Politics and Bushisms.

This is me trying to set up a party. It's why I'm much more comfortable with Lex at the helm when it comes to planning that wedding thing.

In other news, last real week of classes! Yay! I think that means I'm graduating! A- Anyone looking for an Industrial Engineer?

I usually try to stay away from politics (well, publically commenting on them, anyway), but I'm in that special mood tonight, so let's clear the air before I begin.

I think the people who read this on a (semi)regular basis know me well enough to have an idea of where I stand politically, but, for those who don't, be warned! I rant hardcore and I don't descriminate when it comes to political parties.

I've got two stories to go off about today, but they have a strange similarity. See if you can spot it!

Bush Gets Math, Part One:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/24/gas.investigation/index.html

I couldn't find a full news story yet, but Bush has decided to go ahead with the probes into gas prices.

Let me see if I've got this straight. Gas prices are, what, about twice what they were at this time last year and he's just now figuring out that maybe gas companies aren't playing us straight? I guess he must listen to Rush Limbaugh. That brilliant pillar of democracy said the other day that it's all "capitalism" and that we should really be paying even more for gas than we are, given inflation and a host of other factors.

Now, I'm willing to admit that taxes (mostly state taxes, to be specific) are part of the problem, but I learned about collusion in 10th grade freakin' econ. Apparently, some people missed that day of class. It's when companies that are supposed to be competing under a capitalist system act as a monopoly (in tandem) towards a mutually beneficial situation. Yes, I know the definition is more general than that, but I thought I'd add a bit of application.

With, what, three major gas companies all having nearly exactly the same price and raising prices together, rather than vying for the low price and the jackpot of customers, I don't think it takes a genius to realize that it's probably not all just the "war in Iraq"!

So Americans are buying less gas, but oil companies are still posting profit increases.

YES IS SEE HOW THERE IS PROBABLY NO FOUL PLAY INVOLVED


Bush Gets Math, Part Two:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1883500

This one really gets me irritated. First of all, let's have a pop quiz. When the government releases an estimate of a negative factor, regardless of who is in office, what usually happens to that number?

Right! Its severity is usually somewhat moderately underestimated!

So, when the government says we have 12 million illegals in the US right now, what is the number closer to? Probably 20! I'll be kind and give them 16.

Either way, Bush knows numbers! He knows that we don't have the manpower to round up all those illegals and drop them off back at the border. Thank you, Captain Obvious!

But wait! There's more! Bush gives that as his reason for wanting his amnesty program. What's he missing? Math, of course!

But first, another pop quiz! What will happen to illegals' families if they are given amnesty and citizenship?

You guessed it! The law allows said family to legally join the previously illegal alien.

Now for the math! 16 million immigrants times (a conservative estimate of) 2 immediate family members (defined as spouses and any children who are unmarried and under 21) equals 32 million immigrants! If this number were to be closer to 3? 48 million! What if it's closer to 4? I think you get the picture.

Congratulations, politicians! You have a new voter base! And they're even legal this time!

So far, I've only defined the problem. Of course, we can't find all the illegals and deport them, but what if we started enforcing our own laws? What if we paid a little more attention to businesses who would hire illegal aliens? With the INS now belonging to Homeland Defense, that's not likely, but there are still things we can do: Stop spending money on them. Stop spending public money for their children to attend our schools. Stop letting them cross to get "free" treatment in our hospitals - not only is it costing huge amounts of money, but it's beginning to overcrowd hospitals near the border, taking care away from legal citizens who need help. I'm not saying we should let them die on our doorstep, but there are people who come here specifically for it and recieve treatment before our own citizens. There are women who cross the border illegally and have babies (who are then given full citizenship)! Stop the welfare! If those things were ended, it wouldn't take two weeks for half of them to go back and apply to come here legally. But why come here legally when we're offering them a way to skip to the head of the line? This policy won't control our borders. It will increase the flow.

And another thing - they're not doing jobs Americans won't do! They're stealing jobs from our lower class citizens (who, in turn, really do have trouble finding work) by appealing to filthy businessmen who would rather pay pennies to illegals than pay a fair wage for the job. This denies good Americans opportunities to live independently and advance themselves.

These companies want slaves, so they exploit illegals, who have no legal retort to mistreatment. Illegal immigrants are the child labor of our generation. They work in deplorable conditions for next to nothing, and our government is endorsing it!

Bush Knows Números.