Yay for Thanksgiving

A fun weekend of eating, sleeping, spending time with family, playing Karaoke Revolution (horribly I might add), reading, an archaeological excavation that unearthed 43-year-old spices, and magnificent breakfast at Magnolia Cafe… I call that a success.

The Pac 10 makes no sense

The Pac 10 makes no sense.

USC beats Nebraska, yet Washington State nearly beats USC, and Washington nearly beats USC. Oregon State actually does beat USC.

Washington also takes Cal to overtime, but loses horribly to 1-9 Stanford, who was shut out by UCLA, who was beat by Washington.

And while we’re at it, Arizona beat Cal who beat Washington who beat Arizona.

I don’t get it. But Washington won yet another cliffhanger of an Apple Cup, and that’s all I care about for now.

We are world travelers

Following Figaro’s lead, I thought I’d post another picture of our recent escapades.

More on immigration…

I got this in my e-mail today… immigration is a touchy subject for me so I had to respond:

Think this would work??

The best way to stop using so much gas is to deport the 12 million illegal immigrants! That would be 12 million less people using our gas.
The price of gas would have to come down.

Bring our troops home from Iraq to guard our borders! When they catch an illegal alien crossing the border, hand each a canteen, rifle and some ammo.

Then ship them to Iraq. Tell them if they want to come to America they must serve a tour in the military. Then while they’re in Iraq give them a soldier’s pay and tax them on it.

After their tour, they will be allowed to become a citizen since they defended our country. They will also be registered to be taxed and be legal patriots. This option should deter illegal immigration, plus provide a solution for the troops in
Iraq and the aliens trying to make a better life for themselves.

If they refuse to serve, ship them to Iraq anyway, without the canteen, rifle or ammo.

If you think this is a good solution to both problems, forward it to your friends.
I just did.

No. No, this wouldn’t work.

First, even if we were to remove 12 million people from our country, it wouldn’t have any impact on gas prices in the long run. Americans as a whole continue to use more gas even as prices increase. Even though fuel prices have doubled over the last decade, our consumption is still increasing, so obviously the higher prices aren’t hurting us that badly. Further, no matter what we try to do to curb our consumption, oil prices will continue to increase as India and China modernize their economies. With two billion people in those countries, there’s not much that can be done to keep demand down, the numbers are simply on the wrong side. This is why smart energy policy focuses on developing alternatives as well as reducing demand.

Regarding immigrants, I’m curious why they’re singled out. My personal guess is that upper-class Americans actually consume far more energy, between air conditioning gigantic homes and driving gas-guzzling SUVs… wouldn’t we get the most bang for the buck by deporting the 12 million richest Americans? And aren’t those rich elites less likely to serve in the military anyway? What a great opportunity for them to defend our country!

In all seriousness, the logic in that proposal (“That would be 12 million less people using our gas”) makes no sense. Let’s think things through.

1. First, they don’t USE our gas, they BUY it, just like anybody else.
2. That means they have money.
3. That means they’re working (illegal immigrants are barred from welfare).

Ah, you may say, but doesn’t that mean they’re taking jobs away from Americans? Excuse me? Nobody TAKES a job, they’re GIVEN a job. If an illegal immigrant has is working, they were hired by an American employer. Let’s call that point 4 and keep going.

5. The only reason for employers to hire illegal immigrants over Americans is that they demand less pay.
6. So, if we deport them all, employers would have to replace them using more expensive American labor.
7. Are employers just going to suck up the extra cost of labor? No, they’ll pass it on to consumers.

This means the price of EVERYTHING goes up, which defeats the whole point of saving people money with lower gas prices. No more bananas at 39 cents a pound, no more apples at 99 cents a pound. In fact, poor Americans would be the biggest losers if this were to happen: with high gas prices, you can always choose to drive less or take the bus. If prices of more basic goods increase, you can’t choose to eat less.

In short, there are far more intelligent and productive ways to fix our energy policy than deporting consumers, least of all those who use less gas than most Americans, and definitely not those who, if deported, would trigger an increase in prices that would hurt all Americans, especially the poor ones.

Old news, but whatever

Black people can make jokes about black people and nobody calls it racist.
Asian people can make jokes about Asian people and nobody calls it racist.
But John Kerry, a Purple Heart-decorated veteran, makes a joke about the military and suddenly he’s unpatriotic?