muslim immigrant families. The school opened a second campus in Blaine, MN. The schools are “financed by Minnesota taxpayers. Under the U.S. and state constitutions, a public school can accommodate students’ religious beliefs but cannot encourage or endorse religion.” The school was founded by the Muslim American Society of Minnesota (MAS-MN) by two imams (the same type of individuals who were going to sue an airline because of “harsh” treatment) and who issued a “fatwa,” telling Muslim taxi drivers to steer clear of passengers who were carrying alcohol in their baggage because it is a violation of Islamic law. TIZA is an Islamic religious school in business at Minnesota taxpayer expense. This is interesting: “MAS-MN offers on its web site ‘beneficial and enlightening information’ about Islam, which includes statements like ‘Regularly make the intention to go on jihad with the ambition to die as a martyr.’ Look up “jihad” on the internet and determine for yourself how its meaning might be interpreted. At its 2007 convention, MAS-MN featured the notorious Shayk Khalid Yasin, who is well known in Britain and Australia for teaching that husbands can beat disobedient wives, that gays should be executed and that the United States spreads the AIDS virus in Africa through vaccines for tropical diseases.” The topic of the convention: “ ‘Building a Successful Muslim Community in Minnesota.’ ” America, what a country (see part 25). Incidentally, that last charge, about the AIDS virus being spread by the United States has been a topic of discussion of late. Barack Obama recently cut ties with his former religious touchstone, the not so reverened Jeremiah Wright for having exactly the same beliefs. Wright- "God damn America!" Our politicians have not seemed to need a god's help in that endeavor.
Further comments: A school of muslims encouraged to go on jihad, set up by American taxpayers. Liberals- nice job. I was driving home from work last week and drove behind a woman driving an Outback wagon with a bumper sticker that read: “Liberal.” I might get one that reads: “Caucasian” just in case I forget the one term that would most define me. I wondered if she would get out at stoplights and run in back to check to make sure it was still there, if it still applied, to remind her of who she is as a human being. Why not just take the next step and have it branded across your forehead, or have the most predominant synonym- ‘Gullible’ tattooed on your forearm. Liberals are so gullible they probably think that an anti-spam statute is one that is prejudiced against the most famous of the canned meats.
Additional further comments: I know plenty of democrats/liberals and call some of them my friends. They are good people, but have a narrow-minded view of the world- just my opinion. Their good-natured naivete is their badge of honor for other liberals to appreciate, but for everyone else to mock. Perhaps the non-liberals would have a better chance at shaming liberals into recognizing the errors of their ways if liberals would actually engage in a dialogue, and decide not to be so prescient about exactly who the god of their choice will gather into their sanctioned version of heaven. I don’t have to be a union member, teacher, environmentalist or a tree-hugger in order to concede that plenty of immigrants have merit as hard-working human beings, unfortunately, through fate, their soul and their physical form were united together and jointly delivered unto a tract of land south, east, north or west of the United States, where living conditions present more of a challenge. I would probably try to enter the lands where the grass is greener as well, should I have been born into such a predicament, until laws that were enforced were put into place to stop me and likely even after that. Something that might keep me out- a wall and more border patrol agents. And that is something that conservatives don’t get when they make a blanket statement desiring all immigrants to leave the United States- consider your fortune, your upbringing, imagine that no one would take pity on your circumstances, should you have been trapped as a citizen of Honduras, with the personality and soul you were delivered in your current physical form. Many people take their good fortune too much for granted. There is good and bad in immigration; those who ignore ALL that immigrants contribute are ignorant and those that welcome ALL that they, and their proponents claim to provide are pompous.
11) The headline- “To Dream . . . Perchance to Do”: Lori Sturdevant, March 9, 2008- http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/16394626.html-
The story: 1,000 students delivered to the Minnesota state capitol by the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network talking about how much education they would like to have enabling them to become doctors, teachers or engineers given the supposed shortage of skilled workers. “The Dream Act would . . . say that if a student attends a Minnesota high school for at least three years, achieves an academically qualifying record and graduates, he or she is eligible for [resident tuition rates] regardless of the immigration status of his or her parents. These students would be spared nonresident rates that can be more than twice as high.” Consider the brief story of Gov. Tim Pawlenty in part 23 and then consider this: “But Gov. Tim Pawlenty insists on defining the Dream Act in terms of immigration policy, not workforce development. His veto threats have stopped each attempt to pass it.” The DFL isn’t sure whether it will try again in the 2008 legislative session because they “recall how some GOP candidates used the Dream Act to make DFLers sound soft on illegal immigration in the 2006 campaign.” This just in- DFLers ARE soft on immigration.
This is a big one, so I decided to offset it because it is related to immigration advantages, education, future employment, and is relevant to the overall topic on so many levels:
“The Minnesota Private College Research Foundation warns about what's coming: Unless current college-enrollment patterns change, the state will see an 11 percent drop in four-year college graduates by 2017. By the middle of the next decade, there won't be enough new grads per year to fill the jobs left vacant by retirements, let alone new jobs that require four-year degrees.”
Further comments: First, Pawlenty is a fairly progressive conservative. He stated that the majority of citizens believe in more strict immigration controls. Liberals in legislatures all over the country- allow your governors to pass more strict immigration legislation, or quit whining about how “difficult” it has been for you to sponsor the invasion of our country. Enough said there. Second, on the point about allowing immigrants a reduced tuition rate- make all students pay the same rate, giving no breaks to anyone; why should some people just as deserving of an education be penalized for being an American? Third, this is a huge one and the reason I drew the quotation out by itself- with all of the outsourcing of American jobs, (and I could dig up several dozen articles from the last five years proving the issue of outsourcing), we need immigrants to come in and compete with Americans in even more areas, keeping the wage scale down because of the increase in qualified workers the immigrants would represent after having been given tuition breaks Americans don’t even get? Again, liberals- get into heaven some other way, rescue a cat from a tree, drive an environmentally friendly car, rescue a coyote from choking on a hot dog during a competitive eating event at a county fair . . . just not a coyote helping other illegals cross our border that does not have a wall or patrol agents employed to keep them out.
12) The headline- Dobbs (again) “War on the Middle Class” various pages-
The story: “Mexico’s president Vicente Fox [at the time] has blasted the plan to build a seven-hundred-mile fence along the U.S. – Mexico border, which he charges would violate the rights of illegal aliens . . . Fox is exporting his poverty and importing a substantial portion of his economy thanks to the millions of Mexicans living in the United States who send billions of dollars back to Mexico every year.” (pg. 149) I could quote much of the text that appears on the pages between 131-172 relative to immigration and education. On page 168 this can be found- “almost ten million of our students speak a foreign language at home, nearly a fifth of the total student population, which is of concern to numerous school districts trying to teach English proficiency.” How does that information tie into the topic of the future economic dire straits of the middle class- well, those foreign speaking children will be competing with English-speaking middle class kids for jobs in 10-15 years (see part 26). “The Dallas school board voted to force many of its principals to learn and speak Spanish.” (pg. 168) A New York city council man “introduced a proposal to require public schools to translate report cards and other school documents into nine languages.” Actually, I could have used that on a number of occasions when I was in high school. I am pretty sure my dad wouldn’t have been able to read a C on my report card if it appeared in Cantonese, a language without an alphabet.
I also must offset this by itself: an American consulting firm representative said “that his company’s survey of companies showed that ‘84 percent of respondents say that K-to-twelve schools do not do a good job of preparing individuals for the workplace.’ . . . Big business is saying it won’t hire Americans because they aren’t smart enough or aren’t well prepared for the rigors of the job market.” Why might that be? I am not saying we don’t have a liberal education expenditure money-hole of our own making, that if there were no immigrants we wouldn’t have a problem with educational lobbyists throwing money at the problems presented by misguided attempts to fix education, but the problem of immigration only makes everything worse, especially education because of how one’s education is tied to future and career earnings (see part 7). I wouldn’t have any problem agreeing to the idea that American children should learn Spanish, but all other immigrants must first learn English- no exceptions. Our middle class kids are being held back so that immigrant children can be brought up to speed- is it any wonder they are ill-prepared for the “rigors of the job market”? With that, both sets of middle class kids will suffer, the current and subsequent crop of middle class American kids and middle class kids who are currently illegal immigrants whose offspring will climb a rung or two on the social-equality ladder to become middle class. I imagine, if they can both speak English and both speak Spanish, they will then be quarreling about the injustice of economics with the rich. So, ultimately, I see that this is about money more than it is about race. If there is a god, and the economically disadvantaged can organize, it would behoove them to share both languages- one group of people that will then be disadvantaged in the event this becomes a reality . . . the rich. The words- Civil War mean anything? I am just saying this is possible. Yes, let us all dismiss the notion, for nothing that was ever considered impossible has occurred. Anyone labeling me a socialist has a short attention-span and has already been proven wrong (see the first paragraph of part 9). I could go on quoting Dobbs all day long and fill several more columns providing commentary on in-state tuition breaks for illegals which thousands of middle class American kids do not receive, American unions stating that they desire that illegals should gain union rather than green cards, which I would imagine is more of an affront to a lower income wage-earner who feels he or she has derived certain benefits over the course of a couple decades work that should not be afforded to immigrants- “more than 40 percent of the wage losses of low-skilled workers was due to competition from immigrant workers,” etc. Read pages 131-172; that should be all the information one might need to talk down to a liberal on this subject they won’t suffer to engage in because they think the mandate of altruism is synonymous with the cause of liberalism. [Yes, there is an end to this paragraph] I exchanged a few emails with a contributor to an online activist website that supported the cause of illegal immigrants. I wrote of the environmental strain of cumulative, unchecked illegal immigration, (just selecting one of the myriad of issues I have already written about), and he condescended to show me I was in error because of how many people from all over the world might each have just less than an acre of land in a few southwestern states, Texas among them. We could all move to Texas, he maintained. I could go on. Our exchange was actually quite civil, but I guarantee he would have a hard time defending all of the reasons why unchecked illegal immigration is not a good idea, not the least of which is because I think he admitted to not having any children. Seems that if those favoring illegal immigration would empathize with their own progeny, whom they haven't yet named, as much as with those they haven't met, this country would be the better for it.
13) The headline- (Insert headline here concerning the corruption and opacity of the Mexican government and how the United States should funnel money to Mexican president Felipe Calderon and his underlings in order to keep the number of illegals at bay, which would create jobs in Mexico or any Latin American country, reduce crime, thwart the drug trade and all that good stuff.) Or look at this pertinent, prescient link (http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97feb/mexico/mexico.htm). The story contained therein was written more than ten years ago- February 1997 by Robert D. Kaplan, “History Moving North.”
The story: Kaplan’s article is quite comprehensive, but I found very little more recent stories concerning the notion that gifting millions to the Mexican government, to keep it solvent, given the rampant political corruption, which is nearly always tied to the drug trade, would do anything to minimize illegal immigrant’s employment prospects in the United States. Seems our current economy has taken care of some of that- (see the second paragraph of footnote * below and this article- “Immigrants Boost Economy—But how Much?” Las Vegas Sun- http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/apr/14/immigrants-boost-economy-how-much/). NAFTA and other free trade agreements which affect the labor force in the U.S. are the primary issues. Assuming that was the panacea (giving tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to a Latin American country so that they would be economically viable) would that be a one-time balloon payment or an annual perpetual financial donation? How would American taxpayers respond to the idea of either? And what makes the United States government feel like it is above reproach from a corruption and transparency standpoint, casting aspersions at other regimes who might not be quite as accomplished from a complicity standpoint as it regards the politicians that control the government? Keep in mind that other Latin American countries are worse off economically than Mexico- would we be paying them off as well? It seems highly likely that Latin American bureaucrats would do more than skim $$ off the top of the funding we might provide, so I have a feeling that the U.S. would be suffering from one massive outlay, without deriving any benefit. And when has that ever happened? I would rather consider the revirgination of an ox so that it might mate with this prairie dog** of an attorney I used to work with who thought terrible penmanship and extreme inquisitiveness were endearing qualities than know we are giving money away to other nations who hate us for the indebtedness they feel toward our obligatory financial or resource assistance. Note: I have had to consider that revirgination thingy quite a bit. Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Bosnia, Haiti, Liberia, Rwanda, Kosovo, Columbia are just a few of the countries who have derived some benefit from our generosity. I do not believe that all of the foreign aid we have provided has been given in vain, but surely not all of it was spent wisely- see "Foreign Aid: An Introductory Overview of U.S. Programs and Policy" April 15, 2004- http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/31987.pdf.
Further comments: I had written the entire previous paragraph before finding this New York Times story- “Bush Asks Congress for $1.4 Billion to Fight Drugs in Mexico,” James C. McKinley Jr., October 23, 2007 (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/world/americas/23mexico.html. Fortuitous. At the end of the previous article is a link to this story- “Businessman in Mexcio Says Top Officials Hid Millions,” also written by McKinley, July 4,2007 (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/world/americas/04mexico.html?fta=y. “The Mexican government vigorously denied this week the accusations of a Chinese-Mexican businessman who is wanted on drug charges here but who asserts that $150 million found hidden in his mansion came from members of President Felipe Calderón’s party, including the secretary of labor.” Two things are possible, either the businessman is lying, or he is telling the truth. Fighting the drug cartel over there is probably wise, rather than having to fight it over here; perhaps we would do well to deal with the Mexican economic issue over there as well, if we could be guaranteed that Mexican and other Latin American governments were treating their own citizens as well as we would.
14) The headline: “Immigrants, Welfare and Work”: Lauren Mutti, June 4, 2002- (http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba400/)- (NCPA= National Center for Policy Analysis)
The story: a) in Mutti’s written words “. . . the United States has been a nation of immigrants . . . foreign-born citizens and residents, legal and illegal, compose only 11.1 percent of the total U.S. population. While this represents an increase of three percentage points in the past decade, it is lower than the 1890 high of 14.8 percent of the population.” b) She further writes- “One widespread myth about recent immigrants is that they take advantage of our welfare state. However, most immigrants are not even eligible for public assistance when they first arrive. Legal immigrants who are not refugees are not allowed to receive public welfare benefits until they have lived here at least three years. Immigrants who are sponsored by a family member - roughly 70 percent of total legal immigrants - cannot receive public assistance until they have been in the U.S. for at least five years.” She then chronicles the amount of retirement, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid money American-born families receive, on average, compared to immigrants. She tackles some issues such as taxation, family reunification and my second favorite issue as it concerns immigration- (the first being education) that is- wages. c) She states- “An ample labor supply keeps labor costs down and leads to lower prices for consumers.”
Further comments: a) Number of immigrants- how many immigrants is a suitable number- should we just let them all in, have them take all of our jobs (mindful of Kant’s categorical imperative); is a United States, 50% of whom are immigrants enough? Give me a report about how many are truly assimilating (learning the language, abiding the laws, not preventing Americans from expressing themselves in their own culture- kids wearing costumes to school on Halloween, immigrants not being needlessly offended, etc.); b) Welfare- some people are just too unaware of how far the bear paw is in the honey pot of America- If immigrants stayed in their country of origin, when might people from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Laos, Haiti, etc. begin receiving money from United States social aid programs? I would like to say- never, but see #13 above. Don’t kid yourself- immigrants, legal now, or provided amnesty five years from now, will gather the same social security benefits as Americans who have paid in all their lives, if social security remains solvent. Why wouldn’t they- greater injustices have been perpetrated upon the American public already; I have spent six columns revealing them on the current sub-topic; c) labor supply- They damn well better keep consumer costs down, because they are either putting some of those consumers out of a job or are drastically affecting what a consumer’s salary might be. True, what is the difference if an employee’s net income is $2,400 a month and pays $3.69 for a gallon of 1% milk or nets $2,950 and pays $5.50. I'll get to taxation in another few columns- it will be the last thing I tackle. Suffice to say, a continued influx of potentially economically needless immigration will reduce the paychecks of poor and middle class workers- as I've demonstrated. Keeping the costs of consumer goods down is the only saving grace of unchecked immigration or overvalued government approval of the number of legal immigrants given citizen status. Mutti also gathers some data from quite an old source, a 1976 Survey of Income and Education (SIE)*** which reveals, up to that time, how little immigrant families collected from the federal government or any of its social aid programs (Social Security, Medicare, Welfare, etc.) I doubt the monetary figures she bases her opinion on from a report that is now more than 30 years old will stack up against what immigrants are currently receiving. There is no reason a well-meaning, reliable, productive, assimilated human being who speaks English, doesn’t infringe on an American’s traditions, pays taxes and follows our laws, should wait 16 years after retirement to gather the same amount of aid, in whatever form, than an American-born retiree. Given how freely we are offering up our country- I would be shocked if the requirements for receiving social aid were the same as 32 years ago, nor should they be. Though I like my chances of getting decent cell phone reception in an elevator more than actually being able to convince a pro illegal immigration rights person of their faulty foresight, I’ll keep trying.
15) The headlines- “American Diversity” and “Is Immigration in the Public Interest”: These appear as broad headings in an American Government textbook published by West Publishing, the last copyright of which is 1994, Fifth Edition. The contributors listed are: Susan Welch, John Gruhl, Michael Steinman, John Comer and Susan M. Rigdon-
The story I: The bold heading “American Diversity” reveals the previous five waves of immigration that populated the United States with all kinds of characters previous to the current wave- 1) Native Americans “crossed a land bridge from Asia about 50,000 years ago”; 2) the early influx of people from Britain, Holland, France and Spain in the early 1600s; 3) Africans started coming to America in 1619 and continued through the early 1800s- many, as we know, did not come here freely; 4) the mid 1800s saw the influx of “millions of people from Ireland fleeing the potato famine and Germans escaping political turmoil”; 5) “Beginning in the 1970s, the latest major wave has included Vietnamese, Cambodians, Russian Jews, and Latin Americans. Most are Asians and Mexicans.” 6) I have provided a suitable amount of information relative to the sixth wave of substantial immigration, which is ongoing and is distinguished from the wave from #5 given the numbers and home region concentration (i.e. Latin America). The remainder of that portion of the textbook merely provides immigrant demographics, native animosity given the various immigrant group’s presence and their contributions put into historical perspective. Asian-Americans were the fastest growing minority, at about 3% of the population, at that time.
The story II: According to the “Is Immigration in the Public Interest?” inset in chapter 1 (pgs. 8-11) “the effect of immigration on wages is small because most legal immigrants, many of whom are highly educated and skilled, do not work in [the] low-wage industries.” Unfortunately, this is true, of legal immigrants, who compete for wages of many members of the middle class, while illegal immigrants compete for wages of members of the lower class. Is there a class of immigrants that will compete for wages with our upper class? Not significantly. It is more likely that I would be able to prove that a preying mantis might seek out copper thieves in order to have sex for pleasure. Immigrant “newcomers have little effect [on blue collar wages] because immigrants take jobs that others do not want.” I’ve already addressed the inherent self-fulfilling prophecy of allowing in massive numbers of illegal immigrants who frequent the businesses for which they are likely to work. “While federal money helps states and localities pay for many services that must be offered to legal and illegal residents alike, this assistance is shrinking as the federal government shifts many of its responsibilities to the states.” And our state income taxes have not gone up because of it. Right, and congressional approval ratings have never been better, consumer optimism is at an all-time high, and fresh strawberries have a long shelf life. See how long it takes us to catch on to immigration trends and ignore the proof that is staring us in the face (see parts 1 & 2) “Race relations—and political tensions—could worsen if the white non-Hispanic population continues to fall in proportion to minority populations.” Ya think? And maybe we’ll get to feeling like the Native American Indians when we colonized their countryside. There are a couple sentences that give numbers and percentages similar to what I reported last time regarding how the U.S. will be overrun by its own lack of an enforceable immigration policy. Race relations and political tensions- see the YouTube video- part 23. I was going to comment on the loss of American customs, holidays, traditions, the loss of our language (see #13 directly above), our national identity and how we will lose touch with each other by not being able to relate because we won’t have much in common with our co-workers or fellow students in twenty years. I decided that is not an economic issue, at least not directly, and falls outside of the parameters of my middle class blog jeremiad- but just barely.
Further comments: No mas.
We must begin to consider the allowing in of more and more immigrants, of any type, into the country and compare that to the fate suffered by this hawk- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24294408/ “Did Eaten Songbird Claw Its Way through Hawk?” Hawks- birds of prey, taking advantage of the less fortunate on the food chain (i.e. American businesses employing millions of illegals and paying them a wage incommensurate with their contributions), swallowing whole those it should not trust to keep it alive. Perhaps the hawk had a brain fart and little considered swallowing a live bird whole. Allowing immigrants into the country carte blanche is counter-productive to our way of life. Who would work at all of the Chipotles all over the country? That is a much smaller problem to solve than overpopulation, Americans paying for education, health care, infrastructure, crimes, and Welfare for immigrants,* dealing with identity theft, a potential compromised voting record, not to mention the apparently probable disintegration of American culture and tradition. Ask a liberal if they will fight as hard to defend an eight-year-old’s right to wear a Batman costume to public school on Halloween as they will an illegal’s right to collect unemployment after five months of working as a roofer.
Americans- I give you the still very relevant Thomas Paine: “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it the superficial appearance of right.” What kind of appearance does not thinking about it at all give? The words negligent and irresponsible come to mind.
* The federal government and the pilot states for the national ID would then spend the money necessary to allow the program to run its course over a year period. Arizona and Oklahoma have essentially done just that, providing for the rest of the states, test cases whereby we might judge how necessary illegal immigrant’s contributions to our country might be by passing the toughest laws as it concerns an employer’s hiring practices. Do a search on “federal judge upholds Arizona illegal immigration law.”
See this very relevant article- “Immigrant Boost Economy-but How Much?” by Timothy Pratt, Las Vegas Sun, April 14, 2008- (http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/apr/14/immigrants-boost-economy-how-much/). This is one of the pieces of information I am withholding comment on in order to move forward, but which will be addressed in the book. Again, not finding someone to deliver a steak burrito bowl at Chipotle in exchange for not having to pay tens of thousands of dollars over one’s lifetime for the medical bills, education, subsidized housing, and for not having to deal with immigration's affect on our environment, natural resources and lifetime earnings . . . I can make my own burrito and pay an American $2,000 more to roof my house. To be clear, we need many immigrants, possibly half of the number already here.
** Think skittish and invasive- like the stars of Animal Planet’s “Meerkat Manor.” Can one person be Draconian and passive-aggressive?
*** Mutti had no other choice but to use these numbers if what she writes is true- that it was the “most recent and comprehensive on the subject,” at least it was, according to her, up to 2002.
For more on the rise in the U.S. population for all of the decades of the 20th century please see- http://www.numbersusa.com/overpopulation/decadegraph.html. If things continue with illegal and LEGAL immigration as they have, it is sure to affect you, or someone you love, or someone who loves you. But if it doesn’t, imagine that it does. Consider the infrastructure costs and deforestation that is likely to take place so that new homes, roads, schools and additional infrastructure can be built to accommodate that number of people. Ironic- that liberals would so adore the idea of additional tens of millions of immigrants crossing the border which can't help but have an effect on the environment. Wait, is that irony or hypocrisy? You decide. I love trees, despite having already decked the apple tree I promised to in part 16, and would rather like the opportunity to not hug a tree than not be able to.
Other articles to digest, on which I will provide commentary when I transfer the words that no one has read here into book form . . . where no one will read them:
“Protestors Nationwide Seek Immigrant Rights” Associated Press http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24409739;
“Crackdown Leads to Drop in Illegal Immigration,” Las Vegas Sun (referenced in #14 above, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24409765;
“National ID Cards Won’t Stop Terrorism or Illegal Immigration,” Ron Paul, http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2005/tst050905.htm.
Anyone who has taken the time to check in on my progress hoping that I would just stop writing, would write something about sports, current events, aggressive bikers, fly-fishing or Beano, state that I am long-winded, and perhaps would say they need to employ a GPS system to arrive at my point, or stubbornly maintain that I have no point. Sure, my writing style is convoluted, intense, sometimes misguided and derivative, redundant and tangential (i.e. rambling). There is no but there- those people are right. Many things occur to me in connection with many other things and it would seem that I deliver a series of sentences like Jackson Pollack (famous drip-paint artist) splattered paint on the canvas. I won't claim that I always know what I toss on the page will look exactly as I had planned, like Pollack, but what I do toss out there is very hard to dismiss.
Before beginning to abandon the sub-topic of immigration, and its effect on the middle class, I thought I would provide yet another link to a vacuous article which summarizes some scientifically obtained, yet useless, data:
“Cultural Differences Found in Pee”: How many times must Charles Q. Choi of Live Science, (April 21, 2008) have busted out laughing trying to construct serious sentences describing some fairly useless scientific results. His lead paragraph is this: “Pee from more than 4,000 volunteers shows that people from different nations often have spectacularly different metabolisms.” You just can't make this stuff up; ok, you could . . . and I have, but this is a real story. Apparently the biological chemist from London who conducted the study didn’t give Choi a more scientific name to refer to stomach chemicals than “gut bacteria.” Seriously- “gut bacteria.” If that is as technical as you are going to get, you might as well, as a serious journalist, slip in a faux quotation from I.P. Freely and adopt the pseudonym- Johann Sebastian Bok Choy. Only weathermen are more worthless to science than the people that put together that study (a biological chemist among them- ooh, big shot) and probably garnered federal budget money in order to do it. Read all of the comedy for yourself at (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24241623). If you are the guy writing about gut bacteria- what is next- writing an article on an 8th-grader, hopeful of becoming a zoologist, talking about the fornication particulars of the armadillo that he swears on his honor, precede their smelly presenting ritual with a series of cackles and clucks that played backward is proof that the shelled weasel actually tells his mate in armadillan that he is about to get some shell. That is some foreplay. Mr. Choi, I wrote better papers in the fourth grade when I copied the contents of my report on Washington state from the Encyclopedia Britannica, before adopting a writing style that would confound George Hegel.
Still: Perhaps there is some merit to the study. If there is any way to combine the utility of the National Identification card (see #7 below) and the EPS pregnancy test we could completely resolve America’s national problem of illegal immigration. The card would contain a strip that suspected terrorists, illegal immigrants, and suspected Chinese businessmen looking to offer American corporations stock buyout packages, would be asked to relieve themselves on in points of entry all over the country. If a plus sign were returned, we would know that they were illegal immigrants, terrorists or diminutive NAFTA supporters, because their gut bacteria would commingle with the chemical compound present on that portion of the card.
List continued: With that- here is the remainder of my list begun last time on the best of the rest articles on immigration I have collected over the course of the last year:
7) The headline- “Security at What Cost?: National ID system is not worth the $23 Billion Price Tag”: Bruce Schneier, Minneapolis Star Tribune’s opinion exchange section February 24, 2008- http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/15891037.html
The story: A hard to forge national/Real ID card which would require “all states to conform to common and more stringent rules for issuing driver’s licenses.” Schneier’s main problem with the national identification card (NIC) is the cost, both financially ($23 billion) and from an inconvenience standpoint. His other issues with the NIC- complexity, (someone will still be able to successfully forge it in time), lost cards, the human element of people being responsible for checking IDs of potential illegals or terrorists who may become bored into a false sense of security. The even bigger problems, Schneier contends, is an instantaneously accessible set of 50 linked databases- “Computer scientists don’t know how to keep a database of this magnitude secure, whether from outside hackers or the thousands of insiders authorized to access it.” The baseline of initially considering that everyone is a criminal and then further being lulled into the sometimes innacurate judgment of profiling based on certain nationalities, ages, or appearance may also be a problem, to summarize Schneier’s concerns. Schneier writes- “as soon as you divide people into two categories—more trusted and less trusted—you create a third, and very dangerous, category: untrustworthy people whom we have no reason to mistrust.”
Further comments: There is a colloquial saying, which I imagine is common to a number of the fifty states that would adopt the NIC- “whole hog.” It could be used as a mantra for someone investing everything they’ve got in an endeavor, in athletics, financial investment, war, the attempt to attract a mate- perhaps of the armadillo persuasion. Whole hog = risk everything. “All in” is the updated version always used when some unsuspecting card player puts all of his money into the pot in Texas Hold ‘em just prior to getting river’d by someone with a full house. Thing is, American problem solvers think big, and consider the best case scenario and manipulate the variables so that the most resources might achieve the most ideal ends. Immigration is an issue where this has never been the case. Why invest $23 billion instituting a nationwide national identification card that has no guarantee of helping the American cause of minimizing the affects on the country of illegal immigration, among other things. Why not conduct a pilot program? Select five states, some with a heavy illegal immigrant burden and some states with relatively little influx by comparison- (California, Texas, Wyoming, Colorado and South Carolina for example).* Instituting this measure may have an affect on other states illegals know are not included in this pilot and so authorities and citizens in those states would need to be further versed on rules of engagement given this likelihood. So, rather than spending $23 billion and finding that REAL ID wouldn’t work, we, as a nation spend $9 billion and those who guarantee that it won’t work and those who guarantee that it will can both tone down their ignorance on the matter. But at least it will have been tried. However, it stands a much better chance of working with a fortified wall and increased border control support. There is not a silver bullet solution to this problem and it is likely that many checks might need to be put in place to curb the scourge of illegal immigration. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, look at what Indiana Jones had to go through just to remove a gold idol from the cave. Now, if this approach could only be tried on the issue of global warming and urinary footprint detection methods (the new carbon footprint), we could put a couple dozen conservative talk-show hosts, nationwide, off the air. Schneier, oh expert of official documentation as it equates to securing this country against the risk of invasion- you have any solutions, or do you just think up reasons of why we shouldn’t do things? We spend billions on ridiculously proposed and passed legislation every year- what’s $9 billion for a National Identification Card pilot program?
Additional further comments: http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd355.htm, Devvy Kidd, April 7, 2008. Kidd writes that Dobbs defends any bill that comes out of congress, including the national ID laws. To be fair, Dobbs does seem reactionary in his assessment of the justice congress seems to sometimes cavalierly mete out. Kidd writes- “For one reason, the [Real ID] law was crammed into a South Asian tsunami relief bill, with no debate in either house of Congress. For another, it's an unfunded mandate that passes around $25 billion in costs to states." People against this measure often sight the 10th Amendment to the Constitution and that REAL ID is an unfunded mandate. I’ll address the former of those complaints in the book. The latter complaint can be dismissed by the federal government funding it. Where is the money going to come from- see part 9- government waste. We stop wasting money on social aid programs and on the wasteful (not all, not even most) military projects, and we would have plenty of funding.
Also see: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24351798/ “Supreme Court Upholds Voter ID Law,” Associated Press, May 1, 2008- “There is little history in Indiana of either in-person voter fraud—of the sort the law was designed to thwart—or voters being inconvenienced by the law’s requirements.” So, this decision is neither a loss for the democrats nor a victory for the republicans. Unless liberals were seeking to illegally desire for illegal immigrants to vote secretly, this decision should not be a setback to uncompromised elections.
8) The headline: “Drivers Losing Five Days a Year to Traffic Jams”: Associated Press, September 18, 2007- (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20829879)-
The story: “Drivers waste nearly an entire work week each year sitting in traffic on the way to and from their jobs . . . ‘We’ve used up the capacity that had been bequeathed to us by a previous generation, and we haven’t replaced it’ . . . The study estimates that drivers wasted 2.9 billion gallons of fuel while sitting in traffic. That’s about 26 gallons a year per driver.” I wonder if we can determine the type of gut bacteria that resides in the average tank of gas to determine if the driver of that vehicle is of Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Irish, Swedish or Italian descent. I wonder if conducting the world-renowned, highly respected “gut bacteria” study twenty years ago would have revealed that the Yugo was actually mass-produced in Mississippi.
Further comments: To be honest, this is just an indulgence and has little to do with immigration compared to the other stories I have commented on, particularly because the census data indicates that “About three-quarters of all commuters drive alone to work,” which I would concede, many illegal and legal immigrants probably wouldn’t do. Immigrants of whatever legality probably live close enough to work not to have to drive at all, but far enough away from the emergency room of the local hospital to have to drive without a license and insurance (see parts 23-26). Will the second and third generation immigrants fit that mold, will they not desire to have and own a car, irregardless of whether they insure it? As we know, there are plenty of American-born people driving without insurance. And that is the point- our AMERICAN problems, all of them, are not resolved by bringing more human variables into the country. The “Atlanta metropolitan area added 890,000 people from 2000 to 2006.” I am positive that number is not due to an increase in the American fertility rate of whites and blacks; this is easily proven by a google search- or see part 26 #6. I have driven in Atlanta- their rush hour is about six hours long. The very formal Charles Q. Choi, as differentiated from all of the other Charles Choi’s writing articles about urine is planning on writing a follow-up article about traffic congestion as it relates to population increases. However, word is he just finished co-writing this article- “Scientists Decode Brain Farts,” also by Live Science, April 21, 2008 (http://www.msnbc.com/id/24245365/wid/11915773?GT1=31037). Choi likely did not want the “credit” associated with such high-profile assignments, for he did not want to be author-typecast as someone who contributed heavily to the always popular Swiftian genre of scatological humor. Next, Choi will be looking into the behavior of wiener dogs with post-nasal drip that spit snot out of their throats and how that relates to their overall disaffected standing in the society of elongated canine.
9) The headline- “2007 National Survey of Latinos: As Illegal Immigration Issue Heats Up, Hispanics Feel a Chill”: Pew Hispanic Center, December 19, 2007- http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?reportID=84
The story: “. . . federal, state and local governments have pressed forward with hundreds of new enforcement bills, regulations and procedures—including stepped up deportations, more workplace raids, and restrictions on access to driver’s licenses and other government services and benefits. The survey finds that Hispanics oppose these enforcement measures, often by lopsided margins. Three quarters (75%) disapprove of workplace raids; some 79% prefer that local police not take an active role in identifying illegal immigrants; and some 55% disapprove of states checking for immigration status before issuing driver’s licenses. By contrast, non-Hispanics are much more supportive of all these policies . . .” Shocking! “Hispanics generally see illegal immigrants as a plus.” (Note: the Pew survey appears to address just the opinions of Latinos and not Americans). “Nearly eight-in-ten respondents . . . say they are very (45%) or somewhat (33%) confident that Hispanic children growing up now will have better jobs and more money than they have.” I wonder what would so encourage them- perhaps the contents of #s 1, 2, 4 and 5 from last time. Really, how long will it be before a Hispanic-exclusive school opens in Minnesota (see #11 below), California, Texas or say . . . in Oregon- www.youtube.com/watch?v=53A2jpDqV3w tells of Oregon crew chief firefighters losing their jobs to those who speak Spanish. If just one firefighter out of 20 speaks only Spanish the crew chief is either laid-off or demoted. The state, the reporter says, has no answer on why it wouldn’t require the Spanish speaking workers/subordinate firefighters to speak English. If just 1 of 20 speaks Spanish, should the 19 other firefighters lose their leader. I don’t know how liberal a state Oregon generally is, but something seems amiss.
Further comments: Given the news that the “nation’s largest minority group (Hispanics) comprising about 15.5% of the U.S. population might have a problem with laws and measures designed to keep, or get them out of our country, is about as predictable as a conservative finding fault with Thorstein Veblen’s theories on “conspicuous leisure.” Sorry . . . it is about as shocking as a zoologist determining that a porcupine with renal lymphoma is best matched with a chemotherapist turtle who likes to hug and would make the best friends among the commonwealth of animals. Latinos disapprove of supposedly increased efforts designed to check illegal immigration almost as much as rival comedians despised the idea that they lost the initial Last Comic Standing title to Dat Phan. Silly, insecure comedians; they’re almost as needy as writers.
10) The headline- “Are Taxpayers Footing Bill for Islamic School in Minnesota?”: Katherine Kersten, Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 9, 2008, Section B, pages 1 and 11.
The story: TIZA is a K-8 charter school in Inver Grove Heights, MN, that addresses the educational needs of about 300 children from mostly low-income Muslim immigrant families. The school opened a second campus in Blaine, MN. The schools are “financed by Minnesota taxpayers. Under the U.S. and state constitutions, a public school can accommodate students’ religious beliefs but cannot encourage or endorse religion.” The school was founded by the Muslim American Society of Minnesota (MAS-MN) by two imams (the same type of individuals who were going to sue an airline because of “harsh” treatment) and who issued a “fatwa,” telling Muslim taxi drivers to steer clear of passengers who were carrying alcohol in their baggage because it is a violation of Islamic law. TIZA is an Islamic religious school in business at Minnesota taxpayer expense. This is interesting: “MAS-MN offers on its web site ‘beneficial and enlightening information’ about Islam, which includes statements like ‘Regularly make the intention to go on jihad with the ambition to die as a martyr.’ Look up “jihad” on the internet and determine for yourself how its meaning might be interpreted. At its 2007 convention, MAS-MN featured the notorious Shayk Khalid Yasin, who is well known in Britain and Australia for teaching that husbands can beat disobedient wives, that gays should be executed and that the United States spreads the AIDS virus in Africa through vaccines for tropical diseases.” The topic of the convention: “ ‘Building a Successful Muslim Community in Minnesota.’ ” America, what a country (see part 25). Incidentally, that last charge, about the AIDS virus being spread by the United States has been a topic of discussion of late. Barack Obama recently cut ties with his former religious touchstone, the not so reverened Jeremiah Wright for having exactly the same beliefs. Wright- "God damn America!" Our politicians have not seemed to need a god's help in that endeavor.
Further comments: A school of muslims encouraged to go on jihad, set up by American taxpayers. Liberals- nice job. I was driving home from work last week and drove behind a woman driving an Outback wagon with a bumper sticker that read: “Liberal.” I might get one that reads: “Caucasian” just in case I forget the one term that would most define me. I wondered if she would get out at stoplights and run in back to check to make sure it was still there, if it still applied, to remind her of who she is as a human being. Why not just take the next step and have it branded across your forehead, or have the most predominant synonym- ‘Gullible’ tattooed on your forearm. Liberals are so gullible they probably think that an anti-spam statute is one that is prejudiced against the most famous of the canned meats.
Additional further comments: I know plenty of democrats/liberals and call some of them my friends. They are good people, but have a narrow-minded view of the world- just my opinion. Their good-natured naivete is their badge of honor for other liberals to appreciate, but for everyone else to mock. Perhaps the non-liberals would have a better chance at shaming liberals into recognizing the errors of their ways if liberals would actually engage in a dialogue, and decide not to be so prescient about exactly who the god of their choice will gather into their sanctioned version of heaven. I don’t have to be a union member, teacher, environmentalist or a tree-hugger in order to concede that plenty of immigrants have merit as hard-working human beings, unfortunately, through fate, their soul and their physical form were united together and jointly delivered unto a tract of land south, east, north or west of the United States, where living conditions present more of a challenge. I would probably try to enter the lands where the grass is greener as well, should I have been born into such a predicament, until laws that were enforced were put into place to stop me and likely even after that. Something that might keep me out- a wall and more border patrol agents. And that is something that conservatives don’t get when they make a blanket statement desiring all immigrants to leave the United States- consider your fortune, your upbringing, imagine that no one would take pity on your circumstances, should you have been trapped as a citizen of Honduras, with the personality and soul you were delivered in your current physical form. Many people take their good fortune too much for granted. There is good and bad in immigration; those who ignore ALL that immigrants contribute are ignorant and those that welcome ALL that they, and their proponents claim to provide are pompous.
11) The headline- “To Dream . . . Perchance to Do”: Lori Sturdevant, March 9, 2008- http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/16394626.html-
The story: 1,000 students delivered to the Minnesota state capitol by the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network talking about how much education they would like to have enabling them to become doctors, teachers or engineers given the supposed shortage of skilled workers. “The Dream Act would . . . say that if a student attends a Minnesota high school for at least three years, achieves an academically qualifying record and graduates, he or she is eligible for [resident tuition rates] regardless of the immigration status of his or her parents. These students would be spared nonresident rates that can be more than twice as high.” Consider the brief story of Gov. Tim Pawlenty in part 23 and then consider this: “But Gov. Tim Pawlenty insists on defining the Dream Act in terms of immigration policy, not workforce development. His veto threats have stopped each attempt to pass it.” The DFL isn’t sure whether it will try again in the 2008 legislative session because they “recall how some GOP candidates used the Dream Act to make DFLers sound soft on illegal immigration in the 2006 campaign.” This just in- DFLers ARE soft on immigration.
This is a big one, so I decided to offset it because it is related to immigration advantages, education, future employment, and is relevant to the overall topic on so many levels:
“The Minnesota Private College Research Foundation warns about what's coming: Unless current college-enrollment patterns change, the state will see an 11 percent drop in four-year college graduates by 2017. By the middle of the next decade, there won't be enough new grads per year to fill the jobs left vacant by retirements, let alone new jobs that require four-year degrees.”
Further comments: First, Pawlenty is a fairly progressive conservative. He stated that the majority of citizens believe in more strict immigration controls. Liberals in legislatures all over the country- allow your governors to pass more strict immigration legislation, or quit whining about how “difficult” it has been for you to sponsor the invasion of our country. Enough said there. Second, on the point about allowing immigrants a reduced tuition rate- make all students pay the same rate, giving no breaks to anyone; why should some people just as deserving of an education be penalized for being an American? Third, this is a huge one and the reason I drew the quotation out by itself- with all of the outsourcing of American jobs, (and I could dig up several dozen articles from the last five years proving the issue of outsourcing), we need immigrants to come in and compete with Americans in even more areas, keeping the wage scale down because of the increase in qualified workers the immigrants would represent after having been given tuition breaks Americans don’t even get? Again, liberals- get into heaven some other way, rescue a cat from a tree, drive an environmentally friendly car, rescue a coyote from choking on a hot dog during a competitive eating event at a county fair . . . just not a coyote helping other illegals cross our border that does not have a wall or patrol agents employed to keep them out.
12) The headline- Dobbs (again) “War on the Middle Class” various pages-
The story: “Mexico’s president Vicente Fox [at the time] has blasted the plan to build a seven-hundred-mile fence along the U.S. – Mexico border, which he charges would violate the rights of illegal aliens . . . Fox is exporting his poverty and importing a substantial portion of his economy thanks to the millions of Mexicans living in the United States who send billions of dollars back to Mexico every year.” (pg. 149) I could quote much of the text that appears on the pages between 131-172 relative to immigration and education. On page 168 this can be found- “almost ten million of our students speak a foreign language at home, nearly a fifth of the total student population, which is of concern to numerous school districts trying to teach English proficiency.” How does that information tie into the topic of the future economic dire straits of the middle class- well, those foreign speaking children will be competing with English-speaking middle class kids for jobs in 10-15 years (see part 26). “The Dallas school board voted to force many of its principals to learn and speak Spanish.” (pg. 168) A New York city council man “introduced a proposal to require public schools to translate report cards and other school documents into nine languages.” Actually, I could have used that on a number of occasions when I was in high school. I am pretty sure my dad wouldn’t have been able to read a C on my report card if it appeared in Cantonese, a language without an alphabet.
I also must offset this by itself: an American consulting firm representative said “that his company’s survey of companies showed that ‘84 percent of respondents say that K-to-twelve schools do not do a good job of preparing individuals for the workplace.’ . . . Big business is saying it won’t hire Americans because they aren’t smart enough or aren’t well prepared for the rigors of the job market.” Why might that be? I am not saying we don’t have a liberal education expenditure money-hole of our own making, that if there were no immigrants we wouldn’t have a problem with educational lobbyists throwing money at the problems presented by misguided attempts to fix education, but the problem of immigration only makes everything worse, especially education because of how one’s education is tied to future and career earnings (see part 7). I wouldn’t have any problem agreeing to the idea that American children should learn Spanish, but all other immigrants must first learn English- no exceptions. Our middle class kids are being held back so that immigrant children can be brought up to speed- is it any wonder they are ill-prepared for the “rigors of the job market”? With that, both sets of middle class kids will suffer, the current and subsequent crop of middle class American kids and middle class kids who are currently illegal immigrants whose offspring will climb a rung or two on the social-equality ladder to become middle class. I imagine, if they can both speak English and both speak Spanish, they will then be quarreling about the injustice of economics with the rich. So, ultimately, I see that this is about money more than it is about race. If there is a god, and the economically disadvantaged can organize, it would behoove them to share both languages- one group of people that will then be disadvantaged in the event this becomes a reality . . . the rich. The words- Civil War mean anything? I am just saying this is possible. Yes, let us all dismiss the notion, for nothing that was ever considered impossible has occurred. Anyone labeling me a socialist has a short attention-span and has already been proven wrong (see the first paragraph of part 9). I could go on quoting Dobbs all day long and fill several more columns providing commentary on in-state tuition breaks for illegals which thousands of middle class American kids do not receive, American unions stating that they desire that illegals should gain union rather than green cards, which I would imagine is more of an affront to a lower income wage-earner who feels he or she has derived certain benefits over the course of a couple decades work that should not be afforded to immigrants- “more than 40 percent of the wage losses of low-skilled workers was due to competition from immigrant workers,” etc. Read pages 131-172; that should be all the information one might need to talk down to a liberal on this subject they won’t suffer to engage in because they think the mandate of altruism is synonymous with the cause of liberalism. [Yes, there is an end to this paragraph] I exchanged a few emails with a contributor to an online activist website that supported the cause of illegal immigrants. I wrote of the environmental strain of cumulative, unchecked illegal immigration, (just selecting one of the myriad of issues I have already written about), and he condescended to show me I was in error because of how many people from all over the world might each have just less than an acre of land in a few southwestern states, Texas among them. We could all move to Texas, he maintained. I could go on. Our exchange was actually quite civil, but I guarantee he would have a hard time defending all of the reasons why unchecked illegal immigration is not a good idea, not the least of which is because I think he admitted to not having any children. Seems that if those favoring illegal immigration would empathize with their own progeny, whom they haven't yet named, as much as with those they haven't met, this country would be the better for it.
13) The headline- (Insert headline here concerning the corruption and opacity of the Mexican government and how the United States should funnel money to Mexican president Felipe Calderon and his underlings in order to keep the number of illegals at bay, which would create jobs in Mexico or any Latin American country, reduce crime, thwart the drug trade and all that good stuff.) Or look at this pertinent, prescient link (http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97feb/mexico/mexico.htm). The story contained therein was written more than ten years ago- February 1997 by Robert D. Kaplan, “History Moving North.”
The story: Kaplan’s article is quite comprehensive, but I found very little more recent stories concerning the notion that gifting millions to the Mexican government, to keep it solvent, given the rampant political corruption, which is nearly always tied to the drug trade, would do anything to minimize illegal immigrant’s employment prospects in the United States. Seems our current economy has taken care of some of that- (see the second paragraph of footnote * below and this article- “Immigrants Boost Economy—But how Much?” Las Vegas Sun- http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/apr/14/immigrants-boost-economy-how-much/). NAFTA and other free trade agreements which affect the labor force in the U.S. are the primary issues. Assuming that was the panacea (giving tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to a Latin American country so that they would be economically viable) would that be a one-time balloon payment or an annual perpetual financial donation? How would American taxpayers respond to the idea of either? And what makes the United States government feel like it is above reproach from a corruption and transparency standpoint, casting aspersions at other regimes who might not be quite as accomplished from a complicity standpoint as it regards the politicians that control the government? Keep in mind that other Latin American countries are worse off economically than Mexico- would we be paying them off as well? It seems highly likely that Latin American bureaucrats would do more than skim $$ off the top of the funding we might provide, so I have a feeling that the U.S. would be suffering from one massive outlay, without deriving any benefit. And when has that ever happened? I would rather consider the revirgination of an ox so that it might mate with this prairie dog** of an attorney I used to work with who thought terrible penmanship and extreme inquisitiveness were endearing qualities than know we are giving money away to other nations who hate us for the indebtedness they feel toward our obligatory financial or resource assistance. Note: I have had to consider that revirgination thingy quite a bit. Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Bosnia, Haiti, Liberia, Rwanda, Kosovo, Columbia are just a few of the countries who have derived some benefit from our generosity. I do not believe that all of the foreign aid we have provided has been given in vain, but surely not all of it was spent wisely- see "Foreign Aid: An Introductory Overview of U.S. Programs and Policy" April 15, 2004- http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/31987.pdf.
Further comments: I had written the entire previous paragraph before finding this New York Times story- “Bush Asks Congress for $1.4 Billion to Fight Drugs in Mexico,” James C. McKinley Jr., October 23, 2007 (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/world/americas/23mexico.html. Fortuitous. At the end of the previous article is a link to this story- “Businessman in Mexcio Says Top Officials Hid Millions,” also written by McKinley, July 4,2007 (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/world/americas/04mexico.html?fta=y. “The Mexican government vigorously denied this week the accusations of a Chinese-Mexican businessman who is wanted on drug charges here but who asserts that $150 million found hidden in his mansion came from members of President Felipe Calderón’s party, including the secretary of labor.” Two things are possible, either the businessman is lying, or he is telling the truth. Fighting the drug cartel over there is probably wise, rather than having to fight it over here; perhaps we would do well to deal with the Mexican economic issue over there as well, if we could be guaranteed that Mexican and other Latin American governments were treating their own citizens as well as we would.
14) The headline: “Immigrants, Welfare and Work”: Lauren Mutti, June 4, 2002- (http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba400/)- (NCPA= National Center for Policy Analysis)
The story: a) in Mutti’s written words “. . . the United States has been a nation of immigrants . . . foreign-born citizens and residents, legal and illegal, compose only 11.1 percent of the total U.S. population. While this represents an increase of three percentage points in the past decade, it is lower than the 1890 high of 14.8 percent of the population.” b) She further writes- “One widespread myth about recent immigrants is that they take advantage of our welfare state. However, most immigrants are not even eligible for public assistance when they first arrive. Legal immigrants who are not refugees are not allowed to receive public welfare benefits until they have lived here at least three years. Immigrants who are sponsored by a family member - roughly 70 percent of total legal immigrants - cannot receive public assistance until they have been in the U.S. for at least five years.” She then chronicles the amount of retirement, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid money American-born families receive, on average, compared to immigrants. She tackles some issues such as taxation, family reunification and my second favorite issue as it concerns immigration- (the first being education) that is- wages. c) She states- “An ample labor supply keeps labor costs down and leads to lower prices for consumers.”
Further comments: a) Number of immigrants- how many immigrants is a suitable number- should we just let them all in, have them take all of our jobs (mindful of Kant’s categorical imperative); is a United States, 50% of whom are immigrants enough? Give me a report about how many are truly assimilating (learning the language, abiding the laws, not preventing Americans from expressing themselves in their own culture- kids wearing costumes to school on Halloween, immigrants not being needlessly offended, etc.); b) Welfare- some people are just too unaware of how far the bear paw is in the honey pot of America- If immigrants stayed in their country of origin, when might people from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Laos, Haiti, etc. begin receiving money from United States social aid programs? I would like to say- never, but see #13 above. Don’t kid yourself- immigrants, legal now, or provided amnesty five years from now, will gather the same social security benefits as Americans who have paid in all their lives, if social security remains solvent. Why wouldn’t they- greater injustices have been perpetrated upon the American public already; I have spent six columns revealing them on the current sub-topic; c) labor supply- They damn well better keep consumer costs down, because they are either putting some of those consumers out of a job or are drastically affecting what a consumer’s salary might be. True, what is the difference if an employee’s net income is $2,400 a month and pays $3.69 for a gallon of 1% milk or nets $2,950 and pays $5.50. I'll get to taxation in another few columns- it will be the last thing I tackle. Suffice to say, a continued influx of potentially economically needless immigration will reduce the paychecks of poor and middle class workers- as I've demonstrated. Keeping the costs of consumer goods down is the only saving grace of unchecked immigration or overvalued government approval of the number of legal immigrants given citizen status. Mutti also gathers some data from quite an old source, a 1976 Survey of Income and Education (SIE)*** which reveals, up to that time, how little immigrant families collected from the federal government or any of its social aid programs (Social Security, Medicare, Welfare, etc.) I doubt the monetary figures she bases her opinion on from a report that is now more than 30 years old will stack up against what immigrants are currently receiving. There is no reason a well-meaning, reliable, productive, assimilated human being who speaks English, doesn’t infringe on an American’s traditions, pays taxes and follows our laws, should wait 16 years after retirement to gather the same amount of aid, in whatever form, than an American-born retiree. Given how freely we are offering up our country- I would be shocked if the requirements for receiving social aid were the same as 32 years ago, nor should they be. Though I like my chances of getting decent cell phone reception in an elevator more than actually being able to convince a pro illegal immigration rights person of their faulty foresight, I’ll keep trying.
15) The headlines- “American Diversity” and “Is Immigration in the Public Interest”: These appear as broad headings in an American Government textbook published by West Publishing, the last copyright of which is 1994, Fifth Edition. The contributors listed are: Susan Welch, John Gruhl, Michael Steinman, John Comer and Susan M. Rigdon-
The story I: The bold heading “American Diversity” reveals the previous five waves of immigration that populated the United States with all kinds of characters previous to the current wave- 1) Native Americans “crossed a land bridge from Asia about 50,000 years ago”; 2) the early influx of people from Britain, Holland, France and Spain in the early 1600s; 3) Africans started coming to America in 1619 and continued through the early 1800s- many, as we know, did not come here freely; 4) the mid 1800s saw the influx of “millions of people from Ireland fleeing the potato famine and Germans escaping political turmoil”; 5) “Beginning in the 1970s, the latest major wave has included Vietnamese, Cambodians, Russian Jews, and Latin Americans. Most are Asians and Mexicans.” 6) I have provided a suitable amount of information relative to the sixth wave of substantial immigration, which is ongoing and is distinguished from the wave from #5 given the numbers and home region concentration (i.e. Latin America). The remainder of that portion of the textbook merely provides immigrant demographics, native animosity given the various immigrant group’s presence and their contributions put into historical perspective. Asian-Americans were the fastest growing minority, at about 3% of the population, at that time.
The story II: According to the “Is Immigration in the Public Interest?” inset in chapter 1 (pgs. 8-11) “the effect of immigration on wages is small because most legal immigrants, many of whom are highly educated and skilled, do not work in [the] low-wage industries.” Unfortunately, this is true, of legal immigrants, who compete for wages of many members of the middle class, while illegal immigrants compete for wages of members of the lower class. Is there a class of immigrants that will compete for wages with our upper class? Not significantly. It is more likely that I would be able to prove that a preying mantis might seek out copper thieves in order to have sex for pleasure. Immigrant “newcomers have little effect [on blue collar wages] because immigrants take jobs that others do not want.” I’ve already addressed the inherent self-fulfilling prophecy of allowing in massive numbers of illegal immigrants who frequent the businesses for which they are likely to work. “While federal money helps states and localities pay for many services that must be offered to legal and illegal residents alike, this assistance is shrinking as the federal government shifts many of its responsibilities to the states.” And our state income taxes have not gone up because of it. Right, and congressional approval ratings have never been better, consumer optimism is at an all-time high, and fresh strawberries have a long shelf life. See how long it takes us to catch on to immigration trends and ignore the proof that is staring us in the face (see parts 1 & 2) “Race relations—and political tensions—could worsen if the white non-Hispanic population continues to fall in proportion to minority populations.” Ya think? And maybe we’ll get to feeling like the Native American Indians when we colonized their countryside. There are a couple sentences that give numbers and percentages similar to what I reported last time regarding how the U.S. will be overrun by its own lack of an enforceable immigration policy. Race relations and political tensions- see the YouTube video- part 23. I was going to comment on the loss of American customs, holidays, traditions, the loss of our language (see #13 directly above), our national identity and how we will lose touch with each other by not being able to relate because we won’t have much in common with our co-workers or fellow students in twenty years. I decided that is not an economic issue, at least not directly, and falls outside of the parameters of my middle class blog jeremiad- but just barely.
Further comments: No mas.
We must begin to consider the allowing in of more and more immigrants, of any type, into the country and compare that to the fate suffered by this hawk- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24294408/ “Did Eaten Songbird Claw Its Way through Hawk?” Hawks- birds of prey, taking advantage of the less fortunate on the food chain (i.e. American businesses employing millions of illegals and paying them a wage incommensurate with their contributions), swallowing whole those it should not trust to keep it alive. Perhaps the hawk had a brain fart and little considered swallowing a live bird whole. Allowing immigrants into the country carte blanche is counter-productive to our way of life. Who would work at all of the Chipotles all over the country? That is a much smaller problem to solve than overpopulation, Americans paying for education, health care, infrastructure, crimes, and Welfare for immigrants,* dealing with identity theft, a potential compromised voting record, not to mention the apparently probable disintegration of American culture and tradition. Ask a liberal if they will fight as hard to defend an eight-year-old’s right to wear a Batman costume to public school on Halloween as they will an illegal’s right to collect unemployment after five months of working as a roofer.
Americans- I give you the still very relevant Thomas Paine: “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it the superficial appearance of right.” What kind of appearance does not thinking about it at all give? The words negligent and irresponsible come to mind.
* The federal government and the pilot states for the national ID would then spend the money necessary to allow the program to run its course over a year period. Arizona and Oklahoma have essentially done just that, providing for the rest of the states, test cases whereby we might judge how necessary illegal immigrant’s contributions to our country might be by passing the toughest laws as it concerns an employer’s hiring practices. Do a search on “federal judge upholds Arizona illegal immigration law.”
See this very relevant article- “Immigrant Boost Economy-but How Much?” by Timothy Pratt, Las Vegas Sun, April 14, 2008- (http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/apr/14/immigrants-boost-economy-how-much/). This is one of the pieces of information I am withholding comment on in order to move forward, but which will be addressed in the book. Again, not finding someone to deliver a steak burrito bowl at Chipotle in exchange for not having to pay tens of thousands of dollars over one’s lifetime for the medical bills, education, subsidized housing, and for not having to deal with immigration's affect on our environment, natural resources and lifetime earnings . . . I can make my own burrito and pay an American $2,000 more to roof my house. To be clear, we need many immigrants, possibly half of the number already here.
** Think skittish and invasive- like the stars of Animal Planet’s “Meerkat Manor.” Can one person be Draconian and passive-aggressive?
*** Mutti had no other choice but to use these numbers if what she writes is true- that it was the “most recent and comprehensive on the subject,” at least it was, according to her, up to 2002.
For more on the rise in the U.S. population for all of the decades of the 20th century please see- http://www.numbersusa.com/overpopulation/decadegraph.html. If things continue with illegal and LEGAL immigration as they have, it is sure to affect you, or someone you love, or someone who loves you. But if it doesn’t, imagine that it does. Consider the infrastructure costs and deforestation that is likely to take place so that new homes, roads, schools and additional infrastructure can be built to accommodate that number of people. Ironic- that liberals would so adore the idea of additional tens of millions of immigrants crossing the border which can't help but have an effect on the environment. Wait, is that irony or hypocrisy? You decide. I love trees, despite having already decked the apple tree I promised to in part 16, and would rather like the opportunity to not hug a tree than not be able to.
Other articles to digest, on which I will provide commentary when I transfer the words that no one has read here into book form . . . where no one will read them:
“Protestors Nationwide Seek Immigrant Rights” Associated Press http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24409739;
“Crackdown Leads to Drop in Illegal Immigration,” Las Vegas Sun (referenced in #14 above, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24409765;
“National ID Cards Won’t Stop Terrorism or Illegal Immigration,” Ron Paul, http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2005/tst050905.htm.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Middle Class Pt. 26: Affectation, I. Kant- Immigration's Population Strain- Its Affect on the Environment, Education, Employment and Health Care
Laissez faire: is “a French phrase literally meaning ‘let do’ . . . an injunction against government interference with trade, it became used as a synonym for strict free market economics. It is generally understood to be a doctrine that maintains that private initiative and production are best allowed to be free of economic interventionism and taxation by the state beyond what is necessary to maintain individual liberty, peace, security, and property rights.” (Courtesy of Wikipedia)
Affectation: 1) the act of taking on or displaying an attitude or mode of behavior not natural to oneself or not genuinely felt; b) speech or conduct not natural to oneself: artificiality; 2) striving after. (Courtesy of Webster’s Ninth Collegiate Dictionary)
Categorical imperative: Is Immanuel Kant’s primary moral philosophical tenet- “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.” Stealing, should it be permitted to you to do, would then be permitted for everyone. One often can choose not to recycle, and often justifies their not doing so because they are just one person; they ask themselves ‘what impact can I possibly make?’ I want to ban this person from speaking, or from living, or little kids might not wish their younger sister to touch her own toys (hey, it has been known to happen- I have possession wars every day in my house . . . two toddlers). If everyone were allowed to follow through on their wishes, mass chaos would ensue. “The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good, in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.” - John Stuart Mill
Case in point: “Homeland Security Won't Explain Why the Mexican Border Wall Bypasses the Rich and Connected,” by Melissa del Bosque (Texas Observer, February 19, 2008). It seems “the U.S. Department of Homeland Security marches down the Texas border serving condemnation lawsuits to frightened landowners, Brownsville resident Eloisa Tamez, 72, has one simple question. She would like to know why her land is being targeted for destruction by a border wall, while a nearby golf course and resort remain untouched.” Lady, I agree 99 times out of 100 to fight an argument such as this- this is that one time where the fight need not occur because of the bigger picture. The needs of the many are at stake. There are hundreds and hundreds of people in Texas in the same predicament . . . just let it happen. Perhaps the government would like to pay those who own the land for relinquishing their property to the right cause of building a wall and employing more border patrol agents. If no one foregoes their claim to their land, 850,000 to 1.1 million illegals per year will continue to cross the border, especially once the housing market improves.
Cruising: My wife recently went on a cruise with her family. That left me in charge of watching my two middle class toddlers for four straight days- flying solo. I was to pick my wife up from the airport upon her return, which was set for about 3:30 in the afternoon of a recent weekday. My mom called to tell me that there might be 3-7 inches of snow on the ground by rush hour. I instinctively thought- ‘my travels don’t often take me to the freeway during that time,’ so I dismissed this information. Then it occurred to me- oh damn, I do have to drive the freeway during rush hour to pick up my wife at the airport. Suddenly I cared, because I was affected by that news.
Kidding me: If you do not have kids, you probably don’t care about the cost of raising one to adulthood, or about college tuition expenses, excepting that you may still be paying on your own loans. I was raised to be a little less selfish in the wide world scope of things than to just consider my own situation when it comes to societal, political, historical, environmental or athletic issues. I have certainly missed the mark on many occasions, but when I think of the bigger picture, I think my nearly instinctive Kantian philosophical approach (think categorical imperative) is much more realistic. It is imperative to me to be engaged in world events, to know what is going on and why. I can’t track down all of the information about tsunamis in the Orient; or know all about the research that the New England Historic Genealogical Society conducted to determine that Barack Obama is distantly related to Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman, James Madison, Winston Churchill, Robert E. Lee and Brad Pitt, while Hillary Clinton is related to Madonna, Celine Dion, Camilla Parker-Bowles and a transvestite from Hoboken.* I can’t know all about how “Being Born Prematurely Continues to Affect People as They Age,” that premies “have higher death rates in childhood and are more likely to be childless in adulthood.” I also cannot know how this might affect me: a Minnesota state senator proposed legislation allowing the incandescent light bulb the freedom to live rather than be aborted in favor of the compact fluorescent bulb whose infancy and energy-efficiency has been so hotly debated of late. Who knew that a bulb’s right to light/life would be so ridiculously contentious; I’ll stop short of bringing Roe v. Wade into this portion of my column. (All three of the latter stories can be found in the A section of the Minneapolis Star Tribune from March 26, 2008, courtesy of Associated Press (family tree), Carla K. Johnson (premature births) and Kevin Diaz (light bulbs) respectively.
Affectation: This will probably be the movie title for some incredibly morose yarn about an abused, alcoholic moose that is into staged productions about gardening and craves the taste of cymbalta (think of Nicolas Cage’s “Adaptation” and the 2007 best picture nominee “Atonement.” One word, pithy titles for movies that are depressingly artistic and are about forgiveness, purpose, fulfillment, or frustration with one’s untapped intellectual sexuality are overdone, cliché and nearly unwatchable). The one person still reading may yawn now. However, millions of teens, and adults for that matter, crave the spotlight. The word “melodrama” (affectation's latter-day equivalent) is used to describe anyone's angst-ridden schmaltzy lives where nothing important happens to them, until they record each other beating up their classmates and post it on You Tube. People play the victim for affect.
No worries: My diatribe to this point has not been of the affected variety- trying to invent drama where it does not exist. The American drama of the middle class most certainly exists. I have indicated several times that I am at a relatively comfortable stage in my life. What concerns me are future generations of middle class kids. Should I be so narrow-mindedly obsessed, passionately crying out for better fortune in a manner that might be strangely pacifying, I would only be able to focus on things as they stand now. I have two great kids, an adorable wife, a house, two reliable vehicles and a good job. My only addiction is to Mountain Dew and reading. I have decided that heedlessness as it concerns the future of my country is not the way to go. Hakuna matata- the zulu/sotho philosophy promulgated by a meerkat and a warthog in the 80s movie- “The Lion King,” which literally means- “there are no worries here” holds no appeal for me . . . IF . . . there are WORRIES here! Friggin’ warthog and meerkat conditioning a generation (or two) of little kids that they should accept the status quo in everything political! Soooo, my raillery against the animal kingdom has its source- not exactly the Rosebud of Citizen Kane in terms of symbolic origins, but perhaps one that I didn’t need a psychiatrist to unearth. Luckily, I had already reached my cynical potential by that time in my life and the warthog and meerkat, the Will and Ariel Durant of Disney philosophical thought, could not cow me into a belief in the laissez faire standpoint of just leaving well enough alone, especially as it concerns people and issues outside of my control.
Universal law: Hakuna matata v. the Categorical Imperative. The first phrase combines conservative dismissiveness and liberal altruistic arrogance into one disgusting, hands off (laissez faire) approach. The second phrase is Kant’s insightful check on personal and collective liberty properly balanced with diligence and foresight. Hmmm . . . just like Joe Pesci quickly weighed the pros and cons of kicking the ass of some red-neck and collecting the money the very lovely Marissa Tomei won defeating him at billiards or accepting the red-neck’s counter-offer, that of Pesci suffering an ass-kicking and not collecting said winnings . . . I think I will choose Kant.
Quote me on that: About four years prior to the release of The Lion King, I had purchased Peter’s Quotations- a book comprised of thoughts and ideas by some famous and not so famous people. I am quite comfortable quoting others. Some might say, express yourself- show me what you know. I think I have proven that I can do that on a regular basis. When struggling to effectively communicate something, I sometimes seek to reduce the number of my clumsily written sentences when another, much better writer, has so concisely and passionately hit the mark. The following quotation, and many others in the book, strike me as applicable to the overall topic of the American citizen’s collective apathy toward most things political and governmental:
Martin Niemoeller: “In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews . . . the trade unionists . . . the Catholics . . . then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.” I imagine that Niemoeller is addressing the Fascist government of Germany preceding and during WWII, and how various citizens were rounded up as part of the ethnic cleansing rampant in Germany during that time. See, if all we do is only worry about ourselves and our own (spouses, children, siblings, parents) and not successfully seek the political change that is only ours if we vote collectively, then the national anxiety, frustration and bitterness will carry on each subsequent election.
Dante: Among those other quotations are Dante’s version of Niemoeller’s quote directly above, with of course, (it is Dante), more umph: “The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality.”
AND
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” - Edmund Burke (The words- "good men" need not be restricted to iconic politicians, inventors or soldiers . . . a conscientious voter- good enough.)
AND one more
“Hey, immigrants! Beat it! Country’s full!” - Bart Simpson.
Ok, ok, that one really isn’t contained in the book. I have to transition somehow to my concluding remarks on the sub-topic of immigration and how it affects everyone in the United States, including the liberals who assist them in their arrival and the middle class who want them out. Unfortunately, due to the overall length of the material I have compiled over the course of the past year that I consider pertinent to the topic, the conclusion of this sub-topic will take two columns, so without further adieu, here goes:
1) The headline- “Hospitals Feeling Strain from Illegal Immigrants:” Dana Canedy, August 25, 2002- Hospital strain.
The story: a penniless Guatemalan illegal immigrant with no health insurance, injuries which have left him with severe brain damage, limited mobility, and accumulated bills of almost $1 million, after a head-on collision. “Many illegal immigrants . . . use emergency rooms as their primary source of routine and critical health care.” Florida, California, Texas and Arizona are those hardest hit by this type of “financial burden on health care centers that treat them.” (Not surprisingly- of the debates I saw, in Florida and California, I don’t really recall a lot of dialogue on the topic of immigration in the debates- in FLORIDA, where major Medicare meats major immigration. The media is complicit in this stifling of one of the major topics in politics, because I don’t recall the moderators, (who are members of the big media), asking any questions concerning immigration. “ ‘We have people coming to our country in good faith to work, but we have no system in place as a nation as to what to do when these people get sick,’ ” said a spokeswoman for Martin Memorial Medical Center (Florida). “By some estimates, hospitals are collectively writing off as much as $2 billion a year in unpaid medical bills to treat the illegal immigrants.” The story, from 2002, indicates that there were an estimated 8 million illegals in the U.S. through 2000, up from 5 million in 1996.
Further comments: Take the money trapped within the earnings report file I referred to last time, and use that to pay for illegals charging up massive medical bills. With that, illegals are paying their own medical bills. We still need that wall and federal agents but this would be a start, to remove the burden of taxpayers. There might not be a one to one correlation between money unaccounted for by the IRS (see part 25) and money that thousands of hospitals have been short-changed on over the years from an illegal immigrant patient standpoint, but the two are anything but mutually exclusive. In addition, no Earned Income Credit (EIC) money should be distributed to illegals in excess of what was paid in for taxes. I concluded that the vast majority of illegals actually are paying taxes (see part 25). I long for the days when there were only 5 million illegals in the country and considered that a massive problem. That shows us how naive we were and how naive we will be in 12 more years when there are 100 million illegals. Build a wall and employ more border patrol agents. Do a Google search on “illegal immigrants closing of emergency rooms” and perhaps you will see what type of problem we have here.
2) The headline- “U.S. to Pay Medical Bills for Illegal Immigration:” Associated Press, May 10, 2005- Medical Bills
The story: “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued final guidance . . . that sets up a system for reimbursement. Lawmakers set aside $1 billion over four years for the program.” Says the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, “ ‘It seems to me that if the federal government has abdicated its responsibility for immigration enforcement, then it’s responsible for making those jurisdictions [states with illegal immigration populations] whole,’ ”
Further comments: . . . at the cost of the citizens paying taxes to support such social aid programs? Do a google search on immigrants medical bills and prepare to be disgusted. Build a wall, employ more border patrol agents and stop writing editorials like this- fence border rush - “Editorial: Court should halt rush to complete fence on border.” Kill an American robin, trample some marshlands, build the damn fence! Environmentalists may be shocked by that, well, see #7b below. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said: "Criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation. Congress and the public have been adamant that they want and expect border security. We're serious about delivering it." We'll see. I had heard that the head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was trying to stop the building of the wall- I was not aware of the particulars. A cursory web search did not provide any information relative to this news snippet. Perhaps the DHS is too busy extracting lungless frogs from the baracuda polygamist ranch, fearing the frogs were in imminent danger**- polygamists and lungless frog.
3) The headline: “Census Bureau: Number of U.S. Uninsured Rises to 47 Million Americans: Almost 5 Percent Increase Since 2005”: Teddy Dineley Johnson, January 8, 2008- uninsured Americans
The story: “Annual Census Bureau estimates released in August [2007] show 47 million people, or 15.8 percent of the U.S. population, were without health insurance during 2006 — a 4.9 percent increase. In 2005, census figures showed that 44.8 million people, or about 15.3 percent of the population, lacked health insurance coverage.” The article includes the words Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP; one word that is noticeably absent- immigration. Not good: “The percentage of uninsured children younger than 18 rose from 10.9 percent in 2005 to 11.7 percent in 2006.”
Further comments: The number of children born to white and black Americans has largely gone down over the past ten years. Yet the number of uninsured people living in this country continues to rise. I do not find a lot of benefit to the cost of my benefits (i.e. health insurance) rising at my place of employment so that I can pay the cost of untold numbers of immigrants receiving health care. Maybe we ought to start publishing the number of uninsured and underinsured AMERICANS in papers and websites that deliver us half of the story. I hate the fact that any child of any nationality would be without the medicine and medical care they might need- it breaks my heart. However, the numbers given in dozens of articles I have perused concerning the lack of health insurance coverage rarely differentiate between an American, an immigrant or an illegal immigrant not having health insurance. Quite a substantial oversight. One article that does comment on this distinction was written by Julia A. Seymour- “Health Care Lie: ’47 Million Uninsured Americans.’ ” health care lie July 18, 2007. Seymour goes after Michael Moore, significant national newspapers and four of the leading candidates, (at the time) for the presidency for their continued misrepresentation of the numbers of uninsured citizens. “A closer look at the [Census Bureau] report reveals the Census data include 9.487 million people who are ‘not a citizen.’ ” I thought so. More staggering is the number of legal immigrants with health care that middle class American citizens are subsidizing. That also breaks my heart. Note- plenty of people who can afford health care should also be counted among the remaining 37 million (according to Seymour)- so the uninsured aren’t all poor people crying out for medical care.
Consider one more thing on this sub-sub topic of health care for immigrants: If nearly 10 million non-citizens are classified by PLENTY of the politicians as figuring among the 47 million who are uninsured, imagine how many uninsured immigrants will be counted among that number and how many former non-citizens will need insurance when the amnesty bill passes. Pretty soon the G.I.L.F. you saw on the golf course four years ago and almost found attractive enough to set up with one of your better friends who is into brittle-boned women won’t seem so unattractive in retrospect. We now rationalize that $3 for a gallon of gas is good because we've been conditioned to by the government. The problem of immigration just keeps getting worse and worse, causing us to lower our expectations and be cowed into accepting anything the country is willing to do to combat it. (Note: in the G.I.L.F. metaphor above, the 'G'- for grandmother is the symbol for our desperation concerning all things related to illegal immigration. You can figure out what G.I.L.F. means all by yourself.)
4) The headline- “Senate Immigration Bill Would Allow 100 Million New Legal Immigrants over the Next Twenty Years”: Robert Rector, May 15, 2006- new legal immigrants
The story: prior to an amendment reducing the number of illegals who would have been allowed in over the next 20 years to approximately 66 million, senate bill 2611, proposed by a democrat, would have allowed in about 103 million- “one-third of the current population of the United States.” The bill would have provided amnesty to about 10 million illegals, but the bill would also “quintuple the rate of legal immigration into the United States, raising, over time, the inflow of legal immigrants from around one million per year to over five million per year.” The article lists the three legal statuses for immigrants rightfully entering the country and indicates which new ways many more immigrants would have been legally welcomed into our country under government allowance should the bill have passed. See the link provided for more information. The most noteworthy expansion of legal immigration falls under the heading- “Expanded family chain migration.” It seems that the “net increase in the number of immigrants under this provision would be around 254,000 per year, or 5.1 million over 20 years.”
Further comments: The percent of population growth due to immigration is now at 60%. Wooing more immigrants to our country is like wooing more crows to a scarecrow made out of worms. The self-fulfilling prophecy: we wonder where the work force is going to come from to pick lettuce, to clean rooms at the Days Inn, to work at McDonald’s, at Wal-Mart, or at the meat packing plant. We become hysterical with worry. Here, hakuna matata actually applies. Politicians, mostly liberal ones, state that we need them, for who is willing to work those jobs. How many immigrants would we really need if they were not here comprising a decent segment of the population who shops at Wal-Mart, eats at McDonalds and eats some of the lettuce that they pick? In short, do we need them because they are here; and would we need all of them for those jobs if they left? See this link for information that our population is growing because of Hispanic fertility rates and would decline if left up to whites and blacks to reproduce, to live as heirs with middle class woes. If the fertility rates of whites and blacks collectively have gone down in the last decade (look it up) how necessary will the immigrant workers actually be (see #6 below)? You cannot justify that America needs to keep growing in order to become more global in terms of trade, etc. We are plenty global enough in allowing free-trade agreements that have lost the middle class hundreds of thousands of jobs because corporate oligarchists have outsourced them- (see #5 below). The argument that we need more homes built, that the new housing market is suffering- is nonsense. The new housing market will dry up eventually when every last patch of dirt in the country is zoned for either a home, a strip mall or some suburban wasteland of a department store- Kohl’s, Target, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc. Would we need to bulldoze our earth and continually build new homes if the somewhat declining nature of fertility rates among whites and blacks persisted? Nope. Contractors, I would get into the portion of the topic that involves your going to hell when you die, but that would be another ill-warranted digression on my part. Perhaps, since you are complete failures as contractual human beings, not delivering on promises such as key deliverables, price, estimated time of completion, just not showing up for weeks at a time . . . if we get that wall built, perhaps you could become a border control agent. Just a thought.
Further comments P.S.: I was concerned about the politicians who might attempt to allow in more legals or redefine the legality of immigration well before I read Rector’s article (see part 23). After 20 years, taking legal immigration allowances under this proposal (103 million) and factoring in the estimate from last time (part 25, from the FAIR- Federation for American Immigration Reform total of 1.1 million illegals per year- 1.1 illegals
rver">FAIR illegals) for a total of 122 million- we would nearly double our current population in 50 years. Why don’t we just allow a Legal Permanent Resident’s (LPR) former sister-in-law’s brother’s neighbor’s nephew’s chicken into our country? I have not been this confounded since I heard Dolly Parton sing the line- “feelin’ up my senseis.” Who would have guessed she would include her sexual exploits in the lyrics of a country song, admitting to her dalliances with multiple members of the titled Japanese nationality. (Er, look up sensei in Wikipedia). Build a wall and employ more border patrol agents.
5) The headline- “A Corporate ‘Feeding Frenzy’ Visas Push is about Helping Companies Rather than Workers”: Dan Stein, March 25, 2008- visa push
The story: Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve chairman “recently admitted the real agenda: ‘Significantly opening up immigration to skilled workers . . . would compete with high-income people, driving more income equality.’ In 2007, he further opined that, ‘Our skilled wages are higher than anywhere in the world. If we open up a significant window for skilled (foreign) workers, that would suppress the skilled-wage level and end the concentration of income.’ . . . “Since 1990, Congress has allowed U.S. and multinational businesses to use foreign ‘nonimmigrant’ visa programs to drive down wages and displace American workers. What began as a short-term fix for a supposed ‘short-term’ shortage of programmers has turned into another elitist feeding frenzy for greedy people at the top of the food chain.”
Further comments education: Perhaps we should seek to end the concentration of income among the richest 1-10% . . . nah. So, the former need for programmers, as the story relates, was the driving force to gather qualified immigrants to take American jobs, American middle class jobs. Many of those currently attending, or soon to be heading to college in the next five years are seeing their cumulative lifetime earnings go down before their eyes if they are paying any attention and aren’t shooting videos of their classmates pummeling fellow cheerleaders. If future college graduate earnings are reduced because of competition with foreign workers, an American graduate’s ability to pay a school loan off in 10-15 years will be impossible, given the interest rates. American employees will be making less, which will make them less able to afford the college loan payments (consider all of the other necessary costs they may need to be paying for (health insurance, car, car insurance, etc.) that will need to be paid against after graduation. Assume the average college graduate is 23 years of age in 2026 and assumes a loan repayment amount of between $12-$100 thousand*** which enabled them to obtain a degree geared toward acquiring a job in the U.S workforce. Consider that the job is handed to someone who was red-carpeted into our country and who drives down the earnings of both potential employees, because given an immigrant’s presence here, there is greater competition for that job.**** This approach adversely affects an American graduate’s earning potential over his or her lifetime. Considering college loans are front-loaded with interest payments, graduates will be paying on college debts until they are 55 years of age- wouldn't you be if you borrowed $60 to $100k?
Further comments wages: Greenspan's line about- "our skilled wages are higher than anywhere in the world." While accurate, is a statement made in a vacuum. I say again, for about the 500th time- cost of living increases are not matching inflation. We're supposedly more productive in the workforce than ever before, but this is not showing up in our paychecks. His baseline comparion country is . . . some African nation where they still pay for a clay bowl with a handful of rice? Greenspan must assume that we are capable of eating the rice we no longer have from the bowl we purchased to store the rice. I defy anyone to find that middle class taxpayers are making out ok in the wage increase vs. inflation of necessary cost goods and services (food, gas, mortgage, health insurance, education). Enough already.
Further comments health: Rent for an apartment, food, the cost of a wedding, the price of the average reliable vehicle- those things won’t be any cheaper for my son and daughter in 15 years than they are now and they’ll need several million dollars for their retirement considering how expensive health care will be. Presently, when you retire, the company you worked for discontinues subsidizing your health care. After retirement, when health care costs rise, the company doesn’t pick up half the tab anymore. My recently retired mother saw her health insurance rise an unsubsidized $70 a month earlier this year. The best advice I will be able to give to my kids- ‘plan on not being sick when you are 65’ (which is the current retirement age, but which will surely increase in the next 20 years, considering scientific advancements as they relate to social aid programs). Potentially, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid may all be insolvent by then; we can’t hope for illegal immigrant contributions to rescue us from that mess. Health care has gone up 52% in the last six years. We don’t have a problem with immigration as it concerns the middle class? You are distracted by shiny objects aren’t you? I guess my last four posts were a waste of time. Any religious liberals with any sense of guilt should ask their congressional representatives to pass a law allowing the drive-thru confessional. Liberals in Outbacks are going to be entirely too busy retrospectively finding fault with the sin of an overindulged sense of immigrational good Samaritanness because . . . (see 7b below) . . .
6) The headline- “Why We Need a Smaller U.S. Population and How We Can Achieve It”: is the title of just one of the position statement papers I gathered from Negative Population Growth NPG more than three years ago (so I cannot vouch for their online availability). The papers contain many of the same statistics culled from the 2000 United States Census Bureau, and the authors make many of the same claims, penning concerns about this country’s fortune as it is related to immigration- legal or otherwise. As of 2001, the U.S. population was “284 million, a 13 percent increase in the last decade . . . the Census Bureau’s high series projections—which have proven more accurate in recent years—project a population of 553 million by 2050.” Sharon McCloe Stein, the Executive Director of NPG in 2001 includes these points in her written testimony to the Immigration and Claims Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives’ on July 19, 2001 (nearly 7 years and 5.9 to 7.7 million illegal aliens ago).
a) “two-thirds of future growth will result from immigrants arriving since 1994 and their descendents” sometimes referred to as chain immigration;
b) Environmental concerns- “There is an overwhelming national and international scientific consensus on the relationship between population growth and environmental degradation . . . Demands for resources increase, and pollution, deforestation, waste, habitat destruction, and soil erosion rise. More homes, factories and roads must be built, reducing agricultural land and open space. (Already in the U.S., we lose three acres of farmland and open space every minute to meet the needs of an expanding population.) More energy and water are used, further eroding our limited natural resources . . .” For the conservatives who tend to pooh-pooh any doom and gloom talk, and like to harken back to the energy crises of the 1970s as a negative indicator of our current domestic good fortune (that would be sarcasm)- “Between 1970 and 1990 . . . total energy consumption increased by 36%, with more than 90% of this increase in energy consumption due entirely to population growth.” A conservative might say- the global population would have increased whether immigrants were entering the friendly confines of the United States or not. Quite so, but the fact remains that if Latin America’s, India’s or Laos’ population increased by 10%-20% in 30 years it wouldn’t have impacted the United States so negatively. One cannot believe that the presence of ten-thousand immigrants will have the same affect on twenty Americans would the immigrants have stayed in Mexico as if they were to come to the U.S. If someone would contend this- they are so naive they probably think that a steering committee is a group of people who decide on whether a male bovine should be castrated.
c) quality of life concerns- “Police forces, roads, and schools no longer satisfy the demands of a growing population. Farmland and forests are sacrificed to strip malls and housing developments. More and more schools, sanitary systems, roads, libraries, and water services must be built. Meanwhile, congestion increases, pollution rises, and school overcrowding goes up.” To piggyback off what I wrote in b above- I would rather have a Mexican or Indian student suffer from the issue of overcrowding than an American child, and have them suffer that injustice in Mexico and India. The categorical imperative's auspices can only extend so far. Do not forget that when you build schools, sewers, housing developments, roads, traffic lights, libraries, parks, etc. you are increasing the taxes of all economic classes in order to pay for such services, including those who can least afford the strain. When you build houses, schools, roads, shopping centers, etc. you build on former farmlands that grew crops like corn, wheat, and other grains, vegetables, etc. When might we be dependent on other nations for the importation of food due to the lack of available tracts of land on which to plant due to the land being overcrowded with people?
d) education concerns- “Department of Education officials say that by 2100, the nation’s schools will have to find room for 94 million students—nearly double the number of school-age children, ages five to 17, the nation has now.” By then, guess who the majority of those students will be. Thinking of 2100- imagine your great-grand children struggling in an overcrowded school resigned to the idea that he or she will have to compete with 10 million students entering the workforce in a three year period, competing for 4 million available jobs. Much more information is available at- population growth, written by Sharon McCloe Stein.
See also: reducing written by Donald Mann, growthism- written by Leon F. Bouvier, checklist written by Lindsey Grant, smaller U.S. population- written by Donald Mann.
I cannot agree to all of the proposals introduced or conclusions reached in the immediately preceding papers, but much of what they write is reasonably presented and their desires match the concerns the overwhelming majority of Americans have about the sustainability of life in the United States from an employment, educational, economic, social and environmental standpoint. The last site included immediately above, written by Donald Mann, proves that Americans are least responsible for the sustainability of life in this country from an over-population perspective, (though I'll admit, not from a consumption and waste standpoint): “Our fertility rate hovered around 1.8 from 1973 to 1987, but has risen steeply since then to 2.1 in 1991.” If it is true that “immigration accounts for 40 to 50 percent of our annual population increase,” there is little doubt that immigration is a big reason for our employment, educational, economic, social and environmental travails.
* Just kidding about that transvestite relation. Obama is related to former iconic heads of state, actually respected by those with historical perspective and Clinton is distantly related to a former British paramour and a woman whose shock value (Madonna) for wearing bras while wailing in concert, is her claim to fame. I thought that noteworthy. If Obama were related to Muhammad Ali, Albert Einstein, John Keats and the jesus christ divested of his divinity, I still wouldn’t vote for him.
** Just a joke. Federal agents took command of the situation. I guess it is true . . . everything IS bigger in Texas- even polygamy.
*** I am being both liberal and conservative with my estimate of average college loan dollar amounts. Being liberal- the low-end range of potential debt I set at $12 thousand may be reasonable if students only matriculate to a community college. For all I know a two year degree, considering how unlikely it is that the workforce will need as many skilled laborers in two decades, may do the trick. Sure makes one qualified to pick the lettuce heads that our immigrant bosses will consume, whose parents were granted amnesty in the second decade of the 21st century. (I would elaborate on why I think this but I am already spinning enough plates as it is). $60 grand (for a public university education) is not too far off from the average loan amount as it stands now- see (http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/24/pf/college/college_costs/index.htm) by Rob Kelley. The article indicates, “with room and board, four-year public colleges average $12,796 for in-state residents,” that “loans have grown to become a bigger part of aid packages, while grant aid [the kind of financial help you don’t have to pay back] has shrunken.” Consider where college costs will be in 15 years when the middle class kids I am most concerned about are matriculating to college . . . $60k is a conservative high-end estimate. At least others are thinking about immigration’s affect on education- “ ‘It’s affecting my children at school, . . . they’re suffering trying to get these immigrant kids up to speed.’ ” (From the article- “Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security with Billions.” http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/37/10128 see part 25). The cost of college tuition goes up about 6% every year (6.3 percent in 2006-07, 7.1 percent in 2005-06). See the money.cnn.com article above. One more- “Assuming tuition keeps rising the way it has, in 16 years a college diploma will cost $150,000 to $300,000.” The article- “Saving for College” Josh Garskof, American Baby, November 2007 pg. 64.
****- keep in mind. Immigrants of any type are not going to want to clean hotel rooms and pick lettuce for long, so the governmental and political temporary solution of acquiring blue-collar workers to perform menial tasks will only serve that purpose until they tire of the labor and think about their own bank accounts, health insurance benefits, next of kin, retirement accounts, etc.
Please also see: http://www.msnbc.com/id/23055901/print/1/displaymode/1098/- An Associated Press Article- “House Aims to Hold Down College Costs,” February 7, 2008. In the article are the following pieces of information: 1) Dems and Reps think that “college costs have been rising faster than inflation,” . . . 2) that the “Average annual tuition and fees for in-state students at public four-year colleges and universities total about $6,200 this year . . . 3) Public two-year colleges run about $2,360 on average.” The article also includes information about the 4) boondoggle of exorbitant, unknown prices that textbook publishers ask for their books- “Students may spend less than the estimated $900 they now spend on textbooks each year if the [proposed] bill becomes law.”
In addition, see: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24163367/ for information where federal agents arrested nearly 300 people in raids of chicken plants in five states because of immigration fraud and identity theft. The information I deliver can’t be all bad. Now, if we could just guarantee the permanency of their deportation, we may be more satisfied with this particular result. Course, I wonder how many necessary, hard-working, illegal immigrants we could welcome into the country, paying them an acceptable wage for their work, in exchange for worthless white trash and black thugs that walk our streets looking for trouble. However, I. Kant’s maxim would seem to prohibit this approach.
Affectation: 1) the act of taking on or displaying an attitude or mode of behavior not natural to oneself or not genuinely felt; b) speech or conduct not natural to oneself: artificiality; 2) striving after. (Courtesy of Webster’s Ninth Collegiate Dictionary)
Categorical imperative: Is Immanuel Kant’s primary moral philosophical tenet- “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.” Stealing, should it be permitted to you to do, would then be permitted for everyone. One often can choose not to recycle, and often justifies their not doing so because they are just one person; they ask themselves ‘what impact can I possibly make?’ I want to ban this person from speaking, or from living, or little kids might not wish their younger sister to touch her own toys (hey, it has been known to happen- I have possession wars every day in my house . . . two toddlers). If everyone were allowed to follow through on their wishes, mass chaos would ensue. “The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good, in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.” - John Stuart Mill
Case in point: “Homeland Security Won't Explain Why the Mexican Border Wall Bypasses the Rich and Connected,” by Melissa del Bosque (Texas Observer, February 19, 2008). It seems “the U.S. Department of Homeland Security marches down the Texas border serving condemnation lawsuits to frightened landowners, Brownsville resident Eloisa Tamez, 72, has one simple question. She would like to know why her land is being targeted for destruction by a border wall, while a nearby golf course and resort remain untouched.” Lady, I agree 99 times out of 100 to fight an argument such as this- this is that one time where the fight need not occur because of the bigger picture. The needs of the many are at stake. There are hundreds and hundreds of people in Texas in the same predicament . . . just let it happen. Perhaps the government would like to pay those who own the land for relinquishing their property to the right cause of building a wall and employing more border patrol agents. If no one foregoes their claim to their land, 850,000 to 1.1 million illegals per year will continue to cross the border, especially once the housing market improves.
Cruising: My wife recently went on a cruise with her family. That left me in charge of watching my two middle class toddlers for four straight days- flying solo. I was to pick my wife up from the airport upon her return, which was set for about 3:30 in the afternoon of a recent weekday. My mom called to tell me that there might be 3-7 inches of snow on the ground by rush hour. I instinctively thought- ‘my travels don’t often take me to the freeway during that time,’ so I dismissed this information. Then it occurred to me- oh damn, I do have to drive the freeway during rush hour to pick up my wife at the airport. Suddenly I cared, because I was affected by that news.
Kidding me: If you do not have kids, you probably don’t care about the cost of raising one to adulthood, or about college tuition expenses, excepting that you may still be paying on your own loans. I was raised to be a little less selfish in the wide world scope of things than to just consider my own situation when it comes to societal, political, historical, environmental or athletic issues. I have certainly missed the mark on many occasions, but when I think of the bigger picture, I think my nearly instinctive Kantian philosophical approach (think categorical imperative) is much more realistic. It is imperative to me to be engaged in world events, to know what is going on and why. I can’t track down all of the information about tsunamis in the Orient; or know all about the research that the New England Historic Genealogical Society conducted to determine that Barack Obama is distantly related to Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman, James Madison, Winston Churchill, Robert E. Lee and Brad Pitt, while Hillary Clinton is related to Madonna, Celine Dion, Camilla Parker-Bowles and a transvestite from Hoboken.* I can’t know all about how “Being Born Prematurely Continues to Affect People as They Age,” that premies “have higher death rates in childhood and are more likely to be childless in adulthood.” I also cannot know how this might affect me: a Minnesota state senator proposed legislation allowing the incandescent light bulb the freedom to live rather than be aborted in favor of the compact fluorescent bulb whose infancy and energy-efficiency has been so hotly debated of late. Who knew that a bulb’s right to light/life would be so ridiculously contentious; I’ll stop short of bringing Roe v. Wade into this portion of my column. (All three of the latter stories can be found in the A section of the Minneapolis Star Tribune from March 26, 2008, courtesy of Associated Press (family tree), Carla K. Johnson (premature births) and Kevin Diaz (light bulbs) respectively.
Affectation: This will probably be the movie title for some incredibly morose yarn about an abused, alcoholic moose that is into staged productions about gardening and craves the taste of cymbalta (think of Nicolas Cage’s “Adaptation” and the 2007 best picture nominee “Atonement.” One word, pithy titles for movies that are depressingly artistic and are about forgiveness, purpose, fulfillment, or frustration with one’s untapped intellectual sexuality are overdone, cliché and nearly unwatchable). The one person still reading may yawn now. However, millions of teens, and adults for that matter, crave the spotlight. The word “melodrama” (affectation's latter-day equivalent) is used to describe anyone's angst-ridden schmaltzy lives where nothing important happens to them, until they record each other beating up their classmates and post it on You Tube. People play the victim for affect.
No worries: My diatribe to this point has not been of the affected variety- trying to invent drama where it does not exist. The American drama of the middle class most certainly exists. I have indicated several times that I am at a relatively comfortable stage in my life. What concerns me are future generations of middle class kids. Should I be so narrow-mindedly obsessed, passionately crying out for better fortune in a manner that might be strangely pacifying, I would only be able to focus on things as they stand now. I have two great kids, an adorable wife, a house, two reliable vehicles and a good job. My only addiction is to Mountain Dew and reading. I have decided that heedlessness as it concerns the future of my country is not the way to go. Hakuna matata- the zulu/sotho philosophy promulgated by a meerkat and a warthog in the 80s movie- “The Lion King,” which literally means- “there are no worries here” holds no appeal for me . . . IF . . . there are WORRIES here! Friggin’ warthog and meerkat conditioning a generation (or two) of little kids that they should accept the status quo in everything political! Soooo, my raillery against the animal kingdom has its source- not exactly the Rosebud of Citizen Kane in terms of symbolic origins, but perhaps one that I didn’t need a psychiatrist to unearth. Luckily, I had already reached my cynical potential by that time in my life and the warthog and meerkat, the Will and Ariel Durant of Disney philosophical thought, could not cow me into a belief in the laissez faire standpoint of just leaving well enough alone, especially as it concerns people and issues outside of my control.
Universal law: Hakuna matata v. the Categorical Imperative. The first phrase combines conservative dismissiveness and liberal altruistic arrogance into one disgusting, hands off (laissez faire) approach. The second phrase is Kant’s insightful check on personal and collective liberty properly balanced with diligence and foresight. Hmmm . . . just like Joe Pesci quickly weighed the pros and cons of kicking the ass of some red-neck and collecting the money the very lovely Marissa Tomei won defeating him at billiards or accepting the red-neck’s counter-offer, that of Pesci suffering an ass-kicking and not collecting said winnings . . . I think I will choose Kant.
Quote me on that: About four years prior to the release of The Lion King, I had purchased Peter’s Quotations- a book comprised of thoughts and ideas by some famous and not so famous people. I am quite comfortable quoting others. Some might say, express yourself- show me what you know. I think I have proven that I can do that on a regular basis. When struggling to effectively communicate something, I sometimes seek to reduce the number of my clumsily written sentences when another, much better writer, has so concisely and passionately hit the mark. The following quotation, and many others in the book, strike me as applicable to the overall topic of the American citizen’s collective apathy toward most things political and governmental:
Martin Niemoeller: “In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews . . . the trade unionists . . . the Catholics . . . then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.” I imagine that Niemoeller is addressing the Fascist government of Germany preceding and during WWII, and how various citizens were rounded up as part of the ethnic cleansing rampant in Germany during that time. See, if all we do is only worry about ourselves and our own (spouses, children, siblings, parents) and not successfully seek the political change that is only ours if we vote collectively, then the national anxiety, frustration and bitterness will carry on each subsequent election.
Dante: Among those other quotations are Dante’s version of Niemoeller’s quote directly above, with of course, (it is Dante), more umph: “The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality.”
AND
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” - Edmund Burke (The words- "good men" need not be restricted to iconic politicians, inventors or soldiers . . . a conscientious voter- good enough.)
AND one more
“Hey, immigrants! Beat it! Country’s full!” - Bart Simpson.
Ok, ok, that one really isn’t contained in the book. I have to transition somehow to my concluding remarks on the sub-topic of immigration and how it affects everyone in the United States, including the liberals who assist them in their arrival and the middle class who want them out. Unfortunately, due to the overall length of the material I have compiled over the course of the past year that I consider pertinent to the topic, the conclusion of this sub-topic will take two columns, so without further adieu, here goes:
1) The headline- “Hospitals Feeling Strain from Illegal Immigrants:” Dana Canedy, August 25, 2002- Hospital strain.
The story: a penniless Guatemalan illegal immigrant with no health insurance, injuries which have left him with severe brain damage, limited mobility, and accumulated bills of almost $1 million, after a head-on collision. “Many illegal immigrants . . . use emergency rooms as their primary source of routine and critical health care.” Florida, California, Texas and Arizona are those hardest hit by this type of “financial burden on health care centers that treat them.” (Not surprisingly- of the debates I saw, in Florida and California, I don’t really recall a lot of dialogue on the topic of immigration in the debates- in FLORIDA, where major Medicare meats major immigration. The media is complicit in this stifling of one of the major topics in politics, because I don’t recall the moderators, (who are members of the big media), asking any questions concerning immigration. “ ‘We have people coming to our country in good faith to work, but we have no system in place as a nation as to what to do when these people get sick,’ ” said a spokeswoman for Martin Memorial Medical Center (Florida). “By some estimates, hospitals are collectively writing off as much as $2 billion a year in unpaid medical bills to treat the illegal immigrants.” The story, from 2002, indicates that there were an estimated 8 million illegals in the U.S. through 2000, up from 5 million in 1996.
Further comments: Take the money trapped within the earnings report file I referred to last time, and use that to pay for illegals charging up massive medical bills. With that, illegals are paying their own medical bills. We still need that wall and federal agents but this would be a start, to remove the burden of taxpayers. There might not be a one to one correlation between money unaccounted for by the IRS (see part 25) and money that thousands of hospitals have been short-changed on over the years from an illegal immigrant patient standpoint, but the two are anything but mutually exclusive. In addition, no Earned Income Credit (EIC) money should be distributed to illegals in excess of what was paid in for taxes. I concluded that the vast majority of illegals actually are paying taxes (see part 25). I long for the days when there were only 5 million illegals in the country and considered that a massive problem. That shows us how naive we were and how naive we will be in 12 more years when there are 100 million illegals. Build a wall and employ more border patrol agents. Do a Google search on “illegal immigrants closing of emergency rooms” and perhaps you will see what type of problem we have here.
2) The headline- “U.S. to Pay Medical Bills for Illegal Immigration:” Associated Press, May 10, 2005- Medical Bills
The story: “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued final guidance . . . that sets up a system for reimbursement. Lawmakers set aside $1 billion over four years for the program.” Says the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, “ ‘It seems to me that if the federal government has abdicated its responsibility for immigration enforcement, then it’s responsible for making those jurisdictions [states with illegal immigration populations] whole,’ ”
Further comments: . . . at the cost of the citizens paying taxes to support such social aid programs? Do a google search on immigrants medical bills and prepare to be disgusted. Build a wall, employ more border patrol agents and stop writing editorials like this- fence border rush - “Editorial: Court should halt rush to complete fence on border.” Kill an American robin, trample some marshlands, build the damn fence! Environmentalists may be shocked by that, well, see #7b below. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said: "Criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation. Congress and the public have been adamant that they want and expect border security. We're serious about delivering it." We'll see. I had heard that the head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was trying to stop the building of the wall- I was not aware of the particulars. A cursory web search did not provide any information relative to this news snippet. Perhaps the DHS is too busy extracting lungless frogs from the baracuda polygamist ranch, fearing the frogs were in imminent danger**- polygamists and lungless frog.
3) The headline: “Census Bureau: Number of U.S. Uninsured Rises to 47 Million Americans: Almost 5 Percent Increase Since 2005”: Teddy Dineley Johnson, January 8, 2008- uninsured Americans
The story: “Annual Census Bureau estimates released in August [2007] show 47 million people, or 15.8 percent of the U.S. population, were without health insurance during 2006 — a 4.9 percent increase. In 2005, census figures showed that 44.8 million people, or about 15.3 percent of the population, lacked health insurance coverage.” The article includes the words Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP; one word that is noticeably absent- immigration. Not good: “The percentage of uninsured children younger than 18 rose from 10.9 percent in 2005 to 11.7 percent in 2006.”
Further comments: The number of children born to white and black Americans has largely gone down over the past ten years. Yet the number of uninsured people living in this country continues to rise. I do not find a lot of benefit to the cost of my benefits (i.e. health insurance) rising at my place of employment so that I can pay the cost of untold numbers of immigrants receiving health care. Maybe we ought to start publishing the number of uninsured and underinsured AMERICANS in papers and websites that deliver us half of the story. I hate the fact that any child of any nationality would be without the medicine and medical care they might need- it breaks my heart. However, the numbers given in dozens of articles I have perused concerning the lack of health insurance coverage rarely differentiate between an American, an immigrant or an illegal immigrant not having health insurance. Quite a substantial oversight. One article that does comment on this distinction was written by Julia A. Seymour- “Health Care Lie: ’47 Million Uninsured Americans.’ ” health care lie July 18, 2007. Seymour goes after Michael Moore, significant national newspapers and four of the leading candidates, (at the time) for the presidency for their continued misrepresentation of the numbers of uninsured citizens. “A closer look at the [Census Bureau] report reveals the Census data include 9.487 million people who are ‘not a citizen.’ ” I thought so. More staggering is the number of legal immigrants with health care that middle class American citizens are subsidizing. That also breaks my heart. Note- plenty of people who can afford health care should also be counted among the remaining 37 million (according to Seymour)- so the uninsured aren’t all poor people crying out for medical care.
Consider one more thing on this sub-sub topic of health care for immigrants: If nearly 10 million non-citizens are classified by PLENTY of the politicians as figuring among the 47 million who are uninsured, imagine how many uninsured immigrants will be counted among that number and how many former non-citizens will need insurance when the amnesty bill passes. Pretty soon the G.I.L.F. you saw on the golf course four years ago and almost found attractive enough to set up with one of your better friends who is into brittle-boned women won’t seem so unattractive in retrospect. We now rationalize that $3 for a gallon of gas is good because we've been conditioned to by the government. The problem of immigration just keeps getting worse and worse, causing us to lower our expectations and be cowed into accepting anything the country is willing to do to combat it. (Note: in the G.I.L.F. metaphor above, the 'G'- for grandmother is the symbol for our desperation concerning all things related to illegal immigration. You can figure out what G.I.L.F. means all by yourself.)
4) The headline- “Senate Immigration Bill Would Allow 100 Million New Legal Immigrants over the Next Twenty Years”: Robert Rector, May 15, 2006- new legal immigrants
The story: prior to an amendment reducing the number of illegals who would have been allowed in over the next 20 years to approximately 66 million, senate bill 2611, proposed by a democrat, would have allowed in about 103 million- “one-third of the current population of the United States.” The bill would have provided amnesty to about 10 million illegals, but the bill would also “quintuple the rate of legal immigration into the United States, raising, over time, the inflow of legal immigrants from around one million per year to over five million per year.” The article lists the three legal statuses for immigrants rightfully entering the country and indicates which new ways many more immigrants would have been legally welcomed into our country under government allowance should the bill have passed. See the link provided for more information. The most noteworthy expansion of legal immigration falls under the heading- “Expanded family chain migration.” It seems that the “net increase in the number of immigrants under this provision would be around 254,000 per year, or 5.1 million over 20 years.”
Further comments: The percent of population growth due to immigration is now at 60%. Wooing more immigrants to our country is like wooing more crows to a scarecrow made out of worms. The self-fulfilling prophecy: we wonder where the work force is going to come from to pick lettuce, to clean rooms at the Days Inn, to work at McDonald’s, at Wal-Mart, or at the meat packing plant. We become hysterical with worry. Here, hakuna matata actually applies. Politicians, mostly liberal ones, state that we need them, for who is willing to work those jobs. How many immigrants would we really need if they were not here comprising a decent segment of the population who shops at Wal-Mart, eats at McDonalds and eats some of the lettuce that they pick? In short, do we need them because they are here; and would we need all of them for those jobs if they left? See this link for information that our population is growing because of Hispanic fertility rates and would decline if left up to whites and blacks to reproduce, to live as heirs with middle class woes. If the fertility rates of whites and blacks collectively have gone down in the last decade (look it up) how necessary will the immigrant workers actually be (see #6 below)? You cannot justify that America needs to keep growing in order to become more global in terms of trade, etc. We are plenty global enough in allowing free-trade agreements that have lost the middle class hundreds of thousands of jobs because corporate oligarchists have outsourced them- (see #5 below). The argument that we need more homes built, that the new housing market is suffering- is nonsense. The new housing market will dry up eventually when every last patch of dirt in the country is zoned for either a home, a strip mall or some suburban wasteland of a department store- Kohl’s, Target, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc. Would we need to bulldoze our earth and continually build new homes if the somewhat declining nature of fertility rates among whites and blacks persisted? Nope. Contractors, I would get into the portion of the topic that involves your going to hell when you die, but that would be another ill-warranted digression on my part. Perhaps, since you are complete failures as contractual human beings, not delivering on promises such as key deliverables, price, estimated time of completion, just not showing up for weeks at a time . . . if we get that wall built, perhaps you could become a border control agent. Just a thought.
Further comments P.S.: I was concerned about the politicians who might attempt to allow in more legals or redefine the legality of immigration well before I read Rector’s article (see part 23). After 20 years, taking legal immigration allowances under this proposal (103 million) and factoring in the estimate from last time (part 25, from the FAIR- Federation for American Immigration Reform total of 1.1 million illegals per year- 1.1 illegals
rver">FAIR illegals) for a total of 122 million- we would nearly double our current population in 50 years. Why don’t we just allow a Legal Permanent Resident’s (LPR) former sister-in-law’s brother’s neighbor’s nephew’s chicken into our country? I have not been this confounded since I heard Dolly Parton sing the line- “feelin’ up my senseis.” Who would have guessed she would include her sexual exploits in the lyrics of a country song, admitting to her dalliances with multiple members of the titled Japanese nationality. (Er, look up sensei in Wikipedia). Build a wall and employ more border patrol agents.
5) The headline- “A Corporate ‘Feeding Frenzy’ Visas Push is about Helping Companies Rather than Workers”: Dan Stein, March 25, 2008- visa push
The story: Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve chairman “recently admitted the real agenda: ‘Significantly opening up immigration to skilled workers . . . would compete with high-income people, driving more income equality.’ In 2007, he further opined that, ‘Our skilled wages are higher than anywhere in the world. If we open up a significant window for skilled (foreign) workers, that would suppress the skilled-wage level and end the concentration of income.’ . . . “Since 1990, Congress has allowed U.S. and multinational businesses to use foreign ‘nonimmigrant’ visa programs to drive down wages and displace American workers. What began as a short-term fix for a supposed ‘short-term’ shortage of programmers has turned into another elitist feeding frenzy for greedy people at the top of the food chain.”
Further comments education: Perhaps we should seek to end the concentration of income among the richest 1-10% . . . nah. So, the former need for programmers, as the story relates, was the driving force to gather qualified immigrants to take American jobs, American middle class jobs. Many of those currently attending, or soon to be heading to college in the next five years are seeing their cumulative lifetime earnings go down before their eyes if they are paying any attention and aren’t shooting videos of their classmates pummeling fellow cheerleaders. If future college graduate earnings are reduced because of competition with foreign workers, an American graduate’s ability to pay a school loan off in 10-15 years will be impossible, given the interest rates. American employees will be making less, which will make them less able to afford the college loan payments (consider all of the other necessary costs they may need to be paying for (health insurance, car, car insurance, etc.) that will need to be paid against after graduation. Assume the average college graduate is 23 years of age in 2026 and assumes a loan repayment amount of between $12-$100 thousand*** which enabled them to obtain a degree geared toward acquiring a job in the U.S workforce. Consider that the job is handed to someone who was red-carpeted into our country and who drives down the earnings of both potential employees, because given an immigrant’s presence here, there is greater competition for that job.**** This approach adversely affects an American graduate’s earning potential over his or her lifetime. Considering college loans are front-loaded with interest payments, graduates will be paying on college debts until they are 55 years of age- wouldn't you be if you borrowed $60 to $100k?
Further comments wages: Greenspan's line about- "our skilled wages are higher than anywhere in the world." While accurate, is a statement made in a vacuum. I say again, for about the 500th time- cost of living increases are not matching inflation. We're supposedly more productive in the workforce than ever before, but this is not showing up in our paychecks. His baseline comparion country is . . . some African nation where they still pay for a clay bowl with a handful of rice? Greenspan must assume that we are capable of eating the rice we no longer have from the bowl we purchased to store the rice. I defy anyone to find that middle class taxpayers are making out ok in the wage increase vs. inflation of necessary cost goods and services (food, gas, mortgage, health insurance, education). Enough already.
Further comments health: Rent for an apartment, food, the cost of a wedding, the price of the average reliable vehicle- those things won’t be any cheaper for my son and daughter in 15 years than they are now and they’ll need several million dollars for their retirement considering how expensive health care will be. Presently, when you retire, the company you worked for discontinues subsidizing your health care. After retirement, when health care costs rise, the company doesn’t pick up half the tab anymore. My recently retired mother saw her health insurance rise an unsubsidized $70 a month earlier this year. The best advice I will be able to give to my kids- ‘plan on not being sick when you are 65’ (which is the current retirement age, but which will surely increase in the next 20 years, considering scientific advancements as they relate to social aid programs). Potentially, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid may all be insolvent by then; we can’t hope for illegal immigrant contributions to rescue us from that mess. Health care has gone up 52% in the last six years. We don’t have a problem with immigration as it concerns the middle class? You are distracted by shiny objects aren’t you? I guess my last four posts were a waste of time. Any religious liberals with any sense of guilt should ask their congressional representatives to pass a law allowing the drive-thru confessional. Liberals in Outbacks are going to be entirely too busy retrospectively finding fault with the sin of an overindulged sense of immigrational good Samaritanness because . . . (see 7b below) . . .
6) The headline- “Why We Need a Smaller U.S. Population and How We Can Achieve It”: is the title of just one of the position statement papers I gathered from Negative Population Growth NPG more than three years ago (so I cannot vouch for their online availability). The papers contain many of the same statistics culled from the 2000 United States Census Bureau, and the authors make many of the same claims, penning concerns about this country’s fortune as it is related to immigration- legal or otherwise. As of 2001, the U.S. population was “284 million, a 13 percent increase in the last decade . . . the Census Bureau’s high series projections—which have proven more accurate in recent years—project a population of 553 million by 2050.” Sharon McCloe Stein, the Executive Director of NPG in 2001 includes these points in her written testimony to the Immigration and Claims Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives’ on July 19, 2001 (nearly 7 years and 5.9 to 7.7 million illegal aliens ago).
a) “two-thirds of future growth will result from immigrants arriving since 1994 and their descendents” sometimes referred to as chain immigration;
b) Environmental concerns- “There is an overwhelming national and international scientific consensus on the relationship between population growth and environmental degradation . . . Demands for resources increase, and pollution, deforestation, waste, habitat destruction, and soil erosion rise. More homes, factories and roads must be built, reducing agricultural land and open space. (Already in the U.S., we lose three acres of farmland and open space every minute to meet the needs of an expanding population.) More energy and water are used, further eroding our limited natural resources . . .” For the conservatives who tend to pooh-pooh any doom and gloom talk, and like to harken back to the energy crises of the 1970s as a negative indicator of our current domestic good fortune (that would be sarcasm)- “Between 1970 and 1990 . . . total energy consumption increased by 36%, with more than 90% of this increase in energy consumption due entirely to population growth.” A conservative might say- the global population would have increased whether immigrants were entering the friendly confines of the United States or not. Quite so, but the fact remains that if Latin America’s, India’s or Laos’ population increased by 10%-20% in 30 years it wouldn’t have impacted the United States so negatively. One cannot believe that the presence of ten-thousand immigrants will have the same affect on twenty Americans would the immigrants have stayed in Mexico as if they were to come to the U.S. If someone would contend this- they are so naive they probably think that a steering committee is a group of people who decide on whether a male bovine should be castrated.
c) quality of life concerns- “Police forces, roads, and schools no longer satisfy the demands of a growing population. Farmland and forests are sacrificed to strip malls and housing developments. More and more schools, sanitary systems, roads, libraries, and water services must be built. Meanwhile, congestion increases, pollution rises, and school overcrowding goes up.” To piggyback off what I wrote in b above- I would rather have a Mexican or Indian student suffer from the issue of overcrowding than an American child, and have them suffer that injustice in Mexico and India. The categorical imperative's auspices can only extend so far. Do not forget that when you build schools, sewers, housing developments, roads, traffic lights, libraries, parks, etc. you are increasing the taxes of all economic classes in order to pay for such services, including those who can least afford the strain. When you build houses, schools, roads, shopping centers, etc. you build on former farmlands that grew crops like corn, wheat, and other grains, vegetables, etc. When might we be dependent on other nations for the importation of food due to the lack of available tracts of land on which to plant due to the land being overcrowded with people?
d) education concerns- “Department of Education officials say that by 2100, the nation’s schools will have to find room for 94 million students—nearly double the number of school-age children, ages five to 17, the nation has now.” By then, guess who the majority of those students will be. Thinking of 2100- imagine your great-grand children struggling in an overcrowded school resigned to the idea that he or she will have to compete with 10 million students entering the workforce in a three year period, competing for 4 million available jobs. Much more information is available at- population growth, written by Sharon McCloe Stein.
See also: reducing written by Donald Mann, growthism- written by Leon F. Bouvier, checklist written by Lindsey Grant, smaller U.S. population- written by Donald Mann.
I cannot agree to all of the proposals introduced or conclusions reached in the immediately preceding papers, but much of what they write is reasonably presented and their desires match the concerns the overwhelming majority of Americans have about the sustainability of life in the United States from an employment, educational, economic, social and environmental standpoint. The last site included immediately above, written by Donald Mann, proves that Americans are least responsible for the sustainability of life in this country from an over-population perspective, (though I'll admit, not from a consumption and waste standpoint): “Our fertility rate hovered around 1.8 from 1973 to 1987, but has risen steeply since then to 2.1 in 1991.” If it is true that “immigration accounts for 40 to 50 percent of our annual population increase,” there is little doubt that immigration is a big reason for our employment, educational, economic, social and environmental travails.
* Just kidding about that transvestite relation. Obama is related to former iconic heads of state, actually respected by those with historical perspective and Clinton is distantly related to a former British paramour and a woman whose shock value (Madonna) for wearing bras while wailing in concert, is her claim to fame. I thought that noteworthy. If Obama were related to Muhammad Ali, Albert Einstein, John Keats and the jesus christ divested of his divinity, I still wouldn’t vote for him.
** Just a joke. Federal agents took command of the situation. I guess it is true . . . everything IS bigger in Texas- even polygamy.
*** I am being both liberal and conservative with my estimate of average college loan dollar amounts. Being liberal- the low-end range of potential debt I set at $12 thousand may be reasonable if students only matriculate to a community college. For all I know a two year degree, considering how unlikely it is that the workforce will need as many skilled laborers in two decades, may do the trick. Sure makes one qualified to pick the lettuce heads that our immigrant bosses will consume, whose parents were granted amnesty in the second decade of the 21st century. (I would elaborate on why I think this but I am already spinning enough plates as it is). $60 grand (for a public university education) is not too far off from the average loan amount as it stands now- see (http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/24/pf/college/college_costs/index.htm) by Rob Kelley. The article indicates, “with room and board, four-year public colleges average $12,796 for in-state residents,” that “loans have grown to become a bigger part of aid packages, while grant aid [the kind of financial help you don’t have to pay back] has shrunken.” Consider where college costs will be in 15 years when the middle class kids I am most concerned about are matriculating to college . . . $60k is a conservative high-end estimate. At least others are thinking about immigration’s affect on education- “ ‘It’s affecting my children at school, . . . they’re suffering trying to get these immigrant kids up to speed.’ ” (From the article- “Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security with Billions.” http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/37/10128 see part 25). The cost of college tuition goes up about 6% every year (6.3 percent in 2006-07, 7.1 percent in 2005-06). See the money.cnn.com article above. One more- “Assuming tuition keeps rising the way it has, in 16 years a college diploma will cost $150,000 to $300,000.” The article- “Saving for College” Josh Garskof, American Baby, November 2007 pg. 64.
****- keep in mind. Immigrants of any type are not going to want to clean hotel rooms and pick lettuce for long, so the governmental and political temporary solution of acquiring blue-collar workers to perform menial tasks will only serve that purpose until they tire of the labor and think about their own bank accounts, health insurance benefits, next of kin, retirement accounts, etc.
Please also see: http://www.msnbc.com/id/23055901/print/1/displaymode/1098/- An Associated Press Article- “House Aims to Hold Down College Costs,” February 7, 2008. In the article are the following pieces of information: 1) Dems and Reps think that “college costs have been rising faster than inflation,” . . . 2) that the “Average annual tuition and fees for in-state students at public four-year colleges and universities total about $6,200 this year . . . 3) Public two-year colleges run about $2,360 on average.” The article also includes information about the 4) boondoggle of exorbitant, unknown prices that textbook publishers ask for their books- “Students may spend less than the estimated $900 they now spend on textbooks each year if the [proposed] bill becomes law.”
In addition, see: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24163367/ for information where federal agents arrested nearly 300 people in raids of chicken plants in five states because of immigration fraud and identity theft. The information I deliver can’t be all bad. Now, if we could just guarantee the permanency of their deportation, we may be more satisfied with this particular result. Course, I wonder how many necessary, hard-working, illegal immigrants we could welcome into the country, paying them an acceptable wage for their work, in exchange for worthless white trash and black thugs that walk our streets looking for trouble. However, I. Kant’s maxim would seem to prohibit this approach.
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