REAGAN WAS WRONG IN 1986 AND BUSH IS WRONG IN 2007!

We have what appears to be the mother of all quagmire deals going on in Iraq, gas prices that are forcing many of us to cut back on money for food, foreclosures on homes, people losing their jobs or asked to take 50% (or higher) salary cuts because of consolidation that results in torturous belt tightening because of "debt service" and I could go on and on because things (for the most part) ain't cool in the "Land of Plenty", buuuut, the lightening rod topic is (still) this illegal immigration business.

I stand second to no one in my admiration of Ronald Reagan. Yeah, he did me a big favor one time, but that isn't why I admired the guy so much. Did he support things I wish he wouldn't have supported or did he make decisions I wish he hadn't made? You betcha! But most of the time, I think Reagan got it right and during his eight years, he made most Americans feel good. Comparison. Is there anything President Bush is doing that is making you feel good?

Illegal immigration. If I hear the term "undocumented immigrants" again, I think I'll puke.

Anyway, because there are so many illegal immigrants here, the solution we're trying to be sold on is that because it's impossible to deport more than 12 million lawbreakers, we should figure out a way to let them be here legally by making them jump through a few hoops. But make no mistake about what the intention is here. And that is for all of these illegal immigrants to eventually become legal with who knows how many family members that would cause the number to go to...??? We're told this would be the humane thing to do and that because of increased border security, we'll solve the problem of additional massive numbers of illegal immigrants crossing our borders. And yeah, there's the, "we need them here because they do work that legal American citizens won't do" argument that we're told over and over again.

Let's talk about that for a minute! Is what we're talking about work that legal Americans won't do, or are we talking about work the legal Americans won't do for what in essence is often (close to) slave wages? And where are the poll results that show legal Americans won't do this kind of work for a decent wage? And who keeps this "work that legal Americans won't do" argument alive?!? Fat cat employer/contributors to politicians, perhaps?

Let's go back to the, "if we do all that's being proposed in this Senate bill, because of increased border security we won't have the massive numbers of illegals entering this country" argument.

In a commentary in today's New York Times, Janet Napolitano, the Governor of Arizona writes that the Bush administration is reducing by nearly half the number of National Guard members to support the Border Patrol in the Southwest. In other words, less border security, not more.

Finally, let's talk about the humane aspect of making things easier for the more than 12 million illegals to have a path to citizenship here. It's amnesty, the people supporting this say it isn't, but it is! No matter how you slice and dice it, it ends up being amnesty. President Bush, who I think might go down in history as our worst president ever, supports the Senate bill.

President Reagan, who (to me) was the best president in my lifetime did the humane thing in 1986 when he gave amnesty to 6 million or so illegal immigrants. More border security, etc. was supposed to solve the problem of filling our country with massive numbers of new illegal immigrants. Twenty one years after President Reagan did the "humane" and "practical" thing, the illegal immigration problem has more than doubled.

President Reagan was wrong in 1986 and President Bush is wrong in 2007.

ONE MORE BORDER SECURITY STORY:

Have you been reading or hearing about this very infectious tuberculosis 31-year old lawyer who refused to adhere to advice from physicians because he was more concerned about his wedding and honeymoon overseas. When word got out, Andrew Speaker was put on Homeland Security watch lists at all ports of entry into the United States and no agent who we think is helping to secure our borders flagged or tagged this guy? Somewhere, Osama bin Laden is smiling.

TROUBLE AT THE LOS ANGELES TIMES:

Anytime a company gets sold, workers are nervous. And they should be. I remember when a television station I worked for was sold a bunch of years ago. A guy representing Mickey Mouse stood in front of us and told us things would be fine. How could we not believe that?

The Los Angeles Times was sold recently and whenever something is sold, here come the ways to cut expenditures. In the last two days, we've read "goodbye" columns from two of this city's most talented columnists. J.A. Adande and Al Martinez. I've never met either guy, but I've often communicated with both by e-mail and they have written back. Big time decent guys and big time talented writers. "Here's your buyout! You have one more column! Good luck!" Just another example of corporate life in America, 2007. Something I began to learn about in 1989.

TWO NEW FILMS THAT ARE OPENING TODAY:

There are two films opening today that have gotten good reviews and I'm going to try to see both of them.

"Knocked Up" is a comedy that some are saying is the funniest film they've ever seen. It certainly features a dazzling beauty. "Grey's Anatomy" star, Katherine Heigl.

"Mr Brooks" is anything but a comedy. Kevin Costner is a serial killer in this film, William Hurt (I'm guessing) will probably be weird in a good way, Demi Moore is always good, but if I had to pick another reason to see this film it will be see what kind of character and performance will be on display from Danielle Panabaker who is so good in her role as James Woods' daughter in the CBS show, "Shark".

EDITOR's NOTE: If you read this before pictures have been added, come back! Pictures will be up soon. A new blog is written every morning, Monday through Friday and is posted between 7 and 7:15. Comments and or suggestions are appreciated and should be sent to scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. I do write back.

MONDAY:

A long time actor/comedian/magician friend of mine has checked in from North Carolina with a "solution" to the high cost of gas and illegal aliens problem.