Am I the Only One That Signals?
Bob E. Sherman
A Lottery we don't need
On the front page of Saturday’s (Nov. 5, 2011) Wall Street Journal is a picture of Taha Al-Rawi, from Iraq, being sworn in as a US citizen. I’m sure he’s a very nice person. However, I have a problem with people immigrating from Iraq or Afghanistan. Let’s say I lived in a neighborhood which was run down and riddled with crime. You came in, got rid of the crime and rebuilt my house. In the process you spent millions of dollars and some of your crew was killed. When you were all done I moved out. How would you feel?
Unless you live under a rock, you are aware that illegal immigration is a big problem in the US. However, legal immigration is also a problem because what is best for the USA is not the number one consideration. We consider whether you have relatives already living here, whether you are happy in your home country, or how many others came from your country this year. So even though there is a German PhD, who wants to emigrate he can’t because three Germans have already immigrated this year. So we may pick an opium poppy farmer from Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan.
To make matters worse we have a green card lottery, aka the Diversity Visa Lottery. We randomly pick 50,000 people who are allowed to enter the USA along with their spouses and children under the age of 21. The applications are picked randomly so there’s no telling who you may get. I don’t know the history of the “diversity” obsession. Someone has decided that diversity is good even if it results in a few terrorists or pedophiles coming in. I posed a question to my representative, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, asking why we need such a program. In the unlikely event she answers a direct question, I’ll pass it along.
Even though Iran is considered a top military threat to the USA 548,000 applications were filed by Iran in 2010. In Nigeria 2,005,000 applications were filed. I assume the Nigerians who are admitted will be self-supporting from all the money scams they run from home.
Our country was started by immigrants and diversity came with it, but not by design. No one stood at the docks when the Mayflower disembarked and turned people away saying “sorry too many people from England.”
If there is any rational reason for having a Visa Lottery I can’t find it.
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Do Nothing Congress
Senators McCain, Rubio, Kirk, and Graham have apparently completed their check lists of things not to do and have travelled to Libya for the weekend. Besides having plenty of work at home, they are taking a trip best left for the Secretary of State. Not to mention, Gadhafi is still around and the rival tribes are already fighting each other.
In 2008 I voted for none of the above; so I take no responsibility for the mess we are in. Obama has done a lot of things I don’t agree with. However, as the Republicans have publically announced that their main goal is to limit Obama to one term, how can the President get anything done? Mitch McConnell’s plan might be working.
There’s one small problem. When the Republicans take over in 2013 the country will be in a recession, unemployment will be at 50%, the water will be undrinkable, and the air unbreathable and it will cost $25 to use your debit card. The “job creators” will have added a million new jobs in India and the Philippines. President Romney will want to build 10 new Navy ships. But, he will have to use his own money as the debt limit can’t be raised, we can’t raise taxes. The good news is that Warren Buffet may be willing to loan money to the federal government at 15%.
My advice to President Obama is to use reverse psychology. He should propose legislation that raises taxes on the middle class; decrease taxes on the top 1%; closes the EPA, FDA, and FEMA; adds 100,000 more troops to Afghanistan; have the Miranda Rights translated into every language in the world so we can capture all foreign and domestic terrorists and bring them to justice in the U.S. They will be provided legal counsel at taxpayers’ expense. The Republican Congress will do the opposite.