As Americans, you enjoy living in the richest country in the world and one of the highest quality-of-life rankings in the world too. You should expect that people who don't enjoy those benefits to feel a little jealous and angry at you. You should also expect that people who don't enjoy your standard of living would also want a part of it.

Like it or not, illegal aliens are a significant part of the US economy. They do all the jobs that you and I don't want to. Without them there are some things that just wouldn't get done. Would you seriously pick vegetables, for 2 or 3 dollars an hour working a 10 or 12 hour day? Would you clean toilets down at the local fast food place? Would you cut lawns all day long in 110 degree weather? I think that's one of the reasons why its relatively easy for Mexicans to get into the US. Americans need people to do the low-paid, hard-labor, and unsafe jobs. You can disagree with me if you like.

As someone who's trying to get into the US, I can tell you its pretty damn hard. I've got one 4 year college degree, working on my graduate degree, a clean work history (never been fired or laid off), no criminal record and I come from a country that is very friendly with the US. And I still have to literally jump through flaming hoops to get myself in legally. The US government should put as much effort into keeping the illegal aliens out of the country as they do in making it next to impossible for the educated and legitimate immigrants to get in.

 

Believe my shakemyspeare I would much rather have an educated person like yourself come to the US than an un-educated alien who can only do manual labor. A person like you could contribute to our society and strengthen it.

I am thankful that I live in America and wish to preserve it's strong economy and high standard of living. I believe someone like you would be an asset to our way of life.

Your point on low skill and dangerous jobs is well taken. I believe there are other solutions besides using unskilled illegal aliens to fill those needs. One, issue and closely monitor work permits and work visas so aliens can come to this country to work but not stay. Secondly, restrict our tax supported benefits so illegals (and those on work visas) can not take advantage of them, thirdly initiate a program like the old WPA so that out of work Americans who are young enough and physically capable of working must do work that contributes to society to get welfare and unemployment. Obviously our unemployment laws and welfare laws would need to be modified. I am not opposed to unemployment (there is a need for it in some instances) however, I believe some people abuse the system. Modify it so that those physically able must work to get their unemployment check. Have them do work that supports the common good. Some European countries use a similar system and it sems to function quite well.

 

Quote: Modify it so that those physically able must work to get their unemployment check. Have them do work that supports the common good.

Years ago I had my job disappear when a company closed it's doors and I can tell you first hand that (1) You cannot live on an unemployment check, unemployment is NOT a paid vacation, (2) finding that new job is a full time job - networking, researching, applications, resumes, interviews, cold calls. How is one to find a job while supporting " the common good"? (3) most Americans WANT to work and are not unemployed by choice. The only answer to unemployment is jobs and new jobs are not being created in the quantity necessary to employ a growing labor force and replace lost jobs. In addition, the "new" jobs that are being created are paying 21% less, exacerbating the problem for a public and government heavily in debt.

 

It would have been great if the American coach had called his team off the field and told them, "We don't have to take this crap", and left the field.

 

I disagree. The Yankees don't leave the field when they get heckled by Red Sox fans. It's all part of sports and "sports mentality" (or is that an oxymoron)

 

I don't believe it was that type of heckling though.The National Anthem and Osama weren't involved it that age old rivalary.I don't think it can be compared to that IMO.

 

I saw an interview with a Mexican sportswriter who was at the game. According to him, there were lots of boos at the National Anthem and a FEW chanting Osama! Osama! Hardly an international incident, IMHO.

 

I think the key to that interview might have been the fact that it was a Mexican sportswriter.What did he consider a few?Anyone with national pride would take the Mexican heckling as very offensive.I certainally did.Booing the american team is one thing,the rest is just plain ignorant.IMO

 

He didn't try to excuse the chanters. He found them embarrassing, IIRC.

 

Totally different situation, but I can understand and appreciate your viewpoint.

 

I remember you trying to make a few Canadian teenageers at a minor hockey tournament booing Americans into an international incident and then using it as a basis to stereotype all French Canadian kids, trying to support your argument in a thread a while back.

That's not the same though right?

l8r

 

I suspect the British would prefer not to be judged by the behavior of many of their soccer fans.

 

Your memory is faulty. It wasn't a few Canadian kids that were booing the Mass. Hockey Team, it was the hundreds of adults out in the street when the bus pulled up in front of the rink that descended upon the bus like a swarm of locusts. That was truly a gutless act by a bunch of ..........ah, I won't say what I was going to. Just check back for my previous term for French Canadians and the French in general. Ribbit!

Here's the incident reported in NewsMax.com and elsewhere:

"With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff
For the story behind the story...
Thursday, April 3, 2003

Canadians Tell U.S. Kids, 'America Sucks'

A busload of American "PeeWee" hockey players got a taste of the rabid anti-Americanism that is festering in Canada: They were hooted at, our National Anthem was booed, and people in the street gave them the finger or displayed other rude gestures.

The Massachusetts kids were in Montreal for a PeeWee tournament when residents of this French-speaking city treated them the way one would expect an enemy to be treated: with scorn and hostility.

According to the Toronto Globe & Mail, the 11- and 12-year-old boys from Brockton had been looking forward to the hockey tournament in Montreal. But parents who accompanied them said they were unprepared for the depth of anti-American hatred over the U.S.-led war against Iraq.

During their four-day visit, the young Americans were horrified to see the Stars and Stripes burned and hear the National Anthem booed. When traveling in their bus emblazoned with a red, white and blue "Coach USA" logo, they saw people on the street make angry gestures at them.

Even worse, while playing hockey their Canadian opponents told their American guests that "the U.S. sucks" and shouted other anti-American insults, the boys recalled.

"It was a shock to go to a tournament and have kids saying this to us. These are our friends that are doing this," Brockton Boxers coach Ernest Nadeau told the Globe & Mail. "We didn't expect Canadian players - especially young boys - would take things to that extreme."

Why Spend Your Money in Quebec?

One parent, Bill Carpenter, was so upset he canceled his family's vacation to Quebec this summer. "We were very offended by the whole thing," Carpenter, who accompanied two sons on the trip, told the newspaper.

"I understand the opposition to the war. But we were made to feel unwelcome just about anywhere we went. Montreal is a five-and-a-half-hour drive for us. It's not like we were traveling to Syria or France or Germany," he said. "As Americans, we felt in the past that Canada was our closest ally and friend. No one told us we were heading into unfriendly territory."

According to the Globe & Mail, the trip took a turn for the worse almost as soon as the children reached Montreal, when their bus entered the city's downtown just as hundreds of college and university students were marching through the streets in an appeasement demonstration.

Police cruisers spotted the U.S. bus and escorted it to its hotel on Sherbrooke Street as a safety precaution. A police officer even urged the visitors to remain in the bus until the protest passed.

The children watched in shock as demonstrators made obscene gestures toward the bus. An American flag was dragged through the street.

"We felt horrible," Nadeau told the paper. "How would you feel if the Canadian flag was dragged down the streets in the U.S.A.? This is a country that's supposed to be our ally."

That night at a game between the Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders game, the U.S. national anthem was widely booed by the crowd, further upsetting the boys.

"The kids were just questioning, 'Why are they doing this?'" said David Cruise, who was there with his 12-year-old son. "It's hard for them to realize we weren't in America any more; we were in a different country. I said, 'They're booing our national anthem because they don't like us.'

"Whether you're for or against the war, we have guys over there dying," Cruise said. "The next time, we'll stay in the States. I'm not going back there again."

The boys recalled that during a game against the Beverly Bandits, a team from Beverly, Ontario, anti-American comments continued when the Canadians hurled insults during face-offs and at other times.

"They told us we sucked, gave us the finger and said 'Down with the U.S.A.' or 'The U.S.A. sucks," Nadeau said. At one point, a Canadian player made a disparaging remark about the United States "and the referee turned around and said, 'I agree with you.' "What stunned us was that the referee, who is supposed to be unbiased, is agreeing with the boys on the ice."

His players "wanted to retaliate" against the Canadians, but Nadeau said he urged them "not to do anything foolish."

Fanatics Cheer Iraqi Flag, Burn U.S. Flag

During a walk downtown with his two children Saturday, Carpenter watched another anti-war demonstration when he saw the crowd cheering a man atop a traffic light waving an Iraqi flag and a U.S. flag. The crowd cheered the Iraqi flag and booed the U.S. flag. The man then soaked the U.S. flag in kerosene.

"It went up in a puff of smoke and flames, and the crowd went wild. They were all cheering," said Carpenter, whose 24-year-old son, a U.S. Marine, was sent to retrieve bodies of Americans killed in the 2001 terrorist bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.

On the way home, as the bus crossed the border into the United States, cheers went up in the bus. "We were very, very happy to get back home," Nadeau said.

Note that not all Canadians are hate-filled lunatics. A pro-U.S. rally is planned for Friday in Toronto. Numerous Canadians have e-mailed NewsMax that Quebec is the hotbed of anti-American fanaticism and that they are ashamed of these French degenerates.

It's clear that the cowardly French are hopelessly corrupt whether they stay in little France or spread their germs to other countries.

 

Sounds like a serious international incident and black mark on all French speaking people around the world to me, at least that's what NewsMax would have you believe.

I'd hate to see a NewsMax report of the incident in Mexico, there was probably child sacrifice and satanic anti-American rituals involved.

Mountain out of a mole hill, but it was written down right?

I wish I had the time to search for "news articles" about protests around the world and in the US, or treatment of Arab Americans, unfortuately, I have a job and a life to attend to.

l8r

 

"...rabid anti-Americanism thats festering in Canada..." HA!

First off, Quebec is hardly a fair representation of the rest of Canada, it'd would be like saying that rednecks in South Florida are an accurate representation of all Americans. Secondly, their bus-trip happened at a not-so-opportune moment in time, both with the start of the American push into Iraq and the protest downtown. Thirdly, its a bunch of kids playing a game, of course they're going to do stupid things, thats what kids do.