Wow. Immigration is hot hot caliente!

As I read, I categorize the comments here into historical/cultural, legal, economic, racist, and looney.

MISSOURI NEWS- IMMIGRATION
State lawmakers take on immigration
Sales tax, English among suggestions.

By JASON ROSENBAUM of the Tribune’s staff
Published Wednesday, November 15, 2006

'..."There are things that we can do that will have an impact," said Rep. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, chairman of the House Special Committee on Illegal Immigration. "If you’re here illegally, we can try to remove the advantages of being here illegally, and we can try and put up some obstacles to being here illegally."

Speaker Rod Jetton, R-Marble Hill, formed Emery’s committee earlier this year after state legislation to combat illegal immigration failed to gain traction. The committee released a report on Oct. 24. One of its more eye-catching suggestions is that the influx of illegal immigrants is partly attributable to legal abortions in the United States.'

Did they know most Mexicans are Catholic and have more kids than Anglos lately? Have they seen the census? I have heard of religious refugees- now we are supposed to believe in reproductive refugees? I thought they came from S. Dakota.

'Recommendations include establishing English as the state’s language of official proceedings, barring children of illegal immigrants from attending public colleges or universities, and replacing the state income tax with a broader sales tax.'

So...take away their right to a fair trial, reduce the communication between the school and parent, make it really inconvenient to be here? Punish the kids for their ancestry, and leave them relegated to dead-end jobs, that will help integrate them.

'Emery said altering the state and federal tax codes might be an effective weapon against illegal immigration.

"One of the advantages, of course, is you’re here and you’re part of the black market economy. You’re not likely paying all the taxes you would be paying if you were a citizen," Emery said. "And you’re likely gaining a financial edge in that arena."'

Advantages like below minimum wage salary and no Social Security when you retire? How about those paying taxes under a fake SS#? These turds would just like to use immigration as an excuse to eliminate another tax on those with big salaries, and shift the tax burden onto the poor and middle class.

Ah yes and then there is my conservative office mate who suspects some young folks she knows of doing drugs...they have issues with authority, they are crappy parents, etc. She feels what happened in the 60's and 70's with everyone smoking pot and having sex has been a disaster, unleashed licentious behavior on our nation... and she's right to some extent. Everybody 'turning on' was overraated. But I treasure her words on the subject, as they embody a common theme in conservative Christian circles. Paraphrased and quoted as best I can remember it: people nowadays "just do whatever feels good." You crazy, partying, careless ne'er do wells, you'll see, Satan will grab hold of your ass and then God will cut you down and make you pay on Judgement Day, and send you to burn in Hell for eternity- because He loves you. You pot-smoking good-for-nothings, it's too funky in here, open up the window, man. Penny (name changed), I wanted to say, I used to smoke pot, and I have a job, a career actually. In fact, sometimes I still do smoke it, I love it...Well, no, speaking of career, for the record I should clearly state I don't smoke pot. I quit, actually. Last week. Again. But this time it's for good. You know, it makes you lazy. I have been working 50, 60 hour weeks and I know I can do better.

Did I mention she is Catholic? And probably not the condom-using kind? American conservatism and hardcore Catholicism share a certain Puritan streak- well, of course, the Catholics predate the Puritans, but its an expression now isn't it- anyway they distrust pleasure, especially bodily pleasures, as the source of evil. Some Muslims do that to, to the extent that some disapprove of music- any music at all, it inspires people to move their bodies! Must be Satan. Jazz, Elvis, rock, rap...well, ok, rap is in a category of its own because there are certain kinds where the words are very clearly about objectifying and using women as sex toys and even abusing them. Elvis never sang about smacking his bitch up, or loving and leaving them but never needing them.

And when it comes to addiction, indeed, these things are hard to manage. Just ask any celibate Catholic priest, or their choirboys. And yet here is the hypocrisy: pleasure, sex and drugs and rock and roll, are the downfall of civilization- but alcohol is a sacrament in the church? It's not that she supports alcoholism, but she has indeed known firsthand the sensual pleasure of a few drinks in the company of friends. She has, in other words, done what feels good.

Yet, she admitted to knowing nothing about drugs, aside from being able to identify the smell of burning pot. Did I mention she is around 80 years old? People get more conservative with age sometimes, too, as the world changes and they prefer to limit change and establish stable life patterns...anyway. I bet she hasn't considered that pot, in particular, has rarely killed anyone- were the munchies a contributing factor in Mama Cass choking on that sandwich? whereas alcohol is implicated in 30,000 traffic deaths in the US every year, and how many assaults, murders, DV cases???

The hippies did throw some babies out with the bathwater, nobody is perfect and each generation in the US has its peculiar excesses. 40's, excessive patriotism. 50's, excessive materialism and optimism about development and anti-Communism. 60's, hippies. 70's, disco. 80's, Reaganism and bad hair. 90's, more materialism..heck, the 80's too. In fact, that one hasn't really abated since the post-war boom. The zeroes, what is our excess? Killing Iraqi civilians, sure. But what about our morals and our behaviors at home?

BLAME THE BOTTLE

Last week, Rep. Gus Barreiro, R-Miami Beach, filed a complaint with House Rules Committee alleging that earlier this year, Ralph Arza of Hialeah had used a racial slur to describe the superintendent of the Miami-Dade County School District.

Over the weekend, Barreiro received a message from Arza, repeating the same slur and yelling at Barreiro for filing the complaint. Arza has since apologized and said he had been drinking alcohol when he left the message. Arza has refused to resign.

-------------

Lawyer David Roth told reporters in Florida that Foley was intoxicated when he sent lewd electronic messages to former House pages but was always sober when conducting official business during his 12 years in Congress.

WHY I LOVE PLAN B

2 cells don't make a baby. To claim life begins at conception is simply scientifically inaccurate. It is the equivalent of saying that you've got a bag of flour and eggs, and that's a cookie. You may have even cracked some eggs into some flour ina bowl and stirred it a bit, making a doughy mass. That's still a long, long way from a cookie. All you've got is potential cookie. A bit down the road you will form it into lumps and then, if it survives the oven, bingo. Cookie.

Plan B helps a woman or couple that does not feel the time is right for a baby to unload the cells before they implant and become a pregnancy. Donate the cells to science, frame them on a microscope slide and send them to a pro-lifer, freeze them and make a snowflake baby; or just flush them. I've dropped more precious meat at a barbecue and the dog ate it.

KNOW YOUR ENEMY

Have you read the CATO INSTITUTE ANALYSIS OF LIVING WAGE?

"The wage increase would raise idleness among minority youths by 7.3
percentage points." Idle minorities; always a scary image.

"Peter Brandon of the University of Wisconsin’s Institute for Research on Poverty
concluded several years ago that raising the minimum wage is not an effective way to
remove families from the welfare rolls.The average length of time spent receiving welfare
benefits was 13.5 months in states that did not raise their wage floor but 19.5 months, or
nearly 45 percent longer, in states that did raise the minimum."

Sorry, was the goal of the living wage laws to end welfare? Is there a hidden agenda here?

True or not, the higher wage might stop people from ending up on the rolls once they do get a job. It might motivate them to spend the extra 6 months in school to boost their skills to get that higher-wage job. We can afford another 6 months of support, and a higher wage.

I do like the emphasis on targeted tax breaks and other enlightened, progressive tax policy. I also agree completely with the emphasis on skills and the importance of education. I wonder if the author knows how many students work minimum-wage jobs as they go to school, and how that wage increase might help them pay increasing tuition. Maybe rolling back some of the recent cuts to financial aid for the poor would also be part of the solution?

PATRIOT DAY

A quote from Our Great Leader of the Homeland, King Bush the 2nd:

"We are once again answering history's call with confidence, and we know that freedom will prevail. Our brave men and women in uniform have stepped forward to fight our enemies abroad so that we do not have to face them here at home..."

Ah yes, the tired parallel with World War II (probably the only war this century worth fighting, nuclear bombs aside) and the repeated, unfounded assertion that Iraq is somehow making us safer by keeping them busy "over there". This ignores that the war has proved a great recruitment tool and training ground for the next generation of jihadists, and united disparate, formerly bickering Islamic factions in opposition to our military presence. Oh, and the little inconvenience that our enemy in WWII had a country and a uniform instead of an ideology and a bomb belt.

"We are also confronting the extremists in the great ideological struggle of the 21st century."

Indeed. In this ideological paradigm, Terrorism replaces the former bogeyman of convenience, Communism, as the Great Excuse for invading foreign nations.

"September the 11th made clear that, in the long run, the only way to secure our Nation is to advance liberty and democracy as the great alternatives to repression and radicalism."

I trust this somehow explains our support for the leadership in Saudi Arabia and Egypt? And our great intervention in Sudan, hotbed of Islamic repression? Oh, we haven't shelled Khartoum or armed the refugees in Darfur? My bad. Keeping them busy in Iraq! It's all about Iraq!

And despite clear indications of failure, our great leader persists in advancing his noble ideals with cluster munitions and ground troops, disregarding the legacy of recent colonial history and the Crusades. Genius. Inspired.

THE LIMITS OF HUMAN LOGIC

Q: Everything is so complex. Look at the complicated designs in nature. What are the odds such intricate, purposeful 'adaptations' could arise by chance?

A: Funny you should ask about the odds. Assuming there is one observable reality, the odds are 100% that everything will be exactly as it is. Or that each alternate possible reality is equally unlikely. We have developed to this point through a staggering number of cycles of chance. There are natural laws and limits we are only beginning to understand, which limit possible outcomes in such a way as to create a patterned structure, over time.

There was a recent climate changed in the Galapagos Islands which resulted in the death of all of a species of bird with smaller beaks. The result? In one season, that species is now defined by having a large beak. Evolution is slow, but real. Deal with it.

ASSERTION: There is only one spiritual truth. Outside of truth, there is only error.

CONSIDER: High school physics (the Devil's class) Is light a wave or a particle?

It might hurt your brain, but what of the notion of a multiple, simultaneous truth; a truth with many sides; a truth which is sometimes true, depending perhaps on context or perspective? Other analogies:

1. We are looking at the same image but in different shards of the same mirror (the old blind men touching an elephant story);

2. Where is the electron, the subatomic particle? As I hear it: it has a probability of being here or there, and 'jumps' between locations. Physics will blow your mind, guaranteed. When Hawkings spoke of the mind of God, he didn't mean the one who put Jonah in a whale or let Eve take an apple from a snake. All-knowing and all-powerful and compassionate? Smite the snake! Burn the tree! What is up with all these 'tests'? What kind of sick, sadistic control-freak is this God??? Sorry. Still stuck on the free will vs. God's will thing.

ON THE EPHEMERAL AND ARBITRARY NATURE OF BORDERS

Nations have always had borders; though the nation-state is, to much of the world, a relatively recent imposition. With few notable exceptions, in the not-so-distant past, people organized themselves at a more local level, according to tribe or ethnicity, and paid fealty and taxes to leaders and made alliances, or wars, with neighbors. In some parts of the world, as the US seems to have discovered in Iraq, this is still how things are done. The notion of allegiance to a larger nation, or empire, is something which comes and goes with the tides of history- but one’s village, one’s tribe, one’s family, these endure and matter much more than distant political maneuverings. And as we see today, many tribes such as the Kurds exists across borders, and would prefer to draw their own. In this case, we remain beholden to the power politics of the nation-state, while giving lip service to the notion of self-determination.

China famously made an effort to secure her borders a long time ago against a persistent military foe, and not without some success. But did this security also entail preventing peaceful groups of people from entering and settling in China? Certainly not, as the presence of Uighurs and countless other minorities in Western and Southern China demonstrate. Rather, the national boundaries encompassed these people at a point in history when such things were being penciled on maps for supposed posterity, just as America was acquired in purchases between foreign powers and treaties negotiated and then betrayed; Africa was carved up like a cake, without the consent of the peoples who already inhabited those continents; the conquistadors arrived and demanded that natives submit to the Spanish queen. Submit to whom, where??? If Martians land tomorrow and declare the Earth to be their nation, it will be so unless we can defeat them.

So, firstly, it is worth recognizing that our national boundaries, as we know them, were not set without some considerable dishonor and lawbreaking themselves. The attitude that we have earned everything we have in the United States fair and square is, on the one hand, supported by the square deals penned by William Penn, and the hard work of the pioneers in sod houses; and on the other hand, dismissed as quickly the unfurling of a smallpox-laced blanket. Modern borders are arbitrary, and set by those with the power to take and hold territory by force; not given by God or sacrosanct.

Colonization and war redraws national boundaries at will; ask the Hungarians, the Turks, the Macedonians and Slavs. These examples, as well as India and Pakistan, Israel and Palestine confirms that regardless of who is living where, decisions taken on high can suddenly render entire populations refugees overnight.

And so, people move, like water; pushed by war, seeking opportunity and better life, they move. Some American Indians followed the buffalo. Many indigenous people, from Burma to the Amazon, migrate as a way of life and are only vaguely aware what nation they are technically in; and recently more have awakened to the encroachment and stifling embrace of nations and asserted their right to be left alone.

The creation of the nation-state has not generally stopped people from moving. Certain states, like the former Soviet empire, had a reputation for airtight borders. It was not until the disintegration of the Union, and the subsequent efforts of former members to enter the European Union, that refugees from Asia and Africa were able to make their way Westward overland with relative ease, since the UN Charter on Human Rights demands that nations accommodate refugees, rather then turn them back at gunpoint. Now the face of Europe is changing, much like the face of America is changing, to reflect the inexorable movement of people from areas where there is nothing but trouble to areas which have more resources to offer. And naturally, some of the people in the countries that have are not eager to welcome those who have not- in short, they do not seem to know how to share. Why, an elderly woman in Wisconsin once asked me, don’t they fix their own problems back in their countries? Indeed. One might also ask a number of questions connected to that one; namely, our nation’s role in those problems; or even more important, the viability of the current nation-state model for addressing the global problem of inequity which drives immigration in the first place.

It has long been an established fact that the world produces more than enough food for it’s population, despite its continued growth. The continued issue of hunger in our communities, and of starvation in certain areas of the globe, then is clearly one of distribution. One would not deny any human being air or water; these are considered basic rights. Yet for some reason, we fail to extend this status- of a right- to food or shelter. Aside from wars, in which we often play a role by providing arms or looking the other way as allied governments engage in ethnic cleansing, this is one of the obvious push factors that drives people to move; they cannot adequately feed or house themselves in their current communities. In the case of the US and Mexico, it is clear that a combination of our subsidized, mechanized agriculture and the free trade policies of NAFTA allow a massive dumping of cheap grain into Mexico which has eroded the ability of farmers all the way to Chiapas to provide for themselves. What becomes evident about the nature of borders is that, like the membranes of cells in biology, they are designed to be selective in what may and may not pass through. This makes sense when it applies to protecting the nation from ills such as crime and military threat; it makes less sense when it applies to the movement of people, which like water, will find a way when pressures and tensions compel and encourage them to flow.

Let’s focus on the issue at hand: the ‘invasion’, according to groups like the Minutemen, of Mexicans. What can cross our southern border? Goods, money, corporations and jobs; people with money; Africanized honeybees, and diseases like bird flu, along with the birds that carry them. What cannot cross our border? Environmental regulations, the $5.15 US minimum wage, labor protections, and a culture which discourages corruption and attempts to allow for social and economic mobility and for some semblance (however hobbled in recent years) of democratic representation.

If illegal immigration is truly a problem which somehow threatens our national security, the only solution which will be effective in the long-term will be nothing short of a Marshall Plan for Mexico; to strengthen their economy systematically to the point that people can live in their local economies without the need to give up their homeland, to risk sacrificing their lives and families for the almighty dollar. Until such a time, no fence will stem the tide, and our border will remain an arbitrary and unjust line in the sand, ultimately unenforceable because, as long as it attempts to deny people the opportunity for a better future, they continue to work to penetrate and circumvent it. Our current border is rendered meaningless by the timeless human struggle to provide, which has existed and will continue to exist as long as people inhabit the earth- which is longer than any nation, empire or border will last.

Told you I had a backlog.

WHO 'FALLS' TO WHOM?

from a history of Izmit, Turkey:

"Originally a Megarian city founded in the 8th century BC and called Astacus (or Olbia), it achieved its greatest fame as Nicomedia, built c. 264 BC by Nicomedes I of Bithynia to replace the destroyed old city. It served as the capital of the kingdom of Bithynia and later, under the Romans, was often the residence of emperors. It became the eastern capital of the Roman Empire under Diocletian. After a period of decline under the Byzantines, it fell to the Ottomans in 1326."

You might guess that is not from a Turkish source. For them, the Ottoman expansion was a great victory.

Vietnam? FEll to the Communists. Yet Nobody ever says that South Korea "fell to the Capitalists", or that Texas "fell to the Americans." This kind of language should be abolished from history books as it smacks of the kind of ethnocentrism that drives all wars. It just goes to show that when history is not written by the victor, it is written with jealousy.

All European history, under its breath, seems to say "those damn Turks", while the histories of SE Asia and Latin America all curse, sotto voce, about "evil Communists." Not Islam, Not Communism, nor Socialism are evil, though they may at times be used as tools by tyrants. The Inquisition wasn't exactly a hallmark of democracy or Christianity, and the conquest of North America is recognized today as ethnic cleansing and genocide. Communism continues to be a force within democratic nations like Italy and India, while Socialism not only thrives in Cuba and Latin America, but also in Scandinavian democracies.

The tired old Disney polemic of black and white, good and evil, may strike a chord with those who though cowboy movies were real (or that Reagan or Bush were real cowboys). But to anyone with a grip on reality, the nuances and grey areas are so numerous that dividing the world into "us" and "them", "with us" and "against us" smacks of such intellectual immaturity as to be laughable. How about this: killing innocent people is evil, no matter who does it.

9 OUT OF 10 EVANGELICAL PASTORS AGREE- BUTT SEX IS BETTER ON METH

Yes, you heard it here first. I have to say I admire the congregants interviewed in the parking lot- they were on message as far as forgiveness, aside from the clueless sheep who simply gushed "I just can't believe it" and a few in deeper denial "I don't believe it, all the details aren't out yet." I guess the word 'hypocrite' is not in the Bible.

So, one new post and a backlog to unload.

On the freeway recently an SUV came swerving and weaving through the crowd, passed me on the right with inches to spare. It happens. There are people out there who are impatient, risk takers, etc. I get impatient sometimes and run the yellow light, pass the slowpoke. But I am not a weaver. You know the ones, the incessant lane changing, tailgating, race-you-to-the-red-light drivers. They clearly have issues. Which is what concerned me with the SUV- as he passed, there it was, the Marines sticker. Two of them, actually. So, of course I have seen the videos of driving in Baghdad and think, great, these guys are coming home and bringing that with them along with the PTSD and violence. What are your job skills? I can shoot a durka at 300 yards without a scope, sir! Perfect hire for our company. Ok, plenty of vets handle their readjustment well. But here is one more thing that is going to remind folks of Vietnam, especially since our improved medical care means more survivors... There is going to be a fresh crop of veterans with mental health issues on our streets. I hope our government steps up to help them, instead of the whole Gulf War syndrome runaround.

Another thing about driving and killing: I just got a game yesterday. I was playing Grand Theft Auto for a few hours before I went out for a drive and guess what? I found myself interpreting obstacles a bit more fluidly. Taking a few more chances. Just short exposure and I was driving more aggressively. Have you seen the Army website lately? Have you read about the design of the tank controls? The use of video games to train our youth to kill- to view the enemy as a blip- is an effective addition to our perennial racism (how many returning vets have you talked to who honestly seem to have any respect for Islam??? None I have met) in terms of dehumanizing and thus helping our youth to kill foreigners. Now excuse me while I go run over people, brandish a samurai sword in the mall, and shoot cops.

April to November. A good long break from the blogosphere, or in my case, the bile-o-sphere. I blog to relieve pressure, but sometimes get so worked up I think I am just raising my own blood pressure. Same reason I quit JustAddBrains.com...round and round we went, but nobody was really changing anybody minds, just trying to score a good SNAP. Reasoned arguments? Support? I went through some analysis of the history of Halloween with a Jehovahs Witness (?apostrophe no workie) recently, and we compared notes...hers said Samhain was a God of the Dead. Mine said Samhain was the Celtic New Year, which did involve contact with the spirit world. Her source was a software program put out by Witness Central in NYC to answer such questions; mine was a website made by a pastor in Connecticut who had researched the topic. So we dug deeper. The source cited by her software was a 1980s encyclopedia. The sources on mine, historians specializing in Ireland and the Celts from the last decade. I even showed her that the encyclopedia editors were preparing to revise their entries based on new research...but in the end, she said- Who has time to research that deep? They have an office in New York that does all that research for us, and I trust them. It is the same way most people shop for car insurance. Do they really compare quotes from 3 or 4 companies? No. Many if not most get a reference from a trusted friend.

So, nobody is changing minds. I am not even trying. Again, just shites and giggles, venting and snapping, a private journal oddly made public in case someone, anyone, the NSA maybe, cares.