Post by halsca on Sept 9, 2005 17:28:54 GMT -5
This might be a bit off topic but you gotta admit it’s kind of funny and certainly original. The other day me and a few of my former San Dimas Canyon neighbors got together for a few brews, blunts and general camaraderie.
We met at our usual hangout a picnic area up in our local mountains. We started out with a barbecue then got down to some serious inebriation and discussion. As usual we start arguing but it’s in good fate. The normal topics came up, the high price of gas, the Iraq war and illegal immigration.
Illegal immigration is high on my gripe list, all of ours actually. Back in 2002 a couple of major wild fires devastated the area. All of us had our cabins burn down in the Williams fire which was most likely started by an illegal campfire in an area known to be frequented by what else but illegal immigrants.
The official cause for Williams Fire remains as “undetermined” some of us feel they withheld information on account of the equally disastrous Curve Fire which was accidentally started by candles used in an animal sacrifice by some people practicing Santeria.
We were engaged in our usual griping about general order 40 and why the forest service never seems to cite vehicles for non compliance to the adventure pass edict. For those unfamiliar to this stuff here’s a quick lowdown.
A few years back the forest service began requiring people parked in forest areas to buy and display either the 30 dollar annual pass or the 5 dollar daily pass. They used to enforce it vigorously, those without it were cited and had to pay a 50 dollar fine.
Now days it seems that they only cite fishermen and cyclists and hikers, forestry officials avoid areas where “the brown hoards” congregate. This goes double for weekends, we’ve all seen dozens and dozens of vehicles without them, the rangers drive through the areas now and then but never stop.
The sheriff department also used to issue citations but on account of general order 40 they stopped. Their official story is it’s the forest ranger’s job, but in the past I’ve seen county sheriffs ticket parked vehicles for this too.
OK so one of my buddies states something I’ve never heard before. The mother of all conspiracies according to him. We all agree that illegal immigrants keep wages down and drive rents up; this is good for business people and apartment owners. This dude says that illegals also boost military recruitment so don’t look for any change in our border policy.
I ask him what the hell is he talking about. The man stated that young people without a collage education are basically screwed. Most of the entry level jobs are taken by illegals now days, they either have to work for slave wages for years and years or figure out a quick way to get ahead. Collage is expensive so young people whose families don’t have the funds but are too well off for the usual programs have to turn to the military.
He cited the growing numbers of commercials featuring young men of minority races saying how much money the army is going to give them for collage. One really annoying one had this young black dude taking with his father about all the money he’s going to get for collage from the army. His father is against his joining up but gives in on account of the collage funds.
At first I laughed but the more I thought about it the more sense it made. Schools don’t teach the manual arts anymore. When I graduated from high school back in 1980 I had all the basic skills needed to get an entry level job as a machinist. While I can barely compose a sentence I could set up and run an Okuma engine lathe and Bridgeport mill. I also knew shop math and could read blueprints.
My friend states this is no longer the case, kids hitting the job market now days without the benefits of at least some collage or technical school education have to compete with immigrants who have the necessary skills and are more that willing to work for entry level wages for YEARS. He may be right, that’s the part I find funny and a bit scary too.
Please don't go calling me a freaking racist, I'm also Latin in decent, Italian but I LOOK like an American Indian and I'm proud of it too. ;D
We met at our usual hangout a picnic area up in our local mountains. We started out with a barbecue then got down to some serious inebriation and discussion. As usual we start arguing but it’s in good fate. The normal topics came up, the high price of gas, the Iraq war and illegal immigration.
Illegal immigration is high on my gripe list, all of ours actually. Back in 2002 a couple of major wild fires devastated the area. All of us had our cabins burn down in the Williams fire which was most likely started by an illegal campfire in an area known to be frequented by what else but illegal immigrants.
The official cause for Williams Fire remains as “undetermined” some of us feel they withheld information on account of the equally disastrous Curve Fire which was accidentally started by candles used in an animal sacrifice by some people practicing Santeria.
We were engaged in our usual griping about general order 40 and why the forest service never seems to cite vehicles for non compliance to the adventure pass edict. For those unfamiliar to this stuff here’s a quick lowdown.
A few years back the forest service began requiring people parked in forest areas to buy and display either the 30 dollar annual pass or the 5 dollar daily pass. They used to enforce it vigorously, those without it were cited and had to pay a 50 dollar fine.
Now days it seems that they only cite fishermen and cyclists and hikers, forestry officials avoid areas where “the brown hoards” congregate. This goes double for weekends, we’ve all seen dozens and dozens of vehicles without them, the rangers drive through the areas now and then but never stop.
The sheriff department also used to issue citations but on account of general order 40 they stopped. Their official story is it’s the forest ranger’s job, but in the past I’ve seen county sheriffs ticket parked vehicles for this too.
OK so one of my buddies states something I’ve never heard before. The mother of all conspiracies according to him. We all agree that illegal immigrants keep wages down and drive rents up; this is good for business people and apartment owners. This dude says that illegals also boost military recruitment so don’t look for any change in our border policy.
I ask him what the hell is he talking about. The man stated that young people without a collage education are basically screwed. Most of the entry level jobs are taken by illegals now days, they either have to work for slave wages for years and years or figure out a quick way to get ahead. Collage is expensive so young people whose families don’t have the funds but are too well off for the usual programs have to turn to the military.
He cited the growing numbers of commercials featuring young men of minority races saying how much money the army is going to give them for collage. One really annoying one had this young black dude taking with his father about all the money he’s going to get for collage from the army. His father is against his joining up but gives in on account of the collage funds.
At first I laughed but the more I thought about it the more sense it made. Schools don’t teach the manual arts anymore. When I graduated from high school back in 1980 I had all the basic skills needed to get an entry level job as a machinist. While I can barely compose a sentence I could set up and run an Okuma engine lathe and Bridgeport mill. I also knew shop math and could read blueprints.
My friend states this is no longer the case, kids hitting the job market now days without the benefits of at least some collage or technical school education have to compete with immigrants who have the necessary skills and are more that willing to work for entry level wages for YEARS. He may be right, that’s the part I find funny and a bit scary too.
Please don't go calling me a freaking racist, I'm also Latin in decent, Italian but I LOOK like an American Indian and I'm proud of it too. ;D
