Political correctness vs. common sense.

[Palpatine]

I agree. It's the same here in California - bending over backwards to accomodate Spanish speaking immigrants (mostly illegal at first)...

Can you define "bending over backwards" here? Because I live in Southern California and yes, people without my skin color are everywhere, but no, I've never once run into an untranslatable situation. And even if I had ... so what?

There's a little plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty. It's time to shit or get off the pot.

So because a few lines from a poem written over a hundred years ago appear on a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty, the United States government has an obligation to let anybody from anywhere, and in as many numbers as possible, settle in their country? Why not just give California back to Mexico?

[patrick]

So because a few lines from a poem written over a hundred years ago appear on a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty, the United States government has an obligation to let anybody from anywhere, and in as many numbers as possible, settle in their country?

Yes. It's the DNA of this country and what the whole damn thing stands for. The plaque wasn't coincidental. It represented something important, something that's not worth giving up just because a few white xenophobes are horrified their block might turn brown.

[Fugitive1979]

So the guy is forced to leave his job due to petitions against him! Unreal!
Doesn't surprise me though because that is what Britain is turning into more and more.
I was back in the UK a few weeks back and I was shocked by the number of Polish and Eastern Europeans that are there now, I knew the number was high but even I didn't realize quite how high it was.
I worked in a hospital until 2001 and recently spoke to a friend who works in the maternity unit and she told me that there is a huge number of Eastern European women having children and it is no coincidence that these women have only been in the UK a year or two and have the right to housing when they have the child.
Britain is simply being used by people as a get out from their own poorer countries which is surely not what Europe should be about. I have nothing personal against these people and I would do the same myself but how can it be right to take so much from a country when you have given so little?
I have a brother and sister who both work their arses off and all they can afford is a room in shared houses and have no right to any kind of benefit's with god knows how many years of wait for any kind of council flat or house yet a foreigner has the right to a council house if they have a kid after just a year of being here. This is wrong and must be changed. I'd like to see a 5 year block on housing benefits for all new migrants and at least that way they would have paid something towards the state as well as proving they are committed to living and working in the UK. If they want a child then fine but support it yourself. All this stuff I hear about people sending money home and yet claiming various benefits is a disgrace and needs to be stopped. And another thing is that I'd like to know how many Britains have gone the other way? Not too many sending money home I'd bet. A free Europe should give people the same benefit's and opportunities both ways but that is certainly not true with Eastern Europe.
Once again I want to say that I have nothing at all against Polish people or any other Eastern European and if I was them I would 100% do the same thing. Doesn't make it correct or fair though.
Anyway going back to the post office guy, He is absolutely correct to say what he did and the people who did the petition are typically the type of people who have no care for Britain at all and quite why they live there in the first place is a mystery to me. Then again when you look at where they came from I suppose it is pretty obvious why.

Bullseye! Couldn't have put it better myself.

[Dipso]

So the guy is forced to leave his job due to petitions against him! Unreal!
Doesn't surprise me though because that is what Britain is turning into more and more.
I was back in the UK a few weeks back and I was shocked by the number of Polish and Eastern Europeans that are there now, I knew the number was high but even I didn't realize quite how high it was.
I worked in a hospital until 2001 and recently spoke to a friend who works in the maternity unit and she told me that there is a huge number of Eastern European women having children and it is no coincidence that these women have only been in the UK a year or two and have the right to housing when they have the child.
Britain is simply being used by people as a get out from their own poorer countries which is surely not what Europe should be about. I have nothing personal against these people and I would do the same myself but how can it be right to take so much from a country when you have given so little?
I have a brother and sister who both work their arses off and all they can afford is a room in shared houses and have no right to any kind of benefit's with god knows how many years of wait for any kind of council flat or house yet a foreigner has the right to a council house if they have a kid after just a year of being here. This is wrong and must be changed. I'd like to see a 5 year block on housing benefits for all new migrants and at least that way they would have paid something towards the state as well as proving they are committed to living and working in the UK. If they want a child then fine but support it yourself. All this stuff I hear about people sending money home and yet claiming various benefits is a disgrace and needs to be stopped. And another thing is that I'd like to know how many Britains have gone the other way? Not too many sending money home I'd bet. A free Europe should give people the same benefit's and opportunities both ways but that is certainly not true with Eastern Europe.
Once again I want to say that I have nothing at all against Polish people or any other Eastern European and if I was them I would 100% do the same thing. Doesn't make it correct or fair though.

Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't you a British person who lives abroad? I don't see how it is any different. A Polish person has the right to live and work in the UK as Poland is a member of the EU. There must be French people who resent the British and other EU nationals who live and work in France.

[glennjridge]

not sure thats the same thing though....I always consider americans that work abroad....or british elsewhere as sort of hired guns or specialists working for a certain amount of time and that sort of work in other countrys as sort of Islands unto themselves in the countrys they go to and as such they dont need to assimilate.

thats probably different than people who move from one country to another and then live off the government.

[Fugitive1979]

Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't you a British person who lives abroad? I don't see how it is any different. A Polish person has the right to live and work in the UK as Poland is a member of the EU. There must be French people who resent the British and other EU nationals who live and work in France.

Or even Japanese people.

[Dipso]

Quite! However, I have absolutely no issue with people from other countries legally coming to live and work in the UK. There are hundreds of thousands of UK nationals doing just that overseas. You don't stop being an economic migrant just because you are a native English speaker. I know a few UK/US/Australian nationals who signed on the dole in Japan when they lost their jobs, as was their right as they had being paying National Insurance.

[patrick]

thats probably different than people who move from one country to another and then live off the government.

How do you suppose that works? Do you actually believe some guy from Bolivia can just rock up and start collecting benefits and living on the taxpayers' dime?

[Fugitive1979]

thats probably different than people who move from one country to another and then live off the government.

How do you suppose that works? Do you actually believe some guy from Bolivia can just rock up and start collecting benefits and living on the taxpayers' dime?

If Bolivia was a member of the EU, then he could - quite easily.

[Patrick Bateman]

not sure thats the same thing though....I always consider americans that work abroad....or british elsewhere as sort of hired guns or specialists working for a certain amount of time and that sort of work in other countrys as sort of Islands unto themselves in the countrys they go to and as such they dont need to assimilate.

What was Bush's foreign policy? This is Jeopardy, right?

[Fugitive1979]

Quite! However, I have absolutely no issue with people from other countries legally coming to live and work in the UK.

Neither do I. Despite the fact I wonder what country I am in every time I go to work. Even the signs are English/Polish. Some are even in Slovakian as well. The smoking hut is covered in Polish football graffiti. A local pub even has its' CCTV warning notice in Polish.

[patrick]

If Bolivia was a member of the EU, then he could - quite easily.

I was referring to Glen's home country.

[Fugitive1979]

If Bolivia was a member of the EU, then he could - quite easily.

I was referring to Glen's home country.

[glennjridge]

they live off the government very easily. not sure if anyone is aware that even if someone is an illegal immigrant.....any children born in the USA to them is automatically a citizen.and hospitals cannot refuse cost of any medical bills. and they have lots of children.

Illegal immigrants get free public education through high school and emergency medical care.
in some states like virginia,they can get workers compensation if they are injured on the job.
and in most there is at least some basic coverage for illegal workers especially in the auto and construction industrys.

who pays? US taxpayers.

thousands of them live in public housing here.thousands. the key word is untold, because nobody really knows. its kinda like on one those things that just is...but nobody is willing to do anything about it.

[patrick]

they live off the government very easily

Specifics, please. Surely there's more to "living" than public school (usually paid for through local property taxes) and emergency care (usually not paid for by taxes at all). If it's so easy to get free food and housing ... why doesn't everyone do it? The answer of course is because it's actually rather difficult, and you have to jump through a lot of hoops and prove a lot of things with a lot of paperwork. Contrary to xenophobic conservative fearmongering (nice red scare nostalgia in your closing paragraph) you actually can't just rock up from another country and suck from the federal teat.

The tax issue is a bit of a red herring anyway. Illegal immigrants with false paperwork pay income taxes; those working under the table aren't any different to the millions of citizens who do the same. And of course they all pay the same regressive sales taxes the rest of us do.

And as for the children - they're legal citizens and therefore irrelevant to your argument.