I was reading today that the President is going to make a couple of major policy speeches this week on the issue of Immigration Reform. This is, I think, a good thing provided he does something more than just talk about it.
According to the article I read on CNN he is making several suggestions which, if carried out, could go a long way toward stemming the tide of illegal immigration into the United States.
His first suggestion is that we beef up both the Border Patrol and the number of patrols along the southern border. This is an excellent idea and should go far toward cutting the absolute flood of illegals into this country.
His second suggestion ties into the first. He wants reparated illegals to be sent to the interior of Mexico before they are released rather than our current practice of sending them just across the border to try again tomorrow. This will serve as a deterent in a couple of ways. First off it will just plain take them longer to get from where they are released back to the area of the border. Second, it will increase the expense of such illegal immigration to the border jumpers directly. Both of these can make some of them think twice anyway.
His third suggestion would make it harder on those who do get caught inside the country, but not at the border, to just disappear. He wants to build large holding camps in the Southwest to stop once and for all the catch and release policy we now follow because there just isn't space to hold all these people. This could serve a secondary purpose, and one that the President doesn't actually address...a place to put people we catch during Immigration sweeps. If the President actually decided to make an issue of illegal immigration to the point he begins ordering routine roundups, then we need very large, geographically isolated camps to hold them in. I suggest tents in the desert.
His final suggestion is the often mentioned Guest Worker Program. First off, let me note that I actually approve of a guest worker program. If employers can prove that Americans won't take the jobs they have at minimum wage, then they should be able to hire people who do. However, currently one of the reasons that illegals are used in these jobs is that the employers use their illegal status to pay sub-minimum wages. Enforcement of this will be interesting.
Where the President and I part ways is that he wants to make this Guest Worker Program apply to workers already here illegally, thus giving a seal of approval to their illegal activities, granting them amnesty for breaking our laws, and encouraging a flood of illegal immigration just as the last amnesty did. I want to see this program made available only to those who apply at a U.S. Embassy from within their own country. To qualify they would have to produce a legal proof of identity from their home country and a letter from an American employer showing that they have a job to come to. I would add to this a requirement that every one of these people has to report their current address monthly. We need a database that tracks them by location, fingerprints, retinal scans and, if possible, DNA.
My reasoning on this is simple. If they commit a crime or break the conditions of their legal stay here I want to see a way for them to be caught and deported easily. Such deportation should result in the person being barred from re-entry either for a very long time or permanently, depending on the crime.
The Guest Worker Program is going to cause the most flack because so many Americans believe as I do....don't reward people for illegal behavior.
The thing I didn't see in this article, and one that's vital, is a crackdown on employers of illegals. It should be punitive enough to discourage people from even wanting to try to employ illegals. Personally I advocate jail time for the first offense for anyone caught employing an illegal after the program goes into effect since checking should be easy with fingerprints. I would also advocate jail time for those trying to circumvent the program by claiming no American wanted the job when in fact there were plenty of Americans willing to take it at the wage being offered, but the employer didn't want to deal with it, or wanted to stiff the immigrant worker on salary.
I also see nothing in the article about the worker or families etc. being ineligible for any public service while the worker is here. I would also advocate making it part of our law that in order to be considered an American citizen, at least one of your parents has to be a citizen or legal resident (not guest worker). In other words, no more granting citizenship because someone sneaks across our border pregnant and then gives birth in this country. And make any new reform apply to Cubans as well.
The other aspect of immigration reform that the article doesn't touch on at all is the issue of it taking literally 5 years or more for an application to come to the U.S. to be approved, and the fact that we determine who can come here by way of a lottery as opposed to using a criterion to ensure that we get people who will be an asset rather than a drain on our national resources. This may be for another series of speeches.
As I said, I agree with the principles Bush is espousing up to a point. However, in the final analysis the proof will be in what he actually tries to do rather than what he says he wants to do. When he goes to Congress with a request for bills and funding for this immigration reform and actually puts those Border Patrol people on the border, we'll see. It's been my observation that Bush cares a lot more for what Vincente Fox thinks about our policies than what the average American does. It's about time that stopped. Nobody has a right to come across our borders uninvited. It's a national security issue as well as a matter of fairness. Let's try to do it right this time.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Movies and Theaters
I went to see the new Harry Potter movie yesterday afternoon for the second time. As I was waiting for the movie to begin I realized I had gone to very few movies this past year, and with the exception of the current one and one other, I had been disappointed in all of them. I also realized that my time attending movies, other than for those rare movies like Lord of the Rings that I could not imagine myself missing on the big screen was more or less at an end. Being the introspective type, I thought about the reasons.
First and foremost is the declining quality of movies in general. They are more about cheap laughs or overdone special effects than they are about legitimately well-done, thoughtful films. And I'm not talking about those "great" films that nobody goes to see anyway, but more in terms of things like Schindler's List, Lord of the Rings, or others of that ilk. Real entertainment that have you wondering where the time went when the film is over. These don't have to be wonderful films, but they do have to be of sufficient quality that the viewer doesn't feel insulted at the end. There is a medium class of films and these will be those I no longer go to the theater to see, but will wait for the DVD and watch them at home.
Next comes price. It costs $9.50 where I live for a full admission to just get in the door. Now I admit I only attend matinees or use a senior discount, but that's not the point. Given the poor quality of most big release films, why would anyone in their right mind pay $9.50 or more for the privilege.
And that gets me to my next point. It used to be you went to the theater because unlike television, you could enjoy a movie without endless commercials and advertisements, other than the syrupy "let's all go to the lobby" attempts to sell more concessions. Now there is a 20-30 minute non-stop commercial presentation preceding the movie. Boring hype for a bazillion things that if I wanted to watch I'd have stayed home and watched TV. I paid to be in the theater; I should not be subjected to commercials.
Speaking of concessions, have you looked at the price of concessions now days? I'm surprised they don't make the people behind the counter wear masks and carry guns. Talk about highway robbery! A small bag of popcorn is $5.00 where I live. That's about 5 cents worth of popcorn, some stuff they call butter topping (that has never seen the inside of a cow), and someone to put it together in about 10 seconds. Of all the things I will miss about going to the theater, movie popcorn is going to be the biggest. I love that stuff. I know it's not good for me but I love it anyway and a movie just isn't a movie for me without it. I've tried not buying it and well.....I missed it.
Then we have the people in the theater. In the past we knew that when you went to a theater that once the movie began you kept quiet out of respect for those who are in the theater with you. If you brought kids, they either behaved or you took them out. And babies? Well.....there is this wonderful innovation called a babysitter that generally takes care of that. Old time theaters had special soundproof rooms for people with babies who just couldn't seem to leave them at home. That let them see the movie and spared the rest of us trying to hear above some screaming kid.
Today people are rude, inconsiderate, and often disruptive. They talk throughout the film. They arrive late, after the film has already started. They are so lacking in common courtesy and good manners that they have to be told no less than five times before the movie begins to turn off their cell phones, and inevitably there is still going to be one or two who ignore all the requests and then....beyond belief......will actually try to carry on a conversation on the phone during the movie.
Finally, there are the theaters themselves and the parking hassles just to get to the movie in the first place. Many theaters are way too small in terms of the distance between the rows. I have very long legs...the type that make flying pure agony.....and sitting with my knees jammed into the row in front of me makes it hard to walk by the end of the movie. Most of the seats are uncomfortable, so that by the end of the movie I'm more concerned with the fact that my backside is going to sleep than I am about how the movie turned out. Now I'll give you that the newer theater chains are getting much better about both of these things.
So after thinking about this a lot this past year, I've decided that I for one will not be attending more than one or possibly two movies in the theater from now on. The movies are bad, the prices too high, the concessions are ridiculous rip offs, and the people are rude and inconsiderate. For me, I'll just wait an extra six months and rent or buy the DVD. Just did that with War of the Worlds last night, and am I ever glad I didn't waste money and time going to the theater to see that.
First and foremost is the declining quality of movies in general. They are more about cheap laughs or overdone special effects than they are about legitimately well-done, thoughtful films. And I'm not talking about those "great" films that nobody goes to see anyway, but more in terms of things like Schindler's List, Lord of the Rings, or others of that ilk. Real entertainment that have you wondering where the time went when the film is over. These don't have to be wonderful films, but they do have to be of sufficient quality that the viewer doesn't feel insulted at the end. There is a medium class of films and these will be those I no longer go to the theater to see, but will wait for the DVD and watch them at home.
Next comes price. It costs $9.50 where I live for a full admission to just get in the door. Now I admit I only attend matinees or use a senior discount, but that's not the point. Given the poor quality of most big release films, why would anyone in their right mind pay $9.50 or more for the privilege.
And that gets me to my next point. It used to be you went to the theater because unlike television, you could enjoy a movie without endless commercials and advertisements, other than the syrupy "let's all go to the lobby" attempts to sell more concessions. Now there is a 20-30 minute non-stop commercial presentation preceding the movie. Boring hype for a bazillion things that if I wanted to watch I'd have stayed home and watched TV. I paid to be in the theater; I should not be subjected to commercials.
Speaking of concessions, have you looked at the price of concessions now days? I'm surprised they don't make the people behind the counter wear masks and carry guns. Talk about highway robbery! A small bag of popcorn is $5.00 where I live. That's about 5 cents worth of popcorn, some stuff they call butter topping (that has never seen the inside of a cow), and someone to put it together in about 10 seconds. Of all the things I will miss about going to the theater, movie popcorn is going to be the biggest. I love that stuff. I know it's not good for me but I love it anyway and a movie just isn't a movie for me without it. I've tried not buying it and well.....I missed it.
Then we have the people in the theater. In the past we knew that when you went to a theater that once the movie began you kept quiet out of respect for those who are in the theater with you. If you brought kids, they either behaved or you took them out. And babies? Well.....there is this wonderful innovation called a babysitter that generally takes care of that. Old time theaters had special soundproof rooms for people with babies who just couldn't seem to leave them at home. That let them see the movie and spared the rest of us trying to hear above some screaming kid.
Today people are rude, inconsiderate, and often disruptive. They talk throughout the film. They arrive late, after the film has already started. They are so lacking in common courtesy and good manners that they have to be told no less than five times before the movie begins to turn off their cell phones, and inevitably there is still going to be one or two who ignore all the requests and then....beyond belief......will actually try to carry on a conversation on the phone during the movie.
Finally, there are the theaters themselves and the parking hassles just to get to the movie in the first place. Many theaters are way too small in terms of the distance between the rows. I have very long legs...the type that make flying pure agony.....and sitting with my knees jammed into the row in front of me makes it hard to walk by the end of the movie. Most of the seats are uncomfortable, so that by the end of the movie I'm more concerned with the fact that my backside is going to sleep than I am about how the movie turned out. Now I'll give you that the newer theater chains are getting much better about both of these things.
So after thinking about this a lot this past year, I've decided that I for one will not be attending more than one or possibly two movies in the theater from now on. The movies are bad, the prices too high, the concessions are ridiculous rip offs, and the people are rude and inconsiderate. For me, I'll just wait an extra six months and rent or buy the DVD. Just did that with War of the Worlds last night, and am I ever glad I didn't waste money and time going to the theater to see that.
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