A few other reflections on Immigration...
I love the US and wouldn't want to live anywhere else, but every time I get to thinking about the way we behave when it comes to international trade, I get a little embarassed. How long ago was it that we were hearing about how Japan was going to take over ? That we had 'won the battle but they are going to win the war” and all that kind of crap. Doesn't it dawn on people that just like people can have mutually beneficial relationships so can countries? We get a pretty bad rap internationally, often because of jealousy and ignorance, but there are a few criticisms that have merit.
-We are the only country in the world where being fat is an epidemic among our POOR people. Most places the terms Poor and Fat are antonyms
-We are the only country in the world where “not having health care” means you can go into any hospital in the country and get treatment. Not having health care actually means not having insurance, and that's a big difference.
-Why in the hell do we give food stamps to people who have enough money to waste on the lottery? Why don't I ever see any Indian people or Oriental folks buying lottery tickets? I have a friend who owns a convenience store and we often joke about this phenomenon. A friend of his, who's a prominent surgeon here in town heard us joking about it. So he said “Do you want to know why I don't buy lottery tickets? It's because I can't afford to, money is too expensive to burn..” (His house is about 6,000 sq ft and he owns four cars each of which were over $80k). So someone with this much money can't afford to buy a lottery ticket, but someone with a foodstamp card can?
-How can people who know everything about NASCAR and Wrestling but little about Math possibly blame anyone else for their failures? If I have to stand behind people in line discussing the nuances of yesterday's NASCAR race, complaining about “the Mexkins” stealing their jobs all the while spending their last bit of cash on lottery tickets, cigarettes and beer, I'm going to scream. And if people need help, why in the hell do we even need to have a prohibition about using FoodStamps on cigaretters and beer and lottery tickets. If they were really that poor and hungry, such nonsense would be out of the question.
-Just once it would be nice to see an American family in the library studying with their kids after school. Don't get me wrong, I totally respect the fact that so many foriegners do this. I just wish more of us could learn from their good example. I guess it's not such a mystery why so many immigrants and their children excel academically.
-Why are their only four South Park episodes with Mr Hankey in them?