IMMIGRATION DILEMMA NOT GOING AWAY – by William A. Collins

Immigration  – Makes me yawn; Long as someone, Mows my lawn.

 

Illegal immigration, fueled by desperation back home, is common and risky the world over. Senegalese and Nigerians die in open boats heading for the Canary Islands. Haitians do the same en route to Puerto Rico. Mauritanians likewise perish aiming for Italy. And it’s no picnic even when they arrive safely. Abuse and death await Tajiks in Russia, Zimbabweans in South Africa, and Pakistanis in London.

Rewards, however, are alluring. While citizens in receiving countries may respond brutally to foreign competitors angling for their jobs, employers love them. There is nothing like cheap, vulnerable labor to increase profits. Thus, sweatshop and plantation owners everywhere become natural allies of human rights activists in seeking amnesty for the undocumented.

If this sounds to you a lot like the United States, you win. We’re little different from the rest of the world in this age-old dilemma, and in some ways we’re worse. Our own trade policies with Central America foist on those sad lands cheap subsidized American agribusiness corn. This has put their farmers out of business and forced them to sneak up here under cover of darkness.

Campaign is Over: Time to Work

I donated somewhere north (but not too far) of $500.00 to elect Barack Obama.  I was thrilled that the plan worked.  What has been less thrilling to me is that I still get those emails from Team Obama.  They go like:

“Iggy,

“We really need your support on this or that, so please contact your congressman or senator today…”

And the message is followed by one of those “Donate”  buttons- enshrouded in red.  [Good thing I am not JJ or MG, I’d read something into that red color].

First off,  Barack,  Todd Tiahrt would sooner gnaw off his rodent-like gonads than vote for anything you’d favor.

And more importantly, let’s knock off the money begging gig until next campaign go-round.  Get to work!

Contributing to my angst about Obama has been a book by Amity Shale entitled The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression.  It is a criticism of “The New Deal”.  I think Obama has avoided most the errors made by FDR, but the issues are worth watching for.  [May do a book review about this very interesting book soon].

Iggy Donnelly

Monday, 06/08/09. Public Square

It’s true, without you it’s a boring blog.  Hope everyone got rested up, caught up, untied, rejuvenated by the weekend.  It was a lonely (YES! and boring) place around here last weekend. It’s a new week, let’s blog!

fnord

BLOGGING vs FACEBOOK

BLOGS In summary: The blogosphere is now 70 million weblogs wide. About 120,000 new weblogs are created each day, or…1.5 million posts per day.

1.4 new blogs are created every second, 17 posts are made every second.

Spam-3000-7000 new splogs (fake, or spam blogs) are created every day, with a peak of 11,000 splogs per day last December.

Facebook – More than 200 million active users, with 100 million users logging on to Facebook at least once each day. The fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older, and the average user has 120 friends.

More than 4 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide).

Okay, I know I sound like an old guy, but what’s up with Facebook? Facebook schmacebook. MyFace, SpaceBook, whatever….bah humbug. Yeah, yeah. I do have a Facebook page. Don’t ask about it. I don’t remember what it looks like. I understand kids using the hell out of it, but the fastest growing demographic is ‘over 35’? I don’t get it. What’s the draw?

I understand if you’re a commercial venture you want all the exposure you can get. Facebook, blogs, twitter, and a never-ending roll out of the newest networking gimmicks for sale. You want to put it all out there like a billboard in that case. But Facebook? An average of 120 friends? Sheesh, how in the world could I possibly keep up with all the different cliques, gossip, and gigs of family photos that I’m supposed to care about? I know, they ARE my grandkids. I should love it. I don’t. Bah humbug.

Maybe I’m just crabby and don’t want to be too available there? I dunno…I do think it takes different types of people for the different venues. I don’t know that Facebook users would remain friends with someone who posted their own short stories and news interests, would they? My wife and kids could care less about blogging. Even though it’s also a networking activity. And vice versa for me! Now could someone please shed some light on my Facebook phobia?