Friday, July 18, 2008

The cost of illegal immigration

For those of you who only read me here I thought I would let you know that I sometimes use the blog to stoke the creative fires for my column, which as I'm hoping most of you know, appears every Monday in The Times Herald.
I'm not sure how to approach a future column I've been kicking around so let me know what you think. Maybe your comments will give me a little direction. We read a lot about the outlandish amount of money this country is spending on the war in Iraq. In fact, we had state Rep. Daylin Leach on Behind The Headlines a few months back and he was talking about all of the good we could do right here at home with the money we spend in Iraq. I didn't tell him then, but Daylin, that's exactly what scares me about Democrats, if you think there's some extra money out there you'll find a way to spend it. But that's not where I'm going today. We spend roughly $10 billion a month in Iraq. That's a huge chunk of change. But, just to provide a little perspective, do you have any idea how much we spend dealing with illegal immigration each month? No? I didn't either, but apparently it's more than three times that much. About a year ago I made another analogy to the war with the number of people who are killed on our city streets. I'm still waiting for the outrage. Look, I don't think anyone will argue that war is a good thing. It is, however, a necessary evil and we need to support our troops in every possible way. But we need to start paying a little more attention to what is going on right here at home. Where is the outrage against illegal immigration?
I'm telling you right now it is destroying our country. But that's just my opinion, what's yours?

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

New site not the same as the old site

It might look like it, but trust me, it's a heck of a lot better than it was.
Thank you very much for your patience. I know I've had to say that several times during the past year when it comes to our ever-evolving Web site, but we're getting closer to a site that is going to be fun for all.
The search option that everyone has been asking about is back, well, almost. We're in the process of bringing all of the stories posted from the past year over to the new site. We've also brought back one of my personal favorites, the online poll. You can also comment on a story, which I think provides critical feedback and encourages public discourse. Do me a favor. Take a quick look around the site and come back here and let me know what you think. Go ahead, I can wait. Thanks, I do appreciate the feedback. It's the best way to make the site better.