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Heres another beef of mine.

Personally, I am opposed to all guest worker bills on general principle, as I feel that they can be misused by employers to distort and usurp natural labor market supply and demand.

We have already seen how this has been done in the tech sector using the H1b classification. Do some research, and discover how the IEEE-USA feels about H1b.

Although some try to advocate these policies from a libertarian viewpoint, I feel that they are actually contrary to libertarian principles, insofar as they allow the government to indirectly regulate the labor market, using legislative categories, exemptions and allocations, and thus give an unfair advantage to certain companies at the expense of the general public and other companies. This amounts to indirect government interference in private enterprise.

Now, immigration of desirable people with good job skills is another matter. I am not opposed to increasing immigration quotas, provided that strict criteria are met.

First and foremost, there has to be a demonstrated need for a certain labor classification, skill or aptitude.

Second, the applicant should express a desire to become a productive American citizen. They should also have some minimal facility with the English language, OR be willing to learn as part of their naturalization process.

Third, quotas should be assigned to countries across the board, not just one or two, with preference given to those who have stood by us as allies in the past.

Now, with all this talk of "family values" as they apply to immigrants, I say if we want that as part of our criteria, then we should also be assigning an equal number of slots to Poland, as well as to Mexico.

You will not find a more solid, Catholic country than Poland, with solid family values. Also, they have been a faithful ally in Iraq and elsewhere. I would also give preference to Britain and Ireland.

...then we should also be assigning an equal number of slots to Poland...

Poland recently asked the Bush administration to petition congress to change the visa rule for Poles to match the rules for other EU countries and Bush ignored them. Yet just after that he was in South America pleading with the leaders down there who won't support his war on terror. Bush has chosen to ignore Poland who supported him and sucks up to the South Americans who scoff at him. You figure it out. I can't.

What angers Poles most, however, is a four-letter word: visa. The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw charges Poles $100 per visa application whether the document to travel to America is granted or not.

Then there's the prospect of fingerprinting and mug shots to meet new security regulations. Many Poles consider all this a bewildering slap to their dignity, especially given that millions of Americans come from Polish stock.

"We put a lot into the Iraq war," said Karol Domzala, a student at Warsaw University. "But there's still this visa embarrassment. We're one of the U.S.' best allies, but we have to line up and feel like second-class citizens. The Cold War is over, but I think America still looks at us like we're those poor people in the east."

Despite perceived slights, Poland cradles a deep affinity for the United States. It is the only "red state" in Europe. Poles favored President Bush over Sen. John F. Kerry in the last election, and, perhaps because of their strong Catholicism, they prefer a world of religion-driven moral clarity. Warsaw and Washington often gaze through the same prism, and their strategic motives, from dealing with Ukraine to fighting violent extremists, frequently overlap.

COALITION: Poland feeling underappreciated