Exercise: None the weather was shit today. Here we are almost the 1st of May and it was effin SNOWING! Thank Pete it wasn't sticking otherwise Ms. Mother Nature would have been getting an earful.
Brett said ~ "Negative, negative, negative...
Minutemen, while having a few bad apples, do just stand there and view the border and point out people crossing. That was the whole idea. They aren't armed with anything other than a walkie talkie to point out the criminals. Since, as you say, there isn't enough money going to this issue, we can use all the help we can get. Especially, since we aren't enforcing the existing laws due to mostly the reasons you cite. Also, part of the crowd that sides with you on "grandfathering" people in thinks those people should get away with breaking the law. It's a slap in the face to those doing things legally.
Greencard or another system, there still has to be a way to check up. It's going to cost because it does involve someone doing the work. That's not a bad thing. We do that for our drivers licenses and more. Seems that this form of taxation is quite prevalent for us, why not moreso for those that aren't citizens? I'm all for getting rid of taxes, but let's start with actual legal citizens.
So you're all for scrapping the Constitution now? While there were errors in the interpretation over the years, there is no mention of white men and no mention of women not having these rights. If you can point that out in the Bill Of Rights, that would be great. You also may want to check out the stats on illegal gun use versus legal gun use. As always, there are some bad apples, but it's amazing that people want to use that excuse for taking away our rights. There is a reason the first two rights listed are listed as they are. Man doesn't get "smarter" due to generational time. We may discover more science and geography, but that's not "smarter". Is there a modern day Plato or Socrates? Who is the modern day Einstein? Ideas have been around for thousands of years concerning freedom. Our founding fathers debated every word in the Constitution. They came out of it with a document that has held up over 200 years. With all the devisiveness in this political day and age, do you really think we can do better and actually finish a document? (Puts Iraq in perspective as they try to build a country, doesn't it?)"
The Fashion Diva's thoughts ~
I'm not being negative. I would call it more like practical & keeping Joe Public's interest in mind.
I know what minutemen do. Please stop attempting to give me a lesson on the subject. All I'm saying is that by allowing any old schlep off the street to patrol our borders, we could potentially be asking for trouble because things could more easily get out of hand. No weapons are needed for that to happen. I say take some of that pork barrel spending (there's a ton of it) and put it to some good use by applying it towards hiring trained professionals to do the job.
I really wish you would stop making it sound as though we aren't doing anything about illegal immigration because we are. Hell deportation hold tanks are getting too full as is. When you are talking the kind of numbers involved, there is NO WAY things are just going to be solved in a day's time no matter how strict the law or plentiful the resources.
How do you know grandfathering illegal immigrants in is a slap in the face to those who went about things legally? How many of them have you actually talked to? Given your profound inexperience with things like diversity and racial problems that are even blatant to a blind person, I'm going to say VERY few if any. Sure there are some who will bitch about it but there will always be some that do regardless of how the problem is solved. I, for one, can tell you as someone who has dealt with immigration on a few different levels and has gone through the legal process of bringing a foreign national into this country that I don't feel the least bit slighted especially if those who snuck in are required to always remain as a permanent resident alien. My reasons for this are:
- I believe that if those people were sent home, the US would experience at least a mild economic hardship if not worse that really isn't needed right now particularly with the way Dubya is running things.
- I feel for those who have to come here by ways of being smuggled in and I can understand what it's like to have something you really want ripped right out from under you. I don't want to have to say I was responsible for taking someone's dream away just because our government can't get it's act together.
What exactly do you think we need to check up on when it comes to a permanent resident alien? I mean if they get in trouble with the law, it's not like renewing a greencard every ten years is going to make a difference and I'm fairly certain the odds of someone's fingerprints changing is basically nill. Let's face it, it's nothing but a way for the government to make money. I mean we're talking about something that's equivalent to renewing a driver's license yet costs $260 instead of $20. When you calculate that out on a per year basis you're talking $26 vs $5 and unlike a DL, you more than likely will be waiting 6 months to get it and in Chi's case, driving 200 miles to get it. How ridiculous that anyone should have to pay 5 times the amount for the government to be that much more inefficient.
Extra taxes for those who aren't citizens??? Um yah no. Sorry but that just wouldn't fly because in some cases like that of Chi and me where the foreign national marries, the non-citizen wouldn't be the only one paying the extra tax or impacted by it. There's a saying that goes "Love knows no boundaries". Now why the hell should I be penalized just because I decided to live by that? All together now....R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S!!!
I didn't say that I wanted to scrap the constitution . I was pointing out the fact that it's outdated and needs revisions to better pertain to this day and age. Errors in interpretation LMAO that's a good one. When you look at what was written and then how people especially women and blacks were treated, it's easy to see to whom it was really aimed.
It's not just the "bad apples" who drive my thoughts about gun control. It's the number of accidental deaths caused by legally owned guns especially involving children. It also has to do with living in a country where strict laws on such weapons is enforced. Imagine a place about the size of Iowa which has close to 60 million people living there yet the crime rate is about the same. This I believe has a LOT to do with the gun control laws.
Ok, so let's say human knowledge is only a matter of new science as you say. What's to be said of those who discover the new science? Obviously they have the ability to look at things differently from others in order to make that find. We also learn from that science which in turn makes us smarter than those who came before us. You can't tell me that the first humans to live on Earth knew everything that we know today and never progressed. Maybe our founding fathers debated every word of the Constitution when it was written but it was done in that day and age according to society then not how it is now.
And now for something completely different......
I watched Brokeback Mountain and A Beautiful Mind this weekend. Both of these films were pretty good. I have to say that I think the reason a lot of people were having such fits about Brokeback had more to do with the fact that the movie was above them and they weren't able to look past the sexuality of it to the relationship and connection of the characters. Oh the ignorance of some people.
People seemed to really have their heads shoved up their asses today. During the morning commute, most people were driving as though they forgot the gas is the pedal on the right and at work planes were buzzing over people's heads right and left because they just didn't seem to "get it".
I am now 100% sure that all the bitching people have been doing about mileage ratings on new cars being overstated is complete crap. My car is rated at 18/27. Normally I do about half & half driving - half city/half highway. Now if you take the two ratings and average them, that's about what I would expect to get for the type of driving I do which would be 22.5mpg. So far I've done no less than 23. This past time I filled up, most of my miles were highway but there were some city. I came out at 27.5mpg and had I actually waited a bit longer to fill up, that may have gone a bit higher. I can usually get about 400 miles out of a tank but this time had I gone until I was down to my last gallon, it probably would have been closer to 500. Sorry people but I think it's more a matter of how you drive that's influencing your ratings than anything else. From my observances, I think one of the biggest factors is speeding rather than driving the limit especially when it comes to streets with stoplights.
I heard on the news this evening that May 1st is National Day Without Immigrants. All immigrants are being asked to stay home from work, school, and stores to protest federal immigration reform legislation (something that makes it a felony to be in the States illegally). Personally, I hope every last one stays home and supports the cause because I really do think we depend on these people much more than most people in this country realize.
Ok....think that's it for me today.
Til next time....
