Azalin

no question about it. I keep bringing up the Europe/Asia thing because it's being left completely out of the discussion on a national level. the republicans could make the democrats look like they're pandering to one group and ignoring all others (which is pretty much the truth of it anyway) if they were to take up the cause of having immigration simplified for people of ALL nationalities.

I'm dealing with an immigration issue myself right now. I'm engaged to a citizen of Spain, and we were surprised at the amount of red tape & BS that we're having to deal with. I've had to hire an immigration attorney and get all kinds of documents for both her and myself, and the process will continue for months yet, and we're not even trying to get citizenship status for her. from my own experiences in Europe, I know that there are a lot of people there that would like to relocate to the US. despite our depressed economy, we're still in much better shape than most European nations are, and I can only assume that the same holds true for many people in Asia as well. living in south-central Texas for the last 27 years, I'm no stranger to the issue of immigration as it applies to the latino population. amnesty will simply allow those who came here illegally to stay, while keeping it criminalized for those who continue to sneak across the border. we'll have the same debate all over again in just a few more years ( remember that amnesty was granted 30 years ago and we're dealing with the issue all over again now). I've said it before - it's not immigration reform unless it applies to people from all over the world. if it's just a measure to pardon people who crossed the border illegally, it's both amnesty and pure politics.

actually, Tim, they moved to Texas because the governer gave them what equates to $10,000.00 per employee of Texas taxpayers's money for doing so.

nicely done.

I live in an apartment complex, so I get other peoples' mail all the time. my own mail has been delivered to neighbors in the past on a number of occasions, so it's real easy for me to receive something late, or to miss it altogether. in addition, I pay all my bills online and the only time I get any mail from family is around my birthday and Christmas. I usually throw 95% of all my mail directly into the trash, so I tink what you're saying is pretty reasonable.

same here. I experience the same thing whenever I'm in line at the checkout at the grocery store...I don't know who anyone is on half of the gossip tabloids anymore. pop culture has always been pretty lame, but it's gotten worse over the years.

death ray? you call this a death ray? hell, it's not even slowing them down!

as long as we can place any blame on Washington in the process, then absolutely.

that's exactly what the point of starting this board was in the first place.

isn't the sun one-third of the trinity?

to hell with twitter, I'm doing something more meaningful. I'm wearing a ribbon on my lapel.

it's also an excellent substitute for jet fuel. just cover the wings with solar panels and you're good to go.

I was debating whether or not to say the same thing.

when people say grace at the dinner table, are they trying to convert their guests?

it'll probably turn out to be an embarrassing list of what some of them wear under their thobes....who wears shorts, who wears a speedo, and who goes commando.

that's the way I see it as well.

sorry I missed one vague statement regarding 'every religion' trying to spread their mission to every local or state meeting and didn't equate it directly with one malcontent satanist convert. your assertions are still way off base in claiming that allowing a prayer of any type before a public meeting being tantamount to government sponsorship of a religion. constitutional rights do not stop just because you walked out your door into the public at large. the same rights that allow people to burn an american flag in public also allow the same freedom of expression with regard to religion. champ?!

it took me a minute to realize you were referring to your previous post while quoting me speaking to another one. that's thoughtful of you to mitigate your choice of words in order to keep from offending me, and I appreciate that. I generally don't take offense at things like that, though. speaking strictly to my own personal preferences & sensibilities, I'm not a very religious person at all. what beliefs I have, I generally keep to myself and just try to get along. with regard to the guy who converted from being a Pabstfestidian (I wonder....was he ever 'Pabstized'?) to being a satanist, he's obviously just trying to prove a point in the most annoying and/or offensive way possible. he's not hurting anyone though, and he is well within his right to do what he's doing. he's going to piss a lot of people off, but it makes him happy, then I see no problem with it. I do think he could make his point in a manner that was less offensive, and I think he's being a jerk about the whole thing, but like the old saying goes: if someone wants to make an ass of himself, get out of the way and let him do it.

they don't want to convince anyone that republicans are crazy, they want to convince people that the republicans are so desperate to discredit the president that they'll do & say anything. if the dems were smart, they would put 5 from their ranks on the committee in order to offer support for those called to testify, especially if Hillary is called to go before them. Ms Clinton could get beat up pretty badly otherwise, and all they'd have with which to defend her would be cries of partisanship after the fact.

you told about your belief that the supreme court was enabling the establishment of a state religion. I had to go back and read the thread again, but if you posted any warnings about various crazies demanding to express their religious beliefs at public events, then please forgive that I missed them. and I'm curious....what exactly is it that makes you assume that any of us that support freedom of religious expression in public aren't satanists ourselves?

fair enough. you were just replying to other memes anyway.

of course you do. you're like Gene Wilder in Everything You've Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask. the reason I ask is because when you post with your own words, your posts are consistently thoughtful and make sense, whether I agree with them or not. when you speak in memes, you come off as gator having a cut-and-paste fest.

is this really what you think?

almost 100% of the people I know have spent at least 1 year in poverty, at least according to what the government defines as poverty. in fact, I lived below the poverty line from age 19 until age 35 while working full time. I wasn't very smart back then, but at least I was smart enough to not try to start a family.

I think most people here would agree that your friend isn't a lazy piece of **** because he uses food stamps to feed his children. I also think that most people here that are critical of government assistance feel that way because of the widespread abuse of that system, not simply because some people need it and use it. something I rarely see anyone consider is that sometimes when people lose jobs - for example when a manufacturing plant closes - they need to move to a place where they can get more work. that might sound cold hearted at first, but think about it...there are areas in the country where the only thing that keeps people living in economically depressed areas is the welfare they receive that's intended to help them. I'm sure many people posting on this forum have had to move to take a job or a promotion, and that's completely normal. why then do so few seem to believe that it's not incumbent upon the jobless to go to where there are jobs if they are capable of doing so?