The Green Card lottery

Here's a lottery no one has ever heard about, except for 15 million people who have entered it: you can get a Green Card (think of it as an American visa on steroids) by the luck of the draw. Fifty thousand are issued every year, so the odds are actually fairly good--one out of 300. The Wall Street Journal has the story. Be sure to read the comments: they'll make your blood run cold.

Personally, I'm all in favor of the Green Card lottery: it proves that 15 million people still love us, in spite of Iraq, Afghanistan, the bellicose George W. Bush, and and the bumbling Barack Obama. (The participants have tripled in the past five years.) Besides, half the applicants are from Bangladesh, which means that they won't be agitating for more signs in Spanish. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford