Replies

I'm not going to commit the resources necessary to find out how to convert your "italic" replies to my provocations into whatever. I'd just like to repeat what has been said for those not patient enough to read this entire thread. I'm the one that think immigration is beneficial.

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I said:
The "Conservatives" on this thread want to destroy all of the traditions that have made America great.

"reason" said:
OK. America had a tradition of overwhelmingly European Immigration.

So if we must have immigration, I agree: Let's restore America's tradition of European immigration.

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Woo Way:

I'm only briefly going to touch on the words "European" and "had." So there it is. I've touched on it. This is the last time I will use the word "racism" on this board...I hope. Why don't you kick out all the Mexicans? (I'm guessing you're from the Southwest part of our great nation, our nation that depends on them, since you're so mad. I'm sorry if you're not a migrant farm worker. In this case, maybe you should encourage your highly nourished, and therefore already fertile, 13-year-old daughter to get laid. Methinks you may not like the color of her baby.)

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"Woo Way:"
It seems like everyone here wants to *change* the way our country works. Like everyone thinks America is a *bad* place. So far the only intelligent response of dozens I've gotten is from a person concerned about assimilation, which I support versus multiculturalism. It just needs to be understood that understood that assimilation takes two full generations -- just as it did for the Irish.

"Reason:"
The Irish have assimilated? When was that?

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My response:

Yes, the Irish have assimilated. In the 19th century during the potato famine, when hundreds of thousands of the poor, the starving, and, the oppressed came to make our nation strong.

You got a problem with the Irish? You think they haven't assimilated? How about those friggin' Krauts? Are you questioning my patriotism? Maybe Boston should secede. Maybe New York. How about all those Scandinavians in Washington and Oregon? How about the Mexicans in Texas? How about the Asians in New York? Oh, you're on shaky ground there, suggesting the Irish aren't a huge part of this country. Jerk or no, you have *no idea* what you are doing now, suggesting the Irish shouldn't have come here!

Actually, my Irish argument for immigration is the poorest. Like when I mentioned "Grapes of Wrath." Remember when the Irish immigrant, trying to get hired as a farmhand, said "Don't worry, I'm a drunken Irishman, not a Catholic one?" And that got him hired?

You're right, there, though. America *has* had mostly a history of European immigration. Now, whether it is a history or a tradition..."Ay, there's the rub."

You may be right. Probably you are. Maybe my position is based on the fact I don't want to be an engineer, but I live in a city that includes a world-wide technical institute and a world-wide medical institute. You might be bewildered by the clash of cultures. But it's all good.

People with opinons like yours are why America will stop being the leader of the world. If you can't get your kids to be engineers or medical professionals...including boys and girls who want to be nurses...then how can our great country survive?

Lately I've read statistics about how foreign medical students are increasingly choosing to go back to their own countries. As far as I'm concerned, I don't care what country the person came from, I'm an American, and I want the most qualified person available.

I guess I'll drop one last foreign name. This guy I know "Tolic," a nickname for "Anatole," Russian, actually tried to get get my good old several-generation American friend Jennifer to marry him so he could stay in the country and continue working at his highly technical engineering job that earned him enormous amounts of money (as a Russian national) tax-free. She seriously considered it. Thank *God* she took my advice and turned him down:

He went back to Russia. *For two months!* (Not the year he thought he would have to go away for in order to re-apply for his worker's visa.) His American company couldn't find a replacement.

You want America to be strong? Me too. When I have children I will teach them how our focus on technological innovation made us strong, how our cultural inclusiveness made us strong. I don't think being an engineer sound particularly attractive, but I don't think the default "business degree" sounds so attractive either, so maybe I'm biased. I will tell my children that Engineering is the most patriotic field to enter.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani/American doctor that saves your life after the SUV rollover, the Chinese/American scientist that participates in making sure our most powerful weapons are likely to work (despite suspicion and persecution from the likes of you), even that sheer Ass Tolic, who I hate, working on some obscure engineering job: What will we do without them?

Sure, we can pump out more babies. You, me, and other intelligent people who can guide our country. We can teach them that much of the rest of the world is poised to take the technological edge. (Though, as you mentioned in a reply, Age, it sounds like my international friends are too could to be true, I cannot guarantee that Ahyikue [the only old foreign friend I can think of who may have divided loyalties] won't take his chemical expertise back to Gabon and send minions to wreak havoc.

Except that he loves America, and it's his father the diplomat that sent him back to Africa every summer to keep in touch with his roots. After college, he crashed at my place for a while refusing to go back -- Lord knows what happened to him after that.)

You're totally right. It's better if it's homegrown. But if you aren't growing it locally, import it! The answer is -- to return to the original article that started this thread -- well, whatever the answer is, it is *not* to encourage your teenage daughter to get pregnant, unless you have the personal resources to support her family indefinitely. *Neither* is it the answer to encourage Americans in general to give birth. I'm the last white boy you want to call racist, but I encourage you-all to consider the statistics on family size in this country. We don't need a bigger "welfare" burden.

Woo? Way!