jenks - 12/02/09 15:05
Last time I was in new york I tried the public transportation feature of Maps- way cool. Unfortunately I found the GPS was often off by a block or so in the super-crowded downtown areas, which made it less helpful.

SnapTell is a cool one- you use the camera to take a picture of a book- and it somehow recognizes the book and submits it to some database- then shows you where you can buy it and who has the best price.

joshua - 12/02/09 08:54
Hi =)

lilho - 12/02/09 00:32
hi joshy.

james - 12/01/09 21:12
Photogene is a great photo editor
NASA is full of geeky space news and photos
AroundMe lets you look up businesses by type (restaurant, coffee, gas) and it lists them by distance on a map.

metalpeter - 12/01/09 19:35
People are paid under the table but not only illegals. Then there are some illegals who are paid under the table as well. Then there are some places where it is kinda ify like a truck pulls up people hope and and how ever many people fit on that truck get the labor job for that day. Then there is one other kind and those are the ones that come over and work off their debt, think of asain or other parlors. I think the tax concern is for undocumented Alliens. But in a way they would pay taxes to on any thing they buy.

In Terms of keeping campagn promises the bottom line is no one does. They run on this platform then once they get in office they instead of doing what they said they would do get all these so called expert advisors and then do what they say would be the thing to do. Barrack is no different then any of the other people who have been president.

jenks - 12/01/09 18:26
thanks for the input guys. I stand corrected. I guess I always thought illegals were paid under the table. I just sort of figured if they're not in the country legally, you can't really put them on the payroll. Guess that's where I'm wrong.

terry - 12/01/09 17:47
I will confirm that most aliens do indeed pay taxes. The big one is the payroll tax, that's your SS/Medicare (sometimes called FICA) that you see on your paycheck. It is deducted from their wages as well, and, I will add, unless they become legal they will never see any benefit from having paid it. Unlike Fed/State tax you cannot claim exempt from the payroll tax.

Most also have federal/state taxes deducted as well. I would surmise a couple reasons:
1) it is difficult and/or suspicious to claim exempt, especially if you're trying to avoid detection.
2) many do actually pay the taxes they owe on the income they earn...perhaps they are stupid, or perhaps they really are trying to 'do the right thing' and contribute to the society they are living in.

I get to talk to some of these guys once in a while at my job, and mot of them seem more than willing to pay the taxes that they owe from the income that they make (this is of course anecdotal). It is also a requisite of becoming a citizen that you do pay the taxes you owe for a number of years on all income earned while living here.

What I don't quite understand about this argument is that from what I see the problem is that employers are going to be providing more insurance and because they may employ illegals they will also be insured. Am I getting that right? And if so, isn't this a separate problem about getting illegal aliens off payrolls? I mean if you have a problem with a govt funded/run program, then isn't an employer-provided option better? And perhaps this minor (and I'm saying minor because I can't believe that more than a very small percentage of affected workers will be illegals) problem should be dealt with through existing routes, ie: NIS refrom or whatever instead of by attempting to use it as another route to derail the healthcare debate?

ajay - 11/30/09 16:09
Wow, (e:joshua). Washington Times?? LOL.

Illegal aliens do pay taxes. Even if the company is employing them illegally, they just use a fake SSN to do the withholding. Companies don't mind risking the ICE's wrath; but the IRS? Fuggedaboutit. You pay the IRS before you pay the mafia.

Now, to your question about benefits for illegals? I agree with you that they shouldn't get the benefits they're not entitled to.

But, I'll throw a couple of things out as discussion points:
1. Illegals will resort to going to the emergency rooms. Is that better or worse?
2. As a society, we all benefit if everyone has access to healthcare. Otherwise, the people who don't could be carrying around various diseases (for example, TB) which can bite us in the ass. I'm not an epidemiologist, so I can't say if this is a valid concern or not, but in my naive thinking it sounds like one.

And don't forget: it was your God, Ronald H. Reagan, who gave amnesty to illegals in 1986. So before you start accusing Democrats of shenanigans, a look at a decent reflecting surface would be in order ;-)

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

james - 11/30/09 15:41
But the article mentioned Senator Reid's office said there would be a provision preventing them getting benefits but also a fee levied against employers for them. So, I still don't see where the beef is in the author's argument. They offer information that undermines the thesis and then a non sequitur swoops in to save the day?

Undocumented workers pay taxes just like we do.
1)Sales tax when they buy things
2)Property tax when they pay rent
3)Income tax via a TIN (tax identification number) either through their employer or voluntarily on their own

joshua - 11/30/09 15:29
Jay - since Andy Stern and SEIU had a front row seat in health care negotiations and has visited the WH more than anybody else, you can bet that SEIU will be intricately involved in any immigration legislation that moves through Congress. SEIU has Obama in their back pockets and he is pretty much a shill for organized labor. I can't see otherwise how you could circumvent long established contract law and tell debtholders to screw off, just to simply give away tens of billions to the labor unions in Detroit, for example. (An Obama move that 75% of Americans opposed). It's clear that Obama and the Democrats have similiar plans in store for the SEIU and the immigration debate, public opinion be damned.

joshua - 11/30/09 15:23
Whether or not they pay taxes is irrelevant - if you are an illegal alien, I fail to see how it is that you can legally pay taxes, unless somebody around here could enlighten me. After all, how do you pay taxes without a valid SSID#, EIN#, green card, etc., or any legal authorization to work? How do you obtain authorization to work when you aren't legally established in the country? What the article says is that roughly half of the illegal immigrants pay taxes (the legality of which can be debated), and that the other half do not pay taxes because they simply are paid off the books.

No, the President's stated objective was that illegal immigrants would not be covered in the bill. Clearly that was a lie and it appears that no Democrats have an interest in stopping it, including the President, as a) there are really no provisions either bill that could expressly do so, b) Republicans had no input in either bill, so Demos have really got nobody to blame except their own ideas on the topic and the will of the people, which they have openly disregarded unless it suits their ideology, and c) yes, next year Congress will be attempting to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants, which really is amazing considering that it appears they believe that the healthcare bill/illegal alien squabbling will simply go away if they legalize them all!

jason - 11/30/09 15:18
Alex. The reason why it would be considered is the Democrats want more votes, more constituents. The cynical part of me thinks Andy Stern is licking his chops at the prospect of fighting for their wages (and his dues) when they become legitimized. They don't particularly care if the law is broken. That is literally dead last on their list of concerns. Someone who is "dangerous" to them is an 80 year old Gramma, false teeth clattering in her mouth while yelling at a Congressman. Don't ever believe a politician, especially one with a growing track record of being full of shit.

james - 11/30/09 15:07
illegal immigrants do pay taxes. Many don't pay income tax because they are hired illegally, though the article indicates that roughly half do. But, that is really not relevant.

So, if I understand this article, because immigration reform might be coming the health care bill somehow doesn't meet the President's stated objective?

Rev. Moon's paper is truly stellar journalism.

jbeatty - 11/30/09 14:09
I wouldn't go so far as to say they don't pay taxes. But I agree you should be a citizen to benefit from any sort of government program.

jenks - 11/30/09 13:49
Ok, perhaps I'm vastly oversimplifying, so please- someone explain it to me.

As I see it-
Illegal aliens are here (ahem) illegally.
they do not pay taxes.

Why is providing them with taxpayer-funded healthcare even being CONSIDERED?

uncutsaniflush - 11/26/09 10:36
Just in case I wasn't clear, I agree with you - (e:joshua).Any credible analysis of the situation that assumed foul-play would first have to consider that the census worker blundered into an area with illegal activity - either moonshining or marijuana farming. Based upon my familiarity with the area that is what I thought happened. The "tea party" "right wing backlash against the government didn't even cross my mind. To me, there was never any credible basis to believe such a thing.

joshua - 11/26/09 10:27
Well, this is my biggest problem with this - liberal commentators and bloggers blamed the right wing with really no single shred of evidence, other than whatever it is that they derived from their own biases.

Examples -

Andrew Sullivan, Sept. 26, 2009: "No Suicide: That's the one thing we know for certain now in the case of the Kentucky lynching...But the most worrying possibility - that this is Southern populist terrorism, whipped up by the GOP and its Fox and talk radio cohorts - remains real."

Ed Schultz show Sept. 28, 2009: "It didn't sound real good. My wife and I were traveling on the East Coast this weekend, in the car for three hours. We haven`t done that for a while.

Let me tell you, right-wing rhetoric in this country has reached a boiling point. Oh, the government`s the enemy. Every kind of government, local, regional, state...

Republicans have always tried to make the government the bogeyman. No matter what the subject, it`s the government's fault. But this is out of control. The fever pitch we`re experiencing in this country right now, I think has got a lot of people nervous.

A census worker, somebody doing a part-time job for the government, for America -- we`ve had the census in this country for 210 years. This man`s name was Bill Sparkman. He was found dead in Kentucky.

Most of his clothes had been stripped off and his census identification tag, it was Duct Taped to his body, and the word "Fed` had been written across his chest. Investigators don`t know who killed Mr. Sparkman and what the motive was. They still aren`t certain it was a homicide.

A lot of things playing into this right now. But we do know that census workers are afraid to go to work right now."

Mark Potok, Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center on MSNBC's "The Ed Show, Sept. 24, 2009: "I think the bottom line is it's a very rural area, and these are the kinds of areas where sometimes, you know, real white hot anti-government sentiment thrives. I think it's probably worth saying that I know that back in `95, immediately after the Oklahoma City bombing, I remember "USA Today" did a poll and found that 39 percent of Americans at that time felt that the federal government was an imminent threat to their liberties as Americans. Quite incredible.

I think that we are at a similar point in history right now, you know, where we've seen this anti-government sentiment very much whipped up by militia certainly but also the whole scene that we've seen develop around town halls and so forth."

Allison Kilkenny, Huffpo: "This is the kind of violent event that emerges from a culture of paranoia and unsubstantiated attacks. Personalities like Glenn Beck have irresponsibly accused the government of running FEMA concentration camps, and constantly stoke the fear of 'the Feds' taking over."

I could go on. Rachael Maddow, videos from People for the American Way, Village Voice, Diane Sawyer, Brian Levin, etc. Each one with a gallon of egg on their faces today.

uncutsaniflush - 11/26/09 09:41
(e:joshua), there is a strong anti-government ("fed") feeling amongst many in rural Kentucky and other appalachia states that dates back to Reconstruction or Prohibition or both. Additionally, there are still many illegal stills manufacturing 'shine. And the moonshiners don't take kindly to federal agents searching for and destroying their stills. And that is what the suicide worker was trying to use to his advantage. Anyone familiar with rural Appalachia would know that most in those areas ignore the government and underutilise existing government programs so changes in federal health care policies would be of little interest. So I'm with you on this one. The "lefties" were less than careful with the truth.

vincent - 11/25/09 20:32
The sad part is you may be one of the few people who remember.

What is sad is that next year census workers will come across hostile people and most likely they will be people on the lower end of the socio-economic scale. Unfortunately they will be short changing themselves as not being accurately counted will hurt them more in the long run than anyone else. For example Niagara Falls NY could be downgraded to a town from a city that will have funding consequences for many social programs. I guess they figure it is better to be safe in thinking that some temp with a clipboard is an under cover benefits investigator than someone trying to make the case for representation in congress and program funding.

heidi - 11/18/09 11:46
I'm glad I spurred your journalism... but I'm just going to ditto (e:james). *kisses*

vincent - 11/17/09 20:38
This post makes me think of a drunken conversation I had with a bunch of Women Rugby players this summer. It's funny as the one I was talking to was just venting to me on how her Ex broke up with her, went to some guy who was abusive to her and ended up getting pregnant within a month. The odd thing in my head was we were talking about sex & our sign "Libra" while there seem to be some weird chemistry building the entire time.

Who knows if these women are just trying to be something they are not and are in the end just confused.

metalpeter - 11/17/09 18:53
First of all good post and great question.

I agree with what people have said about labeles not fitting and the sexuality is fluid. There are all kids of things that I could never understand. I won't mention one of the things I don't get. The reason is, it is very often used as a way to bash lesbains, I wouldn't use it that way but I'm still not going to ask it anyways.

I'm guessing the women you met was really bi-sexaul. Or maybe she is one of those varations like she likes couples. Yes there are some men and somewomen who want to be with a man and women at the same time. Then there are women who would call them selves stright but go do bars and make out with girls, for fun, or to see what it is like, but who like guys and want to date only guys. So there as others have said lots of varations that don't fit into those little boxes.

theecarey - 11/17/09 15:47
(e:james) really summed it up, sexuality is fluid.

I'm a "straight" women who is only interested in men, have no working biological clock that I am aware of (haven't had any desire, real or abstract at any point thus far, and I would be shocked if the feeling ever emerged) and have made out with enough "gay" men to write a book. (quotes are to indicate the loose interpretation of the use of lables)

and I've met men through the years that had babies on the brain, but that is another story for another day.

So that is my long way of saying,the clock ticks in some and not in others, regardless of gender and sexual orientation.

joshua - 11/17/09 14:38
I have been wicked horny lately so it's not helping :( Haha!

jenks - 11/17/09 14:30
ha! yeah! haven't had any good ol' sex talk on this site in a while! go joshy! ;)

james - 11/17/09 14:15
Our model of sexuality is fucked. It really is a lot more fluid than we think it is.

For one, we think of sexuality on a continuum between gay and straight. Really, there are hundreds of other axises to consider.

We think of sexuality as being independent. Really, it is connected to everything in our lives. The relationships we seek, the way we spend our time, our sex, our history.

We live in a sexual universe but we think of it as geocentric. We need the Galileo of sex to fuck this shit up.

matthew - 11/17/09 13:51
IMO, I think it all comes down to the individual. I know for a fact there are some lesbians who have absolutley no desire to sleep with man. I know there are some gay men who never have the urge to sleep with women (I'd go more into this but I know my mom reads this site lol) just as there are surley straight men who never get the urge to sleep with another man, and vice versa. And then there's everybody else in between.