A friend of mine recently lost the second of three of his children to a hit-and-run driver. The police have a description of the van; it is thought that the driver might have been Hispanic (this was in Las Vegas).

His first kid was the victim of a drunk-on-his @$$ Mexican illegal alien a few years ago, on a Los Angeles freeway. Get this: The police never even arrested this bozo; I guess they turned him loose to kill again.

The first two did the “typical” immigrant thing, worked hard, assimilated, and are now mostly well-off.

The third wave, however, was comprised in large part of people who had learned to get ahead by scamming the Soviet system as best they could. This latter wave is apparently the one which is famous for also running scams here in America (insurance scams, fake accidents, Medicare scams, etc.). In addition, many of them apparently get signed up for welfare benefits before they even get to this country. Neat scam for them, but horrible for those of us paying the taxes.

My significant other has an Armenian friend, a member of one of the two previous waves of immigrants (he’s well-to-do and still works very hard), who is embarrassed and ashamed of the scamming members of his ethnicity… gives Armenians in general a bad rep out here in Los Angeles.

During that time I noticed both Asian immigrants with high levels of education and income and upper-class Americans living in the Van Gotrocks neighborhoods, bringing in their aged relatives to sign them up for whatever benefits were available to them under the rules.

(You have no idea what a headache it is to try to calculate what granny is eligible for when sonny has a house, two cars, an RV and a boat.)

Once upon a time in America, going “on relief” was regarded as highly embarrassing and putting an aged relative on relief when you were perfectly capable of supporting them was shameful.

I have no idea to what extent this behaviour stresses the system, but I really don’t like what it implies about the loss of morale in our society.

http://rantsand.blogspot.com/

And whether or not any one of us likes the immigration laws, it’s not fair for some folks to jump through all the hoops and wait for years, while illegals pour over the border by the millions, disregarding immigration laws (and other laws) in the process.

Not to mention their medical bills… I’ve read that some hospitals along the border have closed down from the financial pressure of providing medical care for people who aren’t about to pay for it.