Immigration and the United States

Being Mexican-American, I have a high level of empathy for what immigrants have gone through to get to the U.S. and the difficulty in establishing themselves in a country that is so openly hostile to them. Although there are exceptions, the current is definitely flowing against immigrants as evidenced by the many local and Federal policies that have been proposed and accepted in response to the influx of immigrants to this country over the last few decades. The 60's and 70's, could be characterized as a very open and tolerant period in our history where bilingual education and multiculturalism was given legitimacy. The public mood was different. Immigrants were not seen as outsiders, brown skinned hucksters peddling peanuts, sucking up available social services, but part of the fabric of the nation, an important and welcome part. It's sad to see how this initial openness and tolerance has eroded to the point it has today, even in the face of economic realities.

As long as there are poor people in the world, who are willing to sacrifice whatever is necessary for a chance at grabbing the proverbial "brass ring" there will be people attempting to enter the United States, legally or not. We can't expect our southern neighbors to wallow in poverty, part of the 60% or so of the population of Mexican who live on a daily amount of money that would barely buy us an ice cream cone. They see how we live and they see how they live. They see the comparison apparently, you'd have to be as stupid as a carrot not to, and that's enough of a beacon to illuminate their sense of hopelessness in their own situation.

It also does not help that in the U.S. we subsidize our farmers. If they have a bad year, the government is there to help. Our southern neighbors don't have that luxury. If they have a bad year, they might lose their farm. Nobody is there to bail them out. Over the last decade, hundreds of farmers have lost their farms and land due to acts of God, and the fact that it's impossible to compete with farmers in the U.S. who have a ready made safety net in times of trouble. If you were a farmer in Mexico and lost everything or were barely making ends meet, and you had a wife and kids to feed and maintain, what would you do? Would you go out into your field and start crying? Probably not. You would do everything in your power to provide for your family even if it meant selling oranges on the street or hustling work at a local Home Depot. It's human nature to survive.

It should also be pointed out that like it or not, the entire western section of the U.S. was owned at one time by Mexico. The imperialistic policies of the U.S. in the 1800's otherwise known as the "Monroe Doctrine" period pried away this section of land from the Mexicans. They didn't give it away mind you, they were pushed into a war and gave up their land under duress. Ironically, before this, there was a time when whites entering California, were actually immigrating into Mexico, now we treat them as if they were undesirables, unfit to share the same geographic space we do. We did the same thing with American Indians. It's kind of our M.O. Our nation broke over 500 treaties in order to maintain the expansion west to the detriment of an entire culture who had been here thousands of years. Isn't this type of cultural subjugation a form of racism?

I also find it annoying how people use labels to quantify a group of people, as if by simplifying their existence, we can simplify the issue of immigrants and immigration. The immigration debate is highly complex. It's visceral and emotional. The players involved, especially on the political side, know the stakes are high. The decisions made unfortunately will not so much stem for what's best for the country, and all the people residing in it, but on the momentum of "spin," that intangible buzz that breeds and formulates broad opinions that set the tone and stage for legislative particularities.

All over the world we are seeing groups of people pitted against each other; sectarian violence in Iraq, racial and social turmoil in France between the hopelessly poor and the well off bourgeois, left wing rebel attacks against the Colombian government, the list is endless. We are a world at war. For whatever reason human beings have a difficult time accepting others. It's an issue that defies definition.

However, the immigration issue does not have to become an issue if we all just accept the fact that the world we inhabit cannot be conveniently divided in separate tribes, cliques, clans and groups. In our own nation, we need to take off our cultural binders and understand that people are motivated by their personal needs; in this case, the need to better oneself, provide for ones family, establish a better life. Almost without exception people who come here come to work, not vacation. They are taking advantage of an opportunity. They cannot be faulted for that.

Lastly, we cannot legislate away a person's ability to improve their lot. Whether illegal immigration is "right" or "wrong" isn't even part of the equation. Anyone living the same set of circumstances that drives people to come here at whatever the sacrifice would do the same. Even if it meant that a law was being broken. Anybody who denies this is denying the cornerstone of the human condition, hope.

Anniversary of Iraq Invasion.

It's been three years since our ill fated invasion of Iraq. We overthru the Hussian regime quickly, saw der leader Bush proclaim "Mission Accomplished" and as quickly found ourselves slowly slipping into quicksand. Our intent was to supposedly to toss out the regime, stabalize the country and foster the growth of democracy, a remarkably stupid idea considering the fact that establishing a democracy in a country that for centuries has been governed by tribal chieftans, warring Muslim groups; Sunnies, Shiites and Kurks, and a society that largely holds all things Western in contempt, is kind of like trying to get an orange to grow from an avocado seed. It's not going to happen. It never was going to happen. The casualties in the Iraq War are piling up like chips at the finals of the World Poker Championship and they will continue to so so for the forseeable future. The U.S. is now trying to stand down in a civil war between the Shiites and the Sunnies. An objective no longer exists. There is nothing to stabalize. Even military experts agree that the insurgency will go on for several more years, long after we finally leave. No matter if we stay or go, Iraq will implode from secterian tension and most certainly drag other countries into it's chaos, including Iran. We can't stop it. Rather than stablizing the region we have actually destabalized it and in the process angered a world wide Muslim population, many who have no problem strapping themselves to a bomb to prove a point. It's a hopeless situation. Usually on anniversaries we celebrate, but on this anniversary we should weep.

As of today:

Current American Deaths: 2,317
Current American wounded: 17,2004
Iraq Civilians killed and wounded: 30,000

Bad Apples in the Political Establishment

Just in case people think I'm some sort of "liberal" I just want to point out that my disgust with politics and politicians goes far beyond the Republican Party. I'm a registered Independent. To have a free mind you have to have an independent one, which does not lend itself to creating a belief system reflecting a biased point of view.

Unfortunately, the Republican Party gets in trouble the most because a big part of their platform is pro-business. As such, many Republicans, expecially in the upper echelons of government, tend have more then friendly relationships with executives, corporate boards, business lobyists and the like. Much of the time, and it seems all of the time since the year 2000, these relationships tend to cross the line on a myraid of moral and ethical lines. Today Claude A. Allen, a former Domestic Advisor for Bush was indicted for buying items from a department store, putting away the purchased items in his vehicle, returning to the store, gathering up the same items he had purchased previously and then using the reciept from the previous purchase to get a refund. All told Allen collected over $5,000.00 over the course of the past year using this scam. I guess that saying that you can take the person out of the street, but not the street out of the person is more applicable than I had previously thought.

Allen joins a long list of politicians, mainly Republican, who seem to have problems recognizing that by virtue of the office they hold, they are responsible for following rules and and holding to stringent standards of decency, morality, and personal behavior. Everyone on the planet knows what a bum Lay is, but take a few minutes to do your own investigating of the following thieves, scoundrals, and moral midgets; and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Corruption in government is wide spread and contaminates the publics belief in government.

"Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) [1], a U.S. legislative watchdog group, has released a report attempting to document the unethical and illegal activities of who they are calling the "most tainted members of Congress". In describing the reasons for the report Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said, "[CREW] was compelled to research and release a report on these corrupt members because the ethics committees in both the House and Senate are completely inert. The report calls for the House and Senate to act to investigate and take appropriate action against them for these violations of the rules." She went on to attack both parties regarding ethics, "Democrats are just as much to blame as Republicans for the current ethics deadlock. The Democrats won't file ethics complaints against even the most egregious violators like DeLay and Ney�. The Democrats are spineless."
The report is entitled "Beyond DeLay: The 13 Most Corrupt Members of Congress", seeking to capitalize on the current media attention on ethics that has come about due to the indictments of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

The report covers possible violations of federal laws, as well as congressional ethics rules. To compile the report, CREW drew upon Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports and audits, sworn testimony, emails, and personal financial and travel disclosure forms. By analyzing that information, CREW then attempted to determine if the member's activities violated federal laws, regulations, or congressional ethics rules. (excluding the obvious Republican Majority Leader Tom Delay) The 13 members of Congress covered are:

• Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT)
• Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN, Senate Majority leader),
• Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA).
• Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO, House Majority Whip)
• Rep. Randy Cunningham (R-CA)
• Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)
• Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA)
• Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO)
• Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH)
• Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA)
• Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)
• Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC)
• Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)

Nobody had any faith in government anymore and this can be blamed on the widespread accepted corruption of our government leaders. Although there has been a lot of talk about reform and developing a non-partisian, private watch dog group to oversee congress, legislators themselves have decried such a group and have vowed to self-police themselves. Over the last few months we have seen a parade of politicians who have been dinged and indicted on dozens of ethic violations. Does anybody actually think they can regulate their own, when they are all sleeping together like an orgy of incestuous siblings?

There is much that we don't know and aren't privy too because we are just "Regular Joes" with no access to the political machinery needed to really grasp the extent this cesspool has spread . We get glimpses of our Great Leaders in newpaper articles and sound bites, but are clueless about what really is going on beyond these superficial glimpses of them we see here and there that communicate nothing of substance or value. I don't know if it's my age, my cynicism, or some other variable, but it seems that we have reached a new level of ethical and moral degredation in this country. I don't see or feel the outrage or the anger. It seems that it's been watered down by too many cafe lattes and 32 oz. Big Gulps or maybe people can't hear over the music playing on their i-Pod.

I think I've completly lost faith in the system.

I Hate Headaches

I don't enjoy pain, especially when it's composed of a steady throbbing that builds up right behind you eyes. Without doubt headaches are the most irritating pains that we experience. There are many reasons we get them, but that does not take away the annoyance at having to spend an entire day at work, walking around with your head thumping like an oversized bass drum. I woke up with a headache yesterday, took two Excedrine and was fine an hour or so later. Today I woke up with another one. To avoid developing what's known in medical circles as the "Boomerang Effect." Actually, I don't know if that's what it's called, but it sounds like a good phrase to use for the time being. Anyway, if you take medication to relieve a headache on a frequent basis, eventually you will begin to get headaches more frequently. To counteract the headaches you'll begin popping more medication until you get to the point that you are getting headaches every day and popping pills every day to make them go away. I don't think I could handle that. So, I'm going to just grin and bear it and pretend that my head feels fine. Hopefully, my headache will go away on its own.