Ending God's Tax Exempt Status

[queequeger]

Hahahaha, Aliantha you've got an extraneous 'r' there at the end of my name. I actually want to live in Australia for a while, maybe that's one of the next stops after the UK if I can convince the wifely one.

And yesman, the food reference implies that paupers (poor mexicans) choosing a slightly better lifestyle (illegal immigration) doesn't say that their minor step up is all that great, it's just better than their last situation.

[yesman065]

Thanks for making my point - If coming here was only marginally better than where they currently are, than it wouldn't be worth uprooting their family, taking only what they can carry, traveling a great distance, sneaking into another freakin country, breaking the law..... just to get into a little better situation? C'mon we are infinitely better than where they are coming from and you know it. Thats the reason they want to come here.

[piercehawkeye45]

Originally Posted by yesman065

Thanks for making my point - If coming here was only marginally better than where they currently are, than it wouldn't be worth uprooting their family, taking only what they can carry, traveling a great distance, sneaking into another freakin country, breaking the law..... just to get into a little better situation? C'mon we are infinitely better than where they are coming from and you know it. Thats the reason they want to come here.

Yes that is true but that doesn't make us the best country in the world since there is no one thing to compare with. Yes, living as an illegal immigrant here is probably better than living in extreme poverty in Mexico, or they have no other choice to get money, but that doesn't automatically make us the best.

I am not trying to make an argument that we are not a good country to live in, that would be idiotic, but there is no way we can objectively say we are the best.

[queequeger]

Correction, a legal citizen with an education is better off(though 'infinitely' might be pushing it)... an illegal citizen who has to choose between making less than minimum wage and putting himself at far greater health risks, who cannot hold a license or vote and is completely at the mercy of the community is only slighty better off.

Luckily most of us don't know what it's like to be at the bottom, but sometimes the difference between not eating regularly and eating mcdonalds is pretty important. That doesn't mean they have it great or even good.

[Aliantha]

Sorry quee...i always think queer when i see your name even though I know there's no 'r' where i put it.

I don't mean anything by it though. I'll try and leave the 'r' off from now on and just call you quee.

[queequeger]

If I had a nickel for every time someone's called me "Queerwhatever," I'd have a lot of nickels.

Queequeg's a character in a Herman Melville book, if you didn't know that. If you did I look like an ass now.

[Aliantha]

you might look like an ass anyway, but not to me.

[queequeger]

Bazing!

[DanaC]

Thanks for making my point - If coming here was only marginally better than where they currently are, than it wouldn't be worth uprooting their family, taking only what they can carry, traveling a great distance, sneaking into another freakin country, breaking the law..... just to get into a little better situation? C'mon we are infinitely better than where they are coming from and you know it. Thats the reason they want to come here.

Your country offers a better lifestyle for some than they would get at home. That doesnb't mean your country offers a better lifestyle than everyone gets in that country, merely those who choose to leave it. Far more people choose to stay in their country of origin than ever choose to leave it. You get a minority of people from any one country. Many other countries get a minority of people from elsewhere. Some of the countries who get a minority of people from elsewhere joining them, also have a minority of people leaving their country to go elsewhere.

People have been migrating in smaller or larger numbers since humanity began. Sometimes people move to another country expecting a better life and are happy in their choice. Sometimes people move to another country and discover that the grass is not greener on the other side, after all.

People arrive at, and leave, the shores of my country by hundreds of thousands a year. I have little doubt that people arrive in and leave your country in similar proportions. There are Americans living in every corner of the globe. There are Australians, Brits, French, Norwegian, Indians, Chinese and Iranians living in every corner of the globe.

That people choose to come to your country rather than stay in their own says much about your country and says much about theirs, but it's not the whole story. Yours is a great country, it is your home. Mine is a great country, it is my home. There will be Mexicans who would say the same, Indians, Pakistanis, Greeks, etc. Most of us are brought up to love our country, to identifiy with the people and places which constitute our home. Even when that home is a difficult place to be (i.e if you happen to be Congalese or Iraqi) we still love it.

[yesman065]

I never said that everyone in every country wants to come here - noever. My point was referring to those people who WANT to come and choose to try and do so - many illegally. Hell, I missed the part where we were talking about every human on the planet.

We were discussing legal and illegal immigrants that try to come to the US, my comments were specifically about them and I stand by what I said. Dana, I am sure that yous is the best country for you - just like Australia is, I'm sure, the best for Ali and Ducks. None of you are trying to come here either. To assume that I meant every human is silly.
My opinion that America is the best country is MY OPINION and I still believe that. I'm sure most of you feel the same about your respective countries. There is no correlation to it being the best for every person on the planet. If my post was unclear, I'm sorry. Did this clear it up?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by queequeger

Yeah we should get some political movement to free the people of Scandinavia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, et al. How can we let these horrible social democracies just lock up their people!

Listen to the plight of the Nords! This affront to free societies can not stand!

Originally Posted by yesman065

You aren't serious are you??? Are you comparing those countries to the US??? C'mon.

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

No, he want's to bring the US down to their level. He's more than happy to give away my money and my country so we aren't being mean.

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Just who the fuck said we were better than everyone else?

Originally Posted by DanaC

That kind of hints at it.

If you were following along, you'd realize the discussion was not about the whole world, just the northern European socialist states. But queequeger, true to form, tries to convince people that what was said, was not what was intended, according to his crystal ball.
He started the deception with...

Originally Posted by queequeger

Dana, Aliantha, how does it feel living in squalor and without freedoms? You guys must really hate sitting on the other side of the pond reading our free, amazing, american comments and thinking 'Oh, please! Please let me come in, it's so horrible over here!'

and apparently it works with some people. He's been doing this consistantly so beware of liars.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by yesman065

I never said that everyone in every country wants to come here - noever. My point was referring to those people who WANT to come and choose to try and do so - many illegally. Hell, I missed the part where we were talking about every human on the planet.

We were discussing legal and illegal immigrants that try to come to the US, my comments were specifically about them and I stand by what I said. Dana, I am sure that yous is the best country for you - just like Australia is, I'm sure, the best for Ali and Ducks. None of you are trying to come here either. To assume that I meant every human is silly.
My opinion that America is the best country is MY OPINION and I still believe that. I'm sure most of you feel the same about your respective countries. There is no correlation to it being the best for every person on the planet. If my post was unclear, I'm sorry. Did this clear it up?

It's not your fault. queequeger has been promoting the notion that anyone that opposes unrestricted/uncontrolled immigration is basing it on the belief that every person in the world would suddenly flock here. It's a straw man he can easily knock down because it's so stupid, and if he can convince people that's what you really meant, make you look stupid.

[Aliantha]

Do you really think one person can make another person look stupid online if they aren't already predisposed to looking stupid Bruce?

[xoxoxoBruce]

If you can convince people someone made stupid statements they didn't make, sure.

[DanaC]

If you were following along, you'd realize the discussion was not about the whole world, just the northern European socialist states.

Ohh....right, so you were only saying that America is better than the northern European states (such as my country for instance). You obviously wouldn't want to bring America down to our level, I can quite understand that.