The AZ immigration law: racist? nah...

2010-04-30T15:55:00.000-07:00

Recently, Arizona signed a bill into law to help enforce existing laws to protect our borders. As expected, the state has become the target of protestors, businesses and other states. What does this really mean for Latinos and anyone with a foreign accent if other states follow suit? No idea, especially if I either have my wallet with me at all times, or I keep it locked in my car if I can’t take it with me. Will I get arrested? Frankly, they better come up with some efficient way to do this, like fingerprint scanners, which are inexpensive to acquire. Why? Well let’s face it. Americans shouldn’t have to carry extra stuff around to prove citizenship because they look or sound foreign, while John Smith has a southern accent that screams American, and will likely never have to be checked. These are probably my only gripes about the law. However, I still support it. I have a few points I want to expand on, to defend my position.

Expenses for the country are currently too high

Illegal aliens aren’t the only ones mooching off the welfare system. Americans are guilty too, and that will probably never change, so long as the govt puts up with it. However, too much money is invested in taking care of people who aren’t even citizens of our country. Perhaps American citizens will swallow their pride and work the jobs the illegal aliens leave behind. It will reduce unemployment and less money will be leaving the country. That’s right, less money leaves the country. How many fathers or older siblings leave their families to come to America only to send money back to Mexico, so they can live a fruitful life? I support the sanctity of life, and everyone deserves a chance at a good lifestyle. However, this must be done in obedience with the law. The nation simply can’t afford to have hundreds of thousands of dollars leaving the country, when it could be spent on businesses in the country.

I’ll give you an example. A construction company can hire Mexicans here in Texas, to build a new Grocery store in the community. Now, the job will get done just the same as if we hired citizens. However, most of those workers will send that money home to their families. So let’s assume the total payout to immigrant workers is $22,000. They keep enough to get by those two months, and let’s say 15,000 gets sent to mexico. What if that 15,000 stayed here? How many businesses would benefit from that? A full 22,000 (as opposed to a mere 7,000) in that two month period could go back into the community. It would expand, and then before you know it, the construction company has another project. It’s a simple concept. Money that stays here will benefit the economy.

Crime is too high

Not all crimes are committed by illegal aliens or minorities. However, statistics can’t help but support this. Do I have those statistics? No, because I’m lazy. Let it suffice to say that the stats are on my side, and you can look them up yourself. Feel free. Besides, you might discredit the source, and what’s the point in that? Not all immigrants commit crimes, and it would naturally be unfair to make the innocent folk inconvenienced over it. However, it won’t be the first time our laws have spoiled our fun, because some never knew when to quit. Mexico is struggling to control the rising violence between drug cartels. A lot of that violence is being brought to this country. To most of them, it’s a way of life. Frankly, I don’t care. Americans have enough problems with current citizens, and this just compounds it.

Recreational pharmaceutical distribution (for you slow folk, that’s drug dealing) is a lucrative business. It’s a quick way to earn big bucks, and this industry is thriving. When you bring more illegal aliens here, they bring their business as well. Gang activity will increase, and so will the violence. Again, this is a business, but it’s not done the American way. They don’t step up advertising, or lower prices. They murder their competition, and that’s not a metaphor either. They literally murder their competition. Can I get any more clear than that? Yes, I can. They murder each other and anyone who gets in their way. What do you think that does in terms of cost to hospitals, and police? Think about it.

It’s illegal, and we’re too lenient

It’s that simple. It’s against the law. Unfortunately, it’s so common, they can’t control it. It’s like software piracy. All you can do is arrest the big fish. Even Mexico arrests you and can sentence you to a year in prison for merely visiting without proper documentation. Do you think Mexico officers let every pale white man in a Hawaiian shirt mosey around a Mexican city without checking his papers? No way. Now, The Mexican president is calling the AZ law racist. Way to pull a double standard El Presidente.

Frankly, I wish Mexico would cooperate by taking those coming here and jailing them there. In my opinion, digital fingerprinting is cheap and easy to track. Multiple offenses can make it easier for more strict punishments. It’s time we make it more difficult for them to be here illegally. Will this law stop them? No, but it’ll make a big difference. It’s hard to tell, and it certainly hasn’t been tried yet.

This law isn’t racist

While I believe this law can be exploited for racist agendas, the law deserves a shot to measure its success. I don’t consider the law racist. Look, if you’re in Mexico, and you’re Black, Caucasian or Asian, you’re going to stand out. Look at someone in that country, listen to their accent, and you’re going to assume they’re a foreigner, despite their citizenship status. How is that different here? If you have an accent and speak poor English, you’re assumed to be an immigrant. The only question is whether you’re here legally or not.

Of course mostly Mexicans will be targeted. There are so many Mexican immigrants versus other nationalities in Arizona, so it’s not fair for naysayers to pull the race card. In my job, I run into many people who have foreign accents. Most common I’ve seen is slavic. In fact, I run into more Europeans at this job than I run into Mexicans, if that surprises you. Racism is just another cover-up being used, (especially by most politicians to appeal to minority voters) to argue against it.

This blatant drop of the racist card is a pathetic move by the opposition. Instead, they should come up with an alternate plan to propose in order to bring a balance of justice for both the country, and its people.

What it will cost us

The only thing more disappointing on my mind is the American involvement. Will our society adjust? I’m not so sure. Who will take the jobs the Illegal Aliens are doing? Not many. Sure, unemployment is high enough, but most Americans will be too proud to take the job at such a pay, or won’t be willing to work so hard in the sun all day. The hard working American man is almost a dead breed. We’ve become a nation that demands this and that, but won’t do what’s necessary to obtain it.

We’ve become the lazy man who won’t get off the couch, except to answer the door when the pizza delivery guy rings the bell. Chances are, the same man would probably yell at him to come in, so he won’t have to get up.

Therefore, labor costs will go up due to higher wages, and the costs of most products will increase. Chances are. Mexico will impose higher costs of their own products as well. Frankly, I find it better for the country to support our local agriculture, even if it costs us a little more. Most cases, it’s not that much.

Is America willing to do what’s necessary? I haven’t seen much evidence to support the assumption that they will.

Why I think Apple bites the big one

2009-07-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

I don't understand how such a "reliable" product can go south so fast, so often. I'm an above average user and I take care of my electronics. I have a means of keeping it cool when gaming, so heat can't be an issue. bottom line is, I don't abuse my stuff, and I take good care of it.

So apple tech support finally decided to replace my laptop with a newer one. Sweet deal, right? No. See the model I have now was then selling for $1,999. It's a 2.2 core 2 duo with a dedicated graphics card with 128MB ram. Well, I thought I was getting a fair deal with their 2.53 core 2 duo with twice the video memory. Only one problem. The blasted graphics memory isn't discrete, but shared. There's a huge difference here, mostly with performance. This means that ALL of my games and some of my programs which require a dedicated card will NOT work the way they do now, or not at all.

I know what some of you are thinking. Yes, I knew my replacement was less expensive than the model I have now, I should've researched the product specs more closely, and I should've double checked before agreeing to ship it. However, what I don't understand is how the pricks at apple didn't bother to offer an equivalent laptop based on what I paid for, not to mention the dedicated graphics memory. That's a big deal to me. Again, it was dumb of me to assume that all of their MBPs had discrete graphics memory.

Many of you will not understand the difference between a laptop with discrete vs shared memory. Therefore, I'm not even going to explain. Let the fact that my current laptop will outperform the demanding programs of my replacement be sufficient enough. If you have shared memory, a faster processor and twice the video memory will not make a difference.

It ticks me off and insults me that Apple would make such an offer. When this thing crashes out of warranty, I'm going back to PC.

Here's the truth about Apple. They're just like every other company. Their products are just as unreliable as other brands out there. They just look nicer and have cooler features. They also know how to market their stuff. Granted, the hardware in their computers work more efficiently as a whole, but that only makes the product more stable, not more reliable. Don't believe me? Google their older NVIDIA 8600 GT chipset (which is what I have) and all the problems they've had with it on the MBP. Lucky for me, I've only had it fail once on me, and even though I can't run any anti-alias features without getting a solid grey screen, at least it still performs.

Since 2008, I've switched 7 people back to PC and sold over a dozen people on getting a PC for their first laptop.

Why do I do this? Because they can get a windows laptop with almost the same specs as my MBP, twice the video memory, and all at $750 plus a three year warranty with geek squad, which is basically the same as Apple's genius bar. At least when something fails there in a big way, you could get a replacement model much faster, and in-store. And since the closest apple store is 320 miles away, as opposed to the 30 miles to Best Buy...well, it's more convenient as well.

For the same price of the machine I have now (which values at $1,699), I can get a Studio XPS 16 by dell with the same processor. Not only that, I get a discrete GPU (which means the graphics card does almost all the work a CPU would normally do), but I also get 4X more memory, which is also discrete. The screen is a 1920x1080 full HD RBGLED backlit screen. In simple terms, the screen has very vivid color, and need I say quite accurate. I also have expansion available (such as an additional headphone jack), plus e-SATA,VGA and HDMI ports. Well, I did also get the three year warranty included in that price. How much does apple charge again? Yeah, I saved money. I bought this Dell refurbished and saved even more money as well.

What did I sacrifice? ok, it's bigger, the battery is short lived, I don't have OSX (FYI, you can run OSX on this Dell. However, I won't speculate exactly how I act upon that knowledge) and it's heavier. Worth it? Given the hardware is superior in performance to the MBP in most aspects, and ties in the rest....I'd say I got a great deal.

Sir Rants-too-much

The AZ immigration law: racist? nah...

Why I think Apple bites the big one