Hurlshort

Hades/Killian's criminal arguments are just silly because the legal system is not black and white. If illegal immigrants were really considered criminals by our justice system, then our prison system would suddenly be packed with them every day. The reason police and border patrol agents don't just round up folks at Home Depot is because it is not an enforceable violation. Deportation is a major undertaking, and so there typically has to be more involved than simply not having a visa. There are quite a few unenforceable laws on the books, just go look up loony laws. I can't wear cowboy boots in certain towns unless I own at least two cows, and I can't whistle for a lost canary before 7 AM in Berkeley, CA. Also, the 10 billion dollar hit attributed to illegal immigrant costs is for the entire US, not just CA. It is estimated that if we made all those folks legal, the cost would go up to about 40 billion. Again, it is all in www.cis.org.

I completely agree with that. Unfortunately the costs of such programs seem to scare most politicians off.

Heatley has been great, 5 points and a minus 4. The defense is not doing so good, 5 goals in game 1 and 6 in game 3.

What's the rate of incidence for this for everyone else? I'll have to do some research, but I'm not sure if all 12 million illegal immigrants in the US take part in this cultural phenomenon. There are probably one or two who come across the border, learn English, and do their best to make a better life for themselves.

First off, I already posted links to the Center for Immigration Studies (www.cis.org), which is non-partisan and gathers a ton of numbers and arguments about illegal immigration. No one seems to have actually looked at it, which makes me realize how silly it is to argue about this stuff since most folks have already made up their minds and don't seemed concerned with silly things like facts. Secondly, that above is a real solid argument, because it illustrates how often the laws are changed to benefit the more powerful parties. In 1969 a group of American Indians cited an old treaty that gave them rights over abandoned military outposts. They stayed their for almost two years protesting in order to get the Indian termination policy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_termination_policy) rescinded. So the "law of the land" is an ever changing thing, and it requires people to go against it in order to enact change.

Jesus! Sounds like you got banjo'd. Hope you feel better soonish. I can't suggest much. Yep, take care, that sounds very nasty. I went to the hospital once thinking my appendix was going to burst. Turned out to be bad gas. It was embarrassing.

The frustrating part of Hade's logic is that it would cripple our economy. It is a classic case of cutting off the nose to spite the face. Also the complaints about illegal immigrants not learning language are a slippery slope. 1. Many early immigrants to the US, ones that went through Ellis Island, did not learn English. It is not an official language. My great grandmother spoke Italian and lived in the US for 40 years. It takes generations to change that. If you want to change it, then education has to be better. 2. Immigration has changed dramatically since the 1800's. We turn people away. Your relatives came over on a boat and were processed for citizenship. That is not an option today. The only people we accept easily today are well educated folks who have a good shot at getting a job. While that is logical, it is vastly different than what happened on Ellis Island. 3. California used to be part of Mexico. I'm proud of California History and do not feel the need to trod upon other cultures that make it such a great state.

While it is frustrating, I understand how difficult it is to develop and publish a AAA title, so I'm willing to be patient. I'm much more concerned that the game will fall into some redevelopment nightmare phase and never get released, or be a horrid husk of its original self.

Yeah, I already posted links to articles about the economic feasibility of all this folks. I guess crazy talk with no basis in reality is more entertaining. Enjoy.

But then you have a problem with seasonal workers, which is a major part of the ag industry. I'm not saying it's a perfect system, there are a lot of changes I would like to see made, but closing up shop is not one of them.

Because it would cause an economic collapse. Just the agriculture industry alone would be devastated, which means grocery store prices would soar. It would be quite messy.

There is actually a non-profit that gathers all this information. Here's a little tidbit: http://www.cis.org/articles/2007/sactestimony050907.pdf http://www.cis.org/aboutcis.html is the main page. They talk about the costs of illegal immigration, and yes, it does add to the deficit. But it is much less severe than many people make it out to be, and the solutions are not as simple as simply closing the borders.

I just think going after illegal immigration is avoiding the real issue here. As I said, illegal immigration has been a hot topic for quite a while, and I'd like to see numbers backing up the claim that there are a lot more illegals in CA than there were in the 80's. (I did some research, the number is at about 3 million and its been stable since 1984.) My guess as to why you are seeing more folks lined up at Home Depot is that there isn't as much work available as there used to be. The real issue is terrible management on many different levels. CA still has a very impressive GNP, but there is just a ton of waste out there.

American citizens prefer to live off welfare then do the jobs that illegal immigrants do.

Are we arguing that illegal immigration is the problem in California? Because it's been an issue for a hundred years, so I'm not sure how it suddenly is causing the toppling of CA's economy. The fact that construction and agriculture industries rely on illegal immigration heavily cancel out any of the negatives. California is very badly run, we have a serious issue with the politicians in our state. Despite that, I'm not fleeing for the hills, there are still quite a few success stories in California. My family runs a truck company, and we have actually turned the corner after coming dangerously close to bankruptcy in the last year. We are now getting regular work, we are slowly rebuilding our fleet, and the debt collectors have been working with us to keep our business running. We haul sand and gravel and there are quite a few new construction jobs coming down the pipeline, which is very good for the economy. Also, home prices have stabilized in a lot of areas.

This is probably the most bizarre release situation I've ever seen. Usually there is debate over what day of the week a title will come out, but right now it is either coming out today or it is coming out in 6 months. That's a bit of a crazy window.

Just beat Batman: Arkham Asylum. It was a fantastic experience, I went through and found a few more hidden things after I beat it.

I'm going to second that notion. My head is killing me.

Martha served 5 months. Ah, I read up a bit, seems Polanski served 42 days in a psych hospital and thought that should be it. So he has to be sentenced again.

Isn't his sentence like 45 days? I think Martha Stewart had the same sentence for insider trading!

I'd be pretty surprised not to see Philly up at the top this season.

I'm guessing Detroit will regain 1st in the West this season, but they might not manage to win the President's trophy. It depends on if the Pens have a Stanley Cup hangover.

I'm kinda finding this hard to believe. There was a pretty official press release back in July stating October 6th is the release date, at least that was my impression. Now there has been no official word about a delay, just rumors. It would seem like an easy thing to announce, the game is either being printed up as we speak or it isn't. What happened to going gold anyway? Do they still announce that stuff in the industry? And where is the holdup anyways? I would assume Obsidian is done with the game, so is Sega just screwing with them?

Huh, I was planning on picking this up on Tuesday. Well, if it doesn't come out, I can go pick up Brutal Legend this month instead.

I don't know if it was pointed out, but when two underage people have sex, it is nearly impossible to put one of them on trial unless the other is claiming rape. Statutory rape is really only used against people over 18 in the US. As a minor, you are pretty well protected. I'd be happy to hear any evidence otherwise, but personally I'm not going to do a search on underage sex and statutory rape.