Jabch: First let me say that I am glad to see that you are willing to admitt that corruption is a problem.

You commented that some of us in the US are blaming Fox for the illegal immigration problem. When confronted with this problem at a recent summit he stated point blank he would not tell his people not to violate our borders. This is something that he said to GWB infront of others, and restated it to the press.

I just returned from two weeks in Spain and England. Illegal immigration is a problem in Europe. One can read the Eurpean newspapers for more infomation. It is causing a near collapse of the British National Health System.

Your last paragraph has some good ideas, I will only address a few.
First, the President does not have the authority to use Executive Order for somethings you advocate. All Presidents wish they had broader authority for Executive Order, that authority is limited for a real good reason.
Second, you state the US can stop illegal immigration. You and the rest of the international community would not like our methods if we were to handle this situation on our own. It is a problem that must be dealt with on both sides of the border.
Third, Visas for unskilled labor is something that being advocated by none other than GWB himself. He calls it "Guest Worker Visa."
Forth, Private health insurance, good idea but would require a change in current insurance law.
Fifth, "Forget about amnesty" trust me I am one of many that has forgotten the idea of amnesty.

Jabch, I am glad to see you are finally willing to accept that your fellow countrymen are creating a strain on the US economy and social system. I can assure you that in the Southwest, it is a strain near the breaking point.

It is going to take a lot of good people on both sides of the border to correct this problem. Good people start by admitting there is a problem, you have proven Jabch, that you are a good person.

jabch, good points you made about the shrinking middle class in Mexico, and the same is occuring in the US although not as rapidly (or is it?)
Ask almost any Norte Americano about the rising cost of not only housing, gas, but of health care, and the crappy care one get's at most HMO's.
I now live in the state of New Mexico and when I drive back to LA Ca where I have family still, I marvel at the huge number of trains loaded with containers, almost all from China,and other Asian countries. Interstate 10 and 40 have train tracks along side the freeways and many times there is a virtual "traffic jam" of trains loaded with cargo coming from LA Harbor, taking Chinese made products to all the "Walmarts", Costco's and Sam's Clubs etc;.
A real site to see is the "Port of Los Angeles", (now one of the top three in the world) and dozens of cargo container ships waiting out at sea to unload in the busy port. And what do you think these millions of cargo containers take back to China and the rest of Asia?
You guessed it, Steel, Scrap Metal,Cement,Lumber,Petrolium Products, and all the natural wealth from our country that the Multi-National Corps can make a profit on.

And we US citizens (the former industrial power) just sit around and complain about the awful "Mexicans" and pretend that 12 million of them just snuck in here recently without any complicity on the part of Mexico or the US gov't.
They just suddenly appeared!
By the way there is supposed to be a May 1st general strike by all Mexicano's and supporters.
It's being refered to as "A Day Without Mexicans"!
Peace.

Fulano: Contrary to what you think the word "Profit" is not a vulgar four letter word.

As per you comment about the lumber being shipped out to the Far East, most of that is what is known as "Old Growth" or "Virgin timber" meaning that it is from a logging area that has never been logged before. The average American cannot afford a house built from "old growth." I know that the Desert Dweller cannot. In our fathers and grandfathers day what is being sold by most lumber yards now would be sold for fire wood or shipping pallet material. Now it is used to build houses. I share in you resentment of that natural resourse being prices out of reach of the average American. For a good example of what I am talking about, go to a true lumber yard and ask for some 8x12s ten feet long and specify "Old growth." If you talk to someone younger than 35 he probably will not know what you are talking about. Nobody at HomeDepot or Lowes will know anything about it, you are going to have to go someplace where the contractors go. When you finally get the price you are going to be shocked. Then you are going to know why the walls at your friend Joe Sixpack's new house are warpped and wobbly looking.

You made mention of the scrap material being shipped out. Here is food for thought, the US makes up less than 20% of the world's population, we generate over half of the world's waste product. What does that tell you? Think about it.

DD, that's a very interesting environmental point. I heard an American environmental law professor talk about that. He basically said, probably with China and India in mind, that from an environmental point of view, our planet can't take another consumer-oriented society as big as the U.S.

All right guys, let's see what happens with the immigration issue.

When does congress' recess end? Any word as to whether they will address the issue again?

Jabch: For some very interesting reading on that subject two books come to mind, both written by the same author, John Hoffman. They are the "The Art and Science of Dumpsted Diving" and "The Art and Science of Dumpster Diving, the Advanced Course" what he deals with are the things that Americans throw away that are still servicable. the internet has came into being since the first book was written and he deals with in the second book how some people are making a good living by dumpster diving for the merchandise and selling it on E Bay.

Have to correct you on this one DD. Yes, people in the UK are very worried about immigration. In fact the latest concern is Eastern Europeans (particularly Poles) who have taken advantage of Poland joining the EU to seek work in the UK (they're good workers, but the numbers of economically inactive Brits including yours truly is growing daily). You may also have heard that the NHS has its problems which is correct. However the NHS is kept going by immigrants - around 50% of new nurses and 30% of new doctors were born outside of the UK. Of course one could ask why there is this demand for doctors and nurses. Isn't the UK training enough? Well it seems that after training a lot leave the NHS to seek higher paid jobs abroad eg in Saudi Arabia and the USA! Every silver lining has a cloud....

Filbert,How nice that you have a national health care system even with problems! We in the USA have an out of control "profit at all costs" Health Maintainence System for those that can afford it.
And even the economic middle class here has almost been tapped out, "Middle aged couple will pay $800 to $1,200 per month" and God forbid one has diabetes or some other chronic illness, then your in real trouble. Women having children used to spend 2 - 4 days in the hospital, now the HMO's kick their behinds out in 1 day.
Gas now at almost $3.00 a gallon in New Mexico where most people have to drive 20 to 50 miles one way to the job!
Let's blame the illegal immigrants!

Oh boy Fulano,

Sometimes I forget how bad things really are over here. Problem is, where else to go?

I don't want no state run health system. Heck, they can't run anything else right, why do you think the government could run a health care system?

I can imagine Filbert's face when you tell him gas is only $3 a gallon here. Just back from Canada. It's almost $4 there. I'd be willing to bet it's at least $5 in the U.K.

Fulano: Actually there is a valid point to be made with the illegals on the point of medical cost. When they run up a big hospital bill, with not intention of paying, that hospital does not just "write off" the loss. A portion is added into mine and your bill and paid by our insurance company. I read a report about two years ago by a health insurance industry agency, it plainly brought out that as much as 25% of current premium is cover uninsured people, it further broke down what percentage is being added for each class of uninsured.IE working poor, unemployed, illegals etc. So you are correct that they are creating additional medical insurance and medical cost for all of us. You did not want to hear that did you?

Somewhere approaching 7 !! Well, that's my rough estimate - we use litres now, so my calculation may be a little out.