I might be a Democrat if...

Correct me (and the wires) if I am wrong, but these "guest workers" would need to fork over $3,500 for a three-year visa. Or illegals could apply for a green card for $10,000. Probably half the working journalists in the United States couldn't afford such surcharges, let alone someone aspiring to pick our lettuce and mow our lawns. [sarcasm]No doubt we will be positively overrun with these people.[/sarcasm] Are you completely off your rocker? Blahblahblah, yaddayaddayadda ... yawn.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bush10apr10,1,6286040.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

 

This whole immigration debate will run you around in circles the more you look into it. It divides Republicans (big business vs. protectionists) and Democrats (pro-union vs. humanitarian-types) which is why I give live little chance of anything getting resolved.

The thing is you can see everyone's point of view. A non-skilled migrant worker can come to the US and -- with his first job -- can make 4 times what he makes in most Latin American countries. Think about that. Imagine if your salary would increase 4X by moving to a different country. You'd be stupid not to do it.

On the flip side, if a local contracting company can't compete because another company is able to underbid because they're using cheap illegal aliens, how can you not feel for the people affected?

I still think the McCain-Kennedy bill makes the most sense: (I'm cutting and pasting here)

There would be some sort of computerized registry to match them up with U.S. businesses, and those companies would have to show that they could not find an American to do the same job. Participants in the guest worker program would have to work for six years before they could apply for permanent residency (a so-called green card). They'd have to wait another five years to apply for citizenship.

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It's not perfect but it's the best overall solution I've seen. Chance of getting it passed? Next to zero.

 

That's a slap in the face to every Mississippi Democrat walking ... including me.

 

Well, there's one. The other five are in our newsroom.

 

Well, I was going to use South Carolina, but then I realized I would be insulting myself.

It's like golf shots; each one makes somebody happy, and somebody unhappy.

Besides, three, you weren't walking in 1950, were you?

 

...I didn't have the brain of a llama.

 

Historically, JackyJack speaks the truth, and the same is true of all the former Confederacy.

If the original GOP hadn't cocked up Reconstruction, it never would have become a Democratic stronghold for more than 100 years.

 

No, not 1950.