(Ogged swims in the Rio Grande.)
Did you ask him if the pool gave discounts if you used your green card?
paying for all those immigrants
Well, somebody's gotta pay for them! I have to chip in about $40 a pay period myself, or they come 'round and nag me at work. On the other hand, I get a basket of tasty foreign baked goods on all major holidays. Isn't that how it's handled everywhere?
complete tool who asked his sister to race, and then put on fins to do it.
Yeah, those fins totally cockblocked him.
How did you find out that they were all Swedish-Iranians?
The woman said to her brother, in English, "I know how to say it in Swedish, but not in Farsi." Later I heard them speaking Farsi.
"Hot little body" does have that pedophilic tone about it. But apparently not in this case.
So Swedish-Iranian meant Iranians who have lived in Sweden? Neat, I guess.
does have that pedophilic tone about it
You people are sick!
Wait, how old was the brother?
A few years older, I'd guess. Why do you ask?
Just seems like a peculiarly immature thing for a grown man to do.
Actually, I'm pretty sure he was so clueless about swimming that he didn't realize what a big advantage fins are. He seemed nice enough.
What is it with all the Swedish-Iranians all of a sudden? I'd never heard of that particular hybrid until a friend of mine told me he was dating some Swedish-Iranian former model (used to be on MTV, apparently; he described her as "so hot it hurts"), and now they seem to be all over the place. Or at least all over Unfogged. I'm uncertain to what extent Unfogged is contiguous with "the place."
Yeah, I ran into a Swedish-Iranian at the Swede's party a couple of years ago, and there are those Swedish-Iranian pop stars. I think there's a (relatively) sizable immigrant population there, but I don't know why they're now coming here. I have cousins in Norway, but I'm not sure about Sweden. Oh, wait, I have cousins in Sweden too.
there are those Swedish-Iranian pop stars
There are? Why am I the last to hear about these things? Also: it seems that there's an Abba/Allah joke to be made here, but I'm too busy to figure it out.
My honey's European relatives are in France and Swisterland. I'll bet the diaspora is marked along class lines.
Lots of Iranians in Japan too - does that mean there are hott Irano-Japanese?
There are?
Yeah, someone linked some videos here a couple of days ago.
Just about any Iranian that could got out, so yeah, they're everywhere.
There was a half-Iranian Miss Norway candidate several years ago. Wikipedia says she went on to star in Cum Dumpsters 3 and Little White Chicks/Big Black Monster Dicks 17.
Swisterland
Oh, there.
France is where the well-to-do of a couple of generations ago went.
Wikipedia says she went on to star in
Indeed. (Links seem to be broken now.)
This is an experiment to breed a honey who's blonde enough for Ogged and dark enough for his mom.
My blonde sister married a Portuguese-American whose mother said at a family gathering, "How wonderful to look around the table and see all those beautiful brown eyes!.......
............and you too, Christine".
(Yeah, that's the evil brother-in-law I hope gets cancer.)
paying for all those immigrants
I had a conversation with a parent crash into a similar brick wall the other day at the day care center.
My honey's okay, though. His parents and some of his relatives are people you'd probably have to hate. (I'm out now.)
What does "pay for all those immigrants" even mean?
It means that he has an unconscionable amount of taxes deducted from his pay because immigrants are sucking up all the state's resources.
Yup, like less than 1% of what's going to fund the war. Why isn't anyone bitter about that?
I'm quite sure I don't want to hear his view on the middle-east. He still thinks about joining the military, and I think he used to be in the French Foreign Legion. Very affable guy, very friendly; maturity of a twelve-year-old.
Why isn't anyone bitter about that?
Because Americans love wars and hate immigrants. This has always been true.
Hey Ogged. You were right. Long course is awesome. Tiring, though.
What does "pay for all those immigrants" even mean?
It means he gets results, you stupid chief!
Interesting tidbit: on an immigration board, people were more pissed off that three of the six Fort Dix alleged plotters were overstays than they were that they were seemingly homegrown terrorists.
Rejoice, Muslims! America hates illegals more!
Even the most dyed in the wool nativists must be starting to realize that "domestic terrorists caught in the planning stages" all tend to be incompetent Walter Mitty types rather than any sort of actual threat.
37: Yeah, but we've just seen that an uncaught Walter Mitty type with a little practice at the pistol range can do considerable damage in a short amount of time.
30 - Seriously? The point in 31 doesn't spontaneously occur to them? I need to meet one of these people so that I can take them down to the lab and figure out what makes them tick.
I think Republican types are a lot happier to see their taxes off doing some Big Grand Thing than seeing them get, like, emergency care for non-citizens. What I don't understand is tying this to a complaint about how they don't get to keep enough of their paycheck. When I see how much my paycheck is getting eaten up, it totally galls me that the money isn't going to help someone get emergency care; it's going to blow up human bodies.
The point in 31 doesn't spontaneously occur to them?
Most people have no clue about the federal budget and can't get their heads around numbers this large anyhow. In this poll, people were asked to estimate what percentage of the budget went to foreign aid. Mean response was 18.1%, median was 15%. The actual amount is around 0.75%, so the *average* answer is off by at least a factor of 20. I'd bet fewer than 1 in 5 Americans could give even a rough estimate of how much we've spent on Iraq so far, and fewer than 1 in 10 could even get close on the size of the federal budget or the deficit.
People seem to completely dismiss you when you point out that immigrants often pay more in taxes than they take. Believe me, I've tried.
The point in 31 is totally unconvincing, though. It's not that our hypothetical lifeguard need be opposed to all expenditures across the board. Imagine him thinking along these lines:
Whatever the merits of the Iraq war, we entered into this project through procedurally appropriate means. But illegal immigrants are people who are violating the rules our procedures have enacted, and their violation of our shared political will comes out of my paycheck.
Of course, he's wrong about the math, and he's wrong to be mad at the illegal immigrants themselves, since he should direct at least a little anger toward employers who are gaming the system by employing illegals, not paying taxes on their behalf, and generally applying political pressure so that the illegals are tacitly welcomed. But it's not as though a guy bitching about taxes is, on pain of irrationality, committed to equal scorn for all spending.
What I mean, is, tax arguments are irrelevant and a waste of breath because they don't address the underlying fears, which are xenophobic and racist.
immigrants often pay more in taxes than they take
Is this true in California? I've been looking for the numbers, but keep ending up at vdare.
There was a long news story in the LA Times recently (and other places) about a study finding that immigrants in Cali are a net economic gain rather than t'other way around.
In context, I think it's just that their knee-jerk reaction to a headline that says "Illegals purchase cereal at Walmart" would be to decry this open society that doesn't require a national ID for purchases of Cheerios.
43: No, but you might wonder why his anger is so disproportionate given both the small cost incurred by illegal emergency room visits and his (hypothetical) lack of concern about how we do finance wars. It's like (analogy ban, bite me) freaking out at your spouse because she bought a 25 cent ice cream sandwich because doing so wasn't in the budget while you both just jointly decided to run up the credit cards for a plasma TV. Sure, maybe it's just the fact that that expenditure wasn't discussed, or maybe it's just that you're an asshole.
No, snarkout! You're off YOUR case!
(47 made me VERY happy.)
48 - Can you find a link? I don't disbelieve you, as I know that Social Security/payroll taxes, in particular, tend to be propped up by illegal immigrants (since they pay in, using fake SSNs, but don't draw out), but I'm curious about how the numbers break down on a state level.
But I needed an ice cream to perk up my mood.
But the asses of the actresses! the asses of the actresses!
I think it was all--I'm trying to google it up.
I'm sure it's very hard to accurately calculate. I'm more pissed about having to pay a lot of money for uninsured motorist coverage.
One of the underlying hilarities of this blog is that I'm this close [indicating a small distance] to being a Mark Steyn demography crank and a Tom Tancredo immigration crank.
I'm sure it's very hard to accurately calculate.
Especially, I imagine, since so much of it is in imaginary land, where we didn't have illegal workers driving (say) the housing boom, or here and spending money. Too many variables.
immigrants often pay more in taxes than they take
Is this true in California? I've been looking for the numbers....
All of the research I've seen says it's indisputably true that they pay more at the state and federal levels, but not necessarily at the local/municipality level. A few studies (warning: I haven't read closely or checked the methodology), and an easy-to-read op-ed.
Also, people are often focusing on income and/or property taxes, but immigrants of course are even more likely to be paying sales tax.
Yeah, really don't be an immigration crank.
Also, payroll taxes at the federal level and social security taxes at the state level are going to break down very differently. Especially in California, home of Proposition 13. The same for expenditures. Most of the state income comes from personal income tax, most of the state expenditures are on education, prisons, and health care.
First, don't get roped into helping solve a crossword puzzle, because he might ask you how to spell "wand."
Man, when will you just come out? We're here for you, brother!
California-specific data:
Recent data:
- Immigrants in California pay approximately $4.5 billion in state taxes each year; their federal tax contribution is more than $30 billion annually.
- Over the next 75 years new lawful immigrants entering the US will provide a net benefit of $611 billion to the Social Security System.
- In California, the average immigrant-headed household contributes a net $ 2679 annually to Social Security, which is $539 more than the average US-born household.
...and some
older research.
But, you know, Heebie's right. IME most folks who are complaining about this issue are not inviting a dialogue drawing on empirical data. They are angry that brown-skinned people are getting more than a fair share of whatever.
I also think that while conflating immigration in general with undocumented/illegal immigration is certainly a politically shrewd move, it's intellectually dishonest and prevents reasonable discussion.
They are angry that brown-skinned people are getting more than a fair share of whatever.
I don't know if it's worse than conflating all illegal immigration with border jumping. EWIs are different from overstays. But half of the problem with the debate is that no one knows what the hell they're talking about.
Ah, here it is. I misremembered; the finding was that immigrants boost people's pay rather than the other way around (also they're less likely to go to prison). This might also have been in the back of my mind.
Amen to all of Cala's 72, but especially this:
But half of the problem with the debate is that no one knows what the hell they're talking about.
In English, "paramilitary" and "parliament" are not quite anagrams, but in Arabic they're perfect anagrams. Hence the troubles.
"Parliamitary" and "paramilent" would be the anagram forms. Or "Parliamiraty" and "paraliment".
فثثاثث. خ فاث شسسثس خب فاث شذفقثسسثس! فاث شسسثس خب فاث شذفقثسسثس!
Labs, you cannot possibly compare yourself to Tom Tancredo. You're, like, an intelligent man. Please say that was a joke....
Labs, you cannot possibly compare yourself to Tom Tancredo.
I'm assuming that was an example of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing.
Speaking of which: Ron Paul -- appealingly crazy or just nuts?
79: It would be interesting to have a gynecologist for a president.
Automatically disqualified from being sane because of his immigration views.
Paul is amusingly nuts, mostly because what he does makes no difference.
It would be interesting to have a gynecologist for a president.
Yeah, but he's not jumping that canyon successfully, no matter how much libertarian internet geeks love him. I suspect Giuliani just shot his chances as well.
Democrats need to fund a sane conservative to split the part in two.
Saiselgy et al. keep trying to drum up interest in Huckabee, but so far no one's biting.
Democrats should fund an insane religious right candidate.
What's the Steyn demography position?
89: I think it's something along the lines of "the swarthy hordes are outbreeding us!"
88: One of the two. I just really want abortion marginalized as an issue.
Do you actually know what Tancredo supports, FL? He's appalling.
Labs is just cranky because the illegals are taking more than their fair share of his superkoranic fellatio powers. His rallying cry is "Why do all these immigrants keep sucking my cock?"
91: Yeah, I'm not sure which would be the more effective strategy, but I'm pretty sure I know which one would be the most entertaining.
So you want to partially repeal the 14th amendment?
Speaking of Swedish-middle easterners, on the off chance anyone knows about this: I've read that they're letting in far more Iraqi asylum seekers than any other western country. How are they getting there, physically? Is everyone being smuggled or is there a less illegal route?
If you can get to Jordan or Syria, it's probably not hard to get to Sweden from there.
We are not being overrun by anchor babies. No need to repeal birthright citizenship on the fears that in 21 years, they'll be able to file for their parents and brothers and sisters to come here and face a 5-10 year wait.
This is awesome, a reason to start hating unfogged all over again.
97 - When you wake up in 2038 and the Constitution has been abolished in favor of dhimmitude, don't come crying to Mark Steyn in your new burqa.
I think Syria to Sweden is probably harder (well--harder in the sense of more illegal & more expensive so fewer people do it; almost certainly less dangerous) than Iraq to Syria. I remember a refugee law lecturer in law school saying that it was almost impossible for refugees to get into Europe w/o hiring a smuggler & forging documents.
Especially after the mass conversions of all the illegals in 2035. Gotta watch those stealth Christian-Muslims.
Tancredo also supports a freeze--I'm sorry, a "timeout"--on legal immigration.
Ogged is trolling. I don't quite know what FL is up to.
Also favors letting in zero Iraqi refugees (there's a video clip in that link).
FL knows that once Cala's Muslillegals have abolished the Constitution, he will no longer be allowed to the back of the video store to rent The Prophet's Beard, The Semen on the Mount, and Decaschlong. People of the book indeed.
And mass deportation will not work! ICE doesn't have the resources or the manpower to deport people in the first place.
(Arguably, had we the manpower to deport people as soon as they overstayed their visas or snuck in, this whole thing would be a lot less cruel. It would be one thing to be turned around after two months in the U.S. Quite another thing to be sent home after 15 years. Of course, that kind of control would mean we'd be practically a fascist state, so, you know, price you pay for having an open society. Shut up and deal.)
People about to be deported have access to appeals, courts, and these things cost money. There's what, 11 million illegal immigrants? Where are we getting the cash for that? We spent all our monies on Iraq.
Muslilegals sounds like a breakfast cereal with granola.
That's what they want you to think.
No, no, snarkout. "Or so the mullahs would have you believe."
Also, we apparently killed some guy Mullah Dadullah in Afghanistan. Is it wrong that I think his name sounds like the title character of a children's book about an adorably clueless nanny?
89: Shitheads, idiots and damnfools
101: Gotta watch those stealth Christian-Muslims.Gotta watch those stealth Christian-Muslims.
The clumsy ones keep tripping over their stacks of dvds they had made at Target.
You've clearly been duped by all the talk about Amelia Badelia being a religion of peace.
They start us young, with the duping, and the books of pictures.
Too funny. "And Mullah Dadullah drew those blackout curtains..."
Mullah Dadullah: "They want me to change the burqas!"
Mullah Dadullah plants a mole in Karzai's palace...
This is all much funnier if you know that one kidspeak Farsi word for "penis" is "doodool."
It's like we killed General Genital.
Truth to the rumor that there are three Farsi words for "fart"? One of which is gooz?
I'm not thinking of a third, but "gooz" is one, yes; that's a noisy one.
General Genital.
Teacher Peepee.
Headmaster Head-master.
It's like we killed General Genital.
So very awesome.
It's ok, they'll just promote Colonel Cornhole.
Instead of issuing playing cards with the likenesses of Top Baddies, they'll issue Garbage Pail Kid cards.
Hmm... I feel like they corresponded to "breath of wind", "loud", and "juicy".
I don't enjoy this topic, Jake, but the other word is "chos" (pronounced kinda like the "Kos" is Daily Kos--"Kos," as I've said before, being the Farsi word for "cunt"). That's the silent kind. There are a few other phrases, but then English has a bunch of phrases for it, too. If there's another word, I can't remember it.
I am not entirely convinced by your protestations, but my curiosity has been satisfied. And for that, I thank you.
all the words i know in farsi now are doody words.
But half of the problem with the debate is that no one knows what the hell they're talking about.
That doesn't help us identify which debate you're talking about, Cala.
I remember tha last amnesty, which was supposed to be the "last" amnesty. Do it again now, and it will only encourage more. Personaly, I think we should look at what has happened over the last twenty years and retroactively adjust, i.e. allow for 2 million Mexicans a year, not 200K or whatever.
If you think the U.S. is overpopulated and getting more so, then it's perfectly rational to dislike illegal immigration. Also, if you believe in democracy, you might also believe that people should get to vote on how many immigrants to let in their country and their government should implement that policy.
Finally, you might get annoyed at holier-than-thou leftists telling you that you're a racist crank for believing both or either of those perfectly reasonable things.