Perhaps. And perhaps Texas found this a best-fit policy that allows the state to accommodate a problem in a way that's moderately beneficial at the expense of flat-out dealing with the complex, significant issues many in this thread have raised.

I'm enough of a populist to recognize that those types of compromises are practical -- that's how the system works, we'd all agree -- but that doesn't mean we should discard the will to be honest about what it is.

It makes a certain amount of sense -- though if we're talking about the act of making contributions legitimizing one's eligibility to receive benefits, then Oklahomans who pay Federal income taxes should have some skin in a game that makes use of Federal funds -- right?

I vote the same way most of you folks do, but this discussion is in serious trouble if this, Paul:

"Let me add that many of the Hispanics in Texas who have gotten citizenship in the last few decades end up voting Republican."

... is considered a positive measure of how immigrants "assimilate and conduct themselves more or less in the manner of other Americans."

Whether they vote Republican, Democrat, or not at all isn't relevant to this topic, as all three categories are fairly representative of how real, red-blooded Americans conduct themselves and are independent of what a student's tuition bill ought to be.

What's obnoxious and uncivil to me is the deliberate dodging of an important point that happens to be inconvenient to your argument.

I was aware that Texas doesn't have a personal income tax. Were you aware that institutions other than your own make use of Federal funds? Hillsdale's famed reputation -- and one I admire -- leads me to believe that you must have some sense of the situation at other institutions and how that money comes in.

In short: suggesting that paying state/county sales, gas, cigarette and indirect taxes, while ignoring all other legitimate/mandated taxes, is equivalent to fulfilling a citizen's obligations, is the love child of a low bar and a weak argument.

Here's a fairly good roundup of immigrant taxpaying, albeit cleansed, from Vanderbilt.

MMP has the filing rate of illegals at about 5%. Lots of relevant info over at the Mexican Migration Project's (Princeton) website.

Paul,

First, I don't care how Hispanics vote -- that's not part of this debate.

Second, you still haven't addressed the fact that tax collection for illegals comes at an abysmal rate. That has nothing to do with California (or Texas or South Dakota), so I don't know why you brought it up. Perhaps you're suggesting that the appropriate payroll taxes are deducted from their wages, but it might come as a surprise to you that the system there is a bit problematic, as it's not uncommon for businesses who employ illegals to have less than stellar reporting and taxation data.

Stop weaseling and address the point. How are you getting all this tax revenue out of folks who don't file?

Paul,

Please address the fact that so few illegals/undocumented pay taxes, as it's central to your argument.

C. U. Douglas,

Good point -- Thomas Sowell wrote something similar the other day when he said that while he didn't agree with Perry's position, he understood how a decent, humane man could reach the conclusion based on the circumstances.

Paul, et al,

About 6% of illegals/undocumented file tax returns -- apologies that I can't get to the source right now (in the middle of working), but I believe it's the Mexican Migration Project from Princeton.

Either way, the 'parents of these kids are good, solid, tax-paying folks! Bring on the revenue!" argument doesn't hold up.

You can have that much grey hair and still be called a "Young Gun?"

For anyone who hasn't seen Prof. Landes' stunning films on the Al-Durah affair, and more generally on "Pallywood", hop over to Second Draft:

http://www.seconddraft.org/

Once I helped a girl apply for a very small scholarship for African American students. She had a great application -- she was a wonderful candidate for any sort of scholarship -- and she received it.

They were awfully surprised when she, an alabaster Afrikaner, who was by every definition an African American, showed up to thank them.

I've got a standard response for the race question: "In 10th grade, it was the 100m dash. Or the 4x100m relay. We won a Center State Conference Championship in the 4x100m that year. 200m was okay, but I preferred the 100m. I don't know what it would be now, I don't have the speed of my youth, but I'm also not conditioned for distance..."

... and I'll go on until someone stops me. Usually it's quick, but some people will just sit there and listen. One work study weenie at the college bursar's office let me talk all the way through pole vaulting, diving, and giving up school sports to focus on bowling.

When in doubt, make it awkward.

The average kid has about 6 hours of screen time a day, which is made up of computers, television, mobile devices, etc.

Six. Hours. A. Day. glued to some sort of screen. I know how tough it is to stay healthy -- I'm tied to a screen about 12 hours a day.

And this is the issue -- the cafeteria reform advocates say that obesity and poor health comes from 8oz of chocolate milk and ~20g of sugar while ignoring the 1080p elephants in the room.

Nic, any idea what the kid does with his life now?

I work in the education media, and I've been using this example for months to demonstrate how upside-down and twisted priorities are not only in public education, but in the outfits that cover ed. I was saying just yesterday that in April, if you wanted attention for your school or district, all you had to do was tell the local paper that you were banning flavored milk.

It sounds flippant, but I wasn't kidding.

As the latest round of NAEP results have come out, we've seen that only about 9% of 4th graders can identify Abraham Lincoln visually (does it get much easier than his image/profile?!). But hey -- at least they'll have 10g less sugar pumping through their historically-illiterate bodies.

I love hearing, reading or seeing one's expectations -- great or small, I like both -- for the world. Not so much about one person's longview for themselves, but what they think something larger than themselves will be like later on.

My high school's cafeteria had a mural with two sections. On the left, we saw the past: a covered wagon scene of settlers and the nature around them. On the right, we saw a vision for the future that included non-traditional architecture, flying cars and -- my personal favorite -- a gas station selling fuel for $1.99.

It was an amateurish mural by school kids and I don't pretend it was more than that. Even so, it embodied a group's expectations for the future. That we'd have new technology and new buildings, but we'd still zip around in individual cars that needed to be fueled. It speaks volumes.

Their tiny answer to "What do we expect the future to look like?" -- which was, to me, a new look for the same classic life -- was painted over in a remodel a few years ago. Now it's gone.

Great video, Berlinskis!