jm951

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hehe.

well, the story was: my husband and his brother went back to NM this weekend and packed up all the rest of the stuff we had left in the house we just sold. They were planning on spending the day unloading said stuff into the storage unit here.

My brother-in-law hurt his back. I can't really help because i'm currently sitting on a torn ACL/MCL/meniscus.

The rental truck was due back before 5 pm today, and it needed to be unloaded. Unlike Bill's case, it was pretty obvious we wouldn't be able to find a reputable "contractor" or mover in time.

So we hired them. Two guys, 3 hours of work, $40 each. Plus i made them sandwiches and iced tea.

Now, i chose the "i'd use them in an emergency" option, because that's what we did. The issue comes, of course, in the legality of the hiring, the legality of their residency, and the moral issues of helping the poor vs. standing behind the principles of immigration law, etc.

I have to admit, even though we hired them for the day, i didn't feel 100% comfortable doing so, mainly because of the legal and moral dilemmas it presented. Which is why i posted in SC, of course!

fire away!

Being a contractor, I can see hiring these guys for something like that. If the job required any real skill, like say, plumbing, wiring, carpentry, cabinetry, well, you'll get what you pay for. Further to the point, there are jobs that citizens would be glad to do but when the illegals are depressing the market rates for labor prices, how can a citizen, who pays taxes, FICA, etc even hope to compete? I often see these guys on jobsites, the only real upside I see to it is getting to fix the stuff they screwed up.

As far as "jobs leaving the country", how many jobs are being done by illegals? If the free market were allowed to function, the wages of those jobs would have to rise in order to attract labor. I think Smith's invisible hand should be allowed to do its job.

In addition, how many illegals are receiving entitlement handouts? What is that cost?

How much of the "Porkulus" bill is going to infrastructure jobs, jobs that are often have very high numbers of illegals working them. Think the money paid in wages to the illegals is all going to stay in the country?

Finally, look up HR54. The left used to say the conservatives were the facists. Who's trying to control the people now through economic and other means?

According to the Constitution, technically, there is no "right" to healthcare provided by anyone, especially the state. You do have a right to life, meaning the state cannot deprive you of your life without due process.

The problem at the moment is the cost of healthcare being driven up because of different factors. Not the least of which are people without ins being seen in ERs. Many of those are/have been illegal aliens who will never, ever pay for the care they get.

The system is messed up, but I don't see that adopting socialized, rationed care is the way to go.

Here's a novel thought... if spending more money would stimulate the economy, then why not give the people more money to spend, like maybe a tax holiday for 6 months so rather than the gov taking your money and spending it for you, you get to spend it. Only problem with that is the sheeple would see just how much the gov takes from them each check and it'd be extremely hard to reimpose it later.

soylent green!!!

congrats on the 100th, now if the jump suit wasn't highwater short.......

Most definately NOT an SE5. This aircraft has eliptical wingtips and a radial engine. SE5 doesn't. Past that, I don't know what it is. A crop duster of some type?

Just so long as you two remember to clean up your mess.

Alternative means to get to work? It'll be an uphill ride there and a coast back.

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Onsite repairman may become more local in their range. The city of San Francisco is only 7 miles across - the worst drive for someone local is still less than a gallon of gas. But that person may have no interest in taking calls for someone in Fremont 40 miles away. In truth, though, the awful traffic already discouraged that.

False assumption. If the repairman/contractors become more local in their work, then to maintain the equivalent levels of cash flow, more things have to break, or more things have to be built. If they do localize, and the overall level of available work is constant, then the amount of workers needed to cover an area shrinks causing unemployment. There could be an uprising of small shops that serve highly local areas, but the barriers to entry in the market can be substantial.

Make no mistake about it. Those businesses that operate vehicles to transport materials to jobsites will raise their prices. There aren't any hybrids available at the moment at a reasonable cost for the majority of those in the trades.

I'm a contractor and have to use my truck on a daily basis and believe me, I'm not going to absorb the extra fuel cost and neither will anybody I know in the same line of work.

As for the fat arses who drive Yukons- I referee high level club soccer. You'd be amazed at the number of SUVs the size of a small ship that pull up to the match and only one player gets out followed by the soccer parent. Said SUV is usually large enough to carry most of the team. There's quite a bit of whining going on over on the soccer boards about the cost of fuel to get to the travel matches. You'd think they never heard of car pooling.

rescue mutt.

we have chow/collie mix who's very sweet and lovable but dumb as a post.

How many sheets of plywood or drywall can you carry on it? In all the angst over higher and higher fuel prices, what about truckers, farmers and construction types who rely on the "gas guzzlers"? It won't be funny when the truck charge for a plumber, or electrician, or appliance service hits $150 before he even takes a look at your problem. How about UPS Ground quadrupling in cost and for one close to home, how much will jump tickets rise?

KE4PSE here.

Coolest thing I've done on 2m handheld was to bring up a repeater in Atlanta, GA from Mt Airy NC. I was using a homemade collapsible 2 element quad.

One of my neighbor's dog bit another neighbor's dog. There was a resultant fight over who was paying whose vet bills since one mutt wasn't on a leash (we have a leash law). This was over ten years ago and ultimately went to a jury (yes, jury) trial last year where nearly the entire neighborhood was called in to testify, mostly on one side. All this over a stupid dog bite. Sometimes I think I hear banjo music in this place.

Partly on the parking theme- what really gripes me is those people who will slowly orbit a parking lot only to stop and wait for the guy parked near the door to get in and leave, meanwhile clogging up traffic in the lot. Said driver is usually overweight, walks slow and doesn't care that his waddling into Wallyworld further tangles things.

Just park the darn car, walk a little bit, be healthier, don't clog the parking lot and quit ruining my life!!!!!

There might be something else besides gasoline on that woodpile. How do you say "hey yall, watch this" in German?

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"Very interesting.....but!"

Rowan and Martin's Laugh In. Goldie Hawn go-go dancing in a bikini with body paint. "Say good night Dick...."

Sad thing is I remember when they were on the air.

I'd go with fuel pressure from whatever cause. A new fuel cap is cheap, try that first. Past that, find a wrench you trust who has a gauge to check fuel pressure.

Next up, with 100k miles, time to change the muffle fluid and turn signal grease.

If you would take the time to read US history further back than the 1860s, you'll find that the New England states threatened to seceed long before South Carolina. That idea isn't limited to the CSA.

Glad to see that the car was the only thing damaged. Where I live, deer are the numero uno cause of accidents. Here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, deer can get fairly large compared to FL.

I can hear it and I know I have some hearing loss (age 50, too many loud noises- cars, guns, tools). It might be that my loss is not the same freq as the buzz, but it sure would be quite annoying.

One item that seems to have escaped this board's notice is that the strike took place in Wiziristan. While technically a province of Pakistan, by every report this is a lawless and ungovernable region by the legitimate Pakistani government. On paper it's part of Pakistan, in reality, it's a bandit's hideout where the Pakistani forces don't go or have control. So is it really "part" of Pakistan?

If the Pakistani government can't enforce it's own laws there, nor exert any meaningful control, then any action we take there to strike AQ is justified.

Don't hand me any crap about "if Mexico" or "if Canada" with regards to the US. The point is that in all of the aforementioned countries, there exists no parallel to the region of Pakistan where this strike occurred. Face it, there are parts of this planet where governments mean nothing and those with the guns make all the rules. In those places, I have absolutely no problem with a Hellfire candygram.

YOU might not be giving him a pass, but the original question remains... why did it take this long before anything was done about him and did the fact that he was on Boxer's staff have anything to do with it?