I've not written much lately because I've been busy working on the architecture of a new world. Writing is such these days that creating a new world that does not "steal" or "borrow" ideas already out there is hard. But I'm wily and I love science so it's been easy and difficult at the same time. And, then this immigration crap starts all over and I'm pulled from my imagination, screaming and kicking. Trust me, no one really wants to hear my thoughts on immigration, illegal or state sanctioned.
Why? Because it's harsh and logical and doesn't include law breaking of any kind. Nor does it allow for any sort of amnesty for wrong doing.
I believe that anyone who wants to come work here should be able to without having to go through the miles of red tape to do so. If you want to walk across a bridge each day to come mop my floors or pick grapes or watch little kids, then you should be able to do so. Take your money back across the river each night and spend the money you've earned as you see fit. The ONLY reason Momma Gubmint gets involved is because she wants her piece of that money pie, i.e. income taxes. I don't believe in income taxes ergo Momma Gubmint is in the wrong on this one.
With all of that said, realize that I come from Texas where much of our infrastructure is stretched thin thanks to millions, yes millions with a capital M, of people come over and get into our welfare system that they haven't put a dime into because... they pay no taxes but sales tax. Which in my world is the best sort. They come over, have babies in emergency rooms who are immediately signed up for Medicaid (state run insurance for low income "citizens" even if they are just 4 minutes old), WIC, Food Stamps, TANF and a whole host of housing subsidies. These are benefits citizens born here must jump through numerous hoops to get if they are not born into it. To say I'm unhappy with our illegal immigrants does not come close to how I feel. Anger comes the closest.
Why? Because these people refuse to assimilate. They want everything in Mexican (as most people who are educated do, I refuse to call what they speak Spanish), they want bi-lingual education for their anchor babies because they refuse to learn English or teach it in the home, putting their "American Citizens" further and further behind in school. Most of them live in squalor, sending almost everything they earn here to Mexico because they live off the welfare we're all too ready to throw at them. Trust me, you've ain't seen nothing until you watch 30 people run out of a two bedroom, one bathroom house that catches fire because someone left the oven on. You have no idea what it's like that your children have to walk past that house on their way to school and there are cars parked in the yard and drug and sex detritus is spread all around.
Most of the immigrants I have seen here in Texas live just like that, in squalor, filth and ignorance with no desire whatsoever to get out. But there is a flip side. I have a friend who came over illegally, brought two baby boys with her and worked hard to bring them up here in America so they could have a future that did not include running drugs, filth or ignorance. She learned English while I learned Spanish. She met a great man and they had a daughter who is slightly older than my oldest daughter. They played baseball together as children. She became a citizen through marriage, but it was a long, tough row to hoe because of how she had come here. She recognized that but she endured and got through it. She eventually became the manager of a hotel in a large chain. She was very happy the last time I spoke with her. She doesn't celebrate Cinco de Mayo, expects no instructions or direction en espanol and speaks very good English with a slight accent after all of her years here.
She came, she assimilated. Assimilation used to actually be a criteria having to be met to get citizenship in this country. Not many folks know that. I know I did not until I read a book by Thaddeus Russell. Becoming American was part of the Citizenship Test. Not just learning rote answers given by our beloved teachers so that you could pass the test and gain a Democrat voters registration card. It was the same when my German ancestors came over in 1840. They left their ship in Philadelphia, signed in and immediately got to work moving west to Chicago to build sewers until the Gold Rush of 1849 and they quickly got on board with the wagon trains so they could end up in San Francisco. They learned to speak English, still spoke German in the home until my dad's generation. They were from Middle Europe, because there was no Germany as a country back then, but they became Americans. They assimilated, they fit in. They didn't sit back and insist that everyone speak German or that they be given something just because they showed up. They worked hard and they made it. Same with the Scots-Irish side, although they came a few years later. They built towns and farms in the Northwest and they were Americans.
With all of that said, I still believe in a strong immigrant presence in this country. However, the path to citizenship should necessarily be hard. For if you easily leave one country behind, would you not think twice leaving America? If you call yourself Mexican but you work and live here in America, I suggest you be drop kicked across the border and never allowed to re-enter. You like it so much there that you cannot give up that culture and become American? You need to be back where you are obviously more comfortable. That goes for ANY culture. To paraphrase a famous saying, "You're in my country now".
I love to meet people from different countries. I love learning about their customs, foods, history. However, once you decide to become an American, you have to accept my culture, my history, my ways. Because to be an American you have to actually... be an American. You don't forget your heritage, but you don't expect your new home to bow down to your old one either. I celebrate St. Patrick's day (actually a Catholic Feast Day) and Cinco de Mayo (tequila!) because they are nothing more then booze holidays. I don't celebrate Tet, Kwanzaa (the biggest made up holiday since Valentines Day) or expect anyone outside my Dutch relatives to celebrate St. Nicholas Day (another Catholic Feast Day). Yes, I like candy in my wooden shoe and adopted that custom lickety split.
If you want to be an American, work and live as an American, then by God I expect you to act like one, speak like one and believe like one. I expect you to earn your own way for you and your family as a way of saying thanks for having been accepted into the greatest country the world has ever known... well, until recently at any rate. However, if all you want to do is come here, leech off our system then whine about how your culture is not accepted here, then we'll discuss my idea for the sniper training schools I think should be set up on the border to discourage law breaking illegals from gaining entry into our great nation.
Deterrent and protected border anyone?
Why? Because it's harsh and logical and doesn't include law breaking of any kind. Nor does it allow for any sort of amnesty for wrong doing.
I believe that anyone who wants to come work here should be able to without having to go through the miles of red tape to do so. If you want to walk across a bridge each day to come mop my floors or pick grapes or watch little kids, then you should be able to do so. Take your money back across the river each night and spend the money you've earned as you see fit. The ONLY reason Momma Gubmint gets involved is because she wants her piece of that money pie, i.e. income taxes. I don't believe in income taxes ergo Momma Gubmint is in the wrong on this one.
With all of that said, realize that I come from Texas where much of our infrastructure is stretched thin thanks to millions, yes millions with a capital M, of people come over and get into our welfare system that they haven't put a dime into because... they pay no taxes but sales tax. Which in my world is the best sort. They come over, have babies in emergency rooms who are immediately signed up for Medicaid (state run insurance for low income "citizens" even if they are just 4 minutes old), WIC, Food Stamps, TANF and a whole host of housing subsidies. These are benefits citizens born here must jump through numerous hoops to get if they are not born into it. To say I'm unhappy with our illegal immigrants does not come close to how I feel. Anger comes the closest.
Why? Because these people refuse to assimilate. They want everything in Mexican (as most people who are educated do, I refuse to call what they speak Spanish), they want bi-lingual education for their anchor babies because they refuse to learn English or teach it in the home, putting their "American Citizens" further and further behind in school. Most of them live in squalor, sending almost everything they earn here to Mexico because they live off the welfare we're all too ready to throw at them. Trust me, you've ain't seen nothing until you watch 30 people run out of a two bedroom, one bathroom house that catches fire because someone left the oven on. You have no idea what it's like that your children have to walk past that house on their way to school and there are cars parked in the yard and drug and sex detritus is spread all around.
Most of the immigrants I have seen here in Texas live just like that, in squalor, filth and ignorance with no desire whatsoever to get out. But there is a flip side. I have a friend who came over illegally, brought two baby boys with her and worked hard to bring them up here in America so they could have a future that did not include running drugs, filth or ignorance. She learned English while I learned Spanish. She met a great man and they had a daughter who is slightly older than my oldest daughter. They played baseball together as children. She became a citizen through marriage, but it was a long, tough row to hoe because of how she had come here. She recognized that but she endured and got through it. She eventually became the manager of a hotel in a large chain. She was very happy the last time I spoke with her. She doesn't celebrate Cinco de Mayo, expects no instructions or direction en espanol and speaks very good English with a slight accent after all of her years here.
She came, she assimilated. Assimilation used to actually be a criteria having to be met to get citizenship in this country. Not many folks know that. I know I did not until I read a book by Thaddeus Russell. Becoming American was part of the Citizenship Test. Not just learning rote answers given by our beloved teachers so that you could pass the test and gain a Democrat voters registration card. It was the same when my German ancestors came over in 1840. They left their ship in Philadelphia, signed in and immediately got to work moving west to Chicago to build sewers until the Gold Rush of 1849 and they quickly got on board with the wagon trains so they could end up in San Francisco. They learned to speak English, still spoke German in the home until my dad's generation. They were from Middle Europe, because there was no Germany as a country back then, but they became Americans. They assimilated, they fit in. They didn't sit back and insist that everyone speak German or that they be given something just because they showed up. They worked hard and they made it. Same with the Scots-Irish side, although they came a few years later. They built towns and farms in the Northwest and they were Americans.
With all of that said, I still believe in a strong immigrant presence in this country. However, the path to citizenship should necessarily be hard. For if you easily leave one country behind, would you not think twice leaving America? If you call yourself Mexican but you work and live here in America, I suggest you be drop kicked across the border and never allowed to re-enter. You like it so much there that you cannot give up that culture and become American? You need to be back where you are obviously more comfortable. That goes for ANY culture. To paraphrase a famous saying, "You're in my country now".
I love to meet people from different countries. I love learning about their customs, foods, history. However, once you decide to become an American, you have to accept my culture, my history, my ways. Because to be an American you have to actually... be an American. You don't forget your heritage, but you don't expect your new home to bow down to your old one either. I celebrate St. Patrick's day (actually a Catholic Feast Day) and Cinco de Mayo (tequila!) because they are nothing more then booze holidays. I don't celebrate Tet, Kwanzaa (the biggest made up holiday since Valentines Day) or expect anyone outside my Dutch relatives to celebrate St. Nicholas Day (another Catholic Feast Day). Yes, I like candy in my wooden shoe and adopted that custom lickety split.
If you want to be an American, work and live as an American, then by God I expect you to act like one, speak like one and believe like one. I expect you to earn your own way for you and your family as a way of saying thanks for having been accepted into the greatest country the world has ever known... well, until recently at any rate. However, if all you want to do is come here, leech off our system then whine about how your culture is not accepted here, then we'll discuss my idea for the sniper training schools I think should be set up on the border to discourage law breaking illegals from gaining entry into our great nation.
Deterrent and protected border anyone?
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