What I've been told by people who've studied this (and have no source to back myself up) is that first generation immigrants do cost our society (social services and whatnot), but that it is well made up for by their second and third generation.  The idea is these folks aren't generational welfare recipients.  To be honest, I question whether any of them are long-term welfare recipients.  Problem is the issue is so politicized that I don't trust very many sources to give me unfiltered information.

First, I would happily stand band let anyone steal anything from me.  I consider it folly to risk my life to protect insured property.  My insurer would much rather I keep paying my premiums rather than die protecting my property.

A border is nothing more than a line drawn in the dirt.  It corresponds to no natural law I can identify. 

Those who enter illegally victimize no one.

That is my own take on it.  Yours might be otherwise, and that's fine.  My point was not to make these folks instant citizens, that isn't right and even I agree.  But I think we could figure out some penalty that they had to pay in order to rectify their transgression.  There are all sorts of crimes where the perpetrator pays a fine in lieu of some other punishment.  Most motor vehicle violations are handled this way, for example.  The punishment has to fit the crime, or course.  That's why I actually ask how bad a crime is it?  I think not so much, you think its tantamount to murder.  I'd like to think that we as Americans could come to some sort of compromise, a collective view that could be put into some sort of law making a path to citizenship for these folks.

With luck I will stop posting here altogether, but I did want to share the one and only soapbox I did with my Genetics class.  It was absolutely the only time, and the only time I have ever discussed my political views with one of my classes ever.  But the subject matter was highly relevant to what we were discussing, and the subject has been a hot-button issue.

I was discussing population genetics, and the effect migration has on allele change under Hardy Weinberg equilibrium.  We had just done a genetics problem showing an allele change to my own home town by a population of immigrants.  The change in allele frequency was substantial, far greater than could be obtained by mutation, genetic drift, or selection.

My class has a number of foreign born students, and I asked if immigration to the US was facile or difficult.  Those with the relevant experience said it was extremely difficult.  I asked if they thought it was easier to immigrate illegally.  Most thought not, due to the geographical and law enforcement barriers to entry.

I then asked what enabled a person to overcome such difficulties.  Most of my students mentioned something about determination and ambition.  I asked if those were good traits for Americans, and my students answered as a body yes.  I then mentioned that many personality traits, such as perseverance and ambition, are genetic in origin.  Those people are bringing in damn good alleles.

I then invoked the principle of selection, which biologists in the lab and breeders in the field use to isolate desirable alleles.  You set of some sort of barrier to survival or fecundity, say by putting an antibiotic in bacterial medium.  Only those bacteria resistant to the antibiotic can survive; this is the nature of drug selection.  Immigration here has never been very easy, hence we've inadvertently and accidentally set up a selection for alleles promoting perseverance. 

I then put in the one and only of my own personal views.  I truly believe that what has made America the most powerful nation on Earth has been the election for these alleles.  There are nations just as large, like Brazil, just as many natural resources that have never achieved what we have.  I believe that it is because they never had the selection that we inadvertently set up here.

My one and only soapbox (beyond making the least bit of fun of the POTUS from time to time, but I make far more fun of myself).  Like I said, most of it is based on very well understood science.  Admittedly the last bit was my own thoughts.  Those of you worried about immigration should worry about something else.  So long as there are strong barriers against it immigration, whether legal or illegal, will bring us the sort of superlative alleles that will keep America and Americans great for generations to come.

Musicians and comedians do it all the time. It's taken the enjoyment out of going out for some entertainment.

So where will y'all go to find that political satisfaction?  I can understand it when your choice of Party/President doesn't turn out as promised.

Libertarian?  Maybe they don't have cookies, but do have pot! 

Possibly a centrist Republican/Democrat?  That way you can criticize both sides (and take heat from both sides)??

A great monologue by Hannity tonight.