TSR ATTACKS! WE CAN HAZ NEW LEGAL THREAT!

[FilthyPriest]

I am totally opposed to sanctions on illegal immigrants in the US.  The vast majority of people without green cards come here for the sole purpose of making enough money to support their families. Getting here legally is a long and involved process, and not everyone can do so.  The US is the richest country in the world--surely we can afford to give jobs, social services, education, etc. to people who have nothing.

I always think of the thousands of European Jews who were trying to get out of the way of the Nazis and died needlessly because no country would take them in. Including the US, which had quotas on Jewish admissions.  I hope we're a more compassionate nation than that now.

*gets off soapbox*

That is a little over board dietofworms. Have you looked at our economy lately, I mean don't get me wrong I'm all for any one who wants a better life by coming here. BUT if we had a complete open borders policy the entire third world would be in the US. Its a balance between the jobs we need to keep HERE in this country and the number of poor souls looking for a brighter dawn.
The sad truth is the US's power is waning and will soon be behind China in most fields of demographics.

[Zazazu]

The big problem with immigration that affects us all is that illegals don't pay taxes, but often use public services that cost taxpayer money. I'm all for relatively free immigration, but the financials need to be re-evaluated. It's a big confusing mess to me, but the key, I believe, is actually in making the legalization process easier.

[cookiepirate]

Since I am late to the party...."GO PES!"

Also, I cannot speak for other countries, however, all three of my children have taken Spanish for numerous years - 2 are fluent.  Now, the two older children are taking Latin and French.  I, however, still speak fluent Southern. 

I speak fluent Texan, with 'Bama as a second language (never could get the hang of using "ill" to mean cranky or mad).   Of course, this makes me a southern bilingual. 

[alliecat]

I tried to learn languages when I was younger. I took Japanese in high school and Spanish in college. I can only speak very little either... with terrible pronunciation. Calculus was no problem, but languages? Gah. Only test I've ever failed in my life was in Japanese. I wish I was better at it... I'm very jealous of my roommate who speaks fluent Spanish.

[Souvenirs]

I took Spanish for six years, but I've never felt comfortable speaking it because I can't roll my rs.   I'm not horrible, and I can still understand it, but I'm sure I have a really strong accent when I try to speak it.  I was glad I could proficiency out of it in college, because by my sixth year the tenses were driving me mad, and the speaking part was frustrating me.

I don't believe that people from non-English speaking countries know multiple languages because of some magical educational program.  If you live in Sweden, for example, but you want some contact outside of Sweden (whether you want to be a world-famous rock star or just browse a Sims 2 forum), you have to speak English.  If you live in Sudan, where there's a different dialect or language for every tribe in the entire country, you have to learn a common language, whether it be English, French, or Arabic.  You don't have much of a choice, whereas English speakers won't be hurt very often by only speaking English.  Some people are better at picking up language than others, but most people are bound to forget it when they're speaking the closest thing we have to a global language and rarely use the others.

[SnarkyShark]

Who's up for just bringing back latin and unifying the world??

Who needs Latin when there's Esperanto. It will catch on eventually. Just you wait....

Also-

I was reading a biography of Ben Franklin a couple years back and discovered that, in the Pennsylvania of his day, it was the large number of German immigrants (legal and otherwise, I would imagine) that annoyed the hell out of him and a good many others. In particular, it was the German immigrant's insistence on speaking their native tongue in an English speaking colony. But, as it turned out, they (or more accurately their descendants) were eventually assimilated despite Ben's (not unreasonable) fears of impending cultural chaos.

[Pescado]

The big problem with immigration that affects us all is that illegals don't pay taxes, but often use public services that cost taxpayer money. I'm all for relatively free immigration, but the financials need to be re-evaluated. It's a big confusing mess to me, but the key, I believe, is actually in making the legalization process easier.

Alternatively, we could get rid of these services which merely serve to drain taxpayer money. Without the welfare state, we have nothing to fear from immigrants.

[SoggyFox]

The big problem with immigration that affects us all is that illegals don't pay taxes, but often use public services that cost taxpayer money. I'm all for relatively free immigration, but the financials need to be re-evaluated. It's a big confusing mess to me, but the key, I believe, is actually in making the legalization process easier.

Alternatively, we could get rid of these services which merely serve to drain taxpayer money. Without the welfare state, we have nothing to fear from immigrants.

Actually, if we put in laws like Canada has regarding the upward limit on how much drug companies can sell their drugs for, cut back needless services, we could make the needful services actually do something, and still be ahead.

But Americans for the most part would still have something to fear - most immigrants have something alot of us lost - a work ethic. 

[Pescado]

Yeah, but see, *CANADA* doesn't have to worry about this sort of thing. CANADA doesn't share a border with a poor nation, so there aren't exactly tons of people running over there. Thus, they can afford to be a socialist nanny state and not be swamped by foreign freeloaders. Over HERE, I say we put up a work-or-starve policy and we'll quickly see who the REAL Americans are.

[FilthyPriest]

Screw you $hithead No Pescado doesn't, leave him alone.He may be a carmudeon sometimes but he knows what he is talking about unlike you.

[Anyerfillag]

Note the person's sig - 'MATY Baiter' - so they've come from MATY just to bitch at Pes (bar their other post which was about the Evi fat skinny girl creations)...how charming 

[kenmtl]

Why don't you just give them one of the states you're not really using like Wyoming or Oregon.?

[calalily]

Yeah, but see, *CANADA* doesn't have to worry about this sort of thing. CANADA doesn't share a border with a poor nation, so there aren't exactly tons of people running over there. Thus, they can afford to be a socialist nanny state and not be swamped by foreign freeloaders. Over HERE, I say we put up a work-or-starve policy and we'll quickly see who the REAL Americans are.

There's only that sort of policy for the poor in the US, although hopefully that will change (depending on who is elected and if they follow through with their promises **don't ask me which candidate I don't remember**).  The whole country subsidises huge corporations, farmers who pick crap places to farm/can't sell their shit because there's too much of it.

Perhaps there would be more room for socialist nanny state policies if the government stopped giving rich people money and applied it elsewhere.

[Jojoba]

Screw you $hithead No Pescado doesn't, leave him alone.He may be a carmudeon sometimes but he knows what he is talking about unlike you.

Lolz  FilthyPriest, Pescado is hardly going to go and cry himself to sleep because someone called him an 'asshole'...he likes butthurt, remember 

[SBNao]

Just to add a little about illegal immigrants that I'm not sure a lot of people know.

Illegal immigrants who work in the US help shore up the Social Security Trust Fund. They work, their FICA taxes got into it, but since they end up migrating or leaving the country before they become legal enough to collect benefits, it ends up going to American workers.

American workers who don't have enough American workers working to support the Social Security trust fund fully.

Now, granted, I'm not a big fan of illegal immigrants. This is just another way of pointing out how complicated the issue actually is and how an easy solution is not going to be found or be a good one considering how many different aspects of US life this affects.