While you were out

You leave for a couple of weeks and look at what happens.

President Bush has been pretty busy since we have been out of

school. During the break, he has extended his foreign policy to the

moon and Mars, he proposed changes to the country’s immigration

system and today he is giving his State of the Union speech.

On Jan. 7, Bush proposed new changes to the country’s

immigration system. Under his proposal, illegal workers living in

America now can join a temporary labor program. These workers then

receive a three-year temporary visa that is renewable one time.

This will curb the number of unregistered illegal Mexican migrant

workers and give the country realistic immigration laws, the Bush

administration hopes. The United States needs an immigration system

“that serves the American economy and reflects the American dream,”

Bush said about his plans.

This was an unexpected policy coming from the Bush

administration. Similar plans have been proposed by Democrats in

the past. This isn’t Bush’s most popular plan, but it seems to me

that the administration is coming more into grasps with

reality.

Like it or not, millions of illegal Mexican immigrants come into

this country taking jobs that Americans are apparently unwilling to

take. The goal of this plan is to allow these immigrants to work in

our country, without the fear of being deported and work toward

becoming a citizen and taxpayer.

It can be argued that Bush is doing this to win the needed

Hispanic vote in California, but this is what happens when sections

of voters become important, whether it be women or Asian Americans

or what have you; they benefit from politicians who are trying to

be reelected. I personally see the plan as progress to fixing a

fundamental problem this country has had for decades.

America has never been able to secure our southern border and as

our middle class becomes more and more educated, certain jobs

become vacant leaving employers desperate enough to hire illegal

immigrants. These immigrants live in our country, working jobs that

remain unfilled from Americans, despite a high unemployment rate,

and don’t pay taxes. Meanwhile, they are vulnerable to exploitation

from employers who pay them as little as possible. As long as they

are illegal they can never report abuse from employers or any other

crimes, but with this program they are protected and they are on

the track to become taxpayers.

Where there is water, there is life. And where there is life

there is…oil. No, I really don’t believe Bush’s plan to get

America to Mars is a ploy for natural resources, but I couldn’t

resist ripping off The Daily Show. Bush wants American flags to

wave on the moon’s surface again by 2020, in hopes for the moon to

be a stepping-stone to the red planet. Though I don’t mind or argue

Bush wanting to put exploration back on NASA’s agenda (I mean how

many times can we orbit the Earth before we run out of things to

discover), but how good does this make Bush look, patting the back

of NASA who is experiencing resurged popularity with its Mars rover

making headlines and the cover of Time. I can’t help but think this

has to do with China and its space program. Are we really prepared

for another race? Let’s hope so.

CNN reports that Bush is going to announce a new work force

training program aimed to prepare American workers for today’s

economy. He is expected to announce $120 million in grants to go to

enhancing work force training programs at community colleges. Bush

has a lot to prove to voters since being in the oval office. The

economy has lost about 2.3 million jobs since he took office in

2001, giving him the worst job-creation record of any president

since Herbert Hoover, as reported by CNN. Though the dollar amount

isn’t enough to fix the problem, it will hopefully help college

graduates become employed and reverse the boomerang trend, grown

children moving back in with parents, surfacing in America.

Its not surprising that Bush has been so busy, after all this is

election year and there are votes to win. I mean you can only catch

Saddam so many times.

Chris is the opinion editor of The Collegian. He is a senior

majoring in history and technical journalism and doesn’t understand

this Atkin’s diet craze. Double bacon cheeseburgers are healthy as

long as you take off the bun?