North Carolina Wedding

I have spent the past two days traveling to Raleigh North Carolina to attend the wedding of one of my best friends, Dan Vallero. Dan and I have known each other since we were babies. Dan is a great guy and a great friend and I am happy I had the chance to see him get married to his new wife, Elise.

Tomorrow I will fly back to Kansas City, but before that I am on a mission to get a real Carolina pulled-pork barbeque sandwich. Carolina is one of four barbeque capitals in the world. I have had Carolina style barbeque before, and I really like it (not as much as KC, but I like it) I will not leave Carolina until I get a real sample of the real deal. That being said, most of the people I have asked about barbeque since I have been in Carolina have failed to provide a favorite barbeque restaurant. In KC you don't have to ask, when people find out you are new to town they volunteer suggestions for where you should go for barbeque. If Carolina residents can't get even pick a favorite, that says a lot about the strength of their barbeque game.

I flew here on US Air, US Air is bankrupt, and cut employee pay by 27% last week, hopefully they stay flying until 5:25 central time.

I rented a car from Budget Rent a Car, and I was impressed. It is hard for a rent-a-car company to impress me, especially when they rent domestic cars, but Budget did it. Rent from Budget the next time you have a chance.

I stayed at Courtyard by Marriott, a great hotel for business travelers which I strongly recommend. The only surprise was that this weekend I shared a hotel with rapper Ludacris and his "posse". Are you kidding? No, Ludacris, staying at the hotel by business travelers, for business travelers in suburban Raleigh. Not to indict Ludacris's street cred, but "bling-bling rollin' at the mid priced business traveler hotel" is not what I expect from the rappers I admire.

Don't worry, I have two posts about the debates/Bush foreign policy/Kerry is a pretender ready to go, you will see them later today.

Timothy Burger

Bush on O'Reilly

I just caught the end of Bill O'Reilly's interview with President Bush, from what I saw, I thought the President looked strong.

The part I want to highlight is O'Reilly asking Bush about immigration.

BUSH: "If you can make fifty cents in the interior of Mexico, and five bucks in the interior of the United States, you're coming for the five bucks, and they're poor...It is a, serious issue. I happen to believe the best way to enhance the border is to have temporary worker cards available for people. And uh, I think it's best for the employers who are employing these people, I think it's best for the employees that are trying to find work. I think the long-term solution for this issue on our border is for Mexico to grow a middle class, that's why I believe in NAFTA,"

O'REILLY: We'll be in the grave.

PRESIDENT BUSH: "I don't think so, it's happening. Look, you, I wish I could have taken you down there and shown you the, the northern tier of states in Mexico, uh, ten years ago compared to today. I mean, it, it's happening....Free trade helps lift, lives, free trade develops commerce, free trade gives people a chance to realize their dreams. And so long as the wage differential is as big as it is, and so long as moms and dads feel the, necessity to feed their children, they're going to come and try to make a living."

(Note: edited for brevity by Timothy Burger, full transcript here.)

Bush goes on to say he opposes militarizing the border, and says the Border Patrol should be given the resources to do its job. As far as I am concerned, that is the clearest, best discussion of immigration from Mexico I have heard this election cycle. Especially here in the 3rd District of Kansas we have heard a lot of rhetoric about immigration, and a lot of candidates demonizing the people who come to the United States from Mexico. Generally, these people are hard working people who are in pursuit of a better life for themselves and their children. You couldn't live your life without people from Mexico, at least not at anything like the prices you pay now, that is a fact. Those people should be allowed to come here through some kind of worker visa program, it is the simplest way to deal with reality. It is good to hear the President put forth a strong argument tonight, he made me proud.


Timothy Burger