Bird Feeder Story

[Mahnarch]

A story written by someone I don't really know that well.
We may have lunch once in a bit but, other than that.....I can't remember her name.

Anyway.

***

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it
with seed. What a beauty of a bird feeder it was as I filled it
lovingly with seed. Within a week I had hundreds of birds taking
advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food.

But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the
patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue.

Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the
chairs, the table...everywhere!

Then some of the birds turned mean. They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket.

And others birds were boisterous and loud. They sat on the feeder
and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and
demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore. So
I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio.

Soon, the back yard was like it used to be...quiet, serene and no
one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now let's see..... our government gives out free food, subsidized
housing, free medical care, and free education and allows anyone
born here to be an automatic citizen.

Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families; you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor; your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English.

Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to "press one" to
hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other
than "Old Glory" are squawking and screaming in the streets,
demanding more rights and free liberties.

Just my opinion, but maybe it's time for the government to take down the bird feeder.

[Classicblast]

That's an interesting analogy Mahnarch.

But you have a point that things that are just granted are at the expense of somebody since nothing is free. My 3 year old son likes poptarts. He doesn't have to buy them nor could he, but they're here for him because he's my son and I wanted him to have some poptarts because he likes them so much.

He is only 3 and doesn't realize that poptarts don't just appear in the cupboard, someone has to buy them and put them there.

So the government grants food to various people it's paid for by tax payers and sponsored by a governmental program the meal is not just there for them.

I know many of immigrants on the system. They come in from the Dominican Republics, or a South American country attempting to land a job in baseball.

That goes sour eventually if they don't make it so they either get in with someone as a drug runner or shovel horse crap for a living because they would rather do that than be sent home.

But they are somewhat similar to Mahnarch's analogy.

I had a very talented former teammate who would not lose the drug running. So he lost his position in baseball. About a year ago they found him shot in the head. What a waste of good talent.

But he falls under the Mahnarch umbrella here too.

[edlin]

Nice analogy, but...

Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families; you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor; your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English.

...I doubt that everything here was caused by illegal immigration. The population hasn't inflated to such an extent that the emergency rooms are choked with 'em, has it?

As for the housing arrangement, that's their business; if you want to live crammed into a teeny apartment to save money, so what? Many people in foreign countries are used to small living spaces.

The other points seem valid, though.

[grape]

Yeah, like I live in a tiny house, with 3 bedrooms and a small living room. With only room for a family of six. Actually, our house is shared by my aunt and uncle that my parents hate so much.

[Phil]

It must be hard to have tension between your parents and your aunt and uncle.

I assume you and your brother share a bed room? That would be ok though because you and your brother seem like cool guys.

[Classicblast]

As far as tight living goes there's not much worse than playing in the rookie league when you make very little money, and you're literally holding on by the skin of your teeth to stay in or try to get noticed by someone who will get you a contract, and you're sharing a small room narrowly more than an motel room. It's like a dorm situation when you have 3 other guys and they're partying and not as focused on trying to get higher up the chain.
Like I said it's like a dorm some people are there to learn others are there to party. Some think they can do both.

The Bird feeder story comes to the saying about give a man a fish and feed him for today, teach him to fish and feed him for life.

[grape]

phil said:

It must be hard to have tension between your parents and your aunt and uncle.

I assume you and your brother share a bed room? That would be ok though because you and your brother seem like cool guys.

Yeah, share a bedroom. Though we do get along very well. We even play music together, him on bass and me on guitar.

[Earl]

in the end, illegal immigrants basically even out from paying sales taxes on products and adding to the workforce. I hate the argument that they "steal" american jobs when in reality it still comes down to skill. If a person who has 2X the skill and was willing to be payed 1/2 that of a lesser skilled worker...who will get the job?

I think the illegal immigration problem has mostly stemed from the insane procedure to get INTO the united states. It's about a 6 year wait to get a green card and the fee to get in is like 650$ I beleive.

[jesusaurus]

oh gawd... here goes manarch trying to ensue another pointless argument on lewasite.

[dannyboy]

I agree with Earl about merits. If you're good at what you do you wont lose your job anyway.

And therefore illegals don't steal your job.

The only time that is a real issue is if they're doing some jobs for below minimum wage and in that case you probably don't want to work under those circumstances anyway.

I work at my dad's shop but if he told one of our guys "I have a guy here who is willing to do your job for less than minimum wage." I really doubt that guy would lower his hourly to match that.

Classicblast said already that he has sent some baseball players who's career was severed to his brother known at Lewasite as Thunderbird. Thunderbird has been able to find employment and green cards for about 7 guys over the last decade.

[Phil]

jesusaurus said:

oh gawd... here goes manarch trying to ensue another pointless argument on lewasite.

I don't think that was the idea. That was his opinion based upon analogy. You could use a different analogy to express your opinion too.

You can have discussion and a difference of opinion without it ending up as an argument.

Hardly ever does anybody go away from a difference of opinion changing their minds anyway.

That looked like an observation more than an attempt to bait other members to argue.

[cactus1]

Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up

Are you sure the taxes aren't paying for the war that we're still in?

The bird feeder analogy is forgetting the benefits that the birds bring.
Fertilizer for your lawn and free food if you manage to shoot one.

Similarily, immigrants bring their desire for labor.

Cactus IAA edit: Minor spelling typo fixes. I was bored

[Kimm]

Hi Cactus it has been a long time.

I dont think Mahnarch is really against immigrants in and of themselves because if you trace us all back some were all descendants of immigrants.

But there is a due process to become an immigrant.

Bird feeders? I could see a different analogy.

Suppose you were looking to get into a concert or a movie or whatever it is.

In order to get a limited supply of tickets the line was going to open up at 9am on Friday.
The cost is going to be $100 per ticket but when they get down to the last 500 tickets theyre going to be $300 a ticket. You hope to get tickets for $100 but rather than not have them at all youre willing to pay the $300 you want in!!!!

So at 2am Friday you get in line and so do many other people. At 9am the window is suppose to open but a bus full of people comes in and the line is circumvented and that bus of 130 people get their tickets for free. They are also given a coupon for popcorn and pepsi that you are changed $3 for a Pepsi and $4.50 for popcorn theirs is covered as well as not having to buy their admission tickets.

Now it gets better.

That 120 tickets given away have expedited the last few tickets being more expensive.

The group that doesnt have to pay for their popcorn and Pepsi leave bottles and bottles of unfinished pepsi and theyre throwing the popcorn as confetti. They didnt pay for it so they are likely to not respect it as much.

If you paid $4.50 for the popcorn you probably eat it all or share it with your group you probably arent tossing it around but non payers usually do not appreciate whats given to them because it comes too easy.

Thats not saying that immigrants cant be honorable or hardworkers because a lot are. But I dont disagree with mahnarch that if things come too easy the perks are often not appreciated.

[Mahnarch]

Yeah, Possum. You suck.
Kim nailed it down.

Free health care.
Free/lower housing.
Sudden "citizen rights" when they're not citizens.

If I handed you a completely constructed and painted model car you'd probably thank me and put it on a shelf somewhere to be covered in dust.

If I handed you a box of model car parts and you put it together and painted it yourself, you'd probably buy a gem case for it and dust it off every day.