Oil, Bricks & Fruit

There are two topics in the news right now that annoy me. I feel so saturated with coverage for illegal immigration and U.S. oil dependence that any mention of either makes me grind my teeth.

What I find most irritating is the way that, when both issues are covered, it seems to be done in a lecturing tone. "You there, reading this article, are a close-minded oil-guzzling self-centered fat American!" We're told repeatedly that all the bajillion illegal immigrants want is 'a better life', the implication being that they need to come here to get it. We're also told repeatedly that we are addicted to oil, the implication being that we are self-centered bastards for guzzling the world's resources.

What about the 300 million of us who just want ' a better life', and have gotten educations, worked hard, and gone into debt to pay for the houses that the immigrants build? The 'better life' that we all want, whether born here or on the other side of the border, comes in large part from oil. The fruit the immigrants pick comes from oil. (Unless someone has invented a tractor that runs on water.) The houses immigrants build come from oil. The trees are chopped down with gas-powered chainsaws, the wood is trucked on gas-burning trucks and the bricks are made in plants that have heat and light.

How ironic that much of the oil we need sits under Mexican soil. Maybe we could let them stay if they'd each bring some Mexican crude with them.