Texsox

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Sep 6, 2007 -> 09:42 AM) Well according to most of the candidates from one particular party, things are incredibly bad for the people that are here already. There are no jobs, there is a horrible education system, the health system is crashing, the enviornment is dying, and so on and so forth, and that is just with the people who are already here. What would adding say another 10% of our population in poor people do to those failing systems? People who just assume since we had massive immigrations in the past, that we should be able to do it easily again, aren't paying very close attention to their history. Things have changed a wee bit in the US in the last 100-150 years or so. Remember, we have had a massive expansion of the Federal Government, and the role they play in people's lives, especially the lower classes of Americans. For example, during the Irish potato famine in the 19th century, there was no such thing as welfare, unemployment, medicare, medicade, social security, public education, earned income credit, etc. There also was no such thing as an income tax until the early 20th century. In other words it made no difference how many people you shoved in to the ghettos of New York, because the general poplulace felt no effect either way of millions of new immigrants. Today is a different story. As I have sited before in many posts, the bottom 40% of tax payers pay none, to actually profiting from our income tax system. This is before the cost of social services are even factored in. Its not like we are talking about the same situation as our past. No one wants to talk about how to pay for this. I have yet to see anyone, on either side of the aisle address this issue, at all. In fact many of the same people screaming about the current state of our country, are trying to add more people for the US to care for. Tell me, when your paycheck is stretched tight, do you go out and do the neighbors grocery shopping to while you are at it? Somehow I doubt it. We are importing software engineers, Doctors, etc. As far as the lowest paying jobs in this country, the economic impact of those jobs is the same if we have an immigrant working the job, or a citizen. The only way to lessen the economic hit is to employ an undocumented worker who will not apply for benefits, and no one wants that anymore. When Dems tried to raise the minimum wage, Reps went nuts, it will kill the business owner. Then when we start talking about how these lowest paying jobs do not contribute to the tax base, in fact they pull from it, no one has an answer. SS, here's the point that you have never addressed, what is the economic difference difference between Joe American working a landscape job earning $14,000 per year Juan New Legal Immigrant working the same job?

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Sep 6, 2007 -> 09:00 AM) I didn't say WE need to make them stop, they need to stop themselves. Tex, how come you don't have 30 kids? because you would go broke feeding them all. (plus, you would have to find a woman who would WANT to be pregnant for her whole adult life!). Somewhere you reached a limit where you had enough, and that limit probably coincided with the amount of people your family could support, whether that be monitarily or committment-wise, or both. I don't care what color you are, if you can't even take care of yourself, you shouldn't have kids. And that religious or biological answer is bulls***. It is just plain self-centered crap that because they WANT a baby, they should HAVE a baby. Well, if you have the child, take care of the child, don't force it on the rest of the world to support your vanity in having a child you couldn't care for, because you WANTED it. Condoms are cheaper than kids. They also talk back less, don't demand an allowance and won't crash the car after getting their drivers license. You have stated your case nicely, I will stop here. I find the right to reproduce an absolute for humans. You reduce it to a financial decision. So are you in favor of eliminating WIC, financial aid, public supported day care programs, public schools? We support children in dozens of different ways. You are complaining that we feed them, when we also will pay for their college? GMAB.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 6, 2007 -> 08:40 AM) That isn't proof of anything, other than the fact that Brownback is a marginal candidate. Do they really have to print a picture of a Mike Gravel crowd every time they print one of Brownback? I'd say you need a tinfoil hat, but it appears you already have one. They don't even cover Gravel's campaign

Happy Birthday!!

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 6, 2007 -> 08:29 AM) The picture is linked in this thread. Pretty simple, actually. And how many pictures do we have to find of Dems in small crowds to disprove your claim? One? Twenty one?

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Sep 6, 2007 -> 01:44 AM) All that does is make another cruisy bathroom somewhere in the airport happen. Arresting people for sex in public will stop sex in public - in general. And if they caught him having sex, I would agree on this case. When the cops start busting people for possible intent, and actions that *may* lead to a certain crime, we are on a slippery slope. Calling a hooker over to a car *may* lead to an illegal act, or it *may* lead to someone trying to help the person with food, clothing, shelter, etc. One is illegal, the other not. I don't like the police being in the position where they are claiming they *know* what another person is thinking and can have him arrested and convicted.

The drive to reproduce is deeply embedded in every animal I've studied. Some will find religious implications, some will just call it a biological fact. To stop poor people from reproducing is as ethically distasteful to me as stopping people with brown hair or below average intelligence. Perhaps to make it easier for them we could force sterilization on poor people?

Amazing voice. I wish I had the opportunity to see him in his prime. Everything I heard was recorded, but even singing some pop tunes in the Three Tenor Concerts, he was just incredible.

QUOTE(Middle Buffalo @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 11:55 PM) Oh, that makes sense. We should definitely concentrate most our resources into building up countries that are not close to the US.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Sep 4, 2007 -> 03:28 AM) The Sox are in a position to make a top 3 pick, In all of sports, a top three pick is the least valuable in baseball. I'd rank Basketball #1, Football #2, and Hockey #3. I have no idea about soccer, arena football, and NASCAR but baseball would be somewhere behind them as well.

QUOTE(Middle Buffalo @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 11:46 PM) Ironically, many of the people who are most outraged by the US illegal immigration problem are in favor of the war in Iraq. A war that we are fighting (it's been said) in order to give the Iraqi citizens all of the rights and liberties that we hold so dear in this country. Why don't we want to extend this great gift of freedom and the American way to all people? Because we don't want them here

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 04:40 PM) Let's just send Mexico a bunch of condoms then so they can stop making people that they can't care for and just send to us to deal with. Can't feed your family of 6? Well, maybe you shoudl have stopped at 4. or 3. or better yet, no kids. if you can't feed yourself, you are a fool to bring others into this world to join your plight. And your 'right' to have kids should be trumped by your right to CARE and PROVIDE for the kids, maybe have a plan BEFORE you poke the pudding. if the Mexicans could just keep their zippers up and excercise a little restaraint, maybe there wouldn't be 12 million illegals lookign for food, etc. Card's made-up quote, "America does not exist to be a safety valve for the failures of the Mexican economy.", is true, regardless of how cold it sounds. Come up with a reasonable guest worker plan, vigorously prosecute identity thft and companies that knowingly hire illegals ( you know, the ones where 5 minutes on the phone could tell, not the ones with expert forgeries), STOp the unchecked flow of people, NO amnesty, fast track people who are currently on the list to get in instead of thoise who cheated, and start making english required to do any government business. And I love Card's books, too. Just finished Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead again. I agree with 80% of your post. Couple points I disagree with. Economics is one reason people want to come here, but isn't this the land of opportunity? Don't we want to be that shining beacon of hope around the land? Freedom, the good life, etc. Or is the American dream dead? There are a lot more than 12,000,000 wanting to move to the US. Amnesty means different things to different people. If you are saying no instant citizenship, I'm with you. If you are saying no path to full, legal status, ever, I disagree. If you have been living here and leading a good life, your neighbors like you, you've been working regularly, the cops do not know you, I'd rather you stay then take what's behind door number one, two, or three. Poor people shouldn't breed? I'm not going there. I'll just add one counter thought. Why punish the children? Down here, the majority of people are bilingual. When I travel in Mexico or Europe, English was almost always spoken as well as the native languages. Why are Americans the most afraid of people who speak a different language? There isn't a transaction here, public or private that couldn't be conducted in Spanish, and I just don't see a problem.

I don't think anyone here would call me a GOP apologist, but I agree with much of her blog. Cops in uniform walking in and out of the restroom would have stopped the behavior, did they really need an undercover sting? Shouldn't the cops be detaining anyone with a dark complexion to be certain they aren't terrorists or worse, illegal immigrants?

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 04:15 PM) Prove my point wrong. Brownback has no support, that's not a surprise. But it's amazing how the AP publishes that pic, and not a crowd shot for the lesser Dem candidates. It is a funny picture, regardless. And if they didn't cover his campaign at all, some would b****. I get it, they have to run a shot of a lesser Dem candidate right next to the Rep candidate. Of course then some would complain based on outer edge, below the fold, etc.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 03:59 PM) Nice camera angle. Now you notice that the Dems can't get a camera angle like that, now can they (unless of course, it's a full place)? Kap, I am thisclose to becoming a GOP faithful, tell me do they mail the tin foil hat or do I reach under the stall?

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 02:57 PM) Yea, now drive it til the wheels fall off. That's probably the one piece of advice that I wish I got getting out of college and getting my first "real" job - you do NOT need a new car. The more you can drive your old POS, the more money is in your pocket both short term and long term. I read somewhere a while back the attributes of a average US millionaire and was surprised that they would be driving, on average, a 6 year old car. BTW, most of their wealth was in real estate, especially their primary residence.

QUOTE(RibbieRubarb @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 03:05 PM) He was fun. How come whenever we get a new pet...we can't keep it, Ma?? you always crack me up, thanks

Gee, was DLJ on the list to be fired?

QUOTE(drive like jehu @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 02:07 PM) You must laugh a lot when your typing then... your is not the contraction for you are, y'all are is.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 01:58 PM) Yep. And that's why everyone was so quick to say he should resign. It's a bunch of poo. Vitter should go as well, politics be damned. Which is one reason I favor the Governor being required to pick a person from the same party. Makes it easier for everybody, all the time.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 01:40 PM) Tex, good post. Did I scare you?

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 01:49 PM) Can we please get back on track with the firings? Enough with the snide comments already. I'd really rather not have to delete a bunch of posts. Damn anti-Texas bias

I agree, and in general, the GOP does seem to handle these better than the Dems. I believe it is because the Dems are much more willing to accept that there are gray areas in behavior and give people a lot of chances, believe they can change, etc. The GOP is usually, and let's not start tossing out a hundred examples to the contrary, a one strike and you're out kind of organization. Now this one is an easy one with a GOP Governor. Once again, I would prefer a system where the Senator's party affiliation is kept. It would make these things cleaner for everyone and avoid the "we have to save him or we lose a seat" situations.

As always I root for the AL Central AL Just to have a foil, I'd take the Cards winning the last day of the season, sending the Cubs into a one game playoff that they lose to Milwaukee.