Western Baseball, Northern Heat, Southern Immigration, & Eastern... something eastern.

NL West Over 500
I intended to add this four days ago... but it's only changed a little. To all those who say the NL West is weak... on June 2nd all of the teams were over .500 Right now all but 1 are over .500 So this year the division is a lot stronger. In fact, it has the best record of the MLB. Now if only the Dodgers were to make up the 2.5 game deficit...

Tropical North Pole
In response to the global warming and melting poles, recent evidence suggests that the North Pole used to be tropical. Most news articles still think that global warming is a coming disaster. I do not find this to be that extreme of a situation. Studies have suggested that before the Flood, the entire planet was tropical. More details on that some other time. For now, just note that it is possible that the melting of the ice caps is not a global disaster. It might affect some things, but it does not appear to be unprecedented.

Illegal Immigration
Immigration is necessary to maintain the high standards of living in developed countries. This is primarily due to the low birth rates of most developed countries. Additionally, immigrants tend to be more enterprising, so they generate more money for the economy. Immigration is good. Legal Immigration.

Illegal Immigration is bad for a few reasons. Firstly, most illegal immigration involves exploitation of people. Transportation of illegals (by sea or land) involves risk... the people arranging the transporation are interested in money alone and because they aren't subject to safety laws and regulations or to lawsuits for breach of contract, they can get away with not safely delivering their human cargo. Secondly, the employers who hire illegals can pay very little for hard, dangerous work (or easy, safe work for that matter). This might temporarily reduce the cost of goods and services, but society has decided to have minimum wages, health insurance, safety requirements and other "expensive" items. They may cost more dollars but cost less on the human price. In the long run, the price is more than what consumer wants to pay. Thirdly, it creates a mockery of those who struggle to follow the rules and immigrate legally. Fourthly, it creates second class citizens. People who illegally immigrate always know they broke the law and are afraid of being deported, so they will put up with more abuse and suffer more hardships. Fifthly, illegal immigration inhibits innovation and development. Children of illegal immigrants typically do not have the financial freedom and education of those who are native born. This keeps them in lower end jobs and away from the universities. This is bad for society as a whole. Look at China and India -- the more students in college and higher learning, the better job growth and development is -- regardless of the wages. (Education reform is for another time as well). And Finally, it allows for terrorists and drug runners to infiltrate easier (greater numbers of people sneaking in makes it harder to catch the bad guys).

Walls, more money, troops on the border, better equipment -- none of these will stop illegal immigration. As long as someplace is viewed as being worth the risk, people will come. What needs to be done is a greater enforcement on the companies and individuals that hire illegals as well as those who help them across the border. It also needs to be easier for people to come legally. Being born in one part of the world does not make one better or worse than any other person. Those who happen to be born in a good area should not lord it over those who are born elsewhere. The U.S. (since that is the place of most illegal immigration) has plenty of room and could have plenty of jobs. To allow people to come legally would be best measure to stop illegal immigration.