Article in the Sacramento Bee, 3/4/05 (there's my first problem, I'm reading the Bee, but it's the only game in town!), page 3: Few Favor Immigrant Licensing.
Why not have an accurate article headline, like Immigrant Licensing Overwhelmingly Opposed, or Vast Majority Of Californians Oppose Granting Driver's Licenses to Illegal Aliens ?
Argh. Let this issue die. The Field Poll cited by The Bee shows opposition among registered voters (the only demographic that matters) at 68%, with support at only 29%. Non-registered voters (why even count this demographic, since they won't have any say in a referendum anyway) is closer, with 53% opposed, and 47% in favor, but still with the majority opposed.
Gee, I wonder how the issue is doing among illegal, non-US citizens? Pretty good I bet. Hmm its doing pretty good among Latino non-whites, too, 34% opposed to 64% approve. No mention of how many of those are illegal immigrant/non-registered voters.
It's kinda like asking car thieves if they favor tougher punishment for car thieves.
How can you give someone a license to do a damned illegal thing? Do we truly have idiots running the California legislature? We have to stop encouraging illegal immigration, and begin punishing it to stop the flow of people.
I don't care if my lettuce costs $5 a head, or the price of hotel rooms skyrocket, or if office building bathrooms go unwashed. Those who want the lettuce will buy it, those who want a hotel room will pay for it, and those who need the bathrooms clean will pay someone whatever it takes to do it. The US economy won't crash. The world won't end.
Let the rule of law return to the land. Let the flowers bloom again. Let the trains run on time. And let people immigrate to this great land legally, the way thousands and thousands of legal immigrants have. Let's not have a shortcut for a special group just because that country happens to border our country.
Friday, March 04, 2005
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Catching Up
Been a few days since my last post. Just been busy.
Last week I made several trips to the airport, to drop off and pick up friends and family members on various flights. My friend (see Feb 18, 2005) and her family left for NYC at 12:30am (yes, o'dark thirty!), and the return pickup was at 10:30pm. Then my brother and his fiance flew to Las Vegas for a few days, and they needed to be dropped off at 4:30am! I discovered the easiest way to pick anyone up at the airport is to make sure they have a cel-phone, then have the pickup driver wait in the parking lot of the AM/PM Mini-Mart there at the airport entrance, until the travelers pick up all their luggage, and haul their butts to the curb. Then they can call the pickup, and zoom, the pickup pulls up to the curb, loads 'em up, and zoom, they're off!. No parking fees, no security lines, no fuss.
My daughter Emily has raised her guide-dog-puppy, Ronald, from 8-weeks old to 20-months, taking him to school with her, to work, on trips... basically everyplace. Literally. He has been her constant companion and friend for almost 2 years. This last Sunday was his recall date, to go back to the "company" and begin his hands-on Guide Dog Training to become a real, honest-to-goodness Guide Dog. So, Emily and I drove to San Rafael on Sunday to drop Ronald off at the Guide Dogs for the Blind kennels. What I feared might be a very emotional event actually a big nothing. We checked Ronald in, Emily walked him to the kennel, put him in, said "see ya", and we left. I think a part of Emily is glad to have him return. He is a wonderful dog, but she's ready to be "dogless" for a bit. It's kind of like having a child: she had to take the dog everyplace she went.
Anyway, after that, we drove south toward SF, and before we hit the Golden Gate, we took the road off to the west and went driving down toward the Marin Headlands, and and the Point Benita lighthouse. It was raining off and on, and the hillsides were all so green! We stopped at some of the abandoned "batteries" to check out the old military sites, and watched 4 deer feeding on a lawn. We wound up down at Rodeo Beach, and walked out to watch the surf in the rain. Yeah... we got a little wet. Then we drove on down into SF (in pouring rain! Do you understand how hard it is to drive the streets of SF in pouring rain? Gawd, people are CRAZY!), and wound up at Pier 39 and had Bubba Gump's for dinner, watching the Bay as the sun set and it got dark. We were soaked (long walk from the parking lots to the restaurant) but we had a nice time.
Bought three new cel-phones. Yes three. One for me, and one each for my two younger daughters. I got three Nokia 2270's, which are good but pretty basic phones. Since I use MetroPCS, I singed us up on their new family plan, so now I have unlimited local and long distance (continental US), text messaging, voicemail, call-waiting, etc, and the girls each have unlimited local (all of Northern California, north of Modesto) calling, for about $100 a month. With zero credit checks, and zero hassle. I know, it sounds like a MetroPCS commercial, but if you live and work and play in Sacramento & San Francisco most of the time, it's unbeatable. So, with us all having cel-phones, I took the plunge, and turned off my home phone. Felt weird not having the home fone at first, but heck, it only rang about 5 times a month anyway!
Bought 4 new tires for my car. They all had almost 50k miles on them, and the car was starting to bounce down the road, instead of roll. Rolls like a new car again. Purrrr....
Ok... I guess that's all for now. No pithy comments, no deep or meaningful insights. Just life happening.
Last week I made several trips to the airport, to drop off and pick up friends and family members on various flights. My friend (see Feb 18, 2005) and her family left for NYC at 12:30am (yes, o'dark thirty!), and the return pickup was at 10:30pm. Then my brother and his fiance flew to Las Vegas for a few days, and they needed to be dropped off at 4:30am! I discovered the easiest way to pick anyone up at the airport is to make sure they have a cel-phone, then have the pickup driver wait in the parking lot of the AM/PM Mini-Mart there at the airport entrance, until the travelers pick up all their luggage, and haul their butts to the curb. Then they can call the pickup, and zoom, the pickup pulls up to the curb, loads 'em up, and zoom, they're off!. No parking fees, no security lines, no fuss.
My daughter Emily has raised her guide-dog-puppy, Ronald, from 8-weeks old to 20-months, taking him to school with her, to work, on trips... basically everyplace. Literally. He has been her constant companion and friend for almost 2 years. This last Sunday was his recall date, to go back to the "company" and begin his hands-on Guide Dog Training to become a real, honest-to-goodness Guide Dog. So, Emily and I drove to San Rafael on Sunday to drop Ronald off at the Guide Dogs for the Blind kennels. What I feared might be a very emotional event actually a big nothing. We checked Ronald in, Emily walked him to the kennel, put him in, said "see ya", and we left. I think a part of Emily is glad to have him return. He is a wonderful dog, but she's ready to be "dogless" for a bit. It's kind of like having a child: she had to take the dog everyplace she went.
Anyway, after that, we drove south toward SF, and before we hit the Golden Gate, we took the road off to the west and went driving down toward the Marin Headlands, and and the Point Benita lighthouse. It was raining off and on, and the hillsides were all so green! We stopped at some of the abandoned "batteries" to check out the old military sites, and watched 4 deer feeding on a lawn. We wound up down at Rodeo Beach, and walked out to watch the surf in the rain. Yeah... we got a little wet. Then we drove on down into SF (in pouring rain! Do you understand how hard it is to drive the streets of SF in pouring rain? Gawd, people are CRAZY!), and wound up at Pier 39 and had Bubba Gump's for dinner, watching the Bay as the sun set and it got dark. We were soaked (long walk from the parking lots to the restaurant) but we had a nice time.
Bought three new cel-phones. Yes three. One for me, and one each for my two younger daughters. I got three Nokia 2270's, which are good but pretty basic phones. Since I use MetroPCS, I singed us up on their new family plan, so now I have unlimited local and long distance (continental US), text messaging, voicemail, call-waiting, etc, and the girls each have unlimited local (all of Northern California, north of Modesto) calling, for about $100 a month. With zero credit checks, and zero hassle. I know, it sounds like a MetroPCS commercial, but if you live and work and play in Sacramento & San Francisco most of the time, it's unbeatable. So, with us all having cel-phones, I took the plunge, and turned off my home phone. Felt weird not having the home fone at first, but heck, it only rang about 5 times a month anyway!
Bought 4 new tires for my car. They all had almost 50k miles on them, and the car was starting to bounce down the road, instead of roll. Rolls like a new car again. Purrrr....
Ok... I guess that's all for now. No pithy comments, no deep or meaningful insights. Just life happening.
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