My friend John has a point.............

My friend, John Chellemi, and I had a spirited discussion last Friday night. John was drinking Sierra Nevada and I was drinking Tullamore Dew. We attempted to resolve America's foreign and domestic problems during and after dinner. John's son, Jack, and my wife, Pam were just about fed up with the both of us. Pam kept saying we were yelling. I don't think it was really yelling, just spirited discussion.

John is a contractor and spends some of his time riding in his truck listening to talk radio. This has given John the opinion that America is a mess and it is all because of illegal Immigrants, Obama, or liberals. These are the BIG THREE in the on-going right wing talk radio list of things to bash. I will try to list a few of John's points for consideration:

Illegal immigrants are draining this country because they use services and do not pay taxes. They send their kids to schools but don't pay property taxes, they go to the emergency room but the tax payers, like John, have to pay the bills. My point was that illegal immigrants DO pay taxes. They pay sales tax just like everyone else. They rent apartments and part of their rent goes to pay property tax. They buy gasoline and pay fuel taxes. And, many of these illegals use fake social security numbers to find work. Their employer with holds taxes and because the numbers are fake, they cannot file for a tax return. Illegal's pay Taxes, just like everyone else.

John thinks we need to win the war in Afghanistan. I think we need to follow the golden rule of do unto others as you want done to you. We do not want to be invaded and should not be invading other countries. The war in Afghanistan is UNWINNABLE and cost far too much. We need to bring the troops home and secure America. I suggested they be reassigned to the Mexican border to stop Illegal immigrants. John agreed that might help but he doesn't want us to give up in Afghanistan. He points out that "those people attacked us on 9/11." In fact the attackers were Saudi citizens and NOT Afghans.

John thinks health care reform can only take place after tort reform. John feels that too many people sue Doctors and Nurses and that these law suits drive up healthcare cost. He may be right. Regardless, do you want to be able to sue the doctor who amputates the wrong leg? I think we need some form of Universal Healthcare as a safety net for the poor. We currently pay these costs for uninsured patients in our Health Insurance premiums.

The bigger questions we need to decide are these: What do we want government to do for us? How do we want to pay for it?

The current $1.8 Trillion deficit and the decline of the value of the dollar will force these discussions and decisions over the next two years. These are not going to be easy times. I'm looking forward to a time when everyone is as smart as John and can discuss these options and alternatives as well as John. Thanks John, come back again soon.