courtesy of joseph20
Posted on 06/11/2007 2:31:17 AM PDT by GOP_Raider
One of the first things they did when they saved enough money was go back and apply for legal status, which they got before the floodgates opened in 1965 because they were plainly good citizenship material.
So I will always beleive there is cream even among the illegal alien crop and efforts should be made to accomodate such people, even if they make up a small minority.
I'm sure that's true, and the maximum level of accommodation I'm willing to make for such folks is a "path to legal status", not a "path to citizenship". There HAS to be SOME penalty for coming here illegally and continuing to commit crimes (fraud of various types) to stay here. Anything else is a slap in the face to those folks waiting patiently "in line" outside our country to come here via the LEGAL avenue.
courtesy of joseph20
Which works for SOME things (like pecans), but not for others (like apples, tomatoes, and quite a few other things). The impact of hitting the ground results in bruised fruit, which spoils rapidly. That's OK if your final end product is applesauce or orange juice, but not if you want apples or oranges to sell.
A lot of really bright folks in the various reseach centers at the A&M colleges have been trying to develop harvesting equipment for a LOOOOONNNNNGG time. They've succeeded admirably for quite a fews things (corn, soybeans, sugar cane and many other crops), but have been unsuccessful for others. Of course, they're still trying, and might get there yet--but thus far have not.
Because there is a group of folks whose job it is to do just that--there is a whole field of techology under constant development at our A&M colleges to do just that---develop ways to automatically harvest crops. They've succeed in quite a few cases, but there are things yet that still need humans.
"Get rid of the magnet for illegals, and the technical solutions to agriculture problems are going to appear. We don't farm like we used to a hundred years ago, do we?"
Nice wishful thinking. Unfortunately, it hasn't happened yet, despite quite a lot of grant money invested.
If you people from IDAHO continue to send this vermin, anti-American trash to D.C., shame on you!
FYI see my 23
If Craig runs again,I will be donating time and money against him. He is a POS who led Bush in saying that we only call it amnesty because we are stupid and easily misled. This morning on the radio he said it was because we are racist (not in so many words). He also said that because some business groups want them, that means we should want them.
What scum.
It sounds as though he is another candidate for "spending more time with my family" and other lies about "retirement."
I spent a few years in Idaho as a child. Each fall school closed down for a week and all the kids (rich, poor, whatever) went to the fields to pick ‘spuds’. It was GREAT fun and we learned more about our classmates than we ever did in class and everyone made some $$$. There was no need for illegal labor. And it was GOOD for all of us.
If the machine needs further development....then do a letter writing campaign to solicit more research funds instead of accusing peers of suggesting "imaginary machines".
2008. He has hinted that he may not run again. To my great dissapointment, Vasquez out of Canyon County dropped out. I would have worked for him, he is on the ball on immigration.
Which STILL isn't a full solution. There is still the problem of selecting fruit that is actually ripe from that which isn't. "Shake it all off the tree" only works from some markets, not for all. I suspect the Petersen and Wolford device doesn't have all the bugs worked out yet, or folks WOULD be using it. Farmers ain't stupid (I was raised on a farm in farm country, so I'm more aware of this than you think).
And really, I see no reason not to have a REAL guest worker program that has enough teeth to assure that the "guest workers" actually GO BACK HOME. My problem is with ILLEGAL actions. There are quite a few farmers who arrange transport (from Mexico and return) of totally LEGAL workers. If the "apple growers association" wants to set up and run such a program, let'em do so.
OK, good to know that. Then the question becomes, why should a farmer pay for such a machine, if initially, it will cost more than illegals? Generally, the cost of machinery goes down as more units are eventually made, but there have to be some first users. You can do all the research you want, but ultimately, it is the market that drives innovation.
Cheap illegal labor is the monkey wrench in this sort of progress. Seeing what Japanese engineers are able to do with robotics, I'm fairly confident that machines able to harvest any crop are just around the corner, if the economic incentive is there to invest in them. Like I said earlier, illegal labor is just cheap to the farmer, not to the society as a whole. The rest of the costs are borne by taxpayers and consumers.
If the fine people of Texas can replace Ma Richards, we can replace Larry Craig. :)
Why can't we have "A-Visas" for ag workers, like we have H1-B visas for foreign programmers? Don't "legalize" anyone or make them citizens. We don't make every Oracle programmer from Mumbai a U.S. citizen.
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