underdogishere

Subject: Feed the birds (?)
From: A coworker
Date: 8/23/2007 8:06 PM
To: Me

QUITE AN ANALOGY

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed.

Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food.

But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue.

Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table...everywhere.

Then some of the birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket.

And others birds were boisterous and loud: They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore.

I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone.

I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio.

Soon, the back yard was like it used to be...... quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now lets see..... our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be an automatic citizen.

Then the illegal's came by the tens of thousands.

Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families: you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor: your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English: Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to press "one" to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than "Old Glory" are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.

Maybe it's time for the government to take down the bird feeder.

Subject: Feed the birds (?)
From: Me
Date: 9/10/2007 4:21 PM
To: A coworker

From: A coworker
>> Now lets see..... our government gives out free food, subsidized housing,
>> free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be an
>> automatic citizen.
>>
>> Then the illegal's came by the tens of thousands.

The causal relationship between government welfare and illegal immigration is not established by this writer, and I'm pretty sure it does not exist. Immigrants poured into this country by the millions and millions (not merely tens of thousands) long before welfare was available. And the vast majority of the illegals in this country today work hard at menial jobs and do not benefit from free food or subsidized housing. In many cases they are migrants whose children don't even have a chance to attend school. And, by the way, anyone born here has always been a citizen, going back to the founding of the country -- it isn't something that was instituted just recently to encourage illegal immigration. And public education has also always been free -- Thomas Jefferson considered free public education to be the most important component of a functioning democracy.

You know, appplying a little critical thinking can go a long way. Although I guess emotional button-pushing a la this writer can go a long way, too. After all, it's what got us into Iraq.

gs