Taxation with representation

My father watches a lot of news programs. Mostly FOX. I think it's more for all the blond, female talking heads vs being a right-wing radical, but who knows. Hey, Megyn Kelly is hot, in my opinion. Anyhow, my politics are not the issue here, and his aren't either. FOX, to me, is no better or worse than any other news channel. They present the opinion they want, and people can either agree or disagree. I always have wondered why people watch news programs when they disagree with the politics so much. Oh well, that's a post for another day.

Anyhow, the point I was getting to is this. I've been listening as I sit here at the computer, wasting my life with frivolous pursuits of knowledge, and I've heard quite a few things I hadn't been aware of before. One of those is the fact that several cities have initiatives on their ballots to allow LEGAL immigrants the right to vote in local elections, such as city council, school board, and anything that affects day-to-day living. I'm entirely for this, as I've written about this before.

I think it's a great idea, and support it wholeheartedly. Which probably isn't surprising to anyone, as I'm an immigrant myself and feel I should have the right to have a say in my local community. One of the drawbacks to this, which I fully understand, is giving this right to people who have no vested interest in the community and don't really give anything back to it. Here in Bournemouth, there is a large Polish community, which breaks down along two lines.

The first - Polish people who have immigrated on a permanent basis and plan on making this their home permanently. They are part of the community, learn the language, and make the effort to assimilate into the population.

The second - Polish people who have immigrated on a temporary basis, and don't plan on staying any longer than it takes to save enough money to buy a house and a car. As soon as that's done, they head on back to Poland. They live together, associate together, work together, and make no effort to learn the language or to insert themselves into the community.

I'm not picking on the Polish, as there are other nationalities here that do the same thing, but its more prevalent with the Polish, and I have some background with this situation. Also, I'm not going to say it's right or wrong. But there are many Mexicans and Central Americans who do the same thing in the states. Again, it's not an issue of right or wrong. But not all them are illegal. Many of them here/there legally, and work legitimately.

The question is, if you give the vote to people like this/me, is it the right thing to do? The upside is you are telling people that they are productive and accepted members of the community, and the downside is that you are giving the vote to people who don't really care. But those people probably wouldn't vote in the first place, so it's probably an acceptable trade-off.

All-in-all, I'm for the vote. I'll still maintain (whatever country it is) that only citizens should vote in national, or mabye even state elections. I'm still up in the air about that. But I think anyone who is in a country legally as an immigrant should have a say in what happens in the community.

If you give people a reason to care about something, they most often end up working harder to take care of it.

One more go

So here I go again, giving it another try. At least for now. We'll see how long it will last this time. A little bit more than the previous ones, I hope. Things seem to be going somewhat better, and are a little more stable, so if I can get back to a regular schedule, I'll be able to keep this going. So, for those of you who are interested, a few updates:

Neeve -- things are going great, mostly. She'll be 7 in  3 weeks, which is hard to believe. Plus, she's getting pretty big. She's looking forward to being 7 and having her birthday. She'll have a party with her mother, and then come here for a party. She's actually looking forward to it, and doesn't have too many issues with coming over. She still does a little bit too much "I miss Mummy" with the big crocodile tears, but neither one of us actually believe it's true. She's having a good time, and only really has problems when she's getting ready for bed.

She's also learning French and taking swimming lessons. That's a lot more than I did in 2nd grade.

Family --  my father is back to visit. He's been here about 6 weeks. He's enjoying it more than last time, but mostly because the weather has been great, and just started raining and getting cold. He also got to know a few people while he was here last time, so he's not a complete stranger anymore. Plus, I have a car now and we can get around to different places, which makes it much easier.

Work -- much better, overall. Back working days, as the hotel Administrator and early Duty Manager every day. More money, better hours, and a chance to work up, if I want. I'll do more on this later. The job is okay, but it's some of the people I have an issue with. I'm not used to working in areas where 'good enough' is an acceptable standard. Laziness, sloppiness and being in it for themselves isn't the best way to be successful. Some good stuff going on, and some good people, but some problems also.

Personal life -- well, if I had one, there would be something to write about. Still not much in that area. I'm still broke most weeks after the bills are paid, so there isn't a lot of money to be chasing women with. So, mostly working, sitting at home, and a couple of beers at the pub.

So that's it for now. I actually have a couple of other posts written up and ready to go, so I'll get at least a week out of it this time. A note also. I'm being hit by spammers, so all comments will be  moderated in the future. But don't let that stop you.