Five Steps to Ending Illegal Immigration

Every day I read about illegal immigration, and I have written about it. I listen as politicians bash illegal immigrants, talk about amnesty and how this is going to ruin our country. The funny thing is, ending illegal immigration poses more of a threat to ruining the economy than the immigration itself. So, after thinking through the issues, I have come up with five steps to end illegal immigration. These 5 steps are to be done simultaneously, not one at a time. So here goes.

Step 1: Secure the borders. This has become a soundbite for politicians, but this is a necessary step for any nation that does not want illegal immigration. Securing the borders means hiring more border patrols, or stationing the military along the border, rather than building fences. Get the troops out of Iraq and put them here. This will also help to prevent terrorism. So, you get two for one.

Step 2: Go after the companies. Congress should be aggressive towards companies that hire illegal immigrants. This has begun to work in places like Arizona. Fine the company or send officers and employees to jail for hiring an illegal immigrant. Cut off the demand for the illegal immigrants, solve the supply issue.

Step 3: Reduce entitlements for LEGAL Americans. A big reason companies hire illegal immigrants is because there are no Americans willing to work the jobs. The reason Americans won't work those jobs are because of entitlements. Say you could make 6 dollars an hour sitting in your trailer watching tv or 3 dollars an hour picking strawberries, which would you choose? Many Americans need the entitlements, but many abuse the system. There must be an overhaul in disability and welfare benefits. This will force Americans to go out and work, filling these jobs left by the illegal immigrants.

Step 4: Amnesty. This will piss off many Americans. I know, they got here illegally (did we legally take the land from the native americans?), so why should they get to stay. Economics. Do you know how much it would cost to round up the 12 million illegal immigrants around the nation, determine who they are and where they came from and then ship them back? What a waste of money. Letting them stay isn't going to change anything.

Step 5: Politics. Our politicians need to stop using this issue to win votes. Democrats cannot look at amnesty as a way of gaining new votes for their party. Republicans can't look at amnesty as a way to get current Americans to vote for their party. They must solve the problem for America, not their party.

If my five steps are implemented, there will be less illegals trying to come to America, because there will be less jobs for them. Additionally, less illegals would get in. Illegal Immigration from Mexico solved!

Sorry this post was still kind of long, I will do better.

New Blog for the New Year

The Political Pig has gotten some comments from its avid readers and some say the blog is a "nuclear bomb" of information...or simply that I write too much on each topic. So, in the spirit of the new year, I will try to keep the topics going, but cut back my long rants to make them easier and quicker to read.

I wanted to update everyone that the seven year war with the Vonage Bots may be coming to an end. After Agent V contacted many more Vonage Bots and encountered the same hostilities, one Vonage Bot finally told her everything we needed to know. The account was closed yesterday, leaving the battle of who will pay for the Vongage device to be shipped back to the Vonage Bot kingdom. I think we unfortunately are losing that battle. It may be worth paying the 5 bucks to send it back, rather than arguing in circles for another 5 hours. Remember, DO NOT USE VONAGE.

I just hope the conspiracy of corporate America to ruin my life will finally stop and I can live to the old age of 50 without worrying about another company trying to screw me over or steal my identity.

Beware of the Vonage Bots

I am going to stray from politics today to explain the most absurd thing in the history of consumerism. My wife (Agent V) and I thought about switching to Vonage rather than using Comcast, basically, because it was cheaper. ALWAYS remember the old saying, you get what you pay for. Well, we decided to only inquire about vonage. To do this, Agent V had to go along with the process like she was signing up. Mistake number 2 (mistake number 1 was even calling Vonage). At the end of this process, and after giving her credit card number (mistake 3) she was read the terms of service. Well, I guess because their service is so horrible they have a clause that if you cancel your service before 2 years, you have to pay a bunch of fees. Sounds like a cell phone company (and we know all about their service). Agent V said NO. The pushy sales guy said he would give her discounts, etc. Agent V, said NO again. The guy was a pushy schmuck and wouldn't stop, so Agent V said no one last time, and hung up the phone.

A few days later, what appeared at our door step? It sure wasn't Santa, but a box that said Vonage. The nice Vonage gnomes thought we would like Vonage, even though we said we didn't want it. Maybe because we said No, we really meant Yes or maybe we wanted it as art work. Well, unfortunately for us, this is not nearly the most absurd part of the story.

We call customer service about the fact that the sales guy sent us a Vonage device, even though we didn't sign up. Soon, we found out in order to talk to any one we needed to provide our account information. But wait, we didn't set up an account, we said no, and the guy sent us the box anyways. Doesn't matter to Vonage, you still need the account information. What would that be, well the device number, the email address you set up the account and the answers to the security questions. Well guess what...the guy created a fictitious email account for Agent V and then illegally charged her credit card. Sound like fraud and identity theft to you?

We only found this out after 3 hours on the phone with customer service people that literally had the IQ of snails. The tragic part of the story, we got cut off from the only one that had been given a human brain. I must have been the supreme leader of the Vonage Bots or was like Neo from the Matrix and had escaped the Vonage Bots. When these calls were taking place, we were driving to Florida for Christmas (a time of happiness around the world) and our cell phone got disconnected from the man with a brain, and that was the end of our luck.

Each time we called back, the the Vonage Bots asked for our security answers. Every time we told them that the Vonage Bot that it was a made up account and the email address, we had provided every email account we had, was made up by the sales guy (this is true, we were told by THE BRAIN that our CELL PHONE dropped the call on, but before the call dropped, we didn't get the fictitious email account in full. I can only assume THE BRAIN is now dead). So, every time we explained to the Vonage Bots that the security answers and questions were sent to the fictitious account. We had no access to it. We didn't know them, that fraud was involved. Their answer? How do we know it was fraud without out you giving us these answers. I immediately thought this should be a logic game on the LSAT, because there was going to be no reasoning with these people. We went in circles...I even told them I made up an email account for the Vonage Bot and sent them two security answers and asked them to tell me what they were...and when they couldn't, I said EXACTLY. They then asked for my security answers again. Vonage Bots cannot be rattled at all from the script.

After we told them what happened 30 times, went through 300 Vonage Bots, one with the name "Georgia Rule" (see Lindsay Lohan movies), they said they needed the device number that was at our house 200 miles away. We had lost round 1 with the Vonage Bots.

Today, Agent V calls back with the device number that was imported from the Russian KGB. They still asked for the security answers. Fraud, what is fraud? So, Vonage has stolen our credit card number (we had to cancel the card) and made up a fictitious email account and is basically forcing Vonage service on us. We will never be able to cancel because we don't have access to our own account that was created by Vonage. It's a brilliant new move by a business. If customers do not want to use your services, force it upon them and never let them cancel.

Now, we are going to have to file a police report, contact the appropriate government agencies and possibly sue Vonage. All I can do, is please ask everyone to tell this story from every mountain top and WARN EVERYONE to STAY AWAY FROM VONAGE!!!!!!! Or else, become a Vonage Bot victim (and if you don't believe me about the Vonage Bots, I am sure one of them will be posting my 2 hour screaming tirade with them on youtube one day...who am I kidding, they don't know how to turn on a computer or talk outside of their Vonage Bot scripts).

Off With Their Heads!

Today, New Jersey joined 13 other states and the District of Columbia in outlawing the death penalty. It is the first state to outlaw the death penalty in 42 years. I find American politics to be so incredibly fun to watch, because only here can there be a political party that preaches the value of all life, yet supports the Government killing people. These two ideals directly conflict with each other, yet many people in America feel this way. America is one of the very few democratic industrialized countries that still have the death penalty. In fact, only China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Congo execute more people than the United States. How troubling are these statistics?

Personally, I do not support the death penalty. This is not because I think it is inhumane or cruel and unusual punishment. I can completely understand why many people want to kill the person who killed their loved ones. An eye for an eye. The reason I don't support the death penalty is because when a jury gives a sentence of death, that decision is not made through a perfect process. You bring in twelve imperfect individuals to render a judgment through a process that is greatly flawed. As a lawyer, I feel the United States legal system is one of the best out there and perfection and fairness may be impossible to achieve any where, yet our system makes an attempt. But, I don't know how many times I have heard of people being let free, off of death row, because of new evidence that proved they were not the killer. How does this not scare everyone? It is a FACT, that there have been innocent people on death row. I would say there is a high probability that an innocent person has been put to death, through our system, and another innocent person will die in the future. Why do we keep the death penalty? We keep the death penalty for the victims' families and no one else.

It has been proven that the death penalty is not a deterrent. That is one of the reasons New Jersey recently outlawed it. So, if it doesn't deter people from killing, why do we have it? I would personally rather have 10 guilty people released from prison than have 1 innocent person executed by mistake. Yet, no guilty people need to be released. Instead, they can be left in prison to rot for the rest of their lives. No parole, no escape. It costs the government less to house someone for life, than someone on death row. So, again, why do we have the death penalty? It costs more and it doesn't stop people from killing. The answer is simple. People want retribution. The people affected by the killing, want the killer to die. To see that person alive, while their loved one is dead, is hard for anyone affected. I can completely understand this feeling. What Americans have to ask, is whether those peoples feelings count more than the innocent man or woman who will die for a crime they did not commit. Is and innocent LIFE more important than someones feelings?

Many people who preach the death penalty are Christians. They can easily point to text in the Bible that supports the death penalty. I have two responses for those people. 1. America is not like Iran and our laws are not based around religion. 2. The Bible also preaches forgiveness. Forgiveness doesn't just mean forgiving someone for just stealing or lying. It means forgiving someone for doing one of the most horrible things anyone could imagine. If you truly can forgive, you do not need the death penalty to comfort you.

I fully understand I am preaching without having experienced a sick twisted person killing a loved one of mine. Maybe I would change my mind if something like this happened to me, but that doesn't mean I changed my mind for the right reasons. Right now, I am looking at the facts, without bias. The death penalty does not save money and does not save lives. It has the exact opposite effect, by taking innocent lives and costing more money than life in prison, without parole. Besides suggests that the death penalty is outdated and not fit for a democracy. With all of this said, I am not going to lose much sleep over the issue and probably because it doesn't affect my life in one way. Maybe everyone shares my urgency for reform and that's why the death penalty is still here.

What is Terrorism?

I often hear the word "terrorism" or "terrorist". It's said by the media, politicians, businessmen, Today when you think of a terrorist, it is often a middle eastern man holding a rifle in the air. This image has been branded in our minds, after 9-11. In airports, supermarkets, anywhere...people are constantly on guard for someone who fits this look, who looks suspicious. Unfortunately, this has caused stereotypes, and I could go into a long discussion about Islam and racism, but its not the point of this blog.

I am frustrated that this is the only look of terrorism and that the "war" on terrorism, takes place in a battlefield in Iraq or Afghanistan. I read a story today about a little girl. When a man came to attack her and her mom, she shielded her mom from the five or six rounds the man shot at them. What a little hero. Both are still alive as of this blog. This sounds like a news report out of Iraq...one of the many that I ignore because the war does not affect my daily life and is happening thousands of miles away. This could be another article, about why we aren't sacrificing more in a time of war, but this article is about the definition of terrorism. The shooting incident happened in Detroit, not Damascus. It could have happened anywhere...L.A., NYC, Atlanta, or on Main street USA. It is gang violence.

If terrorism comes back to our shores, as it did on 9-11, and were to stay here...I doubt our retaliation would be limited to adding a couple more cops to the streets. I am willing to bet the national guard, army, police force, and every man woman and child would be on the look out. I bet money would not be an issue. So why with gang violence, do we not care? Why isn't gang violence called terrorism? The definition of terrorism is to terrorize people with violence, and sometimes that involves a political purpose, but not always. I think it's pathetic that we are spending billions and now trillions of dollars on a war in Iraq, and we don't spend a fraction of that on preventing our own terrorists that live not just in the big cities, but also the small towns in America.

If I were the President, I would move my war on terrorism from the battlefields of the middle east (where they hate us more than before) and turn it to the streets of America. It is a war. I would actually declare it from the White House steps. And no, not like the joke of a war on drugs...but a real war. I would ask for authorization and send troops into cities where gang violence existed...because it is terrorist violence now. I would amend the Constitution, if need be. I wouldn't stop until they were in jail or dead. Gang violence is not like simple murder. It isn't even revenge murder. Gangs are armies, with the goal of controlling territory. They intimidate residences, government officials, and police to gain this territory. If simple fear doesn't work, then guns will. Yet, we don't treat this like a war, yet they act just like the terrorists in the middle east. They have guns, they blow things up, they kill innocent people, and its all about power and control.

It's time to put an end on gang violence. It's time for our petty leaders in Washington to end this domestic terrorism.

The Customer is Never Right

I am going to take a break from politics today, to discuss a trend I find happening more and more...crappy customer service. It started a couple of years after I got my cell phone, in college. I began to notice that cell phones sucked unless hugging a metal pole, and customer care reps could care less if your phone call got dropped 36 times in a span of 3 minutes. I still hate cell phone companies, and AT&T's stupid commercial about dropped calls (I cancelled them because of dropped calls, which they said didn't happen). Now, its affecting every type of company, which is scary, because America is becoming a service based country.

The reason I am writing this now, is because over the past few months, I have encountered really crappy customer service, which at first seemed plausible or okay, but upon reflection, just sucks. So here is my list of crappy customer service:

1. Pulte Homes. I bought a Pulte townhouse within the last year and I thought everything was going fine. Then I noticed my floors were starting to buckle. Well, wood floors are not perfect, but I figured that we needed to get them fixed, because they did not look normal. Now, 2 1/2 months later, our floors still have not been fixed correctly. They have been completely ripped out, we had to move out for a week, yet some how they still didn't fix them correctly. While, this is not the customer service departments fault (the company's fault for hiring crappy sub contractors), we have experience glitches with customer service the entire time. We were allowed to move back in, yet the house was covered in construction dust, the floors were laid wrong and our kitchen island wasn't even re-attached. Our plumbing was not reattached, and there was urine from the workers fermenting in the toilet. We waited hours for the cleaning people to finally come, and they didn't even clean much of the house. Then, when the flooring guys came back out, unannounced, they got in an argument with my wife that the floors were fine (even though they weren't glued down by the stairs, they said the moving of the wood was normal). These things should have never happened, but even if they did, Pulte's customer care people should have noticed it first and fixed it before we came back. But, they never catch anything. Everything is always done half assed in hopes that we won't find out. Then customer service always plays dumb. After months of dealing with them...they officially suck.

2. American Express. I finally joined the Amex crowd. I was proud when I got my Delta SkyMiles card, and couldn't wait for all those points to come flowing into my sky miles account. I would be flying free, first class to Thailand in no time (Sorry Veronica, we can only afford the crying baby section for you this time). But, Amex decided not to read my Detla SkyMiles number I provided them on my application and opened up another sky miles account for me instead. Awesome, now I have two accounts with miles in them. Okay, no big deal. I called Amex to have it corrected. They put me on hold at least 30 times, said they figured it out (since it is hard to cancel one account and link up the other), a new card would be mailed and all the miles were now in my original account. I kept checking for 2 weeks and it never happened. I called them again...they said they were sorry, and said it was corrected. BUT, this time once it transferred, then I had to order a new card with the correct account number. They also gave me 3,000 BONUS miles for the ordeal. Great customer service, right? Well, it still hasn't happened yet, almost a week later. AND, there are no bonus miles in either one of my accounts. So, either Ryan Ruth keeps getting all of my miles or they aren't fixing the problem. Three weeks later, my account is still screwed up. How hard is this?

3. Brooks Brothers. I needed some new business shirts, since starting my new cool job as a lawyer. I went into every lawyer's essential clothing store, for some new shirts. The only problem? No one would acknowledge I was alive, let alone help me. It was awkward to say the least. Well, I did this three times. I would go in, my shirt size wasn't out, I would look for help, the sales associates would help old rich men throwing hundred dollar bills everywhere, while I was throwing shirts around the store. I felt invisible. Finally, after the third time I emailed Brooks Brothers about the incident, figuring nothing would happen. Well, they immediately emailed me back and the store manager called. Great customer service, right? Well I thought so, too. The manager said she was sorry, offered me 25% off (nothing too special, since they had that sale the weekend before) and tickets to a mall concert. Well, when I went in to finally get my shopping done (the manager said she would personally help me), guess what happened...No one would help me. After once again screaming around the store throwing merchandise, no one would even look at me. I finally went to the registers to get help. It took at least a minute before the one guy kind of made a "waking up" motion, and said "oh, do you need help?". By this time, I was naked and bleeding from my head after bashing it 800 times on the cash register to get his attention. I asked for the manager and she got my shirts. I am not going back to that Brooks Brothers.

4. Macy's. I bought new furniture. They lied about when it would be delivered several times and the ottoman did not match the chair. I called customer service and explained we had guest coming into town, that it was promised a week earlier and that their company lied to us. She said she was sorry, but couldn't do anything. There was not another sofa like the one we bought being delivered in the entire United States. Really? Well, I now have a very rare sofa, and may be selling it on e-bay. Come on, I know she was lying. Then, after I had to buy tailgating chairs and another chair so we could sit, and waiting months for our sofa to be delivered...they took off about 47 cents for the problems, from my credit card bill. I hate the sofa, on top of it all.

These are just four recent incidents in a long line. None of them too horrible (except Pulte), but its four different companies. Housing, Banks/Credit, furniture sales and clothing sales. All four of them never even solved the problem, while each saying they have GREAT customer service. They did at least acknowledge something was wrong and put a band aid on it...but they never did fix the actual problem.

I don't have much hope for America, if companies cant solve their problems. The private market is supposed to solve all problems. The market will work itself out, people say. Well, what if everyone in the market decides to suck? Where does that leave us? The entire airline industry and cell phone industry have taken this approach. It seems like others are following. All I can say, is either I am the most unlucky man alive, or American companies have some big time problems in customer relations that are only going to get worse.

Who has College Debt?

New proposals are showing up everywhere to stop the increase in college tuition and to minimize college debt. This is an interesting problem often with solutions that only cause bigger problems. In most states, college tuition is getting out of control and it's insane at private schools. Now many government officials, from both parties, want to stop the increase of tuition. The idea is simple: If tuition bills stop rising, college debt will stop rising. Unfortunately, this is not the true, for many reasons.

First, lets agree that college tuition is getting pretty out of control for most public schools and almost all private colleges and universities (Note: this is not the case for public colleges and universities in Florida, where I went to school) . I will talk about tuition issues in a moment. But, a big reason students must take out large loans, is because of living expenses, not just tuition. If someone wants to attend a college, they have to get a place to stay, have transportation, buy clothes, food, etc. Many schools now require mandatory health insurance and computers. I am not suggesting any of these things are bad, or not needed, but that adds a lot to the total cost of college. For me, it was a little over half of my loan when I went to law school. Many places, this isn't the case, but it still can reach $15,000 to $20,000 a year easily. Some may say that students should live in college housing, yet many colleges do not have enough housing and when you are a graduate student, do you want to live among freshman? So, even if the political pigs can some how stop the rise of tuition (or erase it entirely), there are these costs that will continue to rise every single year. Loans will still be needed.

Now, to the tuition argument. Under some plans by some very intelligent political pigs, there will be pressure on colleges and universities to either stop raising tuition or help pay for a larger percentage of the tuition. An idea is to force colleges and universities with large endowments to pay a mandatory percentage of their endowments to lower tuition. I am opposed to this, because colleges and universities are not in the business of making profits to pay shareholders. These endowments are to continue upgrading facilities, pay for great faculty and have up to date technology. While I do believe endowments should be used to help students who cannot afford tuition, they should not be used to help subsidize everyone. Remember, if you don't like the cost of Harvard, don't go there. There are plenty of great schools academically, that cost a fraction of Harvard. Additionally, targeting schools with big endowments will only affect a small percentage of colleges and universities. These tend to be the more selective institutions. This does not account for the vast majority of schools. So, how will they pay for need services with less income? Remember, while it seems colleges and universities live in a bubble, they still are affected by price increases, inflation, gas hikes, etc. Many must increase their tuition just to keep up with rising costs. Private schools recieve little to no funding from a state, while state schools increasingly must rely on tuition and endowments, rather than state money, because legislatures don't want to invest tax dollars in education.

My point is that fixing tuition prices will not solve the college debt problem. It will only hurt the academic institutions, creating a worse learning environment for the students, and still forcing students to incur a lot of loans at not so great interest rates.

So, how do we solve the college debt problem? Two possible ways: 1. Government can raise taxes significantly so every man, woman and child can attend public universities and colleges for free, leaving the wealthy who can pay more to attend private schools; or 2. Government can increase the maximum it will loan to college students, and lower the interest rates on such loans.

Number 2 is the best option. Government, without influencing the private market as much, and keeping taxes down, can easily provide more loans at lower interest rates. Wouldn't you rather your tax dollars being invested in the future of America, with a return small monetary return, rather than sending those same dollars to another country for wars and infrastructure? While students will still fall into debt, it will help them avoid private loans which are far more expensive, and the lower interest rates will help to keep payments down over the 30 years of the loan. This alternative is much more managable for the student, and keeps schools out of the red. Remember, government education loans cannot be erased simply by filing bankruptcy. They follow you to the grave.

If we lived in a perfect world, no one would have to work and everything would be free. Since we don't, this is the best way to solve the college debt problem. This allows students to choose their schools freely, allows the schools to raise money and pay for items they deem necessary, and prevent the government from invading even more into the private market and our every day lives. Why the political pigs don't go for this, I am not sure. Remember, Hillary wants to give every new born $5,000 for college. In 18 years, do you think $5,000 would even cover 4 weeks of college tuition? Lets fix the system while not increasing taxes and burdening our nation's schools.

Attack at the Pump

It has been a while since my last post, I am sure all two of my readers must have thought I died or that I gave up. Never. Well, I like to think I will never die, give up, maybe. But, it is time to tackle a 2006 "HOT" issue, that cooled some last winter, but is now climbing on the Political Hot-o-meter. That is Gas. I am not talking about the type I always seem to get before bed, but the type I'm can no longer get for under 3 bucks a gallon.

Gas prices are starting to soar again, which means that some complex explanations, graphs, charts and indexes are being employed on the Sunday morning talk shows. Over the past few months, Oil prices have been charging up, but gas prices were lagging behind. Today a report said that in the next couple weeks, Gas prices will soar 20 more cents a gallon, making the average gallon around $3.30. I am not going to bore you on an economics lesson of why oil prices go up and down, supply and demand, etc. I am also not going to blame this on OPEC (while they are somewhat to blame, they control less than half the oil production worldwide and are pumping at high rates).

The problem simply is, oil is not a renewable good. It is getting harder to find, when we do find it, it's expensive to dig up and where we seem to be digging it up is either in the middle of the Arctic, the hurricane expressway, or in countries that hate developed nations. While we can talk "fuel efficiency" or "bio fuels", etc...the only way we will ever get out of this mess is by either: a) creating a new and cheap replacement fuel, b) start using A LOT less gas or c) all of the above. The only real way it can be done, is not using as much while cheaper alternative is found.

A great professor of mine once said that if the government would just increase the gas tax several dollars more a gallon, people would use less gas and it would in the end solve our reliance on oil. Now, I am paraphrasing a bit here, but that was basically his point. He pointed to the fact that gas was much more expensive in Europe, and because of that people used mass transit. But, this becomes a chicken and egg question. Did mass transit develop because of high prices, or were governments able to tax more because of the widespread availability of mass transit?

America has no such mass transit. We rely heavily on our cars to get from our home to work. This is because of the 1950s phenomenon of "suburbs". Back then, oil seemed like it would last forever. There weren't as many people or cars in the world as there are today. For long distances, Americans prefer to use planes rather than trains. Europe has both, but an extensive network of trains. So, for long distances, Americans have to either drive or pay an arm and a leg for one of the most miserable experiences on a plane.

So, if we increase taxes (this is turning into economics) what will Americans do? We can't ride bikes or walk to work, like many Europeans, because our house is now 20 or 30 miles from our job. We can't drive, because our gas bill each week will be roughly $100 to $200 per car. There are no trains, or even enough bus routes. The economy would crash over night. So, it has to be a slow process...which, surprise, is what is happening right now, except we are still doing very little about it.

We have known for the past few years that the days of $.99 gallons of gas are long gone. Heck, $2.00/gallon gas seems like a distant memory. Yet, people are still buying cars that get 13 mpg and no one is pushing to construct more train routes or investing in mass transit. Heck, while we are spending money in other countries to fight (some say for oil), our roads and air system is falling apart. The federal and state governments are not putting the required public dollars in infrastructure and Americans are buying more fuel efficient cars, meaning the gradual natural progression of things is going to be a violent economic crash if changes aren't made.

Oil and gas will not be around forever. Even if we have deposits left 100 years from now, it will be so expensive to use, and we will have so many people around the world needing it...it might as well be gone. This is the direction we are heading, because more countries are becoming industrialized (i.e. China and India) and more people want cars and need oil and gas to run them. The only way to eventually solve this crisis is to develop new technologies to completely replace oil. BUT, this will take MANY years to develop. So, while we are all waiting on the mad scientist, other things must happen. These things in part require, unfortunately, a big government (preferably state, but in some cases will require federal). But, a large part if it can be pushed by corporate America, and a lot of money can be made. Al Gore's movie is already beginning to scare people, so if corporate America keeps pushing this green issue, they could make billions upon billions (and save the world at the same time, a win win).

1. People must start buying smaller cars and more fuel efficient cars. Hybrids are great, but there are plenty of cars that are cheaper and conserve more fuel. Car companies need to make cooler looking small cars, that are also practical. This is lacking big time, by all car companies.

2. People must start moving closer to work. The days of driving 20 or 30 miles into work, so you can live in the burbs are rapidly coming to an end. If you want to live in a smaller town, you need a job in that town. On the flip side, this in time will really help the real estate market. If you own land (not a condo) near large or even medium sized down towns, you could be very rich one day. While this will increase the cost of owning property, the flip side is you won't need a car...or at least two cars. Instead you can buy that really cool, but practical, small car.

3. Governments must start providing more money for mass transit. Start building the infrastructure now, so its there when the collapse happens. If you build easy convenient mass transit, then you can tax the hell out of gas to pay for it all. But, the mass transit must be in place first, before the price of gas soars. If oil/gas companies were really smart, they could be investing in these operations. One day, oil will be gone. But, Shell or BP could be operating a quasi private fast rail lines. It would be similar to toll roads, which in some places, are now going private, or like private parking decks. It would have a lot of upstart money, but these companies have been making billions in profits every year. To have a successful company, you must invest.

4. Government and private companies should be investing a lot more in rail technology. People will have a second option for mid range trips, that would take 3 to 8 hours in a car, but is always a pain and waste of money to fly to. Amtrak right now is a joke, because its limited in where it goes, and in many places, is slow. High speed rail options must be created in more places. In addition, more of our goods can be shipped on trains, rather than on trucks, sucking up less gas and not clogging and destroying any more of our already clogged roads.

The sad thing is, none of this will happen, at least, not without the next depression. That is because politicians, corporations and the American public, only care about the short-run, these days. While mixed use developments are becoming more popular, creating higher densities and the "work, live, play" mentality, the other components are not following. In the city of Atlanta, there is the push to move back in closer to the city, which will help save on the amount of miles driven every day. But, people still drive around in the city in huge SUVs and the mass transit rail is a complete joke (it only runs North/South and East/West, missing some of the biggest communities. This is in a big city, so the situation is even worse in smaller cities and towns.

Unfortunately, things are going to get much worse before they get better. To prepare for the end, buy a small car and move close to your job (within a mile or two). Also start saving. But, at least when the next great depression hits...there will be plenty of work projects to build these projects and people to employ (since all the corporations will be bankrupt). Too bad we don't have politicians, corporate execs and citizens that see beyond the next election cycle or quarterly report to stop this from happening.

Why do we fear the: "ILLEGALS"?

There has been a lot of talk over the past couple years, and most recently this year, about Illegal aliens. Now, I have my beliefs why they are here (America's entitlement system) and why they won't stop coming (No end to America's entitlement system). And while I believe this (And they aren't coming because THEY want entitlements, but because Americans already getting entitlements) I will save this whole (correct) theory for another post.

When I read all of these news articles and watch the media coverage on television, and see Lou Dobbs' face get all red over the thought of more ILLEGALS slipping past our borders every day, I sit back and ask...why are you upset? Now, one answer (and one I AGREE with) is that illegal immigrants do not pay taxes, but use the services our tax dollars provide, such as education, police and fire protection, and hospitals. They get to enjoy government services, tax-free. This argument is the only one that is legitimate and is a real concern. So, shouldn't then we take all the illegal immigrants and make them legal so they start paying the taxes and not draining our society's tax dollars. OH WAIT...DON'T START GIVING AWAY AMNESTY...THESE PEOPLE HAVE COMMITTED A CRIME!!!!

What crime? Yes, some are criminals that come over, like plenty of Americans, and they should not be allowed to stay and become citizens. But the only other crime is walking across a border without going through America's system. We must remember that MANY Americans got here today, because someone in our family did the same thing. Today's times have changed, our country has grown to over 300 million people and we have a constant fear of terrorism, so the policies of the past cannot be used today. But, what we must focus on, is what we are calling "illegal" like it's rape or murder, while it is something that many of our relatives did in the past; however, what they did was far worse ( see: taking land from the natives and killing many in the process, i.e. "trail of tears"). So, my point is that no huge crime has been committed, other than crossing a line without going through the proper channels.

Even though I suggest the crime committed is not big, I will not advocate an open border policy. I do believe, because of the threats to and size of America, that the country cannot allow anyone and everyone in. Again, in this post I do not want to debate how to fix the border crossing problem (I have a solution, though). The focus must be on why we are so afraid of the ILLEGALS. Since taxes cannot be the reason, because we can easily grant everyone here citizenship and sign them up to pay...there is a deeper problem. I also don't think its terrorism, since the vast amount of ILLEGALS are not criminals. It can't be a strain on the economy, because without these ILLEGALS, you will see a true strain on the economy. The real fear is the different language and cultural customs.

Americans do not want America to lose its identity. The identity comes mostly from European heritage, and a lot of that from England. There are plenty of exceptions, Midwest has Scandinavian influences, Florida has Spanish, Louisiana has French, Southwest has ILLEGALS, err Mexican, Africans through the slave trade, etc. But, Americans see themselves as living an "American" lifestyle and doing it through English. However, I am here to say that accepting these ILLEGALS does not mean America will lose this identity. Over the past several hundred years, Americans have come from all types of cultures and backgrounds, and because of that, America's identity has constantly evolved. If the ILLEGALS ever become legal, it would not turn America into Mexico. Almost all Americans will still speak English, most ILLEGALS will learn to speak English and use it every day. It won't change America drastically.

Look at Europe, and one can see the various languages spoken, between the various countries, but also within the countries. In Switzerland, there are three very different languages spoken in three different regions alone. That does not include the various dialect differences.

The reason I bring up this issue at all, since it won't fix the real problem of allowing non-Americans to cross the border without any documentation, it eliminates the underlying issue of why Americans are prone to not want the current ILLEGALS to stay and the fear of more coming. Politicians are guilty of facilitating and nurturing this fear to gain votes. I probably look at this from a different view than most. My wife's family are all LEGAL immigrants to America. They speak a different language (Spanish). Yet, while they still speak that language at times to each other, they are all productive parts of our society and speak ENGLISH every day. They are actually better than most Americans (they are Americans, now), because they actually know another language. If we lived in Europe, most of us probably would speak at least two languages, if not more. So, this fear comes down to American laziness (See future blog on real reason we have illegal immigration) and the fear of change. Well, I am here to say...the change will not be very big, it will be for the better and maybe, just maybe Americans will gain a little bit from it. One could only hope.

Drought, what Drought?

You may want to sit down for this, but...Georgia is in a severe drought. Many may think this is impossible, since most think of Georgia as on the East Coast (except Miss. South Carolina) in an area that gets plenty of rainfall. Actually, most years Georgia does get plenty of rainfall, but like every region in the world (and with a climate that IS changing, regardless whether you think God or Man is causing such changes), Georgia is susceptible to droughts.

Right now, the Georgia Congressional team is demanding that President Bush declare certain counties in North and Central Georgia in states of emergency. While these regions may be in a state of emergency, since their water sources are drying up by the day (I personally saw Lake Lanier last weekend, and to those thinking it just has a lot of beach front land...that beach should be under water)...people must understand that the blame rests on state officials, not Bush (this time) or other states. The easy target right now is the Army Corps of Engineers. The claim: They are needlessly dumping and wasting billions of gallons of water into rivers for some mussels and fish. Who should come first, humans or fish?

I have to give it to Gov. Sonny Purdue and the other lackeys that run the State of Georgia. It's a compelling argument, and I of course would vote for the fish, because who cares about a bunch of Georgians...right? Regardless of what I think, almost everyone would surely side with the people in this drought, even if you have a soft spot for the environment, and not the endangered fish and mussels (except me and the Sierra Club), so its a great PR move by Sonny. But, before I jump onto this "bandwagon of hate" towards the Engineers, Alabama, Florida, the fish and mussels...maybe we should ask, why are we in this situation?

Well, A) there has been a real lack of rain. This one is hard to correct, because the Earth has normal and abnormal cycles that can cause this phenomenon, which are largely out of our immediate control; B) there is no true water conservation plan for Georgia and Atlanta, which could help in a long-term drought; and C) the Army Corps of Engineers keeps dumping water from the lake reservoirs into rivers down to Alabama, Florida and the Gulf.

So, while Gov. Purdue and team like to blame C on this, it's actually B...their own fault. Last legislative term, the Georgia legislature wouldn't pass into law, a statute that would require all old homes when sold to go to low flow shower heads. Now, one argument is that this infringes on property rights, privacy rights, etc. I am a huge fan of property rights, but I also need water from the same source that LeRoy next door is using. So, if LeRoy decides to leave his shower on for 30 minutes not using a low flow shower head...he is taking a lot of the water I and every other person may need. If LeRoy's actions didn't affect me, I would be in support of his property rights and privacy rights (although water consumption is hardly protected by privacy rights). But, it does affect me, and it affects every other Georgian in the Atlanta area. So, why couldn't the legislature pass such an easy law, which would not cost the homeowner very much, yet in the long-run save millions upon millions of gallons of water?

I could go on and on about what Georgia politicians have not done towards conserving the State's water. Their neighbor to the south, Florida, actually has extensive water management plans, and has had them for years. While Georgia also likes to blame Florida for stealing their water, Florida at least has had a plan in place to conserve water, although it may not be perfect. So, instead of blaming everyone short of God for causing this drought, the Georgia politicians need to get their lazy butts up, look in the mirror, realize they are at fault and actually make water conservation plans for Georgia and Atlanta...because a city of 5 million people is not going to disappear.

Evil, Insane or Both?

Ann Coulter is at it again, and she honestly gives all Christians and Republicans a bad name. Recently, she said that Jews needed to be "perfected". While I think that Ann likes to see her name in the paper, no matter how it gets there...I do think she believes a lot of what she says. If she doesn't believe it, she is more pathetic than I originally thought. But, for now, I think she is pure evil.

The thing is, I think lots of people are evil in their own way. For instance, I think Hillary Clinton gives out death stares. I believe electricity could flow from her eyes and hands, like in Star Wars, if she had to use it and it wouldn't cost her the White House. She may have even used her death stare on people before (See Whitewater). However, Hillary keeps the evil power in check. Ann, scares me, because if she ever got any real power, she could be the female version of Hitler. I know I am not the first to compare her to that man, but her latest comment proves that she is either one of the most evil people alive (See Hitler, Stalin) or one of the biggest idiots.

What scares me though, isn't so much about Ann, because one day she will get whats coming to her or just go away, but that there are many other Americans that think like she does. They hate others for being different than them. I question, how did they become this way? Was it their parents, their towns, or is it in their genetics? While we live in a society constantly on high alert for terrorism, we have our own "home grown" terrorists living right. They are the Ann Coulters of America and they hate because you aren't like them.

While she and they, do not use explosive materials getting their point across (at least not yet or very often) like most terrorists...they use explosive language that can do just as much damage to the individual and society as a whole. As a kid, I honestly thought the Ann Coulter's of the world existed only in a history book. It's sad that she proves to everyone, that evil is alive and well and prospering in America. And, while we will always have to live with evil in this world, its a shame that she associates herself with a religion and political party. Ann is NOT a Christian, because no true Christian would harbor such hate. Ann is no Republican, because no true Republican would hate their fellow citizen so much. Ann shows that she is no better than the Islamic terrorists. Hopefully, one day, she will either change her ways or go away, because I'm tired of listening.

Got Government?

Why is Big Government not working? It's not big enough! That, I assume, is Hillary's thoughts. She recently came out with her new "economic blueprint" and its just insane, well, if you agree that the U.S. should be built around capitalism and not socialism. One of the worst parts is her energy plan, which includes "allowing" oil companies to either invest in alternative energy or to place some of their profits into a government "fund". If this fund is anything like social security, that means it could be used for anything...maybe even to give people more entitlements, such as Hillary's plan of giving every child born in America 5,000 dollars for college (Another ridiculous idea, since it would cost billions and be practically worthless by the time that kid actually goes to college 18 years later). Hillary's plan is just crazy talk. I am all for investing in alternative energy, in fact, I think oil companies and other energy companies would be plain stupid if they didn't see that oil and coal will one day run out or be too expensive to extract. Plus, with this huge push for ec0-friendly products, they could make a killing in the long run. But, for the government to say you HAVE to invest in this or you HAVE to give it to the well spending Federal Government, is just typical Big Government.

Hillary also wants to set up another 50 billion fund to strengthen unions, create "affordable" health care, fix the mortgage crisis and create a balanced budget. Well, it appears Hillary is on her way to balancing the budget, right? Her way of balancing the budget is MORE government spending and MORE taxes. Where is this 50 billion going to come from? Where is the money going to come from for her universal health care? Well, its going to come from repealing tax cuts (a.k.a. a tax increase) and by taxing corporations. No wonder corporations are moving overseas. But in the end, it will have to mean even more tax increases.

However, the worst item in there is the strengthening of unions. When unions developed many years ago...there was a crucial need for them. Workers were in horrible conditions, the hours were long, and the pay was a joke. Today, union workers are often overpaid, under worked and the unions often protect the worst workers. Additionally, the companies and professions that have unions generally struggle to make any sort of great economic and technological advancements. Look at the American auto companies...they are drowning in debt and produce horrible cars...they have unions. The railroads, do we see any reliable high speed trains running all across the country? Nope. Airline industry, well, we all saw what happened after 9-11 and what's happening today. Unionized workers are overpaid and under worked, period. If they want to make more money, they should have to work longer hours, not less or develop a skill set worthy of such an increase. However, it's great that Hillary wants to tax us more, take more of our hard earned dollars, to ensure that these unions get more money protecting the bad.

The bottom line, Hillary is not her Husband. For those who are going to vote for her, because they think it could be another four or eight years of economic prosperity, such as that enjoyed during the Clinton era...think again. Her taxes and big government schemes will only suffocate the American economy. Yet she is the run away favorite for the Democratic primary.

One Christian Nation Under God

So, James Dobson has come out and said that conservative Christians needed to support a candidate for President that supports a strict social conservative agenda, you know the..."pro-family" sort. Thanks Jimbo. Now things are so much clearer and I know exactly who I need to elect (that's Hillary, right?). Does anyone else see anything wrong with a man of faith telling you who to vote for, for President? I mean, does he have God's cell number and calls to get political advice everyday? Honestly, and maybe I am wrong...I thought people were supposed to go to church to learn about God and to try and live a better life. I thought the President, at least 99% of the time, dealt with issues such as wars, foreign policy, maybe botching wars, domestic spending, the economy, making illegal immigration worse, etc. But, according to James, the President is commander in chief AND the U.S. Pope.

Now, I love how they lump strict social conservatism with "pro-family". Obviously, Democrats, Independents and moderate Republicans couldn't raise a child if their lives depended on it. It's a fact, all of those kids die. So, Jimmy won't let that one go, nor anything dealing with "family", such as gay marriage, pre-marital sex, etc. Jim wants to know exactly what is happening in your bedroom at night and he wants to film it. Oh no, of course not for his own viewing pleasure, but to prove what you are doing is immoral and to save you from it. (Jim, you need to give back those tapes.)

One of the many problems with America today, is that religion being thrown into the political landscape like Roy Scheider was scooping chum for ole Bruce (a.k.a. Jaws). I mean, presidential candidates are now even declaring that this is a Christian Nation (Oh McCain, sometimes you talk a little too straight). Now, while I do agree that this country was founded by Christians, we also forget they wanted religious freedom. Back then, that may have meant something a little different than today, but the overall principle remains true...people should be able to express themselves through their religion, as long as it does not HURT anyone else.

If anything, James sounds a little like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, except somehow Mahmoud has been able to solve the gay issue, because not one lives in Iran anymore (Jimmy, don't get any ideas, now). The hypocrisy of James Dobson's battle cry, is that I am sure he was one of the first to declare war with Iraq, and probably wants to wipe Iran off the map. Yet, he and his cohorts share many of the same strict social conservative views as Islamic nations and their leaders. So, my question is: would you want to live in an nation with a social regime that mimics an Islamic nation, but just substitute the word Islamic for Christian?

What James preaches is not what Christianity is about. James needs to stop being a politico pig, and go back teaching Christians how to be more accepting, peaceful, caring and giving, rather than focusing on just a few very narrow issues, which a few have nothing to do with life or death or hurting anyone at all. And while abortion does not fall into that category, there is another way to end it rather than becoming a political pig...and that is trying to educate people on safe sex (oh wait, that is not allowed either...we have to pretend people only have sex when married). Oh well, I tried...I know nothing will change from the Dobson camp...I just hope people see him for the fraud he is and pick a President because they are a leader and can run the many complicated details of this nation, not for their extreme religious beliefs. That's why I'm voting for Sam Brownback