So why is a pop-culture blog that focuses primarily on comics and sequential art and sci-fi, fantasy, and horror in all mediums, blathering on and on about illegal immigration? I'm glad I asked:
Whether you work as a writer, commercial artist, photographer, webmaster, actor - regardless of the specific field in which you work - if you work in the entertainment and arts field, you are most likely poor. Unless you had parents or some other circumstances which helped you through college or allowed you to take the time to pursue your interest(s) with financial security, you most likely had to take a day job. And, if you're serious about becoming successful in your chosen field(s), the job you most likely went for is a rather low-level job where you don't have much responsibility. You're not going to have a whole lot of time to work on projects when you have to be "on-call" or able to drop everything and run to your day job whenever the higher-ups call.
Illegal immigrants take these jobs.
They also contribute to identity theft in a big way. In fact, I speak from experience on this front, since back in around 1998-1999, an illegal immigrant in Kentucky would come up whenever I had to give my SSN to anyone! It took me literally until about 2003-2004 to get it all straightened out.
Stephen Colbert struck-out at Lou Dobbs last night on his program for Dobbs' statements regarding the number of Mexicans infected with Leprosy, or Hansen's Disease, as it's now called. Regardless of whether or not Dobbs' statistics on the subject are correct, this is the whole reason we have immigration laws to begin with! Or one of the main ones, at the very least.
On a slow news day, the media loves to report on yet another case of Bird Flu in Asia or the number of AIDS deaths in Africa or an outbreak of Ebola in South America. While these are terrible things that I hope and pray can be solved in time, it's not unusual to feel threatened by the very real possibility that such diseases and infections can be brought into our country by immigrants, foreign visitors, even US citizens who travel to other countries and become infected there! That's why there is a process for entering and leaving the country; checking for these things is part of that process. And that is the Bigger Picture in Lou Dobbs' statements, regardless of whether or not his math is right.
Medical emergency rooms cannot turn anyone away based on financial status; if they can't pay for treatment, the ER is still forced to treat them. Thus, illegal immigrants get free healthcare. I agree with this, but who do you think pays for that? Duh!
I heard an e-mail on the news earlier, criticizing the Welfare system and suggesting that, now that the minimum wage has been raised a whopping $2.00/hour, they should lower the Welfare rates to force people back into the workforce who are just "too lazy" to work without such an incentive. It's ridiculous for a host of reasons, but I'll throw two of them out there: a number of government officials are trying to live for a month on Food Stamps and so far, none of them have been able to do it without cheating. The other reason is very simple: you don't want to work around a lot of people on Disability. And while there is a difference between what is known as "Welfare" and what is called "Disability," 99.8% of US citizens don't know it; it's all just referred to as "Welfare."
Another e-mail suggested that the average person making minimum wage is a 16-year old boy working at a grocery store, not a 40-year old head of a household of four. Yet another suggested that if you have been working for 25 years and are still only receiving minimum wage, that's your fault and why should the government help you out? Again, ridiculous and unfounded! What about all the former stay-at-home moms/dads re-entering the workforce? How about the former computer programmers and network administrators whose skills, once highly demanded, are now useless? How about the former sole business owner who is forced back into the workforce? The college student? The person fresh out of college? And on and on.
Regardless of all that, were the money we're spending on free healthcare for illegal immigrants, the taxes spent schooling their children, the money we spend repairing our stolen identities, the outrageous amounts we spend on health insurance (because we make too much money to qualify for free healthcare) - basically all the money spent supporting illegal immigrants and illegal immigration - pumped back into the "Welfare" system, pumped into a comprehensive universal healthcare system, pumped into improving oil refineries... were this money spent in America, on Americans, we wouldn't have the problems we have here today.
It is not our responsibility to bankroll the rest of the world. In fact, our absurd anti-drug laws already do that.
But the kicker was the e-mail from someone who was angry that the government was telling him/her how much he had to pay his employees. And that's the key.
People like Stephen Colbert and this moron are the only people who want illegal immigration to continue because it saves them money. I can't afford house servants or landscapers or construction crews to remodel my home; if those things are going to get done around my house, I'm going to be the one who does them.
And so would Stephen Colbert and the moron above, were they forced to pay American citizens a proper wage above the table.
Whether you work as a writer, commercial artist, photographer, webmaster, actor - regardless of the specific field in which you work - if you work in the entertainment and arts field, you are most likely poor. Unless you had parents or some other circumstances which helped you through college or allowed you to take the time to pursue your interest(s) with financial security, you most likely had to take a day job. And, if you're serious about becoming successful in your chosen field(s), the job you most likely went for is a rather low-level job where you don't have much responsibility. You're not going to have a whole lot of time to work on projects when you have to be "on-call" or able to drop everything and run to your day job whenever the higher-ups call.
Illegal immigrants take these jobs.
They also contribute to identity theft in a big way. In fact, I speak from experience on this front, since back in around 1998-1999, an illegal immigrant in Kentucky would come up whenever I had to give my SSN to anyone! It took me literally until about 2003-2004 to get it all straightened out.
Stephen Colbert struck-out at Lou Dobbs last night on his program for Dobbs' statements regarding the number of Mexicans infected with Leprosy, or Hansen's Disease, as it's now called. Regardless of whether or not Dobbs' statistics on the subject are correct, this is the whole reason we have immigration laws to begin with! Or one of the main ones, at the very least.
On a slow news day, the media loves to report on yet another case of Bird Flu in Asia or the number of AIDS deaths in Africa or an outbreak of Ebola in South America. While these are terrible things that I hope and pray can be solved in time, it's not unusual to feel threatened by the very real possibility that such diseases and infections can be brought into our country by immigrants, foreign visitors, even US citizens who travel to other countries and become infected there! That's why there is a process for entering and leaving the country; checking for these things is part of that process. And that is the Bigger Picture in Lou Dobbs' statements, regardless of whether or not his math is right.
Medical emergency rooms cannot turn anyone away based on financial status; if they can't pay for treatment, the ER is still forced to treat them. Thus, illegal immigrants get free healthcare. I agree with this, but who do you think pays for that? Duh!
I heard an e-mail on the news earlier, criticizing the Welfare system and suggesting that, now that the minimum wage has been raised a whopping $2.00/hour, they should lower the Welfare rates to force people back into the workforce who are just "too lazy" to work without such an incentive. It's ridiculous for a host of reasons, but I'll throw two of them out there: a number of government officials are trying to live for a month on Food Stamps and so far, none of them have been able to do it without cheating. The other reason is very simple: you don't want to work around a lot of people on Disability. And while there is a difference between what is known as "Welfare" and what is called "Disability," 99.8% of US citizens don't know it; it's all just referred to as "Welfare."
Another e-mail suggested that the average person making minimum wage is a 16-year old boy working at a grocery store, not a 40-year old head of a household of four. Yet another suggested that if you have been working for 25 years and are still only receiving minimum wage, that's your fault and why should the government help you out? Again, ridiculous and unfounded! What about all the former stay-at-home moms/dads re-entering the workforce? How about the former computer programmers and network administrators whose skills, once highly demanded, are now useless? How about the former sole business owner who is forced back into the workforce? The college student? The person fresh out of college? And on and on.
Regardless of all that, were the money we're spending on free healthcare for illegal immigrants, the taxes spent schooling their children, the money we spend repairing our stolen identities, the outrageous amounts we spend on health insurance (because we make too much money to qualify for free healthcare) - basically all the money spent supporting illegal immigrants and illegal immigration - pumped back into the "Welfare" system, pumped into a comprehensive universal healthcare system, pumped into improving oil refineries... were this money spent in America, on Americans, we wouldn't have the problems we have here today.
It is not our responsibility to bankroll the rest of the world. In fact, our absurd anti-drug laws already do that.
But the kicker was the e-mail from someone who was angry that the government was telling him/her how much he had to pay his employees. And that's the key.
People like Stephen Colbert and this moron are the only people who want illegal immigration to continue because it saves them money. I can't afford house servants or landscapers or construction crews to remodel my home; if those things are going to get done around my house, I'm going to be the one who does them.
And so would Stephen Colbert and the moron above, were they forced to pay American citizens a proper wage above the table.
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