Guard Dog

By making it unnecassary to learn the language here we are already encouraging them to do so. Like I said, if you made it impossible to get by in this country without leaning the language, those who want to come here will learn it. I wasn't asking about whether or not it's encouraged to do so through illegal aliens. You say you'll always welcome legal immigrants. Wouldn't this still subject the United States to the dissolution of your culture and language? It wouldn't necessarily be as fast, but one of your big concerns about the illegal immigrant situation is preservation of culture. This does not go away with legal immigration. Even if you make them learn the language. Put a few thousand Mexicans in the same part of town, even if they knew English coming in, and there's no guarantee that they aren't going to start speaking more Mexican. I have no issue with spanish being the predominant language where spanish is the predominant ethnicity. What people do on their own is their business. But if you walk into city hall, do not expect to see spanish signs, or have government business conducted in spanish just to suit you. Adapt to your enviorment, don't force your enviorment to adapt to you. And for God's sweet sake do not expect to have the state print it's ballots in 47 different languages just because you refuse to learn the language of the land. I'm white and of northern eurpoean descent and if someone comes up to me and starts speaking spanish to me in the street of a US city I'd tell them to pike off. And I speak spanish very well. If they try to speak to me in english I will go out of my way to help them. I learned that in Japan. The US culture is always changing BECAUSE of legal immigration and that's fine. To legally immigrate you need to learn a little about this country

By making it unnecassary to learn the language here we are already encouraging them to do so. Like I said, if you made it impossible to get by in this country without leaning the language, those who want to come here will learn it.

Little and less can be done about it unfortunately. What we are doing wrong as a nation is catering too much to those who refuse to assimilate. Like offering free bilingual education (taxpayer funded of course), having multilingual street signs. Like speaking a foreign language in court. Heck the voters ballot in California comes in 47 different languages! 47!!! If someone wants to have a say in the governance of the country at least they should lean the language. If we put an end to this stupidity and made English the official and ONLY language for official business and government commerce (the local drugstore in Miami can still speak Spanish only in their store if they want) then people who want to work and live here WILL learn it. And that is the first step to assimilating into a single national identity. The US has a culture all of it's own and it is a blend of the cultures of everyone who lives here, and it is only detrimental to have a segment of the society who refuses to embrace it. Heck I was stationed in Japan for just a year and was only actually there six months and I did my best to learn as much Japanese as I could. It is beyond rude to approach someone in a foreign country and address them in a language they probably do not speak. That is what angers me so much about the illegal immigration issue. They come here illegally then demand that I ignore the fact they have broken the law, then spend my tax dollars to offer social services in THEIR language because they refuse to learn mine. If I were in office I would sponsor a bill to make English the official language then drop the bilingual aids. But it would die in comittee. No one would vote for it, it is too hot an issue. I have no problem with a guest worker program so long as it is well regulated. And any one who wishes to legally immigrate will ALWAYS be welcomed.

No it is not watered down at all and these areas where the native language is becoming something othere than the majority of the country are few and isolated. Right now it is small acorns but as you Brits say, "mighty oaks grow from small acorns". It will become a problem one day, just as it has become in Quebec. Better to address it now.

AMEN!

How quaint. Ah, I shouldn't have said that. That what happens when I'm working all night on a Friday, I get grouchy. The first one that jumps to mind is the Western Roman Empire. At it's zenith no matter where you went in the Roman Empire, the language of business was latin, and every citizen identified themselves as roman. At the end, in the west the provinces spoke their own languages and idetified themselves by their ethnicity. They did not think of themselves as roman citizens and did not owe any fealty to that institution. That is one of the biggest reasons for it's ultimate fall. Heck Alan, it's happening now in your own backyard. The people of Quebec identify themselves more as citizens of Quebec than Canada. The more absract the idea of Canada becomes to them, the closer they will move to cesession. It would be a disaster for both groups. And language is one of the biggest wedge issues right?

I saw this commercial for the first time last night and, I'll admit it, totally broke down. In 1995 I was just six days out of the military when I took a drove a friend to Miami Dade Animal control to get a rabies tag for her dog. While there I saw this half dead, brown Labrador Retriever mix in one of the cages. At one year old she should have been about 65-70 lbs. She was just 37 lbs, skin and bone and infested with fleas and ticks. She was set to be put to sleep that night. I did not think twice about adopting her. Over the last 11 years I've failed at two careers and had a business venture nearly ruin me. I've been through a bitter divorce, a bankruptcy, become estranged from family, and as you all know, friends come and go. Through all of that Dixie was always there to cheer me up, make me smile and in her own way, remind me that life is a beautiful thing. She reminded me that even when things seemed utterly hopeless you need to hold on just one more hour because you never know what will happen to turn your life around. To me she was the friend everyone hopes they can have. Two weeks ago I had to let her go after a long battle with cancer. I prayed every day that I could have just one more day to take her to the beach, or dog park, or just to sit on the couch and do nothing. I would have happily paid every penny I have for that. But days and prayers eventually run out. I've tried not to think about it until I saw this ad and it made me realize how grateful I am to have gone to the shelter that day. And how lucky I was to have known her. If there is room in your life for a dog, please consider adopting from a shelter. You will literally be saving a life, maybe even your own. Pedigree Dog Adoption Commercial

You might want to consider changing your bong water. Are you freaking high?!? I assume that you don't live in an area where your identity is being taken and used by illegals ( privately and nationally ). Call me a racist if you are so ( collectively ) stupid and cowardly but have your facts together before your get your testicles in an emotional uproar. If you ( collectively ) intend to do so, get your s**t together because we are gonna dance. Try living in an area of the US where you can't even order a freaking burger if your don't speak Espanol. We even have a 'construction dictionary' for those troublesome jobsites where you are stupid enough to assume that English isn't enough to communicate. The US has closed 80+ hospitals along the US/Mexico border because it cannot afford the 'economic boon' of 'Mexican workers' and while M13 and the Columbians are cruising in with Al Queda, you expect me to lick Mexico's backside and thank them for the cheap labor? To all...before replying, don't forget that I work with lots of interesting people. DEA and Customs are only a few of the depts. that I work with. No joke there. I work in South Florida and one of the requirements for promotion to department head or ANY managerial position around here (in my company at least) is the ability to speak, read and write Spanish. And I'm an RF engineer with a major wireless carrier. This is not just a rule at Burger King. At the Miami Dade Courthouse, the signs are almost ALL in Spanish with English in the small text. Miami has two major spanish newspapers, only one english paper (but I would not even wrap a fish in it). Plus before christmas, Bellsouth called me at home about my DSL service order and the lady began by addressing me in SPANISH! I know most of you take the knee jerk liberal reaction to everything around here (after all being liberal is easier than thinking for yourself) but you had all best read a little history about the fates of nation-states that lost control of their borders and their cultural identity.

Very, VERY bad precedent.

Guess again. Social Security for illegal aliens

Humans create law to serve society's best interests. It is not in our best interest (in my opinion) to enforce illegal immigration laws aggressively. Similarly, it is not in our best interest to enforce speeding laws aggressively. It's certainly not in law enforcement's best interests to do so, as it would cause everyone to slow down so much that their revenue streams would be significantly hampered. This is why (for example), San Diego police have yearly "traffic months" where they swat down speeders non-stop all day long along the 5, 805, 15, and 163 freeways. They let up after that month because everyone has slowed down; they no longer gain the revenue that they desire. Laws have no volition of their own. They exist and operate because we collectively choose to keep them around. National borders are arbitrarily defined. Place of birth is not chosen. Minimum wage laws are arbitrary. People who legally immigrate to the U.S. cannot fill the same role as illegal laborers. Documented residents must be accounted for, which means that they have to go through the same tax, insurance, etc. systems as all other citizens. People who immigrate legally are almost assuredly not attempting to gain the same jobs as illegal laborers (basic manual labor). Saying that legal immigration is "best all around for everyone" ignores the plain economic facts about illegal immigration -- especially in areas like SoCal. The United States has three times the arable land as Canada, and subsidized agriculture is one of the country's strong points. Our food is abundant, cheap, and we have enough of a surplus that we have a net export (the last time I checked, France is the only other nation that can claim this). If every laborer working in fields gained an hourly wage of 7+ USD by 2009, you can bet that agricultural advantage would weaken severely. Why should the U.S. aggressively enforce laws that weaken one its own major industries (not to mention sundry other support labor groups)? Fine, I have no problem with a guest worker program so long as it is strictly regulated and the earnings of the workers taxed just like everyone else in the country (who ever thought a libertarian would say that?). My problem is that by turning a blind eye on these people they are putting a drain on emergency rooms and other tax dollar subsidized medicine, police assets, border patrol, and a number of other social services including schools in many cases. Heck the California State Legislature wants to give these people drivers licenses but you can bet they pay little or no state taxes and few bother to buy insurance. They are a drain on the infrastructure without contributing to the tax base. Most are paid in cash or have bogus SSNs so they contribute nothing other than sales tax to the economy they benefit from. But to give these people, who ARE breaking the law, more programs, living assistance, medical care, whatever, I have to pay for it in higher taxes. No, that is wrong.

Did not know where were you were from, but thats cool. No I was not referring to anyone in particular. *edit* Hey, that MY line in your "From" slot on you user name!

That is the most intelligent statement in this whole thread. People in Florida, California, Texas and Arizona are facing tax increases to pay for social services for illegal immigrants who do not belong here to begin with. It's easy to feel sorry for the plight of the poor illegals when you never see them, are victimized by crimes they may commit, or have to pay their way.

. Carlos Mencia did that in a routine, too funny. But seriously, I'm all for it and I'll support it with my donations and tax dollars if allowed to. A country that cannot protect the sovreignty of its borders is not a country. Just ask the Western Roman Empire.

Just to throw this out there. Sooner or later they have to arrive at Earth. What time period do you think Earth will be in? 21st Cent modern, pre-Roman, sometime in the future? According to the end of season 1 The 13th Colony left Kobol 2000 years before the current show started. Now assuming the 13th tribe founded the ancient Greek Civilization, that really began in 323 BC with the beginning of the Hellenisitc Era. So for the sake of argument lets say they arrived on earth shortly before that. That means Galactica will arive at earth around AD 1677. And they are hoping earth will be a refuge from the Cylons? Good luck with that!

Remember what happened last time a few states tried to seceed? The US is like a mafia family. As Tony Soprano would say "once you come into the family, there is no gettin' out". <{POST_SNAPBACK}> cept that california is currently the worlds fourth largest economy on its own. And all the eastern states would no longer have easy access to far east companies. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> California would bankrupt itself within 10 years. Socialisim is very expensive when you have to pay for it yourself.

We already have one Sand, the Libertarian Party. I am a card carrying, voting member and I've even run for office once. Check out our website: US Libertarian Party

What is the first? (Hint if you don't say Animal House you're wrong!)

Uh, that doesn't mean they voted left. And it's not unusual either. It is exceptionally rare for a party to have a majority fo the vote. The Liberal majorities recently haven't been much better, often receiving around 40% of the vote. In the 2004 Election, the Liberal Party received approximately 37% of the popular vote. In 2000, the Liberal Party only received 40.8% of the popular vote, and in 1997, they received 38% of the votes. Were you up in arms because of these results? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> How many viable politcal factions does Canada have?

Remember what happened last time a few states tried to seceed? The US is like a mafia family. As Tony Soprano would say "once you come into the family, there is no gettin' out".

It's a funny thing about faith. If you do not have it, no one can ever explain it to you. If you do have it, no explanation is necsassary. I read that one somewhere too.

Is that what is referred to as "Western Alienation"? I've heard that term used in Canadian news before. This time of year South Florida has more Canadians living in it than Ottawa does so we get a fair bit of Canadian news on the radio.

Canadians can NEVER join the US until their football teams get rid of that 55 yard line! WTF is THAT?

I read somewhere that heresy and witch trials were a good way to get rid of a community member nobody wanted around. If I'm not mistaken, that is the origin of the expression "fired" used in so many work places today.

There is nothing on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man -George R.R. Martin