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2006.03.28 |
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Muy Caliente
Dafydd ab Hugh has three excellent posts on the issue of the day here, here and here. Read them in that order and, as always with Dafydd's posts, read the associated comments. I have a nephew looking over my shoulder anxious for his turn online but I'll have more to say on the matter later. *** Said nephew got impatient with a slow-loading site and turned the computer off with no warning. ScanDisk (DskChk?) deleted a bunch of corrupted files when he turned it back on and I don't know what we may or may not have lost that matters. I guess I'm still going to have to let him use the computer for a little while -- I'll be back later. While you're waiting, check out Emperor Misha's solution to the car-theft problem here and RightWingDuck's solution to the bank-robbery problem here. *** Between blown circuit breakers and impatient nephews I'm not going to be up to doing as much with this tonight as I'd hoped, but maybe I can get some of my thoughts down tonight and do a follow-up post sometime soon. I should point out before I go on that while most of the attention lately seem to be focused on illegal immigrants from Mexico and points south, we also need to be concerned about immigration, legal and otherwise, from other areas of the world as well. I'll even be so un-PC as to say I see Muslims as another problem we need to get under control before it gets out of hand. Dafydd list the three legs of his "immigration stool" as follows:
I can't improve a bit on Dafydd's list and after reading all three of his related posts today I'm surprised to find that he and I agree on a lot more than I thought we did after reading just the first one. 1) Border Control and Immigration Enforcement I don't see how anyone worth even trying to carry on a conversation with could disagree with the need for much stricter control of our borders and other points of entry into the country. Where I'm to the right of Dafydd, and no doubt some others, is that I think it's time to use whatever means necessary to stem the flood. If we can do it with increased funding and staffing for the Border Patrol, so be it. If it takes razor wire, minefields, and airborne gunships, then I don't have a problem with that either. Please bear in mind when reading this that poor hard-working Mexicans aren't our only only border concern -- Drugs and WMDs are at least as big an issue. Once the word gets out that we really do mean business we won't have to prove it very often. Considering the number of people who've died recently lost in the desert with no water or locked in the back of abandoned 18-wheelers a razor wire/minefield/gunship approach might well even save lives. As soon as we have our borders under control we need to get to work on getting rid of about about 10 million illegals that are already here. I don't think anyone to the left of David Duke wants to see jack-booted Storm Troopers marching into our immigrant neighborhoods and rounding up people to be placed on south-bound boxcars, but there are other ways to get a huge portion of the illegal population out of the country. We need laws with serious teeth in them against employing anyone who can't produce proper papers. Serious teeth. To accompany such laws we should establish conveniently located gathering points where illegals can voluntarily turn themselves in for free transportation home; no courts, no jails, no hard feelings, just Adios. Once they're home they should be free to apply for legal reentry. 2) Rational reform of immigration law It may surprise some of my regular readers to hear me admit that we probably really do need some sort of "guest worker" program. If you read Dafydd's posts that I linked to earlier I think you'll come away convinced. I'll admit that we do, but only as long as it doesn't involve any sort of amnesty in any way, shape or form. "Guest Worker" permits should be issued outside our borders. Period. Issuing them to people who entered the country illegally is an amnesty, no matter how you cut it. If we end up, as it looks like we may, allowing people to simply pay a "fine" for entering illegally, the fine should be substantial enough to cover all reasonable estimates of what their illegal presence has cost us in lost taxes, public aid, educational expenses, etc. The numbers I've heard mentioned so far don't even come close. I was pleased to see Dafydd come out against "anchor babies." I agree with him completely that babies born to non-citizens should not automatically be granted citizenship. 3) Assimilation I think a basic requirement for citizenship, or even legal permanent residency status, should be proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing English. In addition applicants should be required, in Dafydd's words, "to accept, or at least tolerate, the core beliefs of America: liberty, democracy, responsibility, duty, capitalism, and equal justice." I suspect that may come a little harder for our Islamic friends than it does for some others, but if they don't like it they're welcome to leave. *** Michelle has some pictures you're absolutely going to love here. The Freepers have even more here. Ed Morrissey: A Virtual Wall Brings Virtual Amnesty *** Leon Wolf at RedState doesn't think the McCain-Kennedy bill's quite as bad as some of what I'd heard, but after saying that he turns around and lists some reasons not to like it, primarily the fact that it doesn't put nearly enough emphasis on border controll and allows the Executive branch way to much flexibility in deciding how to implement it. Read his posts here and here. *** Ed Morrissey has another great post on this matter up here and Tony Blankley has an excellent related editorial here. *** Curt at Flopping Aces has an excellent related post here. *** Don't miss Greyhawk's latest Open Post. |
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Posted by Bill Faith on March 28, 2006 at 08:10 PM in Mexican-American War 2 | Permalink TrackBack Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Muy Caliente:
Comments When these tamales start messing with our flag, its time to kick butt!!! Posted by: josh | Mar 29, 2006 2:55:12 PM I would like to add one more from Chuck: "Let's see, we've got something like a 1500-mile border to protect and pretty much anybody with a decent pair of Nike's can come in the country illegally. It's not something we can fix overnight. We have to take baby steps. First, we start rounding up all the Illegals we can find. Second, we organize them in the work gangs. Third, we put them to work for us. Since they'll be in our legal system, they can get the federal limit of $.90 an hour for their work. "But what will they do, Chuck?” you ask. They will begin building the wall. When the Spanish conquered the West in their discovery of California, they built a mission roughly every 20 miles. That was a day's march for their soldiers. We should cut back by a half, and have the work gangs build prisons every 10 miles along the border. (For cost-effectiveness, we would follow the Sheriff Joe Arpaio model.) In between the jails, they will build the wall that separates us from Mexico. Just to ease the confusion, we will concede 1 mile of our border -- a no man's land if you will. Actually, since we'll be using unskilled labor, it gives us a margin of error if we screw up where the border lies. Volunteer citizens can be used as deputized guards and wardens and paid according to their skills and abilities. The jails will house the prisoners as they continue to build the wall, and anyone who “escapes” back to Mexico is welcome to leave. Anyone who escapes to el norte, is welcome to be hunted down like a dog, and shot (as an escaped felon). After working an eight hour day (any more would be too cruel) the detainees would work on the citizenship process. They could do their paperwork, take their classes on citizenship, and all of the other sundry things that apply to becoming a United States citizen. Also, they would learn to Habla Ingleś-- an absolute requirement for release (after all, we have to make sure that they completely understand their oath of citizenship)." Sounds great to me, What do you think? Papa Ray West Texas USAPosted by: Papa Ray | Mar 30, 2006 10:58:02 PM Post a comment |
