In the architectural void of South Florida, i have become dissensitized to the wonders and pleasures of human creativity and simple beauty of architecture. Sadly the only places of architecture are the condos lining the ocean front, however even they are not as exciting as what i saw in The District.

The defining characteristic is that no two buildings are the same. The old post office building built in similarity to old cathedrals is a wonderful example, although not appreciated by the residents or the media.

The Eiffel Tower suffered the same criticisms and complaints although now being an icon of Paris. 

The Post office is not a well known icon of DC but  it does remain a beautiful architectural piece that was only saved by the lack of funds in the 30s and the subsequent change of heart as to its demolition. 

Even the building on the photo, is a fabulous example of design and creativity, an expression of art and style. 

Even the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building, although not magnificent or exceptionally beautiful, is a work of art.  Designed to be an imposing file  cabinet structure produces more thought and ideas than a condo designed to be as pretentious as possible with fountains and ammenities  at the sacrifice of its own soul and the gift of life by the artist.

I am not trying to say that all the buildings here lack personality, although sadly its very few and far in between. Construction here seems to be more of utility interestests.  Structures that are built fast, as cheap as possible while remaining under the strict hurricane code, and usually lifeless.  

Perhaps its the provincial nature, perhaps its the tropical nature, but we do miss out.

A discussion over a game of chess on facebook, some lines ommitted:

Bosco : hmmm, I dunno man. chasing a feeling may not be the way to find culture in a different city...I dunno...but a change in scenery I can understand. I had that when I wanted to get out of Utah and Boston then went to Amsterdam. I wonder if we can associate place and self. Some people might sense comfort in one place as opposed to another. But I wonder the extent to whcih that is true or maybe it's something purely internal and convincing one's self that a particular place is perfectly suitable for him. What do you think? the connection between place and self.

Zhenya : absolutely, culture by feeling is wrong, i guess culture is not the right word of what i am looking for. I agree that there is a definite connection between self and place, i suppose one can say that energies of both kind of align. We will see when i visit there, but a change of scenery is definitely in order :). I think i definitely know where to sense comfort, i also agree that it is not certain if its a projection of belief into reality , or actual reality.

Zhenya : Interesting thought, places have often called to me instead of me projecting. For instance, i wanted to go to spain, but couldnt find a program , then a friend told me about UvA, everything just worked out. Same thing with portland, it kep coming up in movies and tv shows i watched so i tentatively decided thats my next adventure heh. I told karin (my lady) about it, and same thing started happening to her. I dunno man, world is a mysterious place, that is the main reason i put less faith in science than most. It just cannot explain things like that, acausal connections. I read a great book by Carl Jung. Synchronicity. Acausal connections are all around us, but we have been kind of conditioned to disregard them it seems.

Bosco : hmmmm interesting...so what would be defined as an acausal connection? this is interesting because this is along the lines of seeing "signs" or some kind of "indicator" for something. Many interpret as a sign from god when there are things that can be interpreted as a message to do something. i guess it's kinda like a scene out of 'burce almight' when bruce is all pissed at god and is asking for a sign and these trucks pop up. or even the movie '23' when all he sees is the number 23. similar scenes are represented in the movie 'pi' and even mentioned in discussion between the main character and his teacher. it's interesting when something is said to be a sign of something greater...a calling to a place or to do something or whatever...

Zhenya : well, in the book he has an example of a woman who seems flocks of birds outside her winfow before someone in her family dies. For each of 3 deaths i think, she saw exact same omen. it is interesting and even thoguh many blow it out of proportion like "jesus sandwich" i believe it, i notice it. Like i will think of something and then it happens. Premotions of sorts

Bosco : hmmm but to what degree can we attribute something to coincidence, faith, or god? and maybe we see something because we want to see it. kinda like the creation of meaning based on what we believe

Zhenya : indeed, you are absolutely right, however random things just make you go hmm, instead of a belief confirmation. Like for instance, an insignificant example, i thought of a movie randomly, i turn on the tv and it was on. Once, twice, three times, you start to wonder. It is not because i believe i can control programming, or i can foresee future, but it is left unexplained.

Zhenya : i completely believe in acausal connections. The way i met my gf was odd, everything just fell into place, she came back to work there day b4 i started, broke up with her bf very soon after that, there is more, butthat was a weird "fate" of sorts.

Bosco : Exactly. I think that's the question, what is it that we call fate? And when does the human mind decide to determine when a seemingly arbitrary event that is seemingly reinforced with previous events, to be called fate or destined by another power or a causal power that we do not understand.

Bosco : Fate seems to be a product of how we create meaning in our lives and the term and what is associated with that term is a tool to create significance to reality...it's interesting, that which we call fate and destiny

Zhenya : well, perhaps it comes down to language and definitions. What is fate? i accept that psyche might fill in gaps, but i also notice and observe acausal connections outside of myself. Hmm. Destiny is a harder one for me to accept, i think we make our own destiny to a certain extent but not completely. Many of things we do not control make up our destiny as well as our conscious actions.

Bosco : well apart from the language and definition, there are occurrences that people attribute certain causal properties, which may or may not be linked to their state of mind when that occurrence happens.

Bosco : i had a friend talk about synchronicity and how the radio played a song that he was singing when he went to the gas station to pick up cigarettes. and while he was singing that song, he turned on the radio and that song was playing and he happened to be in synch with the song as it was playing on the radio. now here he could attribute how his state of mind was in synch with the rest of the world as what he was thinking manifested on the radio. he could attribute it to chance or he could have attributed the causal relation to something greater, god, or even attribute it to the power of his mind to influence the world

Zhenya : i would say it was either manifestation or synch because same thing happens to me often. How about this example, you are sitting at a red light and you turn and see someone behind wheel car next to you, suddenly they turn and look at you. perhaps you could say their peripheral vision picked you up, BUT, say you have dark tint, as i do, and the other person couldnt see you.

Zhenya : there are numerous examples and possibilities to cite, but i dont know if i could just say that its you frame of mind when there is an external environment manifest reaction

Bosco : yea...it is a quagmire, perhaps something to investigate as well

Zhenya : what do you think of the concept of time? Does time move through you, wearing you out what we call aging, or is time the still one and we are moving through it.. Essentially that would be in different directions. But statements like something is coming make me think that many would say that its the time that moves and brings sorrows and joys and changes.

Bosco : hmmm, well i think this is an interesting duality, the internalization of time and the externally imposed time. the latter being one socially constructed based on the movements of the sun, the orbits of the planets, and how the sun and moon dictated night and day. however here we're asking about the existential understanding of what we call time and how that relates to the inevitably reality of aging i.e. the progression of one's own time as it is manifested through this seeming "progression" of self. but then again it's interesting to think about how we all have come to be thus far and will be in the future and yet remain essentially ourselves. so i guess the difference is really how do we understand the progression of self as opposed to the externally imposed social movements based on the invention of the clock-the sundial-the derivation of the sun's rotation in relation to the earth's.

Zhenya : hmm, well of course the human calculation and social interaction has produced the calendar, track of tiee and such. What i mean is of course the existential understanding, in the grand scheme of things time is not time its just a c ontinuation . Its hard to say what i mean by that, but i dont think its clear whether the individual experiences time coming towards and through that individual or if the individual moves forward through time. Our reactions are thus based on the atmosphere time itself places us in. It is easily identifiable with statements like "armaggedom is coming" and such.

Bosco : true i agree that the existential phenomena of how individuals experience time is not so clear. and although there are statements such as "armageddon is coming" or "the end is near" or whatever, which insinuates that time flows through us, the other side of the token is "i'm going to grab breakfast" or "i'm going into finals week" or whatever, which implies that the individual is moving through time. The dichotomy is interesting as the individual is constantly in a movement of flux as is the external social construction of time-as it too is something that is always portrayed as moving. so to me, at least without deeper meditation, would be that both time and the individual is in a state of constant arrival and departure in such a way tha the experience of time is felt in both directions. something that i experience as i move through my day and night and the activities entailed within them, as well as the idea that time is flowing through me, as a passive self.

Bosco : so the duality would seem that the experience of time is felt to the degree of how one feels as a passive or active being. for me it would seem that both are constantly moving through one another all the time and yet which one we actually experience and understand through our cognition is one that is left to the perspective of self one holds at the time of contemplating or experiencing time.

Zhenya : hmm, while i do believe you hit on all the points that went through my mind thinking about this notion, i do find more evidence of time's action. Statements such as "im going to grab lunch" or the like to me do not really relate to time in a way as the wait for "arrival" of new year , or one's birthday, grab lunch is a direct action irrelevant of time. Even statements like "im going to be 28" next year also imply movement towards you and to some extent irrelevant of your action or input. Even Obama's statements that "change has come" although rationally of course imply all the hard campaign work and a positive message and brilliant orator, that too , to me seems like something that time brought. Black people have waited for this historical moment for many years. Of course i am not taking anything away from obama, the man is brilliant, but i am not sure if everything would pan out if the situation in country was different. I am getting into another topic all together, i know.

Zhenya : But, we have to wonder if change is a gift/curse of time, and i know that brings in a religious aspect to it, but it seems so much greater than just people. I look at how crazy the entire world is over Obama, and i wonder. But back to the issue, it seems then that when there is a specific action one can take i think the dynamic is changed and time becomes to a large degree irrelevant, i could moe today or i can move in a month, my birthday will come again next year...

Bosco : right, well i think you got several issues here. and the expressions of time, who knows they may be a product of acquiring english and living in america using american expressions, which may or may not coincide with other english speaking countries and may or may not be similar to non-english speaking countries. to a large degree time is somewhat irrelevant if one is not concerned with how the future manifests. so time in a sense could be how we characterize or express its conception. and to what degree we move through or time moves through us, can't really say i guess. although it does seem that time is moving through us-but i think this is almost contingent on how we've habituated our daily lives. habit is static and repetitious- day in day out doing the 9 to 5 etc. and to this end it would seem that time moves through our lives while we're rooted in one sense or another. i think we can also add the element that because we are constantly in our own heads that contributes to how we

Bosco : view time. whether change is a blessing or a curse, i dunno. we can look at other political systems and check the degree the occuring change is similar or dissimilar. but there will probably never be the exact political system-precisely because the nature of society changes. global political climates change and global society is persistently evolving. so whether something is beneficial or detrimental for the world/society, it's pretty hard to tell.

Zhenya : i do agree, change is very hard to label good or bad, it is change, and thinking makes it so . I think that , yes, time realistically speaking is irrelavant, but we do study the past as though we are separated from that, from the outside , which i guess serves to say that we are separated. We are separated by time. I want to say that time moves through us as well.

Bosco : mmmm, I dunno if we're seperated from history just because we write about it as if we are all detached from it all. I wouldn't discount history as something seperated from the present. I agree that there are different zeitgeists but I think the past relates to the past in the sense that it provides the background and the foundational groundings for how we have come thus far. But of course, we should consider how and to what degree we are talking about history and how we define history. I don't think the term "history" is as clear as everyone supposes it to be. But I wonder to what degree time is relevant or irrelevant. We speak of time because we are agents in constant flux and movement as we are bound to the social agreements we make to work and promise each other to meet. time is an interesting concept. whether it moves through us or we move through that dimension in the space-time continuum. I think it all might be differently supposed depending on how we characterize the nature of

Bosco : time and how it relates existentially to our lives. Age is definitely something that is a index or a measurable relation to time. and we cannot say that time is simply irrelevant as we look at it, I am not necessarily the same as I was ten years ago and yet I do remain essentially me. so i think time differs in how we discuss it pending on the perspective we take on its relevance or irrelevance.


Zhenya : well, first of , i think we are seperated from history. I can read about Aristotle, but i cannot meet him, or know him, its only through the words of others. I cannot witness world war 2 , i can only learn about what people who lived through it wrote down or told me. We are connected to our history, for instance i could tell future generations about the obama election. Time plays a role in our lives, yes, but its only a role we give it. I am different now than i was when we were in amsterdam, but it is something that has evolved. I guess our definitions force us to think of evolution as change in time, but the key word is change, not time.

Zhenya : well, first of , i think we are seperated from history. I can read about Aristotle, but i cannot meet him, or know him, its only through the words of others. I cannot witness world war 2 , i can only learn about what people who lived through it wrote down or told me. We are connected to our history, for instance i could tell future generations about the obama election. Time plays a role in our lives, yes, but its only a role we give it. I am different now than i was when we were in amsterdam, but it is something that has evolved. I guess our definitions force us to think of evolution as change in time, but the key word is change, not time.

Bosco: Ah yes, but even though I cannot see nor witness the creation of the central bank and the federal reserve, it still affects my life. Although I've never met my grandpa it does not mean that I am entirely seperated from him-his genes are in mine as well. And even though we did not witness the holocaust, the effects from it still ring through international legislation as the UN vowed to never allow another genocide occur again. And even with many other things-technology, science, huamnities, medicine, etc. etc. all of these things have allowed modernity to exist as it is today and allows me to exist as I do today. And I agree time depends on the role and the degree of significance we give to it. Nonetheless, if we are to speak of change, change cannot occur without time as change entails the influence of time. in other words, we cannot really seperate change and time as two seperate entities. one is necessarily contingent upon the other.

Zhenya : yes, well, i will present another example. I have my father's genes and yet i never really met him at a state where i would remember him. In essence i am separated even though he is part of me. I never knew him and cant ever .

Zhenya : although an excellent point, i am still not entirely convinced. In fact i recently watched a video seminar of a yogi who discussed the ability to stop time. We all have it, quite a simple exercise of the discontinuation of blinking, which sets psychological time. Thoughts do disappear, and time is effectively stopped. Jiddu Krishnamurti wrote about it, i need to read some, i have 2 of his books i never finished. :/

Bosco: Well, for the first point, I have the same thing with my grandfather. But as long as I am self-aware of my own self, I probably know him to a degree. By knowing my self I know my ancestry, regardless of whether I knew them in person or not...and I agree that we can "transcend" time. I don't think that's much of a dispute. Time becomes irrelevant or relative regarding the activity we are engaged in. A boring lecture can seem like ages although it was only an hour long and hours hanging out and making out with a girl can feel like an instant. so i don't disagree with the "stopping" of time or the "transcendence" of time, but i don't think that discounts that discussion of time we've had thus far. It does solidify that time can be extremely personal and individualistically relative to the person.

Zhenya : absolutely and thus back to the original issue, is it really just that that a passive person would say tha ttime goes through him and an active would claim that he is moving. It is an interesting question, i picked up this idea while sutdying for a paper on Nietzsche eternal reccurrence, but it stuck with me. I still side with the fact that time moves through us. An interesting analogy is a short story i wrote about a train, a train carrying a person inside is like time carrying individual. Perhaps the train is carrying entire humanity, this line of though gives greater value to psychics and future tellers, simply due to fact that seeing the gifts or pains time brings implys that time brings those things. The secret would argue the opposite ways but i think its a mix of both. I just don't know where to stand solidly and maybe i shouldnt.

Bosco: right, but i wonder if anybody is completely active or completely passive. We're all active and passive to some degree and so to me it feels like time is moviing through us and that we are moving through time in parallel. Both are in persistent flux, only that we have a element within us that maintains our personal development our personality and etc. There was a study I quoted in my thesis paper that talked about how we maintain a core of personhood while the little things change around us; that our personality essentially remains within a quantitiative dimensional ground and that we influence our environment within our particular parameters of self. but you are right it is difficult to stand firmly on this question as both individuals (including their personal perspectives and existential feelings) change as well as the matter that time is a persistently moving variable. And in all honesty I don't kow enough about the space-time dimension discussed in theoretical physics to think

Florida, a very strange place.  Be it the lack of seasons, the exceptionally angry old people coupled with the many rude younger people, or any number of other factors.  Although seemingly a spot for beach lovers and naturists, Florida has turned into a circus and a zoo of sorts. I hate  to use blanket statements, since they never apply to everyone, however i have had some of the strangest experiences in this place. 

Perhaps it would be best to have a few words about this picture, adoring this journal entry.  Well to those that have watched seinfeld this kind of thing would surely bring a chuckle.  For the others, it is a window into Florida.

 Although, there are angry and impatient people anywhere in the world, i have found, through personal experience, that Florida produces something in people that they themselves might not have known about.  A perfect exmple of which, could be summarized in a honk.  Honking, you see, is the Florida way of driving life.  A driver will be honked constantly:

• If a Driver does not turn on the green arrow immediately after it lights up
• A driver that  does not magically pull out of a parking spot within the alloted time of the waiting driver with his/her turn light blinking.
• A driver that is parked in the path of others, having the turn blinker on and  waiting for a car to pull out of parking spot. 
• Honk if you are alive.

On top of which the weather is nice if you come for a few days, but a long stay will surely start producing psychotic thoughts, as the seasons do not change, nothing really changes.

So, there you have it.

I was driving along, and i reach a fairly busy intersection where i see a man in military fatigues with a small US flag gripped by the fingers of one hand while holding a giant industrial sized bucket. Although I could not understand what he was raising money for, nor do I think that others did. People were giving him money left and right. Unfrotunatly, i did not have a chance to snap a picture with my phone, however this sight was truely something to marvel at. Here is a burly man, with a bluetooth headset in his year, with a large bucket just collecting cash for a purpose that was unknown to all the drivers, yet people gave him money exclusively because he was in military fatigues.

While I of course understand that the country is in a war that it will be in forever and many feel bad for the military, this kind of blind donation to a purpose that is unknown and to a man of questionable origin.

How weak is the public? after 911 anyone dressed as fireman got 20s if not more. Now fireman is no longer our hero, a soldier is.

I did not want to get into the merits of the war with this girl, and perhaps since it was just the beginning of the war, my arguments would fall on deaf ears, however the sheer magnitude of that move on her part struck me so greatly. What a way to celebrate the destruction, despair and death.

Details:
Year: 2003
Location: University Classroom, Florida, US

Are Illegal Aliens Responsible for Health care crisis?

I have read and heard from people that Illegal Aliens are the source of the health care woes in this country, sucking down Hospital and Medicaid Resources. While it may be true to an extent, it is not how it is portrayed.

Medicaid: Contrary to Popular belief, illegal immigrants do not receive medicaid. One must be a legal resident thus having a green card, have refugee status (white card) or be needy as determined by medicaid guidelines. Most important characteristic is to meet a financial qualification, thus many medicaid users are either poor americans or legal immigrants. Since only Cuban refugees are granted legal residence right away, Mexicansand other immigrants remain here illegally working as fruit pickers and such. Having no ability for medical financial aid, a doctor visit is avoided due to cost and only possibility is ER at a later stage of the problem or a pregnancy.

While I absolutely agree that this harms the already broken system based on cheating and bleeding the public dry, not only illegal aliens are responsible. A homeless or a poor american will also wait till the problem becomes severe and visit the ER instead of the local doctor, of which there are millions.

Furthermore, the government refuses to fix the situation. In fact a recent bill was introduces in the House to allow hospitals to ask for proof of residency but was shut down.

WASHINGTON - The House rejected legislation that could have led to hospital emergency rooms denying some services to illegal aliens while helping to get them kicked out of the country.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5006326/

While i do not agree with this bill it failed by a huge margin anyway. Furthermore, hospital visits/stays are overpriced to begin with and this situation is only making the prices rise. In fact hospitals charge so much, that a simple call to the billing department can get your bill cut right away, the trick is to ask, if you dont you pay the full ridiculous sum. Not to mention that if you have insurance, insurance will adjust the prices dramatically and hence pay less than you would by cash. (ex.$515 dollar visit to a specialist when cash is adjusted to $120 when insurance pays. you pay the copay). For those without insurance, there is no specialist until one is in the ER. While the reception in a doctors office will block you from seeing the doctor, the ER is ethically and i believe legally responsible and cannot turn you down.

On the other hand, even if they do cost the economy alot of money, the lowering of costs for products that low wage workers produce is balancing that equation.

According to the Census of 2000 (special note: Contrary to popular belief, the census does not ask about legal status. You can verify this on the site www.census.gov) there are :

White: 216,930,975
Black: 36,419,434
Hispanics: 35,305,818 of which
Mexicans: 20,640,711

While i am sure that in the last 7 years all the populations grew, this gives an idea that US is not being overtaken. In addition since there are dramatically more White people in US, there is more poor white people than poor anyone else. So lets take a look at the Census Release of August 29, 2006 (Direct Census Link)

• There were 37 million people in poverty (12.6 percent) in 2005. Both the number and rate were statistically unchanged from 2004 and marked the end of four consecutive years of increases in the poverty rate (2001-2004).
• There were 7.7 million families in poverty in 2005, statistically unchanged from 2004. The poverty rate for families declined from 10.2 percent in 2004 to 9.9 percent in 2005. The poverty rate and the number living in poverty both declined for married-couple families (5.1 percent and 2.9 million in 2005, down from 5.5 percent and 3.2 million in 2004). However, the poverty rate and number in poverty showed no statistical change between 2004 and 2005 for female-householder-with-no-husband-present families (28.7 percent and 4.0 million) and for male-householder-with-no-wife-present families (13.0 percent and 669,000)
• Poverty rates remained statistically unchanged for blacks (24.9 percent) and Hispanics (21.8 percent). The poverty rate decreased for non-Hispanic whites (8.3 percent in 2005, down from 8.7 percent in 2004) and increased for Asians (11.1 percent in 2005, up from 9.8 percent in 2004).
• The three-year average poverty rate for American Indians and Alaska Natives was 25.3 percent. The three-year average poverty rate for Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders was 12.2 percent. (Because of the relatively small populations of American Indians and Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, the Census Bureau uses 3-year-average medians.)

So, some math. Not scientific and not adjusted for real population numbers but a rough sketch of what to expect.

Whites Below Poverty Line: 216,930,975 x 8.7% = 18,872,994.825
Blacks Below Poverty Line : 36,419,434 x 24.9% = 9,068,439.066
Hispanics: 35,305,818 x 21.8% = 7,696,668.324

Race and Hispanic Origin (Race data refer to those reporting a single race only.)

 

• The uninsured rate, as well as the number of uninsured, remained statistically unchanged from 2004 to 2005 for non-Hispanic whites (at 11.3 percent and 22.1 million) and for blacks (at 19.6 percent and 7.2 million). The rate for Asians increased to 17.9 percent in 2005, up from 16.5 percent in 2004. The number of uninsured Asians was 2.3 million, up from 2 million.
• The uninsured rate for Hispanics, who may be of any race, was 32.7 percent in 2005 — statistically unchanged from 2004. The number of uninsured Hispanics increased from 13.5 million to 14.1 million.
  *still less in real numbers than whites even at higher percentage.
  
• Based on a three-year average (2003-2005), 29.9 percent of people who reported American Indian and Alaska Native as their race were without coverage. The three-year average for Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders was 21.8 percent.

While the number of people covered by government health programs increased between 2004 and 2005, from 79.4 million to 80.2 million, the percentage of people covered by government health insurance remained at 27.3 percent. There was no statistical difference in the number or percentage of people covered by Medicaid (38.1 million and 13.0 percent, respectively) between 2004 and 2005.

Again Reference from CENSUS of 2000
http://censtats.census.gov/data/US/01000.pdf

and recent poverty data.
Direct Census Link

The conclusion of such an evaluation is that there is always more poor whites, who bleed the health care system as well due to lack of coverage and thus more frequent trips to ER rather than a local doctor.

Question of Language.

Personally i do not believe that the country has to adapt to the immigrants. I came to this country not knowing a word in English, granted I came as a child but my family has learned English as well. I do not believe that it is right to provide education and such in another language, unless it is part of curriculum. In fact i support making English the official language. The census has some statistics on English speakers.

Question of Drugs ,

Yes. Drugs do come on through Mexico and yes it is a problem, however first step in this problem is the demand, not the supply so that should be gotten out of the way right away. However, contrary to popular belief, MOST of Marijuana and Methamphetamine is made in the USA. The DEA busts generally focus on local grow houses, and meth labs. Meth lab incidents are listed on the dea chart found here (http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/map_lab_seizures.html) As you can see the highest incidence is in Missouri. Contrary to popular belief again, marijuana is not the problem in this country, meth is. But that is a topic for a different conversation, regardless its an internally produced drug. As far as cocaine and heroin, drugs that actually arrive here from Mexico, according to DEA drug seizures it is not as widespread as the situation is purported to be and still the most seized drug is marijuana.

Chart: http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/statistics.html#seizures

As you can see the heroin and cocaine seizures are up, but still lower than in late 80s, early 90s. This trend is yet again based on demand. Marijuana use is growing due in part to the growing acceptance by the general public and state politics.

Conclusion

While media will tell you that the Mexicans are guilty of health care crisis, it is actually not true. The question is of poverty, not race. Sure it hurts many Americans just by the principle that they come from outside and are given medical care, but the issue as i see it, is poverty and there are ALOT more whites who are poor and who consequently "abuse" the system. Moreover, the illegal status prevents an illegal immigrant from even getting the government assistance, thereby pressuring the hospital system more.