KOREAN, MEXICAN MOTHERS-TO-BE OFFERED "BIRTH PACKAGES" here so their children can be born U.S. citizens? It appears it's increasingly happening here at hospitals. Where there's a profit will, there's a way. Nothing wrong with that. Still, what's left of us taxpaying citizens wonder if we can't do something to stop pregnant tourists from dropping in to birthing centers during their ninth month of pregnancy for this express purpose?The Corner at NRO wonders and asks the question: Can and should the U.S. limit temporary visas to women who are coming here to give birth and automatically gain citizenship for their babies? I don't have a defined opinion of a solution at this point, however, it's certainly something to be aware of in coming years.
And the poor, exhausted U.S. taxpayers should certainly have a say in re-thinking the rules. As if we have any say in anything today.
Not quite sure just how I feel about this.
ReplyDeleteThe Koreans are some pretty savvy and hard-working people.
We just might be getting some new citizens that would be a tremendous improvement over the bunch of morons who elected our current administration.
:-)
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HA! Paul, I actually had the same thought. Actually that's why I say I'm not sure what I think needs to be done about it. Surely some of this might help the part of our gene pool that needs to become more industrious! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWeb: That's exactly what I think.
ReplyDeleteThe influx of immigrants to our country is not a bug, but a feature.
Good for the Koreans who get exposed to us, as well.
A long time ago, the USAF sent me to Yale to learn Korean (sadly, mostly forgotten now).
One thing that really impressed me was that, while a few Chinese style ideographs still turn up in their writing, they use an alphabet, developed over 600 years ago, that may look like ideographs but are NOT.
They are individual letters grouped together into syllables.
They are very phonetic, in that you can see a new word spelled by them and know how to pronounce it correctly. Inversely, if you hear it pronounced correctly, you'll almost certainly be able to spell it correctly.
At that time, I was impressed by their genius, especially when looking at the anarchy of our own language.
I had not considered that the consistency of their language resulted from a very insular society without that much outside influence.
In contrast, our language gets additions from every language in the world, many of which use the same Roman alphabet we do, but in their own way.
Thus, the nightmare of our spelling and the fact that not only can we NOT always tell how a written word should be pronounced without its' context; we cannot even be sure of its' meaning when standing alone.
As compensation for that, immigrants are a strength of ours.
To pick up and leave what you've known all your life (and are familiar with) to go to a strange new land and culture and try to make it there -- well, wimps don't do that.
(Hey, I'm on a roll here; maybe when I get back home from work, I should expand this into a post of my own :-) )
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All interesting thoughts, to be sure, Paul.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, since the US ranks 37th in infant mortality rankings, behind nearly all of Europe, Canada, Singapore, Japan, and even Cuba.
ReplyDeleteWilliam, you sound like that car commercial (Volvo?) that emphasizes how "SAFE" it is, to the absolute exclusion of everything else.
ReplyDeleteTell us what countries have us beat in numbers of people desperate to get into them, and then we might have something to talk about.
As for Cuba, how many people try to go there from here on makeshift rafts across shark-infested waters? All of that traffic appears to be coming this way.
My country may have plenty of faults, but a lot of people seem willing to accept them in exchange for the ones they have back in their country.
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The frequent citings of infant mortality ratings are bogus. The U.S. counts still births as infant mortality; the rest of the world excludes still births from their infant mortality statistics.
ReplyDeleteGREAT POINTS Paul and Greg. Thank you for making them! I've said it before and am saying it again---I need supervision and help here. And never more than after my Wednesday night tango lesson when I'm dreaming of the latest ocho....
ReplyDeleteWeb,
ReplyDeleteI love your humility, and I'm glad you are not afraid to raise topics that we need to think about, even when you are not sure yet where you stand.