Standing at the precipice...

...about to dive into the new schedule. Thought I had one last day to sleep in, especially since the iPastor was already up and certainly able to herd the cats onto the bus once I got them awake. Wrong. Wound up giving rides, bitchin' and moanin' the whole way. Oh, what a happy example I set!
Today's goals include continuing to chip away at the laundry pile, and finding the new packet of checks so I can bowl this afternoon without a trip to the bank for cash. Big dreams, indeed.
I got the email that broke the camel's back today. It was the 3rd or 4th time I've gotten it in one form or another recently:

"CHEAP LABOR?
Isn't that what the whole immigration issue is about?
Business doesn't want to pay a decent wage!
Consumers don't want expensive produce!
Government will tell you, Americans don't want the jobs!
But the bottom line is cheap labor.
The phrase "cheap labor" is a myth, a farce, a lie...an oxymoron. There is no such thing as "cheap labor." Take, for example, an illegal alien with a wife and five children.
He takes a job for $5.00 or $6.00/hour.
At that wage, with six dependents, he pays no income tax, yet at the end of the year, if he files an Income Tax Return, he gets an "earned income credit" of up to $3,200 free.
He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent!
He qualifies for food stamps!
He qualifies for free (no deductible, no co-pay) health care.
His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school.
He requires bilingual teachers and books .
He qualifies for relief from high energy bills.
If they are or become, aged, blind or disabled, they qualify for SSI.
Once qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicare.
All of this is at the taxpayer's expense.
He doesn't worry about car insurance, life insurance, or homeowners insurance.
Taxpayers provide Spanish language signs, bulletins and printed material.
He and his family receive the equivalent of $20.00 to $30.00/hour in benefits.
Working Americans are lucky to have $5.00 or $6.00/hour left after paying their bills and his.
The American taxpayer's also pay for increased crime, graffiti and trash clean up.
Cheap labor?
YEAH RIGHT!
Wake up people!


Kind of scary, isn't it when you think about it?"


I heaved a great sigh, recklessly hit "reply all," "paste as quote," and started typing:

"I've gotten this email in several forms lately, and I think I finally need to speak up. Please take this information in the spirit which it is intended.

I can only speak for the state of Minnesota. My husband and I work anywhere between 3-5 jobs between the two of us at any given time, and still qualify for some of these programs. I have also worked as an advocate, helping people who are unable to fill out their own paperwork. I have filled out the paperwork and hauled in the required documentation many, many times over the years...
--He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent!

Not without proof of citizenship and green card.
--He qualifies for food stamps!
Ditto
--He qualifies for free (no deductible, no co-pay) health care.
Needs SS#, proof of residency, green card



--His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school.

Need SS #s
--He requires bilingual teachers and books .

Not getting it in this district, sink or swim
--He qualifies for relief from high energy bills.

This is income-based only in MN, so probably true
--If they are or become, aged, blind or disabled, they qualify for SSI.
Once qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicare.

Don't know about this, but "SSI" indicates they would need SS #s

--He doesn't worry about car insurance, life insurance, or homeowners insurance.

Why? If he causes uninsured auto damage, its a ticket to deportation.

--Taxpayers provide Spanish language signs, bulletins and printed material.

This is true, also braille, Swahili, and a bunch of other languages I can't read on the bottom of the form, but they sure look pretty.

Are there people who forge and fabricate these documents? Sure. But Joe illegal cannot walk into the local human services building and start accepting his dole. That's why so many illegals leave their families behind and wire their money home. Illegal immigration is a huge, expensive problem that affects everyone in the nation to some extent, especially with our crossover to a population of 300,000,000 made "official" yesterday. If we expect to motivate effective changes in the system, we need to be well-informed and work with the facts and not raw emotions. We have enough politicians trying to shove that crap down our throats this time of year! (Especially in my district, where for some reason over half of one particular candidate's advertising is being paid for by forces outside the district! WTF???) But that's a rant for another day..."

Then, I even more recklessly hit "send!"

So far I've gotten one "atta girl" and no flamers, but the day is still young.

Now that I've filled the spaces here with that drivel and nothing substantial, I'll try to work on those aforementioned goals. Gotta get that bowling average up higher than my handicap, too.