In the on-going discussion of immigration policy, there has been a call to "secure our borders" What, exactly does this mean?
My home is secure. No one can peaceably enter without my consent. I am secure because I have walls and locks (and an alarm system)
So, is that what is meant by a "secure" border? Secure, because no one can enter without the consent of the country? Just how would the US go about securing our borders?
The most common concept appears to be a fence, running the length of the border with sensors and cameras and such to prevent anyone from entering without consent.
There are historic models that can be examined for efficacy. Hadrians Wall was built to secure the Romans from the maruading Scots. The Great Wall of China was built to secure the empire from the outside armies. In the 20th Century, the Berlin Wall was built, not to secure East Berlin but to prevent the citizens of East Berlin from emigrating to the West.
All three of these "Border Security" events failed in their purpose.
Why would one here be any better?
The Berlin wall appears to be the closest approximation to what is needed here. Are we willing to pay for a barier of ths magnitude? Are we eager to create "Dead zones" of land mines along our Southern border? Who will we hire, train and ORDER to shoot to kill people attempting to cross into our territory?
What do you REALLY mean by "Border Securtiy" and what are you willing to pay?
It seems a bit disingenous to call for a delay in discussing an over-haul of immigration until we "secure our borders" when we are not willing to either expend the necessary monies to build a barrier or to engage in the security behavior that would make such a barrier secure.
Let me re-phrase that last remark: Are we absolutely willing to post soldiers with "Shoot to kill" orders along our border?
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
A Less Modest Proposition
Would it work? My prior blog "A Modest Proposal" gave a suggestion for how to absolutely STOP illegal immigration into this country: CRIMINALIZE HIRING ILLEGALS
So, I wondered, what would be the result of such an endeavor?
One of the frequent excuses heard for hiring illegals is "Legals won't do the work. If we had to pay full wages and provide benefits, our prices would have to go up and no-one would buy our product and we would go out of business."
Really?
Think it through.
If employers had to pay better wages and offer benefits, and there were no illegals to take the jobs, persons on welfare or otherwise unemployed might well take those jobs. This reduces the Foodstamp roll, reduces the unemployment rolls, and with the new health care insurance, reduces the Medicare rolls.
If there are no illegal aliens here taking jobs for bad pay, it also reduces the number of children in public school receiving free breakfast and lunch, it reduces the strain on the emergency rooms of persons without insurance, and reduces the population of some inner-city and slum areas.
In fact, as I see it, if there were NO illegal aliens here, more Americans could and would find work, putting more money into OUR economy, and leading to sufficient revenues THAT THERE COULD BE LEGITIMATE TAX CUTS BECAUSE MONIES WOULD NO LONGER BE SPENT SUPPORTING ILLEGALS!!
Something to think about.
So, I wondered, what would be the result of such an endeavor?
One of the frequent excuses heard for hiring illegals is "Legals won't do the work. If we had to pay full wages and provide benefits, our prices would have to go up and no-one would buy our product and we would go out of business."
Really?
Think it through.
If employers had to pay better wages and offer benefits, and there were no illegals to take the jobs, persons on welfare or otherwise unemployed might well take those jobs. This reduces the Foodstamp roll, reduces the unemployment rolls, and with the new health care insurance, reduces the Medicare rolls.
If there are no illegal aliens here taking jobs for bad pay, it also reduces the number of children in public school receiving free breakfast and lunch, it reduces the strain on the emergency rooms of persons without insurance, and reduces the population of some inner-city and slum areas.
In fact, as I see it, if there were NO illegal aliens here, more Americans could and would find work, putting more money into OUR economy, and leading to sufficient revenues THAT THERE COULD BE LEGITIMATE TAX CUTS BECAUSE MONIES WOULD NO LONGER BE SPENT SUPPORTING ILLEGALS!!
Something to think about.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
A Perfect Day
How do you describe a perfect day?
It varies with age, with circumstance, with everything in life that occurrs.
Yesterday, I had a perfect day.
My husband and I picked up a friend and went out to breakfast. Good coffee, good friends and LOTS of good food. I stopped eating before I exploded, but although I do not usually enjoy pre-fetal chickens, my breakfast was excellent.
Then we went to play golf. Cochoti golf course is on the Santa Domingo pueblo. They do not have a casino, the course is about 25 miles off of the interstate, and is almost lost in the hills and canyons.
Yes, it was a very hot day. Yes, I played as poorly as always (2 bogies - we WON'T talk about the rest)
But the course is beautiful. The setting is beautiful, and we had a WONDERFUL time.
Afterwards, coming home, we stopped in Albuquerque for dinner. The resturant we choose happens to have a jazz band that plays on Tuesday nights. GREAT food, good music, good friends.
It was a perfect day.
How to define a perfect day at this age?
A perfect day is when you drop your friend off and DON'T heave a sigh of relief. Instead, you say:
What a Perfect Day!
It varies with age, with circumstance, with everything in life that occurrs.
Yesterday, I had a perfect day.
My husband and I picked up a friend and went out to breakfast. Good coffee, good friends and LOTS of good food. I stopped eating before I exploded, but although I do not usually enjoy pre-fetal chickens, my breakfast was excellent.
Then we went to play golf. Cochoti golf course is on the Santa Domingo pueblo. They do not have a casino, the course is about 25 miles off of the interstate, and is almost lost in the hills and canyons.
Yes, it was a very hot day. Yes, I played as poorly as always (2 bogies - we WON'T talk about the rest)
But the course is beautiful. The setting is beautiful, and we had a WONDERFUL time.
Afterwards, coming home, we stopped in Albuquerque for dinner. The resturant we choose happens to have a jazz band that plays on Tuesday nights. GREAT food, good music, good friends.
It was a perfect day.
How to define a perfect day at this age?
A perfect day is when you drop your friend off and DON'T heave a sigh of relief. Instead, you say:
What a Perfect Day!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Petty people get their kicks from making others cry
Two things have crossed my radar recently.
The first was an on-line article (msn.com? I really don't recall) about fear in the workplace. There was a description of a fear-dominated workplace, where people are afraid to express their hones opinions, afraid to offer suggetions, even afraid to speak with any openess to their co-workers for fear that their good ideas would be stolen and their gripes would be reported to the higher-ups. One of the points I totally focused on was about how information is diseminated in a fear-oriented workplace. It re-inforced a point I realized in my career: knowledge is power. Some managers believe that knowledge shared is power diminished, others believe that knowledge shared is knowledge enhanced via feed-back. I worked under managers in both camps. I have to admit, I prefered the knowledge-shared, fear-diminished workplace.
The second was a booklet about trust and communication in the workplace. It made a LOT of points that I wish I had been aware of when I was working. A HUGE facet of trust IS communication. They gave examples of meetings where everyone walked out feeling (very justifiably) that they understood their role in the situation when NONE of them knew what they were expected to do. For example-- your boss walks by your office and says; "We're having a problem with X" Does that mean that YOU are expected to resolve the problem? Does that mean that you will not receive what you need from X when you need it and need to go with an alternative plan? Is X about to be replaced by Y? Clearly, a huge part of trust IS communication.
I wish I had read these two items 25 years ago, when I encountered my first truely bad manager.
Now, I can look back and say: I wish I had spoken up in an appropriate manner. I didn't speak up. I thought that if I spoke up, things would become even worse. Maybe they would have. However, if I had know HOW to make my points, maybe some managers might have realized what they were doing was not right.
Oh, yes, my title of this post? Petty people do not just exist in the workplace. They exist in social situations as well. People who have NEVER been important take joy (or at least satisfaction) in tormenting people in social situations as well.
The first was an on-line article (msn.com? I really don't recall) about fear in the workplace. There was a description of a fear-dominated workplace, where people are afraid to express their hones opinions, afraid to offer suggetions, even afraid to speak with any openess to their co-workers for fear that their good ideas would be stolen and their gripes would be reported to the higher-ups. One of the points I totally focused on was about how information is diseminated in a fear-oriented workplace. It re-inforced a point I realized in my career: knowledge is power. Some managers believe that knowledge shared is power diminished, others believe that knowledge shared is knowledge enhanced via feed-back. I worked under managers in both camps. I have to admit, I prefered the knowledge-shared, fear-diminished workplace.
The second was a booklet about trust and communication in the workplace. It made a LOT of points that I wish I had been aware of when I was working. A HUGE facet of trust IS communication. They gave examples of meetings where everyone walked out feeling (very justifiably) that they understood their role in the situation when NONE of them knew what they were expected to do. For example-- your boss walks by your office and says; "We're having a problem with X" Does that mean that YOU are expected to resolve the problem? Does that mean that you will not receive what you need from X when you need it and need to go with an alternative plan? Is X about to be replaced by Y? Clearly, a huge part of trust IS communication.
I wish I had read these two items 25 years ago, when I encountered my first truely bad manager.
Now, I can look back and say: I wish I had spoken up in an appropriate manner. I didn't speak up. I thought that if I spoke up, things would become even worse. Maybe they would have. However, if I had know HOW to make my points, maybe some managers might have realized what they were doing was not right.
Oh, yes, my title of this post? Petty people do not just exist in the workplace. They exist in social situations as well. People who have NEVER been important take joy (or at least satisfaction) in tormenting people in social situations as well.
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