posted on June 20, 2008 09:06:07 PM new
Squirrel, it would greatly enhance the discussion if you could be specific about which "welfare benefits" you are referring to and not bypass the question.
posted on June 21, 2008 06:02:44 AM new desquirrel states, "If the kids are not citizens, mail them back to their country and let their fellow citizens take care of them."
Will you feed the little orphaned childern and possibly give them a drink of water before you seal the box?
In addition to prejudice, scapegoat theory explains what is at work here where hostility is directed toward the easiest target...the undocumented immigrant.
Rather than direct such hostility toward a mismanaged immigration policy or American companies who rely on cheap labor, poor undocument immigrants are blamed and hated to such a degree that they are being killed on the border. Poor people who are just looking for work and a better life for their families are being hunted down like criminals and shot.
posted on June 21, 2008 02:55:50 PM new
Sometimes I just can't help myself, Helen; normally I try to be kind and patient. Bad Adele, perched on my left shoulder, won this battle.
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posted on June 21, 2008 09:36:04 PM new
Helen, that's a very interesting article.
The only concern I've had over immigration is when it's done illegally. Are there any statistics about other nationalities sneaking into the U.S. in the past 200 years? There may be, but I don't know of them.
On the one hand, I understand why someone who wants to feed his family will be desperate enough to come over the border and live in the shadows and work to send money home. Perhaps we'd all do that if we had no other recourse.
On the other hand, the children of those illegal immigrants know that Mom or Dad has already broken a law and seems to have gotten away with it. And I worry about that example being handed down. Maybe I worry for nothing. . . .
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posted on June 22, 2008 07:53:01 AM new
Roadsmith, I'm so happy that you enjoyed the article and Profe, I'm especially happy that you found it excellent!
Roadsmith, you said, "On the other hand, the children of those illegal immigrants know that Mom or Dad has already broken a law and seems to have gotten away with it. And I worry about that example being handed down. Maybe I worry for nothing. . . ."
I believe that your worry in this regard is not warranted. And I disagree that immigrant status should be classified as illegal based only on the fact that they were unable to secure the required documentation. I doubt very seriously that knowledge of that bureaucratic error will corrupt the children of immigrants. In fact, such courage, compassion and determination to take care of their families are admirable character traits for children to emulate.
posted on June 22, 2008 02:13:39 PM new
Roadsmith, those are a few good words that I seldom read. Thanks for letting me know that you understand my viewpoint.
posted on June 22, 2008 02:45:59 PM new
I missed this article from the Washington Post. A "Euroinvasion" ! Even the French are moving to America. Has Lou Dobbs gone beserk yet?
What Can They Buy? A Good Bit of Us.
by Moisés Naím
April 27, 2008
At the start, they came for the iPods. Then they came for condos in Manhattan and Miami. Now they're coming for the companies.
These days, Europeans are taking advantage of the cheap U.S. dollar to buy more than consumer electronics or real estate in the United States. They are also gobbling up all kinds of U.S. corporations -- a trend that will be far more permanent, consequential and politically charged than Europeans' widely noticed shopping sprees for gadgets or apartments.
"I am not worried about rich Arabs," a businessman in Clovis, Calif., recently told me. "It's the French who worry me." A private French company had just bought a large firm in his town, he explained, referring to Pelco, a Clovis-based manufacturer of video security systems that had recently been acquired by Schneider Electric. "Life will now change for all of us," he said. "That company has been an important part of this community for years."
