U.S. isn't Mexico's unemployment agency

Well, the president made his speech on the immigration issue Monday and the opinions on it are as mixed as they've ever been. Bush stated he was sending 6,000 National Guard troops to the 2,000-mile border, but only to provide intelligence and surveillance support to US Border Patrol agents. The troops will not catch nor detain illegal immigrants.

Nevertheless, the announcement has the usual suspects all in a tizzy -- such as Mexico, which warned earlier this week that it would file lawsuits in the United States if guardsmen become directly involved in detaining illicit border crossers.

Such arrogance. Suing us for enforcing our own laws. That's like a burglar complaining about someone installing a home security system.

When will Mexico come to the realization that our country is not their unemployment agency?

Statistics recently aired on Fox News may have some scratching their heads as well. Mexico is listed as the 12th wealthiest nation in the world, with more billionaires than Switzerland living south of our border. The country is rich in natural resources yet Mexico ranks alongside African nations when it comes to poverty.

Unfortunately, many expect this country to be the foster parent for the rest of the hemisphere and for every other nation on the planet deemed poor and downtrodden.

There's also a classic vicious cycle going on between our two countries. Mexico's economy and its corrupt government are being propped up artificially by the billions of dollars sent back by the illegals who work here. But every Mexican citizen of a productive work age and ability that isn't in Mexico impoverishes their home country by their absence.

Essential work that needs to be done there doesn't get done and as more and more of their citizens head north, Mexico drops deeper into decay and inefficiency, which of course, then results in more folks sneaking in.

Which may explain the disturbing numbers released by the Heritage Foundation about the current bill in the Senate called The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIRA, S-2611).

According to the report, the bill would quintuple the rate of legal immigration into the country that would increase the inflow of legal immigrants over the years from around one million per year to over five million per year.

In all, the bill would allow for up to 193 million new legal immigrants, a figure larger than 60 percent of the current U.S. population, during the next 20 years. Robert Rector, the author of the report, estimates that it is most likely that about 103 million new immigrants actually would arrive in the next 20 years.

Will the last person leaving Mexico please turn out the lights?

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Something has got to be done about some of the drivers on our county and state roads.

This writer has penned two different columns about the dangerous driving habits of some of our area's residents and now an incident on Monday has prompted a third one.

While heading into work from Tullahoma on Highway 41, I noticed a white four-door sedan move across the double center line to pass a pick-up truck about a half mile down the road.

The white car then remained in my lane.

Heading right toward me.

There was no shoulder for me to pull over to and I couldn't go into the opposite lane without getting into a head-on collision; the very thing I was now trying to avoid.

Honking my horn and flashing my high beams did no good. It was only when the lady driving was close enough that I could see her face that she seemed to notice she was endangering both our lives and then slowly meandered back into her proper lane.

I saw no cell phone to her ear, [and believe me, we got close enough where I could tell] she just wasn't paying attention to what was going on.

It's too bad that Tennessee no longer requires license plates to be placed on the front of the car as well as the rear, because I assure you that the call I would make to the proper authorities would have included that information.

We are long overdue for another horrific traffic accident with multiple fatalities and if people like the one I encountered keep up these kind of driving habits, we will certainly get one.