People want to come to the U.S. I think that's cool. I do wonder why they can't do it legally, though. Are our immigration laws really that tough? If so, why? If not, why so many illegals?
Anyway, Deck Deckert writes this
over on his blog:
I've gotten several anti-immigration e-mails lately from friends, both right and left -- excuse me, anti-'illegal' immigration. Sometimes I sigh and let them go unanswered; sometimes I tell them:
We are a nation of immigrants. We first stole the country from the Native Americans who were here before us. Now we want to shut the door and tell no one else they can come in, not even the Mexicans that we stole Texas from.
Doesn't seem fair, does it?
It does bother me, though, when they don't learn English, and then businesses limit who they hire based on whether or not you're bilingual. I think that's wrong. Why am I discriminated against for a job because I can't speak Spanish? On the other hand, I don't have a problem with mom and pop businesses that cater specifically to a particular language speaking clientele, a place where you know that if you go there, you might be the odd one out. It adds to the diversity of the city and provides cultural oases, places where you can experience the richness of another culture. But when it comes to the mainstream stores, hello? This is America, we speak American, and if you want to live here, but don't want to learn American, why should we bend over for you?
I know that things change. I know that languages move from one area to another as people migrate, but that was back when borders were more likely to be fluid as well, when people were still trying to conquer each other. I know that there are still people in power who would like to do some conquering, but in general, that's a no-no in today's world. Our boundaries are fairly well set, and we've decided what languages go where.
But then my mind throws up countries like Switzerland and Belgium, or the province of Quebec in Canada. So maybe places like Florida, California, Texas, etc. will just have to suck it up and give in to the inevitable and become like those places where two or more languages flow interchangeably, which is what's obviously happening anyway. But I don't like it. I'm American. I speak American. I live in America. I don't want to learn Spanish, I want to learn French. Why should I have to learn Spanish to work in my own country?
I guess that's what I get for choosing to live in Florida, eh?
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I was going to just email this, but then I thought, heck, I haven't posted much of substance lately (not that this can be called much of substance, either), so why don't I just make a blog post out of it?
Anway,
Dr Zen twittered
http://is.gd/A5kk Plus ca change... Another Bush policy cemented in place.
So here are my thoughts:
The article cited states this:
the restrictions on evidence will almost certainly mean only a fraction of those held will go to trial.
The rest of the detainees would either be released, transferred to other countries or tried in civilian courts, officials said.
If there are prisoners in Guantanamo for whom they have proof of crimes of war, and if the inhumane treatment and torture is stopped and they are allowed their own lawyers, why is this a bad thing? If only this administration saw to it that Bush and co. were tried, too, for their own war crimes.
It seems to me as if Obama is trying to find a road through all this that doesn't set politicians on their ears, but does allow for some justice. By making the documents about the torture public, he gives "the people" a weapon to use to bring Bush and others to justice without having to involve his administration in a fight that could be lost and that could tie his hands in other areas that are important to him for the good of the country as a whole. It's basically up to us to push for consequences now. In all the decisions that Obama has made so far as he navigates the waters of Washington, I see a man trying to bring the boat on course without completely flipping it over.
I, of course, want to see us get out of the Middle East completely, which he won't do. He has never said that he'd do that. His argument has always been against the how and the where of our conflict over there, but never that we shouldn't try to do something about the attack on our country and the threat of people like Bin Laden. I wish he could acknowledge that we've done enough, bring our troops home, regroup, and work on defending this country from this end and giving it a good name around the world. We'd have much more bargaining power and credibility in human rights situations in other places that way. I'm wondering if he thinks he needs to show himself as aggressive in some things in order to gain the support of Republicans for other things that he wants.
I know Zen believes that now the Dems are in power, they should simply bulldoze over the Reps as quickly as possible, bringing social reform, especially as the Reps were quite good at bulldozing over our rights and protestations while they were in power, acting as though the Prez and his minions were emperor and nobles above the rule of law instead of elected servants of the people. But I don't see how our country can grow in a healthy way if our two parties don't try to find common ground wherever they can. A house divided and all that. I don't agree with all of Obama's policies, but I do believe he's sincere in wanting to find that common ground. I do not envy him this task, especially at this time in our history.
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why can't more people in government and business be like this instead of the greedy, power-hungry cretins that they tend to be?
Elizabeth Warren, chairperson of the Troubled Asset Relief Program oversight committee (TARP), explaining what needs to happen (after laughing at all the confusion, she makes it clear at the end) for our economy to improve. In two parts:
Part 1:
Part 2:
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I do not understand the point of "Embedding disabled by request." If what you have to show on You Tube is good enough or popular enough that people want to embed it, and it's easy enough for those watching to click to it from the embedded video if they want more info, you would think that that would be a victory of free advertising.
Anyway, go watch this. Seriously.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PPlkOyaqaQ
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