Bush to Address Nation - 700 mile US Canal

Bush to Address Nation on Immigration - New York Times:

The president has tacitly acknowledged the political problems swirling around immigration. "I know this is an emotional debate," Mr. Bush said last month in Orange County, Calif. "I can understand it's emotional, but one thing we cannot lose sight of is that we're talking about human beings, decent human beings."

Okay... since when did lawbreakers become decent human beings? A decent human being follows the laws of the land where they were born, or where they wish to emmigrate.

I had high hopes for President Bush and his stand on US Immigration policy but his stance over the past few months have left a lingering, sour taste. IMHO, President Bush is painting with a 4 inch brush when he needed only a camel's hair brush!

Broad, sweeping terms - caching illegal immigrants under the very broad swath of "decent human beings" - is an attempt to soften the viewpoint of your average American. It is a veiled attempt to tug on your heart but it fails miserably.

Start with the "decent human beings" known as "coyotes". Sure, tell me these folks are just trying to raise money as best they can; charging thousands of dollars to "lead" anyone into the US illegally then disappearing in the Sonoran desert. Once back across the border, the coyote readys his next herd of illegals for the journey.

How about the "decent human beings" like gang members, drug runners, rapists, murders and just plain old thieves? Do they really fall under the broad stroke of "decent human beings"?

And again - since "when" did a decent human being enter a nation illegally and do everything possible to remain hidden? Or return again, and again - and likely, again, until they disappeared into the "fabric" of this nation?

Are they a stain?

Folks - DECENT human beings follow the law. They do NOT jump ahead in the line at amusement parks, movie theatres, ticket offices or immigration. They do NOT utilize emergency services in lieu of paying for medical services. They do NOT enroll their children brought illegally into a nation into that nation's public school system. Furthermore, decent human beings do NOT send those children on to college within a nation for which they have no legal right to reside.

PERIOD.

President Bush's comments this coming Sunday will likely be another attempt to tug at your heart, to get you to see things "his way". He may even try to convince us he is "standing tough", that "his proposals are NOT amnesty" and once again, that he is talking about "decent human beings".

It goes way beyond what you think it is all about folks. The Catholic Church is heavily invested into this (as I wrote about weeks ago), many large corporations are into it (watch what happens not only to the obvious issue but more importantly, the H1B changes which will be stuffed into any immigration reform) and your own tax dollars are going to take a huge hit.

Immigration can't stay on top of the 3-4 million legal applicants the US receives each year; how do you think they'll deal with an additional 20 million?

20 million? Yes, I'm telling you here and now the numbers you are hearing are low; purposely so. After all - 14 is much less than 20, right?

What will you think/do if the actual number pushes towards 30 MILLION?

A Better Solution:
On another blog of mine I suggested an alternative to a 700+ mile wall. My suggestion? A 700+ mile long CANAL.

A canal?!? YES, a canal. Call it the Pacatl Canal (or the Regan Canal or whatever you will). And make it huge - say a half mile or mile across. Why so huge?

A wide canal would be harder to cross than a fence. A deep canal would permit all types of US military and civilian watercraft to patrol it. Commercially it makes great sense as we could then charge tariffs for the shortcut. And our largest military vessels could move easily between US coastlines.

Can you see Arizona with a sea port? I can! THINK of the possibilities!

Ultimately, it makes great sense politically too, as long as we build it within OUR border, because then we would ALWAYS have a shortcut between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans - no worry about political upheaval in a Latin-America country blocking our ships. Our aircraft carriers and their escorts could easily traverse the new American Canal.

Laugh now while you can - it COULD be done and it COULD solve unresolvable problems and issues. As to wildlife concerns, birds could fly across the canal. There are few migratory animals living along the border so there's little to be concerned about environmental impact.

And when I say build it on our side of the border, I mean OUR side of the border. While a few border towns might object to being completely relocated, with the new definition of "imminent domain", its no longer an issue.

Think of the saltwater fishing available to the once arrid, sea-less lands of Arizona! Murmur in amazement at the desalinization plants placed strategically along the American Canal pumping fresh, potable water into the arrid regions of our desert southwest. Stare in awe at the release of the Colorado River water no longer needed for drinking purposes.

Wow - like, I'm beginning to believe this myself!

Technorati tags: Bush On Decent Human Beings

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San Diego - Give Away The Cross!

Okay - so now the Cross must come down? What can the city of San Diego do to resolve this lawsuit?

Regional Talk - Voice of San Diego:

Take down the Mount Soledad Cross within the next 90 days, or the city of San Diego will be fined $5,000 a day for every day the monument remains on city land. That was the stark message delivered by U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson, Jr. on Wednesday.

My solution for the citizens and government of San Diego is simple, easy to do and solves all the problems.

GIVE AWAY OR SELL THE LAND AND AN AREA SURROUNDING THE CROSS, THEREBY REMOVING YOURSELF FROM OWNERSHIP - PROBLEM SOLVED!

Having not visited the land, I do not know the approximate land mass needing to be removed from public government ownership. Surely no more than an acre would be required, right?

The land could be sold - or donated - to a non-public entitity who would "provide for the maintenance and upkeep of the land and the existing structures on the land." Failure to comply would result in the land and said structures returning to the city for immediate resale.

There could also be numerous restriction implemented in the deeding of the property, to prevent any further development of the land, tying it down completely so as to discourage the use of the land for anything other than the display of the cross.

No doubt you could even preclude resale of the property for X number of years.

IMHO its time to get the city's real estate attorneys busy drafting the sale document and let the bidding begin!

Technorati tags: San Diego - Give The Cross Away

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Oh What A Feeling - $190Mill US Lawsuit

It is alleged someone at the top of Toyota Motor North America, Inc may have taken Toyota's old ad slogan too literally!

The Japan Times Online - Advanced Search:

Toyota unit sued for $ 190 million in U.S.

CEO accused of sexual harassment
Compiled from Kyodo, AP

NEW YORK -- A 42-year-old employee of Toyota Motor North America Inc. has filed a $ 190 million sexual harassment suit against her president and CEO in the United States.

Technorati tags: Oh What A Feeling, Toyota Sued Sexual Harassment

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Bank Of America's Exposure to Credit Card Debt

While there is a potential bit of good news for the state of Delaware in the linked article, there's a very interesting piece of information regarding BofA's exposure to credit card debt.

Delawareonline The News Journal: BofA network could add jobs in Delaware.:

Bank of America is the nation's largest issuer of debit cards, with about 27 million. It is also the nation's largest credit card issuer with about 122 million and about 20 percent of outstanding balances, according to the Nilson Report, an industry newsletter.

Its lonely at the top - and IMHO being the nation's largest credit card issuer may not prove - in the long term - a desirable position. Those 122 million credit card are nearly 20 percent of all credit card outstanding balances.

The optimist will say, "That's good - after all, every outstanding balance earns an interest from the consumer and probably varies from 9 to 29.99 percent. What other investment (or receivable) earns 9 to nearly 30 percent interest, calculated on a daily balance? BofA is in a strong position!"

The pessimist will start with questions: "How much of that 20 percent outstanding balance number consists of credit card accounts at or near their maximum credit limit? How many are one or more payments late?"

The pessimist will continue (of course): "All it will take is one solid, economic hit to the USS Bofa. She won't need to sink, just take on water and list to one side. Anything causing layoffs or a decline in the spendable income of those credit card holders will turn the USS Bofa's 20 percent assest into a larger than 20 percent liability. When individual accounts start going toes-up you won't see the ocean for the splashes from those abandoning ship!"

The indication within USS Bofa's recent activities suggest the US market is saturated financially. So its time to take the USS Bofa on a world cruise at hyper-speed, establishing beach heads within foreign nations.

"Stake the future on a future stake and give me full ahead!" seems to be the cry ringing from the USS Bofa's bridge these days.

And keep in mind - BofA is considering its own credit card network. Estimates to initiate the network runs around $100 million US. Offsetting this debt is a potential (claimed) savings of $75 million US. So lets see - oh yeah, its only an initial $25 million US loss the first year.

Of course, everyone jumping into the use/acceptance of BofA's credit card would pay a fee, so perhaps USS Bofa would recoup the $25 million US and perhaps even more.

Why - could we even speculate on the potential for a credit card war?

One last thing to remember about USS Bofa's exposure... the net is filled with rumours about USS Bofa entering China and establishing credit card use there as it has elsewhere. No doubt the initial lines of credit would have to enticing to get the Chinese to "sign on". The interesting thing about it is this:

What will USS Bofa do when Chinese credit card accounts start going toes-up? Will the COMMUNIST Chinese government "enforce" bad debt collection? How would they do this - prision time or worse? How much of USS Bofa's IT infrastructure will need to be "exposed" to the COMMUNIST Chinese government? Some, none - or all?

If this comes to pass - imho, its time to get off the USS Bofa at the very next port of call and wave bye-bye as she sails into uncharted waters.

Technorati tags: America in Debt, Bofa Credit Card Exposure, More Foreign Investment from BofA

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